episode_0040

[Whoa!] Clap clap clap clap clap!

On a dark night, with the sky steeped in darkness, the final event of the training camp finally began.

“Then, before we begin the event, how about everyone gives the person in front of them a shoulder massage? We wouldn’t want anyone getting hurt on stage, right? Everyone, massage your friend vigorously and tell them to cheer up!”

At Barien’s words, the students all chuckled and massaged the shoulders of the friends in front of them.

Half of them were closer to assault than massage, but either way, there was no better way to lift the atmosphere.

For the record, I was suffering.

*Squeeze!*

A small but strong hand tightened with enough force to twist my shoulder muscles.

I let out a low groan.

“Ugh… Could you go a little gentler?”

“Why? Does it hurt? That’s all because your shoulder muscles are stiff. Just stay still. I’ll loosen them for you!”

Sara didn’t listen to a word I said and massaged my shoulder even harder.

I had intentionally taken a seat in the very back row to avoid troublesome situations, but it was a mistake. Sara, whose affection for her students was surprisingly strong, seemed determined not to exclude anyone and engaged with me.

If I had been in the middle row, I could have just pretended to massage and it would have been over.

‘Ugh, should I just put away the threads?’

The reason my shoulders were so stiff was due to the Infinite Threads.

I had wrapped the Infinite Threads around my entire body.

This was to maximize their characteristics: strong durability, elasticity, and the ability to accumulate and release applied loads.

Every time I moved, the threads constricting my muscles hindered and restricted my movements.

I forcibly overcame this, overworking my muscles, and the resulting load was accumulated entirely within the threads, awaiting release.

It was an innovative method that allowed for physical training and load accumulation simultaneously.

The problem was that it was agonizingly difficult for me.

‘Damn it, should I take off the Gravity Rings?’

I thought the Gravity Rings would be fine now that I’d adapted to them and they didn’t significantly interfere with daily life, but surprisingly, their synergy with the Infinite Threads was tremendous.

Should I say it seemed to work as multiplication rather than simple addition?

Thanks to that, my muscles couldn’t relax for a single moment.

Sara tilted her head.

“Huh? That’s strange. Why are your muscles like this?”

“Is there something wrong?”

“What are you doing? Why are your muscles tense when you’re standing still? You’re not doing it on purpose, are you?”

As expected, Sara, who had reached a high level of expertise, noticed my current physical condition with just a brief glance.

I casually made an excuse.

“It’s because I’m wearing Gravity Rings.”

“Gravity Rings?”

“Yes. They’re magic tools enchanted with gravity magic, and they get heavier in proportion to the user’s strength. That’s why my muscles are always tense.”

“Oh… There’s something like that? But even with magic, aren’t there limits?”

She was right.

Even if magic was all-powerful, it couldn’t exert more power than the mana resource it was activated through.

I explained what I had heard from Cain.

“That’s right. They say the limit is up to 500kg.”

“How many are you wearing now?”

“Four.”

“Haa… Then you’ll be struggling for a while. You’ll probably have to wear them until graduation, huh?”

“Well. I’m getting used to them quite quickly…”

“Getting used to them, my ass! You’re practically dying right now. Don’t show off in front of women!”

*Slap!*

Although I was being serious, Sara, who didn’t know about the Infinite Threads, seemed to think I was lying and chuckled, then slapped my back.

I tried to ignore the tingling pain and stared at Sara.

Noticing the meaning of my gaze, she replied with a sour expression.

“What, what are you looking at? Why, are you going to say there’s too much of an age difference for me to be considered a woman again?”

“You know me well.”

“You keep teasing me about my age, but there isn’t even a 10-year difference, you know? Plenty of kids say they like me. You know that?”

“So what? It seems they have a taste for older people. How peculiar.”

“What? Peculiar? This kid, really…”

Sara frowned.

Her expression showed she was contemplating how to get a good hit on this brat.

Soon, as if an idea had struck her, she chuckled slyly and whispered.

“Then let me ask you one thing. What if it was just you and me left in the world? Would you still not do anything? Hmm? What if I was bathing. Naked. And we happened to have to bathe together. Can you be sure you wouldn’t do anything then?”

“Hmm…”

“Why can’t you answer? You think it’s not like that, too? Tell me quickly!”

As I hesitated to speak, Sara, thinking she had gained the upper hand, repeatedly urged me.

Her delighted face was cute.

‘Is this enough?’

I had been continuously mumbling, but I realized it was time to counterattack.

“Professor-nim, you’re certainly right.”

“Right? Huh? You see me as a woman too, don’t you!”

“Yes. Well, if I just state the conclusion, then yes. But if it’s just the two of us left in the world, doesn’t that mean all other intelligent beings have vanished? Then what’s bathing? We’d have to have a child right away.”

“W-what? A child?”

“Yes. Humanity must be preserved, mustn’t it? Of course, the risk of inbreeding in future generations is a concern, but that’s a problem to think about later. First, we need to have a child and then think about it. And I imagine Professor-nim would be good at having children.”

As if there were no sexual implications, I casually scanned Sara’s entire body.

Her face had turned bright red, and she flinched, then exploded when my eyes reached her chest and groin.

“Are you, y-you, insane? What are you trying to do with me?”

“Why? Professor-nim asked first, didn’t you? So in that situation, should humanity just go extinct? We’d have to think about continuing somehow.”

“T-that was just a hypothetical! Not a real situation!”

“Weren’t you asking me to think of it as a real situation and answer? If it was just a joke, I would have said no too.”

“This brat, really…”

Sara, having been hit by an unexpected strike and then a follow-up, fumed and then, unable to bear it, sprang to her feet.

“You vulgar, ill-mannered brat.”

