My blood holds the power of enchantment—it can make any woman fall for me... but in doing so, it robs them of their brilliance. - Chapter 2

When I was a child, there was someone besides the four I grew up with—a woman I called Mari-chan. She wasn’t my real sister, just an older woman who lived alone in a decrepit house on the outskirts of the village.

Despite being significantly older, she insisted I call her “Mari-chan,” and she’d sulk if I didn’t comply. She was a peculiar woman—many in the village called her crazy.

But I didn’t care. I loved listening to her stories.

She once claimed she’d created a weapon capable of killing a hero, the legendary “Brave Killer.” It sounded like something straight out of a fairy tale, but her words were captivating nonetheless.

The last thing Mari-chan made before she vanished was this: a failed love potion.

“Mari-chan doesn’t want to be lonely,” she’d said one day, her tone lighthearted. “So, I thought I’d make a love potion. But then I realized, if I make one, I’d have to trick someone into drinking it. That’s a hassle! So instead, I thought, what if I make a potion I could drink myself—something that would make me irresistible to everyone?”

She laughed as she said it, but her determination was clear. And so, she began working on the potion.

One day, when I went to visit Mari-chan as usual, she was gone. Her house was eerily quiet, and all that remained was a single vial and a letter.

To my dear Fedra-chan,
Mari-chan couldn’t quite make a proper “love potion” after all.
What I created instead is this: the Potion of Enchantment.

This potion doesn’t make others fall in love with you. Instead, it transforms your blood—and all your bodily fluids—into something akin to a drug.

What does that mean? Anyone exposed to your fluids will crave them like an addict. They’ll do anything to have more and will never be able to leave you.

But here’s the catch: it’s like a narcotic. They won’t truly “love” you. The concept of romance will probably be lost entirely.

Whether you choose to use it or not is up to you, Fedra-chan.
As for me, Mari-chan, it seems those chasing me have caught up. I’ll be leaving the village.

We probably won’t meet again.
Goodbye…

Love, Mari

◆◆◆
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t believe something so fantastical.
But the weapons Mari-chan had made—crafted with the same skill she claimed to have used for the Brave Killer—proved that her words weren’t just the delusions of a “crazy woman.” One of those weapons, the “Krypton Gas Laser Blade,” is still in my possession.

This extraordinary sword slices through ogres as if they were paper, and its power only activates when I wield it.
Mari-chan wasn’t a liar. I knew that much.

Now, as I held the potion in my hands, I made my decision.

“Mari-chan… I’m going to use it.”

With that resolve, I tipped the vial to my lips and drank every last drop.