Ch.335Side Story: The Next Day

The beginning of a day.

It was somewhat surprising that simply waking up in bed could be such a fresh experience.

As a mechanical body, I don’t need to sleep, but that doesn’t mean I can’t sleep.

However, there were no signs of eye discharge or relief from fatigue like when I had a physical body.

The same state as before falling asleep.

Feeling an unexpected sense of dissonance, I tried to get up, but something caught on my right shoulder.

“Ah.”

It was Findenai, sleeping in my arms with gentle breathing sounds.

She was wearing the pajamas she had bought separately, sleeping with her hand resting on my chest.

Since I have a mechanical body, we can’t have relations, but that doesn’t mean we need to sleep separately.

In our own way.

Because we’re lovers.

‘This feels awkward.’

I try to get up, but Findenai is sound asleep. The sight of her with closed eyes and soft breathing was quite refreshing.

“Mmm.”

Findenai subtly reaches out and embraces me. I can feel her determination not to let go.

“Your acting needs work.”

As soon as I blurt that out, Findenai’s eyes snap open. Her blood-red eyes look up at me, full of mischief.

“You’re such a ghost.”

“That kind of statement isn’t very nice to the Dark Spiritmaster and Stella.”

“…You’re talking nonsense.”

Findenai responds with an expression of disgust. Honestly, I just said it because I felt awkward too.

“Ah.”

Despite her words, Findenai shows no intention of getting out of bed.

She just stares up at me blankly from under the covers, then moves closer and says:

“Should we stay like this today?”

“…”

“We don’t have anything to do anyway. Let’s just stay in bed, holding each other.”

“I never thought you’d say something like that.”

Findenai chuckles at my words.

“Yeah, I didn’t think I would either. Anyway, you’ve really changed me a lot, master.”

Master, is it?

Apparently changing how she addresses me is quite difficult.

Then I should respond in my own way.

“If that is what you desire, I shall do so as well.”

When I answer using my Deus-era speech pattern, Findenai stares at me blankly before bursting into laughter.

I can’t help but smile too, and I firmly grip her shoulder with the arm she’s resting on.

This is all I can do for her.

But Findenai leans into me as if that’s more than enough. It felt better than I expected.

It really seemed like we would just stay like this.

Lying in bed, simply holding each other, but…

[Time to eat.]

Stella enters, passing through the door.

She usually opens doors, but this time she passed through it, which suggests she’s not in the best mood.

“…”

“Ah, way to completely ruin the mood.”

Findenai and I get up from the bed. She roughly combs her disheveled hair with her fingers and heads out of the room first.

Following her to the living room, I find a modest meal laid out.

Toasted bread, fried eggs, and various colored jams.

Charitably speaking, it’s an atmospheric and pretty meal, but less charitably, it’s quite modest.

Exactly the kind of meal you’d eat in a convent.

Seeing it, Findenai’s expression immediately crumples.

“Is it not fully prepared yet? Or did you mistake a snack for a meal?”

Given Findenai’s tremendous amount of physical activity, her food intake naturally needs to match.

It looked like enough for two people, but to the current Findenai, it was little more than tossing her a piece of bread.

But Stella was confident.

[You’ll be eating alone anyway.]

“Ah…”

Findenai quickly glances at me.

I don’t bother answering and just shrug my shoulders. Being a mechanical body, I don’t need to eat.

“This will be a lonely meal.”

Findenai, who had been in a good mood until just now, sits down in the chair looking slightly dejected.

She seems to have just noticed that there’s only one chair at the table.

Findenai starts wolfing down her food as if trying to shorten mealtime. Still, Stella, once a Saintess, pours milk for her, concerned about her hurried eating.

Leaving the two of them behind, I head outside where the wolf pup Ppopsil greets me with a yawn.

He’s still a baby and needs milk…

Remembering how Findenai sexually harassed the Dark Spiritmaster yesterday by asking if she produced milk, I momentarily feel dizzy.

‘Where is the Dark Spiritmaster?’

She didn’t used to have this image, but lately I get worried when I don’t see her.

I thought she’d be in the yard with Ppopsil, but since she’s not there, maybe she’s in the backyard?

The backyard is twice as large as the front yard because we decided to plant fruits and vegetables there.

When I arrive at the backyard after circling the house, I’m greeted by weeds and piles of stones.

At least the ground was somewhat tilled because the drug dealers had cultivated plants for their materials here.

