Chapter 60
The next day came.
After getting up that morning, we headed straight to a pharmacy.
We had gone there to find out exactly what kind of poison had afflicted Ruril.
We had already collected the poison from the swamp, so all that remained was to identify it.
The pharmacist's expression was grim after examining Ruril's condition.
“First, there's something I'd like to ask.”
We listened closely to the pharmacist.
His question was very simple.
He merely asked what we'd done after she was poisoned and whether we'd tried to cure her.
We answered that a cleric had successfully used a purification miracle, and that we'd confined her to a room for the time being.
“There is something I should tell you first..”
The pharmacist let out a deep sigh, then looked toward the Hero and opened his mouth.
“You need to have intercourse with her.”
...
What?
“Yes?”
What the hell was he talking about?
The pharmacist began to explain.
His explanation was as follows.
Upon examining it, he determined that it was a poison made of mana.
Worse still, it was a poison that required a man's semen.
He sighed and explained that giving her medicine made from a man's semen would cure her, but it had to be administered directly.
“As you know, a purification miracle only removes harmful effects; it doesn't eliminate the medicinal effects remaining in the poison.”
“...”
“Where on earth did you go to get afflicted with succubus bodily fluid?”
“!!”
We recalled something shocking.
The reason we'd entered that forest.
It had been a secret base where demons were conducting research into forcibly turning people into succubi or incubi.
In other words, the poison there had been succubus bodily fluid.
I remembered.
I remembered what curse or poison it was—the kind that killed a person if they didn't receive a man's semen, if they didn't have intercourse.
We should have realized it the moment we found a base for turning people into succubi or incubi..!
But after spending so much time in this place, I'd apparently forgotten.
And this was after only a few months, if that counted as a long time..
At last, I understood why Cecilia's purification miracle hadn't worked.
It merely heightened sexual desire and caused no particular physical harm, which was why it had evaded purification.
“Um.. Is there any other way to resolve this without having intercourse?”
In response to the Hero's question, the pharmacist answered that it wasn't that there were no alternatives.
“The poison will only be satisfied if the body itself recognizes that it has had intercourse.”
“That means..”
“No. It only has to recognize that it has had intercourse.”
As he said this, the pharmacist took out a magic item.
“This..?”
“It's a sensory transfer device. As I said, all that matters is that the body thinks it's having intercourse.. So long as it can feel that sensation, the poison will lose its efficacy even without actual intercourse.”
“...”
In the end, someone still had to have intercourse with her.
He explained that giving her semen directly was possible, but it was far too inefficient for an ordinary human or elf to provide, and it wouldn't solve the problem; she'd keep going into heat.
It wasn't called succubus bodily fluid for nothing.
“...”
The Hero's expression was complicated.
I didn't feel particularly good either, but I turned toward Cecilia, pretending I hadn't fully understood what the pharmacist had said.
Perhaps for my sake, Cecilia was writing down what the pharmacist had said on a piece of paper.
Cecilia also seemed shocked as she handed me the paper.
It contained exactly what the pharmacist had said a moment ago.
There were two ways to do it.
Rape Ruril while she slept, or bring someone over, use the sensory transfer device, and have intercourse right beside her.
It wouldn't work in another room, either.
The pharmacist explained that the sensory transfer device didn't have a very long range, so it had to be used right beside her.
“...”
That meant..
To save Ruril, I had to either give up the pure-love route or step forward and have intercourse with the Hero.
If I gave up the pure-love route, the Demon King would ultimately destroy the world, so the former was effectively not an option. In the end, to cure Ruril's chronic tendency to go into heat..
I..
“...”
This can't be happening..
No, why was this happening..
“There's one more thing I should tell you. Since she must also receive the sensation of having directly accepted the semen, you'd have to ejaculate inside her..”
“W-Wait a moment..!”
The Hero shouted, his face burning red.
“I-Is there really no way to do this without actually having intercourse?”
“If it were an ordinary poison made from an aphrodisiac, we could resolve it simply by dispelling it, without these restrictions.. But the poison she suffered from isn't ordinary. It's succubus bodily fluid—and very concentrated fluid at that..”
The pharmacist lowered his head as if there were nothing he could do.
After all, if it came with the restriction that it had to be administered directly, there was no way it could be ordinary.
I'd secretly hoped that wasn't the case, but I'd forgotten that the place we'd been was a base for creating succubi and incubi..
“...”
