Ch.37Warrior (4)

A level 20 bard and dueling scholar.

And Melody, the sword master also known as the Sword of the Guardian.

Despite her high level and countless experiences, she was closer to a girl.

It wasn’t just her emotional aspects.

I wasn’t referring to her maiden-like appearance either, though I almost wished my thoughts were heading in that direction instead.

I was recalling Melody’s delicate wrist and thigh that had been in my grasp.

Those slender limbs couldn’t even push me away properly. Rather, it felt like she was overwhelmed by me, simply waiting to be pushed down.

She had a fragile body. If I had pressed forward, could Melody have even resisted?

Thinking that someone so powerful could easily meet her end at my hands gave me a strange feeling.

A kind of emotion I couldn’t put into words.

Of course, being a bard, she might somehow respond with magic based on melody, but…

I didn’t think that would be faster than me covering her mouth.

And after covering her mouth? I found myself stiffening at the sinister thoughts that arose.

“Are you alright?”

Melody had regained her usual composure. I couldn’t hastily tell her I was fine.

Was even my mind becoming monstrous? Or was I losing my senses due to the overwhelming difference in power?

“It’s nothing.”

Yet there was an uncertain tone in my words despite them coming from my own mouth.

It couldn’t be helped. Even in fiction, how many times do we see people being controlled by overwhelming power or having their sense of self destroyed?

It was a real possibility.

And there were quite a few similar cases.

But I hoped I wouldn’t awaken to some unexpected preference.

I steeled my resolve and hardened my heart. Though I had chosen the wrong race and become a monster, hunted everywhere with people fearing me.

I wanted to preserve my humanity as much as possible.

“It’s nothing.”

As I repeated those words, Melody rarely opened her eyes. It was unlike her, who had always been squinting in the game.

“Your expression says otherwise.”

“What expression?”

“A frightening one. As if you were going to devour me.”

Though she spoke with a forced smile, she was gently rubbing the wrist I had grabbed.

That sight evoked certain imaginings.

Pushing down Melody, who looked like an ordinary girl, grabbing that wrist, and then…

No, no. Don’t think about it. After deliberately erasing those thoughts, I changed the subject.

“By the way, why did you call for me?”

Only then did Melody stop rubbing her wrist and snap back to attention. She smiled with her usual squinting eyes.

“Now that the examination is over, I thought we should get to business.”

Business. I made a puzzled expression, wondering what she meant, and Melody wagged her index finger at me.

“Things like rewards, or visiting your companion for a check-up?”

Isla. The name of my companion I had momentarily forgotten, lost in certain thoughts.

“Women feel better when someone they like visits them when they’re sick. If you act like you don’t care when they wake up, they might get upset, you know?”

As she said this, Melody’s face was slightly flushed. She seemed a bit embarrassed, desperately trying to erase what had happened earlier.

It was a sight that naturally evoked bad thoughts.

Desires that filled my mind like a tide, coming and going repeatedly.

Trying to shake off such thoughts, I abruptly stood up, and Melody exclaimed “Oh my” with a laugh.

“Good, good. Then…”

She seemed pleased that I was going along with her intentions.

Light footsteps echoed as Melody approached the door with a light step and opened it.

“Ah.”

She froze with that exclamation.

Creeeeak, thud.

She closed the door again.

“Melody?”

The girl didn’t respond even when I called her name. I couldn’t understand what had happened.

I had to check for myself. I approached the door and opened it again.

“…Ah.”

I froze in place with a reaction probably not much different from Melody’s.

Beyond the door, in the slightly open gap, were cold blue-gray eyes.

The face below those eyes was expressionlessly cold, and the gaze directed at me was even more frigid.

As a chill ran through me under that unwavering stare, I had to close the door just as Melody had done.

When I turned around blankly, my eyes met Melody’s. Bad thoughts naturally arose.

Not the inappropriate impulses centered on Melody from earlier, but a sensation closer to an ominous premonition.

