The Seed Thief

Vol. 1 Chapter 2.4

Lulu was conflicted by the man's request. Since he asked for physical freedom, it was clear that her order still bound him.

The question was, what kind of freedom was he talking about?

A magic description she read in a book came to mind.

'The problems of mental magic arose when the caster and the recipient's perceptions differ.'

Magic could only temporarily interfere with the mind, not entirely kill one's will. If she granted him complete freedom, he could attack her, saying that killing was also freedom.

'So it said to explicitly define the scope.'

Pressing her pounding chest, Lulu cautiously said to the man.

"F-from now on, you absolutely cannot harm me. And without my permission, you can't even touch a single hair on my head. Understand?"

"I understand."

Though he obediently answered, his eyes showed a hint of disrespect. Lulu swallowed nervously. It hadn't been long since he was enchanted, so his mind was likely still strongly dominated. Yet, he asserted his will.

'Dangerous. It's dangerous!'

When Lulu began to consider where could she leave the man, he spoke up again.

"Then, can I move freely now?"

"Yes. Now do whatever you want."

The words seemed to set the man free. As soon as Lulu gave permission, the man who had just been standing still rushed off deep into the forest.

'Are you trying to flee to the village?'

That would make things easy. Lulu was wondering where to throw him away, but if he returned to the village, there was nothing to worry about.

Lulu realized that the man still had a firm hold on her magic. Although she'd told him to move freely, as long as the magic remained, unforeseen problems could arise soon. It'd be best to release him now.

"Hey! Hey! Wait! I'll release the magic! I'll release it for you..... "

She was about to tell him to run away on his own after that, but contrary to her expectation, the man didn't head to the village. He went into the forest just enough to cover himself and stood with his back to her. She looked at him with bewilderment as he crazily unfastened his pants.

'Why are you suddenly undressing here?'

Lulu approached the man cautiously, feeling suspicious of his unexpected behavior. Hearing Lulu's footsteps on the fallen leaves, the man turned around with a startled face and shouted urgently.

"Please stay back!"

That should be my word!

When Lulu was about to say that, she was taken aback instantly upon seeing the man's red face.

"What's wrong! Are you sick?!"

He was so pale just a moment ago, and now he turned so red. Lulu remembered when she was a child, her body once suddenly became hot and turned red like that.

'The forest witch said I needed to take a good rest.'

It was so painful that she couldn't stand up properly back then.

Lulu thought the man had been standing in the same spot all day due to her magic. The forest was cold at night and hot enough to sweat when the sun rose. Yet, unable to go home and constantly standing in this place, he might have caught a cold. So if he was sick, wouldn't it be her fault?