Chapter 56
Dawn was breaking.
A white-robed priest came running through the ranks of the guards.
“···Mion?”
“Lord Ska!”
Mion rushed over and knelt in front of Jeong Yushin.
Mion paid no attention to the blood-soaked floor.
Jeong Yushin and Mion knelt facing each other for a moment.
“···I read your letter, Lord Ska.”
So the apology letter he had sent through the temple receptionist had reached Mion.
He was embarrassed, but also relieved.
That was especially true because he had written it with his honest feelings.
“I’m sorry.”
“No. Let’s treat you first.”
[High Heal]
Warm golden light enveloped Jeong Yushin’s entire body.
His broken wrist and various scrapes began healing rapidly.
“Thank you, Teacher Mion.”
Jeong Yushin bowed his head in gratitude. Mion gave him a faint smile.
“No. If I had arrived a little sooner, you might not have had to go through this much hardship, Mr. Ska···. I’m sorry.”
“What are you talking about?”
Thinking of Mion fighting monsters like Hans made his heart ache with worry.
“Ahem!”
Ingrid cleared her throat.
“There are too many eyes watching. Keep it appropriate.”
Mion’s cheeks flushed.
Ingrid was right.
There was nothing to gain from attracting the attention of that crazy, sister-obsessed knight commander.
He decided to mention only the last thing weighing on his mind.
“Teacher Mion, I don’t think I’ll be able to attend lessons for a while.”
“I understand. It’s because of the night-watch assignment, right? Don’t worry about the tuition. I’ll speak to the temple receptionist. I’ll have them charge you only for the days you attended.”
“Thank you.”
Jeong Yushin bowed deeply.
Meanwhile.
The guards who had gathered without him noticing began murmuring.
“···I thought that might be the case, and he really was a Barbaroi. A mixed-blood one, too?”
“Does this make any sense? Am I dreaming?”
Ingrid opened her mouth.
“This Barbaroi broke Hans’s Imprint.”
Jeong Yushin stared blankly at Ingrid.
All of a sudden?
She was suddenly driving a dagger into his back like this?
Until a moment ago, he had felt as though he were strolling through heaven with Mion, but in an instant he had been grabbed by the collar and dragged down to hell.
The guards began murmuring.
Ingrid pointed at Jeong Yushin and delivered her final verdict.
“The mixed-blood Barbaroi Ska is a ‘virgin.’”
Mion, who was standing beside him, drew in a sharp breath, but Jeong Yushin could not spare any attention for it.
“Gasp! Then what happened to Hans’s Non-Virgin Barrier Imprint?!”
“This is insane. Absolutely insane. How can something like this happen? A Barbaroi is a virgin?!”
“My good man! Slap my cheek for me. I can’t tell whether I’m dreaming or awake!”
The guards made a huge fuss.
Jeong Yushin’s face twisted.
The guards’ murmurs turned into whispers and progressed into the realm of wild speculation.
“He looks like a young man, so how could something like that···”
“It happens. Perhaps ‘it’ just can’t get up?”
“Good heavens, what a tragedy at such a young age. How pitiful.”
The pitying looks stabbed Jeong Yushin in the heart.
His anger boiled over, then instantly cooled.
Punching the guards would have been insane.
Getting angry at Ingrid was out of the question—not only was the difference in status enormous, she had also saved his life.
More than anything, he was mentally exhausted.
He did not want to stay here any longer.
Jeong Yushin staggered to his feet.
“I-I’ll be clocking out now.”
“Get plenty of rest. It’s fine if you don’t come in for a few days.”
“Mr. Ska, you should go first.”
Ingrid spoke.
Mion gave Jeong Yushin a small wave.
“Wait.”
Ingrid stopped Jeong Yushin.
“It would be embarrassing for a ‘chaste’ person to walk around bare-chested, so put on my coat.”
Jeong Yushin glared at Ingrid.
Could she have been holding a grudge because he had called her Mother-in-Law?
He stared at her, but there was nothing to read in Ingrid’s expressionless face.
