HEO 89

“Snap out of it! You’ve been blinded by jealousy! You’re just burning with the desire to kill the old man! If you kill him, he’ll resent you for it!

He’ll get angry for a moment, then laugh. Haha, that person laughed with the enemy who killed his mother, so why wouldn’t he be able to smile with me? Given enough time, he’ll actually be grateful to me. He’ll say I killed that man for him.

The place where his chaotic, tangled thoughts finally landed was a field. Wildflowers in full bloom. The scent of irises swirling on the wind.

If I kill him, I can roll around in the field with that person.

Wolf opened his mouth. His voice was so low that it was barely audible to his own ears.

‘I won’t refuse.’

〔Confirmed.〕

The window disappeared.

The corridor disappeared too.

Even the darkness vanished with a thunderous sound.

“……Hmph.”

Wolf opened his eyes.

The sound of rain blocked his ears. The torrential rain poured down as if it would push this dilapidated house all the way to the sea. For some reason, he felt trapped in a corridor below deck where salt drifted. He felt like he’d seen something similar in a dream.

And…

Someone reaching out. That figure obscured by the water. Who was it?

Suddenly, a maddening anxiety burned through his mind. The dream was like glass shards scattered across the floor.

Fuck, why can’t I remember! It hasn’t been that long since I woke up!

Wolf closed his eyes and took slow, deep breaths. As time passed, the remnants of the dream gradually faded. One by one, they were erased, leaving only anxiety, like peeking through prison bars and quickly retreating the moment you sense a presence in the darkness.

Wolf sat up. The blanket, soaked in sweat, slid down. Golden hair was matted in a mess against his tattooed chest.

A fever again?

Wolf pushed his hair back and counted the days. It had been ten days again.

Fever had come regularly since the middle of last year. Every week or every ten days. The disease would burn Wolf’s body with high fever and then leave within a day or two. Despite suffering so often, his body had actually grown rapidly. Enough to surprise even people he hadn’t seen in a couple of months, asking, “Who are you?”

“Hey.”

〔What?〕

“How many days have I been sick? One day? Two days?”

Wolf lowered his legs under the bed. The cold wooden floor touched his bare feet.

〔23 hours and 15 minutes.〕

〔Almost a day.〕

“Excellent. It didn’t drag out to two days.”

Wolf stood up while rubbing the nape of his neck where a slight fever lingered with one hand. He trudged over and opened the door. The damp breeze that blew into the room scattered raindrops across the floor.

Wolf caught the rainwater in his hand and rubbed it against his face. The fever clinging to his skin subsided slightly.

“Hey. Is this a fatal illness?”

They exchanged the same conversation they had already had over thirty times.

〔Scanning…〕

〔No signs of life-threatening disease detected.〕

〔Conclusion. Fever symptoms unrelated to fatal illness.〕

“So it’s not a side effect of the reward?”

〔Undetermined. Connection to reward is uncertain.〕

〔Recommended. Obtain a precise diagnosis from an individual with medical authority.〕

“Fuck off. Ah right, you don’t even have a dick.”

He kicked the floor once and plopped down onto the bed. Rain continued to pour outside the wide-open door.

“Nothing happened while I was burning up, right?”

〔Nothing happened.〕

“Well. Nothing could’ve happened…”

Wolf’s voice trailed off. Suddenly, a strange sight unfolded before his eyes. What was this? Was it a fragment of memory burned away by the high fever? Or was it an illusion?

The sound of a door opening. The scent of irises spreading in all directions. That fragrance, intense enough to make him momentarily forget even the heat burning his entire body.

“Did nothing really happen?”

〔Nothing.〕

“Nothing at all?”

〔Nothing.〕

Flea added after repeating the same answer.

〔The human entity presumed to be a Thunder did stop by here briefly.〕

〔Five hours and twenty-three minutes after you showed a feverish reaction.〕

“Then something did happen. Shit.”

Memories followed one after another.

Pale blue eyes looked down at him. Through the eye sockets of the tightly stretched human skin mask. Unwavering, like someone examining the corpse of an animal they’d just hunted.

‘But I can get you some medicine that will probably help you get through the hardest part…’

“Didn’t that guy tell me something?”

〔That’s right. He offered to procure drugs for you.〕

“…Hey.”

