Ayra stared at Janusâ skin. His hands were itching to find out why such a ridiculous number was displayed in the mercenaryâs stat window. He wanted to conduct various experiments on the other immediately. Unfortunately, this person was far from an ordinary slave in the Labyrinth.
As sensitive as he was, Janus must have found the young lordâs gaze quite suspcious. âWhy are you staring at me like that?â
âMm, so, Iâm curiousâŠYou defeated the herd of Occampanias earlier very easily. How strong are you by mercenary standards?â Since he couldnât experiment, Ayra could only ask questions.
Perhaps Janus felt miffed that the young lord had rubbed his cold body all over him, and thus gave an insincere reply, âIâm pretty strong.â
âWhat does âpretty strongâ mean? How would you compare to me?â
âIâm not sure. Iâll probably struggle if you use your magic. But in terms of pure physical strength, well, youâre about this smallâŠâ Janus pinched his fingers together, leaving only a tiny gap, and met Ayraâs stare. The young lordâs eyes were shining brilliantly, having momentarily forgotten the fatigue and exhaustion that had set upon his slender body.
The mercenaryâa man who was supposedly a very generous and forgiving loverâopened his arms wide and said, âCome, hit me.â
âAre you sure? Then, Iâll hit you seriously.â Ayra readily accepted Janusâ offer. Afraid of a decrease in affection value, the young lord first slapped his companion lightly on the thigh.
Janus smirked as if he found the young lord a bit ridiculous, âAre you joking around?â
âFine. So this means I can hit hard, right?â A little excited, Ayra punched Janusâ thigh with all his might. It was as if the mercenary had been punched by an infantâs curled âfern-bracken-likeâ fistâthe man didnât budge one inch. 1
âVery ticklish.â Just as he stated, the stat window did not show any change in Janusâ HP.
Ayra wondered if it would be alright for him to hit even harder. After dithering for a second, gauging the otherâs mood, he asked, âWould you mind if I used more force?â
âFeel free to hit me as hard as you wantâit doesnât hurt.â
âIâm going to hit you incredibly hard. You canât get angry with me, alright?â
âI really wonât get angry, so go ahead.â
Now that he received permission, Ayra, eyes sparkling, took something out of his interdimensional pocket. It was a fist-sized iron ball that thudded to the ground due to the young lordâs lack of strength. The ball was usually used for strength-based experiments. As Janus stood stunned, Ayra lifted the iron ball into the air with magic and smiled bashfully. âThis is smaller than an Occampaniaâs tusk, right? Right now, Iâm lacking in mana, so this wonât be that powerful.â
Actually, Ayra still held a small grudge against the mercenary for waking the Occampania herd and initiating that debacle to escape the herdâs pathâŠ
Janus was smiling nonchalantly until Ayra had taken out the iron ball. Then, the corners of the mercenaryâs lips froze as the ball began rotating in the air. Soon, the iron ball began to spin violentlyâpowered by propulsive forces coming from various directionsâin Ayraâs hand. It looked as if the ball would shoot forward in any second, smashing through everything in its path with great impact and damage.
âLetâs see⊠As for rotational speedâŠ30 rotations per second should be enough.â
That speed was a little stronger than what a fan would experience after a strong wind blew through it. That alone caused mana to slowly drain out of the young lord. After finishing his preparations, Ayra looked at Janus with the last dregs of his conscience in mind. He silently asked, âIs this really alright?â with his expression.
Janus scratched his cheek, smiled, and tapped his stomach with his hand. âFine. Letâs do it properly if weâre going to do this. Send it here.â
âIs it really alright to send something like this at a human being? Straight at a vital point?â
âHowever, if the other is confident that things will be alright⊠Besides, he really does seem to have outstanding physical statsâŠâ
Ayra hesitated for a moment. Curiosity and common sense battled, circling around each other at furious speeds, in the mageâs troubled gray eyes. After a momentâs consideration, the âmad-scientistâ within him stood victorious. Much of the common sense he had in his previous life had already been replaced with the strange mentality of Labyrinth denizens. He wanted to understand the scale of that ridiculous number.
He decided to believe in that HP value: 9,999,999.
The violently spinning iron ball shot forward, accompanied by the sound of air ripping, and slammed right into the pit of the mercenaryâs stomach. Janus, who had not moved in the slightest before, bent over for the first time. Ayra frowned and watched his companion nervously, worried that he had seriously injured the other.
