C-Class (3)

I kept Spatial Perception running and drifted through a sleep that wasn't quite sleep, until dawn finally dragged my eyes open.

Ash sifting down like snowflakes kept brushing the sense, and I couldn't stay under. Rain, so long as there was no wind, fell in a simple straight pattern I could filter out on purpose. Ash billowed even in still air, and there was no filtering that.

I glanced sidelong at Franc, lying beside me. She was sprawled out dead to the world, exactly as she'd collapsed the day before, and the belly still swollen like a mountain left me thoroughly at a loss. Now that her spirit body had turned to flesh, the semen packed into her womb showed no intention of draining away.

...Once I finally got all of that out of her, she wasn't going to wrinkle up and come away with stretch marks, was she?

I stroked the enormous swell of it, and the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠touch must have reached somewhere sensitive. Franc let out a faint moan and opened her eyes. She looked down at her own stomach, then sighed with a tired face, as if there were simply no curing me.

"You're awake?"

"Yes... what time is it...?"

"Uh, a little past five in the morning."

Franc's brow twitched. She braced her belly and struggled to rise, so I caught her arm at once and hauled her up.

"This weight... it's rather more than I expected."

Flushing, she got unsteadily to her feet and tottered out of the wooden room. Was the extra weight why she couldn't fly?

For a full hour I tried every method I could think of. Only after we'd somehow emptied Franc's womb did we set out in search of a Return Point.

"Hey... Franc. I'm sorry."

"Yes? Sorry for what?"

I couldn't bring myself to say it and only stood there red-faced, and Franc flushed along with me and turned her head away.

"D-don't... don't concern yourself with it."

She barely got the words out, in a voice no bigger than a mosquito's, and watching her I thought back over what had happened earlier.

When Franc came to at dawn, she had stroked that mountain of a belly as if there were nothing remarkable about it at all. I watched quietly, wondering whether she had some idea, and a full ten minutes passed before she noticed anything was wrong.

"...??"

Sitting neatly near a branch, she looked down at her stomach with a puzzled face. Just in case, I pointed something out.

"Um... Franc? You've got a body now. No matter how long you sit there waiting... what's in your belly isn't going to drain out on its own."

"...!!"

Her face went pale, so I'd been right, and looking at her I felt both sorry and a little fond. I was fine either way. For Franc it was an hour mortifying enough to kill her, and only after she had returned to her original slender figure could we finally set out.

"Come to think of it, even though your body's materialized, it still keeps a few traits of a spirit form."

I said it to Franc, who was hiding her flushed face and fanning herself frantically with one hand. She covered her face with both hands and peeked at me through her fingers.

"Yes?"

"I happened to notice last night, in the middle of things. Your wetness hit the ground, then vaporized and flowed right back into your body. And you can still fly."

What had changed was mass and texture. Her exterior had always been perfect, but unlike her spirit days, when the inside was only vaguely sorted out, flesh and organs had now formed in clear detail.

"Can you still hide yourself, or pass through things like walls, the way you could as a spirit?"

"Hmm... one moment."

Franc listened, fidgeted over her own body, glanced around, then went up to a large tree and poked and prodded the trunk. She closed her eyes and laid a hand against it. I watched, and a moment later her arm sank straight into the wood.

"Oh?"

"Mmm..."

She stirred her hand inside the trunk like a ghost, then slipped into the tree entirely. At once the Phase Power in the Soul Stone began to tick down, faint but steady — at that rate, maybe 0.03 TP a second. Then Franc stepped back out of the tree and vanished right before my eyes.

I hastily switched on Mana Vision, and only then could I see her examining herself. Spatial Perception confirmed she was still standing in the same place. When she reappeared she came over, caught the hem of her skirt, and spread it just a little as she spoke.

"It seems I haven't gained a body in the fullest sense. As a spirit I passed through objects whenever I pleased, but now phasing through things, or hiding myself, costs a little TP."

"I said it as a joke, but it really does seem like you've become an elemental."

"Hehe."

Franc smiled brightly and said she liked things better this way. Of course I did too. In... several respects.

Clinging to my back as always, she toyed with my hair and spoke.

"What will you do once we return?"

"First, find whoever was behind the attack. Second, I wreck them."

"..."

At that simple answer she stared blankly down at the back of my head.

"If it's Yeongeun, I figure she'll track them down in no time."

"An ability user turning their power to revenge is something the Ability User Association will sanction. However exceptional your ability may be, Seoha, and however far your strength surpasses an ordinary ability user's, breaking the law will place you at a disadvantage..."

