Rehabilitation Of Shame And Embarrassment

Prof. Strict folded her arms.
She watched Yu Seha manipulate the artifact with his tiny, fern-like hands.

Virtual troops fought in accordance with his touch.
The unfolding process.
And even the purpose and intent…

The watching Prof. Strict gradually broke into a soft smile.
She hid a feeling that made her eyes water slightly beneath her pentagonal glasses.

‘…You’ve grown a lot, Yu Seha.’

Yu Seha no longer used the ruthless strategies of before.
His strategies were still original and excellent,
but he now executed them with attention to the hunters’ safety and cooperation, even if it cost more time and resources.

“Of course, you can see he’s a bit focused on a one-man show…”

She didn’t intend to criticize even that.
It was a method possible because he trusted everyone.
Just like the feats he had shown.

A moment later,
Yu Seha finished his explanation and looked back at Prof. Strict.

Her gem-like, large, bright eyes.
Prof. Strict couldn’t help but smile pleasantly.

“I’ve explained everything.”
“Good work, Yu Seha.”

If she were the usual Prof. Strict, she would have given a shop recommendation
and sent him on his way, but…
She did something a little different.
She looked around at everyone, raised her hands, and clapped.

Literally a full-on executioner display.

“Now, everyone, applaud Yu Seha for his hard work.”

At her words, warm applause erupted as if everyone had been waiting.
Male and female cadets alike smiled indulgently, as if at something cute.

Well, some female cadets gave a few lecherous, risky looks,
but they shrank back and lowered their heads at Moon Bora’s equally perilous zap-like warning.

“……”

An involuntarily dizzying situation.
And an overwhelming, unprecedented wave of shame and embarrassment.

Yu Seha trembled with embarrassment.
He bowed his head and stammered.

“Professor, please, can’t we not do this? Why does it have to be just me…”
“Yu Seha, you must be fed love to grow quickly.”
“……”

And this embarrassment and shame
unfortunately continued into the next class.

“Okay, everyone~ please turn to page 19~”

A soft yet gentle voice sounded.
In a classroom full of an obviously pinkish aura,
a female professor wearing a wide-brimmed hat was conducting the class.

She was a female professor dressed in the fashion most associated with the image of a wizard.
With striking beauty and her characteristic narrow eyes,
and a magic pouch that could rival Moon Bora’s, she was none other than Professor Sa Rang-mi.

For Yu Seha she wasn’t deeply familiar, but he’d seen her face often enough to be pleased to see her.

“Now, everyone focus~ I’ll start by explaining how to use magic clay~”

Sa Rang-mi was a professor who followed a tradition you might call orthodox magic.
Specializing in a variety of useful magic studies including barrier arts, she was one of the notable professors at the Gonis Hunter Academy.

However, due to restrictions in the first semester of freshman year,
he could only attend her class now in the second semester.
True to her reputation, her classes were advanced and practically useful.

As proof, Moon Bora, already at a professor’s level, was bright-eyed and taking notes.

Clap!

Soon, Sa Rang-mi finished her theoretical explanation.
On cue, the assistants beside her handed out palm-sized lumps of clay.

It wasn’t ordinary mud but a kind of catalyst called magic clay.

The subject Sa Rang-mi was teaching was “Understanding Servitors.”
It’s a field studying magic related to summoned beasts,
which was an area of interest for Yu Seha.

“Now, everyone, infuse the clay with mana and try to control it~”

Magic clay is basically one of the main materials used to create golems.
The purpose was to develop the ability to raise sync with servitors by applying it.
That was the goal of the class.

Yu Seha worked the clay diligently and breathed mana into it.
Other cadets were already shaping and moving their clay,
but he still hadn’t succeeded in changing its form.

[Currently executing ‘the price.’ Maximum mana and mana recovery speed are greatly reduced.]

“…Sss.”

A combo of stat deficiency and the restrictions of the price.
The mana that used to overflow like a basin.
Now reduced to the size of a washbasin, it was far from convenient.

But it wasn’t all drawbacks.

“…It is purer, though.”

He’d realized after becoming this body,
the mana he produced now had a color close to pure white.

It was undoubtedly an energy with much higher efficiency per unit than ordinary mana, like ‘Demon energy.’

[The King of Demons tells you this is the result of your body’s circuits being reconfigured to match your rank. It says higher beings call that energy ‘ether.’ ]

‘As expected, high-level ones use special resources.’

Just when he was thinking that was about it.
The clay finally began to move as he wanted.
From now on, it was easy.

‘Controlling it, well…’

He had experience from repeatedly using the derivative skill [Tsunami].

Soon the clay transformed into an angelic Peng Jin-ah form and began to do a cute dance.

However, it stuttered intermittently like a low-frame-rate video.

There was no particular problem; it was just due to insufficient mana supply.

“Yu Seha~”
“……?”

At that moment,
Sa Rang-mi, who had been watching Yu Seha, rushed over as if she’d been waiting for the chance.
She grabbed his tiny hands and supplied mana.

“Now, Seha~ I’ll show you, you must follow like a good child, okay?”
“Um, Professor? It’s that I’m low on mana, not that I have a problem with handling it—”
“-Yes, yes~ I’ll help you.”
“……”

Soon, overflowing with Sa Rang-mi’s mana, the Peng Jin-ah doll was doing somersaults.
At the sight, Sa Rang-mi clapped her hands with exaggerated gestures.
To anyone watching, she looked like a daycare teacher trying to win a kindergartner’s attention.

