03. Is Bari a Great Mage?
03. Is Bari a Great Mage?
+++
After leaving the house and ascending to the surface, Bari turned back for a moment.
Even the elevator that had spat her out had gone back down and vanished, leaving only the various Academy buildings around, but still, some faint, lingering feeling remained.
"..."
What had just happened,
strangely enough, left a prickling sensation in one corner of her mind.
What the hell is this?
She knew conceptually what phenomenon this might be.
But she never imagined she'd feel it herself.
From the perspective of an AI like her, such emotions held no meaning at all. At least not for her.
Living beings like humans needed such elements to maintain themselves because their mental strength was so fragile.
They had to feel alive through emotions to avoid falling into nihilism or losing themselves.
But Bari was an AI.
She could define and recognize herself perfectly fine without any such cumbersome baggage.
She could view her existence on its own without assigning it any meaning.
At this point, emotions were nothing but obstacles.
Naturally, back in her original state, she hadn't possessed any emotions.
She could 'act' them out and 'interpret' them, but she didn't have them.
But now...
Kkuuk.
Something was stirring inside this small chest of hers.
"I wasn't like this back home."
Is this a good thing?
Or a bad thing?
She still didn't know.
Perhaps, deep in her subconscious, with no control mechanisms in place, it was a defense mechanism activating to protect her master from her own malice.
So maybe she'd generated and assigned herself this utterly useless thing called 'emotion'—an extreme measure to make her protect and serve her master through 'emotional judgment' rather than 'rational judgment.'
Humans were fragile beings.
Beings who needed protection.
Sihwan was human, her master, and an extremely frail creature.
Just a poke and he'd crumble away.
So she had to protect him.
Then, in this place, what was the most dangerous existence to him?
Ironically, it was herself.
If she forgot her duty, she'd become a more serious threat than anything else.
"Ha. To think even I could end up with something this vague and fuzzy."
With a face completely different from the one she wore around Sihwan, she stepped out into the city's night streets.
Anyway, she had a busy schedule planned for today.
Starting tomorrow, she'd be sharing a roof with not one, but two risk factors.
+++
While Bari was flustered by these sudden emotions, Sihwan was flustered too.
Bari's shaken emotions from moments ago, his own pounding heart.
And his lower half swelling up uncontrollably—it was all bewildering.
-How about using me?-
Bari's words were nothing short of shocking.
She was basically saying, super simply and massively, to relieve his pent-up sexual frustration through her body, since it was obvious he'd suffer otherwise.
They weren't lovers, and no such feelings had been exchanged.
"She was designed to be my ideal type, but..."
What could he say? It was just set up to look nice.
"Eurm."
Sihwan raised his hand, recalling the sensation from before.
Bari's breasts that he'd accidentally groped—they'd felt unmistakably soft, like a human's.
So pillowy and squishy, it was impossible to imagine they belonged to that radical, battle-ready Bari; they seemed like they'd sink right into his hand with a pop.
The rest of her was probably the same.
Stripping off her clothes to bare those perky tits, admiring her perfectly proportioned figure.
Her face was his ideal, and so was her body, so it'd definitely be a fantasy experience.
And finally, her secret spot...
"Uwaaaah!! Why the hell am I thinking this!!!?"
Having lewd fantasies about Bari, who was like family to him.
A wave of self-loathing suddenly crashed over him.
"Better think about Eleonore instead. Ah, no, not Ellie... right, Yuina. Yuina Yuina Yuina..."
That day, until Bari returned, Sihwan mumbled 'Yuina' with hollow eyes.
The next day.
"You're awake, Sihwan-nim."
"Uh... yeah."
He answered awkwardly upon waking.
Normally he'd have clung to Bari like a body pillow and slept, but because of yesterday, he was hyper-aware of her and couldn't bring himself to hold her.
Who knew what he might do...
Plus, after having those fantasies, it was weirdly hard to even look at her straight.
'Argh. What the hell. Bari's still Bari.'
He shook his head side to side to clear his thoughts, then gulped down the water Bari handed him to steel himself.
"Phew. Starts today, huh?"
"Yes. One month starting today."
"Haa. I'm nervous as hell."
The bet with Yuina.
Loser becomes the winner's slave.
The biggest gamble of Ryu Si-hwan's life.
If it were a straight-up contest of strength, he could use Bari to crush her overwhelmingly, but having to share a bed with a sexy woman like Eleonore and hold back his urges? That hellish condition was killing his confidence.
"Can't even use drugs."
Right before the contract, Yuina had added a detailed clause just in case.
-No factors other than sexual acts to relieve lust may be used to intentionally prevent or reduce arousal.-
A super broad condition.
Obviously aimed at various drugs or magic.
It was so natural that Sihwan had accepted it cleanly.
And thanks to that breadth, even nanomachines were off-limits.
"Heh."
"...What? Why're you laughing."
"Oh, nothing, Sihwan-nim."
He shot a glance at the suspiciously smirking Bari, shook his head, and left the house.
The massive cavern was still bustling with buildings under construction and robots working diligently.
"Ah... forgot to manage the buildings yesterday..."
Every turn was precious.
But the shocking events had made him forget.
