09/09/550
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What seemed like an endless buzzing finally stopped, and Athtar woke from his sleep in terror, his body drenched in sweat, his breathing rapid and labored. He felt as though his physical form and very self were being completely destroyed and restructured, and new spiritual information was being uploaded into him. That information merged with his old self to create a new one, but those attempts failed.
Athtar placed his hand over his face and finally sighed with some relief. The buzzing that had been giving him a headache had stopped, and his head no longer hurt. After that, Athtar lay down again.
"This started happening about a month ago. What are those images appearing before me? And what is being uploaded into me? Is the goddess tampering with my body? "
His only logical explanation was that the goddess of this world was trying to do something to him, and he wouldn't completely rule out that possibility, however slim it might be—especially since she had chosen Prince Arthur as the sole person to confront the former Demon King on a whim, and had even allowed the Demon King himself to exist as another whim of hers.
The goddess's actions seemed illogical to Athtar; they all bore the marks of whims, but all his conclusions were essentially based on his own speculations, for the truth was known to no one but her.
Athtar got out of bed, watching as something that looked like a faint blue flash tried to emerge before him. This was one of the side effects of the ringing in his ears; blue lights would flash before his eyes for a few minutes and then disappear.
He didn't ask Margaret about it, and when he asked her indirectly if she could see the flash, she replied that she couldn't, so he kept it from her so as not to make her worry about him unnecessarily.
Athtar arrived at the bathroom while lost in his thoughts. Uncharacteristically, instead of checking whether the bathroom was occupied by asking or looking at the sign hanging on the doorknob, he simply turned the knob and opened the door.
The first thing he noticed in front of him was that wet, golden-blonde hair, then he noticed that beautiful face with blue eyes that looked stunned, and when he looked down, the blonde hair mischievously hid the contours of her large, full breasts, especially the most sensitive areas, and he noticed only the pink areolas that the blonde hair couldn't hide.
His gaze drifted down to her beautifully defined, athletic abs, without any excess fat, and her navel, beautifully nestled in light shadows, with the glow of her skin making her body look angelic.
Below her navel, he noticed snow-white skin; the light blonde pubic hair had been carefully shaved, and finally, the most sensitive areas—though they were completely hidden by Margaret's hand, which had been there unconsciously all along.
All of this happened in a single second, during which Margaret was stunned, before her face flushed intensely and she covered herself with the towel she was holding in her other hand as quickly as possible.
"A-Athtar? What are you doing here? Didn't you see the sign on the door?" "
Athtar regained his composure after the shock, his face flushing as he averted his gaze and stepped back, closing the door behind him. Then, leaning against the door, he said, "Sorry, I was distracted...."
"It's okay... Mistakes like that happen... "
Margaret spoke from inside the bathroom, her voice trembling slightly, and Athtar noticed that she felt deeply embarrassed by the situation.
As for Athtar, he could feel his heart racing, his cheeks slightly red. This was practically the first time he'd seen Margaret's naked body so clearly. When he was a child, Margaret had bathed with him, but she'd covered herself well while washing him, so he'd never seen her body fully before.
"She's… stunning…" Athtar whispered, then felt the bulge between his legs bothering him. His innocent reaction was because he had desperately tried to recall the image of Margaret's body over and over in his mind, which had ultimately aroused his desire.
Athtar felt the door open, so he stepped back a little and watched Margaret leave the bathroom without looking at his face. Margaret was looking down, so she easily noticed Athtar's prominent bulge between his legs.
"Are you hard?"
she whispered in a weak voice, a little surprised and blushing, but Athtar wasn't as embarrassed as she was. He replied in a calm, cool voice, "Yes, because you're so beautiful… Margaret… "
Margaret closed her eyes with a soft "Hmm!" She seemed to really like what she heard, but she quickly replied, "Go wash up right now! You pervert!"
Then she quickly walked away from him before he could think of taking any further bold steps.
Athtar sighed and went into the bathroom. He felt a little disappointed that Margaret kept rejecting him, but he didn't feel hopeless at all; he was certain that one day, he would truly be able to open Margaret's heart.
...
After lunch, Athtar left for the guild headquarters in the village where they lived. He already held an adventurer's license, which he had obtained very early on, at the age of ten, so his current rank was high.
The adventurer ranks, from lowest to highest, were as follows:
A. Rank F Adventurer
B. Rank C Adventurer
C. Rank B Adventurer
D. Rank A Adventurer
E. Rank S Adventurer
Athtar was already a Rank B Adventurer at the moment, which was the minimum rank required to face demons, though Athtar had been lucky enough not to encounter any powerful demons to date, preventing him from raising his rank higher.
When he arrived at the guild headquarters, he received greetings from some of the adventurers who knew him, and he returned their greetings coolly as he headed toward the reception desk.
"I want a Rank B quest for one person."
"Are you alone today? Where is Miss Margaret?" "
"She decided to take the day off, so I'll be going alone…"
"Oh, I see… Let me see if there's a mission you can handle on your own."
"I'm not a child… "
"Yeah, yeah... but tell that to Margaret, who'll make our lives hell if we send you on a dangerous mission..."
Athtar pursed his lips slightly. Margaret was far too overprotective of him, which made it difficult for him to get assigned high-level missions.
...
After receiving the assignment, Athtar left the guild headquarters on foot. The village was small, so it didn't take him long to reach the forest. He opened the assignment slip and glanced at it.
"Tiger skins are used as material for making clothes, and the district chief likes to show off the many he has in his house, so he's requesting the skin of a tiger-like beast. The reward for the mission is 50 gold coins."
After briefly reading the description, he put the paper in his pocket and continued walking. He closed his eyes, and a colorless aura of mana began to surround his body, suddenly spreading out widely like a detection radar.
Athtar sensed some reactions from ordinary animals, but that wasn't his goal, so he ignored them and focused on any other reactions. Suddenly, he felt a mass collide with his mana, acting like a barrier that cut off his connection beyond that point.
Athtar pinpointed that spot, then stopped the scouting spell and began walking in that direction. The distance was somewhat close, so Athtar thought the owner of that mark might be human. He wasn't very cautious, since he was also close to the village.
When Athtar reached a spot near that mark, he became more cautious and looked around. The place there was a cave. He sharpened his vision and observed the aura emanating from the cave. What he saw was an aura portending evil—a dense, malevolent mana, black in color.
Athtar's eyes narrowed; he understood this was a demon, but he didn't understand why a demon would be in a place so close to human settlements.
He and Margaret lived on the outskirts of the human settlements, but even so, no demon would be foolish enough to sneak all the way out here.
Athtar intended to explore further, but when he remembered how Margaret had always urged him not to be arrogant or think too highly of himself, he sighed, let out a long breath, and decided to back down. His best option was to take Margaret and another group of adventurers to solve this problem safely.
He took a different route and marked the location so he could return later when he had enough strength to deal with a demon.