Became the Slave of the Archduke of Hell (4)
Apart from the unofficial history of Esdinas Academy's founding and the secrets of the Bisa world, there's another reason Chang Yeom turned the academy into my "training ground."
"Get used to this from now on. In about ten years in the mid-world's time, you'll end up looking just like this."
After arriving at one of the academy's training grounds with Chang Yeom, she snapped her fingers toward the wall.
"It'll be new for freshmen, but for you, it'll be a familiar battlefield."
She wanted me to get accustomed in advance to the environment I'd face in the future. Like Olympic athletes training in venues similar to the actual stadium, Chang Yeom hoped I'd familiarize myself with the "stage" for my decisive battle against the goddess.
"Above all, it's the battlefield where you can best utilize the terrain, right?"
Chang Yeom tapped her foot on a spot on the training ground floor. Unlike the smoothly paved surface elsewhere, there was a faint crack there, as if it had split at some point.
"Of course."
The site of an event from the original story. The spot where the protagonist trips over that stone during a duel with a senior supporting character. The so-called "rigged bullshit" I'd only seen in game graphics was right there in plain view.
"Of course, the terrain ten years from now might not be exactly the same..."
"If it's been maintained or changed, adapt accordingly. If it's stayed the same as in the original, use it to your advantage."
"Exactly. With that in mind... hmm."
Chang Yeom tilted her head at me, her cat tail swaying behind her skirt.
"Is that what you're wearing for training? What, showing off your body?"
"...I'm just dressed the same as I would be at the gym."
I gestured to my body—my flesh and clothes sculpted from mana.
"Wearing that on top? For something like that, your eyes have been glued to my upper body this whole time."
"Ah. I wasn't looking at the muscles—I was watching your face."
"Gonna play it off like that?"
"Your slave here stares at your whole body anyway."
"......."
In conversations with Chang Yeom, I always end up losing.
"No need to get so flustered. Being healthy as a male is a huge advantage for our plans!"
I couldn't even come up with a retort to that.
"Visual novels gonna visual novel! You've got the walkthrough for all sixteen routes, no need to set it aside. Puhuhu."
"Saying it like that makes me sound like some trash building a harem on purpose, so call it the 'plan to sever the goddess's hands and feet,' please?"
I checked my training clothes, then grabbed one of the many weapons that appeared on the wall when Chang Yeom snapped her fingers.
"A gun?"
"This one's more 'realistic' for me to get used to."
I picked up the pistol. A weapon that doesn't exist in this world, but the concept itself isn't unknown here.
"There's a magic engineering student at the academy, so we can modify it into this shape with her help."
"You know pistols are just called 'magic missile wrappers,' right?"
"Gotta use what's comfortable for me."
I aimed the pistol sideways, and a target appeared right away.
Bang!
I pulled the trigger. The blue bullet forged from mana pierced the target's dead center.
"Turning it into a wand that shoots magic missiles?"
"In reality, it's all about application. Otherwise, you'd end up having to switch weapons anyway—this one's not ideal as a main one."
I picked up what seemed like a weapon Chang Yeom had deliberately placed there.
"Maybe if it was for hitting golf balls, but you can't take down golems or swordmasters with a 7-iron."
"In Korean movies and dramas, chaebols beat people with golf clubs as a basic move."
"Listen, Archduke of the Demon World in this fantasy setting. Don't spread distorted K-culture like that."
I released the mana from the gun, gripped the 7-iron, and swung once.
"Whoa, cool. Now just replace the ball with a human head, right?"
"Stick the goddess in the ground and hit a clean drive shot."
"With a 7-iron?"
"Doesn't matter if it's not for accuracy and distance—as long as it's a shot to smash her skull hard and precise."
"Puhuhu. True enough. Well... good mindset. Motivation is key to getting stronger."
Chang Yeom snapped her fingers. My position shifted naturally to the center of the training ground, and iron bars appeared over the doors on all sides—east, west, south, north.
"Then, let's jump into a real fight?"
"Tutorial battles starting dead center break the national rules."
"One door only, then?"
Blue flames ignited right where I was looking. The flickering, holographic-like fire began to take shape, forming the most basic monster from the tutorial—
"Three dire wolves. Think you can handle them?"
"......."
Wolves about 1.5 meters in size.
If you asked whether I, a mere gamer, could take them on—
"How strong?"
Impossible with just modern experience, but my training as Regiph Hapsderk covers that.
"Matched to your level. To your 'combat skills.'"
Chang Yeom lightly tapped my chest.
"Mana's infinite thanks to our contract, but you don't know how to 'use' it properly, right?"
