Chapter 50
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Anticipating the Beast Tamer
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I calmly walked out of the floor where Professor Prezel's lab was located.
The lingering traces of mana pricked at my nerves, disrupting my composure.
As if I'd forgotten how good I'd felt just moments ago, layers of frost settled in.
'Tsk, what a mess.'
The small points I sensed everywhere were all hidden summoning circles.
It was like the sticky smell of oil lingering at the tip of my nose.
Professor Prezel might think she'd hidden them well, but if someone seriously searched for them, it was pointless.
Whether you knew the intent or not made all the difference— you might never notice them, or spot them more easily than expected.
It was just that no one imagined a mere university becoming a terrorist target, allowing this underhanded work to proceed.
'If the tunnels activate, the Magic Department building might as well be done for.'
The summoned beasts would each be powerful, but there were dozens of professors here too.
Under normal circumstances, it'd be an even match, but I was certain the Magic Department building wouldn't hold up well.
'Because of the demons.'
Professor Prezel, who'd been running all sorts of sabotage as an insider, would rampage as a full-fledged demon herself.
Demons handled curses.
Conventional magic would become blunt and dull against them.
With her deep knowledge of magic, Professor Prezel would fuse curses and spells just right, displaying freakish defensive abilities.
Her offensive power, focused on fire magic, went without saying.
She could even withstand a united front from the professors.
'...This place might be beyond what I can handle.'
Because the one I needed to watch wasn't Professor Prezel.
The beast tamer, treated as an executive-level figure in the story.
I had to deal with him myself.
Knock knock.
"Who is it?"
Assistant Bielle cracked the door open and looked at me.
"It's Aiden. I came to see Professor Prezel briefly. May I enter?"
"Just a moment. Would you like to come in first?"
"Sure."
Assistant Bielle guided me into Professor Prezel's lab.
As I followed, I glanced at Bielle's back.
Sheep beastkin—or more precisely, closer to mountain goat.
Regular female sheep don't have horns.
But Assistant Bielle, who called herself a sheep beastkin, definitely had small but clear ones.
'Mountain goat, or maybe goat.'
Goats have distinctive rectangular pupils, so probably mountain goat.
"Professor Prezel is busy with outside matters. I didn't hear about any appointment, but did you schedule one?"
"No, no appointment. But... after the thing with Elin last time, I wanted to express some gratitude."
"Ah, in that case, could you come back later? I'll let the professor know..."
As Assistant Bielle spoke, I casually scanned the lab.
Papers strewn across the desk, a mug with lipstick stains on top, pouches full of academic journals. Official university documents here and there.
"I see. That's a shame."
Bielle responded with appropriately sympathetic regret.
"How about you, then?"
"Pardon?"
Surprised by my invitation, Bielle tilted her head.
"It's nothing much. Beastkin are rare even in the academy. Just simple curiosity—mind if I ask a few questions?"
"...I'm not thrilled about being of interest just for my race rather than as a person."
Bielle grumbled, then sighed and slumped her shoulders.
"But... alright. I have some questions for you too, Professor Aiden."
"Glad we're on the same page."
I paused a beat before speaking again.
"And I have a certain interest in you as well."
Assistant Bielle was one of the few who could evade my Hallucination of Disgust.
Of course I'd be curious.
"Urgh..."
I stated the fact plainly, but Bielle looked at me and let out a big sigh.
A vague gaze that wasn't exactly displeased, but still...
Before I could ask why, Bielle beat me to it.
"...I don't like pickup lines."
"...I've never tried any. If I thought it was one..."
If I thought it was a pickup line?
Had I ever even tried picking someone up?
Blind spot... When it came to romance, I was sorely lacking in experience, this time and last.
"If you had... you'd probably say something more flirtatious."
"I can tell you've never confessed to anyone of the opposite sex."
Her sideways glance screamed "you're so pitiful it's infuriating."
Or maybe a bit annoyed.
Either way, it was the look of an older sister eyeing a bratty much-younger brother.
Annoying, but impossible to truly hate...
I shot her a what-do-you-mean look, and Bielle snorted.
"If you'd actually flirted around, there wouldn't be a problem? Because it'd be obvious to avoid."
That was a new revelation.
As I radiated surprise, Bielle added one more thing.
"You give off such a vibe that even a little kindness gets taken the wrong way."
The feeling that you'd welcome it, something like that?
Bielle pondered, chewing over the word deeply.
"包容力.包容力, I think."
"So that's why it looks like I'm hitting on you?"
"Hmm... probably?"
"Curious."
"Or maybe you seem a bit sloppy somewhere, like you need looking after? You draw attention just standing there!"
"That's a bit much, but..."
Thinking back, Isel had been fired up early on about "making you human first."
'Do I seem kinda deficient somewhere?'
Bielle cleared her throat awkwardly, belatedly embarrassed about her own enthusiasm.
"Ahem! So, um... if you're just a little nice, other women might misunderstand. Please be careful."
As if reality were some dating sim where it'd be that easy.
It defied logic.
As I kept looking puzzled, Bielle nodded like this explained it.
