HEO 104

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁣⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣ ⁣⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠Part 4

〔PAIR〕 /sync:failed

affection.checksum/mismatch

1.

Silver brushed the dirt off his hands.

“All set!”

A heavy iron ball was attached to the shackle on his right ankle. The long chain attached to the shackle was coiled around a nearby oak tree and secured with a padlock. The chain was about ten paces long. The inside of the shackle, where it touched his ankle, was rusted, so he had to clean it and line it with leather. He had retrieved this restraint from a prisoner barracks.

In addition, he had prepared several leather straps and handkerchiefs. The leather straps were for a gag, and the handkerchiefs were to be used as bibs. Starry Eyes had said that during heat, people drool so much they can’t even speak, so a bib was essential. The thought of wearing a bib, something one might wear as a newborn, at the age of twenty made him feel too bitter to even laugh.

Silver twirled the keys on his finger as he looked around. Piles of salted venison and jerky stacked on flat stones. At least two weeks’ worth of food. Next to them, a pile of dry firewood. Two deer hides and two blankets. Flint, a water canteen, and a spare coil of rope. An earthenware pot. A tin cup and a bundle of candles. A stream with clear water flowed just five steps to the right.

“Food, shelter, water. Ready for battle.”

Today marked his sixth day in the mountains. After Starry Eyes had recovered at the lodging and Silver had woken up from a restful sleep, he was already focused on his next challenge. The heat suppressants had all dissolved in the rainwater. Fortunately, heat wasn’t an absolute misfortune like an inborn physical condition. It was a misfortune that could be endured and overcome if he gritted his teeth.

Grit! I’ll overcome it with grit!

He made his decision in the blink of an eye. Without delay, Silver left the lodging and headed into the mountains.

The autumn sunlight bathed the forest in warmth. The scent of pine resin, damp earth, and mushrooms sprouting from the trees wafted through the air like the smell of books piled up in an attic. The autumn rains had ended, so it wouldn’t rain for a while. There was no risk of encountering anyone in this forest. It would take half a day to walk over the mountains from here to the pirate village. Aside from the noisy cawing of crows, it was a pretty decent hiding spot.

〔Can you really hold out, Ƨᴉɼʌԍʁ?〕

Starry Eyes buzzed around Silver’s head and asked worriedly. The white bonnet covering his triangular head was slightly askew. Silver straightened it for him.

“I have to hold out. Is there any other way?”

〔That’s true, but…〕 .

“Granny Erem said that if I don’t take the medicine, my heat will start within five days at the latest. It’s been three days since I skipped a dose, so it’ll start as early as tomorrow, or two days from now at the latest.”

Silver sat down on the floor. The chain attached to the shackle clanked.

“Does heat usually last four days? Five?”

〔Hold on.〕

〔Reviewing to provide accurate information.〕

〔Indexing……〕

Starry Eyes placed both frontlegs against his temples. According to him, this was the posture he always assumed “when searching for knowledge in his mental repository.” Silver was constantly confused. His brain is so small, why does it take so long?

After a while, his little snout began to move.

〔The heat cycle varies by individual. Statistically, the average is four days.〕

〔Symptoms are most severe during the first three days after the heat begins. Peak intensity. This is the period when you are most vulnerable.〕

〔Intense sexual desire. Pheromone release. Severe fever. Abdominal pain and cramps. Increased mental instability. Above all, you must be careful about pregnancy.〕

No matter how many times he heard that pregnancy talk, it always felt like someone else’s problem. If you took out pregnancy, pheromones, and sexual desire, the symptoms Starry Eyes listed sounded no different from a bad cold.

〔You have to be especially careful on the third day. That’s when the chance of pregnancy is highest. They say the symptoms gradually subside after three days.〕

〔The heat period can last longer depending on the individual. Especially for you, Ƨᴉɼʌԍʁ, since you were taking suppressants before your heat even began, significant rebound symptoms are expected.〕

“Rebound symptoms? Hmph, I’ll overcome them with sheer willpower!”

Silver shouted as he waved both hands.

“Fuck it, heat cycle or whatever, bring it on! This Thunder will crush it all to dust!”

〔You shouldn’t underestimate the heat cycle, Ƨᴉɼʌԍʁ.〕

Starry Eyes flitted back and forth. His bonnet was askew again.

〔The problem is the cycle. On average, once a month. But only if you properly resolve it. If you don’t, if you don’t, the intervals between heats get shorter.〕

“I’ll get through this heat and head for the mainland.”

Silver shrugged his shoulders.

“Steal a pirate ship! Straight to Granny Erem’s orphanage by sea! If the winds are favorable, we’ll arrive in two weeks! Simple, right?”

〔It’s not simple! Do you think countless mutants couldn’t control themselves and withstand the heat? Don’t underestimate those urges!〕

“Don’t forget. I’m a Thunder.”

