episode_0132

Three weeks after coming to the forest, it was morning.

Clang!!!

Clang clang clang!!!

Jeong Yushin and Ashur were clashing wooden swords in the clearing.

Rather than wielding the sword with all his might, Jeong Yushin shifted from one stance to another, positioning the sword where it was needed.

That alone poured out a fluid, seamless swordsmanship of offense and defense.

Vom Tag. Pflug. Schrankhut. Ochs. Wechsel.

After witnessing Ashur’s sword dance, Jeong Yushin’s swordsmanship advanced a step further.

In addition to his experience honed through actual combat.

The meticulous teachings of a Sword Master.

All of that, coupled with his youthful body, created an explosive synergy.

Of course, constantly stimulating the dormant potential through running and strength training was also a great help.

Clang!!!

Ashur parried Jeong Yushin’s sword and stepped back.

“That’s enough. You’ve really changed beyond recognition.”

“Haa… Haa… Thank you.”

Jeong Yushin caught his breath and bowed his head.

“The sword technique correction is finished. I’ve taught you most of the miscellaneous skills as well. I’ve shown you the path you need to take from now on, so I’ve done all I can do.”

It was a tone as if he were ending his teachings.

“You sound like you’re going far away?”

“That’s right. I need to leave the Maze City for a while and go back to my hometown.”

As expected.

The Elf Master was rushing.

Is he leaving?

“···I see.”

“I may be late in coming back.”

“How late?”

“Well? You might see me only when you’ve turned gray.”

Is he really a member of a race with long lifespans?

The flow of time was different.

“Did something big happen in your hometown?”

Ashur shook his head at Jeong Yushin’s question.

“I don’t know either. I have to go and see. Sca, go in and come out next.”

The guild members stood up one by one and sparred with Ashur.

A skillful and sophisticated martial art was unfolded.

Although it was called a sword art guild, it wasn’t limited to just one sword, and they used a variety of weapons.

When I first saw them, there were more unfamiliar faces than familiar ones.

But now I was used to them because I had been exercising with them for almost a month.

And as I got used to them, I could see things.

I could tell that each of them was a prominent warrior in the Maze City.

“Marson, your wrist holding the spear is twisted. Correct it.”

“Yes.”

“Viktor, you know without me telling you, right? Your steps keep going crooked. It’s evidence that your lower body strength is weak. Either reduce the weight of the greatsword or increase your strength.”

“I understand.”

Ashur sparred with the guild members and pointed out each one individually.

The morning sun had already risen to the middle of the sky.

Ashur looked around at the guild members who were sweating profusely.

“Listen, guild members.”

“Yes.”

“I have to leave the Maze City and go back to my hometown. It may take a long time, or I may return quickly. Don’t worry about that, and don’t neglect your training following the vice guild leader.”

““Yes! I understand.””

Killa slowly approached and stood next to Ashur.

Ashur patted Killa’s shoulder.

“Vice Guild Leader.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll trust you and leave it to you. If you need it, ask my acquaintance for help. He’ll come by and check your swordsmanship from time to time.”

“I understand.”

As soon as Ashur finished speaking, elves on horseback appeared in the clearing.

Despite the midsummer heat, they were heavily armed. It was clear at a glance that they were not ordinary people. It was right to see them as guards.

Among the armed elves was the Elf Princess I had seen before.

The Elf Princess glanced at Jeong Yushin once and then drove her horse towards Ashur.

“Shall we go?”

“Yes, Princess.”

Ashur climbed onto the horse that the Elf Guards had brought and looked down at Jeong Yushin.

“See you next time.”

“Please be safe on your journey.”

Clatter. Clatter.

Ashur left the clearing with the Elf Princess and her party.

Killa looked around at the guild members and smiled.

“Pack your bags. We have to go back to the city.”

““Yes!””

Jeong Yushin packed up the tent and slung a small bundle over his shoulder.

From the beginning, he didn’t have any luggage of his own. He had been kidnapped.

The only items he had were gifts from Grandpa Barbaroi.

“Let’s go.”

Under Killa’s guidance, Jeong Yushin began walking along the forest path with the guild members.

* * *

Half a day passed.

As the sun was setting.

Jeong Yushin passed through the south gate of Maze City and arrived at the entrance of the inn.

The guild members gathered around Jeong Yushin and patted him on the shoulder.

“Sca, are you thinking about joining our clan? We’re looking for a good swordsman.”

“Hey! This guy’s already claiming him? I called dibs on Sca first. Sca, we have a lot of pretty friends in our clan, you know? Think about it. What’s the fun in going in and out of the maze with just gloomy guys?”

“Pretty girls? The maze isn’t child’s play. Sca, think carefully. If you fall for that kind of thing, you’ll get burned later.”

Jeong Yushin smiled slyly inside.

