Ch.965I Really Have No Luck With Friends

The new magic Ophelia demonstrated was incredibly impressive. So impressive that for a moment, I could almost see a stake for burning witches flash before my eyes.

Truly, it was the first time in my life I nearly shot the flames of runes at an ally.

“Sissy, what are you dooooing…?”

If infantilized Claire hadn’t opened the bedroom door and walked out, I might have actually fired.

Her limbs seemed to have been fixed as she was walking normally, but her completely naked state remained unchanged.

She even had something like a dog collar around her neck, and her eyes were hazily unfocused, clearly drugged.

Seeing that sight snapped me back to reality. I remembered that this was just how Ophelia had always been.

Thanks to that, Hestella avoided the tragedy of losing a quarter of its core fighting force to internal conflict before the war with the fairies even began.

It was truly fortunate.

“My, Claire. You’re up already? How unusual. Are you hungry perhaps? Would you like sister to give you some milk?”

…Or not?

What the hell is “sister’s milk,” you pseudo-crazy witch? Are you lactating now? This is making me dizzy.

“Mmm… give me milky…”

“Hehe. Yes, yes. Just wait a moment. I’ll make it for you right away.”

This isn’t good. I need to get out of here right now.

“Um… I should get going. I’m quite busy.”

I hastily said goodbye and escaped from the laboratory.

As I watched Ophelia gulp down a cloudy magical potion and start unbuttoning her top, I felt that if I stayed any longer, I might lose my mind too.

If you’re going to lose your sanity, at least do it gracefully. As expected of a spellcaster, she had gone completely and utterly insane.

Incestuous sister confinement breeding drug brainwashing infantilization nursing play? Summarizing it in words makes it sound truly deranged.

Every word was so insane that I didn’t even know where to begin criticizing.

Humanity surely didn’t develop language and writing to describe such scenes.

If the scholars who perfected our current language system had witnessed this sight, they would have burned all their papers and chosen to live like primates, grunting “ooga booga” instead.

—-

While my mind was muddled in various ways, having obtained Ophelia’s consent, all that remained was to recover my strength as much as possible.

Though my wounds had healed quickly thanks to the healing miracle, it would still take quite some time for my depleted power to fully recover.

Perhaps because I had burned not only my Karma of Murder but also my divine power in the sun of karmic flames, my recovery was slower than usual.

Even my monstrous physical abilities had declined to merely troll or ogre level, like when I first possessed this body.

Thanks to this, I clearly understood how divine power was being used within my body.

The effect of divine power was overall physical enhancement and acceleration of karma recovery. In short, it permanently improved the pure capabilities of this body.

Strength, endurance, agility and reflexes, sensitivity of the five senses, and recovery ability.

In other words, having lost my divine power, my basic capabilities had significantly decreased.

…Well, it wasn’t something to worry about.

It would be problematic if I remained permanently weakened like this, but the divine power I had consumed was gradually recovering over time, just like the power of karma.

If there were two issues worth mentioning…

“Um… Haschal. I’d like to practice my newly realized power, so could I ask you for a sparring match?”

“…Can’t you see I’m a patient right now?”

First, I couldn’t guarantee victory against Demian, who was eagerly asking for a sparring match seeing me in this weakened state.

“That’s right! Look at my sister’s face! That beautiful face is half-ruined, and you’re asking for a sparring match!”

And second, perhaps because I had completely depleted my Karma of Murder, my face had reverted to how it looked back in the days of the Daffodil Princess or whatever.

“Hmm, that’s true… but it’s still disappointing.”

This guy Demian, with a face showing he genuinely just wanted to become stronger, kept requesting sparring sessions whenever he had the chance…

“I really need to practice now to get a feel for it. How about tomorrow then? Or the day after?”

…This bastard definitely remembers, doesn’t he?

The promise that I would grant any wish if he could defeat me. He must remember that promise, which is why he’s so persistently requesting sparring matches.

In my current weakened state, he would likely have a high chance of victory.

I can see right through you, Demian. Your insolent intention to beat me up to release your pent-up frustrations, and then finish with a wish that would humiliate me.

“No, I won’t~. If you have excess energy, go help with the restoration work.”

Of course, it didn’t matter what he tried if I refused to accept.

