Flirting (Revised)
For the two weeks following that little flirting incident, I became even busier. I attended every class without fail, pouring my effort into mastering the Stingray and Mountain Shaker skills. Once classes ended, I headed straight to the training rooms to practice and grind my enlightenment values higher. In between all that, I kept nurturing my relationship with Rachel.
I let her cling to me, shared meals with her, attended lectures together—everything I did was focused on steadily building her trust. Was it for conquering the heroine? No. It was for conquering the boss.
“Your mother was a knight too? That’s impressive. What kind of weapon did she usually wield? I’m curious.”
“A chain sword.”
“A chain sword? Sounds cool. How strong was her swordsmanship? She must have been incredibly powerful, right?”
“Yes. She was very strong. She could defeat five of our family’s knights even if they all came at her at once.”
I used her trust like a tool, meticulously extracting every piece of boss information I could. I had no other choice. Rachel’s mother was a boss I had never once attempted in my previous life. I needed a massive amount of prior intel, and the only way to get it was to lean on Rachel herself. So I played the devoted friend and threw myself into information gathering.
Before long, I reached a single conclusion.
Yeah, going the salvation route was definitely the right call. This boss can still be saved.
In Karnadan’s setting, once someone fully became a Demon, no method could turn them back. Demons were created when a Fragment of Corruption—a shard of divine iron infused with an evil dragon’s dark mana—was implanted in the body, eroding both flesh and soul. Not everyone who received the fragment transformed immediately, however.
Those with inherently evil, twisted hearts had perfect compatibility and would turn into complete Demons the moment it was implanted, or within a few hours. But people with good, upright personalities were different. For them, the corruption progressed far more slowly, leaving them in an ambiguous state—neither fully demon nor human. A semi-Demon state.
After collecting information through Rachel’s stories, I realized her mother had not completely fallen into full corruption. According to Rachel’s descriptions, the woman would sometimes scream in a chilling voice with terrifying eyes, but at other times she would cry, apologize, and gently stroke Rachel’s hair. That meant some of her sanity still remained.
If I can stimulate her maternal instincts, the conquest will become much easier.
With the plan’s direction decided, the days that followed fell into a repetitive rhythm. Playing the friend for Rachel. Attending classes, training, and raising my skill enlightenment values. At the same time, I had to prepare for the salvation route. There was simply too much to do, so I had no choice but to cut back on sleep.
“Asbel. You look really tired lately. Want me to help you sleep?”
After spending two weeks together, Rachel had learned my name. She’d been asking that question more frequently lately, clearly worried about me. Even if I told her I couldn’t sleep because I was trying to save her mother, she wouldn’t understand, so I could only vaguely say I had a lot on my plate.
Either way, those two weeks were an intense period where I even sacrificed sleep. Yet despite the fatigue, I wasn’t bored at all. Conquering a brand-new boss—there was no phrase more thrilling to a veteran like me.
“Asbel. Why are you buying so many things?”
Whenever I found spare time, I headed to the shopping district near the academy and purchased various magical items. Rachel refused to leave my side no matter the situation, probably because she saw me as her first friend. Like a mother cat watching over her kitten, she stayed right beside me and helped however she could.
Thanks to the considerable funds my family had provided so I wouldn’t tarnish the household’s dignity, I was able to sweep through the shops. Carrying the bags naturally became Rachel’s job—my pathetically weak body made it too difficult for me to handle heavy loads.
“I’m preparing gifts to bring when we visit your house.”
“Gifts?”
“You can’t go to a friend’s house empty-handed, can you?”
Rachel’s eyes widened as she stared at me.
“A friend’s gift.”
She seemed to hold an incredibly strong yearning for those words. Maybe it was because she had no friends. She began helping with my shopping with genuine enthusiasm.
After we brought everything back to my room, I quietly focused on crafting several items.
“Ice Crystal. Paralysis poison. High-grade holy water.”
These three had extremely simple recipes and could be made without any special alchemy or crafting skills, so I produced them right away.
“Now the only thing left is Tears of Pelokis.”
The problem was that this was something I couldn’t create myself. Only magic specialists with extremely high crafting and alchemy skills could make it, which meant I had to ask someone for help.
“The upside is that I don’t have to go far.”
Tears of Pelokis was a pinkish liquid so valuable that a single drop cost dozens of gold, and it was notoriously difficult to produce. It was an elixir that dramatically boosted physical regeneration and an absolutely necessary item for turning a semi-Demon back into a human.
There were only two places in the Steel Empire where it could be obtained. One was the Black Magic Tower located in the Land of Ice—the coldest region in the empire. Traveling there would take too much time, and persuading those strict cold mages would be a nightmare. So that option was out.
The other place was right here—the Magic Department of the Imperial Academy.
“The timing is a little early, but it’s not like I have no way to get it.”
I would need to persuade the professor in charge. Compared to the mages of the Black Magic Tower, she was far more approachable, so complete failure wasn’t inevitable.
After all, I was a hardcore veteran. I knew exactly what kind of approach would work.
In the original game there had been several events that required Tears of Pelokis, so I had spent a long time researching the best ways to persuade the professor.
