Chapter 23: The Sea
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 23: The Sea
In the end, it was Margaret who saved my Teacher.
Like the Witch of Space she was, Margaret severed the tentacles with some unknown spatial magic and rescued her, then began shooting me glances, urging me to hurry.
Taking the hint, I rushed over to my Teacher.
“Teacher!”
“Ugh… Yohan…”
The translucent sea monster had splattered Evangeline’s body with slime. It created such an erotic atmosphere that I found it difficult to look at her.
But I couldn’t keep my head turned forever. Looking at my Teacher, who was soaked in the slime, I began to wipe it off her body with a cloth I’d brought.
“…It’s not coming off well.”
“Ugh, this feels disgusting. I’m going to take a quick dip in the sea.”
“Again? After what just happened?”
“That was because I let my guard down! Normally, even if hundreds of those monsters came at me…”
Sensing one of her long-winded boasts coming on, I waved my hands and quickly pushed her into the water. Pouting at her disciple for pushing her, she went into the sea, washed the slime off her body, and came back out.
She must have used some application of magic, because when she emerged from the water, she shook off every last drop. Watching her, a thought occurred to me.
“Teacher, by any chance…”
I proposed my idea to her. After hearing me out, she tested it to see if it was possible. Once she realized it was, she stared at me with an expression of disbelief.
I, too, stared back at her, half in shock, never having imagined something like this was actually possible.
“…We shouldn’t use this normally.”
“Right. Still… let’s take just a little, just in case.”
Evangeline filled a beaker with a small amount of seawater and sealed it. I just prayed the seal would never break as I enjoyed the rest of our vacation with my Teacher.
Having realized there were monsters in the sea, Evangeline and Margaret decided to prioritize cleaning them out before enjoying their vacation.
When I asked why they were prioritizing something that didn’t seem necessary, my Teacher pointed to me as the reason.
“It’s fine if we get caught by a monster, but you’re different, aren’t you?”
“…Ah.”
True. I was certain that the translucent sea monster that had grabbed Evangeline earlier possessed an immense grip. If it had caught me, my entire body would have been crushed like a can in a compactor.
How on earth did Teacher withstand that…?
I knew she must have used some kind of magic, but I wondered if it was even possible in that brief, imperceptible moment. Weren’t those reaction speeds inhuman?
With that thought, I followed my Teacher around the entire island. The fact that no human hands had touched this place meant that countless plants and animals lived here. And countless plants and animals ultimately meant many monsters.
Since plants and animals that had awakened to Magic Power were called monsters, it was only natural that the more of them there were, the higher the probability of awakening.
As she slaughtered monsters around the island, my Teacher clapped her hands as if she’d had a good idea and turned to me.
“Yohan.”
“Yes, Teacher.”
“Want to try catching one?”
“…Me?”
“Yes. We’ll watch and stop anything dangerous, so—how about you try fighting one?”
“When else will you get a chance to fight a monster like this?” Evangeline urged me. I could have refused to fight and hidden behind my Teacher forever, but the pride of a Korean man wouldn’t allow it.
In the end, I accepted and stepped forward, only to regret my decision less than three seconds later.
Fuck… what the hell is that…
I scowled at the giant Sea Isopod before me. Some people call shrimp the cockroaches of the sea, but if they saw this, they would never say that again.
The cockroach of the sea was the Sea Isopod. Look at those antennae on its head. And what about all those legs sprouting from the sides of its armor-like carapace?
“Wow, a second Evangeline.”
Was it because she wasn’t the one fighting? Margaret stood off to the side, laughing leisurely and cracking jokes. But I couldn’t laugh at all.
First, because I had to fight this giant insect bastard with my bare hands, and second, because I couldn’t agree that this thing resembled my Teacher in any way.
Is this how Teacher normally looks to people?
If so, I could understand why others despised her so much. Hated and hated until she, too, came to hate her own appearance…
“…Teacher, is it okay if I use something like a club?”
“We don’t have anything like that.”
“Then… I’ll just pick up a branch. I really can’t… touch that thing with my bare hands.”
I picked up a fallen branch from the ground. It looked hopelessly flimsy compared to the monster’s sturdy carapace, as if it would break with a single tap.
It was obviously weaker than my bare fists, but it was better than nothing. Yes, anything was better than touching that thing with my bare hands…
“Uwaaaaaah—!”
I let out a yell and charged toward the monster, which seemed impossible to face with a clear mind. The Sea Isopod reacted to the sound, its legs scrambling as it rushed toward me.
It charged as fast as its disgustingly numerous legs could carry it, ramming into me before I could even swing the branch in my hand.
