Ch.283Side Story: One Step Ahead on the Final Exam

Time passed further. Even those who initially felt resistance to the peace negotiations with the demon race gradually began to accept that the war had ended.

People came to accept the absence of soldiers at the border with the demon realm, which was once the front line, and thanks to this, countless soldiers were able to return to their families.

“My subordinates are quite pleased. They seem to like feeding on humans.”

By the time monsters were considered a greater threat than demons, people also gradually began to accept succubi integrating into human society. It was an initiative led by Nika, mixed with a bit of curiosity.

At first, the human side consisted only of volunteers, but as rumors about the pleasure of energy extraction spread, the village grew larger and larger.

For the succubi, it became an opportunity to absorb energy infinitely without any particular threat, and for humans, it became a chance to taste a special pleasure that could never be experienced in relationships between humans. A kind of symbiotic relationship had formed.

Despite initial concerned voices, the residents of the succubus village continued to increase in number. After just two months, the village had grown to a size that could no longer be called a village.

“Well, among them were humans who asked absurd questions like whether they could sleep with the Succubus Queen.”

Excessive confidence is poisonous no matter where you go. Among them was a human who, completely infatuated with succubi, blurted out that since Nika was a succubus before being a Demon King, couldn’t they sleep with her too.

An ordinary succubus would have just laughed it off. The unfortunate point was that Nika’s succubi thought too highly of me to laugh off such a thing.

It was I who shared energy with them when they were extremely depleted after being chased by Durahan. It was I who made Nika a Demon King and ensured they wouldn’t have to worry about energy, and who elevated the status of the succubus race to where it is now.

Moreover, they had even received some of the energy Nika extracted from me during the demon realm conquest war, so there was no way they could overlook a human who said such things.

The succubi ran straight to their Queen to report the fact, and the Queen did not let the human who said such things go unpunished.

“My subordinates handled it well, so don’t worry.”

“Handled it?”

“Yes. They probed his mind to find out what kind of play he hated most, then slowly drained his energy over a week before killing him with that. I heard the first victim apparently most despised being taken from behind by hairy monster males.”

“…Enough. You don’t need to make me imagine it.”

Being penetrated by hairy monsters while slowly having his energy drained until death—it was horrifically unparalleled. A fate I didn’t even want to imagine.

After killing about three people on charges of insulting the Demon King and issuing a public warning not to do such things, such comments have reportedly disappeared completely.

“Some people did raise objections, but not for long. The majority were so infatuated with the succubi that they immediately proclaimed their own wrongdoing.”

The village had grown to nearly ten thousand residents, yet there was hardly any theft—it seemed the relationship was shifting from symbiotic to enslaved, which was somewhat frightening.

“That won’t happen, so don’t worry.”

Nika made bold promises, but the future is uncertain. All I could do was hope things would turn out as she said.

“Mira, what’s happening with our final exams? Have you heard anything?”

Leona suddenly asked. We had heard some time ago that we would take our final exams separately, but there had been no news even now, one day before the promised date, so it was natural to be curious.

“I actually went to ask, but they just said they’d let us know soon and to look forward to it.”

In truth, I did have a chance to find out. They said they would tell me in advance if I gave them a breast-feeding handjob, but I declined. As a grown man, I didn’t want to lose my dignity for mere curiosity that would be satisfied soon anyway.

“There’s less than a day left. How much longer do we have to wait?”

Leona tilted her head. I felt the same way.

And then, less than three hours later, we discovered the meaning behind their words about letting us know soon and looking forward to it.

“…Do we really have to do this?”

—Didn’t I tell you? This is the final exam that the children must take.

“Well, yes, but…”

I stood dumbfounded, holding the Dragon Fang Sword in one hand, alongside Leona who had drawn her holy sword.

Before us was a dragon.

Its massive body truly deserved the comparison to a great mountain without a hint of exaggeration, its form blocked the sun creating an enormous shadow despite the daylight, and just standing on two feet made the earth tremble.

The dragon’s name was Meligor, the Dark Dragon—the true form of Erestica, the chairperson of Bellium Academy.

Leona and I stared at the sight, speechless. The dragon before our eyes was our final exam. To fight and achieve victory.

“…Shouldn’t there at least be no spectators?”

—You’ve already received plenty of attention. Think about everything you’ve done so far. Would one more thing really make any difference, child?

Erestica’s mental voice began to enumerate all my past exploits.

The professors at Bellium Academy openly admitting they had nothing left to teach me, receiving special treatment and skipping exams, having the Sword Saint personally vouch for my skills, the Magic Association members eager to follow my orders, the Magic Tower Lords trembling before me, holding a birthday party in the imperial capital, having the Emperor and Sword Saint personally come to celebrate my birthday, and having questionable relationships with the Imperial Princess, the Princess of Light, the Holy Maiden, and the Hero.

The mental voice continued for quite some time. Each achievement was something that would be considered remarkable if an ordinary person accomplished just one of them. And all of them were concentrated on a single person.

As Erestica said, adding one more thing truly wouldn’t make any difference.

“I think the Chairperson is right.”

Leona, who had been listening to the mental voice beside me, nodded her head. It was such an obvious truth that there was nothing to say.

—Rather, shouldn’t I do this much to create a justification?

“What kind of justification?”

