Archbishop

Archbishop

At that single phrase, “I’ll make you regret it,” I couldn’t help but swallow hard.

Recently, the number of times Espin had been trying to seduce me with her chest had increased.

I had just thrown out a joke, but I never imagined she would take the bait so eagerly.

‘This is my fault, so I have nothing else to say.’

I should have just stayed quiet. Why did I have to tease her and create this situation?

As I was averting my gaze from Espin, expressing some regret,

Espin took off the outer layer of clothing she was wearing and said to me,

“… It’s hot in here.”

“It’s winter right now.”

“I, I have a heater, you know.”

Even if there’s a heater, it’s not hot enough to take off clothes.

To begin with, I don’t particularly like it that warm, so I deliberately lowered the temperature.

Nevertheless, Espin made an absurd excuse and put away his clothes.

Then he takes a step towards me and stares at me intently.

“……”

It’s somewhat uncomfortable.

While I’m trying to ignore Espin’s gaze and act as if nothing’s wrong.

Espin, seemingly deciding this won’t do, lets his remaining clothes slip to the side and speaks to me.

“Deren.”

At that brief call, I have no choice but to look at Espin.

Espin meets my eyes and says to me.

“You’re the one who provoked me. So don’t complain about whatever I do from now on.”

“……”

“I’ll consider that you understood and stop here for today. It seems an uninvited guest will be coming soon.”

With those final words, Espin pokes his chest with one hand while glaring at me, then puts on a sulky expression and picks up his clothes to put them back on.

As I watch Espin, thinking it’s troublesome.

Someone opens the door and enters, cheerfully greeting.

“Deren, Deren! I’m here!”

The moment I hear Delia’s voice, I gather my wits and greet her.

“What’s the matter?”

“Oh, nothing. I just came to see you.”

I sigh as I watch Delia, who giggles and subtly clings to my side.

Espin stared at us silently for a while before slowly opening his mouth.

“Well, you two enjoy your date. I’m going to work.”

Hearing this, Delia seemed to sense an opportunity and waved her hand with a somewhat bright voice.

“Oh, really? Take care.”

Feeling as if she was pushing him to leave quickly, Espin made a strangely displeased expression before walking out.

As I watched this situation unfold, I sighed, thinking that some problems might arise later.

Delia looked at me intently and spoke.

“Deren, Deren. You know, I’ve been thinking.”

“About what?”

“I think it’s time we take our relationship to the next level.”

At this somewhat unexpected remark, I silently stared at Delia.

Delia sat on the desk, crossing her legs, and then slightly lifted her skirt as if to emphasize her thighs while talking to me.

“I’ve been thinking about it earlier. We’ve known each other for quite a while, right?”

Strictly speaking, it hasn’t been that long, but if I pointed that out, I’d have to listen to Delia’s whining all day, so I just nodded vaguely.

Delia looked at me and slowly continued speaking.

“So, how about we move on to the next step?”

“The next step being?”

“Well… um. What could it be?”

Delia seemed to become embarrassed in the middle of speaking, quickly adjusting her skirt and blushing.

Then, with an awkward laugh, she spoke to me.

“Ahaha… It’s really nothing. Just forget it.”

When did she ever hesitate to give me some unknown fur as a symbol of luck or ask me to spank her bottom?

I can’t understand Delia’s heart, now feeling embarrassed.

I looked at Delia, thinking it was overly complicated, and nodded while saying.

“I’ll do that.”

Deciding to let it pass for now, as continuing like this might lead to temptation, I said so.

Delia stared at me blankly and then, with an expression as if frustrated, said to me.

“Somehow, I’m feeling annoyed.”

I wonder what’s annoying her when I did everything she asked.

As I was shaking my head, thinking I couldn’t understand Delia’s feelings at all.

Delia sighed and pulled something out of her outer pocket.

“Well, I’m not sure if you’ll need it now, but it’s a cheat sheet for the Academy exam. The test is supposed to take place soon.”

I received a small Magic Book that Delia handed me and chuckled.

Come to think of it, I realized it had been quite a while since I paid attention to the Academy.

