Chapter 75

“No, I can see that he’s uncomfortable right now… What if he strains his neck or something?”

“Exactly why I said he doesn’t need a pillow. I can provide one myself.”

Illeia’s face twisted into a sly expression as she pointed at Sodin’s pale white thigh.

“…You’re saying Sodin will serve as a pillow instead?”

Sodin’s face flushed red as she snapped back indignantly.

“Wh-When did I ever offer my th-thighs for that!?”

“Oh, really?”

“Think the 7th-rank title was just for show? Levitation.”

With Sodin’s command, Go Geom-shin hovered about 20 centimeters above the ground. A 7th-rank mage performing levitation with ease—truly impressive.

“This is far better than a clumsy pillow. So, all three of you, put your legs back where they belong. Showing off those ‘amazing’ thighs of yours like that? Pathetic.”

Seeing Sodin’s proportions, the three girls pouted but subtly withdrew their legs.

Eleia muttered under her breath.

“Research lab nerd, huh… but why is your body so perfect? Seriously, elves are overpowered…”

Scala shook her head.

“No, don’t get intimidated. Sure, it’s impressive. Perfectly balanced, almost flawless. But that also means there’s no single part that’s extraordinary. Clearly, Illeia, your chest is bigger, and Selan, your lower body is more robust. Me? Um… I’m a cute girl. Now, Selan, step up. Show us your athletic thighs.”

Encouraged, Selan stepped forward hesitantly.

“Y-Yeah. My thighs… they’re actually more impressive than Sodin’s.”

Sodin flinched. As the daughter of the World Tree guardian, she took pride in the blessings the World Tree had bestowed upon her proportions. Yet… the healthy robustness of those thighs was clearly beyond her reach.

“…Th-That’s not impressive, it’s… clumsy.”

“Pathetic excuse. And my flexibility is clearly better. Sodin, you’re older…”

That remark caused a surge of righteous fury to rise in Sodin.

“…I’m only 119. That’s equivalent to just twenty-three in human years, okay?”

“Oh… so we’re basically the same age… Can I call you by your name?”

“…You’re Selan, right? I’ve thought this for a while… you’re way too bold. You want to die? Really?”

“H-Huh! Eek…!?”

The four of them circled Go Geom-shin, continuing their playful girls’-talk. At that moment, a muscular beastkin mage carrying a fishnet on his shoulder descended from the sky toward them.

“Oh, this is lively. Huh… is that one asleep? My goodness… a creature that never had even a pinhole of vulnerability, now completely exposed…”

The four girls, who had been teasing each other, instantly encircled Go Geom-shin, shifting into battle stance.

A sharp, lethal aura radiated outward.

The target of this aura, the beastkin mage Talos, scowled.

“You… think I’d do something to that friend? Why would I? Why am I still seen as an enemy?”

Illeia replied curtly.

“Well, you’ve been bickering with him all along.”

“No, priestess, that was sparring. Swearing at each other is natural. And I was the one getting beat up most of the time.”

“Hmmm…”

“Even over the past few days, I showed him how to use 7th-rank magic as a battle mage and rearranged a few 3rd-rank spells to 2nd-rank. And yet… I get treated like this? It’s disheartening.”

“……”

“At least, Sodin, you should side with me. How can you, my tower companion, still scatter such hostility toward me?”

Sodin let out a soft chuckle.

“When did the Magic Tower ever care about companionship…? Everything I taught, every bit of battle mage know-how, had a purpose beyond mere kindness.”

“I admit that. I wanted connections with newly emerged Master-level power, and as a mage, I wanted to analyze and understand the crazy technique of splitting space with a sword. But life’s like that, isn’t it? Give and take. Even Sodin, you know the value of reciprocation.”

“Hmm…”

“I swear by my magic. While staying in this mansion, I will do nothing that harms that friend.”

At that, Sodin relaxed the pattern she had set and canceled the prepared spell. Seeing this, the remaining three also let their guard down and relaxed their stance.

