The Heavenly Demon Knows No Shame
The incident began a short while ago, when I left Claire in the care of Zorba and the others while I spent three days training with Cayen. “W-would it really be all right for me to accompany all of you…? Cayen isn’t even here…” “It’s fine, seumda. Cayen’s friend is our friend too, isn’t that right?” “Hehe, exactly. Having a cute young lady around is actually a welcome change.”
When the group first invited her directly, Claire reportedly beamed with a radiant expression she had never shown before. That made sense—Claire had no friends besides Cayen to begin with. As the original main heroine, she was a beauty who suited words like “cute” and “lovely,” and her personality was gentle with no enemies. Yet because she had been targeted by nobles who looked down on her as a commoner from the very start of the semester, making new friends was difficult for her. In the original story, Claire grew closer to the members of Cayen’s harem as it expanded, and by the third year she had become the one with the most connections, helping Cayen through her social network.
Anyway, Claire would have been lonely without Cayen early in the semester, but the others, acting on my request, took her around and helped her out diligently. “Claire, you don’t bring your mouth to the teacup—you bring the teacup to your mouth.” “O-oh, I see…! I never knew that! Thank you, Zorba!” “Claire, you miscalculated that number, didn’t you? If you apply this part again…” “…Wow! The correct answer really came out! Zorba, you’re incredibly smart…!”
The problem was that Zorba had shown Claire the same “excessive kindness” he usually directed at women. And as I had mentioned several times, despite dressing like a thug, Zorba was handsome enough to fit right into a romance fantasy novel alongside Cayen or Crown Prince Richard. “Zorba, could I attend fifth period class with you…?” “Zorba, I need a partner for the alchemy practical…” “Zorba! I made lunch boxes myself today!” “Zorba!” “Zorba…”
“…Isn’t this a familiar situation? You could just add Claire to your harem like you always do.” “Damn it, everyone already knows she’s following Cayen around because she likes him. If I date her, what kind of reputation am I going to get?” “They’ll think I’m the kind of thug who even steals other people’s women now.” “Artin, are you really not going to help?”
When I spoke calmly, Zorba looked at me as if to ask how I could say such a thing. Honestly, though, hearing a guy who looked like he could seduce married women just by his appearance say that was a little funny. “Even if you say that, how am I supposed to help? You could just reject her cleanly.” “I haven’t even received a proper confession yet, and you want me to put up a wall and make a girl cry? That goes against my principles, Artin. I don’t make women cry for no reason. I’m a feminist!” “Cut the crap. You don’t like this, you don’t like that—then what exactly do you want?”
When I cut off his nonsense, Zorba let out a deep sigh and glanced at Shao Mei, who was watching us suspiciously, before whispering, “Artin, you’ve been fooling around with women lately, haven’t you? With your skills, you could handle Claire too…” “Rejected. Stop talking nonsense.” “Come on! I’m not saying you have to add her to your harem, just make her lose interest in me…” “No. Claire isn’t my type.”
I shook my head firmly. Even though Agnes had given permission to expand the harem the day before, I had no intention of adding members indiscriminately. Besides, Claire was… too young-looking. She was our age, but her body looked as though she had only just begun puberty, and I knew that appearance would continue for another five years. As the contractor of Unicor, the guardian of large and voluptuous breasts, I refused to accept such a woman into my harem.
“Ah… this is troublesome. If she weren’t in love with Cayen, I might have considered accepting her…” “…Cayen himself doesn’t seem to have any thoughts about it, though.”
In truth, all of these problems stemmed from Cayen not forming deep bonds with the women in his harem like he did in the original story. Yes, the issue was that the guy was gay. If Cayen weren’t a man—or rather, if he weren’t homosexual—none of this would have happened. ‘…He doesn’t even interact deeply with the heroines from the original harem, and he’s even jealous of Violet and Agnes, who are main heroines. What the hell is that bastard doing?’
When I glared at Cayen with a slightly irritated heart, my eyes met his, which were looking at me with jealousy. “…” Blush. After maintaining eye contact with Cayen for more than five seconds, that bastard Cayen turned red in the face, so I quickly looked away. The fact that it didn’t feel unpleasant made me feel even dirtier. ‘That bastard is the root of all evil. Last time I should have caved in not just his nose but his cheekbones too…!’
As my fist trembled from Cayen’s one-sided affection, a very good idea suddenly occurred to me. “…Wait, Zorba. I just had a good idea. The problem is that Claire has fallen for you, right?” “That’s right?” “Then we just need to make Claire fall for Cayen again, don’t we?”
Cayen was the protagonist of a harem novel. Right now he had gone off track, but originally it was fated for him and Claire to become a well-matched man and woman. Fate—if even Senia constantly repeating life-and-death crises was fate, then perhaps, given the right circumstances, Cayen and Claire could return to a relationship where they were flirting again. If that happened, the days of being stalked by Cayen would finally come to an end!
