Chapter 42
It had been several days since my battle with Seere.
Fortunately, nothing major had happened since then.
No one came to visit except for one person. And no monsters caused any trouble either.
Thanks to that, I was able to rest at home and recover from the fatigue built up in the city.
Whether from the battle or the stimulation I felt in the city, exhaustion hit me as soon as I got home.
It really reinforced my belief that home is the most comfortable place.
I stashed Seere's left arm, which I got as battle spoils, deep in storage.
'The ability is quite good but...'
It was just awkward to use.
While it had quite a good effect, it also came with clear limitations.
First, after using it once you have to wait about 10 minutes to use it again. Unlike that bastard, I can't use it infinitely.
Not only that, but you need to be within a certain range to grab something.
The range is about 15m around me. Not short, but not particularly long either.
The demon himself didn't seem to have these limitations, so it must have degraded after being separated from his body.
At least being a demon's body part meant it wouldn't rot.
That was a real relief. If that bastard's left hand had rotted and started breeding maggots, I would've thrown it away regardless of its abilities.
The hand shape itself was also quite inconvenient. It was awkward to carry around or even hang somewhere.
'Wonder if there's a way to process it.'
But honestly, even these drawbacks were minor compared to the remaining issue.
Namely, that I can't use this item in front of others.
Seere isn't even dead, so if it becomes known that I have his arm, he'll definitely come hunting for me with fire in his eyes.
Plus the Knights might raid me just for having a demon's item.
So this item was like a chicken rib - something you have but can't use. Naturally it ended up in storage.
And so my storage grows more bountiful today.
Though these days were peaceful, that didn't mean I wasn't anxious.
After causing such a scene in the city, I had many lingering questions.
Come to think of it, are the Knights searching for me?
Even though I covered my face, I still cut off Seere's arm. From their perspective, they might want to find someone with my abilities.
What is the Lemegeton sect up to?
Now that they know I'm a Manifestor, they must be frantically active.
Judging by how that Ryan guy I killed reacted, Manifestors seem quite important to that sect.
I could make various guesses in my head.
The frustrating part was that they remained just guesses.
Being tied to this forest, my view of the outside situation was limited.
The city incident even made it awkward to go out in disguise now.
While I could change my hair and eye color, I couldn't change my build. Frustrating, but I'll have to stay in the forest for a while.
Fortunately, there was one person who could act as my eyes and ears.
"I'm here!"
Speaking of which, here she comes. My information supplier.
As soon as she arrived, I asked about several things I was curious about.
About Seere's recent activities, the mysterious hooded person that appeared in the city, and what people were up to.
Of course, I hid any information about myself.
There was no need to let others know I went to the city.
Though I probably could tell her, there's no reason to increase the number who know.
But I was shocked by what came out of her mouth.
"Oh, that hooded NPC? No need to hide it forcefully. I already heard that Yor went to the city and caused trouble recently."
"...Huh?"
She already knew?
*
Though Chae-rin had changed her view of Yor somewhat.
She just visited more frequently, but didn't progress beyond that.
Despite being outgoing and sociable, she was as inexperienced with romance as Ha-neul.
So even if she wanted to try something more, she didn't know how.
Still, figuring honesty was better than hiding things, she told him the truth.
That she knew the hooded NPC that recently shook up the community was Yor. She also briefly explained to Yor how she figured it out.
"...Really?"
At first he seemed a bit taken aback, but soon collected himself and nodded.
Though internally he was still quite surprised.
Just what kind of intuition did she have to figure it out so quickly?
Even if she was familiar with him from frequent visits, it was still a frighteningly good observation.
At least she didn't seem to plan on telling others, which was fortunate.
"Anyway, don't worry. I'm the only one who noticed."
Chae-rin wrapped up the conversation with those words.
Then she focused inward for a moment.
Thump- Thump-
She could feel her heartbeat slightly quickening.
It wasn't exactly that she felt excited or anything.
......Well, maybe that was part of it, but right now physiological factors played a bigger role.
As time passed, the weather had already shifted to early summer.
Accordingly, Yor's clothing had gotten much thinner.
While his basic outfit of short sleeves and shorts hadn't changed... the fabric itself had gotten thinner.
As a result, his body's contours were blatantly visible.
Chae-rin glanced at him and thought.
'So he has abs too...'
Well, she'd figured he would.
But actually seeing the outline was quite visually stimulating.
'Does he really have no self-awareness...?'
She thought while trying to cool her flushed face.