Wolf pressed his temples with both hands. Sometimes, conversing with Flea made him keenly aware of the limitations of “explanation.” Just like now.

“You don’t know what drugs are? And yet you said nothing happened?”

〔The entity’s offer was for pain relief purposes. No intent to kill detected.〕

〔If no murderous intent is detected toward you, by my standards, it’s generally not ‘a big deal.’〕

“I get it, I get it. Besides that, nothing else happened, right?”

〔If you mean another thing, there was.〕

〔Light physical contact occurred.〕

“What?”

Wolf removed his hands from his temples.

“Light physical contact? Light?”

〔Not mass. It is lightness based on the depth of contact.〕

〔Oral contact. 1 minute.〕

〔Initiated by you.〕

〔Contact is superficial. No contact occurred within the mouth.〕

“…….”

It took a long time for Wolf to understand what Flea meant.

Superficial. Surface-level.

In other words, he had made contact with the surface of the mouth. For some reason, he was the one who took the initiative. The other person was a pirate wearing a human skin mask.

His brain froze abruptly. It was only after blinking four or five times that his mind snapped back to reality. Wolf looked up at the ceiling.

Alright. Let’s organize this.

I was physically and mentally weakened by a fever. I couldn’t control my body as I pleased. In the midst of that, I turned my face in a certain direction, and coincidentally, the guy’s face was right there. Collision. It is a natural law of physics. I am a victim of that law.

Wolf shrugged and said nonchalantly.

“Well, when you’re sick, you can’t really control your body. Most people can’t. Right?”

〔That’s true.〕

〔Reduced mobility is common with fever.〕

Even the witness agreed. That was it.

Fortunately, he had absolutely no memory of the physical contact in question. And he certainly didn’t ‘initiate it’ because he was attracted to that guy. Rather, initiating that contact was the very evidence of just how severe his delirium was at the time.

I’m not crazy enough to kiss a pirate who looks like a serial killer… Stop. Any more is self-torment.

The next step was to devise a solution.

“You said the physical contact lasted for a minute, right? It lasted quite a while, and he just stayed still?”

〔Correction. A minute is not a long time.〕

“It is long. Usually, when you are suddenly subjected to that kind of physical contact, you pull away immediately.”

〔The other person must have frozen in shock. In that case, a one-minute delay is a natural reaction.〕

Is that so? But I can’t imagine a Stoll person freezing in shock at that level of physical contact.

“What was his reaction afterward?”

〔He asked you, ‘What do you think you are you doing?’ Then he lay back down, got up after six minutes, and left the quarters.〕

In other words: Although he also found the superficial oral contact unpleasant, he understood that it was an accident caused by the laws of physics and left quietly.

That Silver bastard at least maintained a modicum of reason.

‘Do you know a guy named Silver?’

That was a leading question meant to imply, ‘Can’t you recognize me, you bastard servant I’m going to tear apart?’

The name Wolf had learned from his seniors was none other than Silver.

And yet that same Silver had remained quiet even after being subjected to unexpected physical contact. Meaning he’d completely dropped his suspicions toward Wolf.

〔The human individual presumed to be a Thunder asked the insect-like individual to check if your face resembled the < Servant >.〕

Wolf ruminated on every word Flea had said.

〔The conversation mentioned that the two had seen the < Servant > together a year ago. The insect-like individual replied that you were not the same person as the < Servant >.〕

〔The argument was that it is rare for a human face to change drastically in just one year.〕

〔The human individual presumed to be a Thunder remarked that the < Servant > was “a bastard I saved to tear apart.”〕

〔Based on the context of the conversation, it is presumed that they concluded you were not the same person as the < Servant >.〕

It is a relief that it ended in my favor, but… … Aren’t those two just confused because they haven’t seen me in a year? I think I am that < Servant > that Silver is eyeing.

Wolf’s nickname was none other than ‘Servant’. Even after being revealed as the biological son of White Deer and recognized as the son of Bronze-Billed Hawk, the Stoll warriors openly disregarded Wolf. “Servant” was a nickname that embodied that contempt. Even if there were three people in the world who looked exactly alike, the probability that two of them would be nicknamed Servant was extremely low. There was no need to even look.

That servant is this servant.