Chapter 42
Beastfolk (獸人).
It referred to people who had grown animal ears, tails, and the like—not those disgusting, panting, two-legged balls of fur.
If the Berserks in Earth's history were warriors who wore animal hides and ran amok, the Berserks of this otherworld were a race of true half-human, half-animal hybrids with animal ears and tails growing from them.
It was only natural for humans who discriminated over skin color to treat people with animal ears as barbarians.
It would be a bit much to call it fortunate, but since this was a world where evolutionism and white supremacy had never taken root, there was no severe discrimination. That was probably the Berserks' one small mercy.
“Beastification magic is variant magic that slowly recreates animal traits in the body over a long period of time.”
Tirsi said this while moving her pen over the drawing of a cat beastfolk on the paper.
“Its main side effect is that animal characteristics appear on the body, and… there’s also….”
Tirsi, who had been explaining smoothly for quite some time, began to hesitate. Realizing why, I spoke for her.
“Penile enlargement has been observed too?”
“…Yes. Depending on the individual.”
Seeing me spare her the trouble, Tirsi moved her lips soundlessly, then lightly slapped both cheeks. After collecting herself, her face settled into a cool, composed expression that suited her white hair.
“I can guess what you’re worried about, Mr. Wayne. You’re wondering whether someone might set their sights on this magic because of its penile-enlargement effect, aren’t you?”
“That’s right.”
It was a question so blunt that her hesitation just moments ago seemed like a lie. Had she switched into work mode? Tirsi seemed to be making an effort not to hesitate every time she mentioned a penis.
“The reason Lucy and I weren’t worried about that is that Beast Regression’s side effect isn’t penile enlargement.”
“Pardon?”
Beast Regression’s side effect wasn’t dick enlargement? When I was shocked, Tirsi continued speaking calmly.
“This magic’s side effect is simply ‘a change in part of the body.’ The side effect that appears is determined by an individual’s genetic traits, so it’s practically random. Penile change is merely one example of a mutation.”
“So… you’re saying there’s no guarantee that using Beast Regression would cause changes to someone else’s penis?”
“Yes. The side effects of BSK-type variant magic all vary from person to person. Some people might develop animal ears, like the Berserks. It seems you simply happened to manifest the side effect around your penis, Mr. Wayne.”
“I see.”
Fuck. That was astonishing. My dick had grown because of my genetic traits, not because of the magic’s effect.
‘In other words, there could be people whose dicks grew smaller, rather than larger, as a side effect of Beast Regression.’
If side effects were determined by genetic traits, then which side effect you got was essentially decided from birth. Like people who were born to hate the smell of cucumbers or suffer from motion sickness.
No wonder nobody seemed interested. This was the equivalent of rolling a gacha with your own body.
A spell you might learn believing in the chance that a macho Viking’s dick would grow, only to sprout cat ears and become a cat-eared, musclebound macho man!
I had nearly become an otherworldly macho cat named Nord who used Meow-Meow Wind Fist myself. The fact that I had gotten the dick-upgrade effect meant I’d been fucking lucky.
“Hmm… But if you kept researching, wouldn’t you eventually be able to induce the side effect you wanted?”
I rolled my eyes and asked. Things hailed as groundbreaking inventions usually began with an unexpected coincidence.
Just as biologist Fleming’s accidental discovery of blue mold evolved into the miracle antibiotic penicillin, surely someone might research Beast Regression this way and that and try to modify it into a dick-enhancement spell?
“No. That would be difficult. Many mages have already conducted extensive research and concluded that the mutation phenomenon of ‘Beastification’ is impossible to control.”
Tirsi answered as though reciting something she had learned from a textbook.
“Variant magic contains limitless possibilities. If its mutations could be properly controlled, it would produce outstanding results in all sorts of fields, including regenerating lost body parts, treating diseases, and strengthening soldiers.”
“That… makes sense.”
“Yes. That’s why many people have attempted to research variant magic. But they all failed. Even at the headquarters of our Mages’ Guild in Romania.”
It seemed the Mages’ Guild had already researched variant magic too.
Come to think of it, that was nothing unusual. Scholars were a species that lived thinking about whether there was anything worth researching even while eating. They must have already tried any research I could have thought of.
‘But they all failed?’
After thinking it over, I could see why.
Even on Earth, we developed steroids but couldn’t eliminate their side effects. For similar reasons, controlling variant magic would be an arduous project to bring to completion.
“No one anywhere in the world has managed to establish a technique for controlling variant magic. There were even national-level projects.”
Tirsi drew a flask beside the picture and marked it with an ×.
“So there’s no point in researching Beast Regression’s side effects. All research into ‘Beastification’ ended in failure, and Beast Regression’s principle for producing side effects is identical to Beastification’s. Any research would merely repeat past failures.”