Watching the magical aftereffects crumble like a collapsing academy, Talos flinched in surprise.

“My goodness… Sodin, you had an Absolute Command (7th–9th rank, absolute command) prepared? What on earth were you planning to use?”

“Whatever a 7th-rank mage can do with an Absolute Command is obvious. Heart attack.”

“Madness! If the target fails to resist, they die!”

“You would’ve blocked it anyway. I just wanted to secure an early advantage.”

“…And if I died in the process?”

“Then you die. If you die from an Absolute Command by a mage of the same rank… isn’t that just natural?”

“You’re ruthless.”

“What’s new?”

Talos glanced over Sodin and the women surrounding Go Geom-shin, then let out a dry chuckle.

“Hah… that friend of yours… quite the skill with women. Not only those three young ladies but even the haughty Sodin Cross reduced to a blushing adolescent girl. As a man, I must admit, impressive.”

At that, Sodin’s composed expression completely collapsed.

“Wh-Who exactly is reduced to an adolescent girl?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Eh, seems about right to me.”

“Ugh…!”

“Even more, I heard that lately, you’ve practically been treated like a Cardinal (just think of it as a grad student prepping a thesis) by that friend. And yet, instead of resenting it, you actually turn your blade toward me, your fellow at the tower… Love is truly terrifying.”

“G-G-G-Go away! Mind your own business!”

“Hah! To think I’d see that expression on the one once called Heavenly Flower ten years ago. Springtime, indeed. Springtime.”

Sodin ground her teeth.

“…This old geezer, really pushing my buttons.”

Talos chuckled, circling and teasing Sodin, when a calm yet firm voice interrupted from behind.

“Mage. That’s enough.”

“Gah! Lady Shia…!”

Startled, Talos spun around—and the four women froze in surprise as their gaze locked on a young girl with blue hair who had appeared seemingly from nowhere.

“When did you… get behind us?”

“Nothing for you to know. I came to ask that the caught prey be used for lunch. If your business is finished, leave. You make too much noise if you linger.”

“Ah… understood.”

Despite her youthful appearance, Talos spoke with full formality. Nearly two hundred years of magical experience ran through him. His instincts screamed: although this girl looks human, that’s only a facade—she is something beyond comprehension.

Beneath her childlike form lies arrogance and ferocity that could look down upon the entire world.

Even Sodin, usually arrogant herself, always used formal speech toward her.

“I’ll return to my fishing. If that friend wakes, tell him the ‘Frozen Wave’ (3rd rank) arrangement is ready and he can come learn when he has time.”

“Very well.”

With the beastkin mage retreating, the four women, glancing at Shia, turned their verbal blades back on each other.

Earlier, they had united against a common enemy in Talos, but the four of them, despite nearly ten days of acquaintance, had never truly been close.

You know how it is: with the popular kid around, everyone’s fine. But once they leave, awkwardness sets in.

It’s the same with boys, let alone a group of girls bonded around a boy they secretly admire.

Sodin spoke first.

“I’ll watch over Sword God. Now, everyone, why not return to swimming?”

Selan spoke next.

“Whoever is next to the Master must never betray him. And for that, there’s no one better than me. I’ve entrusted the survival of my family to the Master. If anything happens… Sodin, you’re an outsider, not part of our party…”

Scala scoffed.

“Never betray? Then I’m the most trustworthy. I’m under mind control, remember? Can anyone here be more reliable from the Sword God’s perspective?”

Illeia let out a disbelieving sigh.

“Strictly speaking, he’s not sleeping but unconscious from a drug. A patient, technically. As the priestess, I’m nearby to respond quickly if something happens.”

Sodin snorted.

“And what can a priestess do against what happens in the realm of magic? Non-mages, stand aside.”

Scala cautiously raised her hand.

“I’m a mage too, by the way.”

“A third-rank… mage?”

“…Ugh.”

“If you came to our tower, you’d only qualify as an apprentice. If you want to claim the title of ‘mage,’ go study for another ten years, okay?”