We were screwed.
“If there's no one to have intercourse with her, you can call someone from a brothel.”
That was impossible too, which was the problem.
More than anything, the thought of the Hero having intercourse with some woman he didn't even know made me feel awful.
I looked toward the Hero.
The Hero was looking back at me too, his face full of hesitation.
He was probably agonizing over whether to say something.
The Hero, too, must have known that to defeat the Demon King, he had to fall in love with me and get me pregnant.
“So, what will you do with this magic item? Will you buy it?”
At least, it was fortunate that this was a city of adventurers, so they seemed accustomed to poisons like this.
If this magic item hadn't existed, Ruril would have had to live with the poison's side effects until she found another man..
The Hero closed his eyes.
The magic item was far more expensive than I had imagined.
.
.
.
Ruril had been poisoned because of me.
I'd gone to the pharmacy because I wanted to cure her somehow, but all we got in return was the cold reality waiting for us.
To be honest, I'd already suspected it.
Since the place we'd been was a base for turning humans into succubi and incubi, I'd naturally suspected the poison there would be the same kind.
Yet I'd firmly believed everything would be all right.
I hadn't even properly told them about the boss monster, and now, because of me, Ruril lay there unable to wake up, poisoned.
That was the result.
We had ended up in a situation where I either had to have intercourse with Ruril or have intercourse with another woman while using this sensory transfer device.
It might sound like I could just do it, but..
“Damn it..!”
The situation had become hopelessly tangled.
To defeat the Demon King, I had to fall in love with Lumia, have intercourse with her, and get her pregnant.
But this had happened, leaving us with only two ways to resolve it: Ruril would have to have intercourse with another man, or I would have to use the sensory transfer device while having intercourse with Lumia.
And that meant directly inside Lumia..
“Tch..”
I remembered what had happened two days ago.
Lumia had gone as far as doing that because of me.
And now I was supposed to tell Lumia that we had to fall in love with each other to defeat the Demon King, and that I couldn't save the world by having intercourse with another woman?
On top of that, I was supposed to ask her to have intercourse with me because I wanted to save Ruril?
It was the sort of thing for which I wouldn't have been able to blame her even if she slapped me right then.
I couldn't bring myself to discuss this with Cecilia beside Lumia, so after explaining things and leaving the pharmacy, I'd secretly left with Cecilia after giving Lumia some food.
“What are you going to do? Are you going to tell her?”
“I don't know..”
Because of my mistake, I couldn't let her suffer from that illness for a long time.
But neither could I make her have intercourse with some man whose name she didn't even know because of me.
I was completely trapped.
I was caught in a situation where I could do neither. I'd thought that if only I could return, I would surely defeat the Demon King and save everyone, but..
“Damn it..!”
At this rate, returning had been pointless..
I clutched my head.
What should I do..?
How..
“Oh, you hopelessly dense fool.”
Ugh!
Grimacing at the pain in my head, I turned toward Cecilia.
Cecilia wore an expression that said she found me utterly frustrating.
Why was she looking at me like that..
“Does Lumia hate you?”
“That's..”
She didn't.
If she'd hated me, she wouldn't have done that two days ago because she wanted to help me.
She wouldn't have shown me everything she had.
“You can tell me, but you won't tell her?”
How to defeat the Demon King.
I hadn't told Lumia because I feared she'd feel she were being used to defeat the Demon King, or that she would sacrifice her feelings for that purpose.
But Cecilia was pointing out exactly that.
With her face twisted like an evil spirit's, she was berating me.
“You clueless idiot who doesn't understand a woman's heart. Aren't you going to run over there right now?”
“Ah..”
I hadn't known.
I hadn't understood her feelings.
I'd said I had to protect her and would act for Lumia's sake, yet I wouldn't even face her feelings.
I had been running away from her.
What was Lumia thinking right now..?
I gritted my teeth.
“... Thank you, Cecilia.”
I sprang to my feet, determination on my face.
Today, I was going to confess everything.
With all my heart.
“You should have done that from the start..”
Cecilia said with a bitter smile.
I smiled back at her, then approached Lumia, who was eating a snack.
It seemed like it would be a somewhat.. long conversation.
The woman left alone after the man departed let out a deep sigh and looked up at the sky.
“I'm jealous..”
She envied her.
She envied him, too.
That they could.. like each other so much.. and have intercourse.
“With all my heart..”
She..
was so incredibly envious.