#67: B A L D! — After Becoming an Overlord, I Came to Another World! (WN)

The skinhead guy was lying on his back with hollow eyes, his tears apparently dried up… while Team Skinhead watched him with worried looks.

I stood a short distance away, watching them.

I could’ve just left… but I’d thought of something at the perfect time, so I had Ururu return to the castle once to fetch a certain medicine.

“…Sorry to keep you waiting… I brought it.”

“Good work… A perfect chance. He’ll be our test subject.”

I took the medicine from Ururu, and she vanished again as if swallowed by nowhere.

The item Ururu had brought me was hair-growth medicine. It wasn’t from the Treasure Hall—it had been stored in the warehouse for ordinary items… but back in the game days, if you kept this item, it triggered an event where you could recruit a bald mercenary hired by the enemy.

By the way, that was its only use, and the bald mercenary you recruited was barely useful—his combat power was only slightly above average.

Well, I didn’t dislike the character, so I recruited him every time… but as you’d expect, in the Evil God arc of the Overlord route, he quickly became an enemy, so I quickly dealt with him.

In the game, the moment you handed over the hair-growth medicine, the mercenary’s graphics changed—he went from bald to a massive afro instantly. But if the effect was just as strong here…

It was an item the development department could make, and if we mass-produced it, we might make an insane profit.

Because hair was a dear friend you wanted to keep close… and if you could resurrect it, you absolutely wanted to resurrect that friend…

For now, I decided to test it on this guy whose soul—and hair roots—had completely drained out of him, turning him ghost-white, and confirm the effect.

A natural afro would be… questionable, but I wanted to believe that character just had that kind of hair.

Thinking that, I walked up to Team Skinhead.

“Still in a daze?”

“…”

“…I have a certain medicine. A medicine that might be able to resurrect the friend you lost.”

“…Lost… friend…? What… are you…?”

The ghost-white skinhead guy, still hollow-faced, reacted just a little to my words.

Well, there was no way my “kanji joke” would land here…

“…You’ll understand if you use it. But I don’t know if it’ll work. Think of it like something to sober you up.”

Saying that, I splashed the hair-growth medicine over the skinhead guy… This wasn’t a drink, right?

“Bwah—! W-what—what the hell are you doing!?”

With liquid thrown in his face, the skinhead guy rebooted and sat up.

It might’ve gotten in his mouth… I prayed he wouldn’t grow hair inside it.

“You stayed spaced out forever. Wake up and apologize already.”

“Why the hell should I apologize!?”

Wiping his face, the skinhead guy yelled with zero sign of remorse.

“Because you caused us trouble. Your friends apologized, but you—the one who mattered—haven’t said a word.”

“Tch. I don’t need to apolo—”

“Hah… You’re really going to let only your friends who drank with you apologize, and call that fine?”

“Guh…”

The skinhead guy groaned, looked over Team Skinhead watching with worry, then bowed deeply while still seated on the ground.

“…Sorry for doing something stupid. You can hand me over to the guards or whatever.”

“…Fine. We didn’t get hurt anyway. And you served as a test subject for the medicine, so I’ll let it slide.”

When I said that, the skinhead guy raised his head.

“Th-thanks—huh? Wait. What do you mean ‘test subject for the medicine’?”

“Yeah. The thing I splashed on you to wake you up was a certain medicine.”

“Haaah!? W-wait, what!? What did you do to me!? What kind of medicine is that!? What do you mean ‘test subject’!?”

He stood up in a panic and tried to grab my collar, so I tripped him the same way as before.

“Relax. It’s not something harmful to your body… probably.”

“You just said ‘probably’! You bastard!”

“If you’re that energetic, you’re fine, right? And… oh. Looks like the effect is kicking in.”

From the scalp of the skinhead guy lying on the ground, hair started to ooze out with a squelching nyurur—like thick jelly being squeezed through a hole.

To be clear, it was disgusting as hell.

Team Skinhead flinched back in shock.

Even I reflexively let go and stepped back two or three paces.

The only one who didn’t understand what was happening was the guy himself… but he could see everyone’s reactions, and his eyes started watering again.

“Eh? W-wait—! Wh-what!? What’s happening!? No! This is scary!”

His lines got a little girl-ish as he scrambled upright and rushed toward Number Two, but Number Two took a huge hop backward while staring at the top of his head.

“W-wait! What!? What’s going on with my head!?”

He threw his hand up to his head—

“Hogyaaaaaaa!?”

He reacted exactly like those people on variety shows who shove their hand into a mystery box and scream when they feel what’s inside.

Meanwhile the hair kept growing, rustling outward… passing his shoulders, reaching down to about his chest before finally stopping.

“H-hih… Th-this—this is! H-h-h-hair!?”

The former skinhead guy screamed, scooping up the hair that had grown to his chest and holding it in front of his eyes.

“Hmm… The experiment succeeded. It’s grown nicely… and it’s not an afro.”

In fact, it was ultra-straight black hair that looked like it would make a silky sound if you brushed it.

The volume looked fine too…

“Hey, Skinhead Guy. Look over here.”

“Huh?”

I called to the former skinhead guy, who had slumped down and was staring at the hair in his hands, and made him face me.

Hmm… the medicine had splashed on other parts of his face too, but his eyebrows, nose hair, and beard didn’t seem to be growing… Wait, hold on. Wasn’t this guy ridiculously handsome?

He’d transformed into the kind of elegant, long-haired beauty you’d see in an otome game.

There wasn’t some face-changing effect… was there?

In the game, it just turned him into an afro. His face stayed the same.

For now, I should do a quick post-medicine checkup.

“How do you feel? Any discomfort? Any itchiness in your head or anywhere else?”

“Eh…? No… not really, but…”

“But what? If there’s anything, tell me as specifically as you can.”

“No, it’s just… what is this, exactly…?”

Still flustered, the former skinhead guy looked between me and Team Skinhead.

Every time he turned his head, his hair swayed with a soft, silky motion.

“Do you have a mirror?”

When I asked Lynferia, who stood a short distance away, she hurried over and handed me a small hand mirror.