Jeong Yushin let out a deep sigh.
“Whew, thank you.”
Ingrid personally removed her coat and draped it over Jeong Yushin’s shoulders.
“Barbaroi!”
The guard captain tossed something over.
Clack!
What landed in his hand was a kettle helm covered in tooth and claw marks.
Jeong Yushin nodded once and looked around.
In the rising sunlight, countless guards and explorers who had gathered to enter the labyrinth were watching Jeong Yushin.
His private secret had been exposed in full along with the dawn.
‘This is just···’
He had clearly done a good deed.
Yet his stomach hurt and his head spun.
‘There are all kinds of shitty Imprints in this world. A Non-Virgin Barrier Imprint? I’m the only one who couldn’t have sex. Fucking alternate world.’
The morning breeze lifted Jeong Yushin’s black hair and swept past.
He began walking with his upper body bare, Ingrid’s coat hanging loosely over his shoulders, and a single-edged sword resting on one shoulder.
The gathered people opened a path for Jeong Yushin.
His party approached from one side.
The half-ogre, Iron Mask, and the frog came to stand beside Jeong Yushin.
“Um··· what should I say? Hang in there.”
“You can mate anytime. As long as you live, another opportunity will come along.”
“Ska, are you perhaps aspiring to become a monk?”
“Let’s be quiet and move on. I’m tired.”
Jeong Yushin brushed them off and walked through the crowd.
Mion shouted from behind him.
“I-I don’t mind even if Lord Ska is··· a virgin!”
‘Why is she shouting?’
“Thank you.”
He turned to bow, then faced forward again.
Something dark began to rise sluggishly within his heart.
He knew he should not feel this way. He had saved them, yet he resented everything.
Ingrid watched Jeong Yushin’s retreating back, then turned her head.
Her subordinates approached from a distance.
“Sorry we’re late.”
One of Ingrid’s subordinates, a black bull beastkin, knelt on one knee and bowed his head.
“It’s fine. It’s my fault for coming to Labyrinth City so quickly. I’ll rest for a while, so take care of the labyrinth.”
“Understood.”
* * *
Jeong Yushin entered the Central District and looked back at his party members.
“Then I’ll see you later.”
“Ska, get plenty of rest.”
“You worked hard today. Ribbit.”
“Ah. I almost forgot.”
Jeong Yushin removed the gauntlet and handed it to Iron Mask.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to commit social suicide.”
“I’m glad you got good use out of it.”
Iron Mask chuckled and patted Jeong Yushin on the shoulder.
“How could preserving your chastity for someone precious be something to criticize? A devoted love should be held proudly. There’s no need to be ashamed.”
“Let’s stop.”
Jeong Yushin’s voice dropped lower.
“All right. See you later.”
Jeong Yushin parted ways with his party and headed to the Southern District. He arrived at the inn, walking against the flow of explorers gathered in small groups on their way to the labyrinth.
“Oh! Lord Ska!”
Tarman came running over.
“I’m back. Do you have any warm soup?”
“Yes. Please wait a moment.”
Tarman ran into the kitchen.
After waiting a moment.
Tarman came out carrying a tray piled high with food.
“Here you are.”
The menu consisted of tomato soup, black multigrain bread, grilled sausage, and pickled cabbage.
Jeong Yushin ate the soup and tore into the bread.
He felt as though he were coming back to life as the food entered his starving stomach.
He focused solely on eating. After fighting all night, his stomach had been stuck to his back.
He emptied every bowl and set the utensils down on the plate.
“Whew, that hit the spot. Thank you as always.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
Tarman said this with a bright smile.
Jeong Yushin looked at Tarman’s smile for a moment, then rose and turned away.
“I’m going to sleep. I’ll be resting for a few days, so you don’t need to prepare a late-night meal for me.”
“Yes. Understood. Rest well.”
He went up the stairs and entered his room.
He wiped himself down with a damp cloth, changed clothes, and lay down on the bed.
