## Chapter 263 – Academy Arc (36) – I Need My Own Way
264. Academy Arc (36) – I Need My Own Way
When I came to, I saw the ceiling above me.
I rolled my eyes, trying to figure out where I was.
The interior was classic.
The wallpaper, the color of which was somewhat familiar, and the size of the windows and doors.
I could easily guess that I was in one of the rooms in Charlotte’s mansion. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, my tense eyes relaxed a little, and I let out a sigh of relief. It was hard to come to my senses while being butchered by Armion, but anyway, as you can see, I survived. That was enough.
“That bitch…”
It had been a long time since a curse word had come out of my mouth.
I had been living in a world of pleasure, wearing various masks… but this was the first time I had felt such pure anger. It felt like I had returned to reality after floundering in a pink world. I could still vividly feel Armion stabbing me with her sword and the pain. The feeling of my internal organs twisting as she opened my wounds and blew in her sword aura was truly unbearable.
My body was trembling.
Hoo…! Calm down. If I don’t overcome this somehow, it will remain a trauma for the rest of my life, and I’ll be the only one who suffers.
Calm. Calm….
A little later, a maid came to check on my condition, her eyes widening before she closed the door and left. Soon, the door opened again, and Charlotte, with an excited face, came in. Lewin, who was dressed as a man, was the same. It seemed they had both been waiting.
“You’re awake. That’s a relief…!”
“Hic. Raul… I’m so… so glad.”
“Thank you for moving me, Charlotte. And thank you for your concern, Lewin.”
I asked them about the progress of the situation.
Armion had pushed me to the brink of death, but Charlotte had intervened during the golden hour and stopped her. After that, I had slept like a log for three days, recovering with various high-grade potions and healing from mages.
Even though she had almost killed me, she had the audacity to say that my charges had been dropped and then returned to the Bahin Kingdom, as if to mock me. Fortunately, Charlotte had silenced her faction, and the fact that I had been so badly beaten was kept a secret. I had thought about protesting to the kingdom, but from my perspective, it was better not to have it become public knowledge, so I appreciated her consideration. Come to think of it, I didn’t even know how they had moved me secretly.
Relieved that my condition was better than expected, Charlotte then asked me what she had been curious about.
Why had Armion traveled so far to specifically target me?
“So… what is your relationship with that woman? Why did she do that to you, framing you with such ridiculous charges?”
“That’s…”
For a moment, I hesitated about what to say, then I remembered the setting I had created when I first came to this world. I told them that I didn’t have any memories of my childhood and that I had wandered around various general stores and monasteries, seriously wondering if it was related to that. Since it was based on my actual experiences, the story flowed smoothly, and Charlotte seemed to believe it.
“I see… it seems like there’s some kind of story behind it. There are also spells that can manipulate the mind and erase memories. Your body, which is so incredibly receptive to magic, and your talent are definitely not something you can easily find in this world. It wasn’t just a coincidence.”
Charlotte pondered over the setting I had created, then looked at my face and smiled brightly.
“Well, that’s not important. Raul is just Raul. The past doesn’t matter, does it?”
Charlotte and I exchanged a subtle look.
“………Ugh.”
Only then did Lewin, who was next to us, seem to be convinced of the relationship between me and Charlotte, and she began to send her a wary look.
……………
That night.
While I was staying at Charlotte’s mansion to recover my strength, two goddesses appeared before me.
The goddess with a doll-like, sculpted face was, of course, my patron goddess, Louise, and the blue-haired goddess with a model-like slim figure next to her was Cassia.
Louise made a bitter expression for a moment, then waved her hand, releasing her divine power. Instantly, a refreshing power flowed through my body, not only completely healing me but also bringing me to my best condition.
Seeing my patron goddess appear after everything was over made me feel like I had eaten a few sweet potatoes, but I suppressed those feelings. Well, yeah. She had said that she couldn’t interfere in the battle between proxies. There were other lower-ranking gods, but… if they were caught interfering, things could escalate.
Anyway, there was no point in getting angry. I had managed to get through it well, and there was no point in taking a negative stance against my superior now. I should take this opportunity to get something out of it.
“You must be resenting me, right? Calling me an unreliable goddess…”
“Not at all. I understand the situation you’re in, Louise.”
