Not a barbarian warrior.

The noisy atmosphere suddenly quieted down due to the unexpected commotion in the inn. The attention of the people drinking alcohol instantly focused on Eugene and Lorena.

A small-bodied woman standing with her palm outstretched, and a man thrown against the wall by such a woman. People shouted and cheered at the sight.

“Woah-! A fight!”

“What? What happened?”

“I don’t know! It looks like that woman threw the man!”

“What? How?”

If you had to pick the two most entertaining things to watch in the world, wouldn’t it be watching fights and fires? People all stood up from their seats to create a wide space to enjoy this suddenly appeared entertainment.

The minstrels who had been playing instruments cheerfully made eye contact with each other, then grinned and changed their tune. Fast and intense music echoed.

Meanwhile, Eugene, who had been thrown against the inn wall, momentarily blacked out and then regained consciousness.

He was surprised once at the fact that he had flown this far from Lorena’s simple hand gesture, and surprised again at the fact that he had briefly lost consciousness.

Yet he still didn’t understand why she had attacked him.

“Ugh…”

As he got up with his body aching from bruises and slowly walked towards Lorena, she angrily held out her hand once more.

Amidst the spectators murmuring and sending even louder cheers, Eugene raised both hands to show he had no intention to fight and asked:

“Why… did you suddenly attack me?”

“A-Are you asking because you really don’t know?”

Lorena was dumbfounded at Eugene’s attitude of asking so confidently. To make such a shameless proposal that was hard to even put into words, and then to act so shamelessly…!

“D-Don’t you remember what you just did?”

“I only offered a handshake. But you suddenly attacked me. If you had said you didn’t want to shake hands, I would have understood completely.”

Eugene wondered if Lorena had done this because she considered him a barbarian. There were rare but existing people who hated barbarians so much that they even refused the slightest bodily contact. He thought she might be one of those types.

Nevertheless, Eugene responded as calmly as possible. He couldn’t waste this chance to make connections with a magician. He had to somehow receive and complete the request, and ask about magic.

“…”

On the other hand, Lorena was angry at Eugene’s consistently brazen attitude.

‘Is he really going to act like this…?’

Completely omitting what shameless proposal he had made, and focusing only on being suddenly attacked. Lorena wasn’t unaware that his intention was to make her speak for herself about why she had refused the handshake.

As the gazes of the spectators watching the two all focused on Lorena at once, she found it hard to bear the enormous pressure weighing down on her shoulders and the rising sense of injustice.

She opened her mouth, overcoming her embarrassment. She intended to reveal what proposal Eugene had made to her and prove her justification.

“…I-If I had shaken hands with you, y-you would have taken me upstairs right away…!”

“…?”

At this unexpected explanation, the spectators and Eugene tilted their heads, and her face gradually reddened.

“You would have put me in a room, thrown me on the bed, and then tried to do l-lewd things…!”

“…What are you talking about…?”

“I-I know everything…! First, you would have stolen my lips, and left… marks all over my body…! Not satisfied with that, you would have licked my… my place thoroughly, then climbed on top of me and pressed down on me with that huge body…! And then… in my precious place… that thing grown stiff between your legs…!”

“…”

Her delusion, born from knowledge gained from various books, had enough destructive power to overwhelm the audience.

The minstrels playing instruments stopped their hands, and the spectators watching her couldn’t close their mouths. Even Eugene was dumbfounded and couldn’t say anything.

Amidst the quiet atmosphere, Lorena alone poured out words like a runaway train. Her face had long since turned red, but she showed no signs of stopping.

Her delusion was now depicting Lorena’s future self. She, who had fallen for Eugene’s evil scheme, was in the middle of signing a sex slave contract.

Eugene, who had been listening blankly, belatedly came to his senses and tried to stop her.

“W-Wait…!”

At Eugene’s sudden interruption, her sharp insight shone.

“…? Ah, I see… B-By that point, there would be no need to sign a contract…! A-Ah, lying naked and flat on the floor, swearing an oath of submission… mmph…!”

At this, Eugene, greatly alarmed, quickly covered her mouth.

When the well-ripened red tomato looked at Eugene as if asking what he was doing, he hurriedly opened his mouth and whispered quietly so only she could hear:

“What on earth are you saying…! I just wanted to meet and talk later after the request was finished.”

“…?”

“I had some questions about magic, but I thought you would refuse if I suddenly asked you to tell me. So I was just trying to build a small acquaintance first. I never had such ridiculous… lewd and vulgar thoughts, not even for a moment!”

“…!!”

Lorena’s eyes widened at Eugene’s explanation. Her red face was no different from a tomato.

Whether Eugene’s words were true or not wasn’t important. Lorena only realized that she had been condemned as a person who had lewd and vulgar thoughts.

Moreover, she belatedly noticed the gazes of the spectators looking at her with shocked expressions. The tomato attached to her shoulders, already red, began to overheat.

