4 - Heaven and Hell
More than a month has passed since my life in another world began. During that time, Ray experienced the cycle of heaven and hell several times every day. Leaning against the wall near the cave entrance, he reflected on it.
First, the hell part. This was currently ongoing.
The attempt to get used to the poison and paralysis had ended in half-success and half-failure.
Every day, he ate poison fruit by day and paralysis fruit by night. As planned, a resistance seemed to be gradually building up within Ray, the periods of suffering grew shorter, and he was able to slowly increase the amount he could eat.
He thought the food problem was moving toward a resolution, but things were not that simple.
A human being cannot survive simply by putting something in their mouth. There is a minimum amount of calories and nutrients required to live.
From Ray's perspective, he had known this from the start, but he just couldn't bring himself to say it out of consideration for Kamiira.
He knew there was an absolute deficiency in calories. Even if he could eat them now, it was still only one fruit about the size of a strawberry per meal. However, there was a possibility that this would be resolved as his resistance grew.
The problem was the nutrients. Ray had no idea what nutrients were contained in the fruits he was eating, or what he was lacking.
It was possible that he hadn't ingested something essential for his body for over a month.
Of course, this was merely an imagination based on Ray's meager knowledge. The only thing he knew for certain was the fact that his physical condition had clearly deteriorated after the one-month mark. The fatigue was constant. Occasionally, there were times when his mind became foggy and he couldn't think of anything.
It wasn't the effect of the poison. His body was simply becoming unable to move in his daily life.
Excluding the time he spent suffering from the poison, he had actually thought his condition had improved for about a week, so Ray was quite shocked by the sudden deterioration at this point.
How long can a person survive on water alone? This desperate thought existed constantly within Ray.
In any case, Ray was now at a point where even raising his arm was painful.
"It really was too much to ask, wasn't it?"
"No, well, if I can eat a bit more fruit, maybe I'll manage somehow?"
He tried to answer lightly on purpose, but this wasn't enough to dispel Kamiira's distress. Her beautiful brows remained knit together.
"I can't imagine you'll hold out until then."
"You really think so?"
"Yes, the way you've lost weight is strange. Just looking at you from the outside, I can't possibly think you're a healthy person."
"I suppose so."
Ray's current body. The body that had been called fat and stupid had slimmed down, but the sad part was that it hadn't become fit. Certainly, his cheeks were sunken, and his limbs had wasted away. But as for his torso, his protruding belly remained unchanged. It felt the same as when he had seen children suffering from famine in some country on television.
Moreover, it seemed that the muscles were the first to waste away, making even slight movements a chore for Ray.
"This is troubling."
"What do the others think?"
"That's..."
"Nothing?"
"No good ideas. The most common one is to just make you kin. That opinion includes a disgust toward leaving a member of the Human Race in the forest."
Ray was passing as a member of the Human Race who had lost his memories. This was because saying he was an Otherworlder might make things too big.
"I see. Anything else?"
"Other than that, things like 'it's fine if he just dies,' or 'don't wait for him to die, just kill him already.'"
"Wow, the Human Race is really hated, isn't it?"
"Considering what they've done and are doing to the Demon Race, yes."
Ray had heard quite a bit about the plight of the Demon Race in this world. It seemed that in the past, the Demon Race had not been in their current situation. There was a Demon King who led many races, and they had the structure of a single nation just like the Human Race, and they even had diplomatic relations with the human nations.
However, the death of that Demon King destroyed all of that.
The Demon Race, having lost their leader, immediately split into their respective races, and those races further split into numerous tribes and scattered across various regions. Having lost their unified strength, the Demon Race were frequently persecuted by the Human Race, and tribes that rebelled challenged the humans to battle.
That was the beginning of the conflict between the Demon Race and the Human Race that continues to this day. Even demons who possessed power surpassing humans in individual strength could not resist the power of human numbers, and many tribes were driven from their homes, ending up hiding in various places in small numbers, like Kamiira and her family.
Such demons became targets for hunting rather than opponents to fight for the humans.
Those with power were slain by adventurers, knights, or Heroes seeking fame, and those with beautiful appearances were hunted to be made into slaves.
Driven further into a corner, the Demon Race finally decided to unite their strength, appointed a new Demon King, and are currently waging this war.
However, the current Demon King is not recognized by the entire Demon Race, and there are still demons who fight the Human Race on their own. Because of this, the war situation is not favorable for the Demon Race. The only reason the Demon Race can still continue the fight is thanks to the fact that the human nations are also divided, each with their own intentions.
