Friend of the Freemen, Karin (2)
For several days, as I sold my body to men, I realized this work wasn't quite as wretched as I'd imagined. Of course, that was only because I'd already endured far worse.
Being reduced to a wind-up toy and onahole by strangers in the fortress tower's basement while missing limbs and pumped full of drugs, or being raped daily by an old childhood friend—few things could be darker than those.
Though I had no time of my own, the daytime hours were half-free. Customers were scarce during the day. With permission from the doorman and the pimp, I could even go out, and since this was technically a job, I could earn money. I was almost tempted to settle into this life. It was work that ended when you got old, but I could rewind my body's age.
When I had time, I caught up on sleep or read books. There wasn't much else to do.
That meant there were a few times when I had to receive customers while in the middle of reading a grimoire. Those customers seemed to like it quite a bit. The thrill of crushing a clever woman, I suppose. Arto must have been advertising me as a "well-educated woman."
…Until the fifth day after starting work, I thought it was better than expected.
On the afternoon of the fifth day, when it had grown so dark I couldn't read without lighting a lamp, Arto sent in six customers at once. Judging by their clothes, they looked like sons of similarly well-off families—likely the offspring of minor nobles, wealthy merchants, lawyers, or doctors.
That day, two customers had specifically asked for a virgin during the daytime. Having already used my two chances, I was a little flustered. It meant I'd exceeded the limit on rewinding time while keeping my memories.
Someone as cunning as Arto couldn't have forgotten the explanation I'd given him on the first day.
As long as I was renting a room here, I was basically the pimp's property. He was probably just hoping I'd keep rewinding my virginity, regardless of the magical backlash. It seemed I had no choice in the matter.
While I stood up with a forced smile to greet the customers, worrying inwardly, the man who seemed to be their leader spoke.
"Hello, Miss Mage."
Starting the greeting with "Miss Mage," was he? That old pimp must have been openly advertising that a mage had joined the house.
Good for Arto if the rumor spread, and he was probably promoting me in his own way, but such rumors wouldn't do me any good. They'd only cause trouble. I wasn't working here to make money, after all.
If he kept advertising me as a mage whore, people would start getting curious about why such a woman was working in a brothel. Eventually, someone would suspect there was some unspeakable reason. Like, perhaps she was on the run after committing some crime she couldn't talk about.
While I was making a troubled face at the thought, the man who'd greeted me asked casually,
"Miss, I heard you can fix your hymen no matter how many times it's broken? Some kind of wound-healing magic, apparently."
Just how much had that old man told them? I sighed inwardly.
"W-well, that's true, but… large-scale regeneration magic like that has a limit of twice a day, so…"
"Huh? The pimp didn't mention anything like that. He definitely said you could be taken as a virgin as many times as we wanted."
'Tsk… So he's not even explaining it to the customers before sending them up.'
"Ah, right, right. He did say there was some kind of penalty for doing it too many times. Magical side effects… or something? Who cares about that? She's a whore anyway. She works here knowing she'll ruin her body, doesn't she?"
'…So he explained it properly and still sent them up. That's even more vicious…'
"Yes. As you said, overusing regeneration puts strain on the body and the mana circulation system. We don't know what kind of backlash might occur, and it could inconvenience the customers… So for today, I'll discount the fee to six small silver coins for all six of you combined. And if you come early on another day, I'll make sure you can properly take my virginity."
I was explaining the sale of my virginity as if I were describing a limited menu item at a restaurant that only served ten bowls a day.
How pathetic I was. Fallen into the mud… and that was exactly why it excited me.
"Is that so."
The six men walked over and surrounded me. Looking down at me with menacing expressions, it didn't seem like anything good was about to happen.
"Um, excuse me, but this is a little frightening… Hup?!"
The man who'd been talking pulled out a handkerchief and tried to stuff it into my mouth. His brutish strength suddenly surged toward my face, leaving me no time to resist. He shoved the cloth all the way to the back of my throat and pulled out another handkerchief to tie it behind my neck.
My body, already deeply steeped in masochism, grew aroused against my will the moment my mouth was forcibly gagged. My camisole was already getting damp between my legs.
"Mmph…, ugh…?"
Several other men simultaneously seized my limbs, as if by prior agreement. My body, which had never been particularly well-trained to begin with, had no choice but to surrender everything to them.
'If they can't take my virginity, maybe they just want to create the atmosphere of a rape.'
While I was thinking that so lightly, something was thrust in front of my eyes.
"Miss, this is a surgical scalpel."
"Mmph??!! Mmph!!!!! Brhhhhhh!!?!!?"
The moment I saw the blade, the nightmare from that basement flashed through my mind and I thrashed reflexively.
I tried twisting my limbs to escape, but I couldn't match their strength. I hoped the bouncer on the fourth floor would hear and come, but…
In this place already filled with the lewd moans and panting from other rooms, screaming through a gag wouldn't reach that far. Even if it did, they'd probably just think it was another moan.
"I'm training in surgery. I know exactly where and how to stab or cut so a person won't die and will stay alive for a long time."
A doctor—or rather, not even a proper doctor yet, just some greenhorn—trying to play with a scalpel like that.
Why did everything involving doctors in this world end badly? I hadn't done anything wrong to doctors in my past life, and I held no grudges. So why…?
"I've got suturing tools too, so you won't die no matter what happens. It'll just hurt."
"Mmph?!!?!! Ugh…!!!!"
I shook my head frantically. I'd do it, I'd restore my hymen like they wanted, so please don't do this—that was what I meant.