Maybe because he had the skill to cut off Seere's wrist, but he showed absolutely no signs of caution.
What would someone who could overpower any attackers have to fear anyway?
Usually when a 'man' wears such thin clothes they'd feel embarrassed, but not him.
Thanks to that, only the observers around him had to try to endure.
Though she strongly denied having feelings for an NPC, Chae-rin was still a vigorous 'woman'.
Physiological curiosity always existed in a corner of her mind.
Yeah... it's a bit base, but I'll be honest.
'I want to do it too!'
18+ Mode!!!
Actually, stories about '18+ Mode' were regularly posted in the community.
Things like "I seduced a country boy and 18+ Mode activated", or "When I saved an NPC from bandits they let me experience 18+ Mode".
Sometimes people even uploaded videos of '18+ Mode' to dark sites.
Users would downvote those posts with a mix of envy and jealousy.
Especially the last type would get heavily criticized for ethical issues.
But curiosity was unavoidable. Wasn't it right to enjoy content the game company had created?
'M-Maybe I should try showing some cleavage...?'
She pondered briefly. Even in this world, a 'woman's' chest was similarly attractive.
But such thoughts were brief as she shook her head.
'No, no.'
Such one-dimensional seduction could actually lower a 'man's' interest - this was already proven.
He might even think it vulgar if she wasn't careful.
Countless stories circulating online proved this.
'Sigh... what am I thinking about seduction for anyway.'
Eventually after various worries, Chae-rin had no choice but to give up.
For someone as inexperienced as her, seducing the opposite sex was too distant a concept.
She decided to just quietly relay information.
"...Don't worry for now. The Knights have no interest in that hooded person at all."
More accurately, they couldn't spare any interest.
The Knights' Order was too busy to investigate a hermit. Between hunting Lemegeton and tracking the escaped Seere, they didn't have enough manpower even with ten bodies.
Meanwhile, Lemegeton was showing extremely passionate interest.
They say they're still lurking around the Empire's borders even at the risk of getting caught.
"Seems like they're desperate because you cut off their demon's arm? They're completely obsessed. Though they don't seem interested in this forest yet......"
"Hmm..."
Yor nodded.
He'd expected Lemegeton to freak out, but hearing it like this was still a bit bitter.
The one silver lining was that they hadn't exposed him as a Manifestor.
If that had gotten out too, Chae-rin definitely would have asked about it.
'What a headache.'
They'll eventually sniff around this forest too, right? He hoped that time would come as late as possible.
For now, Yor pushed that aside and held out his hand to Chae-rin.
According to their contract, he had something to receive from her.
"So did you get the holy water?"
His holy water supplies had been running quite low recently.
With Rage Mode A triggering repeatedly lately, holy water consumption had spiked.
At Yor's question, she nodded and opened her inventory.
"Ah, yes. Here."
After receiving the items, Yor frowned.
"Hey, come on. Are you joking? This is all? Why only two?"
At a glance it might look like extortion, but Yor had properly paid money and compensation.
"Calm down! I barely got these running all over the place. Holy water's become super rare lately because of the demons."
"What?"
Yor listened carefully.
According to her, the whole country was frantically buying up holy water.
Since holy water was effective against demons, people were stocking up for the future.
As a result, holy water prices had skyrocketed recently.
'...Damn it.'
Of course this was devastating news for Yor.
He'd been cheesing Rage Mode A with holy water this whole time.
Without holy water, he'd have to endure that pain again.
Though he still had a few in reserve, there weren't many left.
Seeing Yor's face turn very serious, Chae-rin tried to comfort him.
"But don't worry. I'll try my best to get more running around. The demand spike probably won't last forever."
Yor nodded.
......But contrary to his hopes, holy water supplies didn't return even as time passed.
"...This is it?"
The next month Yor only received one more holy water and.
"...None at all?"
The month after that he couldn't get any holy water at all.
The Knights' Order had locked down fixed purchase contracts.
A flustered Chae-rin tried to reassure him:
"J-Just wait a bit longer! The supply has to open up eventually...!"
"Sigh..."
Yor cursed internally.
'Seere you son of a bitch...'
If he'd known this would happen, he should have taken his head that day no matter what.
He hoped news of Seere's death would come quickly.
Several more days passed like that.
One piece of news did arrive.
Though not related to Seere, it was news shocking enough to shake the world.
It had been over two months since Yor's battle with Seere.
And as [Demons Saga] approached its 1 year anniversary.
The developers posted an announcement for the anniversary.
[Ver 02. Update Notes]
It was a patch note.