Chapter 8
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: 000 Days Later: Taming the Gloomy Girl (1)
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It's the start of a pleasant day.
The past few days had been so peaceful that everything that happened felt like a dream.
Not that I'd returned to my original world or anything—just that the heroine hadn't done any naked dogeza or wet the bed.
Surprisingly, that alone was enough to make the world feel at peace.
Savoring the simple preciousness of an ordinary day, I walked along until I found myself in front of the lecture hall before I knew it.
Standing right at the door, a slight tension crept in.
It felt like being a scientist on the verge of opening Schrödinger's box.
Would Vivian really be inside the lecture hall, or not?
Of course, on the first day, I hadn't said a single word to her.
But just like how I got on Professor Loreos's bad side for no reason of my own, Vivian might not show up for some inexplicable reason too.
Honestly, even if she wasn't in the lecture hall, it would just end the pure love tamer route—but the brainwashing tamer angle would still be alive.
But what I was aiming for was a kind of bugged playstyle.
And for that, I absolutely needed the pure love tamer route.
The Chapter 1 boss in Academy's Tamer changes depending on which heroine you conquer.
In the Vivian route, Vivian herself becomes the boss, whether you go pure love or brainwashing—it doesn't matter.
However... after countless trials and errors, I discovered that if you balance the two routes just right, you can prevent the Chapter 1 boss "Witch Vivian" from appearing.
'Please, just be in there.'
Even raiding "Witch Vivian" in the game was brutal—what if I had to face that in reality?
Hard pass.
'Yes.'
Fortunately, Vivian was there.
Unlike usual, she wasn't reading a book but had her notebook out, scribbling something down.
I was a bit curious about what was written in the notebook, but no need to ruin things by prying.
I sat down at my seat, avoiding looking at her as much as possible.
'The pure love route entry is going smoothly.'
At the academy, I'm getting special training from Professor Loreos, and at home, I'm doing extra telekinesis practice—it's exhausting.
But if waking up early lets me skip the Chapter 1 boss, I can humbly accept this level of fatigue.
Just another week like this, and the "Small Kindness" event should trigger.
Honestly, the "Small Kindness" event is so lame it's embarrassing to even call it an event.
It's literally just picking up something Vivian drops and handing it back to her.
If you ask how such a lame event builds affection with the heroine, I'd have nothing to say.
But considering how in school, one greeting from the class rep had me fantasizing about our kids' names... it's not entirely unrealistic.
...I'll bury that dark history and focus on practicing telekinesis.
Things are going smoothly right now by luck, but this shitty game could kill me anytime, anywhere.
So I need to grow as fast as possible.
'The most practical growth method right now is telekinesis.'
I opened the textbook and flipped through the pages one by one with telekinesis.
Surprisingly, turning book pages consumed a lot of mental power.
It required such delicate control.
If my focus slipped even a little, the paper would tear or multiple pages would flip at once.
Sarack, sarack.
As I kept flipping pages with telekinesis, fatigue hit me at some point.
I'd only gotten through about half, but if I kept going, I'd fall asleep during lecture, so I stopped at a good spot.
Stretching to loosen my stiff body from concentrating—
-Thud.
Vivian's pen fell to the floor by my foot.
"...?"
My brain froze for a second.
This progression was way too fast.
The Small Kindness event shouldn't trigger until you've built intimacy over at least a week, two at most.
But today was only the second day. We were nowhere near enough intimacy—why was the event firing already?
"Ah..."
As I hesitated without picking up the pen, Vivian started to stand from her seat.
No time to think.
Just go with it.
Miss this chance, and who knows when the next event will pop.
I don't know why the intimacy built up so fast, but faster progress isn't a loss.
I quickly stood, picked up the pen, and handed it to Vivian.
"Here you go."
"Th-thanks..."
Vivian took the pen, brushing her purple hair behind her ear with her other hand.
"No big deal."
A smile crept onto my lips unbidden.
It's definite.
I've started down the Vivian pure love tamer route.
"Guhhh..."
My whole body screamed again.
The hellish day was finally over.