“So no one will try to obtain Beast Regression.”
“Yes.”
Once I knew the precise reason, I felt relieved.
Beast Regression was magic whose side effects appeared randomly according to a person’s aptitude. Nobody would go after a spell like that. Even if someone did, they probably wouldn’t come all the way to me and throw a tantrum over it.
“But… we still don’t know why the magic only works on me.”
I said this while counting on my fingers the people besides me who had used Beast Regression.
Beast Regression had worked for no one but me. Hadn’t even that Ouslate bastard dismissed the magic as nothing more than a superstition? I wasn’t sure it was wise to trust that bastard’s words too much, but it was true that the matter bothered me.
When I asked that, Tirsi’s face became slightly uneasy, and she explained.
“I’m sorry. That isn’t something I know about… Ulsterian magic has hardly been studied.”
“Ah, right. I know. I’m an archaeologist too.”
The Ulsterians didn’t record history in writing. Their level of civilization was fairly low as well. They still lived naked even now, just as they had in the past.
Since there were few ruins or artifacts left behind, there was little chance of turning a profit from archaeological research. As a result, very little was known about Ulsterian history or magic.
“Well, it’s not as though ignorance will kill me. As long as there are no side effects, that’s enough. This is more than sufficient.”
Even as I said that, I unconsciously thought of the inscription from the ruins.
─The man named Branwen-whatever had written on the stone monument that he had received Beast Regression from a ‘friend.’
The characters ■■■■ erased from the stone monument were probably the name of the ‘friend’ who had passed on Beast Regression. It could have been a country’s name, or the name of a person or god.
In any case, the Erin people who received Beast Regression from that ‘friend’ must have been able to use it, just like me. Then, at some point, their bodies probably mutated because of a side effect.
Was that side effect the reason the Erin of that time thought of Beast Regression as a ‘curse’?
At the very least, that side effect must have been far removed from dick enlargement. They had gone so far as to call it a curse and betray their ‘friend,’ after all.
‘If this hypothesis is correct, it also explains why Ouslate spouted that the Beast Regression passed down to the Ulsterians was nothing more than an ineffective superstition.‘
The three great barbarian peoples, including the Ulsterians, passed down their history orally rather than in writing.
Oral tradition. A culture in which people pass knowledge from person to person by word of mouth.
The drawback of this culture was that knowledge could easily be lost. If someone possessing knowledge died before properly passing it down to the next generation, that knowledge couldn’t be inherited.
It was similar to the fate of a shitty small business with no work manual. If the person who handled everything quit, no one would know how to do the job because no records had been left behind.
Likewise, perhaps the ancient Erin people decided that Beast Regression was an ominous curse and didn’t teach it to their children, causing the proper way to use it to disappear in the process.
‘Cases of perfectly sound cultures being abandoned because of superstitions were common on Earth too.’
We Koreans even once put timers on electric fans because of the superstition that ‘You’ll die if you sleep with a fan on.’ The Erin had experienced a mutation phenomenon on the level of a curse, so it was actually a perfectly normal decision not to pass Beast Regression down orally.
Beast Regression had probably gradually faded into obscurity in Ulsterian history just like that.
If you looked at it that way, the pieces more or less fit.
The pieces fit, but….
‘I still feel a sense of incongruity.’
I furrowed my brow as I continued thinking.
This hypothesis felt as though it were missing some important piece. It was like forcing a picture together with an incomplete puzzle.
There were several things that bothered me, but the greatest sense of incongruity was this:
‘──Out of all the countless people in the world, I just happened to be the one with an aptitude for Beast Regression?’
I alone could use an ancient magic no one else could, and on top of that, its side effect was dick enlargement and nothing else?
That was too convenient. Even a movie protagonist wouldn’t get to reap nothing but benefits with everything lining up so neatly.
I wasn’t some movie protagonist chosen by fate. Was I a great hero or an exceptionally talented mage? I wasn’t a heroic figure basking in the world’s full spotlight.
If, following the standard rule of fantasy stories, my father were actually a hero from another world or a god, then maybe it would make sense… but that would be even more fucking ridiculous.
‘As if I had some secret about my birth.’
My mother and father were ordinary Earthlings who were laid low by even a cold or the flu. They were the sort of utterly ordinary people who were on brotherly terms with the supermarket guy in front of our house or attended the neighborhood bazaar every week without fail.
My beloved, cherished family having otherworldly blood? Fucking hell, that was complete nonsense. It wasn’t worth considering.
Being dropped into this otherworld was nothing resembling fate; it was merely an unremarkable misfortune.
Kang Buk-ho of Earth was just an ordinary human. An unremarkable human man who wanted to see his family’s faces again and introduce his girlfriend to his mother and father.
