Chapter 20
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: 5. Confusion
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"Did something good happen?"
The Northern District.
While I was hurriedly cleaning Professor Yaktoon's private office, a sharp voice made me stop what I was doing.
Something good.
Feeling a bit guilty, I lowered the mask I'd pulled up over my nose and looked toward the source of the voice.
—Scratch, scratch.
The Elemental Magic Professor.
Yaktoon Polinear.
She was entering her forties next year, but she paid no mind to me cleaning beside her as she meticulously drew strange symbols on a sheet of paper spread out before her.
I'd heard earlier that it was part of a circuit she was researching to improve the quality of mana used for diffusion.
I'm just a sword-swinging fool, so even after the explanation, I had no clue.
"Something good?"
She'd seen right through me, even with the mask on since I walked in.
I gripped the broom tightly and pretended not to understand, asking again.
She kept scratching away with her pen, regardless.
"No, you've been humming tunes nonstop since you came in."
Professor Yaktoon slightly lowered the mask she'd given me earlier and took a sip of the coffee she'd set aside.
Did she really have to push herself this hard for research?
As a swordsman, it was hard for me to relate to the witches' obsessions.
"Me?"
"Yeah, you. The broom noise is fine, but I could do without that weird singing."
It's distracting.
She added, then pulled her mask back up as if she'd said all she needed to.
Maybe I'd unconsciously started humming from the joy of my weird new relationship with Kaen.
I didn't remember it, but if it was bothering her enough to point it out, I should watch myself.
"Yes, Professor. I'll be careful."
"Oh, wait... now that I think about it... you..."
She set her pen down with a clack and looked up at my face with eyes that screamed exhaustion, a witch's trademark.
"......Hmmm... Never mind. You'll be fine."
Then she picked up her pen again in her usual frustratingly vague way.
The scratching sound filled the office once more.
'...What was that about?'
I'd been on edge thinking she'd caught on to something, but I let out a sigh of relief and got back to cleaning.
As I stepped out of the building, the beautiful sunset scattered its light between the structures.
A few times, Professor Yaktoon had crumpled up papers and chucked them at the back of my head for being too noisy, but at least I'd finished before sundown. Lucky me.
'Going at night would just give me a headache from all the scrutiny...'
My appointment with Yuzu was at 10 p.m.
Barring any emergencies, arriving at the research building by then was a given.
But from experience, visiting her lab after dark was a bit more annoying and risky.
Hard to put it exactly.
She's already blunt and hard to approach, but she gets extremely cold.
These witches spend 24 hours a day steeped in fatigue, so by then, they're barely holding on through sheer willpower.
I wove through the alleyways that seemed built without any planning, heading to the northernmost point of the Northern District.
Judging by the state of the paths, I'd probably get orders to clean here soon too.
I bowed deeply to the occasional professors I passed and arrived at a relatively modest three-story building in a place where five-story ones were commonplace.
But that changed if one person was using the whole thing alone.
Other buildings were typically shared by seven or eight professors.
It was weird that she used it solo—or occasionally with the Renas Empire's princess—but then again, maybe that was just how it was for people like them.
Yuzu. The princess. Folks way above my pay grade.
High status and loaded with cash? Guess perks like this come with the territory.
I stepped inside on the spotless marble that gleamed from lack of foot traffic.
The unidentified chemical scent that permeated the building tickled my nose more with every step.
When I first started coming here, I'd grimace every time, but now I was used to it.
What would it be today?
Everything I'd tried so far tasted awful. I'd prefer pills only.
As always, the first floor was packed with flasks of strangely colored potions and papers etched with circuits. No sign of life.
This was the princess's space when she was at the academy.
Yuzu's human guinea pig lab was on the second floor.
Worried the sun might set, I hurried up the cramped stairs in the corner.
Unlike the first floor with its small windows, no light reached here at all.
Yuzu, who pretty much owned the building, had blacked out every single window with curtains.
Indoor lighting handled everything, so she claimed natural light was unnecessary.
The blue flames flickering along the walls told me it was still Yuzu's designated "daytime."
As I neared the top of the stairs,
I shifted my gaze from the wall straight ahead.
A large chair that could tilt fully horizontal when needed.
A pink potion bubbling ominously.
Tons of crumpled paper scraps on the floor, splattered with red ink.
And atop it all.
"Hoo..."
Gray.
Navy blue.
And a bright red that didn't match at all.
A woman covered head to toe in drab colors, save for one spot.
Yuzu Berna, sunk deep into the chair amid the total mess, was pinching the bridge of her nose.
Her other hand dangled her reading glasses.
"......"
I averted my eyes from her breasts thrusting out even beyond her raised elbow.
"Lady Yuzu."
"...You're here. Sit."
I tried to greet her, but her usual low, cold voice slipped out first.
And drowsy, almost sleep-drunk.
I hesitantly headed for the chair. Beneath her disheveled gray hair, weary from fatigue, her fierce red eyes flicked toward me.
What? Had I messed up already?
Just three steps in, and I was naturally treading carefully.
"Luke."
"Yes, Lady Yuzu."
"Before you sit. The potion and pill."
She'd just been looking at me, that's all.
Following her fingertip, I spotted the pink potion from earlier.
Unlike last time's teal or ochre, this one looked pretty, but it probably tasted like hell.
The awful aftertaste I'd felt even holding my breath made me grimace involuntarily.
