Chapter: 195
As Jess glared fiercely, filled with deadly intent, the Female Beastmen who had been casting suggestive glances at Lian shrank back, flinching.
“Hyih?!”
“Eek?!”
Jess continued to give a death stare to each fleeing Female Beastman, one by one.
“Jess, I think it’s over now…”
At Lian’s cautious call, she suddenly smiled brightly, blooming like a flower.
Even though the sparring had started at their request, Lian felt a bit guilty for turning the Beastmen into a mess. But when he saw Jess approaching with a cheerful expression, a sigh of relief escaped him.
“Um, Jess…?”
That relief didn’t last even a minute before it was replaced with confusion. Jess, who rushed over at Lian’s call, only hugged his waist and began purring, completely ignoring the fallen Beastmen.
Though the sparring hadn’t inflicted grave injuries, it didn’t mean there were no wounds at all.
‘Is it okay to leave them like this? Being Beastmen, they probably don’t even have to worry about freezing to death, right?’
Sure, their unique recovery ability could deal with wounds, but he still wondered if they would be fine in this bone-chilling cold.
Their clothing was light, so maybe they were less sensitive to the cold? Yet worry gnawed at him as he glanced at the Female Beastmen who were keeping their distance.
‘Can’t someone at least move them into the tent?’ he silently pleaded, but none responded. All he got back were expressions of disgust.
‘Did I do something wrong? Did my pants fall down… or did my hair get messed up…?!’
Just moments ago, the Beastmen had been shyly smiling at him, but now they looked at him with a frown, as if they had seen something unpleasant, and horrifying thoughts floated through his mind.
Urgently, he felt around his head and waist. Thankfully, his pants hadn’t slipped or his hair had not blown away.
With a sigh of relief, he watched the Beastmen retreating slowly, not just the Female Beastmen, but even the male ones who hadn’t participated in the fight were frowning and backing away.
“Hey, Jess… did I do something wrong?”
“Hmm? Nope!”
“Right…?”
Inside, Lian thought he was about to cry.
‘No matter how battle-crazy the Beastmen might be… they must feel put off seeing their comrades getting taken out by a stranger like me…’
It seemed Lian was correct; after that, the Beastmen started to avoid him completely.
Even during meals, while roaming the campsite with Jess’s guidance, or when casually swinging his sword to loosen up, frowning gazes followed him everywhere.
‘They claim to acknowledge the strong. Right, Teacher…?’
He thought of the Nest instructor who had shared much about Beastmen, his heart sinking. His sadness peaked as the Beastmen sprawled on the ground slowly began to avoid Lian as well.
It felt as if an invisible barrier had formed around him; the Beastmen carefully steered clear of him.
The next day, with a glum expression, he holed up in his shelter, pondering, ‘Aren’t they discriminating against humans?’
Knock. Knock.
Someone knocked on the door to the Hunter’s Cabin where only Lian was staying. Since the only person likely to visit him in the campsite was Jess, he opened the door without thinking much.
“Uh?”
Upon opening the door, he found a Cat Beastman with black cat ears. She was one of the Female Beastmen he had seen in the tent before. Strangely, her expression was all scrunched up, ears and tail drooping as she trembled.
“I have a message to deliver… ugh…”
“…!”
Before she could finish her sentence, she hurriedly covered her mouth with her hands and took a step back. Her reaction was so extreme, as if she had caught a whiff of rotten food, that Lian stood there dumbfounded, burying his face in his wrist.
Thinking there must be a terrible smell, he sniffed around but found no odors other than Jess’s scent, which clung to him all day.
“Am I giving off a bad smell or something?!”
Lian hurriedly questioned the Cat Beastman, who was retreating in haste, possibly sensing some strange scent only Beastmen could detect.
Desperate not to lose this chance to find out, he took a step forward, but she shook her head and backed off two steps. That refusal felt like an invisible blow that grazed his body.
If the gag filter had functioned properly, he might have spewed blood. Her expression was that frozen.
‘Tell me… tell me the reason!’
Knowing reason was something he couldn’t change immediately, Lian felt it was better to know than to be left in the dark. As he looked at the Cat Beastman with a desperate expression, she rolled her eyes as if contemplating something, then finally let out a small sigh.
