Gazing at the Sunlight (2)
After passing the boastful merchant a little ways, Iskil came to a halt.
“…Karin, you used magic, didn’t you?”
‘Oh no…’
There was one fact I hadn’t accounted for. Among that crowd, there was exactly one person who knew I was a mage.
It was this very man—the one who had become the winner of the bet thanks to someone else’s power. Lying would be pointless anyway. He knew better than anyone that the odds of him pushing that burly man away with his own strength were zero.
“…Yes. I was worried you really wouldn’t be able to buy bread and would go hungry… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!”
The reason for my apology was simple. I knew all too well how much it hurt when a man’s pride was wounded. But contrary to my hasty assumption, Iskil merely smiled gently.
“Well… Haha, thank you. Thanks to you, Karin, I really won’t have to go hungry.”
Was that all this man had to say?
‘No pride, and weak to boot…’
Yet the very fact that he could be so shameless despite all that made him harder to dislike. Had I finally come to understand a woman’s heart?
Even after that, we wandered through the market alleys, but Iskil’s steps carried a certain… direction. It felt as though he wanted to lead me somewhere.
When Iskil’s legs finally stopped, I naturally realized where he had wanted to take me.
“Karin. How about here?”
It was a somewhat old building, yet it looked large enough to stand out in this market district. I glanced up at the signboard.
“Eastern… Imperial Theater…?”
“Yes. This is where works written by playwrights like me come to life on stage. I really wanted to bring you here.”
Iskil scratched the back of his head awkwardly and added,
“Of course, none of my works have ever been performed here. Still, this year, I’m definitely going to…”
In other words, this was the equivalent of going to a movie theater together on a first date with a girlfriend back on Earth. I had been taught that was something one shouldn’t do, and it seemed the Empire wasn’t all that different.
“Sure. I’d like that. Thank you for bringing me to a place like this.”
Smiling brightly, I led Iskil into the theater. Seeing how happy he looked just from my expression, I couldn’t bring myself to refuse what he wanted.
Even though he had just won three silver coins earlier, his face turned pale as he handed over one silver coin for our two tickets. While he wasn’t looking, I secretly slipped the silver coin I had placed in his pocket back into it.
‘This really is the story of a prostitute supporting a clueless intellectual whose pockets are completely empty…’
I wondered if this man would also write lines like “Let’s fly just one more time” into his own work.
With that worry in mind, we entered the theater. Only after we sat down did Iskil explain the play’s content.
The currently most popular play, by some coincidence and truly unfortunate timing, told the valiant journey of the hero’s party that had defeated the Demon King. The actors were all human, unlike in reality, but that couldn’t be helped. It was a play performed in the human Empire, after all.
Naturally, when the character clearly meant to represent me—a novice female mage with light brown hair—appeared for the first time, I was a little flustered. I even felt my face flush red without Iskil noticing.
The role assigned to that mage was mostly that of a clumsy burden who used magic in the wrong places and only made things worse for her allies.
‘Well, at least that part is accurate…’
Most of the journey was filled with the playwright’s imagination, so I couldn’t help but chuckle throughout. The exploits of the heroes, excluding myself, were greatly exaggerated, and the Demon King was portrayed as a fool.
If the real Demon King had seen it, he would have smashed the entire stage with his mace without a single word.
It couldn’t be helped. Our party had never boasted about our exploits to others.
Kadros or Glazalus might have told such stories while drinking heavily in their hometowns, but those tales wouldn’t have reached the imperial capital.
Toward the end of the play, the party’s mage—me—was revealed to be one of the “heads” secretly dispatched by the Demon King, turning against the protagonists and vowing revenge for the Demon King… an absurd scene of betrayal.
I understood why they had no choice but to cast me as the villain due to my lofty infamy, but it still left a bitter taste.
‘I wonder if the author wrote this knowing I might actually watch this play…’
Still, aside from the various issues only the heroes themselves would know about, it was entertaining. The actors performed sincerely, and regardless of historical accuracy, the play itself was well-structured—a classic adventure tale.
After watching everything, including the curtain call after the finale, Iskil cautiously asked how the play was. I answered with a bright smile.
“Thank you so much, Iskil. It was really fun.”
It wasn’t a lie. Though I hadn’t seen many plays, purely in terms of enjoyment, it had been fun—except for the part where I was portrayed as the villain.
“Right? I only have two days left until I have to submit my manuscript to the imperial theater troupe. When I get back, I’ll have to work hard on copying and revising it.”
“What? You still have time to play with me even though you’re so short on time…?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Every time I meet you, Karin, ideas come flooding in like the god of literature has descended. As soon as I return, I can write the script like crazy. So it’s almost finished. I just need to do a little final editing.”
Iskil closed his eyes slightly and wore a happy expression, as if recalling and savoring the content of the play he had written.
“It’s all thanks to you, Karin. This work will probably become a masterpiece that no one, not even myself, could ever write again. A masterpiece that will remain in human history.”
I looked at Iskil with doubtful eyes.
‘Is this person really okay…’
“Well, let’s put work talk aside since it’s heavy. Oh, right, about the play. The actor who played Kaira, and the original witch hero Kaira herself! They left quite an impression, didn’t they?”
“……”
The moment my real name left Iskil’s lips, I faltered in my steps for a moment.
…So this is what it feels like. To have your name called by a man who likes you.
What kind of evaluation would Iskil give of “me”? With a slightly anxious heart, I waited for his next words.
“In many ways, she resembled you, Karin. Small, cute, unreliable, yet secretly harboring all sorts of thoughts. Come to think of it, both Kaira and you, Karin, are mages.”
“I-Is that so……”
Now that I thought about it, she had even copied the way I used to grow my hair long and tie it at the ends, just like in the wanted poster.
