Chapter 65: Act 1 – The Burning City
Summer is the season when nature is teeming with life.
So, how could the creatures of the forest possibly remain still? That day had finally arrived.
Monster Wave.
For the forest keepers, the Monster Wave during this period is, in fact, a day akin to a nightmare.
The hot weather inevitably caused a lot of sweating, and naturally, the sweat brought discomfort and stickiness.
Having to trudge through the forest, exterminating monsters in such a condition was nothing short of torture.
Fortunately, the higher-ups recognized their hard work, so the summer overtime pay was quite generous, which offered some consolation to the forest keepers.
However, Yerna, who still couldn’t regain her condition, couldn’t stay in the forest, so Luke, Pyris, and Yerna were escaping the heat at home, away from their lodging in the woods.
It had been a while since they entered Yerna’s house.
During that time, feeling slightly more uncomfortable than usual, Luke had spent his days at Dayton’s house, playing with Diana and depending on their hospitality.
At first, he was very pleased.
Until he took off his shoes and set down his bag.
Arriving at Yerna’s house after breaking through the sweltering heat felt like returning home after a long journey to finish an ultimate subjugation war.
Though Luke had no true home to return to in this era, Yerna’s house was, in fact, like a home to him.
However, Luke overlooked one horrifying thing about this “home”: the air conditioner simply did not exist.
While it was temporarily unavailable at their lodging in the forest, enduring just that one day was all that was necessary, but it had never existed at Yerna’s house from the start.
If it had broken down, he would at least have tried to get it repaired, but its complete absence left Luke with no options.
For an elf, who could feel comfortable by merely opening a window, there likely weren’t any useless magical devices like an air conditioner.
Thus, to Luke, Yerna’s house was essentially a sauna.
Since Luke wasn’t accustomed to the heat, it was incredibly unbearable.
Even remaining still caused beads of sweat to quickly dampen his body.
The sensation of wet fabric sticking to his skin was quite dreadful.
The feeling of sweat trickling down his head was also extremely unpleasant.
With a fastidiousness ingrained in him as a mage, Luke found it very difficult to endure such sensations.
He felt as if he were being cooked alive, moaning quietly.
“It’s so hot…”
What a truly terrible season this is.
Luke now found himself taking a bath for the third time, feeling no desire to add anything to his indoor clothing that left his shoulders and bare legs exposed, which had been gifted by Yerna long ago.
When he first saw this outfit, he thought he would never have the need to wear it…
Yet, human affairs are truly unpredictable.
This was a moment to applaud Yerna’s foresight.
Well, as long as it kept him cool, Luke didn’t mind.
He had no reason not to expose his shoulders and legs to improve his quality of life.
After all, it wouldn’t be revealing his belly button or anything?
Considering what he usually wore, he found it slightly unsettling, but what could he do?
For now, there were no other short clothes left.
His usual pajamas were already soaked in sweat and thrown aside.
Besides, since Yerna had long since given him a bath, being naked wasn’t an issue either.
Thus, he didn’t feel embarrassed about his indoor outfit revealing a bit of his belly button.
The reason Luke wanted to avoid exposing his belly button was due to the common sense of modesty that existed 5000 years ago.
What area is the belly button?
It’s merely the remnant of the umbilical cord.
And the umbilical cord is directly related to the birth of life, supplying nutrients from the mother to the newborn, symbolizing ‘independence’ by being cut from the mother, thus being recognized as an individual.
So, the belly button, with its symbolism of ‘life and birth’ and ‘independence and autonomy,’ was, to Luke, no different from another reproductive organ.
“Well, right now, I don’t plan on moving vigorously, so it shouldn’t matter.”
He wouldn’t be jumping around in such clothes anyway, so what’s the harm?
If he just sat still, it shouldn’t expose his belly button.
Thinking this way, Luke quickly brushed his tail and opened the refrigerator.
Inside, a blue spirit lazily swayed to welcome him.
The reason Py looked so lethargic wasn’t because of the heat.
Spirits don’t get affected by the heat.
It was just that Py had been exerting its powers as a spirit for quite a while.
Luke took out a cold iced tea with ice cubes floating in it, shoving his tail into the fridge.
He longed to dive in completely, but doing so could lead to hypothermia and put him in danger.
Moreover, the inside of the refrigerator was structured to be airtight, meaning the air could not be replenished.
So if he were to climb inside, there was, of course, the risk of suffocation.
No matter how immortal he was, he wouldn’t die; regeneration still required mana, which posed another problem.
There was no need to endure unnecessary pain.
Thus, the best Luke could do was to stick only his tail inside the refrigerator.
For a Hyun, a tail was not only an organ for controlling their ‘Hyun transformation’ but also helped regulate body temperature, emitting a lot of heat alongside the head.
This meant that if his tail cooled down, ultimately, his whole body would cool down too.
Moreover, the cold wind seeping through the slightly opened gap felt absolutely delightful.
Sipping the cold iced tea was nothing short of paradise.
“Ah… This is heaven.”
Though he had never had the chance to experience heaven directly, he thought it might feel like this.
Perhaps the saying that happiness exists in misfortune was referring to this very feeling.
Such bliss was a type he had never felt in the past when he had no understanding of the sensation of heat.
He realized that this happiness derived from the rest after hard labor had sustained countless workers, and he could finally affirm this now.
—–
“Ugh, there’s quite a bit of fur.”
