Chapter 72
“So, we’ve decided to head to Sullerisu, right?”
“Hehe, I’m all for it!”
“I’m fine with that, too… What about you, Yubel?”
“...Yeah, I’m fine with it, too.”
In the end, the Hero’s party decided to prioritize Sullerisu.
They had two reasons: Sullerisu was closer than Tiranis from their current location, and the letter requesting help from Sullerisu was dated earlier.
As everyone nodded in agreement,
there was one person with a flushed face and her head bowed low.
“G-Guys… But what about my clothes…?”
“Ah, please wait just a little longer. Lord Broad is making you a custom outfit…”
Yubel was on the bed, wrapped up in a blanket, doing her best to cover her body.
But unfortunately, perhaps because she was drenched in sweat, the blanket clung to her body, revealing her youthful yet graceful figure all too clearly.
“Ugh…! Don’t look!”
“Uuugh! Lord Se-on, please just leave the room! You’re making Lady Yubel uncomfortable!”
“N-No… I-I understand…”
Se-on felt unjustly accused.
He’d already seen her panties plenty of times, hadn’t he?
And it wasn’t as if her bare skin was exposed; he didn’t mind her figure showing anymore.
Besides, Yubel wasn’t the type to care much about being exposed in the first place. If anything, she’d usually egged him on, telling him to look all he wanted. Though she did it without realizing it…
Anyway, Se-on had no choice but to leave the room under the Hero’s party’s women’s piercing glares.
Still, he was a little happy inside.
Wasn’t Yubel’s reaction almost like she was conscious of him? Maybe she’d finally developed a sense of shame, and was only now starting to see him as a man.
It was a good sign for Se-on.
While Se-on leaned against the door, grinning to himself,
“Heh heh, why are you out here? Looks like something good happened, judging by that goofy grin.”
“Oh, Broad.”
“Here, take these clothes. I made them especially to your tastes, hahaha! Well, with a figure as lovely as yours, anything would suit you.”
Broad handed him the clothes with a hearty laugh.
Se-on accepted them slowly, his eyes wide.
“N-No, this is… Ahem… Thanks.”
“Hahaha! Don’t underestimate Broad, the kingdom’s greatest blacksmith! And I’ll entrust the holy sword to you, too. Use it well. I repaired the parts where the edge was a little damaged.”
“Yeah, thanks a lot. You’ve really helped us out. Well, we’re heading to Sullerisu now, so hopefully we’ll see you again sometime.”
“Sure. Next time, I hope it’ll be at your wedding! Hahaha!”
“...Yeah. I hope so, too.”
That really would be nice.
Se-on took the “special outfit” from Broad and went back into the room, his hands trembling again.
There, he saw Yubel staring in shock at the outfit in his hands.
“W-What is that!!!”
***
It had already been six hours since they’d said a casual goodbye to Broad and set out.
The Hero’s party had left Baelogia, where the perpetual snow had ended, and stepped into the territory of Sullerisu, where the beastfolk were said to live.
“To think we’ve come this far without even taking a carriage… Thanks to you, the journey to your hometown, Lady Yubel, is a pleasure. Hehe.”
It was a distance they could cover in a single day of walking.
Come to think of it, it really was a short distance.
It was said that long ago, the wild beastfolk had coveted the high-quality weapons coming out of Baelogia and built a small kingdom nearby.
Thanks to that, they saved time.
“My hometown…? Ah, r-right! That’s right! Sullerisu is my hometown! Uhehe…”
“Ah! Yubel’s acting weird again!”
“Lady Yubel, you’ve been a little strange ever since putting on that outfit…”
“Ugh… Hero, don’t look at me…”
“S-Sorry! Ahem…”
I quickly looked away.
From the women’s pullover sweater Yubel was wearing—the one with a huge cutout in the back, famously known as the “virgin-killer sweater.”
When I asked Broad for an outfit that could accommodate Yubel’s huge wings, that was what he came up with. …Nice shot, Broad.
“H-Hey! Don’t watch me from behind—walk in front!”
“...Okay.”
I’d been secretly watching Yubel from behind as she walked ahead, but she caught me. I mean, that tantalizing, almost-but-not-quite-exposed stretch of her lower half.
Maybe she’d realized where my eyes were headed; Yubel quickly tugged down her collar and glared at me.
Seeing her do that, I thought, Wasn’t she planning to show it off openly when we fought anyway? Just then, a goblin appeared right in front of us.
I backed away.
Recently, Yubel had said she needed to practice magic and more or less ordered me to leave everything to her.
So normally, by now, she would’ve lifted that pantsless outfit and launched into battle.
“I-I don’t want to fight…”
“Huh? Really? Weren’t you supposed to practice your magic?”
“I said I’m not fighting!!”
“...Okay. Then I’ll take care of it this time.”
I may not have shown it on my face, but I was cheering inside.
At last, the bizarre exhibitionism where she showed me her panties every time she fought had been resolved. Had embarrassment finally begun to outweigh her happiness? Was she conscious of me now?
I couldn’t help feeling happy.
Yeah, it was definitely something to be happy about, but…
“Ah, then does that mean…”
I wouldn’t be able to see Yubel’s panties anymore?