Eventually, conflicts among the humans themselves will also break out, according to the view of Kamiira's husband, but that was a matter of indifference to Kamiira and her family.
In any case, they were doing their best just to survive while hiding from the humans.
Many of the demons hiding in this forest had lost the tribes they could rely on and had fled as individual families.
The reason they didn't live huddled together was based on the idea that if one family happened to be attacked by humans, the others wouldn't be dragged into it.
Because they had such a mindset, Ray's comment that they would split as soon as the Demon King disappeared wasn't very well understood by Kamiira. Conversely, for Ray, a collectivist Japanese person, Kamiira's way of thinking was the one he couldn't understand.
At any rate, he understood that due to these circumstances, relying on other families wouldn't be of much help.
Ray's food problem had to be solved by themselves.
"I'll try to think about it too. There might be something from the knowledge of my original world that could be useful."
If such a thing existed, he would have put it into practice long ago, but for now, that was all he could say.
Ultimately, Ray felt that he was merely being taken care of and was of no use. The fact that he had become a source of distress for Kamiira and the others was, above all, painful for Ray.
Recently, he had even prepared himself for death. If he was only to be a burden. He felt this way, but it didn't stem from despair or dark emotions. Ray believed that this was, again, influenced by the fact that he had died once.
"I suppose so. I'll try visiting the others once more."
"Yes. Please don't push yourself too hard. Going to other houses is dangerous, isn't it?"
"That much is fine."
And so, they had reached the present without any solution yet.
Since thinking only of painful things would be depressing, he tried to remember heaven. Whenever he remembered it, it was a moment of bliss for Ray.
Once his resistance to poison had been established to some extent, he began eating the fruit that paralyzed the body.
That was his midnight snack. He thought that as long as he was just sleeping, being paralyzed wouldn't matter. He thought that before eating, but it wasn't that simple.
Paralysis didn't just mean that the limbs stopped moving. The functions of the internal organs also declined. If he ate too much, even his heart and brain would be paralyzed, and he would die just like that. It was the same situation as cardiac arrest.
Like with the poison fruit, he started with a small amount, but even so, it was considerably painful.
He learned that having the inside of the body paralyzed was far more agonizing than superficial pain.
Suffering outweighed sleepiness. He spent nights where he couldn't easily fall asleep, but after several hours, he was finally released from the agony.
Up to this point, it was still the same hell, but heaven began when Ray thought about taking a bath to wipe away the unpleasantness of the sweat covering his entire body.
Leaving the room, Ray tiptoed toward the back of the cave so as not to wake the others.
However, there was already someone at the watering hole. In the dark watering hole, glowing white skin could be seen floating.
Slender limbs. Beautiful silver hair extending down to her waist. A slender waist and the toned buttocks below it peeked through the hair that swayed every time she moved.
Kamiira was bathing.
Ray froze upon seeing that beautiful naked body. Strangely, he didn't feel lewd. It was as if he were captivated by a work of art, and he simply couldn't take his eyes off her.
"How long are you going to keep watching?"
"Y-yes."
He came to his senses at the sudden voice calling out to him.
"Not 'yes.' Honestly. At this hour, I thought Ray-kun would be asleep."
"S-sorry. I couldn't sleep at all because of the paralysis. The paralysis finally wore off, but the sweat felt gross, so I wanted to freshen up before sleeping."
"I see. That's fine, I'm finished."
Saying so, Kamiira turned toward Ray without hiding her naked body. Kamiira's naked body seen from the front. Her breasts and lower body were in full view.
The pounding of his heart wouldn't stop. It was clearly audible to Ray's ears, as if the sound of his own heart were echoing throughout the cave.
"Ray-kun, you really are mysterious. I wonder if I should test you a bit more?"
Saying this, Kamiira stepped out of the water and walked toward Ray. She held her clothes in her hand. In other words, she was still naked.
It was only then that Ray hurriedly turned around. It felt a bit late since he had been staring until now, but as she approached, he suddenly became embarrassed.
"As I thought."
He heard Kamiira's whispering voice right behind him.
"...What do you mean, 'as you thought'?"
"I suppose the second gate has been passed for now. Or is it because you're a child?"
"What does that mean?"
"Oh, it's fine. I've put my clothes on."
"...Ah, I see."
"Hearing that I've put on clothes makes lewd feelings come out, doesn't it?"