It wasn't that I hadn't considered what she was saying. But the moment I remembered the bodyguard — the older girl whose head had vanished right before my eyes as she died — my insides went cold all over again. At the very least I meant to take the ringleader's head, and only then hold a memorial for the men and women who had guarded me.

"Your ability is as distinctive as it is special. Use it in the real world and they will trace it to you at once. Acting without a plan will not harm only you, Seoha. It could reach both of your parents as well. So..."

I listened without a word, and that only seemed to worry her more. I didn't want her fretting on and on, so I sighed and answered.

"I'm not going to thrash around without knowing which way is up. As for how to take revenge... Yeongeun will teach me properly. Or I'll ask Dad."

And if that still wasn't enough, I'd remember. The moment I climbed past B-Class into A-Class, I'd pay them back a hundredfold, a thousandfold — enough that they'd regret making an enemy of me even from hell.

The list of people I owed kept growing. The Rogue Imugi. The bastard who had hung a nickname on me that dug straight into my most humiliating history. The son of a bitch who had pulled the strings from behind to have me killed. How many more enemies would there be?

As if she had read the thought that followed my words, Franc gave a bitter smile and stroked my cheek.

"You will take me with you for that revenge, won't you?"

"Huh? Were you planning not to help?"

"Hehe. If you had tried to leave me behind, I meant to hide and follow you anyway."

She answered the teasing with a smile of her own.

Anyway, once we got out, my Early Entry Permit ought to be ready too. I'd stick close to Hwayeon, study Aberrants in earnest, take down some high-tier variants, and grow as fast as I could. I retightened the mask that kept trying to slip and looked up at the sky.

The ash cloud had already spread all the way to the horizon. It had only been a single night, yet gray ash lay thick on the leaves and the grass, and farther out the green was already gone, turned to ash-gray. The next rainy season worried me a little.

Let's see. The rain had started pouring on March 28th, so the next rainy season would begin around the end of September. If I could, I ought to come in ahead of it and move to high ground. There was no telling what might happen, and I had no desire to enter during the rains and drink water thick with volcanic ash.

Every hour I topped up the TP in Franc's body as we searched for a Return Point. Around lunch I caught a leopard cat, roasted it, and ate, then traveled another three hours or so. Maybe because I was moving in Mana Mode, we'd covered a fair distance, and far off near the horizon a blue sky began to show through — not the gray one shedding ash.

Were we leaving the ash's range? Maybe the wind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had shifted. In six hours we'd covered roughly 210 kilometers. Ages ago Mount Baekdu had erupted, and the ash carried on the wind had supposedly reached all the way to Japan — eight hundred kilometers at the least, over a thousand if you stretched it — and still the ash had flown that far. The eruption of Mount Elephanturos ought to have been worse than that. There was no way we'd already be clear of it.

Hmm. Next time I come in, I'd better bring drinking water and food.

I wandered on with thoughts like that, until Franc — searching from the sky and making full use of her excellent eyesight — called down to me, excited.

"Seoha! I think I've found a Return Point! Keep on like this for about two kilometers and it should be there!"

"Got it!"

I broke into a run in the direction she pointed, and before long Spatial Perception picked up the distinctive shimmer of a Return Point. Not long after, Franc and I stood before the faintly glowing gateway in a fairly wide clearing in the forest.

Grass spread across the whole clearing, and nameless white flowers bloomed in wild profusion. It was a beautiful place. Thinking that from this day on my life would change completely, my heart beat a little faster.

"All right. Shall we head back?"

"Seoha? Please wait a moment."

"Hm?"

I was just about to pour Phase Power into the Return Point when Franc tugged lightly at my clothes from behind. I turned. She was smiling faintly, one hand resting on the pendant at my neck.

"When we return, a great many people will surely be waiting. An ability user attacking another ability user is a rare thing in Korea."

"Yeah... I suppose so. And?"

I tilted my head, then spoke as the thought occurred to me.

"Are you planning to hide inside the Soul Stone? If we return like this, other people will see you."

"Yes. There's no telling what might happen, so I think it best if I keep myself hidden and watch your back."

"But invisibility doesn't come cheap. And thinking about this attack, I don't see why you'd need to go around hiding."

"That is true, but..."

Franc turned it over this way and that, then asked.

"Then what do you think we ought to do?"

