Chapter 364: Potential

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“Gyaaa! Nooo! I don’t want to die, no!”

“….”

I had sworn that, even though it was charged with that peculiar flame that destroys everything I consider impure, the spell I cast should not cause any real harm.

“Gyaaaaa!!”

But there she was, like an evil spirit, burning as she literally burned.

“It hurts!, so much, help! Someone please help me!”

’Is it because, after smelling her for so long, I consider her impure? Or is she really an evil spirit?’

I had questions as I continued to watch the woman writhe in immense pain and agony, her skin burning, but for some reason her hair did not.

’How curious… hmm, this anomaly, oh! It could be a unique physique.’

My legacy cannot identify physiques, but when abnormal things like this happen, that is a possibility, and a possible explanation for her reaction…

“Help!”

“No, this is no time to think, I have to turn it off. Damn it, how do you turn this thing off?”

It was my own blessing, but I had never wanted to stop a purification; it had never been harmful.

Even demons, with their chaotic mana, did not suffer to that degree; purification and she are not compatible at all.

For a moment, I didn’t know what to do; I remembered that it was my blessing, and exercising my will, I wanted the purification to stop and…

“Haahh… aaahhh! Help!Ah!?... I-it doesn’t hurt anymore?… It doesn’t hurt anymore!”

’Ufff… I almost killed someone without meaning to.’

She may have smelled bad, but she hadn’t done anything wrong. It would weigh on my conscience if I purified her from this world.

I cast some healing spells on her, based on the plant element, and saw her burned skin begin to recover.

“Let’s see… yes! It worked!”

And now, breathing the air, I felt nothing: it meant that, despite some unexpected events, my purification had worked.

“Sniff… sniff… I, I… ssnnifff… Waaaaah!”

“…come on, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I didn’t want to kill you or anything; it was just a purification.”

It was my fault; although it wasn’t my intention, it seemed to be very painful. Enough to make a woman in her mid-to-late twenties cry like a little girl.

If Elena found out about this, she would kill me; I would be judged by the rest, and even Alice or Selene might be disappointed in me.

“Waaaaa! I… finally… waaaAA!”

’Ugh, why is she crying louder and louder? How do I calm her down? Let’s see, in cases like this—’

“GWAAAAHHH!!!!”

“Hey! Stop it! You’re overreacting, stop or I’ll set you on fire again!”

“…Sniff.”

’So the threat was the solution. Right,’

“Okay, now that you’re calm, we can talk. I won’t do anything to you anymore; I’ve already achieved my goal, the smell is gone.”

“Really??”

“Yes, I just cast a purification spell to remove it. I don’t know why it hurt you, but it wasn’t my intention, so—”

“I don’t smell bad anymore?”

“Huh?”

“I really don’t smell bad anymore? You’re not lying?”

“Well, if you still smelled bad after I cast my best spell on you, you’d be the goddess of decay or something.”

“Hahaha, I don’t smell, it doesn’t hurt, hahaha! Finally, thank you, thank you so much! I don’t know what you did, but thank you! Sniff, I-I, gwaa!”

“Hey, hey, stop right there! Don’t start crying or I’ll light you up again.”

“Ugh… sniff… I-I un…sniff…understand.”

I had to threaten her again before she started crying, but I found it amusing how she literally swallowed her cry, struggling to keep her mouth shut.

This hairball was more entertaining than I expected… but I couldn’t waste any more time.

“Well, it seems there are many things I don’t understand. I’d like some explanations, but we don’t have time now; let’s go back. You can explain it to me later.”

The opportunity I had gotten was over; I felt that the wolf pack had retreated for now, and the group began to reorganize and see if anyone was missing.

Anyway, the important thing was that it no longer stank. Later, during the break, I will resolve my doubts.

..

.

“Tell me, have you always had that bad smell?”

“N-no, two years ago, when I went through the seventh metamorphosis, it just happened… and it got worse when I recently went through the eighth.”

“So you don’t know why you had it.”

“N-no.”

“Hmm… do you have any skills?”

“Y-yes, I have an affinity for po-poison and a skill called ’symbiotic toxin’.”

“Hmm, you’re very connected to poison… when was the last time you had a test?”

“…When I entered the military academy.”

“Military? Oh, you’re from Ivoria. Well, beastmen do things similarly to us, so more than five years, huh!… Let’s see, come a little closer.”

“Y-yes.”

She was even worse than Silvia. Although right now I’m pretending to have seven metamorphoses like David—when in reality I only have six—it doesn’t change the fact that at this moment I am of a lower rank.

Even so, she responded and obeyed everything I said easily, without resistance.

“Oh… did I see wrong? Do you have vertical pupils? Let’s see… don’t you have scales on the sides of your face? Oh, do you have long fangs? Hmm, your anatomy also feels strange… what are you?”

Because of the cloaks of hair she had, I couldn’t really identify her race, but now that I pushed it aside and took her chin to examine her better, I could see a vertical pupil, something common in felines and reptiles among beastmen—although not all of them have them, like the twins.

However, she had normal ears, not feline ones, and they weren’t even pointed, nor did she have scales on the sides of her face or neck, which was characteristic of reptilian beastmen.

There are few of them on this continent, There were other races, but she didn’t have any characteristics of any of them.

“I’m a snake beast woman. Well… my mother is, and my father is human.”

“Snake? Now that I look closely, you even have a forked tongue, but you don’t have scales. Oh! You’re a hybrid.”

“Y-yes.”

Remembering what I knew about beastmen, I thought about how unusual her situation was. Very unusual. So unusual that she didn’t even have a race name, like half-elves or half-giants.