And then, she left a single remark and quickly disappeared among the professors.

Perhaps I had gone a little too far with the joke.

‘Still, it wasn’t a complete lie.’

If Sara and I were truly the only two left in the world, I would certainly have a child.

Not merely out of a sense of duty to preserve humanity, but for a different reason.

After momentarily fantasizing, I sighed.

“What am I, to even think such a thing?”

I didn’t know what I was doing, fantasizing about someone who was already taken. Shaking my head at my own pitifulness, I focused on the stage.

“Excellent! Now, let’s officially begin the games. First, shall we choose the class representatives? One female student and one male student from each class, please come up onto the stage!”

Humans are crazy about romance.

They get excited by simply pairing a boy and a girl in an ordinary game.

At Barien’s instruction, the surroundings grew noisy.

“Who’s going?”

“Shouldn’t Deborah go for the girls?”

“Then what about the boys?”

Usually, famous couples or those with high influence in the class participate in these kinds of games.

So, it was natural that Deborah, the class president, was chosen as the representative. She even usually pretended to be chic and haughty, so she couldn’t even back down tearfully here.

Of course, that was none of my business.

‘I hope this ends quickly.’

Even as I watched from a distance, time continued to flow.

“Oh, Class 3, do you not have a male representative? If you don’t choose quickly, you’ll be disqualified! Come out now!”

Even Barien, unable to bear it, stepped forward to encourage them, but everyone in Class 3 was just stumbling, unable to do anything.

Then, by chance, by absolute chance, my eyes met Barien’s.

His eyes sparkled.

‘Shit.’

An ominous feeling swept over me.

As expected, the host, grinning annoyingly, pointed directly at me and shouted.

“That male student there, watching as if bored! Come up onto the stage now!”

As the shout spread, all eyes around me turned towards me.

An unspoken pressure: ‘Surely you wouldn’t ruin this atmosphere?’

Even those who normally wouldn’t dare meet my gaze were swept up in the crowd psychology, silently demanding that I go onto the stage.

What would Ruan Friuli do here?

‘I don’t know.’

The owner of this body was a contradictory human who would quietly live in the academy but then commit insane acts like rape.

As I hesitated, unable to act easily, someone suddenly pushed my back.

“Go out quickly! What are you doing!”

“Professor-nim, when did you get back?”

“Just now! Anyway, go out quickly! Then I’ll forgive what you said earlier.”

Honestly, I wondered what she could do if she didn’t forgive me, but I stood up as if I had no choice, due to Sara’s push.

As I went up onto the stage and stood next to Deborah, Barien nodded with satisfaction.

“Alright! All the players are here. Before we start the game, shall we introduce everyone? Class 1 representative student! Please introduce yourselves!”

The representatives for Class 1 were Skadia and a male student with a cheerful impression.

Skadia glanced sideways at me, then introduced herself simply.

“I am Skadia Maryland. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh, Skadia-yang. You’re incredibly popular, aren’t you? Are you good at studying?”

“I was the freshman representative and came first in the recent midterm exams.”

“Wow! That’s amazing. If you had one thing to say to yourself?”

“Not yet.”

“Hahaha! Your drive for improvement is excellent. And the male student’s name?”

The introductions proceeded in that manner, and finally, my turn came.

“I am Ruan Friuli.”

That was it.

Since I kept giving uninteresting short answers to the host’s questions, he quickly moved on.

“Class 4 president! Please introduce yourself.”

“I am Felicia Belmore. I am the daughter of the Belmore Marquisate. Our family is famous for wine production and…”

“Ah! That’s wonderful! Thank you for the detailed explanation! Now for the next male student—”

“I’m not finished yet!”

Felicia, the platinum-blonde drill-haired lady, forcibly snatched the microphone from the host who was trying to move on, and launched into a long speech.

The speech ended a full five minutes later.

The reason she wasn’t stopped earlier was because her ample chest bounced as she spoke with enthusiasm, captivating half of the people present.

For the men, five minutes simply vanished just by watching her chest.

As expected of the owner of breasts that rivaled the Saintess.

‘By the way, Alisa didn’t participate.’

The representatives for Class 6 were Abel and Uni.

In the game, Alisa and a suitable male supporting character would have participated, but the future had changed.

But in a way, it seemed natural.

Because there’s no way she, who had been raped by me, would like a game that required her to participate as a couple with a man.

While I was convincing myself, the introductions of all the class representatives finally concluded.

“Then, we shall begin the games now! The first game is! Charades! It’s a game where you explain the given problem using only body movements, without speaking! Class 1 representatives, please come forward!”

At the instruction, Skadia and the cheerful male student stood side by side, facing each other.

It was Skadia who was to guess the answer.

‘I wonder how this will turn out.’

I knew their outcome.

I was curious to see if it would unfold differently from the game, or if it would remain the same.

Finally, the first problem was revealed.

[Piledriving Game]

It’s a game where teams are formed, one side creates a ‘pile’ [like a human horse], and the other side is desperate to jump and break their backs.

The male student, seeing the answer, immediately took a posture.

First, he bowed his head 90 degrees and stretched out his hands to explain the ‘pile’ role, and then explained the attacking role of jumping and breaking their backs.

However, his posture was truly strange.

It seemed the male student had a habit of thrusting his hips forward when jumping, so when he mimed jumping by supporting himself with his arms, it looked exactly like he was having sex.

Every time his hips moved back and forth, whispers spread among the students.

In such a situation, Skadia, without the slightest hint of disturbance, deduced the answer.

“The answer. Sexual intercourse.”

*Buzzer sound!*

“Sex.”

*Buzzer sound!*

“…Rear-entry position.”

*Buzzer sound!*

Skadia fell silent.