Chapter 34 –
Men Are Wolves. If Not, Whatever.

After returning to the academy.

The next day.

My precious rest time was shattered by a disrupter.

“…Hana.”

“Uwu?”

Uwu, my ass.

Her responding with an aegyo quelled my anger a tad bit. I spoke to her with my emotions in check.

“Whose room are you lying down in?”

“Sijoon’s room!”

“Before that, where are we?”

“The dorm! You thought I didn’t even know that?”

Ban Hana shrugged as if she was proud of herself.

There was nothing wrong with what she said, but she was missing one thing.

“It’s the male dormitory.”

The male dormitory.

The place where the academy cadets of the male gender resided.

In that sacred space, somehow Bana Hana was there.

I let out a sigh then said to her, “I know you’re a man, Hana, but this is my room.”

“I…I’m not a man! I’m a woman! Are you an idiot, Sijoon?”

Then why are you in the male dorm, on top of that, in my room?

Swallowing those words back, I stared at Hana who was sitting on my bed.

Her eye-catching bright pink hair.

Her light pink eyes.

Her appearance had not changed.

But her attire was very different.

Black blazer. White dress shirt. Red necktie. Black skirt.

The Hero Academy’s achromatic uniform.

Unlike the usual pink princess dress Hana wore, her current attire was extremely normal.

“It suits you well. The uniform.”

“I-Is it…pretty? How is it? Am I pretty?”

When she heard my compliment, Hana got up from the bed and spun around once.

She showed off the uniform.

Because Hana was hungry for praise, I decided to be honest with her.

“You’re pretty. That is, if you’re not in my room. Can you leave now?”

“Hehe…”

I wondered if she automatically filtered out the latter parts of my sentence, but she got closer to the mirror to look at herself.

It looked like she was admiring herself.

“He said I was pretty… Hehe…”

I don’t know what she was happy about but she snickered.

She only chose to hear the good things. I wanted to break her habit, but I decided to leave her be so she could enjoy the moment. 

Reflected in the mirror was Hana’s body, where there was a name tag on her chest pocket.

Ban Hana.

The name tag which had the name of a member from an organization as huge as the Black Dawn.

It looked like Hana managed to enroll in the school since she had no past records, and they recognized her abilities. 

In that situation, what drew my attention more was the nametag’s color.

She had introduced herself as 18 years old, but contrary to her age, it was the same color as the nametag on my school uniform that was on top of my desk.

I lowered my voice and said to her, “Hana, stop laughing and come sit here.”

“…? Alright.”

With no warning, Hana sat on the bed.

I pointed towards her chest pocket.

“The black color. Why are you the same year as me?”

“…”

It was a sharp observation.

The smiley Hana disappeared and she flinched as her expression changed to a look that said, “I got caught.”

I’m positive she said she was one year older than me.

If what she said was true, she should be wearing white which symbolizes the Second Year’s color.

But the nametag on her chest pocket was a black one.

That was the color that represented the First Years.

My eyes widened as I said, “Did you lie to me…?”

“I don’t lie! It’s an error! A bug! A phony!”

“I trusted you… What a disappointment…”

“…!!!”

Hana was flustered at what to do when she heard me say disappointment.

Did I go too far with the joke?

I never believed Hana was 18 years old anyway, so I did expect it to some degree.

She got antsy, then ultimately, confessed the whole story.

“I…I didn’t lie. Grandpa told me about 18 years had passed…”

“Is it dementia? Well, it’s certainly understandable considering Shin Haeil’s age.”

“Grandpa doesn’t have dementia!”

Hana raised her voice quite a lot and continued her explanation.

“When I said I-I’m 18 years old… That red-haired teacher grimaced. Then, she told me we should check my body age! Without trusting my words!”

“And so?”

“S-She told me I’m 16 years old! Sijoon! This is unfair! A villain, I say!”

An age one year younger than me.

But her ability was acknowledged by Shin Sihwa, so Ban Hana’s admission was made possible through a recommendation.

…
Now it’s making sense.

Hana’s actual age was kept under wraps. 

Yeah, that’s right, there’s no way she could actually be 18.

Hana’s height was at most 155cm.

There was no chance she could be close to being an 18 years old adult compared to the growing junior high school student, Han Sijoon.

I almost ended up using honorifics on her.

Science and technology is more accurate.

Instead of her memory, I trusted science and technology more.

After the explosion of the gates, magic progressed science and technology even more.

It was certainly more accurate than two of Hana’s brains.

More importantly…

”Hana, didn’t you say something before to me?”

”T-That’s…”

“To use honorifics? Who’s the older one now?”

With her newly registered resident registration card, it should have Hana’s age one year younger than mine on there.

The one who needed to use honorifics had been settled. 

”Honorifics. Hurry on.”

 “…”

”Answer.”

”D-Don’t wanna…!”

Not wanting to use honorifics on me, Hana’s head was turned to the side.

It couldn’t be helped if she won’t do it.

Once and for all, I told her what I wanted from her. 

”Hana, you don’t want to use honorifics, right?”

”…Mhm.”

“Then, leave. This is the male’s dorm.”

Hana shouldn’t be here in the first place.

If a female student was caught entering the male dorm, it won’t just end with penalty points.

The minimum would be disciplinary action.

My social life at the academy would be obliterated.

“Umm…”

Hana was briefly contemplating it in her seat.

A guaranteed outcome.

Then as expected, a pleasant reply came from her.

