Ep.3 - Arwen (1)
Ep.3 - Arwen (1)
My mouth...!
Not the mouth...!
Even though he had no intention of Loading, Delin knew that if even that last bastion was sealed, he'd be completely fucked. Pale and trembling, he crawled on all fours toward Chichi, frantically pointing at his own mouth and shouting.
"Eup, eueup! Eubeup!"
Begging her to undo the magic on his mouth,
he clung to Chichi in complete agitation.
"..."
But Chichi was so deeply lost in a serious dilemma that she had no time to fix his mouth.
'What is it? What in the world did I miss?'
Chichi pondered Delin's incomprehensible magic resistance, piling up hypotheses and racking her brain over what principle could possibly explain it.
Why was it that only her silence magic... only that lower-level magic with no particular use had worked properly?
"Delin, I'll try just a few more times. Bear with it a little."
"Eueup! Eueueup!"
Delin desperately shook his head, fiercely refusing to let her cast any more magic on him, but
Chichi had already drawn the magic circle.
What followed were dozens of minutes of investigation into Delin's constitution, stretching on and on...
Some fifty spells,
various configurations of magic circles...
In the end, Chichi reached a conclusion.
[Delin deflects only perfect magic.]
If the magic circle was drawn incorrectly, or if she deliberately held back and cast at the level of other witches, Delin took the magic head-on.
"Ow-! Owww!"
And even when she cast directly without a circle, if she pulled her punches even slightly or cast 'deliberately less perfectly,' he took the magic completely.
"Stop! Stoppp...!"
She simply couldn't understand this phenomenon.
Chichi paced back and forth, muttering to herself, trying to grasp the principle as she replayed the confusing results.
"Why on earth... does every bit of magic I cast with full sincerity get deflected..."
"Enough already... please stop..."
However, understanding mana and constitution in such a short time was impossible,
and eventually it was time for her scheduled appointment to bring another man.
----------------------------
Night!
The moon had risen.
Beneath the moon, which scattered blue light across the world, Chichi rode her broom through the night sky.
"..."
Her mind swirled entirely with thoughts of Delin's mysterious constitution.
It was clear he had talent, but
perhaps because he hadn't yet awakened, his mana couldn't be felt distinctly, and moreover,
even he himself wasn't properly aware of his mana.
What on earth could it be?
What could make her perfect magic come undone?
And why was he unaffected by other magic?
First, she needed to make him grasp the flow of mana quickly, then set a date to research it more thoroughly.
At the same time.
Delin, clutching his stinging butt, was also seriously pondering his own abilities.
"Hyeuk... son of a bitch..."
Of course, it was less like pondering and more like an outpouring of sorrow and rage toward that shitty fucking author. Still, amid those negative emotions, Delin kept investigating himself.
As Chichi said, he had quite successfully neutralized some of her magic—rejecting? resisting?—but
now that he thought about it, he'd been completely affected by Philmark's poison and curse.
Of course, in this other world, such things might not even be considered magic.
Or maybe it was because that dumbass, thick-headed author hadn't properly crafted the detailed setting, causing conflicts everywhere?
"Ahuu..."
Yeah, that had to be it.
How could a mentally ill bastard who writes perverted gender-reversed smut be normal?
Muttering curses at that rotten bastard, Delin rubbed his butt and lay down on his bed.
"..."
On that soft bed, he wiped his tears and tried to comfort himself.
For the only one who could praise him for enduring another day was, in the end, himself.
It had been such a hard day.
Truly...
-------------------------------------
The next morning.
An unpleasant awakening came: the throbbing pain in his butt preceded the warmth of the sunlight.
Delin sat up to the sound of clattering and smacking noises.
"What the..."
Chichi greeted him when he awoke.
"Did you wake up?"
And another voice.
"You're awake!"
At that unknown youthful voice, Delin thought he misheard and dug into his ear,
but soon a bright voice addressed him again more assertively, since he hadn't responded!
"You're awake!!"
Startled, Delin looked toward the table where the voice came from.
Sitting there was a small boy who was gobbling down pumpkin porridge as if possessed.
At a glance, he looked very young.
"Wh-what's this?"
Delin asked, bewildered, looking back and forth between Chichi and the boy, and the answer he received was simple and clear.
"Isn't he a boy to replace you?"
"Are you out of your fucking mind!?"
Veins bulging on his neck, Delin hurriedly got out of bed and strode up to Chichi.
"You're using... this kid as a replacement teaching material for me? And you call yourself... ngh! Aaahh-eueuk! Agyagyagyaak!"
Of course, Philmark's curse, still engraved on his ankle, brought him excruciating pain without exception.
No matter how angry he got, he shouldn't use his ankle, but it seemed Delin had forgotten for a moment, overcome by the fury and contempt boiling up to his head.
