Popular NPC in a Gender-Reversed Game

A sharp silence enveloped the surroundings.
The girl stiffened and stared at me intently, her eyes wide with surprise. From the way her eyes were trembling, it was clear she was quite startled.

I was equally surprised.
I never imagined there would be a manifester hiding in the refugee camp.

‘...Well.’
Manifesters aren’t just limited to the Empire.
Given that nearly the entire kingdom had fled, it wouldn’t be too surprising if one or two manifesters had emerged among them.

It was surprising that she had managed to stay hidden for so long, though.

"...."

I silently watched her for a moment.

The demon's symbol appears on the 10th birthday, without fail.
From then on, like a natural bodily process, a manifester begins to experience uncontrollable fury, gaining the power of the demon. Everyone knows this, which is why tests are conducted at the age of ten to weed out the manifesters.

But looking at the girl, she didn’t seem particularly young.
Her arms and legs weren’t short like a child’s, and she didn’t have the chubby cheeks typical of young kids.
Though, she still had a lot of the childish traits.

‘If I had to guess, maybe around 15 or 16?’

For a manifester, that would be quite an impressive age.
For us, there are threats both externally and internally, so her survival up until now proved her strength and mental fortitude.

As I was processing this, I suddenly noticed something strange.

‘But isn’t this supposed to be a four-person setup?’

The refugee camp was overcrowded, and there should have been more people assigned to this shack.
No matter how quietly she tried to suppress her voice, if anyone else was in the same building, they would’ve heard it. The pain of the fury wasn’t something you could ignore.

So why wasn’t anyone reacting?

I glanced around, but it didn’t look like anyone was here.
Four people, each lying in their own blankets, seemed to be sleeping soundly, almost like they were dead.

“!”

That’s when the red-haired girl moved. After what seemed like a long period of hesitation, she had finally decided on a course of action.

“Stop...!”

Suddenly, a force stopped my body, as if my very muscles were refusing to obey my commands.
No matter how much I tried to move, my body wouldn’t respond.

For a moment, I was caught off guard. I hadn’t expected her to possess such a strange ability.

But after a moment of focus, I was able to break free.
By infusing my body with mana, I gave a strong push, and the restraint loosened.

“That’s an interesting trick.”

“!”

Her eyes widened in surprise, likely because she hadn’t expected me to break free so easily.

However, her attack wasn’t over yet.

“Fly.”

Whoosh!

A stone the size of my fist flew toward my head at her command.
It was hard to see in the darkness, but I managed to dodge it.

However, the attacks didn’t stop there.

“Come back.”

Whoosh!

The stone made a U-turn, coming back to strike the back of my head.

“Move away.”

Boom!

At her command, the ceiling of the shack collapsed, sending debris toward my head.
It was clear she was aiming for a knockout with each strike, all directed toward my head.

The vision was limited, but she kept giving hints, so avoiding her attacks wasn’t too difficult.

“If you keep talking like that, your opponent won’t be able to—”

Thunk

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my palm as something pierced it.
Despite that, I couldn’t help but acknowledge her skill.

"Okay, I admit it. That was a bit intense."

Though I had a thorn lodged in my palm, I quickly realized this wasn’t a simple situation.
Her attacks weren’t just about overpowering me; she was clearly aiming for vital areas, trying to land lethal blows.

It was clear she was trying to end things fast, especially since her direct attacks weren’t working.

After observing for a while, I decided it was time to subdue her.

I quickly rushed toward the girl and threw her to the ground.
Though the holy water was affecting my strength, throwing a child to the ground wasn’t difficult.

Thud!

With a heavy crash, the girl hit the floor. Her face twisted in frustration.

I looked down at her and said, “See? It’s no use resisting. Just stay still and wait.”

Afterward, I turned my attention to the people lying around.
If they were truly dead, her treatment would become a problem.

I placed my finger near one of their noses and felt the warm exhale of breath.
Fortunately, they were still breathing normally, and there were no visible wounds.

It seemed they had somehow fallen asleep by some means and had been quietly enduring the pain on their own.

‘She doesn’t seem to be a bad person, though.’
I thought to myself as I turned back to the girl.

I asked, “What’s your name?”

“...”

Sadly, I received no answer.
But as I watched her orange eyes dart around, it seemed like she was trying to come up with a way to escape.

Given the circumstances, it made sense. She was probably still cautious. After all, she had just encountered a person while in the middle of enduring fury.

