I knew exactly where the weapon I needed was, thanks to my play experience from my past life. I kicked off the floor, leapt, and snatched my target. A sleek longsword came into my hand. The golden moon pattern engraved on the silver blade was dazzlingly beautiful.
The treasured sword Lapierre.
In the original game, it was the sword Rihen gifted to Theo.
But the one holding it now was no saint. It was a corps commander of the Demon King’s army. I, who had possessed Shane’s body, was about to hand this sword to Theo.
There was no reason to linger. My objective was already achieved. I activated Stealth at once. My presence vanished as if seeping into the air. The next moment I was already hidden in a safe patch of shadow.
Against the backdrop of the armories blazing away in the distance, a new notification window appeared.
〈QUEST COMPLETE〉 Infamy +1,000
I brought up the status window and checked Theo’s level-up conditions.
500p + 1 quest cleared : Destroy the statue (cleared) → Level up to age 15 (complete)
1,000p + 2 quests cleared : Temple arson (cleared) : Soul offering (cleared) → Conditions for age 18 met
1,500p + 3 quests cleared : Destroy the holy knights’ armories (cleared) : ?? : ?? → Conditions for age 20 unmet → Must reach age 18 to unlock the age 20 stage
“Perfect! I’ll spend 1,000p and level Theo up.”
As for the sword, I’d raise Disguise to level 2, change its form, and then give it to him.
Well then. The hero’s return wasn’t far off.
When I got home, a suddenly grown Theo was waiting for me. There must not have been anything that fit him, because he’d dug out my clothes and put them on. I was still a little bigger, so they hung loose.
The moment he saw me, Theo threw himself into my arms and rubbed his cheek against me. He’d turned eighteen and his behavior was as young as ever. Ah, don’t tell me he’s angling for affection? What a cute kid.
“I guess you won’t be able to hold me like you used to anymore.”
There was a note of disappointment in his tone. Instead of answering, I showed him with action. I hoisted him up and carried him to the bed. Theo looked startled for a moment, then burst into peals of laughter. Then he sprang up and threw both arms wide.
“Me too. I want to carry you too, Rihen.”
“I’ll be heavy...”
“Heavy, my foot. When we bathed together the other day, there wasn’t an ounce of fat on you.”
“Sure, but I’ve still got my height.”
I soon realized this was a pointless argument and let him have his way. Right, this is a man who’s going to be the hero of the empire. Surely he can lift one of me.
As expected, Theo lifted me easily. He even carried me, grinning, on a full circuit around the bedroom.
“Being eighteen is nice. I’m stronger, and taller.”
He set me down on the bed and then sprawled on top of me. He was fairly heavy. Looking at that bashful smile, all the effort I’d put into gathering points felt worth it. Right. If you’re happy, that’s enough.
I smiled along with him and said,
“Then I guess we need to buy you clothes again.”
Theo shook his head.
“No. You’re unemployed, Rihen. We should save money. I can just wear yours.”
“You sure that’s okay?”
“Yes. Your clothes smell nice, too... It’s fine.”
Being treated like a deadbeat by a kid that young stung in a strange way. I wondered if I should at least get a cover job. But between playing corps commander and raising Theo, there weren’t enough hours in the day as it was.
Theo, sitting back against the headboard, thumped his own shoulder.
“I’m grown enough now, aren’t I? So I’m going to try earning money. I heard Madam Cecile’s tavern is looking for a server. I’m thinking of working there.”
I couldn’t give him an easy answer. Up to fifteen, I could have insisted he was someone who merely resembled Theo the hero. But at eighteen it was different. The lines of his face and his build made it fairly obvious they were the same person.
If his identity got out while his abilities still hadn’t fully returned, the demons who regarded Theo as a thorn in their eye would never leave him alone. They’d try to kill him again.
It wasn’t only demons we had to watch out for, but humans too. There was a noble faction out to destroy Theo. The reason he’d been struck down by demons in the first place was that this faction had fed him a paralytic and rendered him unable to fight. It was only because Theo’s body was so strong that he’d managed to hold himself up and keep fighting even in that state. If he’d been a little weaker, he’d have ended his life without putting up any real resistance.
