Who's Stronger — the Balrog or the True Ancestor?
"Vote Kim Jemin for student representative~! Please exercise your precious vote, everyone~!"
"Kim Jemin to the National Assembly! Kim Jemin to the judiciary! Kim Jemin for student representative!"
Hana and I circled the athletic field, waving Jemin's pickets and shouting slogans at the top of our lungs. There were campaign volunteers for the other candidates out here too, so if we didn't want to fall behind, we had to keep yelling the whole way around.
"One vote, please~ Hana, can we take a quick break? My throat hurts from shouting without stopping."
"We've still got ten more minutes of running to do. At the very least, you could carry the picket while you walk. Up you get~"
I tried to sink into a chair, but Hana grabbed my arm and hauled me back to my feet. I just wanted to rest...
But I could see Gyuri and Jiyoon campaigning hard on the opposite side of the field, and that made it impossible to slack off without feeling guilty.
"If you choose Kim Jemin as your representative, a new love might just find its way to you~"
"You there, stranger, passing by! Vote for the one pictured on this picket! He is the servant I have chosen!"
Somehow this felt less like a campaign and more like watching a religious recruitment drive.
Jiyoon especially had her lures down to a science. Dangling a line like that at a crowd of high schoolers, most of whom were starved for romance in their prime? Maybe the golden age of Cupids really is their teenage years.
"Hey Hana, we've been making the rounds for a while now — how's it looking? Any kid out there with a soul in Jeong Harin's taste?"
"Mm... no one with a particularly special soul. And honestly, the premise itself is a long shot. Someone with a soul at your level just isn't common, Seha. Especially among teenagers still in their growth period."
"Why not? Take away the blessing and I'm just your average human guy."
The blessing, after all, was layered on from the outside — it didn't directly affect my soul. If it had, I'd be sprouting wings and breathing fire right about now.
"Seha. You still think you're ordinary? Excessive humility is just another form of arrogance, you know."
"I genuinely don't get it. If I were really so extraordinary, wouldn't I already be dating some beast-girl or other?"
"You're bound by a soul contract, on top of the blessing. You've been taking the great demon Balrog's mana straight into your core. Not as a one-time burst, either — continuously, for ten years."
"Huh? That was such a big deal?"
"Remember, the blessing was just a fringe benefit that came bundled with the contract. The quality of your soul is in a different class from an ordinary human's. Of course, like I told you before, even with all that mana poured into you, you're still human — so no magic for you~"
"So it's basically like... feeding my soul a steady regimen of herbal medicine?"
"Your analogy carries a faint whiff of beef bone soup... but yeah, that's about right."
"Ugh... receiving all that mana and still not being able to use magic is such a致命 flaw."
"Anyway~ that's my point: finding a soul like yours is next to impossible. Which is exactly why I'm preparing another way."
"How's that going, by the way? Every time I ask, you tell me it's not time yet."
"When I went home yesterday, I decided to ask Mother and Papa for their help. We'll have everything ready by the end of this week."
"Oh? Seha sunbae, Hana sunbae! Running into you here today."
"How was the Antarctic trip? Did you enjoy a grown-up's date?"
"Oh — Lily and Ruri. Feels like it's been a while, huh?"
The Alraune twins, Lily and Ruri, had spotted us and came wiggling their vines in our direction.
"Are you two out here doing the"
"second-year rep campaign together?"
"'Flirty-flirty campaign date!'"
Good grief, so loud.
Two of them speaking at once makes it twice the racket.
"It's not a date, it's labor, you brats. Oh — since you're here, at least take a look at Jemin's face, will you?"
I pointed at Jemin's photo pasted on the picket, making my pitch to the twins. They're identical twins with near-identical temperaments — convince one, and the other should follow, right? Double the votes per minute spent!
"He looks so perfect. Like a textbook golden boy."
"Honestly, I can't find a single flaw, and that just makes him annoying."
Double the vote-losing efficiency per minute, too!
"Pff—hah. This is exactly why I love you two. Come here, my granddaughters~"
Hana laughed with evident delight and scooped both twins into a tight hug, one in each arm.
"Khek... unni. Can't... breathe. Let go. Your strength is seriously insane..."
"If you wilt the leaves, you destroy all the nutrients, you knooow."
"Hana, let them go. Their faces and leaves have gone all pale-green. Keep this up and they won't even be fit for wrapping ssam."
"Well, that is a serious matter. Releasing immediately."
"Khok, khok... We are not ssam vegetables to be wrapped around your meat...!"
"Sorry, sorry~ But I did liberate you from Hana's hug, didn't I?"
"That's not enough to soothe our feelings. Hmph."
"But if you walk one lap with us, we might forgive you~"
Lily and Ruri pouted at us with only one eye cracked open each — their poses perfectly symmetrical, like flawless decalcomania prints. That part went without saying.
"We were due for another lap anyway~ Seha, grab your picket! Let's loop around and meet up with Gyuri and Jiyoon."