I decided to be open with her.

“Don’t worry, I’m a manifester too.”

There was no reason to hide this anymore.
I lowered the collar of my coat to reveal the crimson, horn-like symbol on my collarbone, unmistakable proof of a manifester’s mark.
When she saw it, her eyes widened in shock.

“I’m not here to harm you. Honestly, I didn’t expect to run into one of my own kind here... Anyway, you can relax now.”

“...”

For a moment, she stared at me, and then her face flushed with embarrassment.
Suddenly, she turned her head away, as though shy.

Seeing her stop struggling made me feel like her guard was finally lowering.

Just as I was about to speak again...

Crack—!!

Out of nowhere, a stone appeared in the air and struck her on the head.

“Ugh...!”

Red blood started to flow from her forehead.
It seemed she was no stranger to pain. Instead of screaming, she clenched her teeth and endured the agony.
Considering she was in the middle of fury, she was trying to suppress the pain and still challenge me.

‘She’s tough...’

I couldn’t help but feel a little sympathy.
Dealing with intense pain while also focusing on external threats would drain her mental strength considerably.

This was the first time I’d seen someone injured by something external while enduring fury, though.

I would have helped her, but unfortunately, I didn’t have any more holy water on hand. I had only intended to go for a short walk.

I looked at her and casually spoke.

“Well, this doesn’t look like your house, so follow me for a bit.”

“...”

After a brief hesitation, she nodded.

“What’s your name?”
“...Neria.”

After a while, I secretly took her to my tent.
Though it wasn’t fully soundproof, it was definitely better than borrowing a shack.
After all, this tent had been prepared with soundproofing for Fury B.

I believe it used to be Odelia’s tent.
Because of that, there were still traces of her left behind in here.

Fur scattered around the bed and the strangely sticky floor... things like that.

‘Hope I don’t catch syphilis here...’

That was why I spent the first few days cleaning the place. Fortunately, after that, the hygiene wasn’t bad at all.

Glug, glug.
Now, Neria was drinking the holy water I gave her.
I told her that drinking it would ease her pain, and she drank without hesitation.
Having realized that I was also a manifester, she seemed to have dropped her guard completely and was more compliant than expected.

Once she finished a bottle of holy water, she looked at her body in awe.
It must have been relaxing to feel the power drain from her body, leaving her with a lethargic feeling, as though she had taken a sleeping pill.

...It’s a bit strange to say that, but it wasn’t inaccurate, so let’s move on.

After observing her for a moment, I asked her again.

“...How old are you?”

“16...”
“Impressive, you’ve made it this far.”

As expected, she was a little older than I expected.
Here, they use actual age, so at her age, she would be in high school.
Though, as a manifester, she likely didn’t have a normal life.

She was quite pretty, and considering the male-dominated world, I guessed she might have charmed some of them...
Seeing that made me feel a little sorry for her.

Just then, while I was lost in thought, she spoke up timidly.

“Is... is he the one? The manifester the Empire officially recognized?”

“...You know me?”

“I heard about it once before. They said the Emperor had pardoned you... and people were saying the Emperor had gone mad. I didn’t expect to meet you here though...”

No wonder she was so compliant.
It seemed that event had spread elsewhere.
After all, it was a big deal, so it would have made its way around.

“...”

“...”

After that short exchange, there was a brief silence.
Though we were of the same kind, we had just met, so it felt a bit awkward.

I noticed that Neria kept turning her gaze away, unable to make eye contact. She must not have been used to interacting with people.
After all, manifesters rarely have normal interactions with others.

Meanwhile, I was thinking about what to do next.

‘...Hmm, what should I do with her?’

I had taken her in because I felt sorry for her suffering from fury, but I hadn’t really thought about what to do afterward.
Just sending her back without any plan seemed a bit harsh, but ignoring her because she’s a fellow manifester also felt wrong.

She was quite thin, and it looked like she hadn’t been eating well lately. Her limbs were scrawny, and her skin, despite being pale, had grime from lack of washing.
She reminded me of a stray cat abandoned on the street.

It made me think back to when I was wandering through the woods, struggling to survive.
Back then, I desperately yearned for someone’s help, as much as I longed for a soft place to sleep.

“Sigh...”

After some thought, I finally said to her.

“For tonight, stay here.”

After all, I had to make sure she drank holy water regularly.