Ch.202Volume 15 (4)

Originally, a house where a man lives alone tends to have what’s called a “bachelor smell.” In fact, this is generally true for any adult living alone.

That’s why people use deodorizers, ventilate, or shower once a day to eliminate that smell. I also dislike such odors, so I tend to ventilate frequently.

But now there’s no need for that. With the fragrant lilac scent emanating from my body, I only need to ventilate moderately.

Even when I come back after going outside briefly, it’s nice that my lodging is filled with a subtle floral scent, but it’s not without its problems.

“Hey, did you spray perfume?”

“No.”

“Then why is there this smell?”

The reaction of people around me is the issue. Especially as a teaching assistant who frequently visits the laboratory, the lab has become filled with the fragrance of flowers.

“It smells so nice… better than the musty book smell…”

“What’s nice about it? My nose is burning.”

“Professor, you just don’t understand… flowers are so fragrant…”

While Cindy praised the lilac scent, Elena frowned and covered her nose. Unlike Cindy, Elena seems to have a sensitive sense of smell.

Still, since the sense of smell is the quickest of the bodily senses to fatigue, she adapted after a while. Opening the windows for ventilation was unavoidable, though.

These reactions were the same after class when meeting other people.

“Sniff. Sniff sniff. Sniff. Issac, did you put on perfume?”

“No?”

“But there’s a nice smell. Sniff. Sniff.”

When I was on a date with Marie after a long time, she buried her nose all over my body, sniffing.

I gave a wry smile at the strange feeling, but I stayed still because Marie’s behavior was cute.

Marie has always liked my natural scent and often pestered me about it, so this situation is familiar.

It’s a bit of a problem that she doesn’t care even when passersby give us strange looks.

“I didn’t change my soap… Are you sure you didn’t use perfume?”

“I told you I didn’t. I just received holy power from Luminus.”

“Holy power? Ah, I see. Then this must be the scent of lilac flowers?”

Marie knows mythology well, so she figured out that the fragrance from my body was lilac. Yet she didn’t stop burying her face against my body to smell it.

I smiled warmly at her puppy-like behavior of trying to recognize her owner’s scent and gently stroked her white hair.

Just then, Marie, who had her face buried in my chest, lifted her head slightly and looked directly at me as soon as I stroked her hair. Her clear blue eyes were truly lovely.

“Isn’t it too strong?”

“No! I really like it! How long will this last?”

“I’m not sure? Probably for a while. I plan to go to the temple every weekend.”

The method Luminus taught me is very simple. After receiving enough holy power to emit the lilac scent, I just need to exercise more intensely than usual.

Holy power reduces the body’s burden, allowing for a dramatic increase in physical strength, and the amount of holy power consumed increases with intensity.

It’s a very simple principle, but there’s a reason holy knights are called holy knights. Diligence and patience are important, making it a seemingly simple but difficult task.

“Why the temple? Do you have something tiring to do?”

“… …”

I stared at Marie after hearing that question. A woman who is loved is beautiful in itself, but Marie has been becoming more beautiful with each passing day.

Her snow-white hair was so glossy it reflected light, and her skin was full of elasticity despite not receiving any special care.

Moreover, whether it’s because she’s in her growth period or for some other reason, her figure is also improving remarkably.

She has completely shed her fresh girlish appearance and is growing into an adult.

Squeeze-

“Eep?”

“Yes, I wonder who’s making me so tired?”

Marie made a cute sound when I pinched her cheek, but after hearing what followed, she blinked her eyes.

Then, as if feeling guilty about something, she smiled awkwardly.

“But I’m better than Cecilly. I’ve been restraining myself lately.”

My cute girlfriend making excuses with her speech distorted from having her cheeks pinched. I rubbed her chewy cheeks to my heart’s content.

The bouncy texture feels so good as her skin has become more elastic. It was also amusing to see Marie’s face getting distorted in various ways.

Finally, I pressed her cheeks like steamed buns and then released them before speaking.

“Yes, fortunately you’ve been restraining yourself lately. Before the break, you were like a burning log that showed no signs of going out.”

“That was in the past. And fire goes out when there’s no fuel. I felt like I suddenly cooled down at some point.”

“Does that mean you like me less than before?”

“No way. What I was comparing to fire was my sexual desire, but my feelings for you are the same. Just being next to you makes me happy.”

Marie grabbed my arm while speaking in a tone full of love. She even rubbed her cheek against it like a puppy.

Until recently, Marie had been becoming more seductive, but lately, she’s been showing more aegyo. Conversely, Cecilly has become more seductive, like Marie used to be.

With each exhibiting different charms, my body might be tired, but my heart is at peace. Truly, compared to my previous life, this is a blessed existence.

“Sniff sniff. Sniff.”

“…Can you stop smelling me?”

“Just a little more. It seems addictive.”

“Didn’t you say that before?”

“Did I? Then I just like you. I wonder if this smell comes from your skin or somewhere else? I’m suddenly curious.”

“… …”

Looks like we’re definitely heading straight to the inn today. There was no lust in Marie’s eyes, but they were filled with curiosity instead.

I think we’ll end up going to the inn just to satisfy that curiosity. I smiled bitterly before changing the subject.

As it happens, I had a question I wanted to ask Marie.

“By the way, Marie. Do you know about Leona?”

“Huh? Ah, that auburn-haired girl? Of course I know her.”

The reason Marie knows Leona is simple. Leona currently has an exemplary image among classmates.

She’s a student who is always diligent in class and participates in almost all courses. Her passion for pursuing knowledge is outstanding, earning her the favor of many professors.

Moreover, despite being partially hidden by her lion’s mane-like bushy hairstyle, her beauty is also excellent, making her famous among classmates.

