A Leopard Beastkin Raids the House
…I went and did it anyway.
He had sworn he would never call a woman a female, and yet that vow had crumbled with pathetic ease. The word—the instinct—slipped out of him as naturally as if he had always been this way, the sort of thing no amount of willpower could hold back. He found himself a little revolting for it. Then he remembered how close death had come, right up against his throat, and the rationalization arrived on its own: he hadn't had a choice.
First priority is satisfying her.
Yuyeong, right in front of him, had already gone fully into heat. She had climaxed on his command alone, and still it hadn't been enough to take the edge off. Her breathing stayed rough and ragged.
"Yuyeong. You still don't look satisfied… Let's go back to the bedroom for now."
"Y-yes…"
At his order she nodded at once and followed him into the room. From morning until evening that day, there was hardly a moment when moans didn't spill out of the bedroom. The place was that loud. Fortunately he had nothing on the schedule, so spending the day like this hardly mattered.
Once the bout of sex was finally over, Arang sat on the edge of the bed. He had only meant to talk. He had told himself it would be better to work the heat out of her body first, and somehow that had turned into going at it from morning straight through to late night.
He turned his head to check the bed. Yuyeong lay there like a corpse, out cold, semen still leaking from her in a slow trickle. He wiped her clean of what was running down her body, then drew the blanket up over her. A B-RankHero almost never caught a cold, but you never knew. Heroes were not invincible. They were the sort of people who could fall at any time.
Anyway… what am I supposed to do from here?
He had succeeded in bringing Angel down. The problem was what came next. The real question was how to make contact with the other heroes and build anything like a relationship with them.
Yuyeong's already head over heels for me. She'll listen to whatever I say.
He could probably get introductions through her. Of course, he suspected the ceiling on those introductions would be other B-Rank heroes.
I'd like a line to an A-Rank hero, at least.
He already had a tie to an S-Rank Hero—someone he had met outside not long ago, someone whose number he had exchanged. Even so, it was far too early to lay a hand on the Steel Empress. Whatever he did, he had to climb one careful step at a time, in the proper order.
He had been turning it over in his head for a good long while when the doorbell chimed.
Ding-dong!
The sound startled him. He went to the intercom. On the screen, a woman stood outside the door. The picture quality was too poor to make out what she actually looked like.
…Nobody should be coming by at this hour.
Just in case, he straightened the place up in a hurry, changed his clothes, and shut the bedroom door tight on the room where Yuyeong lay. Then he went to the entryway and, before opening the door, called out.
"Who is it?"
"…A man's voice?"
The answer was not the kind he had expected. What happened immediately after was even more absurd.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
She started hammering on the thick steel door, then tried to force it open outright.
A villain?
No real answer—just pounding and yanking, hard enough to smash the door apart. In the next instant Arang drew the wings from his shoulder blades and dropped into a fighting stance. The trait she possessed—
Trait — B-Rank
Harder than steel. Defense and offense in equal measure.
It was still only a B-Rank ability, and yet the wings were harder than steel, serviceable for defense, offense, and plenty else besides. He spread them and set his stance so he could launch himself at the unknown presence at any moment.
Bang!
Krrrk—crack!
Fist-marks began to bloom across the door, one after another, and before long the door itself was torn clean off. It hit the floor with a heavy thud, and at last the uninvited guest came into view.
…A leopard?
A woman with a bright yellow bob. Her ears and tail, though, belonged to a leopard. A character he was seeing for the first time. Back when he had played the game, he had never once encountered a heroine with an ability like that. Her figure was exceptional, and her face was staggeringly beautiful, but—
That isn't what matters right now.
"Grrrng!"
She was already worked up past the point of reason, and he had to calm her down. She felt like a superhuman of at least A-Rank—
The thought never finished. The leopard beastkin was on him in a blink.
Whoom!
Clang!
He threw his wings up and caught the heavy, blindingly fast punch, but sparks jumped and he was shoved back a step at a time.
"Kh—!"
"You—who the hell are you! Why is there a man in my sister's house?!"
A numbing vibration shot through his whole body. She didn't seem to care in the slightest. The leopard girl kept screaming and driving her fists in.
…Sister?
He could set the sister business aside for later. Calming this lunatic came first.
"Just calm down for a second…! I'm Yuyeong's sidekick! I'm not some creep!"
"Sidekick, my ass! You've got a power, so what kind of sidekick are you supposed to be?!"
It did nothing. She kept swinging, attacking as if she meant to smash his wings to pieces.
If I get driven back like this, the house is finished!
If the house was wrecked, he would have nowhere left to go. It absolutely could not be destroyed. A door could be fixed quickly enough. Anything past that was not allowed.