[Heave-ho, heave-ho.]

I could see the Dark Spiritmaster crouching in the backyard. She was busy doing something in the corner, so I approached quietly, muffling my footsteps.

‘A sign?’

She was writing something on a crude wooden sign.

“Supreme Black Mage’s field… Soul annihilation for detected theft.”

[Waaah!?]

The Dark Spiritmaster falls forward in surprise. Being a soul, she doesn’t get dirt on her body, but she looks quite unseemly.

“What are you doing right now?”

I ask, dumbfounded, and she gets up again, adjusting her posture and fidgeting.

[We’re making a field, right? I heard Stella is going to plant flowers in the corner, so I wanted to plant something too.]

“Is that sign for me?”

[It’s mine.]

“…”

[I’m the master, you know.]

Well, do as you please.

“What are you going to plant?”

Wondering if she has something in mind, I ask, and she tilts her head, considering.

[I haven’t decided yet. I want to plant something pretty, but flowers seem difficult.]

“Then?”

[I heard from Findenai that cherry tomatoes are easy to grow. How about those?]

It seemed a bit modest for something grown by the Supreme Black Mage.

And soul annihilation for stealing cherry tomatoes seemed a bit much.

But.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

[Right?]

When I agree that it’s not a bad idea, the Dark Spiritmaster smiles broadly, delighted.

“Then I should ask if they have cherry tomato seeds when we go to the nearby village today.”

[We need so many things! Shovels and hoes, watering cans and such! I’ll go with you!]

“Sure, let’s do that.”

I said “nearby village,” but it’s a distance that takes about 6 hours round trip.

I was planning to travel using magic this time, but we also needed to acquire transportation.

It was natural for this place to be remote since it was essentially a hideout for drug dealers.

We needed that too.

I’m already dead, but Findenai is still wanted.

“Surprisingly filling.”

Findenai approaches with tobacco in her mouth, seemingly satisfied with her meal.

Knowing that the backyard needs to be cleared, she sighs from the start.

“Phew, cutting people’s necks would be much easier. How are we supposed to clear all this?”

Despite her words, Findenai prepares to get moving, and I start making a simple list of items we need to buy today.

* * *

Recently, Robern Academy has been experiencing only good things, as if being rewarded for all the incidents that had occurred.

Starting with Professor Per Petra, the authority and founder of Biomancy, choosing to remain at the academy.

Erika Bright, who became a powerful candidate for Grand Mage.

The good news wasn’t limited to professors but also spread among students.

Aria Rius returned after winning the youth swordsmanship competition held in the kingdom.

The academy was on a roll lately. The pot-bellied dean was so pleased he said his stomach felt full even without eating.

“Hello, Professor!”

“Professor! We admire you!”

Students’ greetings pour out to Erika as she walks down the corridor to her research lab.

Erika gently smiles and waves her hand.

“Yes, hello.”

Her serene smile filled with composure. Recently, Erika has been evaluated as having thawed somewhat from the cold demeanor she usually showed students.

She was a bit more relaxed.

Erika returns directly to her research lab.

Seeing her assistants worrying about today’s lunch, she simply puts down her belongings and heads back out.

“Professor! Where are you going?!”

“Do you have a lunch appointment?”

To the assistants’ questions, Erika, heading outside with her hand on the doorknob, smiled awkwardly.

“Ah, I have an appointment. It will probably continue for a while. So don’t worry about me and have your lunch.”

Erika steps out of the research lab. Her pace quickens.

After lunch, she has about 2 hours without lectures, so roughly 3 hours remain.

Erika immediately headed to her room in the faculty dormitory within the academy.

The room she had been using was clean and minimalist. In the corner of the wall, there was a somewhat out-of-place door.

It was positioned as if opening it would lead outside, but Erika hurriedly opened it and went in.

The scent of the forest envelops her entire body.

A wooden house with the new smell not yet completely gone. The savory aroma of bread still lingered in the house.

Through Claire’s General Store, Erika could come here anytime.

The fact that Deus, no, Shinwoo Kim, had created such a passage for her was her greatest joy.

“No one’s home.”

She heard they were tending to the backyard garden, so they must be doing that.

Erika headed straight to the backyard.

“Ugh, damn. This mountain dog is useless except for fighting.”

There was Findenai, dressed quite shabbily with a straw hat, clearing stones and weeds from the field.

[You lose.]

And the Dark Spiritmaster too.