22. Bare mountain.
22. Bare mountain.
As Kal emerged from the utterly worthless party that had dragged on until the early afternoon, someone quickly followed behind him. It was Alisa, the model student who was in the same boat as him. After all, if she stayed here any longer, she'd only see more disgusting things, so making a graceful exit as soon as proper etiquette was satisfied was the best move.
"I absolutely can't stand clingy women."
"Look who's talking."
Kal grinned mischievously as he approached Alisa. For some reason, he sensed a subtle expectation from her, like she wanted something from him. If there was one thing he excelled at, it was this kind of intuition.
"Why? Got something to say? Don't tell me, you want to suck my cock?"
Alisa couldn't help but let out a hollow laugh, wondering if this bastard was even capable of normal daily life. He was probably the only knight who could casually talk about his dick to a woman like this.
"That's not it. Could you not treat me like some low-class woman?"
At that answer, Kal's smile deepened. She definitely wanted something. If not, much harsher words would have come out.
"If you want something, spit it out. Whatever my pretty girl wants, I should grant it."
The model student seemed to agonize for a long while over whether to speak or not. But she too was backed into a corner, and this wasn't the time to be picky. This was likely her last chance to become a knight, so she had to give it her absolute best so she wouldn't have any regrets.
"That... you know, what we did."
"Cock nom-nom?"
"No, not that-! ...I mean the simulation."
"Ahh, that. You should've said so earlier. I thought my pretty girl couldn't forget the taste of my cock."
Kal grinned broadly, staring intently at Alisa. She found his gaze burdensome and slightly turned her head away.
"But why me? When you hate it to death? You've got your precious Escort unit friends."
"...Don't ask when you already know."
"Waaaang—tta?"[^1]
When he leaned in and teased her like that, she finally exploded.
"Yeah, you bastard. I'm a wangtta. So what are you gonna do about it, huh?!"
Ahaha—. When Kal burst out laughing, Alisa glanced around nervously and poked his arm repeatedly, telling him to stop laughing.
"Still, our pretty girl does have an eye for people, huh? I'm a little touched right now."
"Stop calling me pretty girl. What if someone hears and gets the wrong idea—!"
"Being linked with a handsome guy like me is an honor."
"...Please don't make my life exhausting. I'm begging you, seriously."
Alisa simply couldn't keep up with this bastard Kal's extreme high-tension energy.
"Alright, alright. ...Anyway, you want to do that simulation we did back then, right?"
"Yeah."
Even though this damn bastard's personality was shit, his skills were beyond doubt. And she couldn't forget that thrilling sensation of using the physical enhancement items either.
"Those bastards... you want to beat them?"
Kal asked, tilting his head slightly with both hands shoved deep into his pants pockets. Unlike his slouching posture, Alisa stood upright and looked at him squarely.
He'd vaguely referred to them as "those bastards," but she understood perfectly well that he meant the knights from the Escort unit. At that moment, something surged up in her chest.
She'd never expected to receive good treatment from the start. But that was a separate issue—she couldn't stop her rebellious spirit and competitive drive from igniting.
She wanted to overcome this crisis and definitely join as an official knight. So everyone could see. ...If she could just achieve that, she could endure any amount of trials and hardships.
"...Yeah."
Kal's expression grew a bit serious.
"I've got one piece of bad news and one piece of really fucking bad news. Which do you want first?"
Alisa glared at him with sharp eyes. Since both were bad news either way.
Still, they say it's better to get the first hit in. If she heard the really fucking bad news first, maybe she'd build some immunity for the just regular bad news.
"Really fucking bad news."
"Honestly, it'll be hard for you to become a knight."
That was truly a painful blow for her. But she endured it with steadfast composure. Hadn't she heard these words countless times throughout her life?
"Then, the bad news?"
"You'll have to train so hard your nonexistent balls will fall off. Sleep less when others sleep, play less when others play."
"I'm confident about that. I have absolutely no intention of playing around."
"Honestly, it'll still be hard for you. You don't have the talent. Do you think becoming a knight through sheer effort alone is easy? No matter how much of a shit-tier Knight Order this place is, a Knight Order is still a Knight Order."
"Then I'll just become that example. I can do it. I said I can. I'm confident. ...Whatever you tell me to do, I'll work hard at it. So, please, help me."
Funnily enough, Alisa had no one else to rely on but Kal. Strangely, even though this guy was a damn bastard, having him by her side felt incredibly reassuring. If he helped her, she somehow felt like she could really become a knight.
"Tch, after calling me a son of a bitch and all..."
"You should've acted decently—!"
"Wow, still my fault?"
Alisa knew she had no choice but to humor this shitty bastard.
"Fine, I'm sorry. Happy now?"
"Heuheuheu."
"Don't laugh like that."
"Wow, now you're controlling how I laugh? This woman definitely shouldn't become a knight. Her future juniors will suffer like hell. For the sake of those future juniors, I'll have to sacrifice myself."
"Yah, you son of a bi—... Fine... I won't care how you laugh. Okay?"
Euheuheu—.
Kal chuckled sinisterly and nodded his head for her to follow. Alisa fell in step beside him.