"No, seriously, just calm—"
"Die! Die! Dieee!!!"
His teeth ground together. He wanted to smack her for attacking like a mindless animal, but he didn't have the strength for it.
Yuyeong needs to get out here, fast…!
He couldn't hold forever. So they went on like that, her pounding and him blocking, over and over—until she finally spent herself.
"Haaah… hah…"
She stopped throwing punches of her own accord and fell back a step.
"Wh-why is this so hard…?"
"Please, could you just listen to me…?"
He supposed he ought to be grateful she had hit everything she wanted to hit, worn herself out, and quit.
"I'm not a creep, and I'm not a villain. I'm just Yuyeong's sidekick. As for the power… please understand that it has to do with an ability I awakened recently. That's all."
"Hoo… You're my sister's sidekick? You're really sure about that?"
"Do I look like I've spent my whole life getting duped? If I'm lying, you're welcome to rip my heart out with your own hands. I won't resist."
"…"
Put that way, she seemed to have nothing left to say. She lowered her fists and simply stared at him.
"Where's my sister?"
"She's asleep in her room right n—"
Ah. Wait.
The room, right now…
"—ot asleep. She had an early job and went out."
"…You!"
Her leopard ears pricked. She had caught something off, and she headed straight for the room where Yuyeong was sleeping.
"H-hey, where are you going?!"
Flustered, Arang started throwing out whatever words came to hand, trying to stop her.
"I must have misspoken. Yuyeong really did have work. She went out."
"I mean—is it really fine for a hero to break into another hero's house uninvited?"
"When a person is talking, you listen! You beast!!!"
Twitch…
At the word beast, she stopped mid-stride, the heavy tread of her steps cutting off. It was a little extreme, but had it actually worked? Then she turned her head and looked at him for a moment. Those eyes, that gaze, belonged to a predator, no question.
"…"
People said that from A-Rank upward, you were in a different class entirely. Right. Honestly, holding a B-Rank trait didn't mean you possessed combat power on that level, and he might have been running his mouth too freely.
…I still have to resist.
If she saw the state of that room, it wouldn't be strange at all if she tore him apart on the spot. But he had already used every method available to him. All that was left was to pray she wouldn't kill him after she saw what was inside.
Click.
The sound of a hand on the doorknob came through clear as anything.
Rattle. Creeeak.
She turned the knob and walked straight in.
"Sis! I'm he—"
The moment she stepped inside, she froze solid, like someone turned to ice. Even the tail that had been swaying went rigid, and that alone told him just how cold the air in the room had become. Aside from the faint twitch of her nose as she took in the scent, she was perfectly frozen.
"…"
Arang's life was in her hands now. Either he took a beating until she was satisfied, or he died. Those were the only two choices.
"Nnngh…"
And right in the middle of it, Yuyeong stirred in her sleep and pushed herself up off the bed.
"Maaaster. I'm still sleepy, why are you waking me…?"
She stretched long and opened her eyes—and could not get another word out. Just like the leopard beastkin, Yuyeong locked up.
"Ah, ah, ah…"
For a long moment she only made the same sound, over and over, like a Nutube video stuck buffering. Only then did it hit her how catastrophically wrong this was.
"Reshi. This isn't—it's not what it looks like… no… how am I even supposed to explain this."
Yuyeong barely managed to work her mouth, but she still couldn't seem to find any excuse that held together.
"S-Sis… what in the world is going on…?"
The leopard beastkin asked it next.
"…"
Yuyeong gave no answer at all. Arang looked at the two of them for a moment, then stepped into the room and planted himself between the beastkin and Yuyeong. What he caught in passing was this: the ears of the leopard beastkin called Reshi were burning hot.
Must be my imagination.
He was too tense. Clearly he was seeing things.
"All right. Both of you, please calm down, and let's settle this by talking. We're all mature adults, aren't we?"
Please. Please. Please. Let it end with a conversation. In his head, Arang prayed to every god except the goddess, fighting to steady his pounding heart.
"…"
The first to react was Reshi. Her mouth opened and closed a few times. Then she edged backward, broke into a sprint, and fled the house in an instant.
"…"
"…"
Arang and Yuyeong could only stare after her, blank.
"…I have a feeling there's quite a lot I'm going to need to hear."
"Y-yeah…"
"Yuyeong. No—should I just be calling you Yuyeong now…? Anyway, I need to start with what the two of you are to each other. Could you tell me?"
Before anything else, he had to pin down the relationship—and the chain of cause and effect—between her and that leopard beastkin, Reshi. And on top of that, the lifespan he stood to gain by training the beastkin called Reshi was, of all things…
Fifteen years.
Three times higher than Yuyeong.