Thwack—! The moment I was knocked to the ground by the massive creature, the grotesque thing opened its maw right in front of my eyes, ready to gnaw on my body.
“Shit—!”
Cursing, I twisted my body with all my might. I finally managed to escape, but not before my body was covered in scrapes and cuts. The mental damage I sustained during the escape was far greater than the physical.
I looked at my Teacher with pleading eyes, but she just shook her head as if to say she couldn't help.
What could a powerless disciple do? I’d already touched it anyway. I clenched my fists and ran toward the monster.
Fuck, fuck—!
If my Teacher’s goal was to get me used to this disgusting appearance, she had succeeded. All too well.
Watching Yohan throw punches, Evangeline spoke to Margaret beside her.
“It’s strange, isn’t it?”
[What is?]
“He can use Magic Power, but he can’t use magic.”
[The fact that a man can use Magic Power at all is unusual.]
Margaret could travel the entire world without restriction, but nowhere had she ever found a man who could use Magic Power. Of course, she had never found anyone who could see through her curse and look at her directly, either.
That was what made Yohan special. He was a unique existence, the only one in the entire world. Someone she hadn’t seen in hundreds of years…
“That’s what I’m saying is strange.”
[What?]
“Even monsters can use magic once they awaken to Magic Power, right? But Yohan shows no signs of using magic at all…”
Monsters that awakened to Magic Power learned magic that enhanced their innate characteristics. The monster Yohan was currently beating to a pulp was likely using magic to make its carapace even harder.
Some monsters used magic to enhance their sense of smell, others to run faster.
Although the effects were highly specific and had no other applications, monsters, like witches, could use magic.
[His very existence might be magic.]
“You’re saying that breaking curses is Yohan’s magic?”
[Yes.]
“But Yohan was fine even before he awakened his Magic Power, wasn’t he?”
The two continued their conversation, discussing what kind of magic Yohan might possess. They were so engrossed that they failed to pay attention to Yohan himself…
“Hyaaah!”
CRUNCH—!
They didn’t even properly see the moment Yohan let out a battle cry, shattered the monster’s exoskeleton, and turned its innards into a complete pulp.
Only belatedly realizing that Yohan had defeated the monster, Evangeline approached him, brushed off the foreign substances on his body, and glanced at the monster’s corpse.
…It was shattered in almost one blow? This sturdy monster?
This monster had a carapace so tough that it could easily deflect the pickaxe of a miner with exceptional strength. No matter how much he enhanced his body with Magic Power, it wasn’t a monster that could be defeated with just punches.
That meant something more than a simple punch had been involved in taking it down.
Did he… use magic?
However, unlike witches who instinctively understood magic, Yohan was a man who could use Magic Power, and on top of that, he wasn’t even from this world. Evangeline stopped trying to judge her disciple with her own meager knowledge and simply looked at him.
Perhaps as an aftereffect of his first real battle, Yohan was staring down at his own trembling hands.
“…Are you okay?”
“Teacher…”
“Yes. Should we stop here if it’s too hard?”
“I can’t get it out of my head… What do I do…?”
Hearing Yohan’s words, Evangeline thought he might have a more fragile heart than she’d realized. He was probably experiencing the same PTSD that knights and soldiers suffered during wartime.
Having lived for a long time and met all sorts of people, Evangeline knew how to treat such individuals.
“It’s okay. You have me, don’t you?”
Just comfort him and trust that time would heal. With those words, Evangeline pulled Yohan into an embrace, burying his face in her chest.
The moment his face pressed into her cleavage, Evangeline felt an indescribable thrill, enough to make her glad she had come here today…
As she rubbed his face against her chest, Yohan raised a hand as if uncomfortable.
“Oh, oh! What? Did I pull you too hard…?”
“…No, Teacher. It’s not that.”
Yohan held his hand far away from himself, grimacing as if it were disgusting. It was a slightly peculiar reaction for someone who was simply in shock from taking a life.
And it didn’t take long for Evangeline to understand why he was acting that way.
“The smell… it won’t come off…”
“Ah…”
Although Evangeline had used magic to remove the monster’s dried blood, it wasn’t perfect. She couldn’t erase the smell that had seeped into the hand that had plunged into its innards.
That’s what Yohan had meant. The smell clinging to his hand wouldn’t go away…
Right, there’s no way my Yohan is that weak.
Thinking this, Evangeline completely removed the lingering smell from his hand. And her thoughts weren’t wrong.
After all, Yohan was a modern man, the kind who could calmly smile at the deaths of a million people as long as they had nothing to do with him.