By Zephyria ========
〔Estimation. This mysterious delay is likely caused by the long-term intake of suppressants. An overwhelmingly strong rebound effect is expected! Therefore, a gag and a bib…〕
“Stop! Stop obsessing over the gag and the bib!”
Silver tore the bib to shreds and scattered them. He threw the gag with all his might toward the crows flying in the sky.
“This is the first time in my life I’ve spent more than three days just lying around doing nothing! Damn it, if I knew it would be like this, I would have stockpiled some barrels of booze… I want a drink, a drink!”
〔Typical symptoms of alcohol dependence.〕
〔Possible mitigation measures: hydration, nutritional supply, environmental distraction…〕
“Booze! Give me booze!”
Silver stopped mid-punch toward the sky. Suddenly, a thought struck him, like a bolt of lightning hitting a mast.
Could it be?
“I’ve got it!”
Silver snapped his fingers.
“The reason the Rut never comes no matter how long I wait! I wasn’t a mutant to begin with! Damn it, why didn’t I think of this sooner!”
〔Pruru, I understand the desire to deny reality, but…〕
“Hey, take me seriously! I’m telling you, I’m really not a mutant! That Ice Armor Warrior guy just guessed wrong! He mistook a rabbit for a wolf.”
〔You’re saying your father was mistaken…?〕
Starry eyes flew close to Silver’s face. Silver nodded.
“I was just… modest for a Stohl person. To that idiot Ice Armor Warrior, someone like me must have looked fucking weird. So he just made up a reason on his own! ‘My son isn’t modest; he’s a mutant!’”
〔But…〕
“But my ass.”
Silver waved his hand dismissively.
“It’s been six whole days as of today. I haven’t had a single symptom. No explosion of lust, no pheromone explosion, no saliva explosion, no thoughts of male genitals—nothing! The only thing that exploded was my craving for alcohol!”
〔Still, just in case, Pruru. Let’s wait one more week, considering the maximum safety margin.〕
“Aaaaah! Stop! Please stop!”
Silver unleashed a flurry of punches toward the sky.
“There’s nothing left to see! That Ice Armor Warrior guy took immense pride in being a man who impregnated countless married women. To a beast like that, how strange must a son who hasn’t even jerked off once as he aged seem? He probably couldn’t believe his own son was modest! He must have been embarrassed!”
〔So, your father’s excessive tendency to flaunt his masculinity led him to perceive his offspring’s sexual inactivity as a threat to his own ego?〕
〔But Pruru, even considering your father’s masculinity complex, the suspicion of a Type 2 mutation is excessive. The leap in reasoning is drastic. It’s like a squirrel trying to jump over a giant mountain.〕
“That’s just how Ice Armor Warrior is. Enough of that—the key! Bring it now!”
〔Pruru…〕
Starry eyes, making whimpering sounds, finally flew toward the bushes. After releasing the tedious shackles, Silver looked up at the clear autumn sky. Tears welled up in his eyes.
Including the preparation period for the battle, he had spent a total of twelve days doing useless things. But thanks to that, he was now completely liberated from a long-standing worry.
I am not a mutant.
Pregnancy? Rut? Suppressants? Goodbye to all of it. I hope Ice Armor Warrior chokes on a fish bone in the underworld. That damn bastard, he wasted my money for nothing. He put me through so much emotional distress!
Silver wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and turned around.
“Let’s go! It’s finally time to say goodbye to this damn forest!”
His steps descending the mountain were light. Silver ran nimbly, waving his arms as if he were flapping wings. The scent of ripe fruit drifted through the air. Unlike yesterday, when his fingers itched with the desire to set the forest on fire, today he could leisurely enjoy the fragrance of autumn.
Silver took a deep breath. Alright, now for the plan moving forward.
First: Threaten Charcoal Fire Bear on the ship by holding a dagger to his nose and telling him, ‘If you don’t want your nose to be the first thing to disembark, get us to land.’ Second: Graduate from virginity. Third: Find Old Lady Erem and get a full refund for the sponsorship funds Ice Armor Warrior poured in and the cost of the Rut suppressants he paid for. With plenty of interest added. Fourth: Go to Atania and assassinate the main body. Fifth: Settle the past with the Attendant.
Before he knew it, the mountain path ended, and the pirate village appeared in the distance. Silver put Starry eyes into his belt pouch.
“Starry eyes. It’s time to go back into the attic.”
