Chapter 49
- You fucking idiot.
A derisive voice aimed at me rang out inside my head.
- Did you not see the look in that bitch's eyes just now? She was dying to devour you. You still couldn't tell after seeing the way she looked you up and down?
A sticky thought that seemed to lick the rim of my ear as it passed.
A disgusting chill ran up my spine.
- If you wanted her, she'd spread her legs right now and gush like a bitch in heat, I'm telling you. She's a woman who'd even lay down her life for you, so what's so important about a virgin? Why are you stupidly sending her away? Pounce on her. Eat her. I'm telling you, tear her hymen apart. Next time she comes, throw her onto the bed and shove it between her legs!
The voice I had heard when my consciousness was hazy from the poison now rifled through my mind shamelessly even though I was fully lucid.
"Shut up."
I pressed my fingers between my brows.
Whenever Elena, Phila, or any woman came into the picture, this bastard told me to pounce on her or fuck her. He never said anything but vulgarities.
"Don't you realize that the more I hear that from you, the more I want to rebel against it?"
- That's why you're a fucking moron.
"You claim you've read my memories, so you don't know why I'm trying to preserve Elena's virginity? Having a virgin is essential to seeing the true ending."
Elena's virginity was the key to the true ending.
A vessel in which a pure mind dwelled in a pure body. Because every aspect of it was a blank white page, it could be written upon.
- Who gives a shit? Women are there to be held and fucked. What do you think your dick is for? To stick it in a hole, obviously. That's the order and truth of this world.
"Haa..."
- Do you think I don't know what your lower half wants just because you trot out some grand excuse? There's more than one ending, so just eat her and think about it later. Why won't you take the easy way?
It was like the thoughts of a beast seething with nothing but base lust.
- Tch. What a frustrating bastard.
I assumed it was a remnant of Eck, the original owner of this body.
Given Eck's usual violent temperament and lecherous behavior, it was easy to mistake those vulgar notions crawling up from the depths of my unconscious for his.
I worried that I had truly developed a split personality.
"...."
But then something suddenly seemed strange.
If this bastard's voice was truly a manifestation of the unconscious originating from my body, why hadn't the Ring of the Patient reacted?
I had looked at the ring, but it had granted me no power whatsoever.
The ring should have reacted if I resisted without being captivated by the voice.
Yet even the ring's reaction would have been strangely out of sync with the voice.
At first, I thought Eck's remnant had seeped in while my mental strength was weakened by the paralytic poison.
I had always been able to immediately imagine what choice Eck would make. Even though I was myself, this brain's basic specifications belonged to Eck, after all.
So at first, I thought it was the voice in my mind wearing Eck's mask.
But the more I questioned it and thought carefully, the more I realized that it couldn't completely read my thoughts.
It could only hear my surface thoughts—barely.
"You."
The conversation just now made it certain.
"You're not Eck, are you?"
For a moment, the presence buzzed and rang chaotically inside my head.
As I pressed my fingers against my throbbing temple, the thing in my head began to laugh grotesquely.
- Kihihi. Kihihihihi. Kihihihihyahhahahahahahahahahaha. I'm not Eck?
The creepy laughter spread beside my ear as if a saliva-coated tongue were licking it.
- If I'm not Eck, then what am I?
Its manner of speaking changed.
That answer made it certain.
This thing was an evil spirit.
A parasite that burrowed into human desires.
A prisoner freed from its seal when the doll was destroyed.
The boss monster sealed inside the magic sword Vitalia.
A spirit wandering the mortal world had returned to its home—the magic sword—as though it were an earthbound ghost.
"Who are you trying to fool, you evil-spirit bastard?"
The evil spirit that ruled desire couldn't inhabit the magic sword, so it had clung to me, its owner, inside my head.
The voice grew higher and thinner, changing into a woman's.
- What? How boring. It would've been fine if you'd realized it after fucking Elena.
The evil spirit Beatrice whispered right beside my ear.
