The Professors Are the Easiest to Conquer (2)
Kael watched the female professor closely. Even after she had finished every last bite of the cake and drained the coffee can completely, she still pressed her nose against it, savoring the lingering aroma. The way she refused to let go of the can, continuously inhaling its scent, made her look less like a refined mage and more like an animal utterly obsessed with its prey.
"Professor, did you enjoy it?"
Kael asked gently. The female professor lifted her tear-streaked face. Her sky-blue eyes sparkled with pure, overwhelming emotion.
"It was delicious… No, this… it was too, too delicious… Hic!"
Her voice trembled. She brought her nose to the coffee can once more and breathed in deeply.
"Haa… This fragrance… How long has it been…?"
Kael gently took her hand.
"Professor, I can give you this every single day from now on."
Her eyes widened dramatically. She stared at him with disbelief and asked, her voice filled with desperate longing.
"R-really? How… How is something like that even possible?"
Kael smiled at her earnest gaze and replied.
"It's all thanks to my ability. It's the power I awakened upon entering Tartaros Academy."
"Ability?"
The professor tilted her head, blinking in confusion.
"I've never heard of an ability like that. They say most abilities only manifest in combat or magic-related fields…."
Her tone carried a mix of suspicion and curiosity. To clear away her doubts, Kael opened the shop window.
A small plastic tube appeared in his hand—the familiar squeezable kind commonly found in convenience stores on Earth. Kael twisted open the cap and squeezed a small amount of the bright red jam onto the professor's fingertip.
"This is…?"
The professor stared at the jam on her finger as if she had forgotten how to breathe.
"Go ahead and try it."
She carefully brought her finger to her lips. The moment the jam touched her tongue, her eyes flew wide open. The sweet yet slightly tart flavor exploded across her palate. Her body trembled with shock and pure bliss.
"Th-this… Is this really…? I-it's incredible!"
+1 Point, +1 EXP. Current points: 990, EXP: 3/10
The status window revealed her name.
Lucia Tinel. So that's this professor's name.
Kael memorized it as he checked the window.
"Professor, do you understand what my ability is now?"
Professor Lucia nodded. Still clutching the tube of strawberry jam tightly, she gazed at Kael with eyes full of disbelief.
"To think an ability like this exists… It's truly astonishing…."
+1 Point, +1 EXP. Current points: 991, EXP: 4/10
Kael could see from the look in her eyes that the initiative had completely shifted to him.
"Professor, this ability requires compensation. You must keep it a secret, and I have one request."
Professor Lucia nodded immediately.
"T-tell me! No, please tell me! Anything at all! Ah! What an incredible ability!"
+1 Point, +1 EXP. Current points: 992, EXP: 5/10
Kael cheered inwardly at her reaction, though his outward expression remained calm and composed.
"Please gather all the other professors. I want to help improve their meals, even if only a little."
"R-really?"
"Yes. I mean it."
At those words, Professor Lucia's face filled with genuine emotion.
"Th-thank you… Oh my, what an outstanding student you are! B-by the way… what is your name…?"
+1 Point, +1 EXP. Current points: 993, EXP: 6/10
Lucia realized belatedly that she didn't know his name and blushed with embarrassment.
"I am Kael Aberwin."
"I-I see. Kael Aberwin… I am Lucia Tinel."
Her eyes burned with a hunger that went far beyond mere greed.
"Is there anything else you desire?"
Seeing the intense, almost feverish gaze Lucia directed at him—a look that had crossed the line from greed into raw desire—Kael thought to himself.
Her condition is pretty severe. Well, after decades of nothing but coarse black bread, this reaction is perfectly normal. If I asked for her body right now, it looks like she'd hand it over without a second thought.
Watching Professor Lucia cast aside even her pride and dignity, Kael truly realized just how powerful a weapon food was in this place.
"Hmm, nothing comes to mind right now. Could you gather the other professors first?"
Objectively speaking, Lucia was a beauty. Her sky-blue hair and matching eyes, her sculpted features, her mature charm, and her slender figure that remained alluring even beneath her mage's robes—all of it stood out. But Kael suppressed the fleeting surge of desire.
Now is the time to lower my stance. If I want to stand as the absolute superior in my relationship with the professors… the moment hasn't come yet.
"I-I understand. I'll be right back, Kael. Please wait here a moment."
Though she seemed slightly disappointed, Lucia nodded. The tube of strawberry jam remained firmly gripped in her hand.
Everything is proceeding smoothly.
Kael smiled to himself in the now-empty laboratory.
Once Professor Lucia brought the other professors here, he would lay the foundation to stand at the very top of Tartaros Academy's power structure.
About thirty minutes later, the laboratory door burst open. Professor Lucia rushed in, breathing hard. Her sky-blue hair clung slightly to her pale skin with sweat.
"Kael, I've brought everyone!"
The professors began filing into the laboratory one after another. Since Lucia's lab was fairly spacious, all twenty of them were able to enter at once.
Not only the principal, Albert, but every professor in charge of the first-years, second-years, third-years, and fourth-years had come.
"This is the student I told you about—Kael Aberwin."
"The one with the ability to summon strawberry jam?"
"Heh heh!"
The professors gazed at Kael with eyes filled not just with curiosity, but desperate longing. Twenty people, men and women alike, all directing such heated stares at him made even Kael flinch instinctively.
But he stepped forward with composure.
"I prepared these gifts using my ability, since all of you professors have suffered so much."
With that, he distributed the twenty tubes of jam, instantly capturing the full attention of the professors who had eaten nothing but coarse black bread for decades. The laboratory fell into complete silence.
"Wh-what is this?"
Professor Galen Marcus asked in a shaking voice. Yet his hand was already reaching for one of the tubes, as if he already knew the answer.
The professors who received the jam tubes immediately squeezed some out and tasted it.
"Oh my god!"
"T-to taste something like this…!"
"It's strawberry jam!"
The laboratory filled with gasps of admiration and shock. Every single professor fell captive to the sweet and tart flavor. Some clutched their tubes tightly, eyes closed as they savored the taste, while others kept squeezing more into their mouths and letting out cries of delight.
They had endured for decades on nothing but coarse black bread, dandelions, and nettles. In Principal Albert's case, it had been centuries. Expressions of liberation from long suffering rose on every face.
"This is truly amazing!"
"What is this flavor? It feels like a dream!"
"Thank you so much, Kael!"
All twenty professors took turns expressing their gratitude and praise to Kael. At that moment, status windows appeared before him in rapid succession.
+20 Points, +20 EXP. Current points: 993, EXP: 26/10
Kael decided to check the shop window later. For now, it was time to carry out his plan.
At that moment, one woman approached him. A graceful beauty with light brown hair and matching light brown eyes. She gazed at him with eyes that carried a subtle sensuality and took his hand in a heated grip.
"Kael, my name is Anna Caden. Please call me Professor Anna."
"Yes, Professor Anna."
Kael felt the intensity of Professor Anna's gaze as she held his hand. It was so hot it almost felt like seduction.
"Thank you so much! Kael, you're our savior!"
+1 Point, +1 EXP. Current points: 994, EXP: 17/100
"I'll be counting on you from now on, Kael. Or rather… would it be alright if I just called you Kael?"
She gently stroked the hand she still held, offering a seductive smile.
