Chapter 48 : Clang!

I had a dream.

It was a dream I hadn’t had in a long time.

However, I couldn’t remember the contents well, only the fact that I had dreamed.

I slowly opened my eyes, waking from sleep.

It was a familiar ceiling.

Where was this? The dormitory?

Suddenly, a strong numbness shot through my arm, and looking down, I saw Teperi and Amiter sleeping, each occupying one of my arms.

For a moment, my thoughts stopped.

Startled, I almost screamed. Wh-what was going on?

Could it be that I got drunk last night and did… that sort of thing? Was I that kind of guy?

‘And why are my clothes like this?’

Instead of the usual dress shirt I wore, I was in pajamas.

With not a single button fastened.

I wondered if I was truly such a scoundrel, but seeing the pajamas, memories of last night slowly started to return.

I drank, then drank some more… After that, I caused a drunken disturbance in the middle of the city, then Amiter carried me back to the dormitory on her back.

Sleeping together was my idea.

I remembered unbuttoning the shirt myself.

‘I’m finished.’

It wasn’t certain, but looking back through the hazy memories, I recalled sneakily groping her chest while being carried on Amiter’s back, committing sexual harassment.

I-I’m ruined.

The intelligent, sharp image I had worked so hard to build was about to vanish in an instant.

How hard I had worked to maintain this image…!

As I sighed and spaced out, the numbness in my arm grew worse.

Amiter was sleeping soundly, holding my right hand tightly with both of hers, while Teperi was practically using my left arm as a pillow, breathing softly.

I tried to pull my arms out, but both of them were holding on tight, so I decided to give up.

Maybe just stay like this for a bit?

Instead, I grabbed both their shoulders and pulled them closer to me.

The pose of a typical bad boy.

Since I moved my arms slowly, neither of them woke up.

It ended up looking like I was hugging both of them on either side.

‘This is happiness!’

Waking up in the morning flanked by two women perfectly matched the life of the nouveau riche I had always dreamed of.

Moreover, both of them had looks that wouldn’t lose out anywhere.

When I moved my arm, Teperi shifted her head accordingly.

Thanks to that, she ended up even closer to me.

It was something I’d been curious about, but sleep-talking didn’t seem to come out via telepathy.

Her slender face was buried in her pale yellow-beige hair.

A faint scent of milk and soap emanated gently from her hair.

I purposely stretched my legs to the end of the bed, trying to make myself taller.

This way, I was barely taller than Teperi.

And next to her, Amiter was sleeping.

Even curled up, she was much longer than me.

Of course, my lips pouted out of spite, not anger.

If being short was anyone’s fault, it was mine, not hers.

Amiter held my wrist with both hands, curled up like a large dog.

I hadn’t realized, but my hand was between her thighs.

It was warm, but this made me look like some kind of weirdo.

‘Come to think of it, when did they say the beastkin’s heat cycle comes?’

If my memory served correctly, a beastkin’s heat cycle comes once a year, during the two weeks when seasons change.

Which season it was is random.

During that period, they can’t think straight, their minds filled only with ‘those thoughts,’ forcing them to stay cooped up in their rooms.

I’m incredibly fortunate to have been born human.

I don’t have the stamina for that.

The thought of not being able to see this one for two weeks is a little disappointing.

Sniff, sniff.

I briefly leaned my head towards her as well and took a sniff.

It was a slightly strange action, but who cares if no one sees.

A unique scent, hard to describe, came from her.

What should I call this? Dog shampoo smell? That doesn’t seem quite right.

Anyway, it was a comforting fragrance.

Her jet-black hair grew down to her spine.

Even those terrifying claws were now neatly retracted into her fingers.

This is nice.

The wide bed is full of warmth.

I feel like I could just lie here forever…

Clang!

A loud noise came from something falling to the floor.

Everyone who had been sleeping soundly rubbed their eyes and sat up.

The source of the noise was Arwen.

Dressed in a frilled black maid outfit, she was looking towards me, her hands trembling.

“G-Good heavens.”

“Arwen?”

“After sending me away, during the night, you…”

“Huh? N-No! It’s a misunderstanding!”

Although I was lying there with my clothes completely undone, hugging two people and grinning foolishly, this was all slander and a misunderstanding.

…It is a misunderstanding, right?

After somehow calming Arwen down, we left the dormitory.

Seeing Arwen say we needed to talk when I got back somehow made me chuckle.

