Yustia Banquet (8)
'What the hell is this? No Mana Road?'
Zeke frowned and channeled mana into Soy's body.
But there was nothing—an utter void.
It felt like venturing into a pitch-black cave where not even an echo resounded.
'Can't see a damn thing.'
Unlike his initial plan of simply placing a hand on her back to assess her,
Soy's case demanded probing her emotions as well.
In the end, when push came to shove, he could only trust his eyes.
Judgment Eye
This eye allowed him to read a person's emotions.
'Soy Spoon wields techniques based on emotions. This should reveal something.'
Zeke's gaze pierced through the cloth covering his eyes, peering into Soy's body.
A waist as white and slender as an untouched snowfield,
a delicate back quivering like a newly hatched waterfowl.
It was like a beautiful work of art.
[ Life 0%Death 100% ]
'What the fuck is this? A glitch...?'
Zeke's face stiffened.
It was a fate he'd never seen before.
Death at 100% was impossible.
No matter how close to death a person was, it never hit 100%—always 99% at worst.
'Judgment Eye only works on the living.'
In other words, by the Judgment Eye's judgment, Soy was already dead.
Yet her complexion and movements brimmed with overflowing vitality—exceptional, even.
No way could she be a corpse.
Suddenly, a word flashed in Zeke's mind.
'Fate.'
What Zeke's eyes read was the target's fate.
In other words, in this novel, she was fated to die without fail.
'A bad end?'
If the heroine had to meet her death for the story to conclude.
If that was predestined.
What should he do?
Zeke gazed at Soy with complicated eyes.
'That's why her emotions aren't reading clearly...'
Zeke wanted more clues.
He focused his eyes with all his might, trying to read her emotions.
Sssslip.
Emotions appeared, faintly hazy.
They weren't completely unreadable.
Just hopelessly tangled, indistinguishable.
They flowed as if sucked toward somewhere.
Zeke reached out with his hand, tracing them.
Where the emotions pooled.
Her heart.
'This is a mana stone?'
Mana stone.
The core embedded in a monster's heart.
Impossible in a human—yet there it was, lodged in Soy Spoon's heart.
Poke.
Poke.
Knead.
Knead.
He needed a closer look.
Yeah, he'd found it odd that she used Berserker, a monster technique.
But to think she'd embedded this in her own heart.
'No side effects...? It's like a ticking time bomb. Could this be the issue...'
The mana stone in Soy's heart was larger than the one from the Utra he'd slain last time.
"Big..."
"I-Instructor! Wh-what are you doing right now!?"
"Hm?"
Zeke's focus shattered at the shrill cry piercing his ears.
The Judgment Eye deactivated, and darkness reclaimed his vision.
Nothing was visible.
"What's wrong?"
Zeke asked, genuinely puzzled.
"...Instructor."
"...Zeke."
"...H-hand..."
Hand?
His hand was on her back.
But unlike the expected hardness, it was soft, squishy, moist...
What was this hard nub?
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Hm?
Sssslip.
The eyepatch slipped from Zeke's eyes.
Three girls' faces filled his view.
Iriel glaring with contempt.
Serena on the verge of tears, face full of betrayal.
Soy Spoon trembling in shock.
"Hm...?"
Only then did Zeke realize where his hand was.
His right hand planted firmly on Soy Spoon's breast.
At some point, she'd turned around—facing him frontally now, not her back.
Zeke wore an expression of utter incomprehension.
"Why'd you turn around?"
He asked.
Sparks flew from the girls' eyes.
"You turned me!!!"
Ah.
Fuck.
Serena, Iriel, and Soy Spoon bolted out of the bakery.
Iriel had tried slapping Zeke's cheek, but he'd dodged on pure reflex.
Soy hurriedly grabbed her discarded clothes and dressed.
In the end, the three girls could only glare daggers before fleeing the shop.
"Z-Zeke... I never thought he'd... grope my breasts like that... So... big tits are his thing? Is that it!?"