***
Beatrice, the evil spirit that had parasitized the magic sword Vitalia.
When the doll was destroyed, its spirit returned.
But unable to inhabit the magic sword again after it had been reforged, it wandered around the sword before clinging to me, its owner.
It was a setting that had also appeared in the game.
'I thought it was just an effect for looking cool.'
I suppose it wasn't an effect that existed for no reason after all.
I had anticipated it, but I hadn't expected it to possess a will of its own and whisper to me.
Its power seemed to have weakened, leaving it unable to use the abilities it had possessed while dwelling in the magic sword, but the voice tickling my ear was extremely irritating.
Just like the Basilisk's poisonous fumes.
"It feels like the setting has become more detailed now that this is reality."
For a while, I ignored Beatrice's words, unsure whether they were her seduction or merely me talking to myself.
Then the door opened.
"Mister, I'm back. You must be hungry, right? I brought you something to eat."
Elena, returning after finishing her shift guarding the walls, entered the room carrying a tray.
Dressed in ordinary clothes and apparently freshly washed, she smelled sweet. The scent mingled with that of steaming soup and bread.
She set it on the table.
When I sat at the table she had set and picked up a spoon, I heard a voice beside my ear.
- Doesn't that turn you on?
The thought grew viscous.
- Look closely. Reach out and touch that plump ass. What do you think Elena would do if you grabbed it tight?
Her waist tapered in, and her buttocks were moderately rounded.
- She'd be surprised, but she wouldn't be able to push you away. She'd stick her ass out toward you so it would be easy for you to touch. Don't you know that?
I pressed my fingers between my brows.
There was no point answering such a vulgar whisper.
I squeezed my eyes shut against the throbbing headache.
"Mister? Are you feeling unwell?"
Elena approached.
Her blue eyes were filled with deep concern.
Even if she tried to hide it, I could see she was exhausted; the fact that she was trying to take care of me first was obvious without anyone having to tell me.
- Look. She's tempting you while acting completely defenseless like this. Go on, grab her.
Just then, bluish mist wavered in the air.
A form visible only to my eyes took shape in midair.
Black hair floated as though unaffected by gravity.
Blood-red eyes.
A girl with a delicate, childlike appearance, as though she had not finished growing, giggled before my eyes, enjoying my reaction.
A gothic lolita dress adorned with abundant frills.
Beneath it, slender white legs were faintly exposed.
Beneath the floating hem, her thighs curved in a rounded line into the flesh of her buttocks.
Beatrice's illusion.
The illusion pressed close against Elena's back.
Its snow-white hand suddenly grabbed Elena's curving breasts.
Elena, completely unaware, stared only at my face. Though she blushed as if my gaze made her self-conscious, she did not look away.
Beatrice's other hand groped between Elena's thighs, while her small nose traveled upward, brushing Elena's nape.
- You smell good.
Beatrice licked her lips.
- It smells like a virgin.
Her fangs flashed as she bit Elena's shoulder above her collarbone.
She nibbled at it, but Elena had no idea she was being touched.
- Enjoy it too. I'll touch everything your gaze falls upon in your place. Watch her. Ah, shall we check how wet she is right now?
She flipped her body upside down and peered beneath Elena's skirt.
'Crazy bitch.'
Beatrice grinned as she toyed with Elena.
"M-Mister, i-if there's anywhere you're feeling unwell, just tell me. I-I'll do, um, anything you want if you, if you want me to."
Elena twisted her body and rubbed her legs together.
"H-Hans said that men get really uncomfortable if they don't, um, relieve themselves even for a single day."
- Ahh. It's not my fault you get turned on, Mister. I'm this horny, you know.
Beatrice grabbed Elena's thigh, stroked her buttocks, and imitated her voice.
The more she did so, the more Elena's expression changed to concern, and she became visibly flustered.
Only then did I realize that my face had tensed.
"I-I'll go get a priest! I guess some of the Basilisk's poison is still left in you!"
Elena hurriedly turned around.