“Oh my~ so very well done, Yu Seha~”
“…Um, you don’t have to do that—”
“Now~ everyone, shall we give Yu Seha some praise~”
“……”
“Oh, Yu Seha, will you take some candy after class? I prepared several. There’s even sesame-leaf mint pineapple flavor.”
“Ah, yes, thank you…”

Morning classes ended and lunchtime arrived.

Yu Seha heard “Oh my, how cute…”
and “I just want to hug him once…”—various dangerously suggestive remarks—as he walked.

“Mwuang~”

Ah, to be precise, he was walking together with someone.
His companion was Ma Hana.

Ma Hana had her arms wrapped around Yu Seha’s back.
Ma Hana herself was about 155 cm tall.

Considering that Yu Seha’s head barely reached her chest, he was a little under 130 cm.

Ma Hana didn’t let go of Yu Seha, treating him like a beloved doll.
She also rubbed her face against the crown of his head in delight.

“Mwang, mwang~”
“……”

Having endured it so often, Yu Seha walked with a blank expression.

Still, just in case, he asked once.

“…Um, Meow, can you stop now—”
“-Mwang, no! You’ll get lost! Everyone wants to kidnap Seha because he’s so cute!”
“……”

Anyway, the place they arrived at shortly after wasn’t the usual open field where they often ate.
It was Ju Na-young’s VVIP dorm room.

The reason they insisted on eating here,
Moon Bora explained as she lifted a kiddie kimbap with chopsticks.

“Right now, Seha is in a state that’s very cute, lovely, and weak enough to want to nibble. If I were an enemy, I’d aim for the moment he sits down to eat. Avoiding such risks is precisely what we as protectors must do.”

Moon Bora said this grandly, stiffening her shoulders.
Yu Seha looked at her quietly and asked.

“…Is that you being sincere?”
“I hate other girls panting like horny bitches when they see Seha.”
“…Anything else?”
“I want to film him chomping on those soft, squishy cheeks.”
“……”

An honest desire spoken as if there were no intention to hide it.
Yu Seha opened his mouth obediently.

As if she’d been waiting, Moon Bora fed him handmade kimbap and side dishes.
Then without delay she switched her phone to recording mode and breathed dangerously close while filming.

“Hah, hah… too, too cute.”
“Munch, munch.”
“Yongaah…”

In the end, Ju Na-young, who had been watching, intervened.

“…Moon Bora, you’re honestly kind of a pervert.”
“T-This is Se-Seha’s fault! Honestly, what woman wouldn’t be enchanted by this look!”
“Ah, I’ll admit that. Seha is at fault…”
“Ju Na-young, weren’t you on my side?”

At Yu Seha’s pitiful look, Ju Na-young scratched his cheek.
Then, facing the adorable Yu Seha before him, he unknowingly swallowed hard.

He could assert he had no such inhibitions,
but nevertheless, the fact remained that the current Yu Seha was cute enough to want to nibble.

After all, regardless of anything, Yu Seha himself,
was the beloved boy, wasn’t he?

Ju Na-young’s warm affection mixed with the feeling of ‘cute’ and only grew stronger instead of cooling.

In the end, unable to suppress this feeling, Ju Na-young
surreptitiously slipped his hand under Yu Seha’s armpit and lifted him.

He landed right on Ju Na-young’s lap.
Moon Bora, who was filming, frowned.

“…Miss Na-young! Knee-sitting is my specialty, you know?”
“Uh, you did it yesterday, so it’s my turn this time!”
“…You said you weren’t interested!”
“Kuh, ah-hem~ I kind of wanted to try…”
“Huff, humph! Hand him over in 5, 5 minutes! Got it? Seha’s soft butt feel is mine!”
“Ah, okay…”
“Mwang, I want to hold him too~”
“……”

Right after the affection-filled lunchtime of the three ended.
Yu Seha immediately headed to the personal training hall.
He carried out the nearly two-month continuous routine.

He repeated light calisthenics and running within a non-excessive range.
After finishing exercises that even civilians could do,
he entered meditation for at least an hour.

“Huuu…”

Yu Seha sat cross-legged and contemplated himself.
He had done this before, but since becoming like this he increased both the frequency and depth.
After the energy flowing within his body circulated completely, he reached a conclusion.

“Good.”

Fortunately, he was steadily growing without any abnormalities.
Veins without a trace of impurity, absurd musculature that would make most metals look humble.
And flexible yet tougher and more supple muscle fibers than anything else.

Having checked, Yu Seha shifted his gaze.
He saw a gigantic full-length mirror covering the entire wall of the training hall.

And what he saw there…
It felt odd to say about himself,
was a boy so cute you wanted to nibble him.

The occasional flashes of beauty in him
made it easy to imagine dozens of girls in tears after a few years.

If that boy were someone else, he’d just think “what a cute face” without a second thought, but…

Regrettably, he couldn’t do that.
Yu Seha involuntarily scowled.

“…Damn it.”

[The King of Demons laughs for no reason. It asks, “Want candy? Shall I give you some?”

Yu Seha made a sour face.
He couldn’t say anything to the Yokai King because he was deeply indebted to it.
He substituted words with a deep sigh.

Yes, that’s right.
The identity of the ‘price,’ and the reason those words ‘embarrassment’ and ‘shame’ were used.

The boy-looking kid in front of him who appeared to be about nine or ten years old.
An appearance believable enough to be the same age as Saints Natsu & Yuri.

It was Yu Seha himself.