"You've got a point. It does spend TP, but keeping it up for twenty-four hours would only come to about 2,600. Look at it another way, though. If Phase Power keeps leaking out of the Soul Stone and a portable meter or an appraiser picks that up, it could turn into an even bigger problem."

"There are many relics excavated from the Phase World, so it might not draw so very much attention..."

"No. Think about my situation. Even the smallest thing stands a good chance of drawing eyes. So let's walk out with our heads up. We'll say you're a half-elemental who wields lightning. The first elemental ever to appear will pull a lot of attention, sure, but the two of us together — even a B-Class ability user wouldn't dare try anything reckless."

Ordinary ability users were far weaker than Aberrants of the same rank, after all. If Franc kept them in check with lightning, I might even make a real match of it with Hwayeon... and if I stooped to something underhanded, I might actually win.

Franc looked thoughtful at that. It got me thinking too, about how much of my ability I ought to reveal once we returned, and the question gave me a bit of a headache.

"Yes. Then we'll do it that way."

"I'm also a little unsure how far to go, once we're back."

"First of all, Mana Sieve must be hidden, no matter what. Hmm... you won't be able to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠conceal Physical Reinforcement, will you?"

"I already showed them I was fine after taking a sniper round, so yeah, probably not. And if I want them to know I've reached C-Class, I won't be able to hide Mana Bullet either."

"As for Mana Bullet, what if we let them take it as something to do with Spatial Manipulation? Your elemental abilities aren't visible to other people anyway."

"Yeah. That's what we'll do."

"Then let's hide only the recovery ability and Mana Sieve. There's no particular need to conceal Spatial Manipulation, but neither is there any need to announce it outright, is there?"

Once Franc and I had settled what to reveal and what to hide, I nodded.

"Let's sort it out. We say you're an elemental contracted to me. Spatial Perception, Spatial Manipulation, Physical Reinforcement, Mana Bullet, Mana Laser, Mana Cannon..."

Mid-sentence, my eyes went to her beautiful face. Wouldn't anyone who knew what she looked like recognize her at once? Her beauty was so extraordinary that a person who had seen her even once couldn't forget her if they tried. Among ordinary people, most who had known Franc would be dead, or dying of old age. Ability users, though — Physical Reinforcement types especially — stood a good chance of still being alive.

Franc tilted her head when I stopped.

"...If an ability user who had seen you even once caught sight of you through the media, wouldn't they know at once?"

"I don't believe so."

"Huh? Why?"

I asked again, thrown by how calmly and firmly she denied it. What hadn't I thought of?

"Raid Team Aldion, who knew my face, were all but annihilated. Everyone who sent me proposals of marriage was an ordinary person. After I became a regular knight I did go out a few times in support of encirclements, but each time I wore a helm pulled low, or clothing that hid my face, and I avoided showing my appearance as much as I could. So now, seventy years on, no ordinary person who remembers me should remain."

Right — she'd said Raid Team Aldion had failed a raid and been nearly wiped out, family head included. Hiding her looks, though, was news to me.

"And after I began serving Lady Shinomiya, I never once left the family estate. Seventy years have passed since then, you know? Even if someone saw me, they would think it curious. They would not connect the sight to me. Unless..."

She fiddled with her hair as she said it, glancing my way.

"Seoha, do you like long hair?"

"Yeah. I love it."

At the instant answer she smiled, then stretched the hair that had been tickling her shoulders all the way down past her hips.

"Whoa..."

Only the length had changed, and yet the impression she gave shifted completely — a fresh young beauty into a demure, heart-tugging lady. Platinum hair that had swayed at her shoulders now fell far enough to brush her hips, and the bangs that had grown out were tucked neatly behind her ears. She looked like a clear-eyed young noblewoman, and my heart actually pounded.

"What do you think? If you are worried someone might recognize me, I believe changing my appearance a little, like this, will settle it."

"Yeah. I'll give you that. Nobody's going to recognize you. If I hadn't watched it happen, I'd have doubted you were the same person."

At my honest admiration she flushed and smiled, and all at once a sadistic impulse surged up in me. The desire to see her gasping through pleasure and pain, limp and soaked in sweat, set my heart heaving. The urge was stronger than I'd expected. Had I turned into a complete pervert, too?

I clicked my tongue inwardly and circled her, taking her in.

"Franc. Change into a white dress that just barely covers your knees. Spaghetti straps. Yeah, that one. And..."

I demanded the outfit altered to my taste, and she accepted every demand. When I looked at her again my mouth wouldn't close. She had become a princess who struck my preferences dead center.