"You've got the connection device in your room, right?"
"Yeah. But I haven't used it even once yet."
"So you're making a character for the first time too?"
"...Character? There's something like that?"
Apparently because simulation devices were such expensive equipment, she'd never used one outside the training center. Fortunately, each dormitory room here had one installed as standard.
"Good. Then go right now and make an account, and send me your ID."
"Got it."
"I'm going to work you harder than the training center did. That okay?"
"I'm prepared for it."
"Good.... I don't want to see a fellow trainee from the training center struggling either. And she's a woman who sucked my cock.... Ah, fine. I won't bring that up. That topic, cancelled. Cancelled."
As soon as the cock-sucking story came up, Alisa panicked and started smacking Kal's arm with her palm. What if someone heard, she demanded.
He giggled and then suddenly bolted away so she couldn't chase after him.
"You fucking bastard."
Of course, she still didn't regret sucking that bastard's cock one bit, but her heart dropped every time he brought it up. If someone overheard, it would be a huge disaster.
Still, her heart felt much lighter than before. Fortunately, her request seemed to have been well received. She'd been a little worried that this bastard might ask her to suck his cock again.
Actually, she had been somewhat prepared for even that. After all, she'd already sucked it once, so why couldn't she do it twice? She wasn't unaware of how incredibly expensive it was to receive this kind of personal training from someone skilled. Because of that, she'd really squeezed her father dry back in the day.
Still, she was a bit grateful that he readily agreed without asking for anything in return. Sometimes he was fucking obnoxious and said nasty things... but he didn't seem like such a bad-natured guy after all.
Yeah... once I become a knight, I can just repay him then—!
As soon as Alisa returned to her dorm room, she threw off her stifling formal attire. Then after gulping down a glass of cool water in one go, she clumsily fumbled with the device installed in the living room. ...She was confident in everything else, but she was uniquely terrified and inept when it came to handling this machine.
Ah shit, why is this so complicated.
She struggled for a long while reading the manual before barely managing to connect. At the training center, there was a shared account so she could just use the device and connect immediately, but here she had to create a new account. Another eternity passed there.
After groaning and struggling to finally create her account, she sent him a message.
- You done making your machine, you bitch. How the hell did it take you so long?
And with that, he apparently sent a package.
- When you make your character, apply the package.
As a complete technophobe who knew nothing, she obediently followed his instructions. To create her character, she first did a full-body scan, then applied the package he sent. At least from this point on, it was something she'd occasionally done at the training center, so she could easily connect to the room he'd made.
A virtual training ground similar to back then. But his appearance right in front of her was a bit... no, extremely bizarre.
"Hey, what the hell is with your getup?"
"Ah, this? It's virtual reality anyway, so using my real appearance is kinda boring. Gotta dress it up fun."
Slightly tanned bronze skin, blond hair, ears studded with piercings packed tightly together, and for clothes, nothing but a single pair of short shorts that clearly showed the bulge of his crotch jutting out.
His appearance was exactly what you'd imagine some scruffy thug bastard from a run-down slum would look like. ...But comically, because his face was so damn handsome, it somehow felt like a fashion statement. So that's where the saying "the face completes the fashion" came from.
"Wow, it suits you too. Your titty barrel is pretty solid, more than I expected. Almost a shame to cover them up."
"...What?"
Alisa, who hadn't paid any attention to her own appearance until then, finally glanced down at her body.
Ack, what is this—!
The cool suit she'd worn at the training center was nowhere to be seen, and instead she was wearing nothing but a tiny bikini with such minimal coverage that her pale bare skin was clearly visible everywhere. And it was like that both top and bottom—!
"Hey, but you really need to tidy up your pussy hair. It's all poking out. More lush than I thought."
"Yah, yah you, you son of a bitch, aaaaaaargh——!!!"
Alisa was so shocked she shrieked and wildly swung her cutting sword. With murderous intent toward Kal. To prevent him from seeing her shameful state.
She pushed the physical enhancement item's function to full power. Then heat suddenly surged through her body, and an immense wave of pleasure swallowed her whole—! It was so electrifying that it momentarily made her forget even her embarrassing appearance.
"Die, you fucking bastard——!!"
All she could think about was killing this bastard who deserved to be chewed up and swallowed. But something she'd never succeeded at even in the training center—what chance was there of succeeding here?
Naturally, Alisa was completely toyed with by Kal and repeatedly killed. After it happened more than ten times, she finally disconnected without a word.
"Son of a bitch, fucking bastard...!"
Of course, as an extreme technophobe, she didn't know how to change her character's clothes and struggled for a long while before finally terminating the connection entirely. Then, grinding her teeth furiously, she went into the bathroom.
No matter what, she couldn't keep showing that bastard her pussy hair poking out.
Son of a bitch...! I take back him not seeming like a bad-natured guy. Completely damn son of a bitch—!
In the end, she stripped off her lower half completely, propped one foot up on the sink, lathered up plenty of soap, and started shaving her pussy hair with a razor.
Soon, her mons pubis became a smooth, bald mountain.