〔You’re overconfident, Ƨᴉɼʌԍʁ…〕

“That’s fine. Right now, I’m the only one I can trust.”

Silver thew the key. It skipped across the stream and landed within a thicket of aquatic plants.

“Once the heat is over, go pick that up and bring it back. That’s all you have to do.”

〔Hmm! Indexing… indexing…!〕

〔Pharmacological prevention… reproductive suppression… oral compounds… emergency procedures…〕 .

Starry Eyes pressed his forelegs against his temple again and muttered to himself. Ever since they’d taken refuge here, he’d been doing this constantly. He claimed he was looking for a solution. As always, to Silver’s ears, it sounded like nothing but ●☆≠♨.

Silver flopped onto his back.

“Starry Eyes, give it up. Unless it’s a recipe for a suppressant, it’s useless.”

He yawned. For six days straight, he’d been chopping wood, butchering meat, and searching for sturdy trees that could withstand the power of a Thunder, he hadn’t had a moment’s rest. His whole body felt like it had turned to straw, right down to his bones. The sky in his field of vision had already faded into a watercolor smudge.

“If a bear… shows up to eat me… wake me up then…”

〔Index match found!〕

“Ugh, fuck.”

Starry Eyes’s voice was so loud it instantly woke him up. Starry Eyes flew right in front of Silver’s eyes.

〔I found a great alternative, though not quite as effective as the suppressant!〕

〔Birth control pills! Found the recipe in the information repository!〕

“Birth control pills? What’s that…?”

Silver’s face turned red as he absentmindedly asked the question.

Birth control pills. That means contraceptive medicine.

〔If your urges cross the tipping point, you might run off to the pirate village! Sex isn’t a major problem in the long run! The real danger is pregnancy!〕

Starry Eyes buzzed back and forth in a zigzag pattern.

〔There could be a Type 1 mutant on this island! We have to be prepared!〕

“What is a Type 1 mutant… Starry Eyes? Calm down, you seem excited.”

〔We can’t just rely on your self-control! According to statistical records, no Type 2 has ever managed to endure a heat and maintain a normal life! Not a single one!〕

“I told you to calm down!”

〔Initiating Reproduction Prevention Operation!〕

“Starry Eyes! Trust the oak tree instead of me!”

〔Wait, Ƨᴉɼʌԍʁ! I’ll go get the ingredients!〕

“Starry Eyes! Starry Eyes–!”

The mantis fairy flew away through the trees like the wind. Silver, who had reflexively chased after him, stumbled after just ten steps.

“Ugh. Fuck.”

His shackled ankle throbbed. One leg was lifted off the ground by the taut chain. Silver braced himself with both hands on the dirt and sat up awkwardly. He brushed off a pine needle off his cheek, and mumbled in frustration.

“Even a Thunder isn’t confident he can run all the way to the pirate village with an oak tree attached to his ankle…”

***

As the sunset spread across the sky, Starry Eyes returned carrying a bundle. He set his load down next to the jerky and, without a word, ran back into the forest. He looked completely focused.

Silver examined what Starry Eyes had brought. A gnarled brown root. A pitch-black twig with a bitter smell. A handful of berries smaller than peas.

As it grew darker, Starry Eyes returned with another bundle. A piece of tree bark, a bunch of wildflowers, and a clump that looked like moss. He set his load down carefully, then rested both forelegs against his temples and spent a long time standing still. Only his wings fluttered.

〔Indexing… Indexing… Found it!〕

His long green foreleg grabbed the gnarled root.

〔The base is a Mother-Root. It needs to be trimmed. Crushing it creates the wrong compounds. Precise preparation is required.〕

Starry Eyes used the saw-like edge on his foreleg to meticulously trim the root’s surface. He was completely oblivious to everything else. For some reason, Silver couldn’t even make a sound and just watched. The scene before him looked like an alchemist’s experiment.

〔Next is a twig from the Black Knotwood.〕

The green foreleg took the jet-black twig and sliced it.

〔This acts as a binding agent. It combines with the Mother-Root extract to help it remain in the body longer. Next, the Blood Berries.〕

He squeezed three fruits, smaller than peas, with his foreleg. A juice the color of diluted blood dripped into the tin cup.

〔The berries are the active ingredient. They suppress ovulation in Type 2 mutants… Three is the correct dose; four causes vomiting… Two is insufficient.〕

〔Add the Old-Scale bark and Moonbreath Flowers last, and the Sleep Moss…〕

Starry Eyes moved quickly and meticulously. He fetched stream water in a tin cup and stirred the mixture with one foreleg. Bubbles rose on the surface of the murky reddish-brown liquid. The smell, at the very least, did not whet the appetite.

“It looks disgusting…”