“Thank you for the offer. I’ll think about it for now.”

Jeong Yushin bowed his head to the guild members.

One of the guild members opened his mouth.

“I heard you’ve been promoted to an Intermediate Explorer. Are you thinking of working at the Explorer Headquarters in the central area?”

“Yes. I heard there are a lot of high-quality requests at the headquarters.”

“That’s right. Then I’ll see you at the headquarters.”

“I will.”

After seeing off the swordsmanship guild members, he stood at the entrance of the inn.

“Whew.”

Ashur.

The Sword Master Elf Master has left.

I had a feeling that we couldn’t be together forever, but it was sudden.

Could something ominous be happening outside of Maze City?

He took his eyes off the inn entrance and looked at the setting sunset.

‘You even have the leisure to indulge in sentimentality. Your life is easy, isn’t it?’

He tapped his cheek and opened the inn door.

“Welcome!”

Karin approached and stopped abruptly when she saw Jeong Yushin.

Karin felt her heart drop.

The soft, chubby pretty boy was gone.

A sharp pretty boy with the baby fat gone from his face appeared.

A firm body that looked like he had been exercising.

Calm eyes and a dignified posture.

The appearance that made one feel maternal love was gone, and a young male had appeared.

I thought he had gone to the forest to gain the strength to protect himself, but I was wrong.

Instead of muscles, he came back with a strange charm.

In a word.

Training had carved out Sca’s beauty like a jewel.

A face that Karin would have definitely fallen for at that age.

Really.

‘Dangerous…!’

Her spine tingled.

The boy smiled.

“Karin, was everything okay?”

“U… Uh-huh.”

Karin barely answered.

I shouldn’t be like this.

Sca is still a boy.

Why does he smell like a male?

“Give me food.”

“O-Okay.”

Karin barely turned her body and went into the kitchen.

At that time.

The Boar Beastman approached with a delighted expression.

“Sca-nim!”

“Snout!”

Aldaine’s tender-hearted subordinate.

It was a face I hadn’t seen in a while.

Snout approached and smiled brightly.

“I heard you’ve become younger. Seeing you like this, you really are terrifying.”

“Scary? It’s not like I’m going to eat anyone. Don’t talk nonsense. But what are you doing here?”

“I was helping out because they said they were short-handed.”

Jeong Yushin nodded inwardly.

“There are a lot of customers.”

“These days, Tarman and Ann developed a new menu, and it’s surprisingly a big hit.”

“Is that so?”

“Ah! Please have a seat first.”

He sat down at the counter with Snout.

“You look like you have something to say, let’s do it later. Don’t worry about me and do what you were doing.”

“Ah! Thank you.”

Snout left the counter and began taking orders and moving food.

He went into the kitchen and greeted Ann and Tarman, then came out and sat back down at the counter.

“Here you go.”

Karin brought the food.

The menu was cold tomato pasta and black rye bread. Well-baked sausage.

Jeong Yushin devoured the food.

“It’s delicious.”

It was the first home-cooked meal in almost a month, so the emotion was even deeper.

After dinner, he leaned comfortably against the counter chair and looked at the chattering people one by one.

Everyone looked satisfied and happy.

It’s a bit much to think this way.

But it was much better than when Darmong was in charge.

Karin, who came out of the kitchen, put a wooden cup on the counter.

“Is this the new menu?”

It looked like a reddish shaved ice.

“That’s right. I grinded wild strawberries that were frozen using a freezing magic tool and mixed them with honey. The customers like it better when I add a little alcohol! Ah! I didn’t put alcohol in this one. You’re still a kid.”

“Is that so?”

Jeong Yushin took a spoonful of the crunchy ice flakes and put it in his mouth, chewing.

‘Good.’

To be able to eat ice in this heat.

The freezing magic tool worth 15 gold coins was paying for itself.

Thanks to Karin buying good things, we were able to spend the summer comfortably.

Jeong Yushin patted Karin’s butt standing next to him.

“Thanks to our Karin-nim, my mouth is enjoying itself. Thank you.”

“Hwet?!”

The firm butt piled up in the leather pants bounced.

Karin instinctively stood her tail up and wiggled her butt.

Karin suddenly showing a deep female movement.

Jeong Yushin was embarrassed and quickly took his hand off.

Karin glared at Jeong Yushin with a face that had turned bright red.

“D…Don’t do that! People are watching!”

“O…Okay.”

Jeong Yushin scratched his head in embarrassment.

Karin quickly moved away from Jeong Yushin and started working again.

How much time had passed?

The night grew late, and the drunk customers left one by one.

“Sca-nim, then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Tarman and Ann bowed. Both of them were full of laughter, as if something pleasant had happened.

“Okay. Good work.”

Jeong Yushin waved his hand and saw the two off.

A quiet inn.

Snout approached.