As Luke sighed, slumped against the refrigerator, Yerna let out a different kind of sigh while rolling her body with a tape roller.
She was beginning to realize just how much she understood that Dayton had handed her this ‘roller.’
In the brief moment she helped bathe Luke, quite a bit of platinum-colored fur had stuck to it.
At first, she was worried it might be hair loss, but it seemed to be just shedding season.
That was a relief.
It would be horrific to think about a young girl suffering from hair loss.
Speaking of shedding season, it was something she had never considered before.
Of course, excluding Hyuns (especially those of the fur-covered species), most did not shed, and typically, one wouldn’t think about such things intentionally.
But Luke was a chimera resembling both a dragon and a cat.
A little bit dragon, a little bit cat, so it made sense he would shed and molt.
Something quite bothersome…
As she thought this, Yerna turned her head to glance at Luke.
Luke had been lying with a happy expression but now seemed to have taken his tail out of the refrigerator, combing it while it was too cold.
The brush was already full of fur from Luke’s tail.
How could it accumulate that much fur so quickly with each stroke? Was it some kind of magic?
Eventually, Luke stopped brushing and separated the hair stuck to the brush, rolling it up into a ball and placing it in front of him before resuming brushing.
Once the fur piled up sufficiently, it wouldn’t brush out easily.
Standing with a small ball of fur, he put it tenderly into a box he frequently used.
“Yerna, don’t throw this away; it’s not garbage! I’ll dispose of it in due time,” he said, indicating he seemed to be collecting his fur balls these days.
But why was he saving those fur balls? Animal instinct? Or was it for later play?
Well, as long as it was cute, it didn’t really matter…
Besides, now that she noticed, while that fur was fluffy and adorable, it certainly looked very hot.
Luke was already suffering enough from the heat; should she consider trimming his tail fur a bit?
It had become slightly burdensome lately.
Moreover, these days she had been seeing a lot of Hyuns with shaved tails around town, and most of the forest keeper members seemed to have already shaved off their fur…
So Yerna cautiously asked, “Luke, should we shave your tail fur? Isn’t it hot? It’s a bit hard to clean up after…”
Luke replied very firmly, “No, absolutely not.”
His serious expression surprised Yerna, prompting her to ask, “…Do you really dislike it that much? Why?”
“Because….”
She didn’t know when Sigarmata might set its sights on him again.
He had no idea what level of magical ability Sigarmata might possess after 5000 years.
Luke had only seen a minuscule part of Sigarmata, and even that fragment of authority was enough to shatter reality.
In the worst case, there was a possibility that it could meet the conditions right now and manifest.
Although he believed such a possibility was nearly nonexistent.
Generally, the dimensional fabric becomes temporarily stronger and more solid the moment the fracture ends.
It’s like an initially calm lake suddenly having water rush out, creating rough waves.
And for Sigarmata to navigate through this ‘incarnation,’ it required energy more than double that of the incident in the Rienne forest.
Furthermore, considering that the incarnation was almost forcibly executed, the second would not be easy at all.
If this wasn’t the case, his chances of survival would be nil.
Then he would have no choice but to give up neatly.
But for now, he had to make preparations.
If he gave up now, the future would never come.
At least, for one year, the waves of that dimension would interfere with Sigarmata’s incarnation, but it was highly likely that it would refine itself to shorten that time.
Whether his hair would be long enough by then was indeed questionable.
If Sigarmata were to tear space back to its location afterward, his currently short hair might not suffice as a price.
The best and most optimal approach would be to dominate with the same or greater authority, but he had to prepare for when plans failed.
At that time, he might have to use his tail fur.
No, just fur alone might not be enough.
So it would be better to have something to offer as stakes for a deal.
If at that moment, he needed to sacrifice both of his arms and legs, he could manage to negotiate with just one arm and one leg.
However, the magical significance and symbolism of material detached from a living body diminishes greatly over time.
Especially hair, which has a significant reduction compared to other body parts or organs.
Therefore, there was no reason to deliberately cut it off and become defenseless.
However, he thought explaining this to Yerna would only cause her great worry.
‘Sigarmata might return in the future’?
Right now, Sigarmata was focused solely on him, meaning it desired “the remaining part of Parvati that he possessed.” It showed no interest in anything else, including Yerna.
As evidence, Sigarmata did nothing when it acquired Yerna as Dylan’s ‘transaction (sacrifice).’
All of her injuries were sustained before she was even offered as a sacrifice.
It merely possessed her to maintain the transaction by slipping through the dimensional gap…
Even if he died, and the transaction declared by Sigarmata was completed, it could be said that Yerna might return completely unharmed once the deal ended.
Thus, Yerna had no need to be aware of the threat posed by Sigarmata.
Unless Sigarmata wished for the ‘destruction of the world’ as its goal for the transaction, but if not, then it was merely a ‘personal matter.’
Whatever he has wrought, he must fully take responsibility for it.
At worst, it would only be Luke Irushi’s demise.
Luke then asserted resolutely, almost as if he was making a vow.
“My body’s fur is mine alone. I don’t want to give away even a single strand of it.”
“That… that’s true.”
He sure knows how to articulate his desire not to get shaved artistically. Then again, that’s just part of Luke’s charm…
That bob cut seems to have been forced upon him to compete with that monster.
‘Still, his hair is cute, so it needn’t be so sharp…’
She wanted to say, but Yerna held back.
She knew full well that Luke didn’t particularly like being called cute.