Feeling her pride wounded, Scala gritted her teeth and glared at Sodin.

“I didn’t want to bring this up… but I happened to overhear the Sword God and Master Shia talking about you recently?”

Sodin’s expression stiffened slightly at Scala’s confident grin. A bad premonition ran down her spine.

“O-Overheard… what?”

“…A little secret.”

“What!?”

“A secret! Apparently, when the Sword God first met you… you… wet yourself in front of him!?”

“…!!!!!!”

The shocking revelation left Sodin momentarily frozen, but she quickly tried to defend herself.

“N-No! That was uncontrollable! That man forced me to drink the Lake of Gouphus potion—three whole doses…!!”

But when it comes to teasing someone, facts don’t matter.

The three women eagerly seized the chance to torment him.

“Wow… you peed yourself…”

“Three times, no less.”

“Ha… I wouldn’t have guessed… a little pee-pee…”

“You… you guys! You don’t understand! That Lake of Gouphus potion is—!!”

But the three ignored Sodin’s protests.

“I may have been brainwashed, but I never wet myself.”

“I may have begged and barked for my family’s survival, but I never wet myself.”

“…Isn’t peeing yourself something you just don’t do?”

Watching the three mock him, Sodin finally glared at them with a demonic intensity and ground her teeth.

“…Fine. Alright. You miserable bitches. I happened to bring a lot of that potion because of that man. You’re each going to try a sip today.”

Less than a minute later, Sodin reappeared, hands full of the potion.

The smell was horrendous.

A foamy, grayish liquid, reminiscent of brain matter.

Floating chunks that looked like… well, refuse.

Despite stepping back in horror, the three women tried to keep up their brave front.

“Hah. P-people drink this? There’s no way it could make someone pee… Ughhh!! Guhh!! Guhhh!!”

“I… I mean… considering what that Hank bastard forced me to drink to prove loyalty… this is nothing… Ughhh!! Guhh!! Guhhh!!”

“W-Wait… Sodin! I didn’t insult you! I only mentioned that peeing in front of others is against all common decency… Are you really making me put that—ugh…!! Guhhh! Ughh!!!”

Moments later, with eyes wide and writhing, the three women convulsed in the water, revealing the horrid yellow concoction. Sodin laughed triumphantly.

“Haha… see! You’re all just like me! Who’s talking trash now, huh!?”

Shia quietly clicked her tongue.

“Good. They’re learning.”

…

Splash! Splash! Plop!

With minimal mercy as fellow women, Sodin magically dunked the three into the lake to cleanse them. Then her expression hardened.

“…Shia.”

“Yes. I felt it.”

“…Where, do you think?”

“Who knows.”

“Baron Alphonse?”

Shia shook her head.

“No. He seemed clever enough. I doubt he’d hold a grudge now.”

Just then, the beastkin mage came flying in, out of breath.

“Uninvited guest.”

“I know.”

“Not Baron Alphonse.”

“Also known. Probably some country lord taking out his grief over his dead child. Guild warnings didn’t work, I guess.”

Sodin muttered quietly.

“Dunno… Baronet?”

“Hmm.”

“My goodness. That guy really overestimates himself…”

Talos snickered.

“He doesn’t know that this friend is a master, or that two veteran mages reside here. He just assumes that one lowly adventurer is responsible for his kid’s death and wants to vent his anger.”

Shia asked, “How many?”

“Thirty.”

“Thirty-one.”

“Hm? Ah, thirty-one is correct. Non-combat magic just can’t match you, Sodin.”

“Typical. The senior who just knows how to smash things.”

“Whatever. Judging by the numbers and skill, it doesn’t look like manpower summoned by the manor itself. Probably an assassination guild.”

“Likely. Poor fools. With the power we have here, we could obliterate a whole territory. Not even moths would survive… tsk, tsk, tsk.”

Shia let out a sharp laugh.

“Well then, guests. Can you pay your dues?”

The beastkin mage and the elf mage both smirked.

“Of course.”

“Willingly.”