Humans have always been beings that can mix with other races and give birth to hybrids, but that doesn’t happen with beastmen: either they come out human or they come out beastmen.

It is said that this is because beastmen are already hybrids between humans and polymorphic divine beasts. Or, if there was a pervert, beast without polymorphing.

Perhaps that is what makes them so peculiar and allowed beastmen to be the only species that became a stable race, without reverting to one of their parents in later generations.

Beastmen have always been a peculiar race; in fact, “beastmen” is a general term.

Technically, each one is as different as humans would be from dwarves or giants.

But there were many types, and for some reason, they always stuck together, which made the other races group them together as a single race.

And it was fortunate that they weren’t born hybrids with humans, because that would be worse… although, as always, there are exceptions.

Sometimes they can be born like her: a hybrid. That made her more human than beast; hence the lack of scales and tail. She only had fangs, a forked tongue, and vertical pupils.

Anomalies like her are sometimes a genetic disaster… or something very good. Which led me to reaffirm my previous theory: she had a unique physique, like Lily and Akihara.

Perhaps increasing her rank awakened or stimulated it and led her to that state. She gained a skill, and since it was closely linked to her body, that may be why she was burning with my purification.

’Hmm… even so, she shouldn’t be able to resist my blessing or go through it.’

Click!.

“Hey, tell me something: you were blessed by an evil god, right?”

“N-no, I don’t have any blessings.”

“No, you definitely do, and you know it. You’re lying to me.”

“…”

yeah, it was her bad luck to lie to me while I was still in contact with her, that was a clear lie.

“Well, I guess you obviously want to keep it a secret, considering you had to go to a temple of that god and everything. You must be a devout believer.”

“No, I’m not! I didn’t know it was a temple and… ah!”

“Yes, I understand what happened to you. Those bastards like to bless people without their consent.”

It seems it was unintentional. Perhaps she entered some ruins of that god that still functioned as a temple, and he blessed her.

They don’t need anyone’s consent. As long as you didn’t have another blessing, it was a free pass.

Anyway, now I know what I wanted to know. I really wanted to understand more deeply what blessing or skill she awakened to be like that.

But she didn’t feel lust towards me; I tried my luck, but it was in vain.

’I guess it’s just because of David’s simple appearance. That won’t be easy.’

“I-I… don’t want to die, no…”

“Oh? You’re sweating cold and shaking, you’re so scared”.

“Please, no… I-I ukg”

’Bit herself—wonder if it’s hard with a forked tongue’

In my previous life, it wasn’t like that, at least not as much, but I guess this time, with the constant attacks from demons and early appearance of the idiots blessed by lesser gods.

Made everyone more cautious and strict about everything regarding the gods that are not worshipped by the five kingdoms, if it was discovered, it would be very bad for her.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Well, since you don’t smell anymore, I guess I’ve fixed what was wrong with you”.

“You won’t?”

“Nah, I don’t care about that. Anyway, let’s continue as before: I don’t talk, you don’t talk, and everything will be fine. Remember that you can’t tell anyone about my purification or you’ll feel great pain. Do you understand?”

I wanted to annoy her, but that would jeopardize my performance, so I decide to continue with the antisocial theme and not talk to her.

“Y-yes.”

..

.

“Hey! I thought I told you we’d continue as before.”

“I-I’m just walking.”

“…”

She’s playing dumb. After the midday break, when I asked them the questions, for some reason she’s been following me closely.

We’re not supposed to stray too far, but she, who used to keep a maximum distance of three meters, was now basically on my heels.

When I scolded her like this, she would distance herself, but slowly she would come closer again, and now it’s the third time I’ve complained.

Not only that, but before she would only look at me from time to time, but now I feel like she hasn’t taken her eyes off me the entire walk, even when we started fighting.

There was another attack by the chimera wolves, and without the protection of her foul odor, they attacked us. She was so distracted looking at me that one almost bit her. It was her luck that I got there in time.

’Well, it’s somewhat understandable.’

Now that I know their secret, she must be anxious about whether my words are trustworthy or not.

It’s not like I don’t understand her, but her being so focused on me is a little annoying.

“Hmm… what can I do to stop her from worrying about it? Tell her a secret of mine? Nah, that’s silly… An exchange? What could she give me… her body?”

There’s a saying that goes: ’In wartime, any hole will do as a trench’. I really try to avoid thinking about it, but it’s been more than five days since I’ve seen the girls and it’s taking its toll on me.

I’d seen her face before. She wasn’t a stunning beauty like Aurora, but she was pretty — a bit exotic, with green eyes and vertical pupils, and slightly longer fangs.

I hadn’t paid attention to her at the time, but she also had a fairly decent-sized chest.

Overall, she wasn’t bad at all. She had dark circles under her eyes and plenty of moles, but that only added to her exotic look.

All she needed to do was cut all that hair and tidy herself up a bit to be a decent person.

’Hmm, actually, now that I think about it, she has a lot of potential… not to mention that forked tongue. Will it be long? Hmm…’

Yes, he thought so. Now that there was no smell, she wasn’t so bad. In fact, there were some interesting things to try, and the more he thought about it, the better.

“Elena and the others don’t mind a little fling, as long as I do it with her consent…’

Yeah, everyone wins, and I don’t have to worry about getting beaten up. If she accepts this exchange, it would count as consensual… I guess

“Hey!”

“I-I didn’t get any closer!”

“If you’re so unsure that I won’t keep your secret, why don’t you—”

[Mission: Destiny Meeting

Objective: Accept and win the challenge of the Blessed of Orvhal.

Reward: Quintessentia.

[Accept Mission]

[Reject Mission]

(Consequence: Aeloria’s dissatisfaction)]

’Shit! What happened!’

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