First, they apologized.
“No, uh… I’m sorry. Just forget about that. I’m a bit sensitive right now.”
“Uh… It’s fine.”
I might have snapped at her briefly, but I know it’s not a good habit to act based on my emotions.
She went out of her way to come here, and my recent attitude was quite bad.
After gathering my thoughts, I told her to come inside.
To be honest, I wasn’t in a state to greet a guest, but it felt wrong to just send her away like that.
As we walked deeper into the cave, I felt her gaze on me.
Concern was written all over her face. She seemed curious, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly.
After a moment, unable to suppress her curiosity any longer, she cautiously asked me,
“Uh… What happened yesterday?”
She usually knew I didn’t like to talk about it, but it seemed she was incredibly curious this time.
If I were in her shoes, seeing a person covered in blood right in front of me, I would probably ask about it first as well.
I answered vaguely.
“Period.”
“… Huh?”
“I said it was a period.”
“…………?”
Is that correct?
It happens once a month on average, and since there was blood, it could be considered similar.
She tilted her head, as if she didn’t understand, but that was the most I could offer.
Honestly, I couldn’t even explain the rage-induced transformation, and right now I just didn’t have the energy to deal with a guest.
I thought it over internally as I entered the cave.
‘What should I do with her now…?’
I had brought her inside, but I didn’t have the strength to respond.
My mind was fuzzy, and my body felt leaden. For instance, I was extremely tired right now.
Not only did the rage-induced transformation keep me awake all night, but I had exhausted all my mental and physical energy as well.
Typically, after such a transformation, the principle is to sleep all day the following day.
That’s how one can return to normalcy.
‘Should I have a guard…?’
Because of this, I entertained the thought for a moment.
In fact, there have been occasions where monsters came into my cave due to the smell of blood.
The scent from the blood coming from deep within the cave didn’t spread well, but a monster’s sense of smell is beyond imagination.
Thanks to that, I had experienced a few surprise attacks from monsters while sleeping. Each time, I woke up just in time to preserve my life, but it still makes me uneasy.
Of course, it was also uncomfortable to have others nearby while I slept…
‘Hmmm…’
So, I fell into brief contemplation.
Should I send her away and sleep while staying on guard, or should I set a watch and at least sleep comfortably?
Fortunately, my contemplation didn’t last long.
I asked her,
“Would you be willing to do a job?”
*
A little later.
“If someone comes, wake me up right away. Oh, and you must not go inside.”
“Sure.”
“Just in case I say this, don’t do anything weird. I’m a light sleeper.”
“Look, even if I won’t win anyway, what could I possibly do? Hurry up and wash up, go to sleep.”
“……Alright. You can turn on the stream if you get bored.”
Chaerin accepted Yor’s guard duty.
Surprisingly, a quest popped up once again, with the contents being to guard the vicinity until Yor wakes up. The quest reward was a small fee for the effort.
It was such a simple task that there was nothing to be hesitant about.
And even if there were no quests, she intended to help him anyway.
He looked far too tired and precarious right now.
She thought with a worried expression.
‘What on earth happened yesterday…?’
She had thought she would chat about the arena but was taken aback by seeing him covered in blood as soon as she arrived. His appearance clearly suggested something had happened at night.
While he didn’t have any visible wounds, the amount of blood on him could almost squeeze a person’s worth. His complexion also looked terrible, and he seemed exhausted.
To be honest, she nearly fainted out of pure surprise upon first seeing him.
The only reason she didn’t collapse backward was that her body just froze.
It was that shocking of a sight.
But when she finally had the courage to ask, his answer was… a period.
“Hmmm…”
After contemplating for a while, she just turned on the stream.
Despite it being an unexpected morning stream, viewers flocked in. This showed just how much her channel had grown.
[Oho]
[Yuha]
[Huh?]
[Why an early stream?]
Seeing the welcoming viewers, she seriously asked,
“Hey guys, do men have periods…?”
[?]
[What kind of nonsense is this? LOL]
[Would they? Ugh, c’mon!]
[Please forgive him~ The host has never met a guy!]
[Can’t even get basic education, haha!]
Chaerin’s question led to a tidal wave of sarcasm in the chatroom. Watching that, she nodded her head.
“Hmm.”
Normally, she would have considered the chat levels worthy of a timeout, but she didn’t feel bad at all this time.
At least, she realized that her common sense wasn’t the issue.
‘So what on earth is going on…?’
Her curiosity only grew.
What was even more frustrating was that she couldn’t ask further.
He had a tendency to avoid questions about himself. It was unavoidable to realize he harbored many secrets.
And honestly… asking him a question in his current state might seriously get her punched.
Sigh, forget it.
After thinking for a moment, she decided to let it go.
She was incredibly curious, but there was no way to find out, so she figured she’d wait for a later chance when she could satisfy her curiosity.
“Looks like you turned on the stream?”
As she was sorting out her thoughts alone, he returned.
He had taken a bath as he mentioned earlier.
The blood-soaked appearance had entirely vanished, and he looked refreshed.
[Early stream with Yor??]
[Is today some kind of celebration?]
[Yoru!]
[Did you just shower? Why is your hair so wet? LOL]
[Wet Yor!]
[Hey!]
“Alright, I’m going to sleep. Keep watch well.”
[You’re sleeping?]
[But it’s morning…?]
[Though you do look a bit tired.]
[I can sometimes sleep too, haha.]
[Shall we sleep together? ㅎㅎ]
Yor’s more defenseless appearance than usual caused a bit of chaos in the chatroom. Chaerin, unable to take it any longer, jumped in.