"Ever heard of '顔面補正'—facial logic?"
"Nope."
"The context sounds totally unnatural, but then you see the face and go, 'Ah, makes sense.'"
"If that existed, I'd be a little jealous."
I'd skip demon lord subjugation and just ask him to lift the curse myself.
I'd love some of that logic to patch my gaps.
Bielle's under-eye twitched rapidly.
"Is that something you should say?"
I feigned ignorance, and Bielle groaned in agony.
"...You can stop being jealous now, Professor."
No idea, but I replied that I got it.
"So, what are you curious about?"
'Curious, huh.'
The tunnels worked with Professor Prezel laying summoning circles inside, and the beast tamer sending designated beasts.
Summoning circles were influenced by the beast's size and specs.
Small circle for small beasts, large for big ones, that sort of thing.
You might wonder how they hid them from human eyes...
'Right, summoning circles get exposed easily due to their size and the ominous aura.'
Summoning anything evil or disastrous leaks a distinct energy, so they're hard to hide.
If Professor Prezel were really summoning beasts directly, no way.
'The only ones who could summon beasts so blatantly are the beast tamer from the heretic magician's main base, or someone who can open a gate straight to another world.'
Someone who mainly deceives and corrupts people, that is.
Someone who could wield powers Professor Prezel couldn't.
The mastermind who corrupted the botany professor into a demon...
'And discarded Professor Prezel like trash to turn her into a demon—the overseer.'
Unless that guy showed up personally, such overt summoning was impossible.
So all Professor Prezel did was send signals with tiny magic circles.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the beast tamer handled the actual summoning.
Professor Prezel just specified positions and beast types.
A tiny alarm would suffice for that.
Tiny summoning circles linked to large-scale ones.
That's what Professor Prezel had scattered everywhere.
'Then the beast tamer warps them right there.'
Summoning that's not quite summoning—magic straddling the line.
High-level stuff no one but a teleportation expert like him could dream of.
'Skips all the summoning procedures and shoots them straight to the spot.'
Consumes mana from the main base's large magic circle for instant transport.
And this time, that crafty magician might come along too.
I sank into thought for a moment.
Bielle stared at me blankly.
I stared right back at Bielle.
The small horns sprouting from her head.
Mountain goat beastkin.
"Sorry, but you're not sheep—you're mountain goat, right?"
"Ah, the horns?"
"Yeah."
A mischievous glint entered Bielle's eyes as she looked at me.
Her gaze turned sly, playfully intent on embarrassing me.
"Heh... You know that's quite rude?"
"On behalf of humanity, I sincerely apologize for the beastkin issue."
Long ago, the Holy See had defined the image of Satan as a gaunt figure with a goat or mountain goat face.
It might've ended there harmlessly, but unfortunately, such people existed in reality.
Mountain goat and goat beastkin.
The Holy See immediately mustered crusaders for an expedition, souring relations with the beastkin nation ever since.
'The beastkin got their first master during that great war.'
The white tiger bearing a massive greatsword.
Owner of monstrous strength said to fell mountains in one blow.
'The Empire's neutral diplomacy keeps decent ties with the beastkin nation, but...'
Beastkin were still rare sights.
They saw the Empire as under the Holy See's influence.
Thus, a beastkin—let alone a mountain goat one—in the academy was exceptionally unusual.
"I was worried at first, but surprisingly, they've treated me well."
"Good to hear."
"So is that your interest?"
I didn't answer.
Instead, I let the silence stretch, giving a non-answer as reply.
"Hmm, rude curiosity it was..."
"But you're treating me like easy prey to tease."
"Who'd dare tease a master? It'd be the achievement of my life?"
Please don't count that as a life achievement...
I let out a big sigh, and Bielle burst into giggles.
Ignoring her attempts to fluster me from the side, I sank back into thought.
'There are a few reasons I'm certain the beast tamer is coming.'
This came up in director days discussing balance issues.
'Like when bug exploits like wall-clipping get found, or skipping gimmicks by jumping stages.'
Or playing without taking any hits.
Spamming weak points, etc.
You can't block every bug play.
True bugs get patched, but system exploits are trickier. Plus...
'It gives free secondary marketing.'
Posting discovered exploits online promotes the game again.
No need to block every in-game system use.
'But it was kinda cheeky, right?'
I want to smack past me for thinking that.
Game difficulty stays the same, but if players are too good, we upped it internally.
'Variable difficulty.'
Most of what I'd done fell under this.
No deaths in the practical disaster.
Smoothed over the magic tower incident.
Snagged Elise's item via exploit.
'Compensation value increase.'
Once compensation spiked, difficulty ramped: monster type changes, aggression up, new attack patterns, massive waves, all enemy AI boosted.
New incidents popping up.
That's why I dreaded the beast tamer so much.
He embodied every case I hated—a walking bomb.
As the section most affected by difficulty spikes, things would get spicy from here: monster swaps, aggression, patterns, waves, AI boosts.
I closed my eyes.
The beast tamer coming was, in a way, a given.
But why he was coming—that was the issue.
'So now I need to figure that out.'
Bielle eyed my silent self curiously.