“Alright! I’ll leave! In return, I won’t use honorifics! I’ll speak how I want!”

She stood right up then headed towards the door.

How she acted was quite a problem.

“Hey, wait. Wait a minute…!”

Creak…

The door opened and Hana was about to go outside.

I dragged her back inside and blocked her mouth. 

“Mm… Mmph…!!”

I don’t know if she couldn’t breathe, but she squirmed around.

What else was I supposed to do if there were male students outside.

With the door open, I carefully loosened my hold on her face.

Is there no one…?

Fortunately, the students were either in class at this hour or receiving personal training.

Once I felt it was safe, I put away my hand.

”Wha… What are you doing…!”

”Shh. Go out carefully. If you get caught, it’ll put me in a predicament.

It’s only been a day since I’d been free from the villain’s abduction and had returned.

In the midst of that, if people heard I had a female in my dorm room?

If this truth came out, even the female would be framed as having lost her mind.

“…? Okay I got it.”

Hana tilted her head looking as though she didn’t understand why a male and female could not be in the same room together. But then her ears perked up when she heard I’d have a difficult time, then headed outside.

…She’s leaving more meekly than I thought.

I expected her to say she wanted to stay and rest together in my room.

But it seemed that she had more moral sense than I thought.

”Huu…”

After Hana left, it felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

When I took a breath and was about to rest…

A different voice came in my ears.

—Human.

”What now?”

Are you going to harass me too?

Fenrille‘s imposing voice spread out in my head.

—Human. Unexpectedly. Strong?

“…?”

An incomprehensible question.

Last time, Fenrille went on about how weak I was.

I asked him who said I was strong out of nowhere… 

–Strong male. Females. Many. Under command. Fenrille. Society.

To put it shortly, it meant that in Fenrille’s society strong males had many females.

Fenrille saw many girls flocking onto me so he seemed to have misunderstood.

”The people that you saw are all my friends. Don’t misunderstand. Mutt.”

–Human. Misunderstood. Qualified. Being.

“What…?”

–Female. Wife. Many. Make. Give. Power.

”A-Are you crazy…?”

Fenrille, the beast in rut…

He was telling me to make a lot of wives.

A strong king had several wives.

A harem.

Fenrille was coaxing me to embrace his beast-like culture.

However, I was born with a human body. I didn’t have the confidence to handle multiple women.

“In any case, I have no plans on doing something like that. Next time, speak with my permission…”

–Human. Will regret.

“Regret my ass.”

I snorted at what he said.

He should say something that made sense. 

But maybe Fenrille didn’t know how to give up, but he kept telling me to get qualifications all while saying I’d regret it otherwise.

Just what exactly am I going to regret?

I couldn’t understand that at all.

That was until he brought up my lifespan.

–Human. Lifespan. 2 years. You. Will. Die. Vow.

“What’re you talking about…”

I couldn’t just brush it off as nonsense since Fenrille couldn’t lie.

The truth in proportion to a S-Rank monster…

A vow under a magic spell.

The truth which Fenrille spoke of was genuine.

Are my days actually numbered…?

The misunderstanding from my teacher, Shin Sihwa.

It had actually been true?

At first I couldn’t accept the reality.

I immediately used Libra and asked about my lifespan.

“Libra, tell me my life expectancy. I’ll offer my Golem core’s magic.”

–Price is low. Substitute with life. Taking half of your life expectancy. Do you consent?

“…I don’t consent.”

An absurdly expensive price.

If I had a lot of years left in my life, the price to confirm it would’ve been small.

It’s because I didn’t have much time to live, the price was so expensive.

Fenrille spoke to me.

–Take nothing. I  know. Your body. Very well. Me.

Since Fenrille was inside my body, he knew my body better than anyone else.

He seemed to have an unresolved question for me.

–Human. Past. Contract. Form?

“Contract…?”

–Body. Life. Weakening. Contract.

From what I recall, I had never made a contract that had anything to do with weakening my body.

If I had to place a finger on it, it would be about the character creation.

I think he said something about me being the child of miracles…

Back in my childhood, I didn’t attend elementary school because I was sick, and spent my life in the hospital.

That was the only thing related to my body, so I didn’t have the slightest inkling on what the contract was.

By any chance, was there a contract I formed without my knowing when I was young that reduced my lifespan?

But I was hospitalized because of my innate magic core…

A situation which had nothing to do with hospitalization.

Things were only getting complicated.

A low lifespan and the episode.

I had so much to think about.

–Human. It’s simple.

The monster was saying it was simple.

Qualification. Satisfy. Contract. Block. I will. Lifespan. Extend.

Fenrille was saying it was okay since he would resolve the matter of the contract’s lifespan.

I didn’t know why he’s making things this favorable for me.

I immediately asked what I was curious about.

“Didn’t you say a weak person had no qualifications?”

–Human. Special. Female. Many. Exception.

It seemed what Fenrille was saying was that I could be qualified without my magic surpassing 11 so long as I had a lot of women. 

He definitely said two years, right…?

Two years.

Two years, he says.

“…The minimum number?”

–Four. Minimum. More. Grows. Power.

Four.

Four women.

So he wasn’t a monster for nothing.

I’m losing my mind.

I wrapped my arms around my head and fell into deep thought.

If I didn’t pick up women, I’d die in two years.

But the more women I picked up, the higher the chance of clearing the world of V. Age.

The Fate of a Playboy which I had to walk.

“What should I do…?”

A situation where fate flowed.

That was how I fell into a deep contemplation.