Ch.186Chapter 186

The Professor used to have a neat and pretty image. But lately, her hair had become disheveled, her eyes sunken, and her focus slightly blurred, giving off an impression of someone who had lost their vitality.

That didn’t mean she was spaced out, though. She only seemed absent-minded when deep in thought, but once she started talking about something, words would flow from her like a mountain stream. With no awkward pauses, no tangled thoughts, and no repetition, it seemed reasonable to conclude that only her appearance had deteriorated.

Still, I couldn’t help but worry.

I thought that if the Professor’s body had been like a Demon God’s, she could have continued her research 24 hours a day without feeling fatigue. Instead, it seemed like her human body had become a shackle.

If having to sleep to recover from fatigue isn’t a shackle, then what is?

“Professor, go to sleep and continue after you wake up.”

“No, I need to do this now. There’s nothing more frustrating than sleeping and forgetting everything when I wake up…”

The Professor continued typing on her keyboard even as her head swayed. She seemed to be writing down everything she was thinking, and seeing the enormous volume of text made me understand why she had so many thoughts all the time.

With this much content, I wondered if she actually had too little time to think rather than too much.

Finally, there was a loud thud as she hit a key forcefully, and the Professor urgently muttered the word “save” repeatedly. Then, with a groan, she got up from her seat.

“Are you going to bed?”

“Yes… Ourr should sleep too. What about Ouro?”

“Ouro is already asleep. She must be having a sleepy day.”

“Is that so? Then let’s go.”

The Professor checked why Ouro wasn’t beside her and went into the bedroom. There, we could see Ouro sprawled across the bed. It was quite impressive how she had claimed the center of the bed as if it were entirely hers.

I grabbed one of Ouro’s arms and pulled, causing her face to contort.

“Unnngh.”

“Grrrr…”

She was definitely heavy. It’s hard enough to lift my own body weight, but now she’s even heavier than me, making it difficult to move her.

“Does Ouro want to sleep in the middle?”

“I want the Professor to sleep in the middle, and I’ll be beside her.”

“Alright, alright. Then I’ll help too.”

When I had tried to pull Ouro by myself, the blanket had been dragged along haphazardly, but with the Professor’s help lifting her slightly, that was no longer a concern.

I watched with a bright smile as the Professor lay down, then squeezed into the empty space beside her. I pushed my back and hips gently toward the Professor and turned slightly, feeling cozy.

There’s a unique sensation when someone is beside you. While being alone feels comfortable, being with someone else feels distinctly warm. The cool spring night made that warmth even more pleasant.

Today was another day of hard work. With that thought, I closed my eyes next to the Professor, who had fallen asleep within a second of lying down. I sought sleep, hoping to wake up appropriately when the sun rose.

**

There had been progress in the research—research that could completely transform Ourr and Ouro into humans.

If this worked on Demon Gods, it meant we could somehow bring any Demon God in the world down to human level. If we could find Demon Gods that seemed capable of rehabilitation, this would be a useful method.

However, no matter how many times I repeated the research, I couldn’t finalize it. No matter how elegant the formula or how plausible the explanation, I knew it would all be meaningless without experimental results.

Without verification, it’s not a thesis—just a diary of fantasies.

But I didn’t have the ability to accomplish this. The final step of the research was to confirm that these two had become human, but had I ever had to declare a human as human before?

Perhaps I could verify the differences between Demon Gods and humans? But proving something isn’t a Demon God doesn’t necessarily mean it has become human. How could I explain this?

Time and again, I racked my brain for a method.

But ultimately, even my imagination led to thoughts of placing hands around necks. A Demon God that couldn’t die before has now died. Without that, I couldn’t convince others.

I couldn’t sacrifice either Ourr or Ouro. That was non-negotiable. So what should I do?

After much contemplation, an answer flashed through my mind. I had forgotten because I hadn’t been called upon recently, but I remembered that I also held the title of “Demon God Slayer.”

Now there truly was no other answer. Demon Gods that kill people are completely worthless anyway. Even if they didn’t know better, even if their actions were inevitable because they started with a blank slate, they’ve still lived for hundreds or thousands of years.

If childlike behaviors develop into beliefs, if a mindset that justifies those actions takes root, elimination is usually the only option. So if I could find Demon Gods one by one and identify those that don’t die, wouldn’t that work?