“Alchemy professor Kelsi is a woman in her mid-forties whose aging has stopped due to her magic. Her favorite compliments are about how good her skin looks, how well her rings suit her fingers, and how beautiful her hair is. Compliment her in that exact order to build favor, then explain that I want to consume the Tears of Pelokis for skill training. If I show her my 7-Wing badge and emphasize how diligently I’ve been practicing in the training rooms, it should work.”
After carefully recalling the strategy, I straightened my uniform neatly and headed for the Magic Department.
“Alright. Let’s do this!”
I walked confidently with my back straight, heading straight for Kelsi, the alchemy professor.
But I failed.
“Oh dear. What should I do? The 7th-year student, Miss Cassandra, already took all the Tears of Pelokis. She said she needed them for a magic experiment.”
Since the hardcore settings were identical, my refined persuasion techniques and compliments had successfully earned her favor. However, regardless of how much she liked me, the Tears of Pelokis had already been claimed by someone else.
Cassandra. Cassandra Zaiban. The daughter of the Zaiban County—the prestigious magic family in the Steel Empire renowned for fire magic for generations—had taken everything I needed.
“Miss Cassandra Zaiban?”
There was no other choice. I decided to find her and explain the situation. Cassandra Zaiban was one of the conquerable heroines, but since I had sworn off heroine conquests, this would be my first time speaking with her.
The Magic Department’s research wing. Seventh-years received personal labs in recognition of their achievements. Cassandra was no exception. I knocked carefully on the door of her private laboratory and called her name.
At the sound of my voice, the door clicked open.
As I stepped inside cautiously, the acrid smell of chemical reagents stung my nose. When I coughed at the pungent odor, a cheerful laugh suddenly burst from the corner of the room.
“Oh my! I’m so sorry! The reagents I’m using for my current research are quite strong.”
A languid expression. Long, vivid red hair that reached her thighs. Brown skin. And large, elastic breasts that swayed temptingly with every movement. A student radiating an extraordinary sensuality—closer to a succubus than a mage—appeared before me in a half-undone uniform.
She had been examining experimental data when she finally looked up at me and froze.
“Was there a man this handsome in the department? A freshman?”
“Yes. I’m a freshman. Nice to meet you. My name is Asbel Lichtenauer. I enrolled a few days ago.”
“What about those swords floating behind you?”
“It’s because of a skill I possess. You’re Senior Cassandra, correct?”
“That’s right. That’s me.”
She gave a slight, playful smile. The loose atmosphere and languid aura only made her look more bewitching. If sensuality could be molded into human form, it would look exactly like her. I tried not to stare at her impressive chest and cleared my throat.
“I came because I have a favor to ask.”
“I’ll hear you out.”
“Wait… I haven’t even told you what the favor is yet……”
“I have to grant a handsome man’s request, don’t I?”
This was bewildering. Having never done any heroine conquests before, this was the first time I’d spoken to her even in my gaming life. Both Rachel and now Cassandra. I couldn’t understand why the women of the Steel Empire came on so strong.
“Um… I’d like to obtain some Tears of Pelokis. Enough for one person’s dosage.”
“I can spare that much. I took everything from Professor Kelsi, so there’s plenty. Here.”
Without hesitation, Cassandra pulled out a bottle of Tears of Pelokis and handed it to me.
This easy? It was far simpler than persuading Professor Kelsi.
I carefully tucked the bottle into my pocket.
“Thank y—Whoa!!”
“You’re really cute. I didn’t expect a freshman like you to show up. I’ve been stuck in the lab too long—I had no idea someone like you was here.”
She stepped closer and placed her hand on my cheek. Her fingers traced my jawline like a snake, light and teasing. It was seduction. Obvious seduction. She lifted my chin with her index finger, aligning our gazes, and smiled.
A passionate older-sister type with brown skin and a South American vibe, smiling as she slowly licked her bright red lips with the tip of her tongue. It was an incredibly sexy sight—and somehow terrifying at the same time.
“It’s not free, though.”
“What would you like in retur—”
“You.”
Let me repeat myself: I had never done any heroine conquests. If I had followed the standard route I’d developed in the original game, I would never have gotten entangled with Cassandra. But fitting for the realistic difficulty, situations far removed from the standard route kept appearing.
“In my entire life, you’re the first man who’s made me feel this drawn. I thought my mother was exaggerating, but it was true. How fascinating.”
So I had no idea how to handle this woman right now. I didn’t know what to say. Without knowing the strategy, I should have at least improvised some response, but I was someone who had never gotten close to a woman in real life. This kind of bold, direct flirting was completely new to me, so my body simply froze.
“If you’re grateful for the Tears of Pelokis, how about going on a date with me later? What do you think?”
“A date?”
“Yes. A date.”
What could I possibly say? Refusing might mean losing the Tears of Pelokis.
“Alright.”
At my answer, Cassandra lightly kissed my cheek.
“You really are cute. See you later?”
She hadn’t made any threatening moves, yet somehow she felt like a predator. It was the day I learned that a beautiful woman’s aggressive flirting was fatally effective against the heart.