Chapter 48
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: 5.10 Resurrection 3
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"Don't know? You're more innocent than you look. Sex. Mating. Fucking. Just take in a man's semen. Doesn't matter if you're on top or bottom."
The woman's words left my mind in a daze.
Regardless, she continued as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"We don't know the principle behind it either, so this came from repeated experiments. Blood, saliva, semen. Tried all sorts of methods, but the only one that showed meaningful mana recovery was semen. You don't want to go around chugging liters of someone else's blood just to recharge your mana, do you?"
The woman's tone was utterly casual.
Was I the naive one for being shocked by this?
Taking semen to survive. From some stranger.
In that case, I'd go to Yuuki... But Yuuki had become a girl.
Would semen even come out of Yuuki now that she was a woman?
"......Can't I get it from a woman?"
"Got a fetish for that? Sorry, no dice. Maybe it's possible, but we haven't found it yet. If you really want to go that route, I can look into it. Of course, you'd have to be the test subject. Since male Rune Holders' semen works for recovery, maybe drinking a female Rune Holder's menstrual blood would do the trick in reverse."
Was it the scientist in her? She rattled off her thoughts rapid-fire.
But the suggestions she laid out were utterly absurd. Drinking a woman's menstrual blood? No normal person would even imagine such a thing before the experiment stage.
Proven-effective male semen versus unproven female menstrual blood.
......If I didn't want to die, I'd have to choose one or the other?
A chill ran down my spine as I seriously pondered ways to take in a man's semen.
"......Got it. I'll handle it myself. Just let me go now."
Nothing was resolved, but I wanted out first and foremost.
My mana felt like it could run dry any second, plunging me back into that darkness. The anxiety was unbearable.
"Let you go? Why?"
But the woman shot back as if I'd said something ridiculous.
"I've told you a million times: you're an expensive sample I bought. You think I'd just release you?"
"So? What, you gonna run experiments on me?"
-Fwoosh.
I conjured a small flame in front of the woman's eyes.
To show her I still had enough mana left to kill her if I wanted.
Empty threats wouldn't cut it anymore. I had to demonstrate some force, even if it cost a bit of mana.
But the woman didn't even flinch.
As if the flame I lit wasn't even visible to her.
"Live experiments? Your parents sold your corpse—and all rights to you—to us. Don't you get what that means?"
"Selling rights......Even parents can't just do whatever they want with me......"
Emotion surged up, and I snapped back. Parents were parents, even shitty ones, but they couldn't just treat their kid like property.
But the woman cut me off coldly.
"You're legally dead. An unnamed corpse. Erased from existence in this world. What rights does a corpse have?"
Rights of a corpse.
Words implying that someone who'd died once had no rights at all.
What about someone who'd died and come back?
Dead people don't come back to life. Naturally, there are no laws for that.
At best, laws against desecrating a corpse. And even that was more the rights of the bereaved family than the corpse itself.
"Your parents sold every last one of those family rights to us. Still not getting it?"
I got it.
I was already dead on paper, and this woman had bought all rights to that dead me. I was unprotected now. It all clicked.
Officially, I wasn't human anymore. I'd lost the basic rights humans enjoy. Completely outside the safety net of law and society.
......But here I was, alive and kicking.
No rebuttal came to mind. Nothing logical, anyway—just emotional appeals.
"I'm a scientist. I want data, not to torment you. Cooperate without resisting, and I won't treat you badly. Food, bed, mana recharges—the works."
The woman spoke softly, as if to reassure me.
She probably meant it about wanting data. She didn't seem like a raving lunatic like that guy who burned to death earlier. Or maybe I just wanted to believe that.
"......Fine. I won't resist. I'll cooperate with the experiments. So untie me first."
"You still don't get your situation."
The woman sighed in exasperation.
"What are you gonna do if I untie you?"
"What do you mean, what......"
Going straight home naturally popped into my head.
Untie me, kill this woman, escape, head home.
But those parents had sold me. Sold my corpse, technically, but that house wasn't home anymore anyway.
Then where?
Next, Yuuki's face surfaced.
Was Yuuki still mad?
She'd probably gotten over it hearing I was dead. Maybe regretting how cold she'd been to me right now.
Even if she was still pissed, I'd kneel, grovel, dogeza—whatever. She wouldn't ignore me. Yuuki was kind like that.
Yeah. That's the plan. Apologize sincerely, beg forgiveness. She'd forgive me. We'd make up, go back to being best friends. Friends fight sometimes, right?
Yuuki being a guy or girl didn't matter. Yeah, Yuuki was Yuuki. I'd yield, she'd yield, and we'd start over from scratch.
As I pictured getting along with Yuuki again in my mind, the woman scolded me pityingly.
"Listen. You're in no position to demand release or whatever. I'll tie you if I need to, untie you if I don't. You're a test subject. Ever seen a lab rat ask to be let out of its cage?"
Lab rat.
Is that how I looked to her?
I was a perfectly fine person.
"Say I kill you and escape safely. You think I could just live normally after that? I'd be wanted, shot on sight."
Thinking about it, I'd died doing something stupid once already.
That death was behind me now, but coming back to life and killing again? Killing her would make me a double murderer. No normal life after that, like she said.
Checkmate.
Every path forward blocked.
No escape hatch in sight, no matter how I looked.