"Aheuk, aheueuk... keuheueuk..."
"What are you doing...? Oh my, this is..."
Only then did Chichi examine Delin's ankle.
Seeing the pattern that became vivid each time pain was inflicted, she clicked her tongue.
"It's a curse, huh. A fairly strong curse. Why didn't I know about it until now? Ah... come to think of it, I've just been dragging you around all over the place. You should have told noona. Though, of course, noona can't easily break it either."
"Keuheuk... fuuuuck..."
"Is hyung's head hurting a lot...?"
The boy shuffled over and looked down at Delin with worried eyes.
Seeing that pitying face made Delin even more furious, so he glared at Chichi and ground his teeth.
"S-such a... young kid..."
"Huh? Young?"
Since witches wanted men to use as teaching material for a long time, they selected and brought only the youngest, healthiest ones.
"Arwen. How old did you say you were?"
"Fifteen!"
"He says he's fifteen. What's so young about that? Besides, he doesn't look any different from you."
"No! Absolutely not. Absolutely..."
Clutching his ankle, Delin forced himself up with sheer willpower and grabbed Chichi by the collar.
"Oh my?"
"Th-this isn't right...! At least you should bring a grown man..."
"Delin. How dare you talk back to your teacher like this? Tsk..."
As punishment for grabbing her by the collar, Delin's pants were yanked down while he stood there.
Only one thing would follow.
Jjak- jjak- jjaak-
"Uheuk, uheueuk... it hurts..."
After a total of ten spanks, Delin collapsed, trembling, and next to him, the boy whispered softly.
"Hyung. You can't talk back to noona! You'll get in trouble!"
'You idiot...'
'I'm doing this to protect you...'
"Yes. Arwen is a very good child. But Delin hyung seems to rarely understand what's being said. It pains my heart. Isn't that right?"
"F-fine... Anyway, please send this kid away..."
"Again with the informal speech!"
Chichi dragged the sprawled Delin up with all her might and placed him over her lap.
Then.
Jjak- jjak- jjaak- jjaaak-
The pain in his butt was so intense he thought it might burst.
Delin now simply sobbed out loud and crawled on the floor.
"Ueheuk... keuheuk... it hurts so much..."
In the end, he gave up resisting Chichi and decided to resolutely ignore the boy.
'No, to be blunt.'
'It was a mistake to care about a boy like that when I'm busy just trying to survive.'
"Delin hyung! Does it hurt...?"
From the boy who showed a worried face, unaware of anything, Delin finally turned his eyes away.
"I'm not hurting, so... just go..."
'Still, I tried.'
'I did try my best to protect him!'
'A-and, I don't have the spare energy to help you either...'
'I have no power, no abilities...!'
"Yes. Now you've come to your senses. Right? Don't pay attention to other things and just meditate here. You'll be able to feel mana by the end of today, so concentrate. If you still can't handle mana after I bring this kid and finish my lecture..."
Chichi's hand suddenly grabbed and massaged Delin's stinging butt. Even in the sensation of kneading, pain persisted.
"Aheuk...!"
"You know, right? Do it properly. Focus. It's all for your sake, so don't slack off and do it right. Do your best."
"A-alright... stop touching my butt..."
"Yes. Noona believes in you, Delin. There's not much time. You have to learn magic quickly. At least enough to protect your body. Then you can endure even if Miss Philmark and Miss Neva come charging in, right? And then you can continue to learn magic in the future, right? Hm?"
"I said I got it...! Keuheut... stop!"
Chichi felt not a shred of guilt.
On the contrary, she genuinely found Delin, who had suddenly talked back and lunged at her, displeasing.
She had brought another man for him and was even continuing to teach him magic, yet he dared to get angry? He didn't know gratitude.
It was a sad thing.
Perhaps it was due to the customs of witch society that didn't even treat men as human, or perhaps her own nature of not easily empathizing with others.
A witch who knew nothing but magic, lacking morality and empathy.
In a strict education without any parental figure,
in a daily life rife with envy, jealousy, criticism, politicking, and bullying, with no love—
a witch who survived only by her innate talent and skill.
"I've cooked some pumpkin porridge, so eat a bowl and start meditating right away. I'll say it again: if you aren't at the level of properly feeling mana by the time I return..."
Chichi took Arwen, whom she had brought through the moonlit night, by the hand and left the house.
"You'd better brace yourself. Now, you should say goodbye to your hyung."
"Ah, yes! Delin hyung. I'll be back."
Even as he left, the boy Arwen looked at Delin with worry.
Thus led by Chichi's hand, the boy went out the door.
Today's lecture was a practical session for students, just like before, so perhaps that boy would...
To many other witches...
"Keuheup..."
Let's not care.
Let's turn off our concern.
He'll have been brainwashed by the pumpkin porridge anyway.
He won't even remember properly...