Chapter 143
After lunch in a secluded spot behind the dining hall….
Only Johann and I were here.
Since the effects might vary from person to person, we’d decided to test them one at a time over a set period.
“Go ahead. Do whatever you want.”
Johann said, standing across from me.
He stood with his chest out and back straight, as if offering up his body.
I looked up at him and made a face.
“You mean… I’m the one who has to do the checking?”
“It’s not like I can go touching you and call that a test.”
He talked a big game radiating pure R-rated energy, but in practice, he held the line better than anyone. What a curious man.
He added in a dangerously low voice:
“What if something breaks?”
Was that the reason?
But having all the initiative dumped entirely on me was no less flustering.
There’s a proper order to physical contact. Where was I even supposed to start?
I could ace the written exam, but the practical…
I rose onto my tiptoes and reached toward him.
“Is this one of those ‘touching with your eyes’ things?”
Johann asked, looking uncomfortable, as I cupped his face and stared intently.
“You’re pleasant to look at even up close. Is good skin something you’re just born with?”
For the moment, I was satisfied on a purely visual level.
Johann sighed and stooped down.
“Then take a closer look.”
He usually came off like a thug, but he had his endearing moments.
I began inspecting his impassive face from up close.
The sharp outer corners of his eyes swept upward, his jawline was clean-cut, and his nose was so high it carved stark shadows across his features.
The color of his eyes was especially striking: a vivid, clear green like a lush forest.
“How did you get this?”
I asked, fingertips tracing the scar on his lip. His shoulder flinched briefly.
“Fought ten on one when I was a kid.”
He said it with the casual bravado of a thug, but I knew it was true.
In Johann’s memories, the imperial children had bullied him mercilessly as a boy.
The Demon of Wrath’s words from Johann’s Awakening suddenly echoed in my mind.
That a child’s resentment and rage would never fade until death, and would become the foundation governing his entire life.
That memory must linger like this scar, surfacing every time he looked in the mirror.
He studied my silent expression, then laid his hand over mine and shook his head.
“Actually, that was a lie. I just.”
He trailed off, gazing into the empty air before slowly continuing.
“Fell out of a tree.”
His eyes resembled those of a boy who had clung to a tree branch, watching the sky burn red at sunset.
I didn’t have a name for what I felt.
Sympathy? Compassion?
It wasn’t as though I were the selfless type.
It was just that he was someone who’d be my ally in the fight for my freedom going forward.
“That must have hurt.”
Remembering the small Johann from those memories, I wrapped my arms around him.
He’d grown several times over since then, too big to fit in my embrace, really.
“Not particularly.”
He went stiff as a board, standing at rigid attention, before adding:
“This… seems more effective than holding hands.”
Then I felt solid arms wrap around my back.
Johann pulled me tight against him and buried his face in the crook of my neck and shoulder.
“Will you do this often?”
His murmuring lips and breath grazed my skin.
The shiver that rippled from my neck, the tightening in my chest—it was unfamiliar, but not unpleasant.
“I will.”
+ Purification effect toward target has increased slightly.
I stared blankly at the notification hovering before my eyes and blinked.
Wait, had my divine ability actually grown?
“Johann.”
I leaned in and whispered his name directly into his ear. His curved back flinched, and the arms around me went slack.
“Hey, I told you not to breathe in my ear. Do you have any idea what I just had to endure…”
I had no clue what he’d won or lost, but he pulled back in a hurry, rubbing his ear and snapping irritably before spinning on his heel and walking away.
“What’s with him?”
I watched his retreating figure, practically fleeing, and shrugged.
A man whose ears were his weak spot. What a vigorous fellow.
***
Well past roll call, in the dead hours before dawn.
I called out to one of the guards on night patrol.
“Excuse me. Could you listen to something I have to say?”
“What? Don’t be a nuisance.”
“I’d like to tell you a legend.”
He glared at me through the barred window and moved to walk past.
“Once upon a time, a famous pirate hid his treasure somewhere. And so, every pirate set out to find it, and the Great Age of Pirates began.”
There was no way he could resist this famous manga plotline.
It took twenty-eight years to reach the finale—thank god I’d finished reading it before I died in my previous life.
Sure enough, the guard’s interest was piqued. He stopped and turned to me.
“And?”
“They say the treasure is on this island.”
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