36. A Child Who Brings Joy
36. A Child Who Brings Joy
"Keueuug...!"
His arms wobbled.
His lungs shrank, his vision blurred.
How many reps was this?
How many had he done now?
Just as his breath climbed to his chin and his strength was about to give out—
"You can do it!"
"Keueuk... Coach...!"
No.
He couldn't.
This was something he shouldn't be doing.
He hurriedly blinked his eyes.
I can put this down now, right? I did a lot, didn't I? I held on hard, didn't I?
"One last time! One last time!"
"One... time...?"
One time.
Last one more time.
At that single phrase, he gathered all his strength, gathered, gathered, gathered, and— fuuuck, seriously!
"If it weren't for you, Coach...!!!"
"That's it, good! Hold that pose! Don't relax!"
Why was one time not one time?
Can't you count? Can't do math?
How did you get hired as a teacher like that?
After three comes two.
After two comes one.
"Euh, giyaaaaaaah!!!"
So why was it five after three, and one after one?!
It was a set where he poured out every last emotion.
At last he rose from his seat and silently stared at Eve.
"................."
"Hmm....."
No.
Now it was truly impossible.
If he did more he would die.
He gazed at her with eyes half-glimmering with tears.
"How about just one more to wrap up?"
"................."
Should he kill her?
If he just stopped time and stabbed her properly with a knife, she'd probably die.
"Kidding! If you glare like that, this old maid might get the wrong idea?"
"............."
"...Was it not funny?"
"....Coach."
He spoke to Eve.
"I think I'm about to shit myself."
"....!!!"
He'd squeezed his sphincter so hard that a little had leaked, it felt like.
Only at that final appeal did Eve signal that he could stop.
"Bath...room...!"
The instant he lowered the barbell from his chest, he bolted toward the bathroom.
Really, he'd nearly dyed it brown...
...
..
.
"Hmm, not bad! 60kg? Compared to your first time, it's increased enormously!"
"Did my ancestors lift the bar's weight for me?"
"...Fine. 70kg. Happy?"
"Do you genuinely have a math problem?"
"OK! 80kg! Thank you!"
"Heueueu...."
His body crumpled to the floor.
Eve forced him up and dragged him toward the treadmill.
"If you sit down like this, you'll be wailing tomorrow. Let's walk for exactly 30 minutes and call it a day."
"..........."
A demon.
There was a demon here.
"Oh right, drink your protein! I bought this all with my own money, so don't leave any, drink every last drop!"
".........Ne."
Fortunately the protein was chocolate flavor.
The banana flavor before had been way too disgusting. So much that he spat it out the moment it hit his mouth.
He filled his empty stomach with the protein and tasted the sweet chocolate lingering in his mouth.
"Hwaaaaah....."
It felt like his body and head were moving separately.
Stuffing his empty stomach full of protein made him feel a little queasy, but that was only the first couple of days; after enduring it, he'd adapted.
"Looking good. Nice muscles. They're not combat muscles, but it's better than nothing."
"...Here, Coach."
He handed over his empty tumbler.
Eve beamed a smile— uh, ah, no. That button isn't it!
"Let's just raise it by 2km/h?"
"You said walk! You said walk!!"
"This much is just brisk walking pace!"
"How is this brisk walking?!!"
Agh, it, euh, eungieeit?!!
An agony too foul for words, and the sensation of his brain being wrapped in something hot.
He tried to lower the speed midway, but thanks to Eve obstinately blocking him, he could only be freed from hell after he had filled the full 30 minutes.
"I feel like I'm... gonna die...!"
"You're fine. You won't die. I'm right here beside you, aren't I?"
".........Coach."
From my perspective, that's just a death sentence.
You might as well just kill me.
Eve, saying he was exaggerating his aches, approached him as he lay on the floor.
"Stay still. I'll give you a massage."
"Heueeeuuh...!"
Even if he wanted to move, he couldn't move anymore.
Eve then pressed here and there on his body, rubbing and loosening his muscles.
"Keuh... aaaah...!"
A sensation that hurt but was refreshing.
The knotted spots were gently released, as if blood began to flow again.
Every time she pressed, it hurt so badly he instinctively twisted his hips, but the moment her hand lifted, lightness came like a spring breeze, making him think that Eve wasn't a teacher for nothing.
'She'd probably have done really well even as a personal trainer.'
In fact, even the current club time was essentially his private training session.
Early on in the club, a few people had remained, but now they all vanished and only he was left.
Even the ones who had held out left without a backward glance once they realized it genuinely was just physical conditioning.
"Haaaaa...."
Come to think of it, Eve was that kind of heroine.
Fierce passion for education, firm convictions, but the very things the students struggled to accept, so she ended up drifting through odd jobs.
She also clashed with other teachers because of those educational views, and anyway, at the academy she was something like a thorn in everyone's side.
Later on, there were CGs of her shedding tears and various stories unfolding, but setting that aside...
"Good muscles... yes, they're well-placed. You seem to have talent too. In many ways, you're worth raising."
"...Coach. You're massaging me, right?"
"Of course I am?"
"........No."
Just—
He got the feeling a little like a cow hauled into a slaughterhouse.
The touch that kneaded his muscles here and there was delicate and precise, giving him the sense that her understanding was indeed deep—but wouldn't a chef also have a deep understanding of muscle?
The fantasy that he might get devoured kept surfacing, making his body shudder with chills.
