Ch.168Chapter 168

Sending Ourr and Ouro on a hot spring trip.

This shouldn’t have been allowed. No matter how cute they looked, they were Demon Gods, so leaving them in the hands of students was bound to cause anxiety.

Normally, one would worry about Demon Gods harming people.

But Yuria worried about the opposite.

Ouro’s magical essence had already changed, so even if she grew, she wouldn’t harm humans. And while it wasn’t exactly an advantage, Ourr regulated herself, so there wouldn’t be any problems there either.

The real issue was how people would react if they discovered the two were Demon Gods.

If someone charged at them out of anger toward Demon Gods, like that second-year student Beirud had done before, it was obvious how Ourr and Ouro would respond.

Ourr would passively endure it, while Ouro would reveal her power as a Demon God.

Neither outcome would be pleasant.

Yuria felt uneasy even after sending them off. She appeared restless, like a parent who had left their child by a river, and struggled to concentrate.

Scratching her head, Yuria stared intently at the screen in front of her.

<Socialization of Demon Gods ‘Ourr’ and ‘Ouro’>

A thesis on specific Demon Gods.

Since each Demon God had their own unique personality—one had one personality, ten had ten different personalities—they couldn’t be described consistently. They needed to be classified differently from humans, which made things incredibly complex.

Fortunately, Ourr and Ouro could be grouped together, which saved some effort.

A ringing bell sound. Not from her phone, but from the landline connected to the Academy. After a slight delay in realizing it, Yuria quickly picked up the receiver.

“Hello, this is Professor Yuria from the Demon God Research Department.”

[Professor Yuria, it’s me.]

“…Rose.”

She had answered in a serious tone thinking it was a work call, but the voice on the other end was none other than Rosemila’s.

As soon as she heard that voice, Yuria’s tension dissipated, and she smiled wryly before saying:

“You know the landline is for work. Why are you calling on this?”

[You seemed too immersed in your work, so I thought I’d help change the mood?]

“I think it’s the first time a professor has said something like that to another professor, and I’m not working, I’m writing a thesis.”

[That is work. I bet it’s because of those Demon Gods from before.]

“…That’s all I have. It’s not far from my research topic, and I just need to observe those two properly.”

Yuria briefly scanned through the notes she had made.

They were traces of her efforts to figure out how to explain things more accurately. Despite being short sentences, they contained hours of Yuria’s work.

It was a matter of observing Ourr and Ouro and documenting it. But that alone wasn’t enough. If she only wrote that, it would be no different from a diary, so it was essential to base it on science or magic.

First, she needed to write about and define what kind of Demon Gods Ourr and Ouro were.

Ouroboros. This was the word Ouro used to define herself. A being living an infinite life. A peculiar existence that alternated between adult and child.

That immortality seemed to have no conditions and no end.

Having no conditions meant there was no reason to harm people. That was the key point. Tapping her pen on that, Yuria spoke.

“I’m going to publish a thesis after a year.”

[…That’s not far away.]

“Right, but I’ve prepared hard. Six months might be a short time, but it won’t hinder completion. Besides, I understand to some extent.”

She might not know about other Demon Gods, but she had a good grasp of Ourr and Ouro.

After all, she had created Demon Gods based on Demon God theory, so it would be absurd to claim ignorance.

To write that Ouro wouldn’t harm people even if she grew, certain content had to be included.

While Demon Gods’ magical power was typically unrefined and harmful to humans, in Ouro’s case, despite having a Demon God’s form, she used refined magical power like humans as her standard, so her aura wouldn’t harm the human body—that was the conclusion.

If this passed, she could explain that Ouro had been successfully socialized with a bit more education.

The problem was Ourr. Since Ourr was a pure Demon God, harmful magical power leaked from her aura when she grew.

It was natural, but what was natural for a Demon God was harmful to humans. She either had to find a way to eliminate it or find a way to suppress it.