"Perfect."

I shot her a double thumbs-up. Franc covered her cheeks a little and smiled shyly, and the moment I saw it, lightning seemed to strike me between the legs.

God. Why is desire surging up like this? Burn off that much lust in a night and the sadism usually doesn't lift its head for a day or two...

I felt my heart sway with the hair stirring on the breeze, and then a perfectly legitimate way to satisfy the urge occurred to me.

"Oh, right. We should fill the Soul Stone with Phase Power, too."

"Hup. Ah... since there's no telling what might happen, we ought to fill it... shouldn't we?"

Her eyes wavered. She seemed to be gauging just how much pleasure she would have to take in, if we replenished all the Phase Power spent so far. The thought of that pure, princess-like Franc panting in pleasure suddenly looked very promising. Remembering the Soul Stone had been a stroke of genius. Heh heh heh.

"My TP recovers at one percent a minute. Figuring a surplus of 180,000 TP an hour, we'd need about sixteen hours of charging, right?"

"...Th-then I'll just stay inside the Soul Stone... all right?"

"Huh?! Why?! How come?! For what reason?!"

What?! Why was she trying to go in there?! My reaction must have been fiercer than she'd imagined, because Franc looked thoroughly flustered.

"I-it's... embarrassing."

"No!"

"Ehh?!"

She wanted to hide in the Soul Stone so she wouldn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have to show me an unsightly side of herself? I refused her flat. She tossed her long platinum hair, about to protest, so I got my mouth open first and cut her off.

"You stayed out here every other time we charged. Why are you suddenly trying to hide? The TP you spent fighting Elephanturos alone is over three million. Think you can endure inside the Soul Stone until all of that's filled?"

"Nnh..."

"That's why I have to watch you and take my time charging it! It is absolutely not because I want to see you writhing in pleasure in this new look!"

"Whaat?! So you did want to see me in that shameful state?!"

Huh? Damn it. I'd gotten too excited and blown myself up.

"Boo! Seoha, you really are a pervert!"

"And you're a pervert who likes a pervert like that!"

"..."

"..."

We bickered back and forth for a while and got nowhere. It looked like we'd only waste time at this rate, so I offered a compromise to Franc, who was glaring at me with her cheeks puffed full of air and a thoroughly sulky face.

"Fine. Then let's settle it with rock-paper-scissors."

"Rock-paper-scissors? What is that?"

Hm? The sulk eased, and she tilted her head. ...What did you even call this in English? Scissors was scissors, rock was rock, and paper was...? Eh. I'd just show her the gesture everyone in the world understood.

"Like this. A fist, a rock, and scissors — you both throw one of the three at the same time, and that's how you settle it."

"Ah. You mean rock, paper, scissors."

So they called paper paper, apparently. Anyway: if Franc won, we'd charge the Soul Stone only two or three hours a day, just as much as she could bear. If I won, we'd charge it all at once. She nodded as if she understood, eyes shining, and took her stance.

"Just so you know, it's one round. No take-backs, and we throw together!"

"Of course!"

Time to show her what accelerated thought can do!

"Then... rock, paper, scissors!"

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

"There. I won, didn't I?"

"...This is a lie..."

I said it triumphantly to Franc, who had dropped to the ground looking utterly devastated. The sight of my face made her look ready to burst, and she protested fiercely.

"That's unfair! You used your ability, didn't you?! I saw the hand you'd hidden behind your back change as it came out!"

"We never agreed not to use abilities."

I said it shamelessly. She clamped her mouth shut and glared, dissatisfaction written all over her face. The air suggested she was about to call the match void, so I struck first.

"You didn't spell the rules out beforehand, and now that you've lost you won't accept it? So your chivalry only went that far... Shall we do it over?"

I grinned and needled her. Franc wore her frustration plainly, then gradually crumpled into a tearful look and gazed up at me, pleading.

"If you keep charging for more than ten hours, I won't be able to endure iiit. Seohaaa. Nnngh~. Pleeease?"

"...Well. It's not like I'm entirely blameless. It was a cheat."

That kind of wheedling was a foul, too. Lethal charm, the sort that could stop a heart, and I gave a step of ground before it. Franc's face lit as if salvation itself were coming down out of the sky.

Whew. Making a face like that in a grassy clearing full of white flowers, she really did look like a painting. A shame my phone was dead. I would have liked a picture.