Today was supposed to be a theory lecture, but Professor Loreos dragged me to the training room for extra sessions anyway.
I briefly considered skipping the additional training, but I knew it'd lead to even harsher sessions the next day, so I gave up on that.
And regardless of the reason, my stamina was indeed improving...
Dragging my exhausted body back to my room, there was Lucia with her face buried in my pillow on my bed, bucking her hips wildly.
"Haah... haa... M-Masterrr..."
"..."
I'd given her a spare key figuring it was better than her waiting outside and getting spotted by other students.
But I hadn't anticipated this.
Since I'd tamed her so she couldn't even masturbate without my permission, she must've just been humping the air.
"What exactly are you doing right now?"
"...!"
Hearing my voice, Lucia froze mid-buck like a statue.
She turned her head from the pillow to look at me.
"Th-that's... y-you're back... e-early, Master... th-this is..."
"...No need for excuses. Punishment later."
I sat in the chair and spoke in a low voice.
This wasn't acting—my voice came out like that because I was genuinely mentally drained.
Meanwhile, Lucia tidied the bed with a tense face and knelt before me.
"Y-you worked hard today too, Master."
"...You found what I told you to find, right?"
I skipped straight to business without replying.
If she hadn't even done the task and was just messing around on my bed, I'd be seriously pissed.
"Y-yes, Master. I found it."
My mood eased a bit at Lucia's response.
The book's location in some old bookstore changed randomly every playthrough, so I'd figured it'd take days—but she found it in one.
Lucia was pretty capable, it seemed.
What I'd sent her to find was an adult manga.
The book itself wasn't anything special.
Average art, standard plot: an innocent girl accidentally touches her nipple and discovers the pleasures of sex from there.
'The important part is the author.'
But the author mattered.
This book's creator was none other than Vivian Beatrice.
With this, I could enter the brainwashing tamer route.
The pure love tamer route had progressed faster than expected, so I was a little worried—but she'd brought it at the perfect time.
"Not bad for a dumb bitch."
"Th-thank you. So... Master... the... reward...?"
Lucia squirmed, craving her reward.
"...Don't you think forgiving that pathetic display of yours is reward enough?"
I scowled as I said it.
Not to brag, but this was genius.
This way, I didn't have to punish her separately or give a reward.
Two birds with one stone.
"Ah..."
But... Lucia's eyes lost focus, and she bit her lip—the mood felt off.
'...Did stress build up already?'
Separate from jealousy, all heroines had an event where, after a certain taming level and too much neglect, they couldn't hold back and pounced.
That led to them draining you dry, over and over, until their stress was gone.
The event itself had no downsides besides losing a whole day, and afterward, the heroine would apologize profusely once she came to her senses...
'Not now...'
The problem was my current stamina couldn't handle it.
Even with "Prince on the Bed," pure physical exhaustion could lead to death by overwork.
'How many days has it even been? Stress already? Ah!'
A thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
It's only been a few days since I reincarnated here, but when did Lucia recover her 1st playthrough memories?
A week? A month? A year? From the current situation, it wasn't short.
Her over-the-top frenzy earlier finally made sense.
Lucia had regained her 1st playthrough memories and endured it all this time.
My brain scrambled for a way out of this sudden crisis.
"But still..."
To buy time, I stroked Lucia's lowered cheek lightly as she spoke.
"Considering your effort, I'll give you a reward."
At the word "reward," Lucia looked up at me with unfocused eyes.
The standard reward here would be sex, but my stamina was rock bottom, and muscle pain meant I could barely move.
Plus, even if I did it, I'd rather test "Prince on the Bed" somewhere else first.
'So what reward do I give?!'
This wasn't the time. Think, think.
Figure out how to get past this.
"...I'll specially permit you to masturbate in front of me."
Not sex, then masturbation.
I blurted it out with that simplistic logic.
Silence stretched for a few seconds as if Lucia couldn't process it.
'Did I screw up?'
Is this not enough to defuse it?
Am I dying here to death by overwork?
As suppressed fear made my hands start to tremble...
"...Heuugh... Thank you for permitting this lowly sow to masturbate."
...Looks like I survived another day.