"Mm."
"In modern terms, it's like giving someone on a 3-million-won salary 200 billion overnight."
"......."
"Ah, sorry. Was it 330?"
"Game all-cleared, so 200 billion annual salary."
I aimed the pistol forward. The bars opened, Chang Yeom vanished, and—
Grrr...!!
The three dire wolves sauntered into the training ground.
"The next ten years. To take down the other hell dukes and the Demon King, pacify the demon world."
Click.
"Gotta learn by dying."
I pulled the trigger straight ahead. Channeling the mana in my heart into the pistol, forging mana bullets and firing—
Boom!
What I felt was intense shock through my hand gripping the gun and my face. Pain and death like a bomb exploding right in front of me—
Fwoosh.
I closed my eyes once and opened them.
"......Hah, huff."
"Beep. 1 death. Death by mana overload."
I was dead.
"You put in too much power. Be more delicate. Only up to the limit your current mental strength can handle."
"...Ahh."
"It's one of the top causes of death for academy students on external exams. Wanna take a break?"
"No. Death's just the second one now."
Pain wasn't familiar yet, but pain and death had to become so.
"Died once when we made the contract."
I'd suppressed it due to the situation, but the agony of my whole body burning still sent chills down my spine just thinking about it.
"I'll die over and over in battles ahead."
That pain would assault me in even more varied ways.
"But."
I reformed the pistol from mana, loading the barrel like bullets.
"Phoenix revives from the ashes even after death."
"...Puhuhu."
Chang Yeom laughed.
"You got game over a lot fighting my avatar, right?"
"Yeah."
The incarnation of the hell archduke. The massive blue phoenix I'd thought was just an insanely hard SS—no, SSS-grade boss up to the 999th playthrough.
"If I want to become like that monster to my enemies, I need to get numb to dying and reviving."
Click. Bang!
"......."
The dire wolf exploded. Perfect initial shot. But reloading—
"Beep."
"Ah."
By then, a dire wolf from the side was lunging at me with jaws wide.
"Cycle the mana faster."
Crunch.
* * *
Esdinas Academy is basically all dorms.
Influence from some magic school... but as a politically neutral zone, all students must live in the dorms without exception, to mingle.
And those dorms differ from typical college ones in one key way...
"Fwaa."
The first floor has a large communal bath.
Thanks to magic engineering progress incorporating modern civilization here and there, academy students can shower or soak in wide tubs.
"How is it?"
Chang Yeom asked.
"What're you thinking right now?"
Her voice came from beyond the wall.
"If I'm not hearing this through mana, you're thinking of demolishing the dorms the second you get to the academy?"
"Puhuhu, no worries."
Chang Yeom appeared ghost-like from the wall and slipped into my tub.
"Hey, master. This is the men's bath."
"I made this world—what's that matter?"
"Hah."
"We've seen it all already. Or... is that not it~?"
Suspicious mist shrouded Chang Yeom. The white fog from anime TV versions that clears on Blu-ray, wrapping her body thickly.
"Curious?"
"I know what the swimsuit looks like from before."
"......Hmph."
Chang Yeom sank into the water.
"You wanna see me shed one more layer, right~?"
"Obviously."
I stared straight at Chang Yeom.
"Master, from what I know, you're fai—"
"Shut up."
"......."
"Shut it."
It was close to a command, a harsh outburst, but I raised my hand lightly.
"It's fine, master. No reason to be embarrassed. Unicorns are known for... "
"Say one more word and I'll reduce them."
"Reduce? What?"
"These?"
Chang Yeom snapped her fingers, the mist vanished, and two things floating in the water disappeared in an instant.
"Slip of the tongue. Apologize. Restore them."
"How do I know if that's their original size or mana-puffed?"
"Obviously I know that's the original. The world's 'settings' say so."
What Chang Yeom reduced wasn't just breasts.
"In this world, the bigger the mana pouch in the heart, especially for women, the more mana they have."
"Not wrong. Mana volume is proportional to mana stone size."
This world.
"Esdinas Academy isn't called 'Breadcademy' for nothing."
It's an academy story, but there's one shady—or profound—setting.
"No admission below C-cup."
"...Can't you rephrase it as 'only those who can form at least a minimum mana vessel are eligible'?"
"Not wrong."
Chang Yeom infused mana into her chest, normalizing her form.
"A big mana pouch proves high mana talent, and Esdinas trains heroes to fight potential demon world threats."
"......."
"Big and busty means excellent."
Esdinas Academy.
Unlike the claim that education is open to all, the small can't even enroll.