Excuse Me, Are You Suffering from an Illness...?
As soon as I stepped into the shower room, Jerik hyung greeted me with a thick string of curses.
“……Yes?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Just…….”
Jerik hyung mumbled vaguely and turned his head away, resuming his washing.
I tilted my head in confusion, then moved to a spot a little distance from him and turned the shower handle. Hot water with a reddish tint poured down, washing away every trace of goblin blood that had caked my body.
Whew, I finally feel clean….
But… had hyung just been staring between my legs?
It was a bit embarrassing, but I’d heard that this kind of casual closeness was normal among mercenaries.
Alright. Maybe it would be better to act a little friendlier?
When I glanced sideways, Jerik hyung was looking at me again. The moment our eyes met in midair, he flinched.
“Hyung, why are you turning your body away like that?”
“N-no reason. Just washing, that’s all……”
“You’ve been stuttering strangely since earlier, hmm?”
As I slowly edged closer, Jerik hyung reflexively widened the distance between us.
“Hmm? Why are you acting like that? Why are you running away…?”
A strand of hair was clinging to the corner of his mouth, so I gently brushed it aside and approached him again, my voice carrying a hint of playful mischief.
“U-uhh…!! Wait, y-you bastard—what the hell are you thinking? Don’t come any closer!”
“You’re not even answering me properly and just keep refusing…….”
I looked at Jerik hyung’s lower body, which he had finally turned toward me.
There, an utterly strange sight filled my eyes.
What was that?
Where had the thick, long rod gone? And what was that instead…?
Even the balls should have been at least the size of small peaches like mine….
Wait a second.
I wiped the dumbfounded look off my face and closed my mouth. After thinking it over carefully, it made sense. Everyone had individual differences, after all. Some parts might simply be less developed.
Even I had been weak and frail until the priestess treated my rare disease.
This must be the same for him.
Oh, you poor thing….
I slowly scanned Jerik hyung’s body from top to bottom, then spoke with the utmost care.
In the most humble tone possible, brimming with pity and sympathy—
“Um… do you perhaps suffer from an illness…?”
“……………………….”
For a moment, hyung simply stared at me blankly. Then his expression shifted as if something had clicked, and his face gradually twisted into something ugly.
“Illness…. You fucking bastard, what the hell did you just say?”
“No, hyung, why are you suddenly cursing……”
“You three have been noisy since earlier. If there’s a problem, at least wait until after the shower…… huh?”
At the raised voices, Kant and Vold—the two middle-aged men washing on the opposite side—turned toward us. They were about to intervene when, just like Jerik, their gazes locked onto my lower half.
I looked at theirs in return.
Inside, I was shocked.
What is this? Why is only mine so different……?
It was unlikely all three of them were suffering from the same illness at once.
Come to think of it, aside from seeing my friends naked when we were very young, I had never seen an adult man’s bare body. I hadn’t gone to the stream with friends or trained together in recent years, so there had been no chance to bathe with them. And ever since my rare disease had narrowed my range of activity, I had spent years following a strict, solitary routine under the priestess.
Could it be because of my rare disease…?
“Rowen, don’t tell me one of your parents was a minotaur…! Ah, no. That’s a bit harsh. Anyway, explain yourself. What the hell is that?”
“Explain? I’m… confused too. I’m not entirely sure, but I think it might be because of my rare disease….”
I went on to describe my medical history. But the three of them didn’t seem particularly interested in the story.
Then Jerik hyung’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Hyung-nims, just a moment…” he muttered, whispering something to the other two.
The three of them huddled together, murmuring, before turning back to me and firing off question after question.
“Uh, around 18 centimeters, I think.”
“Then when you get excited, the length……”
“Ah, that… I’ve never had it grow before, so I wouldn’t know.”
“…………Are you joking with us right now?”
“I’m being completely serious……”
“Oh. I-I see……. By the way, how old are you?”
“Ah, I’ve just become an adult……”
“Ooh……”
From that point on, they kept letting out strange, drawn-out exclamations of “Ooh…”
Why were they asking about all this? And why were they suddenly asking about experience with women?
No matter how casual mercenaries were supposed to be, wasn’t this a bit excessive?
When I finally started showing clear discomfort, the three of them waved their hands and apologized, saying they were sorry.
Our shower ended in that awkward atmosphere.
We didn’t linger any longer. We left Greenwood Shelter and decided to return to Pletur.
After a quick reorganization, a carriage arrived right on time and carried our party away.
Maybe it was because this had been my first request—once the tension eased, drowsiness hit me like a wave. I closed my eyes for a moment.