âOh, I could definitely feel this one.â Then, Janus rubbed his stomach a couple of times, and that was thatâhe was perfectly fine.
When Ayra summoned the stat window and checked on his HP, the value had dropped slightly to 9,999,134. If one considered that an average personâs HP was around 1,000, that sort of blow could lead to serious injury or death.
Though Janus was the one that had been hit, Ayra crumpled to the ground, out of energy after a full dayâs work saving the citizens. His eyelids grew heavier with drowsiness. Nevertheless, he was happy to receive significant experimental results. His options for future experimentation had greatly widened now that he was able to check the HPâs numerical value.
Grinning like a drunken man, Ayra approached the subject of his experiments. He rolled up the mercenaryâs thin shirt to check if there was any damage to his ideal guinea pigâno, Janusâ stomach. The area where the iron ball had hit was slightly reddish, but there was no bruising nor any swelling of the abdomen due to internal bleeding.
Ayra carefully pressed with expert fingers; he could feel the hard muscles under the smooth skin. There were no bumps and everything seemed normal, but he asked to be sure, âAre you okay?â
Surprised at that answer, Ayra looked up; Janus took the hand that had been groping his abdomen and then dragged it all the way down between his legs. âIt hurts here.â
Startled, Ayra breathed in sharply. If he could quantify *that part* and assign it a numerical value, then *that* would be 9,999,999 as well. The moment the young lordâs hand touched it, the otherâs burdensome weapon turned bigger and firmer. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Ayra stuttered, âW-Why are you suddenly so excited.â
âI always get a little excited when I get beaten up.â Janusâ red eyes shone as he blatantly pressed and rubbed his member against the mageâs rigid hands. Ayraâs face paled. Though, strangely enough, the more he got to know the mercenary, the harder it was to resist himâŠ
âArenât you the type to get excited while hitting others? You even used tools.â
âNo!â Ayra, having been painted as a pervert by his companion, felt wronged.Someone who would get sexually excited by slamming others with steel projectiles would be the biggest pervert in the world.
âOr is it the other way around? Well, itâs alright. I get aroused when I hit others too.â
Ayra, freaking out, fell forward as he scrambled to get his hand away from the mercenaryâs member. He was already exhaustedâwhen his head slammed into a firm body, the young lord was momentarily stunned. âI donât get aroused when being beaten! Nor do I get aroused from beating others!â
âYeah, anythingâs fine, so letâs do it once. You look like youâre done with your work.â It seemed that Janus hadnât yet given up on his hope of having sex with Ayra. A large hand touched the young lordâs cheek and another dragged Ayraâs half-kneeling and half-stumbling body into a hard embrace. In the short time it took to move their bodies to the bed, Janus kissed the young lord rather hastily.
To be honest, Ayra didnât hate it. Disregarding the matter of sadomasochism, he didnât really mind sleeping with this guy at least once. It occured to him that, considering the skillful performance in the igloo earlier, perhaps having sex with such a huge member wouldnât be a terrible experience.
The problem, though, was that the young lordâs fatigue was at its climax. As he lay on a soft bed, caressed by hot hands, he felt as if he had lain upon a heavy electric heated mattress and couldnât muster up much arousal despite the licks and sucks at his tongue.
The heftier the caress, the heavier his eyelids felt; the hand holding onto Janus slowly began to lose strength. His companion also paused as if he had just noticed that the young lord was rapidly falling asleep.
Janus asked in a bewildered tone, âWhatâare you kidding me? Youâre sleeping right now?â
âMmm, later, later⊠We need to depart early tomorrowâŠâ Ayra, almost asleep, mumbled off-handedly. He could hear an irritated sigh in the distance. Though he felt goosebumps creeping up his back, Ayra could care less because of his drowsiness.
âNext time, I wonât let things pass even if you faint.â
âI think I just heard something terrifyingâŠâ
Soon, Janusâ weight, which had been pressing against his body, vanished. The other gave the young lord a hot, stinging gaze. As his consciousness drifted away, Ayra suddenly wondered: If that cheat-key-like valueâthe 9,999,999âwasnât a bug or a glitch⊠If that was truly realâŠ
âCould this guy even be considered a human being?â
TL: AyraâŠyou may not be a sexual deviant, but youâre definitely a pervert for scienceâŠ
Instinctively curled baby hands juxtaposed against bracken fern