For the latter, she already knew the method. If so, she needed to prove that Ourr was cooperative with this method, but the question of what to do if she became capricious was the most daunting problem, as there was no proper answer.

[Are you planning to submit the thesis right after the year ends? Do you think you can convince those old men?]

“…I’m not sure. If I speak to my advisor first, maybe he’ll talk to me.”

[Your advisor might be lenient with you, but he approaches problems objectively. Wouldn’t it be better to think carefully before asking?]

Yuria broke out in a sweat.

No matter how much of a genius she was called for becoming a professor at a young age, no matter how good her relationship with her professor was, discussing thesis topics with her advisor was inevitably awkward.

There are no incompetent professors. Most were once called geniuses, so Yuria was often just a novice in comparison.

In the end, justified strictness and rigorous review standards became Yuria’s biggest hurdle.

“…It’s going to be tough.”

Yuria held her head and shook it.

It wasn’t just about submitting a thesis; she also needed to prove that there were harmless Demon Gods, which meant gathering people who shared the same opinion—that was the challenge.

She even questioned whether she could win over her advisor.

Despite feeling like a master and disciple, she worried that her theory might contradict the beliefs her advisor had researched over the years.

An advisor was bound to be awkward no matter what kind of person you became.

[You’re trying to take a difficult path. You used to say you were scared.]

“That was then, now I know what it is…”

Yuria, holding her head, recalled the past.

She had said those things because she thought there was something inside Ourr, but now she knew it was Ouro, which made her feel embarrassed looking back.

But she couldn’t help it back then.

[Well, good luck. You’re trying to live normally with those two, right?]

“That’s right. Okay, I’ll contact you later. Next time, not on the landline, but personally.”

[Alright, alright. Let’s have a meal together sometime.]

“Sure. See you later.”

With those words, Yuria put down the receiver.

She felt like a big wave had passed by even though she hadn’t done anything in particular. After letting out a deep sigh, she lowered her gaze.

The annotations on the thesis she had been tapping. Looking at them quietly, Yuria thought about postponing it and focusing on another task, shifting her gaze to the monitor.

**

“I’ve bathed and eaten.”

Sitting on the bed, I summarized what I had done since coming here.

Simple, but I could see that I had completed exactly what I could do and wanted to do here.

Since this was the goal, I was quite satisfied. Embracing the cold winter weather and soaking in hot water—it felt like something I’d remember for a lifetime.

As I nodded, immersed in the afterglow, Ouro, who had settled beside me, smacked her lips regretfully.

“I could have eaten more.”

“You can eat endlessly. If you did, the inn would go bankrupt. They say you can eat all you want, but if you really ate without limits…”

There’s a difference between a person who eats a lot saying they’ll eat infinitely and a Demon God who truly can’t be satisfied even with a one-ton truck of food, as if there’s a black hole in her stomach.

Given enough time, Ouro could have devoured 100 or 200 servings by herself.

I told Ouro that she needed to learn to be moderately satisfied.

Ouro pouted at my words. She didn’t seem to want to argue with me, so she just nodded.

“You need to keep doing that so people will like you in the future too.”

I praised Ouro, saying “well done.” When I roughly patted her head with my hand, Ouro, once again, patted my head for no reason.

It was a bit strange, as if she was just mimicking what I did to her.

I hadn’t done anything deserving of praise.

“This is something you do when praising someone.”

“Praising Ourr.”

“…Yes, I understand.”

I nodded at her soft response.

How could I ever win against Ouro?

“Let’s contact the Professor first, and then go get snacks. Sera said she’d buy us snacks earlier. She said she’d buy them from the convenience store and we’d eat them here.”

“Unlimited?”

“No, not unlimited…”

It seemed she thought that after going to an all-you-can-eat place, there would be another place where everything could be eaten endlessly.

I had to explain again that we couldn’t clean out a convenience store endlessly, so I reluctantly opened my mouth.