Chapter 89

Chapter 89

Otherworld Cheat Harem.

Episode 89: Succubus (1)

Raize, who had entered the dream, looked down at her outfit and was appalled. A swimsuit that barely covered her private parts and chest, akin to a slinky outfit. It was an outfit so revealing that even a back-alley prostitute wouldn’t wear it.

“Whew, whew…”

Thanks to the mental fortitude unique to a magician, she managed to avoid collapsing in a screaming fit. It also helped that she knew this was Dojin’s dream.

If she caused a commotion and accidentally woke Dojin, it would be a real headache.

‘I need to find the memory.’

Somewhere in this dream, there must be a memory deeply hidden in the subconscious. After finding and stealing that memory, she could escape the dream.

There was plenty of time. Thanks to the power of the reagents and the magic circle, she had adjusted it so that even if hundreds of days passed in the dream, he wouldn’t wake up.

Raize looked around. The surroundings were a dojo. It resembled the kind of dojo where beastfolk taught martial arts.

Perhaps Dojin was also a disciple who trained at some dojo, she thought, as she lifted her head to look outside the dojo.

And then she was shocked.

‘…What is this?’

Skyscrapers soaring as if they knew no bounds.

Square buildings stacked with precision, as if measured by a ruler.

To an otherworlder, the meticulously calculated and constructed square concrete blocks appeared in her view, almost terrifyingly so.

‘Dreams are supposed to be made from the materials in one’s memory…’

Like how the creatures in a child’s nightmare are limited to beasts seen in the forest, goblins, cockroaches, or mice.

Dreams are ultimately created based on the memories one has experienced.

So this dream was also made from Dojin’s memories… but it was hard to believe.

Raize soared high into the sky. Although such swift flight was impossible in reality, it was effortlessly achievable in a dream.

What she saw from such heights were silent steel carriages, populations easily surpassing tens and hundreds of millions, giants trapped within walls, and citizens who thought nothing of it all.

“So Dojin lived in a place like this.”

Raize sat on the street, watching people pass by. No one paid any attention to her. Even though she was dressed in bizarre clothes that a prostitute might wear, it was the same.

That’s because she was an entity from outside the dream. Dream entities cannot perceive outsiders, with one exception.

She entered a random shop and stole some mysterious food that someone had just ordered. The dream resident, unaware of the theft, began miming eating air.

She took the stolen food, unwrapped it, and checked its contents. It was a sandwich with salad and a meat patty inside. She didn’t know its name, but it was a hamburger.

Taking a bite of the hamburger, Raize gaped at it. The taste was fantastic. Even though memories in dreams are often enhanced to taste superb, one cannot recreate the taste of something they’ve never experienced.

So this was something Dojin had actually eaten.

“A place like this… really exists?”

It was unbelievable. Raize unconsciously began swinging her legs back and forth, enjoying modern civilization.

This world wasn’t that vast. A radius of about 2 to 3 kilometers. Within that small space, there were countless fun and interesting things that couldn’t even compare to the entire world she used to live in.

She would enter an arcade to enjoy games, taste all sorts of delicacies and ice cream at dessert shops, and even got caught by a mysterious device that sealed her image on paper.

After enjoying all those things, the sun began to set in his dream. Raize decided it was about time to find Dojin.

She had been so happy that she forgot the very purpose of coming to this world.

“Hmm, searching the entire city and not finding Dojin means…”

Dojin was probably near the dojo where she first landed. Convinced of this, she headed to the dojo.

In the backyard of the dojo, a man and a ten-year-old child were training. Raize approached, thinking the man was Dojin.

“Hup!”

Then she halted. The man swung a real sword towards the child in front of him. The heavy and sharp sword descended upon the child.

The child blocked it with trembling hands, but there was a limit. The child’s strength couldn’t withstand the power and weight of a grown adult.

Srrk!

Ultimately, the sword that couldn’t be blocked sliced sharply through the child’s skin. The child bit their lip in pain but didn’t cry or scream.

‘What is that…?’

The Dojin Raize knew wasn’t a man who would do such a harsh thing to a child. Moreover, in her world, there was no one who taught children so aggressively.

“Too soft.”

“B-but… my arm won’t lift…”

“How many times do I have to tell you—it’s not about swinging your arm, it’s about swinging with your whole body. Are you slow or something?”

“No matter how much I use my body, how can I possibly withstand Father’s sword…?”

“I told you that if you have the skill, you can overcome this much of a physical difference. Tsk, pathetic.”

The man said this and swung his sword again. The child struggled to swing his sword to block him. Perhaps he had taken the earlier advice to heart, as he somehow managed to succeed this time.