When the queen says she’s sick and tired and wants to skip training today, a subject can’t insist on training regardless of whether she’s ill or not.

If that bothers you, you should have been the king instead. If that had been possible, that is.

—-

Anyway, after resting for about seven days and nights, I boarded the fully prepared magic airship and flew westward with a force of thirteen people.

Myself, Demian, Ophelia, Perneisia, Frider. Plus eight mages to operate the airship.

I actually wanted to leave Frider in the capital, but she stubbornly insisted on coming along, so I had no choice but to bring her.

If she had still been struggling at the Master level, I would have just tied her to a beam and left…

“Decide after seeing this technique!”

She showed me her still incomplete Tale of Heros, claiming she had finally reached the wall.

“…What is that?”

“What else could it be? It’s my Tale of Heros. I’ve already named it.”

It was a completely different technique from the original Tale of Heros, so I was quite perplexed when I first saw it.

In the original work, Frider’s Tale of Heros was called “Hunter’s Snow Field.”

It created a snowy field reminiscent of the north within a certain area, then imbued each snowflake with a sharp edge, sweeping the surroundings with a blizzard of blades.

However, the Tale of Heros that the current Frider had acquired wasn’t a blizzard of blades, nor did it have any relation to cold energy at all.

“With this, regenerative abilities or high defense won’t help. How could anyone block energy that turns into poison inside the body?”

Poison.

Yes, the Tale of Heros that Frider had awakened was, surprisingly, not a cold-based attack but something closer to poisoning.

The moment she made contact with an enemy through her hand or weapon, she would inject her karma-infused soul into the opponent’s body, turning it into poison.

The poison’s effects were limited to drugs Frider herself had experienced, so she couldn’t use instantly lethal poisons, but… it was still a useful technique in many ways.

At least, if it was a poison she had experienced, she could cause the same effect just by touching the opponent.

I actually took a hit from it, and it seeped through, ignoring the Unyielding Flesh blessing, making even me unable to avoid the poisoning.

The poison she injected into me was hardly worthy of being called poison, and thanks to a priest nearby who immediately cast a purification miracle, I was able to avoid embarrassment.

Of course, Frider was subsequently punished by me and had to be tied to the ceiling for three hours.

What kind of crazy woman uses a diuretic on me?

Frider protested that I should be grateful it wasn’t a laxative, but to me, it was an excuse not worth listening to.

“If it had been that, you’d be dead.”

The moment it touched me, I felt a sudden signal in my bladder. If not for the priest’s purification, I would have experienced the greatest humiliation of my life.

“So, what’s it called?”

After tying up Frider and visiting the bathroom, I returned and asked her the name of her newly acquired Tale of Heros.

“Wolf Killer. How about that? Perfect name, isn’t it?”

Frider grinned and boasted. Despite being suspended from the ceiling and spinning like a mobile, her boasting just looked ridiculous.

【 Wolf Killer 】

It was a name that seemed to contain many emotions just by hearing it.

I was pretty sure that “wolf” didn’t refer to werewolves like Rurik.

Of course, since it could suppress a werebeast’s regeneration with poison, it would be somewhat effective against werebeasts…

But if she had truly awakened a Tale of Heros with the mindset of slaughtering werebeasts, she would have awakened “Hunter’s Snow Field” as in the original work.

Unlike her current Tale of Heros, where you could just cut off the poisoned part, “Hunter’s Snow Field” could literally grind werebeasts like a blender.

The principle of “Wolf Killer” itself was better suited for harming opponents with strong defense who couldn’t be hurt by normal attacks, rather than enemies with strong regeneration.

For example, someone like me, who thanks to the Unyielding Flesh blessing, couldn’t even be scratched by Frider’s strength.

…She’s so petty.

How many times have I humiliated her that she went and awakened a Tale of Heros specifically targeting just me? It’s truly absurd.

A Tale of Heros is the manifestation of the user’s ideology or desires through karma in the form of a technique.

In other words, the humiliation Frider had accumulated was enough to surpass even her original anti-werebeast ideology.

Hmm… have I been teasing her too much lately?

I should reflect a bit.

“Hey! Let me down now! I’m getting dizzy!”

After keeping her hanging for just one more hour.