008 – Nymph Inoi # 8
━━ Woof woof!
It was my first time seeing a squirrel barking like a dog. It was about the size of Inoi’s palm, and its fur was fluffy and extremely cute.
Inoi, holding the squirrel in their hand, spoke.
“Originally, squirrel beasts… hibernate in winter… but it’s clear that this squirrel beast has not hibernated like this Inoi…!”
The squirrel scampered back and forth along Inoi’s arm and shoulder. It seemed incredibly curious and lively.
“How amazing. A squirrel would come when you sing?”
Over the past few days, I had done a lot of searching about fairies. Most of the information was about elves, who were often nature-friendly beings.
Since the elves drifted into this world, it was no wonder nature conservation groups were gaining influence.
It was a famous story how a certain CEO in Brazil, who was fervent about the development and logging of the Amazon, became a radical environmentalist after marrying an elven woman.
Anyway.
It appeared that nymphs, as fellow fairies, were close to nature as well.
Could it be that singing attracts animals like squirrels?
━━ Woof woof!
“It’s an extremely healthy squirrel beast…! This Inoi has never seen a squirrel beast this healthy and lively…! It must be the best among squirrel beasts…!”
Indeed, it was the best squirrel beast.
I also wanted to touch it.
I hadn’t bragged to anyone, but I actually liked animals.
“Hey squirrel, I’ll take some of your tail fur…!”
Swoosh.
After grasping the squirrel’s tail fur in their hand, Inoi swiftly cut it with the scissors they had prepared.
The squirrel, having its fur cut, growled ━ grrr…! before jumping off Inoi’s palm and fleeing back into the bushes.
In the end, I couldn’t even pet the squirrel.
What a huge disappointment.
Still, obtaining the squirrel’s fur was quite significant in many ways. Since animals and plants in this otherworld often resided in rifts, I wondered if I would have to enter a rift.
“The cat’s whiskers have already been saved by this Inoi…. Now, all the materials to lift the curse that has been troubling the homeowner have been gathered…! We should head home…!”
With that feeling, we returned home.
Inoi put the materials into a pot and turned on the gas stove.
Sizzle sizzle-.
When the flames ignited in the old stove, Inoi shouted.
“To think it ignites so easily…! It must be a blessed item from the goddess of fire…! It’s a very ‘nymph-friendly’ item…!”
What does ‘nymph-friendly’ even mean?
I recalled a YouTube video about the Brazilian CEO who had married an elf, where he mentioned he wanted to be “more environmentally friendly…”
It seemed Inoi had found that phrase interesting and magnificent.
“You mustn’t mess around with the gas flame.”
I strictly warned Inoi.
While it was fine to play with the sink or bathroom faucet, fire was dangerous in many ways.
Inoi appeared to understand the meaning of my words.
Anyway.
I gathered the materials into the pot and boiled them vigorously.
According to Inoi, it needed to boil for more than an hour.
After an hour passed, the contents in the pot began to bubble and thicken.
What components could possibly be making it thicken?
I was filled with curiosity when Inoi said.
“Now, we drink it when it’s cooled down a bit…!”
“……”
You want me to drink this living slime-like stuff? That’s horrific.
But to break through the D-rank wall, I had experienced eating and drinking all sorts of things.
This thick liquid was nothing unusual in that regard.
Eventually, after about 30 minutes, I waited for the hot liquid to cool down and drank all of the bizarre liquid in the pot.
Glug, glug-.
The feeling going down my throat was extremely strange, and the taste was even weirder.
Just as I was struggling to suppress the urge to vomit.
Inoi said.
“The curse has been lifted…!”
“Really?”
I looked at my body.
Aside from feeling nauseous in my stomach, nothing seemed particularly different. However, Inoi was very convinced that the curse had been lifted.
At that moment, a wave of anxiety washed over me.
What if I was wrong to listen to this strange nymph and wasted my time?
The feeling I had when visiting many fortune tellers and shamans in doubt, burning talismans and consuming them came back to me.
Eventually, the feeling of regret, wondering if this time was also a fake, crept up my body.
“Ugh-.”