Thanks to the wanted poster, the disguise must have been easier. Was that the mark of a true actor, not missing even such details?
‘Still… the real me is cuter.’
While thinking such thoughts, we were walking back through the market as the afternoon grew late when Iskil’s steps stopped.
“Karin!”
“Yes?”
In Iskil’s hand was a brooch. It was a brass base with only a bit of intaglio engraving and no complex filigree, set with a single piece of red-tinted glass—an item that didn’t look expensive.
“How about something like this? It seems like it would match the color of your eyes, Karin.”
I smiled wryly and subtly refused. I felt that if I accepted any more, I would truly become entangled.
“You don’t have to push yourself for my sake.”
“This much spending is fine. I still have enough left for bread.”
…Which meant it was precarious enough that he might not have enough for bread. Iskil didn’t seem to notice that I had refused.
I should have refused more firmly. While I hesitated, Iskil took out a silver coin and handed it to the merchant selling the brooch. It was the same silver coin I had slipped into his pocket earlier.
‘…I suppose one thing like this is fine…’
When Iskil offered the cheap brooch, I accepted the gift with a genuinely happy expression, completely forgetting that I should feign displeasure or mix in some acting.
I walked back to Arto’s brothel holding Iskil’s little finger.
On the way back, Iskil’s posture seemed somewhat awkward. He walked as if his lower abdomen hurt unbearably, stopping to rest occasionally.
Iskil tried to hide it from me, but the reason was obvious. There was no way I wouldn’t know. I had once been a young man myself.
‘Haa… So that’s what it is. I know that feeling too… He really is young.’
Even as I thought that, the inside of my dress—where I wore no underwear—was damp, and with every step I took, something was flowing down my legs and soaking the inside of my boots. I prayed it wouldn’t.
‘Even so… I… still… the time I lived as a man… is longer… Just from holding a man’s hand… Ugh……’
While thinking such things, I tried to resist pointlessly, but it was no use. It had already been over twenty years since I obtained a woman’s body, and through the effects of hormones and such, my soul had already been deeply dyed to behave like a girl of this age.
After my heart broke in that horrific basement, I had long since turned into a female hole that knew nothing but pleasure… There was no point in resisting psychologically now.
When we returned to Arto’s brothel like that, just before opening the door, I handed ten small silver coins to Iskil, who was still awkwardly hunched over at the waist.
Change worth half a silver coin. …It was money that could extend the time he rented me once more.
The moment Iskil—who couldn’t even properly take a step up the stairs—and I entered the room hand in hand, there was only one thing we had to do.
Without a word, but as if we had made a promise, we each stripped off our clothes and threw them to the floor, then desperately explored each other’s bodies without either of us taking the lead.
“Huuut…… Ungh…… Ah, haaht, ugh, euung…… Euht?!! Ah, ahah……”
“Kuhk…… Ah, Karin, Karin……”
The lovemaking of a man and woman around twenty years old who thought of each other as lovers wouldn’t cool down after just a few climaxes. We embraced, embraced, and embraced again. Iskil’s release continued to the point where I wondered if my belly would swell afterward, yet even then our stamina wasn’t depleted.
How many times had I allowed him to finish? When I entrusted all movement of my body to desire, straddling Iskil and shaking my hips while drooling and crying, having lost both intellect and ego, I caught a glimpse of a small shadow moving and paused my waist for a moment.
“I-Iskil……”
Seeing me staring at the ashen shadow that had moved from the corner of the room, Iskil seemed to notice something strange as well.
“Hm? Yes, Karin?”
“Over there, in the corner…”
Round black button-like eyes, a long body that was a small gray furball, and a long tail as long as its body. A large rat the size of my forearm stood up in an uneasy posture and stared straight at us.
Rats didn’t have very good eyesight, so it was probably just on guard after hearing the bed’s constant creaking.
“Ah. It’s just a rat.”
Feeling pathetic for having been startled for no reason, I replied with the same words.
“You’re right. It’s just a rat.”
“What do you think, Karin?”
“W-What do you mean…?”
Iskil grinned darkly.
“We have a rare audience watching us. Shouldn’t we show this cute spectator just how much we like each other?”
“Eheheh, okay……”
I added, almost pleading.
“But, but… please only call me cute, not the rat……”
The moment he heard those words, I could feel Iskil’s member growing much harder than before. My insides were now completely filled and stretched tight.
With a seductive smile, I began moving my resting hips again, bouncing them.
Ever since falling from three silver coins down to the level of one silver coin in basic fees, I had been able to preserve all my memories and gained the opportunity to learn that much technique. The pitiful technique of subduing men and squeezing semen out of them with my insides. A man like Iskil was easy to bring down.
I squeezed Iskil’s member with a pressure like I was gripping it with my hand while shaking my body on the cheap, non-elastic bed. Though Iskil had a frail body, he was still a young man. Even after releasing inside me multiple times, he could still keep his member erect.
“Ahah…… Ah♡ Angh, ugh, huut…… I like it, Iskil…… I love you, I love you……”
…Though it was something I blurted out because my reason had blurred from the aftermath of climax, I didn’t think it was a lie.
“Karin, Karin…… I like you. I also, I also love you…… Kuh……”
Once again, warm semen was scattered inside me.
“Ah, ugh…… Ah, haaht……, Ang, eheh…… I like it, I really like it… Iskil, I like it……”
Until Iskil reached his climax, and until I too reached the peak of pleasure with him, my eyes rolling back as I let out pathetic moans, that rat remained frozen in place, seemingly frightened by the sounds we were making, its head turned toward us.
Perhaps it stayed that way even after we embraced each other and fell asleep from exhaustion, until the bell rang signaling that time was up.