“Haha, but I bought you a hat, didn’t I? It’s a pretty expensive hat, and it’s brand new. Cut me some slack. I really couldn’t help it.”
“Sigh… Still, telling me I could leave early, then making me work is a bit much, isn’t it?”
I had received a pretty hat as a bribe slash gift slash… compensation from the Team Leader.
Whether he was at least trying to keep one of his promises, or if getting me to come outside with him had been his ulterior motive from the start.
Anyway, after shopping at the department store for a little over thirty minutes, I was now sitting in a café like this.
“That’s true, but I really couldn’t help it. A Hero contacted me personally, and to completely refuse them… the other party is a bit….”
“A bit?”
“Scary.”
“Eh….”
…No, wait, he arranged this meeting without properly consulting me first.
Why was he suddenly saying things like this?
A scary Hero?
For such a Hero to go out of their way to contact the Team Leader privately and ask him to set up a meeting with me… it was seriously something that made me a little nervous.
The twilight girl I had met a few days ago, Batori with her cute goblin horns, had been genuinely adorable.
Truly adorable.
After all, it was a job that entailed all sorts of hardships.
Among the Heroes who visited the Welfare Bureau, there were some who suffered from severe PTSD, and because of that… sometimes they made a complete mess of the Welfare Bureau office.
Once, a Hero with flame abilities had even tried to burn the place down.
And a Hero with the ability to enlarge their body had tried to use their powers inside the building….
It was inevitable that I would have many worries.
“…So, which Hero is it?”
“Ah, um… You probably don’t know this Hero at all. They’re a bit unusual? So… hmm, they’ll arrive soon anyway. Wait while drinking your coffee.”
“…….”
My worries grew.
But the Team Leader had personally bought me an expensive hat; I couldn’t just let it go.
I sat down and waited, sipping my coffee.
Five minutes passed… ten?
I couldn’t tell the exact time because of my worries, but after a short while, a woman joined us at our table, and truly… I had no idea who she was.
“…….”
“…….”
I had nothing to say, and the other party was staring at me so intensely that we were simply watching each other in silence.
Both her hair and eyes were pitch black, but… her pupils were vertical and slit-like, like those of a reptile.
Who is she?
The Team Leader had definitely said she was a Hero, but she was absolutely not one I knew.
“Is this the hypnosis ability user?”
“Yeah, our Welfare Bureau’s ace. For now… I think it’d be best if you two introduced yourselves.”
It was the other party who broke the long silence.
Seeing how she called our Team Leader so casually, by his name… was she someone who had ties with him from before?
Of course, the Team Leader was also a former Hero.
Considering she had contacted the Team Leader privately to arrange this meeting in the first place, it made sense.
By the way, was it because her appearance was cold, and her voice was low and husky?
Or was it because her eyes were like a reptile’s? Whichever it was, she felt slightly scary.
…Not knowing who she was made it even more so.
“First, Charlotte? This person is a Hero, but… it’s hard to say much here. I’ll just tell you her name. She’s called Saran, a snake transformation-type ability user.”
“Ah, hello…! I’m Charlotte, an employee of the Hero Association’s Welfare Bureau. Um, Saran-nim? It’s nice to meet you…?”
“Yeah.”
“…….”
She answered so curtly.
Honestly, she was an incredibly cold and intimidating beauty, making it hard to greet her first… but I had answered politely.
What came back was truly just a single short word.
By the way, Saran—was it a single-character name?
Not that it mattered in this world where Korean-style and English-style names were all mixed together, but still, a single-character name felt novel.
“Haha… sorry, Charlotte. She’s always been a bit curt, lacking in social skills, on the quiet side, and tends to act on her own.”
“…Haha.”
…I could tell he was speaking in a joking tone, and I knew he was just trying to lighten the mood a bit.
Honestly, in this situation, it wasn’t my fault that it sounded less like a joke and more like the truth, bit by bit.
Right, it couldn’t be.
Probably… surely?
“Saran, this is the meeting you wanted. Try to speak properly. Or would it be better if I stepped away?”
“Yeah.”
“Haha… sigh, fine. I’ll step away. Try talking at least once. Don’t bully our team’s ace, okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Sigh. Charlotte? Please bear with it a little. In return, if you resolve this matter well, next time… hmm… I’ll buy you some expensive snacks?”
“…Got it.”
It was a meeting arranged by my superior anyway.
I couldn’t exactly talk back to my boss now and say I didn’t want to do it, and with the client right in front of me, it was even more impossible.