Ray's emotions were read again, but there was nothing accusatory in Kamiira's tone. Feeling that, he turned around in relief.
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine now."
"Yes. So, what is the second gate?"
"It's the conditions for living together."
"I kind of understand that. But is seeing you naked the passing condition?"
If that were the case, it would be a truly grateful passing condition. As for Ray, he would want a re-examination if possible.
"Of course not. It's not because you saw me naked, but your reaction to it that is the pass. We of the Vampio race have a troubling characteristic."
"A troubling characteristic. What is it?"
"Do you know what Charm is?"
"Ah, I know. Is that the characteristic?"
"Yes. It's especially powerful in the case of women. There are rarely any men of the Human Race who don't feel lust when they look at us."
"Lust? Why such a characteristic?"
It wasn't the level of Charm he knew from games. Not just making someone unable to act, but making them feel lust was something entirely different.
"Perhaps it's for blood-sucking. Making the opponent feel lust so they don't run away. Far from running away, the opponent starts approaching us."
"Can you use that freely? That's more convenient than troubling."
"It's not free."
"Eh?"
"We can't control it."
"That means..."
"Do you understand? The Vampio race must not easily approach humans. If it's an opponent they can easily defeat, that's one thing, but not an opponent stronger than themselves. Ray-kun knows what kind of actions an opponent who feels lust might take, right?"
"...Yes."
Ray couldn't understand why such a characteristic existed. Was it for the same reason flowers lure insects? Even if he could think of it in his head, his feelings weren't convinced. To lure an unwanted opponent seemed like nothing but misfortune to Ray.
"We can't live with opponents who are always trying to attack us."
"But, I also—"
"Ray-kun, you feel lewd feelings, but it's different from lust. The emotions of an opponent stimulated by us are more animalistic. That's the mysterious part, and because of that, Ray-kun passes."
"...But, I'm not confident I can keep enduring it forever in the future?"
"My, a child acting so precocious. Say such things after you've become stronger than me."
"...I don't have confidence in that either."
"It's okay. You will surely become strong. To do that, you have to live."
"Yes. I'll do my best."
Ray can still clearly remember Kamiira's figure burned into his eyes at that time. He thinks he's sufficiently lustful, but while his heart is one thing, his body is a child's.
There certainly isn't an adult's reaction. However, in a few more years, he really isn't confident. Then again, whether he can live until then, Ray wasn't confident in that either.
He had intended to remember heaven, but in the end, he returned to hell. This has been happening often lately. He felt as if he could somehow sense a nearing death within himself.
"Muu."
Kai's displeased voice reached Ray's ears as he was lost in thought. Opening his eyes, he saw Kai standing in front of him with a pout.
"Ah, sorry. I was thinking about something."
"Collected stones."
"Oh, I see. Then, shall we start?"
"N!"
Ray continued to serve as the partner for Kai's independent practice. Though his body had stopped moving, a certain thing made it possible for Ray.
That was the result of the mana circulation training he had continued. Except for the time he spent suffering from poison and paralysis, Ray had nothing to do but stay still, so the only thing he could do was the training of mana circulation.
Thanks to spending almost all his free time on it, he felt that he had improved considerably. The snagging sensation from the beginning was gone.
He became able to smoothly concentrate magic power where he wanted.
He couldn't use magic itself because he hadn't learned it yet, but he knew that mana circulation alone produced one effect. The part where magic power was concentrated was strengthened.
When he discovered that, he was so happy that he told Rui boastfully, only to be laughed at.
For the Demon Race, that was common knowledge. Demons who possess a high density and large amount of magic power in their bodies boast a tough physical body because of it.
Even so, Ray no longer had the physical strength to move both hands at a speed that would satisfy Kai. That's where this method came from.
He flicked pebbles toward Kai with his fingers. The practice was for Kai to shoot them down with his fists or feet.
At first, Kai was slightly dissatisfied with the pebbles not flying as intended, but as Ray improved, he became absorbed in the method.
Now, he seemed to find it irresistibly fun, and every single day, he diligently collected stones around the cave and begged Ray to do it.
"Alright, here I go."
"N!"
Holding the collected pebbles in both hands in front of him, he flicked them. He flicked them consecutively or moved a bit further away.
The flying pebbles had quite a bit of momentum, to the point where he thought he'd be injured if he were hit, but Kai, who possessed the tough body characteristic of the Demon Race despite being young, seemed to feel no pain at all and shot them back one after another.