But a mere headshake couldn't convey such a detailed message. Or perhaps they'd intended to use the scalpel from the very beginning, regardless of my intentions. The weight of four men pressed down on my limbs. I bared my nails savagely, but with my arms twisted, I couldn't even scratch them.
"Khhhhhh!!?!!!!!! Uhhhhhhhh!!?!!!!?? Hhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!"
Without anesthesia, without hesitation, the razor-sharp scalpel sliced into the skin of my stomach. The horrific agony of living flesh being cut away blurred my vision.
"Hey, if you keep thrashing like that, the blade might go into your organs."
"Ghhk?!?!! Mmph!!?!!?!! Ughhhhhh!!!"
Whatever they said didn't reach my ears. There was no way I could understand anything when it hurt this much. It wasn't possible to stay still and endure the pain of having my stomach split open while still alive.
Eventually, that smell—the one that came from people hit by carriages, from people injured by the Demon King's army, the smell I'd encountered far too many times back when I used healing magic—rose up.
The stench wafting from a person's opened abdomen. That unforgettable smell flowed into my nostrils.
I didn't need to ask anyone. It was the smell coming from my own abdomen. Even without looking up, that alone told me my stomach had truly been opened.
A dull, stabbing pain, as if something were poking at my intestines, spread through me.
"So this is your womb. Letting in who knows how many men while pretending to still be a virgin."
"Hhhhh……, ugh…, u-ugh!!!"
Staring straight at me as tears streamed down my face from the pain, he spoke.
"Miss, you said you could heal wounds. So you've been living as some kind of healing mage? The kind of strange people who hole up in universities, never touching a real patient, yet try to act like doctors and stand shoulder to shoulder with them."
Was that it…?
The fact that I could heal injured people using an entirely different discipline called magic, without ever laying a hand on them or using medicine, must have been infuriating to doctors who had to train in both knowledge and technique. It must have wounded their pride.
Was that really all it took? Were the doctors in that basement in Mittenburg also thinking such thoughts when they so easily broke my limbs after doing things they must have ethically rejected?
Did everyone live by wielding such petty hatred to torment others like this?
'How foolish…'
Disgust welled up. A feeling of hating everything came rushing in.
My willpower shattered, the pain gradually receded, and my vision slowly faded to black.
The groans leaking through the gag grew quieter. The strength left my lower abdomen, and a mixture of fluids and urine pooled between my legs.
Realizing I was about to lose consciousness, the men removed the gag. They must have known they'd need my mouth free to use that healing 'magic.' The moment my mouth was free, I squeezed out my last bit of strength to beg.
"P-please forgive me… I, that m-magic…, if I use it, I'll really, break, my head will go strange, I mean… Anything but that, I'll do anything, anything, so… so please!! I…"
With a ruined expression, tears and snot streaming down, I begged pathetically. Begging them not to make me rewind my own time.
'I don't want to lose my memories, my memories… no, anything but this, anything but this……!!'
But the self-proclaimed surgical trainee didn't even wait for me to finish before squeezing my intestines hard.
"Uhhhhhhhh!!?!!?!"
An indescribable pain of my intestines being twisted. Even my pathetic will to not lose my memories shattered, and I begged wretchedly.
Begging them not to hurt me.
"It hurts, it, hurts……, y-yes……. I-I'll do it, ugh……. Hah…, I'll do, it……. S-so, p-please, s-save……. U-ugh……. I-it…… hurts……. Daddy, Daddy……. It hurts, save, me, Daddy……"
Only when I started calling for my father through my fading consciousness did he finally release his hand from inside my intestines, where he'd been squeezing the contents.
I tightly shut my eyes to avoid seeing the filth I'd messily spilled inside my opened abdomen, and placed my hand on my body. While muttering meaningless words as if chanting a spell, I desperately thought…….
'Go…… back…….'
…….
I was lying on the bed, and there were six men in front of me. Since I didn't recognize them, they must be customers. I was sure I'd already taken two virgin-seeking customers today. Had Arto sent these people up even after hearing what I'd told him?
I raised my body slightly. Looking down, the bedsheets were soaked with blood. Virgin blood, probably. There also seemed to be plenty of brown stains and the pungent stench of excrement. They'd already done it more than once, then. Forcing or asking me to rewind time when I hesitated. And apparently they'd done anal as well. I muttered blankly,
"I…… must have healed my body. …And my virginity too."
One of the men who heard that smiled with satisfaction. He gave the others a knowing look.
"This one's really broken."
He was probably the one who'd taken my virginity first after asking me to restore my hymen.
"Mages are all originally broken anyway."
Hearing that conversation, I gave up.
It was something I'd tried not to do because of my resistance to losing my memories, but from the looks of it, I'd already done it more than once. If I'd done it once, there was no reason I couldn't do it twice.
If the customers wanted, I'd rewind time as many times as they asked, and lose my memories as many times as necessary.
"I'm sorry. I don't remember anything……. Um, how many more times should I give you my virginity?"
I forced a smile as I said that. Their answer was simple.
"Until we say we're done."
And so, I lost my virginity over and over again until I lost even the memory of meeting them…….
……?
Why were the bedsheets soaked in blood? And urine… this stain, was it shit…?
I was sure I'd only taken two customers today. I'd already cleaned the sheets that got dirty from the last customers.
My face burned with shame.
'What kind of play did I just agree to……'
Muttering to myself that this was strange, I rewound the bed's time to erase the bloodstains and excrement marks.