“Is there a way, Artin? That guy’s been giving you some pretty intense looks since earlier.” “…Shut up. After midterms, let’s make Cayen and Claire start dating. Until then, you keep your distance from Claire.” “What about you?” “I’ll have to take care of Cayen. That bastard likes me, after all.”
I gritted my teeth. All of this was a small sacrifice for the grand undertaking of turning a homosexual back into a heterosexual. “…Thanks, Artin!” “Hey, don’t hug my shoulder! Cayen, Claire, and Shao Mei are all giving us ridiculously complicated looks at the same time!”
Because Zorba had been moved and hugged me, a small commotion broke out—that was the first problem that occurred this morning.
**
So then, what was the second incident that occurred? Before explaining the incident, I first need to introduce Professor Shimada Ryusuke. The most renowned martial arts dojo in the Republic Federation was Taesan Dojo, which had produced the Five Divine Generals, known as the five pillars of the Federation, one after another. However, in the Republic Federation, which consisted of hundreds of islands, there existed hundreds of different martial arts, and Professor Shimada Ryusuke was the head of Shimada Dojo, which was based on Shimada Karate among them.
He had originally been a peak expert leading his family’s dojo, but when offered a professorship at the Academy to teach children, he accepted. ‘This is an opportunity to show that there are excellent martial arts families in the Republic Federation besides Taesan Dojo!’ It was a good chance to elevate his family, which had always been treated as a second-rate dojo suppressed by the name of Taesan Dojo, and Shimada came to the Academy with the grand ambition of widely promoting Shimada Karate.
After ten years at the Academy, he had successfully established himself by raising several direct disciples (graduate students) into renowned experts. The reason Professor Shimada opened a martial arts lecture for first-years this year was none other than Lin Shao Mei, who had enrolled this year. ‘The successor of Taesan Dojo? The daughter of the War God? I’ll personally evaluate just how skilled she is!’
Although he bore no ill will toward Taesan Dojo, Professor Shimada, who held a certain sense of rivalry, was convinced that Shao Mei would apply for the martial arts lecture to earn points. And in that lecture, he planned to thoroughly test Shao Mei, and if the opportunity arose, even teach her Shimada Karate directly! ‘…Heh, if that happens, our Shimada Karate will influence even the martial arts of Taesan Dojo!’
This was undoubtedly a heaven-sent opportunity! When the chance to achieve his great ambition arrived, Professor Shimada burst into hearty laughter with a joyful heart. And in reality, Professor Shimada’s plan was proceeding quite smoothly. Even when Artin Ludwig, the untouched genius that many professors drooled over, began participating in his class, Professor Shimada inwardly let out a cheer of victory! ‘When he sparred with the Empire’s female knight, his posture was decent but his fundamentals were lacking! Now’s the chance to pass on Shimada Karate to Artin Ludwig!’
Professor Shimada smiled happily as he imagined his future direct disciple (graduate student). That is, until the second period class today, before the basics of martial arts began. “In martial arts, footwork is extremely important. Depending on how you stand and move, the transmission of power changes and the stability of your posture shifts…” “That said, Shimada Karate’s footwork seems pretty poor…”
“…In this way, a punch thrown while firmly anchoring the center of the lower body carries different power than usual. However, since footwork varies in form depending on the school, one shouldn’t learn it recklessly…” “Hmm… Taesan Dojo’s Heavenly Demon Sovereign Steps can be harmoniously learned no matter what footwork one has mastered…” “…”
When a quietly suppressed killing intent emanated from Professor Shimada, the students had no choice but to tremble and gauge the atmosphere. “…..Even when clenching a fist, the gripping method differs by school, but our Shimada school curls it like this for destructive power…” “Wow, if you clench it like that, the bones would break easily. How barbaric…” Crack! Professor Shimada, who had always been called a model martial artist for treating his disciples with proper conduct and generous yet strict guidance, began grinding his teeth as he barely suppressed his anger.
“Heavenly Demon, if you’re going to keep muttering to yourself and disrupting the class so everyone can hear, please leave.” Unable to watch any longer, Artin scolded the Heavenly Demon standing behind him with an annoyed expression, but the Heavenly Demon merely put on an innocent face. “Hmm? I was just watching to see what kind of amazing class you’re taking that made you postpone my lesson. Continue. That… Mada-mada Professor?”
Grind! “I-it’s Shimada Professor! Heavenly Demon! You deliberately mispronounced my name, didn’t you?” “Aang~? I don’t know what you’re talking about~? I just can’t remember the names of anyone who isn’t an outstanding martial artist…” “I-I’m sorry my great-grandmother has no manners!!!”
At the Heavenly Demon’s shameless attitude, Shao Mei eventually jumped up and had to bow at a ninety-degree angle to apologize. That damned old hag, however, was making a face as if to ask what the problem was even after seeing her great-granddaughter do that. ‘Wow, fuck… I really want to punch her right in the solar plexus…’