"There, that's the end. Anyway, I checked again earlier and you really have put on a lot of muscle. Next time I'll have to prepare something else."
"...May I ask what kind of preparation?"
"Hm? Nothing much."
Eve smiled brightly and answered.
"I'm thinking of lightly adding about 5kg weights."
"..............."
Should he run away?
[Physical Conditioning 3 - Success]
-Strengthen the frail body
1. Participate in club activities to the end (1/1)
Reward: Stamina, Agility, Strength +1 at random / Bare-Handed Combat SP +5
"....Haaaaah."
Now it was hard to run away too.
Ultimately, he had no choice but to be docilely dragged along by Eve's hand.
'...But that talk about adding weight plates.'
He remembered that line showing up in a Bond Rank 3 strategy.
Unlike main heroines, side heroines gave items or artifacts instead of joining the party.
In Eve's case, as he'd mentioned before, she gave weighted bands you could wear on your wrists and ankles—...wait, could it be?
"I'm asking just in case, but..."
"Hm? Do you have something you're curious about?"
"...That... well... what was it..."
By any chance, are you fattening me up to eat me?
...He couldn't bring himself to say that out loud.
"Ahaha! It's nothing!"
"Oho? Okay. If you're curious about something else later, ask me."
Eve let it slide.
For now, this would do.
'If she really plans to fatten me up and eat me...'
As far as he recalled, the event flow went all the way to a bodybuilding contest.
Surely it wouldn't go that far... but his heart grew subtly uneasy.
'A-and anyway, my Bare-Handed Combat SP has piled up quite steadily!'
As mentioned before, NTR Academy didn't have a separate concept called level.
Instead there was 'Proficiency': if you attended classes or did club activities, you obtained 'Skill Points' for that class or club.
Taking the same subject for a full week gave +5 points. Club points could be gained through random quests—that was the standard, but that applied to the Protagonist.
For other characters, including himself besides the Protagonist, the amount gained seemed to vary according to talent.
Anyway, when the 'Proficiency' of a skill accumulated past a certain threshold using these Skill Points, you could use it— to take himself as an example:
Name: Chrono (Class B)
Rank: 23
Strength: 17(+3)
Stamina: 19(+2)
Agility: 24(+4)
Intelligence: 33(-2)
Divine Power: 20
...Why was his Intelligence down?
'And why can't I see my skill window?'
He panicked because an entry that should have been there wasn't visible, then he suddenly realized one truth.
"That was a story from when it was a game..."
Sadly, the game's convenience patches couldn't overcome the barriers of reality.
Come to think of it, he'd been the one to manually assign the heroines' skills in the game— if it were really possible in reality, why wouldn't they have assigned their own skills?
Just as he felt at a loss over a matter where the reality patch was oddly solid, a new window materialized before his eyes.
[Apostle of Cronus][Rank: D (EX)]
-Governs time [Limit: 1m/1m]
-Rank can be raised through missions [100/200]
-With the acquisition of [Cronus's Eye], you can know your own status in greater detail.
".....Present Sight."
Just on the faint hope.
He used [Present Sight] on himself.
Name: Chrono / Apostle of Cronus
Title: The Child Who Brings Joy to Yeo
Status: Awe toward Cronus / Slightly fatigued
Skills
[Divine Mastery Lv. 4 (42)]
[Dagger Mastery Lv. 3 (43)]
[Firearm Mastery Lv. 1 (67)]
[Bare-Handed Combat Mastery Lv. 1 (15)]
"Um....."
Let's ignore that.
He naturally pressed the skill window first to check.
'First... [Bare-Handed Combat Mastery].'
There was one thing he had to learn right away.
[Bare-Handed Combat Mastery Lv1]
-Obtainable Skills
-HP Recovery Speed Increase [Lv 1] (5p)
-MP Recovery Speed Increase [Lv 1] (5p)
"Mm!"
It really is here.
He immediately pressed [HP Recovery Speed Increase [Lv 1]].
Name: Chrono / Apostle of Cronus
Title: The Child Who Brings Joy to Yeo
Status: Awe toward Cronus / Slightly fatigued
Skills
[Divine Mastery Lv. 4 (42)]
[Dagger Mastery Lv. 3 (43)]
[Firearm Mastery Lv. 1 (67)]
[Bare-Handed Combat Mastery Lv. 1 (10) / [HP Recovery Speed Increase [Lv 1]]]
His SP dropped by 5 and a new skill was added to the skill list.
Wow, what a relief. If he couldn't assign skills the way he wanted, he would have agonized a great deal over what to do next.
'Is everything roughly sorted now?'
He had plenty of SP left from his other classes, but he had no intention of spending them right away.
It wasn't urgent right now. Having rested a little, his breath had returned, so it was time to gradually get up.
"Euh, hup!"
"Going back?"
"Thank you for your hard work today as well."
"Ah, wait a moment."
He bowed politely, but Eve stopped him.
"Starting tomorrow it's midterms, so come to club whenever you feel like it."
"Ah!"
Midterms.
In other academy stories, midterms would literally mean taking written exams, but—
"You said you took down the boss in the Dungeon Experience, right? Midterms will be a walkover."
".....Haaaaaaah."
In NTR Academy, midterms and finals meant completing specific quests.
You accepted a quest, resolved it, and received corresponding points.
In reality, all you had to do was avoid failing, but...
'This is big trouble.'
Erotic trap dungeons, NTR events— they naturally existed.