Would I never again see that black lace, with its indescribable beauty and strange allure, its contours sometimes visible through her sweat-soaked clothes?
The thing that always filled me with happiness?
“N-No…!”
“Hey! You’re trying to look at my panties again…!”
Unable to explain the sudden hollow feeling in my chest, I dropped to my knees.
At the same time, Yubel’s kick slammed into my face.
Wow, panties.
Those were the last of Yubel’s panties I ever saw.
***
“What the hell did you do, demon?!”
“Hehe, I returned Vargar to normal. And what’s this little dragon? Hmm, maybe I’ll send it somewhere suitable. Hehehe.”
At Alice’s casual gesture, the two dragons lying on the ground vanished as easily as soap bubbles touched by a child.
The masked cat, appalled by that godlike power, was screaming at the top of his lungs to keep from feeling that all his efforts had been in vain.
“Kyahaha! You still haven’t lost the will to fight? You really are amazing, aren’t you? I almost want to keep you by my side forever.”
“Shut up! I—I definitely stabbed you in the heart! How are you getting back up without a scratch?!”
The masked cat was certain.
That demon had definitely died just a moment ago.
Because the plan he’d carried out through countless simulations had succeeded.
He had used the “Dragon Fear” unleashed by the enraged Demon Dragon to create an encirclement formation, building a “makeshift sanctuary” to rival the Saintess’s sanctuary. He’d also used the “World Tree’s Thorny Vines,” a binding magical tool personally crafted by Hadrian, the elf chieftain, when they’d captured the Demon King in the past.
The masked cat had prepared that binding trap, which no living creature could escape, along with all kinds of blessings and debuffs in preparation for the battle. At last, just when Alice had been caught neatly in the trap and thrown into disarray, he’d brought all the power he’d built up to bear and pierced the demon’s heart.
He’d already confirmed the location of the demon’s heart in the past, through the holy sword.
He had stabbed the heart the demon brazenly kept inside her chest. He knew because he’d watched Alice for two hundred years. That arrogant demon would never hide her heart somewhere else.
So why…?
“Who knows? Maybe that heart was fake?”
“...What?”
“Honestly, why would you think a demon only has one heart? Is that all our relationship amounts to? Kyahaha! Still, that was definitely dangerous! It was a trap that could’ve killed anyone but me. What a shame!”
“You crazy bitch…”
“To begin with, this whole thing about my power being tied to some contract or whatever… No way! Do I look like someone who’d like such a complicated ability? You’ve had me all wrong for two hundred years! Hmph, I’m disappointed! So disappointed! Stupid cat!”
Despite Alice’s endless taunts, the masked cat paid her no mind.
What use was there in figuring out her power now? His chance to challenge her had already vanished forever.
All that remained was the bitter resentment and regret directed at himself.
He could only curse himself for failing to see through his opponent more carefully.
Just as he was quietly berating himself with his head pressed into the damp soil,
[If you kill ‘Yubel,’ you will return to your original world.]
The contract had been revised.
The difference from before was that the message displaying the contract was blue instead of red.
“...What is this, demon?”
“It’s my mercy to you after all the futile effort you’ve gone through! Hehehe, see that? It’s written in blue, right? That means I can’t interfere with it anymore. In other words, it can’t be changed! Kill ‘Yubel,’ the mage in the Hero’s party, and I’ll send you back to your original world!”
“Do you expect me to believe that? Besides, that child is already—”
“Alive and well, you know? Honestly, what are you going to do if you don’t believe me? Think carefully. Don’t you want to see your family back home?”
“...Damn it.”
Did Alice say that even though she knew what I’d answer?
Of course I wanted to see them.
I missed my family so much it hurt.
Even now, when I closed my eyes, the image of my little pup of a son still hovered before me. The sight I’d only ever been able to see in my dreams since coming here.
Whenever I recalled that face, now growing indistinct, I understood.
Even though my body remained here, my heart was still back there.
And then.
“Daddy… I want to go to the amusement park, too… My friends bragged about it in class…”
“Oh, my little pup. Then how about we go together on Children’s Day? Daddy’s been working hard, so I’ll take you there this time.”
“Hehe… Daddy’s the best!”
And I still hadn’t kept that promise.
The amusement park. The place I’d promised to take him, a place called a world of dreams. Even if decades had passed and it was a promise forgotten in my son’s memories, if I could just return… I’d take him there, whenever he wanted.
The masked cat ran his fingers over the two amusement park tickets in his pocket and the faded photo filled with memories of his son, and made that vow.
“I understand… No matter what happens, I’ll kill that guy.”
For the sake of seeing my beloved son again, and feeling the warmth of my family once more, I would do anything.
Even if it meant committing a sin that violated all human decency.
That was the decision made by the masked cat… No, by Yoo Jin-han, a father.
~
Later, the masked cat asked Alice why it had to be this mage, and whether there was a reason he had to kill her…
Unable to understand why she was so fixated on this mage, he had no choice but to ask.
And then.
Alice answered with a chilling smile.
‘Because it looks like fun.’
It was, truly, a demon-like answer.