Chapter 72
Karen began her experiment. "Haa... I want to go back to the Magic Tower."
While the Hero was off getting his weapon reforged, Karen sat in the room the dwarves had prepared for her, muttering to herself.
Truth be told, Karen had never been all that fond of the Magic Tower to begin with. Sure, it was stuffed to the brim with all sorts of magic tomes, but the people inside were mostly just deranged old coots obsessed with magic. Even someone like Karen, who loved magic more than anyone and burned with scholarly passion, had her limits when it came to hanging around those fossils. That was part of the reason she'd used her independent experiments as an excuse to sneak out of the tower so often.
But now, for the first time in her life, Karen was realizing just how peaceful and stable the Magic Tower had been. The Hero was brutally violent in a barbaric way, and the dwarves... well, they were a cursed race that really ought to vanish from the world.
Karen had always had sky-high self-esteem, so the dwarves' taunts about her looks had just sounded like utter bullshit to her. But things were different now. Her pride had been utterly shattered by the Hero, leaving her huddled up and shrinking at their jokes about her appearance.
And on top of that, I completely lost my mind.
Karen glanced down at her finger, lost in thought. It was the wound from just before they arrived at the Dwarf City, bitten by that skeletal lizard.
The Hero and the accompanying dwarves hadn't said a word, but Karen remembered everything clearly. She hadn't been totally out of it—more like drunk, if anything.
Suddenly, the memory of her embarrassing behavior flooded back, and her face burned hot. She'd spewed words she didn't even know the meaning of, against her will, and moved in ways so grotesque even zombies would run from her.
How the hell did I end up like that?
But she was still the Magic Tower's genius mage, a woman who couldn't resist her curiosity. Karen objectively reviewed her state at the time and began analyzing what principle had driven her into that condition.
As the Hero had said, the body did tend to grow accustomed to pain bit by bit. The climb to the Dwarf City had been hellish, nearly killing her, but after sweating buckets, she'd felt strangely refreshed. And in that moment of mad babbling, all physical pain had vanished, replaced by a bizarre sensation of her body floating free.
Pondering that alien feeling, Karen recalled an old memory. It involved one of the tower's elderly mages, who devoured spicy food beyond what any sane person could handle.
"Does that even taste good?"
"Nah, it doesn't taste good at all. But man, eating it? That hits different."
Curiosity piqued, Karen had snuck a tiny bite of what he was eating—and nearly died on the spot. As she stomped her feet and chugged water, the mage burst out laughing and explained why he craved the burn.
"Kekekeke. Karen, it's not that simple. Your brain needs time to adapt too."
"Adapt?"
She'd asked while scrubbing her tongue with water, as he tapped his head with a finger.
"Yep. The brain's a wonder—it releases endorphins to endure the pain. Get good at it like me, and they just keep flowing, leaving you drunk as hell. That high drives you nuts; once you taste it, you're hooked. Better not even try."
The spice-obsessed mage had explained it that way, and Karen had let it slide at the time. But now, she wondered if she'd tasted those very endorphins her brain pumped out.
Yeah... come to think of it, getting punched in the gut isn't all bad...
Recalling her chat with the mage, her thoughts naturally drifted to the Hero. The first punch had felt like her guts were twisting inside out, but as he kept at it—like he'd said—she was getting used to it.
Of course, she didn't like getting hit in the stomach yet. She just noticed that the pain varied depending on exactly where on her abdomen it landed.
Upper abdomen: breath cut off, world spinning, lights out fast.
A bit lower: vomit rising naturally.
Navel area: organs churning with shock.
The real issue was just below the navel. It hurt more than the navel hit, but amid the pain, a sly pleasure would creep up.
Is that spot what stimulates the brain?
Karen figured the weird fluid staining her panties was from that brain rush too. Sharp as she was, her sexual knowledge was zilch, leading her to a bizarre conclusion.
And for a pure mage like her, there was only one thing to do: test the hypothesis.
"Mm."
She balled her small fist and rapped her lower belly quick.
Punching herself wasn't easy, and midway through, fear sapped her strength.
"That's... not it."
It was nowhere near the Hero's force. Karen sighed lightly, clenched her fist again.
Pain adapted, and so did fear, diluting bit by bit. This time, she hit a little harder.
"Urgh!"
Her frail body twitched and trembled. Pain stung, sure—but so did that naughty pleasure, mending her like balm.
Again...? Already?
Feeling her underwear grow damp, Karen confirmed her theory was spot on.
"Urk!"
What the hell is this situation?
Having finished commissioning Katrin, I'd come to check on Karen. Her state before we reached the Dwarf City had bugged me a bit.
But opening the door to her assigned room, I was too stunned to speak.
She was straight-up self-harming, punching her own gut.
"...Haat!"
And even weirder was what came after. Wriggling in agony, then suddenly moaning lewdly, legs twisting together—not exactly normal.
"...You okay?"
"Kyaa!"
I finally asked, and she, lost in her self-beating trance, spotted me and screamed.
"W-what? No knock or anything."
"Sorry about that. But seriously, you good?"
The knock was trivial compared to this. Karen was someone I'd use long-term; her going off the deep end into self-harm was a big problem.
Reading my worried look, her face flushed crimson.
"Th-this is, uh, an experiment."
"Experiment?"
I tilted my head at her unprompted explanation.
Her eyes shook, but she kept babbling excuses.
"Like you said, Hero, I was just testing if you can get used to pain."
"And?"
"And what?"
"So, what'd the experiment show?"
Her face ripened red again at my question. I didn't know the results of her masochism test, but damn, human skin had stages of blush.
"Uh, still... experimenting."
"Cool. Let me know when you figure it out."
I chuckled. Like Jena gone weirdly broken, Karen seemed to be cracking bit by bit.
"There you are."
Then James's voice came from the open doorway. I eyed his serious face outside; Karen did too.
"What's up?"
"An emissary from the Demon King's army showed up."
I cocked my head at his words. The Demon King's forces I knew weren't polite enough to send envoys to enemies.
Besides, Bahamons wasn't the type for this crap. He was the lord of death, cursing the living and speaking for the dead.
"Come on. Everyone's waiting for you two."
James beckoned us, and I followed with a uneasy frown.