.
.
.
Several dozen minutes later.
“We’ve reached the destination!”
The coachman’s rough shout snapped me awake. I yawned, stretched, and reflexively followed the three men out of the carriage.
While I was rubbing my eyes, the carriage gradually pulled away.
Good. The first request was complete, and now…… huh?
The solid walls of Pletur that should have been right in front of us looked strangely far away.
Only then did I look around properly. This was a fair distance from the city gate, in a forest thick with trees.
“Uncle Kant, why did we get off here instead of near the gate?”
“Aah. It’s nothing special. We just have some things to discuss about the settlement.”
“Settlement?”
The subjugation reward was only four ether gems. What more was there to settle?
As I wondered that, suddenly—
I instinctively threw my body to the side and rolled across the ground.
Whiriririk….
Where I had been standing moments earlier, a gray net thrown by Jerik hyung landed. It was clearly an artifact!
Hyung stared at me with a dumbfounded expression, as if he couldn’t believe I had dodged it.
I raised my buckler and drew my gladius in one smooth motion.
“Hyung, uncles…… No—you people! What the hell is this?!”
The sudden change in the situation still didn’t feel real.
And in broad daylight, this close to the visible city gate….
“Damn it, he’s not some kind of animal…. Hyung-nim, what do we do now?”
“I was the idiot for trusting you. Capture him with as little injury as possible. …No, I’ll do it myself.”
Where had the kind-looking uncle gone?
Kant approached with a dead-serious expression, axe and round shield in hand. I could feel every muscle in his body tensing.
I took deep breaths, trying to calm my pounding heart.
From the very first strike, I poured in every ounce of strength I had…!
Kaaang!!!!!
The clash of shields. Metal screamed against metal.
The result was shocking.
With a single blow, I sent Kant flying nearly two meters backward. His heavily armored body crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.
“………Son of a bitch!”
Vold, the oldest member of the party, had been quietly watching. He spat a small curse and quickly closed in.
When Vold thrust his long spear at me, the difference in reach immediately put me on the defensive. The spear’s specialty was controlling distance and never allowing an approach.
If I could just get close…!
Without hesitation, I hurled my gladius at Vold.
He clearly hadn’t expected me to throw my weapon away; he made a large, clumsy movement to dodge it.
That was all the time I needed.
Thud.
“Kuk… Keok……”
My buckler slammed into Vold’s abdomen. He let out a pained groan and collapsed, unconscious.
When I turned my head one last time, Jerik was just nocking an arrow. The moment our eyes met, he swallowed hard, then seemed to think better of it. He spun around and began to flee.
But when I ran with everything I had, I caught up to him in no time.
Seeing the look of pure terror on Jerik’s face from the side, I swung my buckler one final time and knocked him out.
Despite how urgent the situation had felt, the entire fight hadn’t even taken a full minute.
I looked down at my own hands.
What is this? Why is the difference in strength so massive? Is it because they’re on the weaker side even among those at the initial stage of the 1st Realm…?
Kant had clearly claimed he was at the middle stage of the 1st Realm with his own mouth.
No, beyond the ether realm, it felt like there was a fundamental difference in raw physical power.
“Uuuu……”
While I was thinking, I noticed Kant still groaning. He hadn’t fully fainted. His body seemed paralyzed from the impact, unable to move.
“You…. You were hiding your strength. Were you just toying with us?”
“Toying? Are you kidding me right now? Just tell me why you did this.”
“…………………………”
No matter how many times I pressed him, Kant refused to answer.
I bit my lip.
If I harmed my own party members on my very first request… the rumors would spread like wildfire. Even if people thought he’s just a mercenary, I didn’t want to take lives if I could help it.
Kant seemed to sense that and was stubbornly holding out.
Cowardly bastard….
I sighed, then raised my buckler again and brought it down on his chest armor. But all it produced was clanging sounds and more groans. When I actually tried to knock him out on purpose, it wasn’t as easy as I thought.
“Kuuu…… Stop it, please stop the torture……”
“Are you ready to talk now? Will you confess?”
“…………………………”
“Just a moment. If I hit the temple hard…… is it around here?”
“D-don’t! If you hit me with that strength, I’ll really d-die.”
“Then you should have fainted earlier like the others.”
.
.
.
A short while later, I stood over the three unconscious men, deep in thought.
I had collected the proof of request completion…….
Alright. It was unfortunate, but I would leave their ether pockets here.
I was going to report this to the guild, and I was worried there might be complications. Since there were regulations for situations like this, the guild would sort out the truth.
With heavy steps, I headed back toward the city.