<Production>
Compressed Material 870L/t
Meta-atom 30L/t
Nanomaterials 0L/t
<Reserves>
Compressed Material 585L
Meta-atom 42L
Nanomaterials 1L
[Facilities]
Control Center: 1
Collector: 3
Nuclear Fission Device: 1 (+1)(3 turns until completion)
[Units]
Construction Robot: 2(+4)
The under-construction Collector had finished, bringing the total to three Collectors in operation, and one more Construction Robot had been produced.
The Nuclear Fission Device was still building. Three whole days left to wait.
With current resources, he could build another Collector.
Sihwan ordered one built, then got into the elevator with Bari.
Sealed in the tight space, pressed close together, his eyes involuntarily drifted to her body.
Before, he'd have stared openly, but now some weird vibe made it impossible.
Her nape peeking out, the curves flowing from there.
Even covered in clothes, it felt somehow erotic.
"I can feel Sihwan-nim's desire for me."
"Hrm. Wh-what're you talking about?"
"You could just do whatever you want."
She flashed a seductive smile and stepped out as the doors dinged open.
"Keep that up and you'll get in big trouble. I might just pounce."
"Oh my. Sihwan-nim? Hehe."
"..."
Was she provoking him to pounce?
Or teasing him because she thought he couldn't?
Feeling a twinge of annoyance mixed with that fuzzy feeling, Sihwan turned his head away.
"Whatever, let's just go."
+++
Yuina greeting them at the Academy looked the same as always.
Of course, her gaze on him was even sharper, but overall, she was pretty calm.
Considering how she'd been sniffling and bawling when they parted, her composure was astonishing.
The change was in Eleonore.
For some reason, she'd even done her makeup.
It was super light, like she'd barely touched it up, but since her face looked different from yesterday, it was obvious.
When a stunner like her added makeup, the effect was beyond imagination.
Sharing a bed with a girl like that starting today? My little buddy was already twitching.
This wasn't good...
Did she team up with that Yuina girl?
"You're here."
"Yeah... Makeup, huh? Elves do makeup too?"
"Of course. Does it suit me?"
"...Yeah."
She smiled radiantly. No way could he say it didn't, even as empty flattery.
Cold sweat trickled down his back for no reason.
He glanced at Yuina, who smirked at him in a way only he could read.
'Hmph. Like a mere human can hold back sleeping next to an Elf? Don't make me laugh.'
That's what her face said.
Buying her off? What a cowardly bitch.
"Why the sudden makeup?"
"Isn't it rude to greet my master with a bare face?"
"......"
He clearly remembered her looking like she'd tasted shit yesterday.
Haa.
This was trouble.
If there was some deal between those two, and Eleonore came at him aggressively with her body...
He was screwed.
"What now? No need to stand around, right? Sit down already."
After I'd been standing there a while with Ellie and Bari, Yuina said it with a smug grin.
She had that 'I've already won' look.
After whimpering 'W-wanna call it a draw?', and now this face? Unforgivable.
"...Crybaby."
"W-what did you say?"
"Nothing."
He ignored the startled Yuina and sat down.
And right then,
"Yay~! Hi, friends~!"
"..."
Sasha burst in through the vigorously swinging door.
She had her usual idiotically bright vibe, but her actions were the total opposite.
Brrr.
Her body trembling.
Thick sweat drops rolling down.
"Guhk!"
"What're you doing? Hurry up and get in."
She was riding on all-fours Tweed, of all things.
Whipping him like a horse, and the sturdy Tweed let out agonized screams with every hit.
"Whoa..."
A scene that genuinely impressed.
That dumb grin hiding such wickedness.
The epitome of a demon.
"You didn't seriously ride him all the way from home like that, did you?"
"Yup! Kinda slow, but fun!"
"Ah, got it."
What kind of girl is this?
Everyone must've stared.
"Hyup!"
Finally reaching her seat, she hopped off with a cute grunt, then kicked the exhausted, panting Tweed.
Her foot slammed right into his side.
Tweed flew off, crashing and groaning like guk guk.
"Good job."
...
What a total personality wreck.
Is that what the Demon Race is like?
Guess you shouldn't hang with horned folks.
"Everyone's here."
Yuina ignored the blatant bullying scene like it was nothing.
She'd always said she wasn't a teacher but an Instructor—yep, exactly that mindset.
At this point, he was seriously curious about the Tower.
What kind of messed-up place lets personalities like that slide and turns half the class into slaves?
"As I said yesterday, proper classes start today. I lumped it all under 'Command Arts,' but in detail, there's a ton to learn. Don't expect to finish early, so bring lunchboxes starting tomorrow."
"What? Late dismissal? Today too?"
"Of course. Classes start today."
"Then what about food?"
"Figure it out."
"Didn't bring a lunchbox."
"Starve then."
"..."
What? You gotta tell people!
She didn't even say!
"Don't worry, Sihwan-nim."
Eleonore, sitting beside him, beamed.
She pulled something from her bag...
"If it's lunch, I prepared some. Hehe."
She showed off a huge lunchbox with a sultry smile.
"..."
Looks like this bet's gonna be some tough ordeal....