“Hey, type something nicer in the chat. Do you think I don’t have the kick function?”
It was perhaps a problem that she started the stream so early.
Since her manager was still asleep, it seemed the viewers’ brakes were a bit busted. But with her intervention, it quieted down a bit.
[So what are we doing today?]
As Yor ventured into the depths of the cave, the viewers began to ask her.
Seeing their queries, Chaerin decided to tweak the stream title.
Even though it was a simple chatting stream, the more viewers, the better.
So, she aimed to grab their attention…
[While Yor sleeps, doing this and that.avi]
It wasn’t inaccurate.
*
Seven hours had passed since Yor fell asleep.
During this time, she did various things to kill time as part of her guarding quest.
Although she called it a guarding quest, to be honest, there was hardly anything to do.
There were no monsters invading, and it wasn’t like there were bandits to provide protection against either.
Honestly, it felt a bit guilt-ridden to take a quest this easy.
So, while he was asleep, she decided to do something.
She cleaned up the blood he had dripped, chatted with the viewers, and even made a light soup with the preserved food from her inventory.
Who knew her living alone experience would shine here?
Of course, every time she did this, viewers clamored for her to check out Yor’s room, but she ignored them. She didn’t want her neck to be on the chopping block.
Since he was a guest, her range of movement wasn’t that wide.
However, she could tell the cave was large enough.
From observing how he lived, it seemed like he had bathing facilities, a storage room, and more inside.
Everything needed for living was available.
“…”
She intentionally ignored the subtle scent of blood wafting from deeper inside. The atmosphere clearly suggested it was something she shouldn’t know about.
‘… Maybe he just cut down some monsters? Right?’
That was the only thought she entertained to brush off her curiosity.
Two hours later, Yor finally awoke.
From a distance, he approached, rubbing his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t fully woken up yet. Chaerin said to him,
“You slept that long and you are still tired? You could have slept longer.”
“… I’m fine. It will be sunset soon; you should head back.”
Hearing those words, Chaerin looked outside.
The forest was bathed in soft orange light. It meant the sun was setting.
If it continued like this, night would wholly fall in a few hours.
Chaerin gave a wry smile.
‘I guess I’ll have to talk about the arena later…’
It was a bit disappointing, but there was nothing she could do. She didn’t trust herself to return alone.
“Let’s go; I’ll walk you back.”
At Yor’s words, Chaerin nodded.
She could return by herself, but having him around made her feel a hundred times safer.
It was far more comfortable for her to stroll leisurely with him guarding her than sneakily walk alone.
They chatted lightly as they walked.
After enjoying a bit of soup, they stepped outside the cave.
Luckily, no monsters attacked.
It was late afternoon, and lately, the monsters in the forest had dispersed their attention to several areas.
After walking through the woods for a while, they spotted a group ahead.
“Oh, found them!”
“Wow, I guess the forest is just that consistent. It’s hard to meet up with you.”
They were Otherworlders just like Chaerin.
It had been a year since [Demon’s Saga] was released, and the average level of users had increased quite a lot during that time.
Many had started challenging the ‘Forbidden Forest’ as a result.
Of course, only about 5% succeeded in reaching the middle layer… But that meant 5% had been able to succeed.
Thanks to that, the forest had become rather bustling lately.
Sometimes, when wandering through the woods, you might find items dropped by users who had fallen.
In some sense, Yor’s predictions had come true.
“Hello, fan here!”
“Here’s a gift!”
The Otherworlders they encountered this time were viewers of Chaerin’s stream.
As soon as they saw Yor, they pulled out some pastries from their inventory and handed them over.
“…?”
Yor received the donut, coated in sugar, with a bewildered expression, looking at them with a wary gaze.
“Hey, let’s get out of here quickly. I’m about to die from lack of mana.”
“Then we’re off! Good luck with your stream~.”
Just like that, the viewers who had effectively given a “donation” in reality departed coolly.
There were several similar encounters that followed.
Viewers who had found Yor continued to approach him and act familiar.
Every time this happened, Yor would either receive a gift or be asked for a signature.
“…?”
Yor made a vague expression.
What’s going on, he felt like an animal at the zoo all of a sudden.
Receiving gifts felt pleasant, but it came with a somewhat unsettling feeling.
He stared at Chaerin with a blank expression.
She gave him an awkward smile in response.
“Haha, how fascinating…?”
“Were there always that many strong fans among the viewers?”
“Seems so… It’s kind of surprising.”
Seeing Yor’s awkward face, Chaerin looked at the chatroom and said a word.
Although she was grateful, she also wanted to tell them to stop approaching so he wouldn’t feel burdened.
Right now, the viewers she encountered were kind-hearted, but she never knew when a troublesome viewer might show up. After all, not everyone is a normal person.
Still, they continued on.
Not long after stopping the viewers, they encountered two more people.
Seeing them, Chaerin was about to say something again.
“Uh, thank you all for the kindness, but please stop coming—”
And at that moment.
Thunk.
Yor blocked her path. Chaerin looked at him momentarily.
A fierce vigilance filled his amber eyes.
He then asked sharply.
“Who are you?”
Chaerin, unsure of what was happening, saw a different aura in Yor’s eyes than the ones they encountered before.
It was an entirely different aura from the previous viewers.
[Condition Not Fulfilled!]
[‘Player’s Eye’ Cannot Be Used on Targets!]
In other words, they were not Otherworlders.
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