I simply nodded obediently, unable to help feeling anxious inside.
“Hypnosis ability user?”
“Yes?”
“I asked if you’re a hypnosis ability user.”
“Ah, yes. That’s right. It’s not as overpowered as people might think… just light suggestions? Though even that requires a bit of preparation.”
“I see.”
“Haha….”
A Hero questioning me with sharp eyes.
I had no memory of a Hero with the real name Saran, nor of a snake beastman Hero… in my memory.
Wait.
“How strong is the hypnosis?”
“…….”
“If I give commands under hypnosis, can you find out things I myself haven’t properly recognized?”
“…….”
Saran was asking me this and that.
I clearly knew I had to answer honestly, but it was extremely difficult to focus on her words.
Because.
“Are you listening?”
“Your tongue….”
“…My tongue?”
“…It’s split at the tip……?”
Because the tip of her tongue was split.
Because her tongue looked exactly like a snake’s…!
“So what.”
“Wow….”
It was amazing.
Most of the beastman Heroes I had met until now had ordinary tongues—literally human tongues.
No, even if not necessarily that… the appearance of their tongues had inevitably been mostly similar.
Even dog-like mammals have fairly similar tongue shapes, right?
Very occasionally, among feline beastmen, there were some with slight protrusions or barbs on their tongues, but aside from that, most had felt similar….
“May I see your tongue up close, just once?”
“…What?”
This was my first time meeting someone whose tongue was different too—a snake beastman!
Because it was so amazing, I blurted out such a question, even forgetting that she was incredibly scary.
“I’ve really never seen a snake among transformation-type awakened ones before…? S-so, your tongue is so fascinating, could I take a look just once? If possible, could you stick your tongue out just a little, just a tiny bit…….”
“…….”
“Ah.”
“…….”
“I-I’m sorry….”
A mistake.
And I had made a huge mistake to someone who looked scary as hell.
It wasn’t like asking to see her face; I had spoken like some pervert asking her to show her tongue, but really, I was just that curious and fascinated.
My counterpart… was an incredibly scary Hero.
Her previously expressionless face had now turned cold, as if she were looking at some ridiculous pervert.
Ah.
I think I really screwed up.
“…First, the matter at hand.”
“Ah, y-yes…!”
“Since we skipped the formal procedures to arrange this meeting. First. Let’s talk first, and after that, hypnosis ability user, I’ll do what you want.”
“……!!”
…She’ll do this for me!?
I would have understood getting punched or slapped after saying something like that.
Instead, I couldn’t help but be truly surprised that she said she would do it after the work was done.
But… at the same time, at the mention of showing me her snake tongue, my attitude began to change as well.
“What did you need me for? I’ll help you somehow. Even if it’s a bit unreasonable, I’ll really help you however I can! Just say anything. What is making things difficult? What is tormenting you, Saran-nim?”
Because she said she’d show me her snake tongue!
A snake beastman’s snake tongue, which I had never seen until now?
Saran, who until moments ago I had thought of as just an incredibly scary person, had now become something of a benefactor to me.
Therefore, I stepped forward with a passionate attitude.
Snake tongue.
Snake…….
A tongue with both ends split, generally much longer than a human’s….
And as far as I knew, they could even sense things through their tongues, so if I could see it up close… more… Ah, she opened her mouth—I can see her tongue!
“…I don’t know what my problem is.”
“…Huh?”
…The answer that came out when she opened her mouth like that was unexpected.
She had gone out of her way to ask the Team Leader, a retired senior Hero, to set up a meeting with me, yet the story that came out was that she didn’t know her own problem?
Then why on earth was this meeting arranged?
My head began spinning into confusion again in an instant.
“But it’s so suffocating, so hard. I don’t know what the problem is.”
“Ah….”
“It’s just suffocating. Something… I don’t know.”
“I see.”
But with Saran’s next words, I began to understand bit by bit.
After all, there were times when a person’s mental state or physical condition was beyond their own understanding, and people who couldn’t accurately grasp their own condition were more common than one might think.
No matter how tremendous an ability they had awakened, no matter how strong a Hero they were.
In the end, a person was still a person.
“I’ll definitely help you. So, from now on, please answer as honestly as possible, even if you have to give it a little thought.”
I gently moved the coffee I had been drinking to the side and spoke.
It wasn’t leaving early anymore, but rather properly counseling a Hero.
And yet, the mere thought of a snake beastman’s tongue was more than enough—no, excessive—reason for me to step forward with passion!