"......Got it. I'll cooperate with the experiments."
"Smart choice."
"But let me go when they're done."
"Obviously. You'll just be baggage once the data collection's over."
I gave up.
To survive, I had to become her test subject.
As long as I was useful, she wouldn't kill me.
I didn't know what experiments she'd run, but once they ended, a useless me would have no reason to stay chained. She'd let me go.
Unreliable guesswork, sure. Letting my imagination run dark led to endless horrors. But right now, it was my only option.
"So, what do I do?"
"First things first... yeah. Let's recharge your mana. Can't have you panicking without any, right?"
With that, the woman left the lab.
Mana recharge.
Drink some Rune Holder's semen, huh.
......Fine. If I have to drink it, I will.
I'd steeled myself for that much as a test subject. Resisting now might change her mind, so maximum cooperation was key.
Disgusting, but bearable. Think of it as a way to see Yuuki again. Yeah, pretend it's Yuuki's...
Yuuki... give me strength...
──But.
I soon regretted my lack of imagination.
* * *
A little later.
The woman came back grunting, pushing a steel box as tall as herself.
A massive padlock secured its door. It looked like a small container—or a mobile prison.
"This is all because you killed my assistant. How're you gonna make it up to me?"
The woman grumbled something.
But I wasn't in any state to care.
-Thud. Thud.
Something inside the box was pounding.
Like a living creature trapped within.
I flinched with every sound. A weird smell wafted too.
"W-What's that? What's inside?"
"What? I said a 'mana-possessing lifeform,' remember?"
She wiped fake sweat from her brow as she answered my panicked question.
'Mana-possessing lifeform'?
"Y-You don't mean a Rune Holder, right?"
"We've got plenty of data on those already."
She spoke flatly and inserted a key into the padlock.
-Click.
The lock sprang open.
"Wait, hold on! What are you doing?!"
Instead of answering, she removed the padlock and opened the door.
A filthy wild animal stench poured out.
-Grrr......
Unmistakably not human.
The creature stepped out on two legs.
Green skin. Filthy appearance.
Twisted features, protruding teeth.
It was the basic monster we learned about first at the Academy.
A goblin.
"From now on, you mate with this one."
"Mate......"
I wasn't so stupid I didn't know what that meant.
I'd braced for Rune Holder semen, though even that was questionable if I'd truly braced for it. But this? Mating with a monster──
"N-No......"
No bracing for this. Impossible. My mind couldn't accept it.
"You'll hate it at first, sure. But you'll come around quick."
Like it was routine. Like breeding humans and goblins was just another day on the job.
Come to think of it, she wasn't normal either. Her colleague burned alive in front of her, and she hadn't batted an eye.
Maybe this outwardly normal-looking woman was the real danger, more than that obviously deranged guy.
I belatedly cursed my complacency.
-Grrr.
The goblin's red eyes reflected me, bound to the bed.
Filthy smell assaulted me. Drool dripped from its gaping maw.
I couldn't read goblin expressions, but it seemed ready to vent its pent-up rage on me.
I recalled goblin traits from Academy lessons.
Low intelligence, weak. But high libido—mated indiscriminately with any female, kin or not.
Goblins were the punchline basic monster in games and comics. No one at the Academy feared or mocked them.
Who knew the real thing would be this horrifying.
No.
Help.
Help me, Yuuki...!
-Gahrr.
The goblin laughed like it'd found easy prey.
Or maybe not laughter—just my imagination. Either way, I had no room for calm judgment.
"S-Stay back!"
I activated my rune at the goblin.
Pure instinct, no time to worry about mana cost.
-Grah!?
Aimed to burn its face, but mana shortage foiled me.
All I mustered was a fingertip-sized spark.
-Gyaaarrr──!!
Singed nose fueling its fury, the goblin roared.
Its face twisted not with filthy lust, but kill-rage.
"......No. Stay back. Stay back......!"
-Clank. Clank clank.
Handcuffs kept me from fleeing.
Mana depleted. Runes useless.
No escape.
I went limp.
......Yuuki......
I wanted to apologize...
Start over from the beginning...
Sorry. Looks like it's not happening.
Sorry.
Sorry. Sorry.
......This must be the real punishment Tsukimiya Akane dealt me.
For betraying Yuuki, hurting people.
Accept it. Die and atone.
I shut my eyes, abandoning all hope.
......And then.
──BOOM!
The lab shook like it might collapse. I opened my eyes.
The goblin had turned toward the noise.
But its head was soon severed.
Arms and torso followed.
Sliced into six pieces in an instant, the goblin didn't bleed—instead crumbling to dust and vanishing like smoke.
"......Fuck."
A low curse from that voice.
A face, a voice I'd never forget.
The man I hated like an enemy.
"Naibusu, Winzer?"
Why was Naibusu here?
As I struggled to process the sudden turn, the woman approached him.
"Here to rescue me? Thanks! A monster just broke──"
Her words never finished.
-Thud.
Her face frozen mid-sentence.
The severed head hit the floor.
Naibusu had slain her without hesitation, just like he'd done to me.
"Fuck."
Naibusu cursed again.
His eyes turned to me this time.
"Ah."
But.
Not the icy glare from when he'd stabbed me dead.
These eyes burned with rage.
- Chapter 5. Rebirth Complete -