Meanwhile, time continued to pass. The silent spectators’ gazes heavily weighed down on her body. As Eugene slowly removed his hand that had been covering her mouth, she said with tearful eyes:

“I… I won’t forget this humiliation…!”

The best she could do now was to leave this place.

She pushed Eugene aside and fled outside the inn. No one could stop her.

The waitress approached Eugene, who was standing with a dazed expression looking in the direction Lorena had fled, and whispered softly:

“The wall you bumped into earlier cracked… We won’t ask for compensation separately, but I was wondering if you could taste the dish I’ll make tomorrow…”

“…!”

Eugene’s pupils shook greatly upon hearing these terrifying words.

The next day, Eugene ate the waitress’s ambitious creation, , and emptied his stomach.

After giving her a score of -1.3 out of 5 points while her eyes sparkled, he comforted her as she cried loudly and slipped out of the inn.

Eugene couldn’t let Lorena go like this in vain. He immediately went to old man Malika’s shop.

“Hello, sir.”

“What brings you here?”

Eugene briefly explained to Malika, who welcomed him warmly, about what had happened yesterday. It was a story about how Lorena, who had come on the old man’s introduction, had requested something from Eugene, and in the process, there had been some misunderstandings between them.

“Because it got late yesterday, we parted without finishing the conversation. It seems I should go find her, but I don’t know where to go, so I came here like this.”

“I see. I know where she’s staying. Wait a moment, I’ll draw you a map.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s fine, thanks to you she’ll be able to resolve the matter she requested within the time limit.”

“What did she ask you to do, sir?”

“She asked me to make something with the lurehorn’s horns. Ask Lorena for the details. Here, take this paper.”

Eugene bowed his head once more to express his gratitude and hurriedly moved his feet while looking at the map Malika had drawn.

Passing through the square in the center of the city, then taking a small road a bit further, a modest house came into view. It was a mansion more than large enough for a grown woman to live alone.

Eugene carefully knocked on the door three times. After a moment, there was a sound from inside, and the door opened.

“Wh-Who is it…”

Lorena appeared with disheveled hair, wearing a robe. As soon as her eyes met Eugene’s, her pupils widened, and she hastily slammed the door shut.

“…”

When Eugene knocked on the closed door again, she shouted from inside:

“P-Please go away…!”

“…It seems there were misunderstandings between us yesterday. Don’t you want to talk while at least seeing each other’s faces?”

“N-No…!”

“…”

Eugene pondered how he could open this door. After thinking for a moment, he decided to use a slightly aggressive method.

“Then I have no choice. I understand given what happened at the inn yesterday. However, if I leave like this, rumors might spread.”

“…?”

“There’s a magician living in the fortress city of Carlisle, who usually harbors a lot of lewd thoughts and has a hobby of reciting them to others. The name of that magician is Lorena…”

“Waaah!!!”

Lorena flung the door open and pulled Eugene’s wrist, dragging him in lest others hear. As the two entered the mansion, the door slammed shut once more.

‘Good, I’ve succeeded halfway at least.’

She spoke to Eugene with a face mixed with bewilderment and anger:

“Wh-Why are you doing this to me…! What did I do wrong…!”

“Actually, I had no intention of blackmailing you with yesterday’s incident. I just want to clear up the misunderstanding, accept and resolve yesterday’s request, and in return, instead of money, I have a few things I’d like to know about magic.”

“…I-Is that really true…?”

“Of course.”

“You won’t demand my body as payment for the request, right…?”

“As I said earlier, that was a misunderstanding.”

“A-And you won’t spread rumors?”

“Of course not.”

After a moment’s consideration, Lorena nodded.

She had no choice anyway.

Although she could cover her exposed face well when going out, if rumors spread along with her name, that would be the end of it.

If the label of ‘lewd and vulgar pervert’ were to be attached to the name Lorena… it was terrible just to imagine.

She couldn’t fully believe Eugene’s words that he had no intention of blackmailing her with rumors.

“…Alright. Then let’s not stand here, let’s go to a room and talk.”

Lorena led the way to guide Eugene. Eugene followed behind her, looking around.

‘Hmm… Is this how magicians usually live…?’

The inside of the house was a complete mess. He could guarantee that even a pigsty would be cleaner than this.

There wasn’t a place without dust accumulated, and various knick-knacks of unknown purpose were lying around everywhere.

The place Lorena guided him to was a kind of study.

‘This place is no different from a pigsty.’

Books and papers were messily placed on the desk and floor, and in the corner, leftover bread had hardened and was on the verge of growing mold.

She roughly cleared a path by sweeping with her feet, then gave Eugene an empty chair and said:

“Y-You can sit here.”

Eugene, who obediently sat on the chair, naturally glanced at the book placed at his feet.

On the cover, along with an obscene illustration, was the title .

“…”