"Touched... touched... touched..."
Iriel fumed, barely containing her rage.
Serena muttered with hollow, lightless eyes.
Soy Spoon, meanwhile, cycled through contempt, denial, betrayal, disgust.
Recalling Zeke's brazen face, she bit her lip hard.
'M-my breasts...!!!'
He'd kneaded them, even groped her vulgarly.
At first, she could only freeze, unable to process.
'I trusted him! I trusted him!'
Her body shuddered from the shock.
"G-gonna kill him. Instructor? Elise?"
"Zeke... he didn't touch mine..."
But seeing the two noble ladies in deeper denial than her brought Soy back to her senses.
And Serena, with her empty eyes radiating murderous intent toward Zeke—and her— was downright terrifying.
Sniff.
Soy wiped her tears.
What was done was done; she had to think ahead.
Having endured hardship since childhood, Soy grasped and accepted reality swiftly.
Of course, the massive sense of betrayal still lingered.
'Did he really mean to...'
When he'd placed his hand on her back,
something had burrowed inward, sending chills down her spine.
Then her tangled emotions nearly brought tears surging.
But Zeke's face, as he suddenly spun her around, was rigidly set.
Eyes covered, yet it felt like he was staring right at her.
Contrary to her fears, it hadn't hurt.
'He seemed... worried about something.'
Always sensitive to others' emotions, Soy could roughly sense Zeke's.
Linked by his hand, his thick pity toward her came through crystal clear.
Still, facts were facts—he'd touched her body.
She resolved to avoid Zeke Clayman as much as possible from now on.
"Instructor... why..."
"Zeke... pervert... molester..."
Watching Serena and Iriel's reactions, Soy realized one thing.
"Um..."
As she opened her mouth, the two shot her teary, accusatory glares.
"D-do you... both like the instructor?"
At her words, Iriel and Serena flinched like they'd been stabbed, gasping.
"L-like? Who?!"
"Instructor's just my benefactor!"
'Ah, they do like him.'
Why that pervert, of all people?
Threatening lessons in exchange for help.
Always putting them through grueling training.
She had a debt to him, so half-forced into it—but these two duke's daughters, raised without want, owed him nothing obvious.
Bad boys their type?
Objectively—excluding the breast incident—Zeke Clayman was handsome.
Helped without expecting repayment.
'No, he made training his repayment.'
Stoic, but subtly caring in a special way...
'Ah?'
Thump.
Thump.
Thinking of him made Soy's heart skip.
Shake. Shake.
She shook her head.
'No, I hate perverts. And that rock-hard type isn't for me.'
Her type was gentle, soft.
Not wooden like him, but tender and kind.
A good man who sensed her moods first, cared for her.
"...Elise. Sniff."
Soy couldn't bear their resentful stares.
First, reassure them.
Such was the plight of a commoner.
"I-I don't like the instructor!"
"?"
"...?"
Serena and Iriel whipped their heads toward her.
Gulp.
Soy swallowed dryly.
No desire to compete for one guy with them.
"I-I like soft guys! Gentle ones, y'know, all tender!"
"...Really?"
Serena asked first.
"Yeah! Totally!"
Soy nodded vigorously.
Iriel and Serena's eyes shifted subtly.
Better deny thoroughly here.
'Please, just fight between you two!'
"Super pissed off! A pervert who gropes breasts out of nowhere? Not my type! How can someone do that!? I'm a student! Total no-go! Pervert trash!"
She ramped up the insults to prove her innocence.
The two noble ladies frowned.
"No, that's not it."
"Too harsh."
Iriel and Serena grew serious.
"Zeke probably didn't mean to."
"Yeah. Don't think bad of the instructor. There must've been a reason. He probably found something inside you."
Enemies, yet Yustia and Yohayden synced perfectly.
'No, then what about me!!'
Thus, the pitiful commoner suffered between the duke ladies' whims.