Soon, as if confirming this, a cold voice was heard.

“Open it.”

That itself was confirmation. I succumbed to a chill I had never felt before.

*

“How long have you been there?”

“Since you asked if you could take it now.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. It was a situation that naturally evoked lament.

I had deliberated for just a moment, and the words that came out after that deliberation were close to a setup.

“What do you think?”

“Do you want to hear?”

Cold blue-gray eyes were fixed on me. I thought even an arrow pointed at me might be warmer than this.

I spoke before Isla could say anything.

“It was a joke.”

“A joke.”

“Melody was teasing me. It annoyed me a bit so…”

“Me…?”

No one paid attention to Melody’s following words, which implied “Just for that much?”

It was natural for me since that was my true feeling, and Isla seemed to think such things weren’t important.

“I wanted to put her in her place, so I made that joke.”

“A joke… I see.”

Only then did Isla’s eyes soften a bit. There was hardly any physical difference, but the perceived coldness seemed to have diminished.

However, I couldn’t expect that mood to last long.

Isla’s eyes turned to me, and she tapped her forehead through her bangs.

“Then is this a joke too?”

And I froze again.

It was because I hadn’t thought she would know that far.

Well, Isla is a shapeshifter.

She and other shapeshifters were treated as superior or evolved forms of beastkin, even in the gaming community.

Their senses were superior to beastkin, as were their regeneration, strength, and abilities derived from their beast forms.

Yet they rarely had the weaknesses or heat cycles typical of beastkin. Since they could change their form somewhat freely, players considered shapeshifters to be truly superior to beastkin.

And I momentarily agreed with that assessment.

At least now, Isla had done something a beastkin would never dare to do.

With senses superior to a beastkin and the high agility of a hunter.

Combined with all the special abilities for hunting, Isla could vividly sense what was happening beyond walls and doors.

I briefly considered making excuses but quickly abandoned the idea. I opened my eyes wide.

“Want me to do it?”

“…Huh?”

Isla flinched and Melody was startled. Standing between the two women, I boldly pressed forward.

“I can do it if you want. I was on the receiving end earlier.”

Or would you like to try? At my question, Isla stared at me blankly.

Her lips quivered, her gaze briefly turned to Melody before returning to me. She looked at my forehead and lips in turn, then said:

“No, I’m good.”

It was a sudden change of stance. For me, who had been thinking about kissing or being kissed, it was a somewhat bewildering change.

I wondered if it was different from what I had expected, but the reality was slightly different.

“When I can’t resist anymore. That’s when I’ll take it.”

Contrary to my expectation, she declared boldly.

A statement that exuded a hunter’s spirit. Standing there blankly, I recalled the lore I had seen in the game before.

That hunters and beastkin of the North possess fierce temperaments.

That they claim their partners in an extremely aggressive manner.

And Isla was also a hunter from the North.

I was internally breaking into a cold sweat at the thought that I might be forcibly taken.

With a slightly disgruntled look, Melody spoke up.

“Are we done here? Shall we go?”

“…Where to?”

“I promised you a reward, remember? Have you already forgotten? Though it’s understandable given the situation.”

Melody glanced at Isla, who stood there blankly, unaffected by Melody’s gaze.

She and I were thinking the same thing.

Wondering if the kiss wasn’t the reward.

Even Melody seemed to recall those words, waving her hands with a slightly reddened face.

“Do I look like that kind of person to you! Of course, if that’s what you want, I could settle for that! But your companion wouldn’t be satisfied with just that, would she?”

It was clearly an excuse. In response to my blank stare, Melody’s face flushed and she bit her lip.

“Then what do you have?”

Having finally cooled her face, Melody spoke confidently.

“Magic items once used by Imperial Intelligence agents, Imperial soldiers, and captains of Imperial ships… now the spoils of the Three Clan’s minions.”

Magic items. At these unexpected words, my eyes widened, and Melody chuckled.

“I’ll let you choose for yourself.”

It was farming time.