The Magician on the Bed (1)
"Today... finally... you're going to learn... your first magic..."
Out in the vacant lot behind the tavern, Ria had been gripping my hand tightly since morning as she said those words.
Hmm. Did she really need to lace our fingers together like that?
"Now... your Sex Power... has grown a lot..."
This time she pressed the back of my hand to her cheek as if confirming something.
"I carved the magic circuits into you too... Same as mine...❤"
"Taeyoung... your Sex Power is still low... Efficiency... cost-effectiveness... matters..."
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
"Heheh❤ Start with... an easy spell... Experience it. Itch!"
A thin green light flashed from our joined hands and slowly spread through my entire body.
Is this really okay?
In the next instant an all-consuming itch engulfed me, as if every mosquito in the world had feasted on me the night before.
"Gyaaah! Ugh! What the hell!"
I tore my hand free and clawed at myself all over. To reach the spots my fingers couldn't, I dropped to the dirt and crawled. Even the places I could reach made me feel like I was about to lose my mind. The itch sank into every nerve I possessed—even my eyeballs.
"Dispel."
Just like that, the sensation vanished as though it had never existed.
"Hah... hah... Wh-what the hell was that?"
The bewilderment still rattled around inside my skull. It was a completely different flavor of suffering from the chemical-warfare drills back in the army.
"Itch. An itching spell... Even armored warriors... can't endure it... Low Sex Power. High efficiency."
"And... if you control it carefully... down there... it feels good..."
The barbarian warrior-woman and the mage who had been watching my lesson shuddered in unison.
"As expected of an elf from the West Forest..."
"I hate fighting those bitches. Scrambles your brains for days. They're all lunatics."
With that, they bolted into the tavern as if they'd just seen something truly terrifying.
Magic resonance detected. Inputting into magic circuit.
Spell acquired: Itch
Even after the itch disappeared in an instant, my body still hadn't quite caught up. My own skin felt foreign, as if it belonged to someone else.
"It's okay... Don't be scared..."
Ria murmured the words as she pulled me—still slumped on the ground—into her arms and gently patted my back. The soft press of her chest against my face made sensation flood back as if by magic. Feeling Ria's warm embrace again, the same one I knew every night, sent a strangely heated pulse straight downward.
She gave my ear a light lick and whispered,
"Hehe... Now try... using it on me..."
So that was why she'd been clinging so much. She guided my hand and lightly pressed it against her own crotch.
Ah, what the hell.
"Itch!"
A strange little current—something like energy, or power—drained from my fingertips. A green light, a shade deeper than Ria's, flickered for the briefest moment.
"Uu... uhooh❤"
Ria trembled, just faintly.
Whoa, is it supposed to feel like that? That good? Doesn't it itch?
"As expected... You did so well...❤"
Her flushed face looked thoroughly pleased.
"Hnn❤ Nice... I think you're ready..."
"Ready for what?"
"Hehe... Look forward... to it."
She kissed me happily, then hurried into the tavern.
Uh... does she not need to dispel that first?
—Crash, bang, clatter.
A fairly noisy racket erupted inside. Then Mina's voice boomed through the walls.
"Whaaaaat?! Why are you only telling me this now?!"
Seriously, what is going on?
Sitting across a table from two suddenly serious elves, I couldn't help remembering a week ago. Back then I never would have imagined things would turn out like this...
"Haa... Why didn't you say anything sooner?"
"About what?"
Mina's tone was pure irritation, yet the way her thin T-shirt clung with sweat while she fanned herself with one hand made her look like a kitchen veteran who'd put in decades of service.
"You... that... the s-sex-battler thing."
She'd already ditched her bra because of the heat, and now, suddenly embarrassed, she flushed scarlet, tilted her face toward me, and mumbled the words under her breath. It was secretly pretty cute.
"What about me being a Sex Battler?"
"Shh! Idiot! Keep your voice down!"
Is it really that big a deal?
"Taeyoung... isn't from this world... He needs... an explanation..."
Ria smiled gently as she spoke to Mina.
"Tch. Never thought we'd find him this fast."
"Find who? Me?"
Ria simply nodded without a word.
"In this world... everyone... has magic circuits..."
"Not having them is the weird part. You inherit them from your parents."
"But Taeyoung... was a blank slate... Like a tree that just sprouted from the earth... without any growth rings..."
Well, there was no real benefit to hiding it. I rambled out the absurd story of how I'd woken up in this world about a month ago. The two elves simply nodded and accepted it without fuss.
"So that's how it is. Haa... Thank goodness. We didn't waste our time after all."
Mina let out a long sigh of relief and tipped her head back.
"But why were you looking for me in the first place? Is it really me?"
"Direct orders from the Queen. We had to find someone to enter... the League."
I hadn't pegged her as the loyal-to-the-crown type, but then again I'd only known her for less than ten days. What did I really know?