Sometimes with a fist, sometimes with a kick. He measured the height of the pebble and the distance to himself well, judging which method was best.
This seemed to be quite good practice, and Kamiira was impressed when she first saw it. What was required was quick judgment and the accuracy to hit a small target like a pebble. This was quite difficult. Just by adding a little variation to the strength of the flick, the difficulty increased instantly. On top of that, despite being young, Kai was taking initiatives to increase the difficulty himself.
It was an attempt to shoot back the flying pebbles toward the place where Ray was sitting as much as possible.
For that, he had to adjust the direction of the fist or kick aimed at the flying pebble. Quick body movement, and the footwork to do it. While training that, it was a two-birds-one-stone method that reduced the effort of collecting the pebbles again.
Of course, Kai only thought of the latter reason. If he collected the pebbles quickly, he could do the next round immediately. That was Kai's goal.
In any case, while continuing such practice, even the amateur Ray could see that Kai was definitely improving. Now, he rarely let a pebble go behind him. Half of the pebbles he shot back were gathering around Ray.
As he improved, the number of practice sessions increased, and he improved even more.
While he was impressed by Kai's movements, which showed a bit more improvement, the pebbles in his hand ran out.
"Alright, finished!"
"N."
"You've improved a bit more. The pebbles that came back to me are... oh, over half, thirty-eight. A new record!"
A large circle was drawn around where Ray was sitting. Ray counted the number of pebbles that fell inside it and told Kai. It was something he thought of to let Kai feel his improvement. Today's number was the highest so far.
"Yata!"
"Then, collect pebbles again."
"N!"
Kai began collecting the pebbles that fell around him. Perhaps because he broke the record, his movements were somehow brisk and he looked happy.
While Ray thought he'd take a break until Kai finished collecting the pebbles, Kara came over.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
"Kara do too."
"Huh? Rui is the one partnering with Kara-chan, right? What happened to Rui?"
"Rui is oyasumi."
"Hah?"
"So, Kara do too."
"No, but I have to partner with Kai-chan."
"No! Do Kara's partner too!"
"This is troubling."
While he was having this exchange with Kara, Kai approached with pebbles filling both hands. The fact that he was pouting was proof that he was dissatisfied with Kara.
"Ah, Kai. Kara wants to do it too. It's okay, right?"
Without worrying about Kai's feelings, Kara asked Kai to give in. Rather than a request, it felt more like she was leaving no room for refusal.
"N, un."
Kai nodded, pushed by her. With his shy personality, Kai always gave in to Kara like this in everything.
"Kai said it's okay!"
"...Then, just once. Sorry, Kai-chan."
And then Ray was also pushed. Since Kara was also cute, he ended up permitting her selfishness.
"N."
"Then, collect pebbles."
"Yes!"
Kara began collecting pebbles happily. Kai also placed the pebbles he had in his hands in front of Ray and started helping collect pebbles. It was an action that showed Kai's good nature.
Soon, the necessary number of pebbles were gathered in front of Ray.
"Alright, starting now."
"Yes!"
And then, toward Kara who had taken her position, Ray flicked the pebbles.
Kara was also impressive. Or rather, it seemed Kara's ability was slightly higher. When they are children, girls grow faster. Ray thought that the Demon Race must be the same.
Kara shot back the pebbles Ray flicked one after another. Those pebbles flew toward Ray. At this rate, it was certain she would beat Kai's record.
When Ray glanced at Kai, worried about that, Kai seemed to realize it and looked even more dissatisfied.
Thinking he had to find a way to comfort him, Ray continued to fly pebbles toward Kara.
Eventually, all the pebbles in his hand were gone.
"Alright. Finished."
"One more time!"
"No. We promised just once."
"Just one more time!"
"No. Now, hurry and collect the pebbles. Next is Kai-chan's turn... Kai-chan?"
Kai, who should have been right nearby, was gone.
Looking around in a hurry, he saw Kai standing a bit further away. He might have sulked. Thinking so, Ray called out to Kai.
"Kai-chan! It's finished! Next is Kai-chan's turn!"
But Kai did not react to Ray's voice. He remained with his back turned.
"Kai-chan!"
Having no choice, Ray forced his heavy body up and stood up to go welcome Kai. However, he couldn't head toward Kai immediately.
What was reflected in his heightened line of sight, beyond Kai.
It was a beast that looked like a wolf. Far larger than any wolf he knew, it was the first sight of a Magic Beast Ray had seen since coming to another world.