“Ahem! Sca-nim.”

“What?”

“Aldaine-nim wants to see you sometime.”

“What’s it about?”

“He says he’ll explain after we meet.”

“Is that so? Tell him I’ll visit soon.”

“Yes. Then.”

Snout politely greeted Jeong Yushin and Karin and left the inn.

Jeong Yushin and Karin were the only ones left in the inn hall.

“Karin, really, nothing happened?”

Jeong Yushin asked.

Karin crossed her arms and thought carefully before opening her mouth.

“Well… sometimes there were people looking for you. Mostly women.”

“Is that so?”

“I just told them you were away for a while. They didn’t come back after that?”

Jeong Yushin crossed his arms and looked down at the table for a while.

“Karin, how much money have you saved?”

“…”

Karin avoided his gaze.

“Why are you turning your eyes away? It’s been a while since you started working. How much have you saved?”

“Um… I spent it on this and that…”

Karin wiggled her fingers and mumbled.

Jeong Yushin stared blankly at Karin’s face.

No.

This wolf beastman?

Even if she’s a princess, this is too much.

“Aren’t you going to get equipment?”

“Ah, just wait a little bit. What can I do, the money isn’t coming together as much as I thought?”

“What did you spend it on?”

“There… there are things.”

What things could there be?

“Tell me honestly.”

Jeong Yushin raised his hand and stroked Karin’s tail.

“D-Don’t grab my tail.”

Karin made a tearful face and clenched her thighs.

Jeong Yushin fiddled with Karin’s tail.

The lush red fur was well-maintained and felt good to the touch. Not as much as Rin’s soft belly, though.

Still.

‘This is strangely addictive.’

“Tell me quickly.”

Suddenly, Karin slightly lowered her top.

Karin’s bra popped out as her black sleeveless top stretched out.

The faint scent of Karin was a bonus.

Jeong Yushin’s eyes widened.

“T…This is?”

Karin bit her lip slightly.

“T-That’s right. I bought this and that because I heard you like leopard print underwear. It was expensive because it’s top-quality underwear made by the Arachnes.”

Karin returned the tank top to its original position and lowered her pants a little.

Her smooth hips and lower abdomen, and under that, leopard-print panties peeked out.

Before he knew it, Karin’s face was flushed red as if it was about to explode.

“…”

There was nothing to say.

“Will you give me a belly kiss?”

“N-No way?! And take a shower! You stink!”

Jeong Yushin put his nose to his arm and smelled it.

‘Really? I don’t smell anything.’

I was sweating from marching for half a day, but I don’t think it smells that bad.

Karin pointed to the dining area.

“I’ve filled the wooden tub in the warehouse on the first floor with water. Take your time and wash up.”

“Okay.”

He grabbed his toiletries from the second floor and came downstairs, and Rin was sitting blankly at the counter.

He was full of stench and stains, as if he had rolled around in a sewer somewhere.

“Rin? You!”

Jeong Yushin grabbed Rin by the scruff of his neck.

“Squeak? Squeak squeak!”

“Let’s take a bath together.”

Jeong Yushin grabbed Rin and went to the warehouse.

He took off his clothes and stood in front of Rin.

Rin was covering his eyes with both hands.

Jeong Yushin chuckled.

‘He acts like a person sometimes.’

He poured water into a small wooden tub for Rin and first washed away the filth.

Then he scooped a bucket of cold water and washed his body.

“Phew. Good.”

After roughly washing his body with water, he went into the large wooden tub.

“Come here.”

“Squeak squeak!!!”

He grabbed Rin by the scruff of his neck, who was struggling in the small wooden tub.

‘I should use soap, right?’

Carefully using beastman soap to lather up, being careful not to get water in his ears, he massaged Rin’s soft body.

Rin struggled with all his might, but soon gave up and entrusted his body to Jeong Yushin’s hands in a dazed state.

“Squeak… squeak squeak.”

He washed Rin with clean water and put him in the large wooden tub where he was.

Rin stuck to Jeong Yushin’s chest and shook his head.

He smiled and stroked Rin, rinsed his body, and came out.

As he passed through the dining area and returned to the inn, someone was sitting in the seat.

It’s not Karin.

Red ears and tail.

A dignified figure.

A cold expression.

One of the Maze City Committee members.

Ingrid Redtail.

“Hmm…?”

Ingrid stiffened like a stone when she saw Jeong Yushin.

Jeong Yushin tilted his head and smiled.

It was funny to see Ingrid, who always had a cold expression, with her mouth wide open.

“Ingrid-nim, I’m sorry. I was late because I was washing with Rin.”

“W…Who? S…Sca? Bath…? Ah.”

A stream of blood flowed from Ingrid’s nose as she stammered.

Karin stared blankly at Ingrid’s face.

Suddenly, a nosebleed?

“···Mom?”