Chapter 142
Chapter 142
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: Light Goddess
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It's quiet.
Even though it's a time when there's no one coming and going, today felt especially still.
I walk along the corridor connecting the buildings.
There are no candidates in sight.
But there are several enforcers watching me.
That's the enforcers' job.
Since this school is wary of young men and women having secret rendezvous,
it's only natural that a male candidate wandering alone late at night would draw their attention.
But it doesn't matter.
My goal isn't sneaking into the girls' dorm.
That might be fun too, but the place I'm heading to now is the Melbritt main building.
The core facility of Melbritt that Bear Rank and above can use in earnest.
I didn't achieve anything groundbreaking to reach Bear Rank, but it wasn't without ups and downs.
I resolved some major missions, and though it was brief, I met Melbritt's top rankers.
Tillia Vanguard and Neris Rike.
I haven't met Herka yet, but the more I come and go from the main building, the higher the chance I'll run into her.
Today, I'm here to meet the enigmatic student council president, Sia.
I plan to wring every last secret out of her using hypnosis.
Her three sizes, the color of her underwear, her favorite position.
From the important stuff to the trivial details, all of it.
It's simple.
Just doing what I've always done.
As I reach the main building, I see other candidates walking out.
No one else is trying to enter at this hour like me.
They said you can use the facilities until midnight.
Better get in before they lock the doors.
"……."
The burly enforcers at the entrance glance at my face and look away.
Looks like it's fine to go in.
I enter without hesitation.
The first thing that catches my eye in the first-floor hall is a statue modeled after a beautiful woman.
According to her, this statue is modeled after the Goddess of Light, Ilesia.
…….
I climb the stairs.
The library is on the second floor.
The big door you encounter first upon reaching the second floor is the library entrance.
I've never been inside, but even a quick glance from outside tells you it's a place storing an enormous number of books.
The door is firmly shut now, so I can't peek in, but that fact oddly makes me tense.
"……."
It's fine.
I open the door.
It's quite heavy, probably because of its size, so I have to put some force into it.
From outside, it looked closed because usage hours were over, but it wasn't locked.
Of course, there's no one inside.
Everyone else seems to have left long ago.
Everyone except one person. Sia.
"You're here."
I announce my presence with a voice as I step inside.
As I enter, the door closes on its own.
I'm tense.
But it's a good kind of tension.
Not the fear that things might go wrong, but the tension you feel in front of a breathtakingly beautiful woman.
Sia. She could be called the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.
"Welcome, Decal."
"Were you waiting for me?"
"Yes."
I've toyed with countless beautiful women, but Sia stands above them all.
If ranking purely by sex appeal, women like Karen, Neris, or Ephe with their standout charms would rank higher.
And for sheer prettiness, Esty and Bella take the top spots.
But she has an elegance, a refinement that's hard to explain.
Her black hair tied up like a cloud, intelligent green eyes that seem to see right through me.
Well-proportioned features, flawless skin, and a poised demeanor like a perfectly captured photograph.
Even I, who prides myself on shamelessness, found myself at a loss for words.
I was stunned the first time I saw her, but being alone with her now feels like my brain is numb.
"So, where should we start?"
Snap!
I snap my fingers right away.
Just like with Ephe, skip all the hassle and go straight into hypnosis……!!
"……."
Sia doesn't let her smiling face falter; she just watches me calmly.
"Uh……."
It doesn't work.
Dangerous. This opponent is a goddess. One who's prepared countermeasures against hypnosis, just like Bella……!
How did she know? Even a goddess needs to know about hypnosis to prepare defenses against it.
"You came without any countermeasures?"
That single sentence grips my heart with cold pressure.
My suspicion turns to certainty in that instant.
This is bad. Really……!
Sia glances around, as if checking if anyone's there.
"Without even getting cooperation from the Ironclad Inquisitor, all alone."
"You're right."
I admit it cleanly.
"I came without countermeasures. That's how I've always been. Laugh if you want. Whatever you're after, my plan's done for."
Hypnosis doesn't work on her.
That fact carries a lot of implications. She already knows about me, knows my abilities,
and has already implemented countermeasures.