If those men learned about Theo’s current situation, there was no chance they’d let such a fine opportunity pass. They’d find some way to finish off a de-aged Theo. If I had my way I’d deal with them first, but they were all formidable in their own right, and with my current abilities it was beyond me.
In the original flow, where “Rihen” raised Theo, the situation was different. Rihen was a saint officially recognized by the temple, and Theo grew up under the temple’s protection. Everyone knew Theo was the de-aged hero, and there was no problem whatsoever in protecting him.
But that wasn’t the case now. This Theo was simply living alone with me in an isolated log cabin. At the very least, his identity had to stay hidden until he could manifest sword aura. In the original game, the age at which Theo awakened his sword aura and became a sword master was twenty-two. Until then, the glad news that the hero was alive couldn’t be let slip to anyone.
If I’d known, I’d have raised my Disguise level too.
At Disguise level 3, I could lay hands on a person’s appearance as well. Changing a face wholesale was beyond it, but altering the shape of the eyes or the bridge of the nose a little, or adding freckles, was possible. That much would keep anyone from identifying Theo with the hero. Someone like Luna, who knew about his curse, would just shrug it off as his features changing after puberty.
Should I do a few more soul offerings?
While I was deliberating, the communication orb rang. I steadied my breath and said,
“Let’s think about the tavern job a little longer. I’m going to go mull it over for a moment.”
Then I went into the next room and locked the door. Kairos’s form surfaced above the orb.
“Come to the demon realm right now. I have something for you to do.”
By now there wasn’t even a quest description. Judging by the fact that it was an event I had no memory of, this had to be another sudden quest. Well, when you’re told to jump, you jump. Isn’t that what being a subordinate is?
I told Theo something urgent had come up and left him at home. After confirming there was no one around outside, I opened a gate to the demon realm.
Kairos was waiting for me along with several dozen corpses. To put it precisely, an undead legion he’d infused with wicked mana so that they moved according to his will. Crude organic matter that moved in a manner entirely unlike anything living. Easiest to understand as puppeteered zombies.
“I’ve been continuing my research into necromancy, and it isn’t as easy as I thought. You’re going to help.”
Kairos said it with his chin propped on his hand. Beyond his monocle, blood-red eyes identical to mine glinted.
“What would you like me to do?”
“Fight those corpses. I need to test their performance.”
〈SUDDEN QUEST〉 Assist Kairos’s necromancy research Win the sparring match against the corpses. On success: Infamy +700p, 5 gold coins On failure: Death
Hold on, why is the penalty like that? Death on failure? It was a declaration that he’d loose the corpses and simply spectate until I died. A terrifying hyung, as always.
I drew my sword,
and the next moment, the horde of zombies rushed me all at once.
They were beings without a shred of reason left in them. They clawed at me, bit me, hung off me. I was shoved down and sent sprawling in an instant. Someone’s hand seized my collar, and there was the sound of fabric tearing. A sharp pain grazed my shoulder. Teeth dug into flesh.
They kept clinging to the left side of my chest, where the heart was. As if they knew the weak point by instinct. My breath caught in my throat. Cold air grazing my skin, damp breathing, the sensation of teeth pressing in... all of it was unpleasant beyond description. When a nipple got scraped by accident, an ugly jolt of pain went through me.
One of them even kept trying to tear into my throat. Human teeth bored into my neck. I bit down hard on my lip to keep from letting out an unseemly moan. Whimpering about the pain wasn’t the sort of thing “Shane” would do. I bit so hard my lip was a bloody mess in no time. When I licked it with my tongue, there was a thick taste of blood.
“Ugh, get, get off...!”
When I tried to kick off the one clinging to my leg, it bared its teeth and bit painfully into the soft flesh of my inner thigh. Several crescent-shaped tooth marks appeared along my thigh.
Swinging my sword was no use. There were too many of them. Cut them down, shove them off, and there was no end to it. Even as they fell they reached out and grabbed at me again.
There was only one way. I’d have to settle it with mana instead of the blade. I steadied my breath and barely managed to raise my hand. Heat gathered at my fingertips. My beloved skill, Flame. I still wasn’t at the level where I could control fire once it spread, but the hyung who’d caused all this could take care of that himself.