Seeing Tarman’s smile made him think once again that he had done the right thing by stepping forward.
Though he was embarrassed that the fact he was a virgin had been exposed.
Boron and Ainhofer.
And the people he had met at the monster disassembly center.
Each of those connections had been brief, but none of them had been shallow.
He had protected them from a possible danger, so he had no regrets.
Regret was···
He propped his head on his arm and closed his eyes.
“Damn. The rumor isn’t going to spread, is it? Tsk. Who do I think I am? Yushin, this is just excessive self-consciousness. Get a grip.”
An uneasy worry rose and settled in his heart.
The fatigue accumulated from fighting all night weighed heavily on him.
Darkness descended.
* * *
Late at night, when everyone was asleep.
A room deep within the inner castle of the Central District.
Antique furniture and splendid works of art decorated the room.
Someone was gazing at a teacup placed on a luxurious ivory table.
A reddish tail and hair.
A nearly expressionless face.
Ingrid Redtail.
The tea was expensive enough to make even Labyrinth City’s wealthiest people gape, but it was slowly cooling as steam rose from it.
“···You’re late.”
Ingrid muttered to herself.
Tap! Tap-tap!
Something knocked on the window. Ingrid turned her head. A white rat was outside the window.
Ingrid approached and opened the window. The white rat hopped into the room.
“···Why are you so late?”
“Squeak! Squeak squeak!”
The rat stood on two feet and squeaked while gesturing with its paws.
“I see.”
Ingrid knelt on one knee and stroked the white rat.
Her cold expression had softened slightly by then.
Having spent time in the broad plains of the west, Ingrid always felt stifled whenever she arrived in Labyrinth City.
It was even worse when she spent time in front of the labyrinth, changed shifts with her subordinates, and went to bed.
That was why she had acquired a familiar.
She had neither the time nor the peace of mind for other hobbies.
Peeking into her familiar’s memories and briefly sharing its senses for pleasure was the exhausted Ingrid’s only hobby.
Ingrid sat on the edge of the bed with the rat.
“Shall we take a look?”
“Squeak!”
Ingrid closed her eyes and placed a hand on the rat’s head.
[Memory Share]
The rat’s memories unfolded vividly before her eyes.
Ingrid’s closed eyes narrowed in a frown.
“···Is this that mixed-blood Barbaroi from today?”
The white rat wandered through the city before entering an inn.
It hid under the bed in the room where it was staying, only to be caught by that mixed-blood Barbaroi.
It had expected something terrible to happen, but surprisingly, nothing much did.
It had been trapped in a cage for two weeks, yet it had been fed until full and even taken to the temple for an Imprint examination.
Ingrid used Sensory Assimilation to enjoy the taste of the food.
It was treatment far too generous for a mere rat. Of course, her attitude might have been different if she had known who the rat’s owner was.
Ingrid nodded.
That mixed-blood Barbaroi had released the white rat.
As time passed, the trivial sights of Labyrinth City flashed past her eyes.
“···Hm? Here?”
It was the place where she had stayed from the previous evening until this morning.
In front of the labyrinth.
The rat, which had wandered around the city until it was completely famished, scurried over to where the mixed-blood Barbaroi was.
“Roasted chicken.”
Thanks to Sensory Assimilation, the savory smell of chicken reached the tip of her nose.
It rushed over hungrily, only to be caught and dangled from the Barbaroi’s hand.
“···Ugh!”
Ingrid twisted her body.
A warm, soft sensation pressed firmly against the back of Ingrid’s neck.
“···Wait.”
“Squeak?”
Ingrid waved her hand about with her eyes closed.
But the sensations rushing in one after another made it impossible for her to stop the Memory Share and Sensory Assimilation spells.
“Hng!”
The sensation of something gently stroking her belly made the back of her neck prickle.
“W-what is this?”
Her shoulders were massaged next, and her back was pressed and kneaded.
A refreshing sensation, as though her muscles were loosening, washed over Ingrid.
“Haa.”