And yet, she has a complete grasp on my relationships and what I can do.
"I'm not laughing. I knew it."
"You knew……?"
Sia's demeanor is odd.
For someone who's trapped me, her tone is too gentle.
She just smiles faintly, as if she's happy to talk with me.
"That's always been your way, Decal."
"Uh……?"
The chills won't stop.
It's like something's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't grasp it.
"Come closer."
Sia perches lightly on the table and extends her arms toward me, as if inviting a hug.
What the hell is going on?
A honey trap? Is she after something? My vision shakes with confusion.
"You have no countermeasures anyway. Isn't worrying about it pointless?"
"……Y-yeah."
I have no countermeasures anyway.
Why does she know me so well……?
Drawn like a moth to flame, I approach and hug Sia. She softly embraces me in return.
She smells good. Even after jerking off so much on the way here, my dick hardens insistently, demanding to ravage her.
I can't read Sia's intentions at all.
I don't even know why she's hugging me.
As I pull away, Sia speaks.
"Feeling calmer now?"
"……."
I nod.
Sia stands before me. Not too close, not too far—a comfortable distance.
She looks up at me and asks.
"How has this school been? Care to share your impressions of Melbritt?"
"Impressions of Melbritt?"
"Yes."
Why ask that?
Because she's student council president and curious? What does she plan to do with one guy's opinion?
No idea.
One thing's clear: this goddess is playing me from above.
She seems the type to meticulously plan and execute.
Not a single gap, even by chance.
Any plan I came up with wouldn't have worked on her.
But separately from that.
The exchange about "having no countermeasures"
wasn't her trying to mock me for lacking thought.
Those who "plan meticulously" are vulnerable to hypnosis.
Just as the madness-armed boxer is my natural predator,
the opposite—those who think and plan—are weak to hypnosis. Because I manipulate minds.
That's my essence.
The essence of a hypnotist.
If you can snap your fingers at anyone and bend them to your will, why meticulously prepare beforehand?
You might do it early on, when you've just gotten hypnosis.
But once it permeates your life, once you start dominating everything with hypnosis, it's different.
That preparatory mindset becomes like oil and water.
In other words, I'm the type who loves to "charge in" in line with my ability.
Saying "no countermeasures" is possible only because she perfectly understands that essence of mine.
Meaning, she knows me extremely well.
She was waiting here because she knew I'd come running without preparation, right?
Thinking that way sends shivers down my spine.
I didn't even know her face before coming to Melbritt, but she knows everything about me.
I can't help but sink into such thoughts.
"……."
Realizing that, the tension drains from my body.
Instead, I feel like I can talk comfortably.
"My overall impression of Melbritt? Yeah…… It's an absurd place. I even got angry.
There's a structural problem with Melbritt."
"Because it fosters competition to select the best?"
"No way. I've never thought competition was bad. Especially here—the students are meant to save the world.
No one wants some half-assed person handling world-saving.
In that sense, it's rational."
Especially since Melbritt turns high-quality souls gathered from outside into soul bottles and distributes them to valuable personnel.
The system itself is impressive.
Choosing to create one monstrous human over a hundred skilled soldiers.
"If that's a realistic system, sure. But it's a nauseating place. This isn't even a school."
Seeming to understand my disgust, Sia nods.
"Yes. Melbritt pours all its national power into making that system possible.
It's where the kingdom's elite blood converges."
Of course it would.
Souls from across the nation won't gather on their own, so they must have invested massive manpower and funds.
For this puny kingdom's administration, it must have been overwhelming.
Even small village adventurer guilds have a cash-in system to exchange soul stones for currency on the spot.
That's not something guilds can handle alone.
It's possible only because the nation poured resources into it.
And what they're pouring all that into? Creating high-level monsters bloated with souls.
Would any normal country even think of that?
"This country is still at war with monsters. Outside and even inside."
"War's war, but schools should be protected from disasters. Yet here……."
"As you think, Melbritt isn't a place that properly trains hero candidates to fight on the front lines.
It's a manufacturing site. Like a production factory. Feed them souls to raise levels, accelerate growth, and throw them into the battlefield.
In short, it's a key facility in the human-monster war."