However, without a word of praise, the man turned the sword and struck the child’s face with the back of it. The child, who was relieved and let his guard down after blocking the sword, couldn’t even react and fell over.

“Argh!”

Blood started to gush out, as if his nose had been smashed. The man clicked his tongue and called for the attendant.

“Heal him.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Let’s call it a day.”

The man said this and turned his body. Only then could Raize confirm the man’s face. Though he looked just like Dojin, his face was lined with wrinkles.

‘That’s not… Dojin?’

Then where on earth was Dojin? Raize looked around, scanning the surroundings. Meanwhile, the attendant treated the child’s wound and disappeared.

The child, left alone in the yard, quietly raised his sword, even though no one was watching. And he swung it.

Thinking that the sword style seemed very familiar from somewhere, Raize descended to the ground to confirm up close. And at that moment, the child gazed intently at Raize.

He acknowledged her presence. With a sense of disbelief, Raize opened her mouth.

“…Hey, kid.”

“Who are you?”

“Do you, by any chance, know where someone named Dojin is?”

“I’m Dojin, and you are…?”

“Ha, I can’t believe it…”

Raize looked at the child standing in front of her.

This boy, who had been abused, was Dojin.

“Calling you ‘noona’ seems odd since we look about the same age.”

“…Shut up, kid.”

Raize felt a sense of irony as she looked down at Dojin, who was about her size. To think she could look down on Dojin like this.

Especially in such a youthful state…

“What do you do? This isn’t a place just anyone can enter.”

“What do you think I do?”

“Hmm… a flasher?”

“Flasher… what’s that?”

“A perverted woman.”

“…Pervert?”

Raize frowned, about to protest, but then realized she had no defense against such a description.

After all, a woman wandering around like this deserved to be called a pervert. Where was she lucky enough not to be called a nympho or exhibitionist?

So she let those comments slide and looked at Dojin. Memories are often hidden in the deepest parts of the subconscious, and usually, the dreamers’ most cherished things are like that.

To retrieve the memory, she had to entice Dojin. She pondered for a moment on how to entice him.

Children, after all, are fascinated by mysterious things.

“I’m a magician.”

“A magician?”

“Yes.”

Saying that, she used a simple spell. A flame rose from her fingertip. It was a minor spell, but it was enough to prove she was a magician…

“Come on, you hid a lighter in your finger, right?”

“…What?”

“Who falls for that these days…?”

However, this cheeky little kid wasn’t easy to win over. Raize realized that no matter how young Dojin was, he was still Dojin, and thought of another approach.

She flew into the sky.

“You attached a wire, didn’t you?”

She shot lightning.

“Wow, where’s the battery?”

She created ice.

“Did you take it out of our fridge?”

She levitated objects without touching them, made Dojin fly, moved clouds, and shook the ground.

But none of it could persuade Dojin.

“Haaa, haa…”

Even in a dream, magic was still magic. She felt the drain of her mana and panted. Dojin’s disbelief only grew seeing her struggle with just this much.

“What…?! What will it take for you to believe me?”

Raize snapped back in frustration. Dojin seemed slightly surprised that she could raise her voice like that, then returned to his usual expression.

“If you’re really a magician…”

Despite already showing plenty of magical feats, Raize listened nervously to what kind of magical act this kid could possibly want.

“Please kill my father.”

“…What?”

The words that came out of his mouth were shockingly serious.

“Wait, what did you say?”

“I said, kill my father. Can’t you do that? You’re a magician, aren’t you?”

Dojin looked at Raize with a very stern expression. He was serious. He truly wanted her to kill his father.

Why? There’s no need to ask. Didn’t she just see it with her own eyes? Dojin’s father didn’t love him. At least, that shouldn’t be called love.

How much pain must this child have endured from the blades received instead of love, for the festering wounds to burst open and lead him to utter such words to kill his own father.

Raize couldn’t even begin to imagine.

“…Sorry, that’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“I’m not a resident of this dream. Doing such a thing would immediately break the dream.”

If she were to kill Dojin’s father, the dream might sustain for just a brief moment. But if Dojin were to witness it?

Dojin considered his father’s death to be something magical. Magic, in other words, referred to things that were impossible by common sense.

Once he recognized the impossibility, he’d realize it’s a dream, and no matter the help from magic or potions, the dream couldn’t be prevented from breaking.

Considering Raize’s goal wasn’t to comfort him but to help him regain his memories, she couldn’t kill his father.

“Then something else.”

“Oh, is there something else?”

“I didn’t expect anything anyway. From a fake magician.”

“…I’m not fake.”

That was at least a relief. Raize encouraged Dojin to say anything. Dojin looked steadily at her chest, pointed at her not-so-large chest, and said.

“Show me your chest.”

“Ah…”

This cheeky little brat.