Even so, if there was one thing that made me different from everyone else amid all this….
‘It would probably be that I’m an Earthling.’
─Flash!
When I got that far, I felt as though a spark had shot through my mind. I had felt something similar three years ago when I had grasped a clue for my paper.
A scholar’s instinct!
It felt as though the scattered clues were connecting into a single ray of light and threading themselves together.
‘…This is it.’
The fact that only I could use Beast Regression.
The fact that Beast Regression’s side effect was limited to dick enhancement.
These two things felt as though they led to a single answer.
It felt as though the outline of the destination I couldn’t even sense until today had quietly revealed itself halfway along the road I was walking.
I had a premonition that someday, without a doubt, I would discover the answer to this problem.
Because to move forward, I had to leap over and smash the obstacles blocking the road.
“Fwooooo….”
Once I had finished thinking it through, I took a deep breath and relaxed my body. Tirsi blinked at the sight of me.
“Mr. Wayne? What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. I just feel a little drained after hearing your explanation.”
Not all my questions had been answered.
Even so, I knew that my goal would not change.
I would continue taking multiple wives while searching for a way back to Earth. That was enough.
If I kept living each day diligently like this, someday I would uncover the secrets of this otherworld and Earth too.
In any case, my biggest worry—the dick problem—had been resolved. From now on, I would focus solely on raising my adventurer rank and degree level.
Thinking that, I decided it was time to say goodbye.
“Thank you for the kind explanation, Ms. Armashnas. Thanks to you, most of what I was worried about has been resolved.”
“Was my explanation of any help?”
“Not just a little—it helped a lot. I feel much better now.”
Even to my own ears, my voice sounded fairly bright, despite its low pitch.
I really did feel completely unburdened. Now I could work in peace without worrying.
“Let’s consider this repayment for the help we’ve given each other. I hope I’ll have the chance to visit you again someday.”
I stood and offered my hand. It would have been polite to remove my glove, but that was impossible because I was a Yellow Monkey. My yellowish skin would have made me easy to identify. I hoped she would understand.
“Likewise. Please come see me when you need potions. My specialty within alchemy is potionology.”
“I’m honored that you’d invite an unwelcome bastard like me back.”
Tirsi stood and took my hand. We shook hands and exchanged polite bows.
“Then goodbye, Mr. Wayne.”
“Yes. You take care too, Ms. Armashnas. May your future be blessed.”
I used Vector—Speak Gently and left the Mages’ Guild.
I traveled through a secluded area so as not to attract attention. I secretly changed clothes in an abandoned house in a nearby back alley, put them in my bag, and came back outside. I had looked around before and after going in, so I probably hadn’t been seen.
“Fuck. I don’t know how the heroes in comic books manage to live without being found out.”
With my heart pounding from the tension, I changed clothes and ran to Mutarat’s Children.
“Frang! I’m back!”
I greeted Ms. Beinya and went straight to Frang’s room. When I opened the door and entered, Frang welcomed me brightly.
“Welcome home! Nord!”
─Tat-tat-tat!
Squish!
I caught Frang as she ran to me and pulled her into my arms. The sweet scent of her body and soft skin made the fatigue melt from my body.
“You worked hard, Nord. I wanted to go meet you, but I was afraid I’d interfere with you hiding your identity, so I couldn’t.”
“You didn’t have to come meet me. It’s enough that you welcomed me here in the room.”
When I said that, Frang nestled in my arms and giggled.
“But you were late, so I was really worried. You know what? If you still hadn’t come by nightfall, I was even thinking of pretending I had business and going to the Mages’ Guild myself!”
“Ugh, I’m really sorry. You’re the only person in the world who worries about me that much, Frang.”
At Frang’s laughter, my mood swung between self-reproach and emotion like a roller coaster. Fuck, that Ouslate bastard. If it hadn’t been for him, I wouldn’t have made Frang wait like this!
I wanted to kneel and apologize, but I didn’t want to let go of Frang. So I apologized while continuing to hold her.
“I wouldn’t have known what to say even if I had ten mouths. I planned to listen to the answer and come straight back, but things became incredibly complicated.”
“What happened at the Mages’ Guild?”
“Yeah. Anyway, my life really is eventful twenty-four hours a day, all year round. There isn’t a day without some incident or accident.
These days, I’m almost afraid that trouble will come looking for me even when I’m just sitting still.” Frang gave me a bashful smile at my words.
“What happened? I’m curious. You’re going to tell me, right?”
“Of course. That’s why I came.”
Frang and I lay on the bed and chatted about trivial things until late at night.
As a result, I spent another night away from home.
Bye-bye. My pretty inn fee.