It had already been several days since Yor had battled Seere.
Fortunately, nothing significant had happened during that time.
There was only one person who had come looking for him, and the monsters hadn’t caused any trouble either.
Thanks to that, he was able to unwind at home, relieving the fatigue he had accumulated in the city.
Whether it was from the battles or the excitement he felt in the city, exhaustion hit him as soon as he returned home.
Once again, he reaffirmed that home was the best place to be.
This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.
The loot he obtained from Seere’s left arm was tucked away deep in his storage.
‘The ability is quite good, but...’
Using it felt a bit awkward. While it had quite an impressive effect, there were also clear limitations.
After using it, he needed to wait about 10 minutes before he could use it again. This meant he couldn’t use it indefinitely like Seere had.
Not only that, but he also needed a certain range to bring something in.
In terms of distance, it was about 15 meters from him. It wasn’t short, but it wasn’t exactly long either.
Seere had likely had no such limitations, but it seemed that the ability had degraded once it separated from him.
Still, being a demon's body, it didn’t seem to decay.
That was truly a relief. If his left hand had started rotting and bugs were crawling out of it, he would have discarded the ability altogether.
Of course, the shape of the hand was quite inconvenient. It was awkward to carry around, and it wasn’t easy to hang somewhere either.
‘Is there any way to process it?’
However, even these issues felt trivial compared to the main drawback.
The real problem was that he couldn’t use this item in front of others.
Even though Seere wasn’t dead, if it got out that he had the demon's arm, Seere would undoubtedly come after him with a vengeance.
Moreover, since it was a demon’s item, knights might raid him as well.
Thus, even if he had the item, it was essentially useless—more like a cursed item in his storage. Thanks to this, his storage was only getting more filled today.
It had been peaceful for a few days, but that didn’t mean he was free from anxiety.
Having caused such chaos in the city, his curiosity was piqued.
By the way, were the knights looking for me?
No matter how well he concealed his identity, he had cut off Seere’s arm. From their perspective, which valued exceptional talent, they might want to track him down.
What was the Lemegeton cult up to?
Now that they knew he was a Manifestation Bearer, they would probably be scrambling to find him.
Based on the reaction of the one called Rian, it seemed that Manifestation Bearers were quite important to that cult.
He could formulate various guesses in his mind.
However, the unfortunate part was that they remained merely guesses.
Being stuck in this place, his perspective on the outside situation was limited.
In fact, it had become awkward for him to disguise himself for this incident.
While he could change his hair and eye color, he couldn’t change his body type. It was frustrating, but he had no choice but to remain hidden in the forest for a while longer.
Fortunately, there was someone who could act as his eyes and ears.
“I’m here!”
Just in time, his information supplier had arrived.
As soon as she walked in, he asked her a few questions.
He wanted to know about Seere’s recent activities, the mysterious hooded figure that had appeared in the city, and the trends among people.
Naturally, he kept the information about himself tightly under wraps.
There was no need for others to know that he had gone to the city.
Though he figured it wouldn’t matter to her, he didn’t want to increase the number of people who knew.
However, he couldn’t help but be surprised by what she said next.
“Oh, that hooded NPC? There’s no need to hide it. I’ve already heard that Yor caused a ruckus in the city recently.”
“...Huh?”
So she already knew?
While Chae-rin had changed her mind about Yor a bit,
it seemed she was merely inclined to visit him more often without progressing further.
She was lively and sociable, but like Ha-neul, she lacked romantic experience.
This made it hard for her to figure out how to take things further.
Still, since it was better not to keep anything hidden, he decided to tell her the truth.
He let her know that he was aware the hooded NPC who had been causing a stir in the community was Yor. He summarized how he found out about it as succinctly as possible.
“...Really?”
At first, he looked slightly startled, but soon he regained his composure and nodded.
Although he was still somewhat shocked inside.
How could he have figured it out so quickly? No matter how well he knew him, it was a frightening level of observation.
Fortunately, it seemed he had no intention of telling anyone else.
“Anyway, I’m the only one who noticed, so don’t worry.”
Chae-rin said that and wrapped up the conversation.
Then she took a moment to focus inward.
Thump— Thump—
He felt his heart rate slightly quicken.
It wasn’t excitement or anything like that.
...Or perhaps it was, but right now, physiological factors played a bigger role.
As time passed, the weather had already shifted into early summer.
Naturally, Yor’s clothing had become quite a bit lighter.
While his basic outfit was still a t-shirt and shorts... the fabric itself had become thinner.
Because of that, his body’s contours were on full display.
Chae-rin glanced at him and thought.
‘He has abs, huh...’
Well, she had figured he might, but seeing the outlines made for an intense visual stimulus.
‘Does he really have no self-awareness?’
She pondered, trying to cool her flushed face.
