Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Approaching Enrollment
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Hm...
"Scary."
Flinch.
For some reason, I felt Lili's body, nestled in my arms, shrink back for a moment, but I brushed it off as nothing and kept talking.
"Even though I know in my head they're not the type to do that, the thought that they could actually kill me terrifies me."
Three times.
No, I don't want to die even twice.
The thing I hate most in the world is dying, and the second is betrayal.
If you ask if there's anyone who doesn't hate dying, well...
I've actually died before, so I know just how shitty it is better than most. Maybe the intensity is different for me.
But Ria and Mimi's case is a little different.
"More than that, the scariest thing is the tiny possibility that they might destroy their Slave Seals and betray me. I've come to love them too damn much."
Just imagining that possibility makes me dry-heave, dizzy with fear.
I once heard that to know despair, you must know hope first. It hits way too close to home.
Suppose those two actually decided to kill me.
I'd be left with a wound that could never heal.
Probably cut ties with the whole world and hole up in some mountain, living like a hermit.
It's a good thing things are going so happily with Lili right now.
"...But didn't you say they wouldn't betray you?"
"It's the possibility that matters."
Who would've thought a perfectly running car would suddenly break down and cause a fatal crash?
And since it was an electric car, it caught fire fast. I burned alive.
It hurt so fucking much.
I can't even describe that pain with my vocabulary.
It was so bad that when I woke up in this world, even though I wasn't burning anymore, the phantom pain lingered. My mind blanked out, and I stood frozen in the middle of the street.
I only snapped out of it when someone shoved my shoulder and pain shot through my palm.
Those bastards who burned people as witches back in the day deserve to burn in hell forever.
But get this?
Something even more ridiculous happened to me than that absurd car failure.
Isekai reincarnation or possession, whatever you call it.
After going through that, how can I just shrug off even a slim chance of something bad happening?
If you call me paranoid...
'Yeah. I'll just be a paranoid bastard.'
In that famous drama, the little brother tells his heart-surgery-bound older brother not to worry because the failure rate is only 3%.
The chance of childhood heart disease was less than 2%.
That line about fearing that 3% hits different now.
That's why Ria, who gained the power to destroy her seal, and Mimi, who will soon, scare me so much.
Now... who knows.
'Truth is, I still want to trust them once.'
Not sure. I think that, but I lack the courage to actually go meet those girls.
I don't want to die again, or relive that betrayal from when I first arrived here.
Especially not from the people I love delivering those two shittiest things.
'I couldn't take that.'
For real.
If it really happened.
And I woke up in some new body somewhere?
I've done the isekai trip once. What's to say it won't happen again?
How do I deal with the despair then?
Squeeze.
"Master..."
"Ah! Sorry."
I'd unconsciously gripped her breast too hard.
Sorry, I stroked Lili's face and gave her a light kiss.
"I'm a coward. I don't have the guts to face it head-on, so I'm content just living like this."
"I-I...!"
"Yeah?"
"I'll never leave you... I'll stay by your side forever."
Aww, how does our Lili always say the cutest things?
She's so lovable, I hugged her tight and rolled over so she was on top.
Is it my heartbeat? Or hers?
Through our pressed chests, one of our pounding hearts transmitted to our bodies.
"Let's sleep like this tonight."
With most of my body covered by Lili, a sense of mental stability washed over me.
Yeah. She's my perfect cuddle attachment doll for sleep.
"Okay..."
Her slightly cool body cooled my heated one, and I drifted off.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"That's the city with the Academy."
"Yeah. I see it!"
Fully recovered, Gloria and Mimi raced toward something on the horizon, the rising sun at their backs.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Professor McCall Bedrich.
The history professor wasn't the absolute top in academia, but he had a decent reputation.
His papers on folk religion were always closely watched in the field.
They often ended in hypotheses rather than firm conclusions, but his data collection and interpretation were solid, making his work reliable—or at least worth considering.
Especially his paper from last year, 'Eastern Tribal Alliance: Their Values Through Relations with Beastkin,' cited widely as reference material. In that niche, Professor McCall was fairly renowned.
"Finally done!"
He taught history at the Academy for one reason: easier access to materials for his long-researched topic.
And now, he'd just finished a paper poured full of effort, care, and hope.
Of course, he'd need a couple revisions to check for misses, but he was certain.
This would be the pinnacle of his scholarly career.
[Pink-Haired Folk Beliefs and Their Connection to Liliss]
At the top, elegant script proclaimed the title.
"Yes! There's no effect without a cause."
The simple folk belief across the continent: pink hair symbolizes misfortune.
Simple as it was, it should have countless roots in oral tradition.
Yet oddly, beyond 'pink hair is misfortune's symbol,' no clear origin existed.
Professor McCall had questioned that.
Even a boulder at a tiny village entrance gets legends. But pink hair beliefs? Nothing solid.
Regions varied wildly—scattered, vague reasons with little research value.
Useful for studying regional misfortune views, sure.
But McCall wanted the root cause. That was off-topic.
So he formed two hypotheses.
First: Someone deliberately omitted and hid the origin.
But hiding the whole thing would make more sense, so secondary.
Second hypothesis.
"Hard to even guess the reason."
No one even suspects, so origin info floats uselessly, he thought.
If he hadn't spotted that brief Liliss mention in an imperial library ancient text, he never would've reached this point.
Others might dismiss it, but it sparked his doubt.
"Once this paper's out, everyone will know."
From drifting at sea through scattered data—early conspiracy vibes—to a coherent blueprint. His pen capped that journey today.
"Pink hair symbolizes misfortune because it's the hair color unique to Liliss."
Not that having or seeing pink hair brings misfortune.
Liliss, incarnation of negation, has pink hair—thus the symbol.
Thinking one man could reshape continental perception thrilled him, chills racing his spine.
'This is why I keep at scholarship.'
Today, he'd fully escape the Bedrich name as complete Professor McCall.
"Oh. Time's gotten away."
Excitement from endless horizon to visible goal kept him up all night writing. Now, first class of the semester neared.
Broad continental history strokes—no prep needed. Just go.
'Mull over fancy phrasing for the conclusion during class.'
Donning his coat from the sofa, adjusting attire, he planned luxurious wording.
But he didn't know.
Horizon destinations can turn to mirages, all illusion.
And.
Not just Professor McCall had reached that conclusion.