At that moment, the unbearable nausea rose from my stomach to the top of my head. I dashed to the bathroom and grabbed the toilet, vomiting everything from my stomach.
“Ugh!”
Was this how it felt to empty everything inside?
After about 5 or 10 minutes of purging my insides, I was on the verge of fainting.
The morning after my first drinking session after becoming a D-rank Awakened, when the guys forced me to drink excessively, I felt just like this.
“Ugh, I’m going to die.”
I crawled into the warm, electric blanket-covered bedding. As I trembled with a chills, Inoi said.
“Then the homeowner should sleep soundly…! Meanwhile, this Inoi will become familiar with this thing called a computer…! The computer is definitely a very nymph-friendly machine….”
The voice of the nymph, who was saying something, grew quieter.
I closed my eyes, succumbing to irresistible drowsiness.
# # #
Morning.
I woke up feeling more refreshed than ever.
I felt an incredible energy coursing from head to toe.
Had my body ever felt this light?
“Did it really work?”
I stretched with a refreshing mind.
Before long, I noticed Inoi sitting in front of the computer.
Inoi was quietly sitting in front of the unlocked computer. They probably didn’t know how to unlock it.
Had they just been sitting in front of the computer since last night?
“Inoi, I want to try this thing called a computer…! But… I don’t know how to do it, so I just sat here…!”
“…Really?”
“Because… the homeowner said you shouldn’t tamper with the house’s belongings…! This Inoi always keeps their promises…!”
I see.
So, they turned on the main power and just sat there all night.
“Computer….”
I wondered if Inoi, who had just learned to turn a gas stove on and off, would understand how to use a computer.
While I was thinking this, Inoi jumped up from the chair.
It was now 7 AM.
They had started their day like clockwork, entering the bathroom at 7 AM to take a cold bath.
Whoosh-.
“Ahhh, the water flows like a waterfall…! This cold water feels incredibly nymph-friendly, like the refreshing streams of summer…! No nymph has surely experienced having a magical faucet that gushes water like this Inoi…!”
It seemed that way.
Anyway, my physical condition was excellent.
My senses, such as hearing and vision, had sharpened, and my nose, which had always been somewhat clogged, was completely clear, making breathing effortless.
Wow, I never knew a nose could feel this clear!
“Very nice.”
Since I felt so well, a thought crossed my mind. So, I took out the ‘Mana Diagnosis Kit’ that I had stocked up in the house.
The ‘Mana Diagnosis Kit’ was a specially processed paper that changes colors according to the amount of mana contained in the blood when a drop is placed on it.
Years ago, one had to enter a huge machine with devices attached, similar to an MRI, to check their internal mana, but how quickly the world had improved!
“Ordinary people just get red. F-rank Awakened ones orange. D-rank yellow. C-rank… green. It was according to the rainbow colors, right?”
After roughly clearing away the paper that had turned yellow from a previous test, I found a needle and pricked my fingertip. With a prick and a slight sting, blood oozed out.
When I spread it on a piece of paper the size of my index finger, a change occurred in an instant. The paper turned a vivid green.
Green is the color of C-rank.
I felt overwhelmed with various emotions, my vision dizzying in response.
“It’s done! I did it!”
Startled by my loud voice, Inoi, wearing fluffy Adidas tracksuit and drying their hair with a hairdryer, jumped up.
Like a cat startled while eating when it sees a cucumber.
Inoi said.
“I don’t know what it is, but it makes me glad to see the homeowner happy…! Now that the ‘Curse of Weakness’ has been lifted, the balance of your body will also become nymph-friendly…!”
The Curse of Weakness?
It must have been a real curse.
That wicked Seo Ye-rim dared to place a curse on me!
I should sue her!
But would I be able to sue her?
It’s not the medieval times of witch trials, can I sue someone over a ‘curse’? Even if I did, the other party would hire a large law firm’s attorney; would I have any chance of winning?
“It’s frustrating!”
I received harm but can’t do anything about it!
While I trembled with anger, Inoi said.
“The unleashed curse possesses an even stronger effect, returning it to the caster…! If that’s the case, the witch Seo Ye-rim would certainly be receiving an even stronger ‘Curse of Weakness’ right now…!”