"Yes, yes~ Your command is my pleasure. Girls, we're going to be shouting campaign slogans — you okay with that? It'll get a little noisy."
"Totally fine. We're resistant to noise pollution."
"As long as our photosynthesis hours are respected, we have no complaints."
"Great, the twins have joined the crew — time to really put some energy into these slogans! Kim Jemin for president~!"
The election had, quite suddenly, leapt from student representative race all the way up to a presidential one.
"Ho? You do have quite the flock of girls around you. Are you one who is beloved by the other races?"
"Aww, cute juniors. Though the aura of love is... completely absent. How disappointing~"
We finished our lap of the athletic field and regrouped with Jiyoon and Gyuri.
And why on earth was Gyuri echoing the same thing Yohan always said?
Beloved by the other races...
I'm a human who's barely worthy of the love of one single Balrog. Even now it's more than I can hold — one step from blowing up entirely.
If I tried to take in any more, the flame that warms me would, in the space of a heartbeat, put me to the stake.
"Today was just the four of us campaigning around the field. Same crew tomorrow?"
Hana asked, tying Lily's vines into a neat ribbon shape. Beside her, Ruri was already holding her own vines out, asking to have hers done too.
I can't braid vines to save my life. Is she genuinely curious about my true skill level as a D-rank art practicum student?
"The lineup shifts a bit day to day? The people campaigning inside the classroom with Jemin change every day. So~ sadly, our love may have to end here~"
"Could you stop giving me those clingy looks, you erotic pigeon? I'm a woman too, you know."
"Lady Eros encourages love of every kind~ If both parties want each other, isn't that love?"
Her brain isn't just pink — it's wallpapered end to end with hearts.
Lily and Ruri, listening in, snickered to each other. 'That's the real deal,''Typical Cupid lolol.'
"Well, I don't want you~ Send your love to Gyuri instead. She's a bat who's been starving for validation since she was a baby."
"Excuse me?! I grew up showered with plenty of love, thank you!"
"Sorry, but vampires are a bit... intimidating, with the whole fang situation..."
"You are driving me insane! Why else would I have been rejected without even confessing? Fine — every single one of you, duel me. Two-on-one, I'll take you all!!"
Gyuri's reaction was even more theatrical than Hana's. Maybe I should tease her myself sometime.
"So — is the True Ancestor really that strong? Stronger than a Balrog, even?"
I asked Hana during fifth period, in Renata the Automaton's class. The teacher had treated us to a breather by demonstrating how she could crunch a full year's worth of data analysis in six seconds, and I couldn't follow a single step of it.
"Oh? Our Seha must find class boring, hm? Deciding to open a tournament arc all of a sudden."
"I'm asking out of pure curiosity. True Ancestor or Balrog — name value-wise, they're neck and neck, aren't they?"
"There'd be individual variation, sure... but honestly, I can't predict it either. There's hardly any record of the two races ever seriously clashing. A handful of bouts in the arena, maybe?"
"You and Gyuri actually fought matches in the arena when you were kids, though."
"That's because Gyuri is a bit of a freak even among True Ancestors. Vampires in general have one petty, stubborn pride that's disgustingly high. So they'd rather just watch anything like the arena — physical competitions — than actually enter."
"No wonder they've earned the title 'Nobility of the Night.' Still, it makes you wonder. If you and Gyuri ever fought, who'd win?"
Hana pressed the tip of her tablet pen against my nose. What. What are you doing.
"Curious enough to bet on it? If Gyuri and I dueled, Seha — who would you root for?"
"You, obviously. A Balrog's contractor cheering on a vampire would just be weird. But honestly, if the two of you actually fought, wouldn't you win pretty easily? Gyuri right now is pure dopey-ditz."
"Hehe~ She only looks that pathetic because her chuunibyou is terminal. The moment an actual duel starts? I'd call it dead even. Not that I intend to lose~"
"Really? You use magic and all, but your flame sword is your main weapon. Considering everyone's traits, it'd be mage versus swordswoman, then?"
"Gyuri's an all-rounder. At range, she chips away with shadow familiars and blood magic. The second you get fed up and close the distance, she feeds her own blood to her sword and switches to melee on the spot."
"A True Ancestor is a True Ancestor, huh... so the airheaded front isn't the whole story. But... I'd still bet on you, Hana. Call it a reverse bet if you want — I don't care."
"Really? Our Seha has more of a beast's heart than he lets on, hm?"
"I'm betting on you because you're you. I'll be on your side, no matter what."
"Honestly... you always know how to say it sweet, don't you? You make it so hard to keep my flames in check."
Hana pinched my cheek, sending my heart fluttering.
And sure enough, her flames had shifted to a faint shade of pink.
"The entropy — that is to say, disorder — of this classroom is increasing at a rapid rate. Kindly settle yourselves."
Yes, ma'am, Ms. Renata.