While some Demon Gods die when beheaded, others survive even that. Thinking about it, they seemed perfect as experimental subjects.

“—If they don’t come out, I’ll have to go find them.”

I muttered, clutching my phone.

Previously, I would often go looking for them when they occasionally appeared in mountains or seas, but now there were no such reports. I couldn’t tell if they only appeared near other Demon God Slayers, or if the Demon Gods in this area had been eradicated.

Considering that Demon Gods are born from concentrated magical power, complete eradication would be impossible.

Nothing could be done about it. I concluded that it would be too reckless and foolish to scour mountains and seas looking for Demon Gods whose whereabouts were unknown while also working as a professor.

In the end, despite my burning desire to search, I had to give up.

“Haah…”

I wanted to do something but couldn’t. I never expected the research to end easily, but I didn’t anticipate being blocked like this, which made me sigh repeatedly.

Seeing Ourr staring at me from the side made me feel even more regretful.

For Ouro, it didn’t matter if she grew more since her aura no longer harmed humans. She could grow as much as she wanted and eventually become human.

But Ourr couldn’t do that. Being an entity that had to die and revert to childhood with each passing year unless she became human, we needed the research to be completed as soon as possible.

Using the magic I had already developed could be one approach, but I don’t overestimate myself. My reputation has been maintained precisely because I only use thoroughly researched and verified methods.

One doesn’t cross an unfinished bridge. I reminded myself of this repeatedly.

“Hmm.”

As I stroked Ourr’s hair, I gently pushed her forehead and swept her hair back. With her hair pulled back, her pretty forehead and eyebrows seemed more pronounced.

Looking at that face intently, my earlier worries seemed to ease slightly.

“Are you uncomfortable?”

“No.”

“Are you hungry?”

“It doesn’t matter…”

“She is!”

While Ourr spoke as if it didn’t matter, the identical-looking—no, now slightly larger—child behind her burst out. Ouro seemed to feel hunger now, perhaps because she had become more similar to humans.

“Ouro, are you hungry?”

“Yes.”

Unrefined magical power versus refined magical power. Could that difference be what distinguishes Demon Gods from humans? Seeing Ouro gradually become more human-like made me think we could use the same approach for Ourr.

After all, the magic circle I created this time was based on that principle, so I often thought it might work if we used it.

I was satisfied with it but couldn’t boast about it since I hadn’t verified it. I was also worried that announcing it publicly would seem premature. Though I needed to inform certain places for research funding purposes, it was still frustrating.

“Then I’ll buy whatever Ouro wants to eat. Come here and look at the menu.”

“Yes. Menu… menu?”

“Ouro doesn’t know how to read menus. She always gets distracted during reading lessons and doesn’t remember anything.”

When Ourr stared at Ouro, Ouro shook her head as if to deny it.

“No, I can read it. Professor.”

“Alright, alright. Here you go.”

When I handed her my phone, Ouro stared at it and pointed with her finger.

“I want this.”

“Do you know what that is?”

“…”

“Professor, I think Ouro is just choosing anything that looks like pizza based on the picture.”

That certainly seemed to be the case. I never dreamed she would choose the new mint chocolate pizza.

Though it was a bright blue color, Ouro seemed to have no prejudice against colors and simply picked the first image she saw. Wondering if she just liked anything that looked like pizza, as Ourr suggested, I asked again.

“Do you like this kind of thing, Ouro?”

“Umm…”

Seeing Ourr’s lukewarm reaction, Ouro hesitated for a moment, then shook her head and her eyes sparkled again. I wasn’t sure if this would lead to a better result, but I tilted my head, thinking anything but that mint pizza would be fine.

Then suddenly, they started using the menu for reading practice.

“This is potato.”

“Potato?”

“Potato. What we ate before. This is how it’s written.”

Seeing Ourr and Ouro getting along so well made me smile involuntarily.

“I like bacon? That’s good.”

“Bacon is used in many pizzas, but it’s hard to find one named specifically for having a lot of bacon…”

Ourr mumbled and glanced at me. Even with that look, I couldn’t make her a bacon pizza myself, so I just patted her head to awkwardly get through the moment.

Pizza was getting a bit tiresome, but I worried that saying so might make Ouro feel self-conscious.

“Let’s eat anything.”

Once the kids made their choice, I’d just order some sides for myself.