If this were a place that raises students, the nation would protect the school.
But this is a hero production facility tied to the nation's fate.
What if the enemy learns about this soul system?
In vulgar terms, if they realize we've gone 'all-in'?
Of course, it'd be the top priority target.
Would those non-human things care about means or methods?
When they breach the monster defenses, you can easily imagine the hell unfolding in this so-called school production facility.
It's one or the other.
Either the heroes—humanity's spiritual pillars—die,
or if Melbritt gets hit first, humanity falls.
I realized this place is no different from a battlefield, and it soured my mood.
"And you're the manager of that key facility."
"Yes, correct recognition. In such a short time, grasping this world's truth. Well done."
"I knew it was a doomed world before coming.
I just figured out how it's doomed. Nothing impressive."
This woman didn't decline to be selected and serve at the hero's side.
She stayed as manager because protecting this facility is as important as guarding the hero.
What's fishy is her identity.
"Who are you?"
A capable young woman struggling to protect humanity? Standing before me would be no less than a saint.
But if she's a goddess, it's different.
Goddesses save the world through agents.
If humanity perishes, a goddess might grieve deeply depending on her nature, but basically, it's not her concern.
If she could save the world herself and wanted to, there's no need for agents.
She could just do it personally.
So why is a goddess here?
Why……?
"Why stay at Melbritt when you know everything?"
Her response is a question.
"Not my business. I came to this school to fuck women like you. That's what I did today too.
That satisfies me."
"……."
Sia's expression is unreadable.
I said it half in resignation.
Even if she despises me, that would reveal her character, so I'd welcome it.
Anyway, I need info. Clues to probe her depths.
But unexpectedly,
"Yes, I know."
……She says it as if she foresaw it.
For the first time, I'm pissed at this woman who takes everything in stride.
Did you predict this too?
I roughly grope her breasts.
Pull her in and kiss her forcefully.
Sia stands still, not resisting.
"Heroes can fend for themselves! I'm gonna fuck a ton of hero candidates I like and impregnate them.
If they get killed by monsters because they can't fight with swollen bellies, fine by me.
I'll just pick the impregnated ones I like and take them away, letting the rest of humanity die or whatever!"
"……."
"You wanna come with me? Carry my child and have sex every day in a safe place.
Of course, I'll impregnate the hero too. Creampie her pussy without protection, hypnotize her to writhe, make her mine.
That's what I love so much I stayed at this school! Predicted this far too?!"
How's that? Disgusted, right!
Say something. Despise me! Call me trash!
Sia responds to my kiss with an indifferent face.
I'm…… too shocked to move.
Sia slips her tongue in, kissing me. So…… affectionate.
"Smack…… Smooch……. Yes……. I predicted it. All of it."
"D-don't mess with me!"
Shaken, I shove Sia away with force.
Sia stands calmly, smiling at me.
"What the hell are you! Reading minds? Are you my enemy? Ally?"
Snap!
I snap my fingers.
Snap! Snap!
I keep snapping, but it doesn't work on Sia.
Then, everything brightens.
A light so intense it's hard to make out shapes.
For a moment, I think I'm dead. I reach back, and the chair backrest catches my hand. The location hasn't changed.
The radiance emanates from Sia. Yet only her figure is clear.
The glow envelops everything.
Even though my feet are on the ground, there's no ceiling, no walls, no sense of height or depth.
In the fierce, blinding white light where nothing is discernible, Sia speaks quietly.
"I am the Goddess of Light, Ilesia."
With those words.
As if her "divinity" manifests, holiness infuses the light.
……It's over.
My life flashes before my eyes like a panorama.
I envision myself falling into hell, enduring every imaginable torment.
Yet Sia doesn't strike with a blade of judgment.
She just smiles benevolently.
"Decal. I'll tell you everything."
"Everything……?"
"Look at this."
Something appears in Sia's hand. It's……
"A red soul stone……?"
"Similar, but entirely different. This soul stone is of a much higher grade.
It's a god's soul stone."
"A god's soul stone……."
"It's inside here."
"What is?"
Curiosity burns my brain; I press urgently.
Sia continues calmly.
"The memories from when you were a god, Decal."