“It’s because of the pheromones.”
“Pher…omones?”
“Ugh! Don’t come near! Your body is covered in the Commander’s pheromones, so it’s making my nose sting!”
The Cat Beastman pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, tears brimming in her eyes.
“You’ve made yourself all drenched in her scent, claiming her as yours.”
Her eyes glared up and down at him as if she were staring at a slobbery dog chew toy. Since Lian was covered in pheromones, that wasn’t exactly an incorrect observation.
“I thought the Commander’s pheromones weren’t that strong… but I was mistaken.”
“Uh… Pher…omones…?”
As the Cat Beastman stepped back, shaking her head to shake off the smell, she continued to explain.
“It’s the scent that Beastmen leave to mark their territory. In simpler terms, you’re walking around with ‘Jess’s property’ written all over you.”
“…!”
Lian’s face turned as red as a ripe tomato.
“…So, I’ve basically been wearing a big ‘I’m Jess’s!’ sign this whole time?”
“Yeah, you got it!”
“…!”
Responding lightly to Lian’s stunned mumble made him jump, and he instinctively flinched. The heat in his ears and neck skyrocketed, causing the Cat Beastman to squint her eyes and pout her lips.
‘Cute is totally my type.’
As she licked her lips, the intense pheromone scent whipped through him, causing him to shiver.
‘There’s no way I can be drawn to a territory marked like that by the Commander.’
Quickly accepting something he couldn’t easily have, the Cat Beastman informed Lian that meal times were pushed back. After thanking her, Lian stood there in a daze until he noticed the Beastmen grimacing in discomfort from the smell and hurried back into the cabin.
‘Pheromones… really?’
Sitting on the edge of the wooden bed in the cabin, he fluffed his clothes, but he didn’t detect any terrible stench that would make the Beastmen nauseous. Only Jess’s gentle scent wafted through.
‘Is this Jess’s pheromone?’
Thinking that Jess had left a ton of scent on him to declare, “Lian is mine, so no one else touch him!”, his overly hot face showed no signs of cooling down.
“Ugh…”
Lian let out a small moan and sat down, burying his face in both hands. The fact that Jess declared him as her ‘partner’ and had drenched him in pheromones made him absurdly happy, to the point of confusion.
‘What about Noah… what’s she going to do?’
Even if it was a dream, Noah had confessed feelings to Lian, and he had responded that he liked her too. Though he claimed it was to save her, those words were not said without emotion.
The very fact that he regretted not properly confessing when he returned to his slime form was evidence enough.
For Lian, his emerging feelings for Jess felt like ‘an affair’ or ‘a sin’. Yet, being fully consumed by guilt didn’t suit the somewhat ambiguous relationship between Noah and Lian.
Noah’s feelings could’ve changed in the meantime, and perhaps her confession was limited to the dream world. As complex beings, humans didn’t necessarily end up in romantic relationships just because they mutually liked each other, nor did they have to marry.
Some people pursuing dreams even gave up love. Those with negative feelings about ‘family’ or ‘the opposite sex’ sometimes insisted solely on unrequited loves.
Lian couldn’t know what Noah felt in reality, even if she was happy with him in their dreams. Therefore, finding Lian feeling romantic affection towards Jess didn’t easily equate to ‘infidelity’.
‘…Is there really such a thing as pheromones?’
Thoughts swirling in his mind eventually zeroed in on the term ‘pheromones’, which had shaken his heart.
‘It might not even be pheromones, right?’
Recalling the Cat Beastman’s words, “I didn’t think the Commander’s pheromones were that strong…” his doubts deepened.
‘If Jess’s pheromones were originally not that potent, then the strong scent the Beastmen detected might not actually be hers.’
One suspicion bloomed into another.
‘If that’s the case, could Jess introducing me as her partner simply be an act of protecting me because I’ve weakened after losing my original body?’
What if Jess’s declaration of love was merely an action considering his well-being?
Lian began digging deeper into guilt, rapidly plunging downwards. Unable to verify whether pheromones existed or not, those absurd thoughts started to feel like reality.
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