Mina stood abruptly and went off to talk with the Dwarf Tavern Owner. In that short time the two of them had clearly grown close. The tavern owner's eyes glistened with tears, and Mina was plainly fighting hers back as well.
"Hic... Hic... Damn it, thank you for everything!"
"Don't you cry, Mina! Frustration is what forges a chef. We'll meet again someday."
Ria picked up the explanation Mina had left unfinished.
"Anyway... tomorrow... we're going back... to the forest..."
Ria spent quite a long time explaining, but because she spoke so slowly I dozed off at least once. The short version: they had been searching for a participant for the Sex Battle League that opened every two years. The original battler from the West Forest had gone missing. And in a world where the male-to-female ratio was already so catastrophically broken that women made up the overwhelming majority... a female Sex Battler? She would be prime prey.
"But why me of all people? My Sex Power is still low."
"That... the Queen will... tell you..."
The conversation only piled on more questions. Tch. Did this mean I was going back to living in the stables? I was already starting to miss the comfortable tavern bed.
Just then the Dwarf Tavern Owner's booming voice shook the entire hall.
"Kwahaha! Tonight we feast! A send-off for my first disciple, Mina!"
What about me? Wasn't I a disciple too? Was I just Employee Number One? And the people who worked here before me—were they just staff as well?
That stung a little.
"Dinner's free for everyone tonight! Eat and drink your fill!"
"Waaaaah!"
For adventurers whose purses were usually light, this was an unexpected treat. People said dwarves were notorious skinflints, but it was probably this very hot-blooded streak that kept them at the center of commerce.
"Mina! Mina! Mina! Mina!"
Even the two who had been grumbling about West Forest elves just that morning were now stomping their feet and chanting her name with gusto.
The long banquet stretched deep into the night. Tipsy adventurers hovered around me, though I suppose I should call it a kind of consideration—most of them took one look at Ria sitting across from me, offered a polite greeting, and backed off. Mina spent most of the evening making the rounds, pouring and drinking, and looked thoroughly plastered.
I sipped cool beer and asked Ria,
"Is she going to be all right?"
"She'll be... fine... probably?"
"Pfft—hahaha!"
"Hehe..."
We both burst out laughing at the same time. Our first meeting might have been the worst, but the result had been the best possible outcome for me. I'd awakened, and more importantly I'd learned magic. Thanks to that, I could finally stand at the starting line of an adventure I could survive on my own.
"Thank you."
"No need..."
Ria quietly shifted from across the table and rested her head on my shoulder.
The alcohol had risen in her cheeks; she smelled like a forest after an early-summer rain.
The send-off—no, the full-blown drinking riot—didn't wind down until well past midnight. The Dwarf Tavern Owner had long since passed out sprawled across the hall floor, and most of the adventurers were in the same state. Ria hauled Mina out of a barrel of booze and carried her up to their room. I climbed to my own room, flopped spread-eagle onto the bed, and felt the pleasant buzz wash over me again.
Is this the last night on a proper bed?
The thought made me a little melancholy. Well, things would work out somehow. Groundless confidence? Maybe. Either way, the magic basics Ria had taught me would be a huge help.
—Knock knock.
A soft rapping at the door.
"You're still... awake, right?"
Ria's familiar voice.
"...I'm coming in."
Ria entered, towing a thoroughly flushed Mina behind her. I propped myself up on my elbows from where I'd been lying across the bed and looked up at the two of them.
"Huh...? Both of you? What's going on? And what are those clothes?"
"Hehe... These are... the traditional garments... of a master, passed down since ancient times."
As she spoke, Ria began caressing Mina's ear and cheek. Like licking a perfectly ripe plum, she slowly laved Mina's ear and the nape of her neck.
"Hnn... S-stop... nngh..."
Ria didn't stop.
"Nngh... Ria, this is embarrassing..."
"Heh... Heh❤ It's fine."
Then she gently took Mina's hand and drew her toward me. Ria climbed onto me first, settling lightly astride my body, and kissed me slow and deep. The sweet fruit wine she'd been sipping all evening flowed into my mouth on her tongue.
—Smack.
Our tongues tangled briefly, then parted, leaving a thin silver thread glittering between them.
"D-damn it! Why did you even bring me along?"
Mina stood fidgeting behind them, clutching the hem of her short skirt, face blazing red.
"Mina... holding back... was hard, wasn't it? Come here..."
"I-I don't know!"
Even so, Mina stepped closer to Ria and me. Then the two of them kissed.
"Haah... mmph... nngh...❤ Heh..."
Ria, straddling my stomach, began rubbing her crotch against me in small, deliberate motions. The stockings grew damp with her juices, filling the night with wet, intimate sounds. I slipped a hand under Mina's skirt. She didn't refuse. If anything, she was even wetter than Ria.
The real send-off was only just beginning.