〔Ambush initiated!〕
Starry eyes popped into the pouch. The moment he entered the pirate village, Silver hesitated.
Eh…?
Is my nose suddenly blocked?
* * *
Soon, Silver realized. His nose was perfectly clear and refreshed. The problem was the pirate village.
First of all, there was no smoke. Not a single strand of that damn Narcotic Herb smoke—the kind that always hung over this village like a second sky and brought tears to one’s eyes whenever passing a house—was visible. The only things scattering in the clear air were the smells of salt, seaweed, and dried fish.
Silver looked around. Along with the Narcotic Herb smoke, the people were gone too. Except for rainy days, there wasn’t a single pirate lying on the street clutching some piece of trash and fucking violently. Only the white bone decorations hanging from the house entrances rattled in the wind.
It was baffling. Even if they had all gone out to sea to make a living, could it really be this quiet and clean?
Just as he tilted his head in confusion.
“O… Oneeee… hic, ugh, Twooo…”
“O… One, two… Oneee, twooo…”
From a distance, groans gripped by agonizing pain, which sounded like counting rhythms, erupted. And there were dozens of them. He didn’t know what was going on, but he had a strong intuition that if he were spotted by them, his rare good mood would be ruined instantly. Silver quickly hid behind the corner of a nearby house.
Soon, people appeared at the entrance of the alley. Leading them was Charcoal Fire Bear. His face was so red it looked like it would puff out smoke the moment meat was placed on it. Pirates followed behind him in a line. All of them were in a pathetic state. Their belts were dangling, their shirts clung to their bodies, and their eyes looked as if they had already departed this world.
“O… One! Two!”
Charcoal Fire Bear shouted while panting. The pirates followed along in breathless voices.
“One… two… gasp…”
At that sight, Silver covered his mouth with one hand. Exercise.
Those guys are exercising?
Not looting, not gambling, not drinking, not drugs, but exercise?!
The pirates passed in front of the house where Silver was hiding. A thick scent of sweat wafted over. The sound of someone sobbing miserably, saying, “I can see my late grandmother…”, followed behind.
Once the pirates disappeared, Silver cautiously stepped out. He was simply dumbfounded. Was Charcoal Fire Bear this competent?
He was thousands of times more competent than those ‘big brothers’ at least. Was he planning to rehabilitate those druggies and reorganize the Shark Tooth Gang now? Silver felt a sharp sense of regret for having dismissed Charcoal Fire Bear as merely a sex maniac just because of his hobby of indulging in his boyfriend’s backside. Sorry, Charcoal Fire Bear. I didn’t realize you were such a progressive reformer…
Regardless, the pirates had not yet set sail. The ship could leave as early as tomorrow. Silver hurried toward his lodging. As he descended the slope of the hill, he suddenly thought of Stuffy Field Mouse.
He wasn’t in the jogging procession earlier.
Well, that might be natural. He seemed like the type of person who would use any means necessary to escape something that didn’t bring in a single penny, so he probably faked an illness to skip out.
“Starry eyes. I was too distracted to tell you, but something hilarious happened while you were bedridden.”
〔What is it?〕
“The facial illusion you put on me disappeared. I didn’t think of that and took off the human-skin mask. The mouse guy was so shocked…”
When he told Starry eyes that he had abruptly framed Stuffy Field Mouse as a mentally unstable patient and the guy had actually believed it, Starry eyes burst into laughter.
“He’s an idiot, right? It was quite fun tricking him. Should I try it again?”
〔No, Pruru. He might not be fooled a second time.〕
“I feel like that guy would be fooled.”
The lodging was right in front of him. The moment he opened the door, Silver flinched.
“Hey! Silver!”
A guy who looked like a piece of spat-out cheese bolted up from the bed. Stuffy Field Mouse was nowhere to be seen.
“Where the hell have you been? Do you know how much the Captain looked for you! He was raging like a wolf with a thorn in its toe, man! I’ve been waiting for you in this damn box full of leaping fleas for days!”
“Charcoal Fire Bear was looking for me?”
“No, you idiot! Captain Stuffy Field Mouse!”
“…”
Silver’s brow furrowed instinctively.
“Excuse me? In my memory, the Captain of the Shark Tooth Gang is Charcoal Fire Bear?”
“How outdated are you? The power shift happened ten days ago!”
107 – Hell’s Execution Order