Because Jhin habitually manipulated wind elements around his body to regulate his temperature, anyone close to him could feel warmth in winter and coolness in summer — except while he slept, since he wasn't yet skilled enough to control the elements unconsciously.
Kyaru licked the cake crumbs from the corner of her mouth with the tip of her tongue. Catching him staring intently at her lips, she shot him an irritated glare. "Can't you rein in your urges just a little?"
Jhin spread his hands helplessly. "It keeps telling me to come — how can I refuse?"
"There you go talking nonsense again. Anyway, I'm not going along with your mischief out here in the open."
"So you're saying it's fine once we're home?"
"..." Kyaru's eyes filled with disdain. "Let me correct that — right now your head isn't full of 'everyone.' It's full of dirty thoughts."
"What's wrong with that?" Jhin switched the cake to his right hand, wrapped his left arm around her shoulder, leaned down, and nuzzled her cheek hard several times. "How could anyone not love an adorable tsundere kitty? I'd hold you like this every single day if I could."
"Don't even think about it, no matter what you say!" Kyaru's cheek itched from his hair brushing against it, and it took some effort to push his head away. Her tone carried a bit of irritation, but her eyes couldn't hide a spark of joy, and the corners of her mouth kept trying to curl upward.
Not far away, in a small grove of trees, a pair of beastly eyes watched the flirting couple intently. She had suppressed her presence so completely that she seemed to have merged with the trees around her.
That figure was none other than Sylvia, the Synthetic Beast — one of the Demon King's Army officers. After fleeing back to the army's encampment, she had wasted no time draining every last monster in the ranks dry, but the troops she'd brought along couldn't come close to satisfying her cravings. Once she confirmed her condition had reached its peak, she slipped quietly back into the Crimson Demon Village.
Her main goal was to locate where the ancient artifact known as the "Magic Killer" was being kept. Her secondary goal was to "prey" on the men of the Crimson Demon Village one by one. She had plenty of confidence in her own body — seducing a few men would be no trouble at all.
Just as she was searching everywhere for the artifact's storage location, she sensed that the presence of whoever had ambushed her earlier was nearby. Being the type to hold a grudge over the smallest slight, she wasn't about to pass up a chance for revenge, and she followed the sense in that direction — straight to Jhin and Kyaru's sweet little exchange.
The instant she laid eyes on Jhin, it felt as though her heart had been struck hard by a hammer, and her almond eyes turned so soft they seemed ready to drip.
"There's actually a handsome guy like this in the Crimson Demon Village — and he's not even a Crimson Demon Clan member." Sylvia was overjoyed. Then she made a new discovery. "Huh? No magic power inside him at all?"
Drool poured uncontrollably from the corner of her mouth, quickly turning into a miniature waterfall.
"Heh heh heh, so he's a total washout with no power. Perfect — now I can take this handsome fellow and have my fun with him for a good long while."
She automatically dismissed Kyaru standing beside him — in her eyes, that trace of magic power Kyaru carried wasn't even worth a glance.
Forcing her expression into order, Sylvia's eyes glinted green as she lunged at Jhin like a she-wolf starved for far too long. She moved fast — in the blink of an eye she was already behind him, her hands wreathed in thick magic power.
"So you're the one who ambushed the factories before?" Jhin arched an eyebrow, sizing up his attacker, who now looked utterly bewildered.
Sylvia was certain she'd been right behind the handsome man — so how had she ended up in front of him instead?
Seeing her cover blown, Sylvia flicked a streak of dyed red hair and threw him a coy glance. "Oh my, what a clever little boy. Want to come have some fun with big sis~?"
"Huh?!" Kyaru immediately stepped in front of Jhin protectively, glaring at this strange woman who'd started preening the moment they met. "Are you some kind of pervert? You go into heat like an Orc the second you show up."
Having fused with that infamous race was, without question, one of the biggest stains on Sylvia's monstrous existence, and having it called out so casually made a vein bulge on her forehead. Her tone turned hostile. "And here I thought it was something. Turns out it's just a declawed, ill-bred little black cat."
She clearly sensed the elements and magic power flickering around Kyaru — as a mage without a staff on hand, less than thirty percent of her true strength could be brought to bear. If Kyaru had been a Crimson Demon Clan member, Sylvia might have felt a flicker of caution, since every eccentric in that clan could cast magic bare-handed, provided they skipped the strange chanting.
But Kyaru was just an ordinary Beastmen, and Sylvia wanted nothing more than to throw her head back and laugh before stealing the man right out from under her. Still, the bizarre way her attack had missed and her position had suddenly shifted made her wary, so she stayed put and kept working on seducing Jhin instead. "So how about it, little boy? Never mind that flat-chested girl in front of you — come find out what real fullness feels like, something you've never experienced before."
For the first time, Kyaru understood exactly how Megumin must have felt whenever she spat out the words "useless fat." Her own chest wasn't actually small, but next to Sylvia's, which was bigger than her own head, it barely counted as a gentle rise.
Jhin lazily rested his chin atop Kyaru's head, pulled her into his embrace with his left arm, and delivered his words with real venom. "I've got no interest in doing anything with an abomination whose whole body is stitched-together fake flesh. Since you probably don't understand what 'abomination' means, I'll be merciful and spell it out for you — two simple words: mongrel scum."
"Seems like you really do want to die!" Her prized body reduced to worthless trash in his mouth, Sylvia's fury ignited. She no longer had any interest in dragging the handsome man back for a good time — a corpse would serve just as well.
As a Synthetic Beast, she possessed the strengths and abilities of countless monsters. Changing tactics without a shred of hesitation, she thrust both hands forward, stretching them out like striking serpents, aimed straight at Jhin.
Jhin didn't so much as budge from where he stood — he needed to test out the Teleportation Magic he'd worked so hard to create.
Just as her frost-glinting nails closed to within about two meters of him, a blurry, mosaic-square rift swallowed Sylvia's hands whole. An instant later, a second rift opened at her side, and her vanished hands shot back out of it — aimed straight at her own head.
"Damn it, what kind of bizarre Teleportation Magic is this? Weren't you supposed to have no magic power?"
Had Sylvia not yanked her attack back in time, she would have wounded herself with her own strike long before she ever managed to kill Jhin.
"I don't make a habit of chatting with enemies. The spell test's done — now it's time for an arrow to pierce the clouds and summon a thousand troops to the field." Jhin pulled a gun-shaped magic tool from his pocket and fired a shot into the sky.
A brilliant red spark of light blazed to life in the sky, and dozens of Teleportation Magic circles in different colors spread outward with him at their center. Sylvia panicked, kicking up a great cloud of dust as cover, and fled.
Damn it, just who exactly was this kid, summoning this many Crimson Demon Clan mages in an instant.
"Kid, I'll be back — mark my words!"
____
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