Such a tiny thing.

This is why you need to be tall.

Her threats, like a sparrow’s, weren’t threatening at all, just cute.

Kicked out of the dormitory, we were on our way to Professor Aram to report what happened in the Black Forest.

“You really don’t remember that sh*tshow? Really?”

“I told you already. How many times do I have to say it?”

I decided to play dumb shamelessly.

Admitting I remembered would only give them leverage over me.

Although it was morning, there were no first-year students walking around the academy.

It wasn’t because the freshmen were slacking off; apparently, today was the monthly practical training day.

Didn’t they say it was a test to catch variant orcs?

Even though it was a test even lowerclassmen did, comparing it to ours made me scoff.

The difficulty difference is too much.

I’ll have to give them a piece of my mind when I see them later.

“If it weren’t for us, we’d be catching variant orcs with the other kids.”

[Yeah, I guess so.]

“That would be the normal and good thing.”

“Ah, just shut up.”

There was only one thing I was curious about regarding variant orcs.

Whether they squealed ‘chwiik’ or ‘kkuik’.

The ‘chwiik’ cry of orcs was a constant subject of research, along with whether dragons roared ‘krwarwara’.

Fortunately, I confirmed the latter this time.

The sound of sweeping brooms could be heard from afar.

“Oh, you’re back?”

“Ah, hello.”

An old cleaner at the academy saw us and waved from a distance.

We occasionally exchanged greetings, but I hadn’t seen him for a while since I was in the Black Forest.

We had somewhere to be, so we just exchanged simple greetings and parted ways.

But for some reason, Teperi’s expression wasn’t good.

[Trea, are you close with him?]

“Huh? No, well, not close, but we greet each other when we meet. As a junior.”

[…I see.]

Why is she acting like this?

Come to think of it, I didn’t even really know his name.

But I didn’t think it mattered much.

Anyway, as we walked, we arrived at the place where Professor Aram resided.

It was a building that felt like an abandoned spire.

He was coiled up in a sunny spot, basking in the sunlight.

When he noticed us, he uncoiled his body and slithered over slowly.

“Oh, you’ve arrived earlier than expected. You went through a lot. Was everything alright?”

He welcomed us warmly, and I responded with a smile as well.

“First, kneel.”

Of course, telling him to kneel was a joke.

Putting everything else aside, he was a snake without knees.

Nevertheless, after hearing our story, he repeatedly bowed his head and apologized.

“I’m truly sorry. It was such a long time ago, I never imagined his son would appear…”

Although I exaggerated a bit intentionally, it was indeed a time-constrained and perilous task.

If three professors had gone, would they have been able to return alive? I held a negative opinion.

Seeing an opportunity, I spoke a bit more harshly.

“How could you assign such a mission to first-year students?”

Aram paused for a moment, then spoke awkwardly.

“Ahem, well, isn’t there a saying that three can handle one?”

‘That’s bullsh*t.’

I genuinely thought that. Where in the world did such a saying exist?

Fortunately, he wasn’t such a conscienceless snake-like snake, asking us to name anything else we wanted besides points.

“Money.”

“…Even though I look like this, I am an academy professor. It’s alright to ask for something a bit harder to obtain…”

“Money.”

“Come now, think a little deeper…”

“Neutral… no, money.”

Unexpectedly, Amiter chose first.

Money, huh. Come to think of it, she had been going on about money since we first met.

Aram sighed deeply, said okay, and then turned his gaze to Teperi.

[I don’t particularly want anything. Just give Trea one more of whatever he wants…]

“Unnecessary consideration isn’t needed.”

I deliberately spoke a bit coldly.

I meant it.

If I wanted to become stronger dishonorably, throwing away all my pride, I would have ripped out her heart long ago.

I may lack skill, but do I lack money? Come to think of it, I do lack money.

Teperi pondered for a moment, then requested a grimoire for incapacitation-type magic.

“What kind of incapacitation?”

[…I want the Sleep type.]

“Sleep, huh. That one tends to be less practical in actual combat.”

[That doesn’t matter.]

“…Alright, I understand for now.”

The white snake granted the others’ wishes and finally came to me.

He asked what I wanted.

I requested what I had been contemplating while the others answered.

“I want information about Dragons and Ascension.”

Aram’s eyes narrowed.

That was the ultimate goal he dreamed of, and also what the Trea from the original work had desired.

Until the very end, right before death.