Chapter 204
Chapter 204
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Self-Awareness
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"There. All washed up. Take a look."
I handed over Master's freshly laundered clothes with full confidence.
It had been ages since I'd done any laundry, so I was a bit worried, but luckily my skills hadn't rusted at all.
"Hm. Looks good. Well done."
"Eh, it's just the usual stuff I handle anyway."
Besides, if I left it to Master, the clothes would end up as total rags.
She knows how to make clothes, so why can't she wash them properly?
She has all this knowledge and skill in weird areas, but can't manage the basics anyone needs.
"...So, what did you do about clothes during your training?"
"...?"
"...No way you wore the same outfit for those three years straight... right? They weren't even that dirty..."
In truth, they had been worn for a while, which was why I'd decided to wash them, but they weren't really filthy.
If anything, they were practically like new.
But that didn't make sense, did it?
There's no way Master could handle laundry on her own...
"I didn't wear any, so they didn't get dirty, did they?"
"Ah."
The answer was simple.
She trained without wearing clothes...
"...Pardon?"
"No one can come in from outside anyway, and it's just me there. No need to cover up uncomfortably."
"Uh... um?"
She said it so matter-of-factly that I almost thought, Yeah, that makes sense.
"N-No, that's not it! Even if you're alone, you have to wear clothes!"
"But going without is more comfortable for me?"
"Still no! Dust and stuff could stick to your skin, or branches could brush against you and cause irritation!"
"My skin isn't going to get damaged by something like that."
Master said as she extended her arm.
...Yeah, it really was flawless.
Come to think of it, I know better than anyone just how impossibly perfect Master's skin is, given the era we're in.
'But that means she trained naked...'
The thought flashed through my mind, and my stupid brain—quick only at times like this—immediately conjured an image of Master naked in a dark room.
-Sizzle
"..."
"Your face suddenly turned red. Is it that upsetting to hear your master went without clothes when alone?"
"N-No, it's not."
It would've been a stimulating fantasy even during the day, but with what happened last night fresh in mind, it refused to fade easily.
The imagination branched out like a tree, morphing shapes until it resembled last night's events: Master stripping my sleeping self, lifting my hips...
-Shake shake
'W-What am I even thinking.'
With Master right in front of me, nothing's off-limits in my head.
Ah, sure, last night happened, but she's still Master.
Maybe she was just thrilled to see her disciple after so long and got carried away in a moment of loneliness...
'Not just a little!'
'When did you escape! Lock this bastard up!'
'Hey, you lunatics! What kind of "mistake" involves assaulting someone in their sleep and creampieing them over ten times... Mmph!'
A brief commotion erupted in my mind, but I shook my head side to side to scatter the thoughts and calm myself.
At least Master didn't wake up midway. That's something.
If she had, things would be ten times more awkward right now. If I just grit my teeth and think of it as getting raped once, there's nothing more to it.
...And if it's Master, it's kinda okay.
"A-Anyway! Now that you're out in the secular world, no more of that! The mountains were one thing, but here people are everywhere!"
"Do you think your master lacks that much common sense? Goodness."
"I'm serious!"
I had to plead repeatedly not to do it again, even if she ended up alone someday, before we could finally finish preparing to head out.
She has the skills, but her common sense is lacking in the strangest ways. Living together was nothing but headaches.
To get clothes for Master, the three of us—Dang Ayoung and I—headed out together.
With not one but two stunning beauties who could make anyone's eyes pop, I figured walking around would draw stares left and right, but surprisingly, we didn't attract much attention.
It was a mysterious phenomenon, but not the first time for me.
Back when I first met Master, I'd been shocked that no one gawked at such a gorgeous woman walking openly.
Probably some perception-blocking spell or something similar.
In the end, we succeeded in commissioning custom-made clothes for Master.
No way ready-to-wear stuff would fit her figure perfectly.
Dang Ayoung was in a similar boat, though not quite to Master's extent, so we'd gone to a shop she recommended...
'...Impressive.'
I still couldn't forget the tailor's stunned expression as she measured Master's proportions with a tape.
She must've doubted the numbers herself.
For the record, I footed the bill.
Sure, I'm in a position to use Dang Ayoung's pocket money, but I have my own savings from what I've earned.
The payout from my last Demonic Cult trip alone was massive.
'...Demonic Cult.'
-Shiver
Just brushing against the thought made my body tremble.
I've endured every hardship in the Central Plains since leaving the mountains, but if I had to pick the number one place I'd never return to, no contest: the Demonic Cult.
Even thinking back now, I question how I escaped...
[See you again in half a year, then.]
-Chill
Oh, right.
I... have to go back...
'Am I insane? Why did I make that promise...!'
For a moment, I resented my past self, but thinking it over, I had no choice back then.
Finding out I was the Heavenly Demon's fated partner was shocking enough, and then getting raped inside that divination vision? Forget the future—I had to escape first.
And if I'd flat-out refused to return, would she have let me go?
I didn't know then, but Yeo So-cheon later told me the Heavenly Demon fell for me at first sight.
If that divination was based on her imagination, doesn't that mean she fantasized about having kids with me in that brief moment?
I don't know her well yet, but I told her I had a lover, and she still seduced me like that. No way she'd let me walk if I said I wouldn't come back.
Think of it as pawning my future to survive that day.
If I'd been honest, there's a 99% chance my home would be the Demonic Cult's basement by now.
That's the key point.
'H-How much time has passed?'
About a month...?
So much has happened lately that my sense of time is fuzzy, but probably around there.
That leaves me with five months...
'No, stop with the grim thoughts.'
Worst case, I'm locked in a basement forever without seeing the light. At least I won't die.
If death was on the table, the divination would've shown my grave, not that.
Regaining some calm, I reflected and realized just how many empty promises I'd made to escape.
To hide that I was her fated one, I disguised myself as someone totally different. I even made that half-year promise with zero intention of keeping it...
'Wait, now that I think about it, I've also pawned my soul to the Saintess.'
Is this any way for a person to live?
I have to walk into an uncertain hellhole in half a year, get dragged to another world as a breeding horse once my points max out—unable to even die—and meanwhile, I have three wives waiting (not that we're apart), plus now I have to serve Master too...
'...Is my body even mine anymore...?'
How did it come to this...?
I thought life was decent enough, aside from the three wives...
Life's tangled up good and proper.
Before the Demonic Cult trip, it was packed but manageable. Now? 100% overload.
Not just full—it's like I've crammed it in by force and slammed the lid shut.
Can't clean up the mess now, either.
Miss that half-year deadline, and the moment that dangerous woman steps out of the Central Plains, it's game over.
I risked imprisonment to keep her contained there in the first place. Back out now out of fear?
'Still hate it...!'
One trip there gave me trauma bad enough for rape nightmares involving her daughter. Go back willingly?
I need to find a way, somehow.
And the only one I might still influence is the Heavenly Demon.
Saintess contract's signed, wives go without saying, and of course I have to serve Master.
But the Heavenly Demon... there's still a chance.
'M-Maybe make her hate me...!'
If her instant crush is the problem, shatter the illusion now.
She barely interacts with outsiders, so when she meets someone with matching hobbies and a decent face, boom—love. Shatter that fantasy, done.
I don't know what she imagines me to be, but if I show her I'm not that guy, won't her interest vanish?
It has to. It must.
It's the only way to lighten my life's burden, even a little.
...Please.