—A justification to treat you children even more specially.

Erestica spread her wings wide as if to demonstrate that seeing is believing. As the enormous wings unfurled, a shadow of matching size covered the ground. Darkness fell in the middle of a bright day.

I could feel piercing gazes from all directions—eyes watching the mega-event of a dragon versus human confrontation.

Since this was a duel to provide justification, it was natural that there would be spectators, but even accounting for that, an unusually large number of gazes were focused on us.

—Well then, shall we begin, child?

The massive dragon soared into the sky. Its wings flapped powerfully, creating extreme wind pressure along with enough dust to be called a sandstorm. The sunlight mixed with the sandy color.

“What are you going to do, Mira?”

Leona whispered, illuminating our surroundings with her holy sword. Judging by the barely perceptible holy power, she still seemed hesitant.

“We shouldn’t fight half-heartedly. We need to fight properly and win decisively.”

“…Really going all out? Shouldn’t we hold back a little?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not planning to go that far. I just mean we shouldn’t look like we’re taking it easy.”

Leona, who had directly witnessed how I dealt with Mahrbat, turned pale for a moment. She only relaxed after I denied going that far.

What would be the best way to create the justification Erestica wanted while minimizing her injuries? After pondering briefly, I came up with a good idea and whispered to the side.

“Can you buy me some time? Just a moment.”

“…What are you going to do?”

“Since she needs justification to treat us specially, I’ll give her exactly that.”

I infused mana into the Dragon Fang Sword. The blade made of dragon fangs was covered in blue light.

“I-I’ll try my best.”

Leona said, surrounding her holy sword with divine power. The golden blade shone brilliantly. Seeing this, Erestica also began gathering her power.

The scales around her neck darkened, and black light gradually seeped between them. The area emitting light steadily rose. Shimmering heat rose between her teeth.

—KUOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Her mouth opened wide, and black breath spewed forth. The very concept that symbolized dragons was unleashed toward Leona.

Leona, who had somehow returned to her Hero state, flashed her eyes. The holy sword erupted with divine power, and a curtain of light enveloped us both, blocking the breath. The surrounding terrain melted in real-time.

“Could you… hurry a bit… Mira…!”

Even Leona, who was blocking it, seemed to be struggling greatly. Her elbows were gradually bending inward, and her arms were trembling.

This was enough. I had already begun my preparation process. Amidst the destructive torrent directed at us, I took my stance and exhaled the final human breath.

My body began filling with mana instead of oxygen.

My arms and skin turned pale as mana flowed through my veins. Everything before me turned blue, and the whole world was dyed in azure. The world began to appear divided into things that were mana and things that were not.

“Look! Look at that! That is the essence of magic itself!!!”

“Shut up, Green Tower Lord! What if you distract Lord Mira?!”

I could hear the Magic Tower Lords raving like lunatics at the sight of “magic.” A few who barely maintained their sanity struck their heads and ordered them to be quiet, but it didn’t matter whether they made noise or not.

I looked around. The mana where the breath had touched was rapidly diminishing. Through that dissolving mana, I forcibly understood the breath.

I aimed the tip of the Dragon Fang Sword at Erestica’s mouth. Not just the blade, but the entire sword was dyed blue. Mana breathing technique and magic swordsmanship—the combination I had most enjoyed using in the past.

I aligned the sword tip with the trajectory of mana spread in all directions and swung the sword along that trajectory. The world split into thousands of fragments.

In response, the breath split into thread-thin streams and scattered in all directions. Mana mixed between the split breath. Like the Milky Way rising in the black night sky, blue mana embroidered the spaces between the black breath.

—KWAAAAAANG!!!!!!

A star blooming amidst the galaxy caused an explosion.

—…….

Even Erestica, perhaps not expecting the breath to be broken down in this way, was sending mental thoughts full of confusion, forgetting to launch a follow-up attack.

But the final exam wasn’t over yet. I aimed the Dragon Fang Sword again, which had been paused after the swing. Erestica seemed to come to her senses and tried to fly back into the sky, but it was already too late.

I pulled my arm back slightly and thrust.

—Twilight Ascension.

As I thrust the sword, the magic activated. Blue light spreading from the Dragon Fang Sword enveloped the space around Erestica.

Of course, this enveloping process was visible only to me. To others, it would seem as if the dragon was simply breaking into pieces.

Erestica didn’t die, however. If she had been hit directly, she certainly wouldn’t have been unharmed, but I had deliberately set the impact point far behind her.

The trajectory made of mana spread in another direction. The twilight that burst beyond the dragon burned a bright orange-red like the setting evening sun.

“……”

Leona fell silent. With a thud, Erestica landed on the ground. Her wings folded, drooping to the earth.

—…What did you just do, child?

“It’s a technique from my memories. Anyway, is this sufficient?”

Erestica, forgetting that she was in dragon form, nodded her head in response.

“…But when does that effect wear off?”

“In about 10 minutes?”

“Um… then I think we should run away from here first.”

Leona pointed behind us with her finger. I turned my head.

“Lord Mira…! Lord Mira…! Please show me that too…!”

“This one was disturbing Lord Mira earlier by making noise! Ignore him and show me instead!”

The Magic Tower Lords who had been observing beyond the magic were swarming toward us like zombies.