A sweet sigh briefly escaped Ingrid’s lips.
“Ugh?!”
Suddenly, her womb was pressed firmly.
She had let her guard down for a moment at the sensations relaxing her waist, back, and shoulders, only for them to immediately target the most important place on a woman’s body.
The strength drained from her body, and she collapsed onto the bed.
“W-wait! There?!”
The mixed-blood Barbaroi’s touch began at the soles of her feet and traveled up her calves.
“Hieet!”
The inside of her thighs was pressed firmly.
“D-don’t spread them!”
Ingrid tried with all her strength to squeeze her thighs together, but the persistent pressure eventually forced them slightly apart.
It was a body even her dead husband had never dared touch without permission.
And now she was in a position with her legs spread and her belly exposed like a frog.
Her insides boiled with humiliation.
Ingrid’s normally expressionless face also turned red as a tomato.
The sensation of her thighs being forcibly pressed down disappeared.
Ingrid hurriedly rolled over.
She suddenly felt pressure on her buttocks, followed by her pelvis being squeezed tightly.
Startled, her red tail stood straight up and her buttocks rose toward the ceiling.
“Huff. Hoo-uff.”
She tried to calm herself with deep breaths, but her body would not obey.
Her hips swayed up and down of their own accord.
It was a vulgar motion, as though she were writhing while embraced by a man.
Before she knew it, drool was trickling from her mouth.
Her hand tightened around the bedsheet.
“Hwooh. Hieeet!”
Her womb was pressed again and again.
Ingrid’s eyes rolled slightly upward.
“N-no···!”
“Lady Ingrid? Are you all right?”
Someone called her name from outside the door.
“I-I’m fine, so don’t come in! Go away!”
Ingrid shouted urgently.
“A-all right.”
Ingrid covered her mouth with one hand and desperately held back the moans trying to escape.
“Hooouph. Hooo-ugh!!!”
The precious place where she had once carried Karin was pounding.
After losing her husband in her youth and giving birth to Karin, Ingrid had maintained her chastity for a long time; the labia majora she had kept tightly clenched slowly began to part inside her panties.
“Nghhh!!! N-no···!”
Ingrid’s back arched like a bow.
“I-in a place like this! This easily?!”
Ingrid’s words did not match her actions.
Her already erect nipples were not only rubbing against the inside of her bra but also grinding against the bed,
while her uncontrollable waist moved frantically up and down as if determined to become pregnant.
The intimate area of her leggings-like pants, which clung tightly to her body, was slightly damp, just barely visible.
“J-just from this! This Barbaroi!”
Her womb was pressed firmly once more.
Ingrid’s eyes rolled back.
Her head tilted toward the ceiling.
Electricity shot through her head.
“Hwoooooooooong!!!”
The chieftain of the noble Red Wolf tribe.
A member of the Labyrinth City Committee and the representative of the beastkin alliance.
Because of the touch of a mere Barbaroi,
stuck in a humiliating position, she stuck out her tongue and let out vulgar moans.
For a widowed woman who had only had intercourse once out of duty with her husband long ago, it was a shocking and merciless forced climax.
“Huff. Hoo-eee. Wh-what is th-this?”
Ingrid, her head pressed into the bedsheet, mumbled with her tongue slack.
Her buttocks twitched on their own from the lingering afterglow, while her plump thighs repeatedly squeezed together and parted.
Could something have gone wrong with the Sensory Assimilation spell?
Her mind would not function properly because it felt as though her brain had turned to mush.
“A d-dangerous f-fellow.”
Ingrid muttered with a dazed expression. Drool dribbled over her red lips.
He was an extremely dangerous Barbaroi—for her daughter, and for herself as well.
Could he have another Imprint?
She needed to investigate further.
Ingrid made a vow to herself.
There were absolutely no ulterior motives. It was solely for the safety of her daughter and the labyrinth.
Ingrid unconsciously stuck out her tongue and seductively licked her lips.
“Squeak?”
The white rat tilted its head beside Ingrid.