Black flames burst out like an explosion. The undead legion was engulfed without managing so much as a scream. The corpses turned to ash one after another and scattered across the floor.
“...Not bad.”
Kairos waved a hand and the flames died down. He looked me over slowly from head to toe, taking in the state I was in, then clicked his tongue as if he couldn’t help feeling let down.
“Tch. You lived.”
Then he tossed five gold coins my way.
“That’s for your trouble.”
It was plain to see the reward doubled as an insult, but in the face of practical gain I could fold my pride up as small as necessary. I bowed politely. If I’d had a tail, I would have wagged it.
“Thank you.”
I even smiled brightly at him. Watching that, Kairos frowned as though he’d run out of words.
“Um, hyung. Could I borrow some clothes?”
I asked while holding up a scrap of fabric that had all but lost its function as clothing. My top was shredded through and my chest was fully exposed, and my trousers hung in tatters here and there. Through the torn cloth, the tooth marks on my thigh stood out clearly.
Kairos made his distaste openly obvious, but in the end he threw me something to wear. The problem was that it was a garment on a completely different level of luxury from what I normally wore around the human realm.
As I took it, I made a firm resolution. The moment I got home I’d take it off, wash it clean, and return it. Otherwise he’d obviously find something to nitpick about again.
“Rihen!”
Theo was waiting for me in the bedroom. His gaze traveled slowly over the new clothes I had on. His eyes felt unusually sharp, but... hm, probably my imagination.
“Those clothes are new, aren’t they? They look expensive. Did you buy them?”
“No, I just borrowed them.”
I said it lightly and started undoing the shirt buttons. I didn’t want to be in Kairos’s clothing any longer than necessary. He’d definitely get irritated about a half-blood mongrel’s stink getting on it. And rubbing him the wrong way was sure to get me roughed up.
I hesitated for a moment over whether it was all right to undress in front of Theo, but on reflection it was a pointless worry. There was nothing problematic about baring my body. Who would look at the bite marks scattered over me and think of Corps Commander Shane? Besides, Theo and I bathed together fairly often. In a relationship like that, asking him to step out because I needed to change would have been far stranger. Above all, getting out of Kairos’s clothes came first.
My body, mottled with bite marks, was fully revealed. My neck, my chest, my waist, all the way to my thighs. A demon’s body definitely recovered faster than a human’s. Bites that had been gouged deep enough to scar had already faded. At this point they didn’t look like something bitten with full force, more like a playful little nip.
“R-Rihen... what is this...”
Theo swallowed. He strode right up to me. A hand grown quite firm reached for my body without hesitation. His fingertips traced insistently over the marks. He slowly retraced a bite on my chest. The warmth touching my skin was hot enough to scald.
“Ngh, that hurts. Don’t touch...”
A low groan slipped out of me on its own.
“Ah, s-sorry!”
Theo hurriedly withdrew his hand, but his eyes stayed nailed to the marks.
“How did you end up like this...?”
“Ah, a drunk guy bit me. They do say drinking turns a man into a dog.”
I threw out whatever came to mind. Fortunately, our innocent Theo seemed to swallow it whole. A dark shadow settled around his eyes.
“...Drunk men. Plural, you mean.”
The bite marks on me were all different from one another, so it would have been easy enough to guess they hadn’t come from one person.
“This is how harmful alcohol is. It robs a person of their reason and turns them into a beast. Theo, even once you’re an adult, never drink to excess.”
“Into a beast...”
For the sake of Theo’s upright future, I offered some fairly fatherly advice. Theo nodded gravely.
I stripped off the top quickly, then pushed the trousers down. The instant the fabric slid below my knees, the five gold coins I’d put in the pocket spilled onto the floor. The clatter rang out loudly. Theo picked one up and examined it closely.
“You’ve... come into a lot of money.”
“Mm. Like you said, I’m going to settle up my unemployed life and try working.”
I said it with my shoulders squared, but contrary to expectation Theo’s face didn’t brighten. If anything it hardened further.
“Rihen, I know this is a rude question. But this ‘work’ of yours, is it possibly...”
He hesitated a long moment before carefully opening his mouth.
“Hm?”
“...Never mind.”
Theo shook his head quickly and swallowed the words. What on earth had he been about to ask? I was curious, but I didn’t press.