Perhaps it was because he had the skill to cut off Seere’s arm; he showed no signs of caution.
After all, what was there to fear when you could easily handle anything that came your way?
Usually, a 'man' would feel embarrassed wearing such thin clothing.
Thanks to that, the only people around could only endure it in silence.
Even though they fervently denied their feelings for an NPC, Chae-rin was still a lively 'woman.'
Physiological curiosity always lingered at the back of her mind.
So... it was a bit lowbrow, but she would admit it outright.
‘I want to try it too!’
19 Mode!!!
In fact, experiences related to '19 Mode' were consistently shared in the community.
When they seduced a rural youth, ‘19 Mode’ opened up, and when they rescued an NPC trapped in a bandit lair, they were treated to ‘19 Mode,’ and so on.
Sometimes, videos of ‘19 Mode’ would even be uploaded to dark sites.
Each time, users would press the thumbs down button, mixing envy and jealousy.
Especially for the last one, since it had ethical implications, it drew a lot of criticism.
However, her curiosity couldn’t be helped. After all, this was content created by the game developers; wasn’t it right to enjoy it?
‘How should I even show my chest...?’
She contemplated for a moment. Even in this world, a ‘woman’s’ chest was still considered an attractive feature.
But after a brief thought, she shook her head.
‘No, no.’
Such one-dimensional temptation could actually decrease a 'man’s' interest. It had been proven before.
If not handled well, he could easily think poorly of her.
Numerous stories circulating on the internet confirmed that.
‘Ugh... what kind of temptation is that for someone like me?’
In the end, after considering this and that, Chae-rin sighed and felt she had no choice but to give up.
The word 'temptation' regarding romance felt far beyond her reach.
She decided to keep quietly passing on information.
“...For now, don’t worry. The knights have no interest in that hooded figure.”
To be precise, they couldn’t afford to pay attention.
The knights were too busy investigating the hermit and chasing after Seere, who had fled. They were stretched too thin as it was.
On the other hand, the Lemegeton cult was showing intense interest.
They were said to be lingering near the Empire, even if it meant risking being caught.
“Is it because they had their demon’s arm cut off? They seem to be going wild. Still, it looks like they aren’t interested in this forest yet...” “Hmm...”
Yor nodded.
He had expected the Lemegeton to act up, but hearing it like this was still a bit bitter.
At least it was a relief that they hadn’t uncovered his status as a Manifestation Bearer.
If they had, Chae-rin wouldn’t have hesitated to ask him.
‘This is a headache.’
Someday, they’d likely start roaming near this forest too. He hoped that day would come much later.
For now, he tucked these thoughts away in the back of his mind and reached out to Chae-rin.
According to their contract, he had something to receive from her.
“So, did you bring the holy water?”
As it was, he was almost out of holy water.
Recently, he had used a lot due to the consecutive occurrences of Rampage A.
Chae-rin nodded and opened her inventory in response to his question.
“Ah, yes. Here you go.”
After receiving the items, Yor frowned.
“Hey, are you kidding? Is this all you brought? Why only two?”
It looked like he was being robbed at first glance, but he had indeed given her money and compensation for her efforts.
“Calm down! I worked hard to gather these. Holy water has become incredibly scarce lately because of the demons!”
“What?”
Yor perked up his ears.
According to her, the whole country was passionately buying up holy water.
It was because holy water was effective against demons, and people were preparing in advance for the future.
As a result, the price of holy water had skyrocketed recently.
‘...Damn it.’
Of course, this was shocking news for Yor.
He had been effortlessly using holy water to deal with Rampage A.
Without holy water, he would have to endure that pain all over again.
While he still had a few reserves left, those were running out quickly.
As Yor’s expression grew serious, Chae-rin tried to console him.
“Don’t worry. I’ll do my best to gather more. I doubt the demand will stay so high forever.”
Yor nodded.
...But contrary to his wishes, time didn’t bring a return to the supply of holy water.
“...Is this it?”
By the next month, he could receive only one more piece of holy water.
“...Nothing? Not a single one?”
The following month, he couldn’t obtain any holy water at all.
The knights had signed a fixed purchase agreement.
In a panic, Chae-rin urged him.
“L-Let’s wait just a little longer! Surely, the supply will return sometime!”
“Ugh...”
Yor inwardly cursed.
‘That damn Seere...’
If he had known this would happen, he should have taken Seere’s head that day.
He desperately hoped for news that Seere had been taken down soon.
Days passed again.
One piece of news did come through.
While it wasn’t related to Seere, it was enough to surprise the world.
It had been over two months since Yor fought Seere.
And now, it was nearing the one-year anniversary of the [Demons Saga] game.
The developers had posted an announcement in celebration of the first anniversary.
[Ver 02. Update Notes]
It was the patch notes.