“She didn’t come to class this time. I’m wondering if something happened. I’m curious if she attended other classes.”

“Hmm… no? She didn’t come to any other classes either. She must have some circumstances.”

“Hmm…”

Leona, who used to attend all classes, missed all of them… This must be deeply related to Animus.

Perhaps she left Halo Academy so that others wouldn’t notice. I feel somewhat responsible and worried.

After all, she’s a beastkin who concealed her identity to gain knowledge at Halo Academy. Like Adelia with her complicated family circumstances, she likely has complex issues.

“By the way, why are you asking about Leona?”

“The professor asked about her. Well, everyone has their personal circumstances.”

“That’s true.”

I thought hard about how I could help Leona, but couldn’t come up with a suitable method.

During a similar incident, the half-blood crisis, Arwen was able to ask me for help, but the conditions were different.

Arwen knew I was Xenon and was an elf. She could ask for help whenever and wherever she wanted.

In contrast, Leona has no idea that I am Xenon. It’s a very ambiguous situation for her to freely ask for help.

“Issac.”

“Yes?”

“What do you think about the situation in Animus? It’s quite chaotic these days.”

I couldn’t help but flinch when Marie asked such a question while I was lost in thought. I was momentarily dumbfounded but quickly regained my composure.

The current situation in Animus is so serious that it wouldn’t be strange if civil war broke out right now.

They’re staying quiet only because they know fighting would cause great damage, but it’s like a powder keg. That’s why the world is watching.

A king faithful to tradition versus ministers who argue that tradition should be abolished. From a distance, it might seem like a fight between these two, but fundamentally, it’s a fight over beastkin identity.

With the Holmgang resulting in the beheading of the Great Chief, questions began to arise about the traditions and culture that had united the beastkin.

“Well… it’s more complicated than you might think. Tradition is inseparable from beastkin. Do you know about a beastkin named Hick?”

“No, I don’t know much. Who is he?”

“You can think of him as the founding father and first king of the beastkin. He’s a hero among heroes who gathered beastkin scattered around the world after the Racial War 300 years ago. The problem is that he used tradition effectively to unite different beastkin tribes.”

Hick was a participant in the Racial War and a beastkin as strong as an elven warchief. Naturally, his reputation was well-known not only among fellow beastkin but also among humans who were enemies.

But no matter how powerful he was, he was just one person, so he could only watch as beastkin were indiscriminately massacred by humans.

For an ordinary beastkin, this would have been more than enough to be outraged, but Hick suppressed his ‘anger’ and addressed the fundamental problems one by one. As a result, he realized that beastkin couldn’t unite and were scattered.

“Hick challenged each tribe to Holmgang with his incredibly strong power and brought them into the fold. But the interesting thing is that he didn’t recklessly challenge them to Holmgang; he first tried persuasion. If you look through books, 60% were persuaded, 30% through Holmgang, and 10% through other means. And even in those Holmgangs, he didn’t take the opponent’s life.”

“He didn’t take their lives? If you force someone who doesn’t want to join under you, wouldn’t nine out of ten become rebels?”

Marie asked with a puzzled expression. This is indeed a drawback of Holmgang. The outcome is determined by victory or defeat, regardless of the opponent’s will.

This means that regardless of any complaints one might have, they must follow without question. In the worst case, they could lose their lives.

The tradition of Holmgang is good for enforcement, but it comes with countless shadows.

“That’s right. So if they absolutely didn’t want to join, he just let them go. He gave them a kind of choice. ‘I defeated you in Holmgang. But I’ll give you a final choice.'”

“Wouldn’t that be taken as an insult? In your book, you wrote that the winner’s decision in Holmgang must be followed unconditionally.”

“That’s also correct. But Hick never ‘forced’ anything. He only gave choices. Most of the time, it was the other party who challenged him to Holmgang. Hick respected the other’s will and avoided unnecessary bloodshed.”

“Oh… There was a reason he could become the founding king. With such inclusivity, he couldn’t help but become king.”

“Yes, that’s true, but…”

I looked up at the sky with a complicated expression. As in Hick’s example, traditions and cultures tend to become distorted as time passes. That phenomenon is now manifesting in Animus.

For beastkin, tradition played a very important role in uniting them, but that’s all. For maintenance, at least some flexibility should be exercised, but tradition is preventing that.

It can be seen as similar to the situation with Alfheim’s council of elders. They united the race through tradition, but like stagnant water that rots, it gradually became corrupt.

If they abolish tradition, it would be like tarnishing the reputation of Hick, the founding father and king; but if they maintain it, the nation’s existence becomes precarious.

For Animus, it’s a situation of being caught between a rock and a hard place.

“It’s ironic that the tradition is now dividing the nation.”

“Hmm… Do you have any solution in mind? There was a similar situation before.”

She’s referring to the half-blood crisis, though she’s speaking indirectly because we’re outside. She knows what kind of relationship I have with Arwen.

“The situation is very different from then. This can’t be resolved with a speech. It involves touching a tradition that united an entire race. Especially Holmgang, which values pure strength over politics or strategy, so it’s bound to be problematic.”

“It’s more complicated than I thought.”

“Yes. If I had to suggest a solution… the only way would be to make the tradition of Holmgang more flexible. They’re now a nation, not tribes. For example…”

“For example?”

“Holmgang could be like a tournament… Wait a minute.”

That’s not Marie’s voice. And it came from behind, not beside me.

I blinked and turned around, and to my surprise.

The auburn-haired beastkin woman, Leona, who had appeared from who knows where, was standing there, clearly eavesdropping on our conversation.

“Can you tell me more quickly?”

Her golden eyes were filled with urgency.