...Come to think of it, was the electricity Franc made the same kind they produced at a Phase Stone plant? Charging a phone off her lightning... no. If it broke, all my data would be gone.

"Your spirit body's materialized now, so let's keep the changes that come with that in mind and try just 100,000 TP to start. I need to check again how much strain it puts on your mind. If I shove it all in and you get hurt, then what?"

I had compromised because I felt bad about bending something that genuinely needed doing to feed my own desire — and the instant I did, Franc, beaming, said the one thing she absolutely shouldn't have.

"Truly? Ah, I'm sorry for thinking you a wicked little rascal!"

"...Right. Let's make it a million."

"Whaat?!"

"Want me to put in two million?"

"..."

This is absolutely not me sulking.

I turned my face from Franc, who had turned hers and was grumbling under her breath, opened the shell of the pendant, and lifted out her Soul Stone, wrapped neatly in its pouch.

"!!"

I had only pinched it lightly between finger and thumb, and already she straightened her back, an exclamation mark practically floating over her head. I worried whether she could endure even 100,000 — and at the same time, I looked forward to seeing her come undone.

"Then I'm charging it?"

"Yes."

Princess Franc clutched both hands together, tense. I gripped the Soul Stone and began pouring TP straight into it.

"Hk—?! Nnnngh... aahn...!"

The moment the TP went in, she seized the skirt of her dress in a tight fist, bit down on her lip, and began to moan with her brow twisted hard. She seemed to be taking the sudden pleasure for pain. Soon enough her body started to hitch, and the pale skin left bare flushed slowly to pink.

"...! Nnh...!"

She ducked her head, then her whole upper body, until she was curled in on herself. Platinum hair tumbled loose and glittered where the sunlight caught it — fantastic and beautiful, truly a princess of the forest.

"!!!"

A moment later the Soul Stone began devouring TP in a rush, and she started to tremble in little jerks. Hmm. It was taking my TP faster than it used to. At this speed, three million would only take about three hours. The pleasure she felt didn't seem to grow or shrink with the amount the stone absorbed, and maybe because she had been through this a few times already, she was holding up better than I'd expected.

"There. A hundred thousand's in."

"Hah! Hah! Haaah!!"

Rough, sweet moans spilled out of her. She swayed as if dizzy, then collapsed onto the grass and shivered. Drenched in sweat and flushed, she looked up at me and asked, weakly.

"A-already...?"

"Yeah. Don't know why, but it's absorbing TP faster than before. At this rate, if we charge straight through, about three hours."

"Three hours... nnh."

At the words she went limp. Her cheeks were flushed red, and I had the feeling that if I touched her now she would come apart.

"Can you keep going?"

"...Yes. If it is only that much, I believe I can manage."

Is she really all right? She looks a little worrying to me. Well, even if something goes wrong — ahem — I can just hold her. Ahem.

At her assurance I nodded and drove TP into the Soul Stone in one long, steady pour.

"Haaaaah...!"

Beautiful and pure enough that I would have believed her a princess of any country, Franc arched like a bow as if enduring pain, clutched the grass, and trembled. The sight fed my sadism splendidly. This was good. Not for Franc, maybe, but good. Utterly perfect.

I crept around and admired her from every angle, and the time flew. I succeeded in charging the Soul Stone's Phase Power up to three million — but the backlash turned Franc into a complete animal, and bringing her back to herself ate up a full day. It was a day that taught me a woman in heat is, in a great many ways, both incredible and terrifying.

I looked at the sphere of return, glowing bright as it drank my Phase Power, then turned to Franc. As if she had never been in heat at all, she stood beside me radiating a fresh, pure beauty, gazing at the mass of light.

...A woman's whole air really does change with her hair.

"Seoha?"

Ah. I'd been staring too openly.

"Ah, I was thinking you're so pretty it's basically fraud."

"...Goodness. You mustn't carry on like that too much in front of Hwayeon or Yeongeun. You understand?"

"Yeah."

She seemed worried my affection might tilt toward any one of them, but I had already laid down a firm rule in my heart. I would conduct myself so that none of them ever felt left out, and I would see to it that no more women fell under the spell of my Mana Vision.

I drew a deep breath and pulled Franc in by the waist. Once I felt her arms around me, I fed the last of the Phase Power into the Return Point, and space began to ripple around the cluster of light. Shimmering gently, like a lake in a light wind, it soon swallowed the both of us.

I closed my eyes ahead of the light about to burst free, activated Spatial Perception, and gave myself over to the feeling of being drawn away.