I grabbed the flask from the shelf and plucked a pill from the nearby pile.
"Hm..."
This bright red one.
In Yuzu's words, it ensured clear experimental results.
But what the heck was it?
Good outcome this time, thankfully, but losing rationality to instinct wasn't fun.
Never happened before in my life, so this was likely the culprit...
I timed a question on the way back to the chair, but Yuzu had her eyes shut tight, like she was dozing, ignoring me completely.
Her chest was so huge that looking straight down from above, I doubted I could cover the upper swells even with hands stretched wide.
Only after I sat did Yuzu slowly swivel her chair toward me.
"...Report."
"Pardon?"
"This week's progress. Report."
"Oh."
I nodded, lips parting, then clamped shut.
Nothing much, really.
Wondering if that was okay to say.
Yuzu's orders were two-fold.
1. Report any changes, good or bad, in mana operation immediately.
2. Same for the body. Any changes, report immediately.
No. 1 was still unchanged, but No. 2... there'd definitely been a bodily change.
Didn't know if good or bad.
The naughty kind.
"...Hm."
Probably not what Yuzu wanted.
But trimming out the Kaen part, it seemed harmless to mention.
"There's one thing..."
I broached carefully. Yuzu's half-lidded eyes slowly lifted.
Revealing flame-hued irises that gleamed beautifully even in the dark.
That was one of the changes from mana use in people too.
The blue flames lighting the building were her magic, after all.
A woman draped in sheer fabrics from head to toe, all muted tones.
Her burning eyes fixed on my face.
"What change?"
Still low and cold.
But the excitement in her tone wasn't my imagination.
"Er... nothing major."
"Doesn't matter. The impact is what counts."
"Just one request first."
"...Request?"
Yuzu's head tilted slightly, gray strands sliding down her cheek.
"Tell me exactly what this pill does."
"...I did. It ensures clear results, not vague ones."
"That's vague itself."
"......"
Yuzu blinked slowly at my face.
Shouldn't have tried negotiating.
The air grew so tense I had to consciously breathe.
"...No."
Her small voice.
"Can't tell you precisely."
"Why?"
"Knowing what it is would make you fixate, skewing results."
"...?"
"Say I tell you it's a pill that sprouts a tail like a beastkin. You'd ignore other changes and obsess over your butt."
"Uh..."
"Not ideal."
Her oddly convincing argument left me speechless.
And... I didn't really need to convince her anyway.
Thinking it over, no urgent need to know now.
It blew up in front of Kaen, but ended well.
No one deliberately seducing me, no repeat incidents.
She seemed reluctant, and I'd already figured out the erotic novel culprit. Maybe let it go.
As my interest waned, another proposal.
"...I get how you feel, so let's do this."
Yuzu glanced at the pill and flask in my hand, then continued slowly.
"You tell first. If it matches my intent, I'll reveal a bit about the pill."
"A bit?"
"Yes."
With resolve gone, it lost appeal.
Better settle for partial curiosity sated.
"If it's a tail-sprouting butt pill, then maybe... an itchy butt sensation?"
"Probably. Something like that."
"In that case..."
No reason to refuse.
I nodded, picking the most clinical words to avoid issues, and spoke clearly.
"When I get aroused, reason snaps. Self-control vanishes... Never happened before, not once."
"......"
"Like moving on pure instinct? Not the perfect analogy."
"......"
No reply.
No right or wrong.
Yuzu just stared at my face, deep in thought.
"...Wrong?"
I had to ask for judgment first.
Still, she gazed—eyes, lips, eyes again.
"...Instinct."
I sensed something ominous right after.
"Weird."
"Pardon?"
"Weird. That result shouldn't happen. I didn't account for it at all."
"Just a side effect, then..."
"No way."
—Drag.
Dismissing side effects outright, Yuzu slowly wheeled her chair beside me.
Her body fully covered below the neck, revealing no gaps, drew dangerously close.
The taut fabric under her chest highlighted breasts no single hand could grasp. She seemed oblivious.
Stern expression clashing with her soft-looking form, Yuzu approached.
"Reverification."
"Huh?"
"You said arousal severs reason?"
"It... did."
"Exactly how?"
"L-Lady Yuzu?"
"Right now?"
She,
right before my eyes, fondled her own breasts as she asked.
"Why? Don't you like these?"
"W-Wait, Lady Yuzu, what are you..."
God-blessed in weight and shape, her breasts shifted wildly in her grip.
Sometimes squeezed from the sides.
Sometimes lifted from below and dropped.
Sometimes kneaded hard, fingers sinking in.
Like teaching me she was prime breeding stock.
"You like my tits."
"W-Well..."
"Every time I lift them. When my eyes aren't on you. When you think I'm not looking."
"......"
"You stared like you wanted to touch."
"......That..."
"I don't mind. Males are all the same. They were at the World Tree too."
Her usual cold voice.
Desperate to arouse me.
Testing what would do it.
Chair pulled close, Yuzu kept groping herself.
"Hmm. Visual stimulation not enough...?"
...How'd it come to this?
...Women notice those looks, huh. She knew all along.
My drifting mind shattered under her low exhale.
"Here."
Thrusting her breasts forward like go ahead, do your worst, she gathered her hair and tossed it back.
"Break it yourself. Your reason."
Arms raised, she wore her usual stony expression.
As if this was just more experiment.