Chapter 42: That’s the Guy, Right? The One Who Got Violated by a Succubus

The Northern Continent, one of the Four Great Continents, was once also called the Demon Realm.

Because it had been ruled by a mage known as the Demon King who wielded ancient magic, it was called the Demon Realm and feared.

The Demon King was defeated by the Twelve Heroes, yet the automatic factories that produced the Demon King’s army’s autonomous magic-powered combat weapons — the monsters — were never destroyed.

Even the Twelve Heroes who defeated the Demon King were unable to interfere with the monster automatic production factories that were believed to exist in another world.

Therefore, even in the era after the Demon King’s death, the situation in which large numbers of monsters continued to be sent from the other world to the Northern Continent persisted.

The Northern Continent was no longer the Demon Realm, but it remained a dangerous continent where an enormous number of monsters still appeared.

However, even on such a dangerous Northern Continent, many people settled after the Demon King’s death.

Even though it was dangerous, the Northern Continent possessed enough advantages to make settling worthwhile.

The greatest advantage was the Twelve Labyrinths, also called the Demon King’s legacy.

People from all over the world gathered at the Twelve Labyrinths, which continued to produce various valuable treasures and magic stones, seeking those treasures and magic stones.

People who tried to earn a living in the Twelve Labyrinths often lived in the twelve labyrinth cities where the Twelve Labyrinths existed.

However, many cities that were not labyrinth cities also existed on the Northern Continent.

The climate of the Northern Continent was mild and it was blessed by nature, making it suitable for agriculture.

It was also rich in resources such as minerals, so mining was also thriving.

Many people settled on the Northern Continent in order to earn a living through agriculture, mining, and related industries.

Most of those people lived in ordinary cities that were not labyrinth cities.

The reason people could live with a reasonable degree of safety on the dangerous Northern Continent where large numbers of monsters appeared was the existence of large numbers of adventurers.

Adventurers were, as the word literally meant, a profession that took risks.

Due to the nature of the profession, adventurers possessed powerful combat abilities and could be considered de facto civilian combat personnel.

Therefore, adventurers could fight and defeat monsters and protect people.

The majority of adventurers belonged to the professional association of adventurers — the Guild.

They earned their living by accepting jobs mediated by the Guild, such as the extermination or removal of monsters, escort duty, and security.

Entering the Twelve Labyrinths and mining treasures and magic stones was also mostly done by adventurers.

Because monsters also appeared inside the Twelve Labyrinths, it was practically impossible for anyone other than an adventurer to enter them.

There was also a theory that they came to be called "adventurers" precisely because they were people who could operate in dangerous labyrinths that ordinary people could not enter or leave.

Obtaining various treasures in dangerous places such as the Twelve Labyrinths was truly an adventurer-like way of earning a living.

Without adventurers, people could not live on the Northern Continent, so adventurers lived in every city on the Northern Continent.

And in cities where adventurers lived, there was usually an Adventurers Guild, and a Guild building — commonly called the Guild Hall — also existed.

In the city where the rookie adventurers Kazui and Yuri lived — Aquila — a Guild and Guild Hall also existed.

After leaving the Black Maiden, Kazui and Yuri were visiting the Guild Hall located in the central district of Aquila.

The Guild Hall was a large four-story brick building.

To Kazui and Yuri, it looked similar to the Meiji-era brick buildings they had seen in television documentaries and the like.

A signboard marked with the eagle emblem that symbolized Aquila was hung above the main entrance.

Opening the door beneath the signboard, Kazui and Yuri entered the Guild Hall.

Beyond the entrance, the first-floor lobby was spacious, and at the back of the lobby was a long counter.

The walls were brick just like the exterior, but much of the interior used wood.

To Kazui and Yuri it looked retro, but in this world it was a relatively new style of interior.

The first-floor floor with the lobby and counter had a layout that felt similar to the city hall of the city where Kazui and Yuri had been born and raised.

The Adventurers Guild was not an administrative organization of the city, but it could be considered a public existence equivalent to one.

That was why the first-floor portion with the lobby and counter had a layout similar to a city hall.

However, the appearance of the people hanging around in the lobby or talking with Guild staff at the counter was far too different from the city halls of Kazui and the others’ world.

After all, they were almost all adventurers in combat uniforms, and many of them were carrying weapons such as swords and spears.

The central part of the lobby also served as a passageway connecting the entrance and the counter, so no tables or chairs were placed there.

Tables and chairs were lined up on the left and right of the passageway.

The walls on the left and right served as bulletin boards, with information about jobs posted on them.

Adventurers obtained job information from the bulletin boards, went to the counter, and concluded contracts with the Guild to accept job requests.

There were also adventurers who did not search for jobs on the bulletin boards but consulted with staff at the counter and had jobs introduced to them.

Because jobs that were not posted on the bulletin boards also existed.

Adventurers visited the Guild Hall on a daily basis for various errands, such as seeking jobs or receiving rewards.

Therefore, the lobby was always bustling with adventurers.

Today as well, the lobby was reasonably lively, though not as much as usual.

That was because many of the adventurers who had been outside Aquila after the city defense battle the previous day had hurriedly returned to Aquila and visited the lobby.

For the past few days, a large festival had been held in the city nearest to Aquila.

Because many of Aquila’s adventurers had been participating in that festival for either leisure or work, a large number of them had been absent from Aquila the previous day.

When information about the crisis in Aquila reached that city, the adventurers returned to Aquila in a great hurry.

However, by the time they returned, the monster brigade had already been annihilated thanks to the support of Iron Maiden.

Immediately after stepping into the lively lobby, Kazui and Yuri sensed that the atmosphere in the lobby was different from usual.

"Somehow... isn’t everyone looking at us?"

Kazui asked Yuri in a low voice.

"I feel like we’re being watched."

Yuri also answered Kazui in a low voice.

Then the voices of the adventurers in the lobby reached the ears of the two of them.

"That’s the guy, right? The one who got violated by a succubus."

"I’m pretty sure that’s the one named Kazu who has the dud rare skill Replication."

"Isn’t that guy called Black Cat?"

"That’s a nickname."

"He’s weak, yet he managed to survive being attacked by a succubus."

"Apparently he survived because he was saved by Ebony & Ivory."

"I heard he received recovery while completely naked in front of Ebony and Ivory, the female adventurers who saved him."

"Completely exposed down there in front of female adventurers?"

"Of course, he was completely naked!"

The adventurers in the lobby grew lively with gossip about Kazui.

However, the subject of the gossip was not only Kazui.

"The one with him is the guy who turned into a woman, right? The one who has the rare skill called Leonization that powers him up when he becomes a woman."

"Apparently he can’t return to being a man unless he does it with a man, so he did it with a man."

"Since he’s supposedly Kazu’s friend, he probably did it with Kazu and turned back into a man."

"Ugh, both of them are rough!"

The gazes that Kazui and Yuri had been conscious of were not their imagination.

The far-too-rare events that the two of them had experienced the previous day had spread as rumors among the adventurers of Aquila.