‘It’s meaningless now, after all.’

Not only had I secured support from the family, but my personal power had also increased significantly.

Recalling the now meaningless Academy exam, I slowly opened it and said.

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing… Compared to what you’ve done for me, it’s a pitiful gift.”

Strangely enough, I found those words endearing.

I slowly stroked Delia’s head, and she flinched and looked at me.

Then, with an expression full of embarrassment, she shouted at me.

“You, you’re not Deren!”

“That’s right.”

“If you were Deren, you wouldn’t be this nice to me…”

What is she saying?

I felt strangely playful at those words, so I grabbed Delia’s wrist and pulled her into my arms.

Delia looked like she was about to faint and could only make a dazed sound.

“Huh? Uh, uh? Huh?”

It’s quite amusing to hear Delia’s voice repeating related words like a broken machine.

I enjoyed Delia’s flustered reaction for a while.

Then I stroked her head again and repeated what Delia had said earlier.

“You said we should move forward, didn’t you?”

“Uh… yeah?”

“If that’s what you want, then let’s do it.”

As I finished speaking and slowly reached out my hand.

Delia, unable to bear the situation any longer, turned bright red up to her ears and trembled.

Then she quickly stood up and shouted at me.

“… Aack!”

A strange noise.

Delia, who had been making such strange noises, suddenly covered her blushing face with her hands and ran out as if escaping.

Seeing this, I was feeling satisfied, thinking I had won, when Luna, who was in my arms, spoke as if she found it pathetic.

[Everyone’s a fool.]

I wanted to return those exact words to Luna as I sighed, but then Luna jumped out and said to me.

[Luna wants to go to the boss cat.]

Then she looked at me with her tail twitching nervously before going outside.

I sighed as I watched Luna’s retreating figure and slowly turned my gaze.

‘So now all that’s left is preparing for war.’

Espin will take care of the overall preparations, so what I need to do is organize and improve the magic I possess.

I decided to do so and resolved to bury myself in the laboratory after a long time.

* * *

During my time holed up in the lab, I focused on researching three main things.

First was organizing and improving the magic I had initially decided on.

Second was perfecting spatial transformation magic and making it my own.

The third and last was digging into the experiences and memories I had received through transfer.

Among these three, the one that took the longest time was, of course, the third one.

‘I guess it’s because I didn’t know where to start.’

Since I had to invest quite a long time to find a clue, it took a considerable amount of time.

‘Fortunately, I found that clue.’

Only the beginning was difficult, but after that, I was able to proceed with the research relatively smoothly.

‘Through that, I learned two things.’

Experience and memories mostly appear indirectly.

When I take action, all my abilities receive ‘adjustments’.

‘Secondly, those adjustment values differ based on the experience and memories of those I’ve taken them from.’

I could feel that knife skills and archery, which I had never learned before, were strangely familiar.

Furthermore, even things that couldn’t be known without specialized knowledge like ‘herbology or alchemy’ would come to mind in ways like ‘I should add this here, right?’

I could clearly feel the adjustments being made in those areas.

‘In short, it feels like an all-in-one gift set.’

While I was thinking that I could roughly understand the intentions of whoever prepared this, crossing my arms,

Luna, who was next to me, yawned long and spoke to me.

[So, are we going to war now?]

I nodded and continued speaking.

“We’ll start as soon as Espin’s preparations are complete.”

[Then I won’t be able to prepare for mating for a while…!?]

For a while, she says.

We haven’t even done it here in the first place, yet I don’t understand why she’s making statements that cause misunderstandings, I thought as I sighed.

I was shaking my head and watching Luna when someone started knocking on the laboratory door.

“The Heaven God Cult guys have started moving.”

Judging by the voice, it seems to be Espin.

Realizing that a response had come regarding the spatial expansion magic terror I had caused earlier, I gestured to Espin to tell me more details.

Espin nodded and spoke to me.

“While we need more investigation to be certain, one thing is clear: the ‘Archbishop’ has appeared.”

I couldn’t hide my smile the moment I heard the word Archbishop.