I grabbed Elena's arm as she was about to leave.
"Wait."
Elena flinched in surprise and stopped.
"You don't have to get one."
"But, Mister, you look like you're in so much pain. Your breathing is ragged, too."
"It's not because I'm in pain."
I drew a deep breath and forced my contorted expression to relax.
Beatrice, who was wrapped around Elena's waist, giggled while watching for my reaction.
I ignored the illusion and met Elena's gaze.
"It's just that I thought of something I have to do, and it left my thoughts a little tangled."
"Something you have to do?"
"Yeah."
"You really aren't in physical pain, right?"
"Why would I lie to you about that? I wouldn't lie to someone who does whatever I say the moment I ask."
"I-Is that so? Hehe. I do always follow what you say, Mister."
I let go of her arm and gently pushed her back.
"Instead of worrying about me, take care of yourself. It looks like the Monster Wave still has a while to go. You need to get some proper sleep."
Elena still looked suspicious.
But she let out a small sigh and nodded.
"All right. Then be sure to eat the soup before it gets cold."
Elena left the room.
Her footsteps receded down the hall, and soon an unpleasant silence remained in the room.
- How boring. If you'd just put your dick to work once, we'd all be happy—you, me, and Elena. Why reject the path to everyone's happiness?
Beatrice's illusion dispersed into smoke with a disappointed look.
I pressed my temple and let out a deep sigh.
I tilted my stiff neck, and the crack of bone rang out.
"You spout nonsense despite knowing perfectly well."
Abstinence is the most powerful weapon in this world.
The Ring of the Patient grants its wearer tremendous power the more they maintain their abstinence.
It raises Eck's overall stats by as much as 30 percent.
If I ever have to pass the Abstinence Series on to Elena, I can push the effect as high as 45 percent with the virginity premium.
The true ending is essential, if only for the sake of the future.
A moment's lust is trivial compared to the tremendous effect virginity provides.
"Who the hell would want to live forever in a porn-game world like this?"
I scratched my disheveled hair.
"Haa. Let's think about what I need to do next."
I took the dungeon survey team's captain's appointment letter, which had been returned to me yesterday, out of the dresser.
It bore the signature of Lisette, the lord's daughter.
There was another item in the dresser.
A rectangular jewel rolled around inside it.
A gem called a barrier stone.
It was a treasure Lisette had given me, along with the appointment letter, as the dungeon survey team's captain.
Looking at the treasure, I took out parchment and a pen and began writing a letter.
***
Beyond the city walls, columns of black smoke rising into the sky blotted out the morning sky.
The wind carried away the stench of beasts, blood, and rot soaked into the earth, all scorched by the flames.
Dawn gave way to morning.
The Monster Wave was over.
Ding— Ding— Ding—
The slow tolling of the bells announced that the battle had finally ended.
The horde of monsters that had surged forward as though to swallow the entire city had not even managed to climb over the walls.
The adventurers, soldiers, and knights lined along the walls looked at one another.
Without waiting for anyone else, they lowered their weapons.
Then cheers erupted.
"It's overrrr!!!"
"We survived! We survived!"
Cheers rang out in the streets below the walls as well.
"It's over. Thank goodness."
Lisette stood on the balcony of the lord's castle and watched the scene.
But it was not completely over yet.
Here and there, wounded people sat slumped over, using their weapons as canes, and exhaled ragged breaths.
Their faces were a mess of dust and soot, and though they rejoiced in victory, shadows covered them as if they foresaw the bitter future ahead.
The battle was over, but their lives continued.
Lisette's gaze passed over the battlefield and turned toward the far northern edge.
"So it was all true."
A dungeon had appeared.
The source of calamity—and a new gold mine promising immense wealth to the territory—had opened.
The heat of the fierce battlefield rode the wind and stirred the hem of her dress.
"My lady."
Varie came up behind her.
"The lord is waiting for you."
"All right."
Lisette slowly turned.
She went to answer her father's summons.