Louise looked at me cautiously at my words and then sighed deeply, and Cassia also expressed her regret to me from the side.
“Actually, the reason I’m here now is because I’ve been held captive by my seniors. I only have the final step to become an intermediate god left, but they wouldn’t let me go, saying that my training was insufficient. Isiz… or that woman, did she give them a hint? She must have been holding me back in case I secretly helped you. She has a terrible personality, that woman.”
It certainly seemed childish for a god to act like that.
That’s why it’s not good to be stagnant.
“But I’m also getting something out of it.”
“Why, what happened?”
“You promised. When you came down last time.”
“What? ………Ah. Hmm.”
Louise blushed slightly, as if she had remembered something. She had said that if I got through this well, she would definitely give me a reward. I had said that I wanted to play the role of master with Louise, and it seemed she remembered it well. A sticky desire began to sprout. Louise was passive and shy in this area, so I had been avoiding the topic quite a bit, but this might be an opportunity to have a closer relationship with my patron goddess.
She wouldn’t refuse in this atmosphere.
“Then I’ll call you next time, so you have to come down. Okay?”
“…Okay.”
“What, what’s going on?”
“You, you don’t need to know.”
Cassia, who was next to us, looked at Louise with sparkling eyes and questioned her. She looked at the two of us with a strange gaze, then took something out of her arms.
It was the cube that I had found in the ruins dungeon and given to Cassia.
“Oh, right, this. The cube you gave me. I was going to keep it for a few days and return it, but the seal wouldn’t come off as easily as I thought. Sorry it took so long.”
“Seal?”
“Yeah. It was tightly wrapped in sealing devices from the outside. I managed to remove a few, but the rest were too complicated. It’s not mine, so I can’t break it. The power that’s being detected from the inside is also weak, so it’s probably not a dangerous object. Whatever happens, you’ll be able to control it.”
Cassia told me to let her know if I found anything strange later, and then she placed it on the small table next to my bed.
A little later, Louise and Cassia said goodbye to me and returned to the realm of the gods. Until they left, Louise seemed quite nervous about fulfilling her promise with me, and the way she secretly blushed from time to time was quite cute.
After they left, I began to seriously think about the future.
It was true that I was gaining a small, civilian-like enjoyment by playing the role of a sex toy for the goddesses… but this incident made me realize that my position was more precarious than I thought.
It was good, though. But if possible, I’d rather be summoned by an intermediate god. Or have Illycia do it herself…
No, let’s not think like that. I’ve enjoyed it enough so far, so why now?
Let’s focus on the core issues.
If Louise becomes an intermediate god, will my treatment improve significantly?
Actually, I might become even more disliked.
In Illycia’s order system, which prohibits relationships, Louise is the only one who has a male proxy like me.
Wouldn’t they already think that Louise and I are sleeping together, as long as we don’t cross the final line? If such a person quickly rises to the same position as them…
“I really don’t want to imagine it…”
If they come to take out their anger on me, there’s no answer.
I sighed and then fiddled with the cube that Cassia had returned. It was a trophy I had obtained after defeating a boss-level monster, the giant golem, so I had expected something, but it was disappointing that I had to put it on hold.
Then.
-Whoosh!
The cube I was holding briefly flashed with a yellow light, causing a strange reaction. And a field was created in my room with a power similar to divine power. I flinched for a moment, but I realized that it wasn’t harmful and calmed myself.
Then, a strange voice flowed directly into my head.
It was an ambiguous voice that was hard to distinguish as male or female.
[Did they leave? They’re gone]
‘Who are you? Are you talking from inside this cube?’
[Cube? Ah, here. Yes, that’s right. You’re the human who got rid of my guardian, right? Heh heh! You’re quite strong for a human]
‘I don’t know who you are, but reveal your identity.’
I didn’t feel a power strong enough to harm me. I decided to be assertive.
[I am one of the gods of this world]
‘Don’t talk nonsense. You were so carelessly sealed with just one golem. Are you really a god? You sound like you’re lying.’
[What…! What do you know! The situation was so urgent that I should be grateful for even that one golem]
‘Urgent?’
[Ah. Hmm……]
The voice suddenly fell silent, as if it realized it had made a mistake.
‘If you don’t tell me now, I’ll hand you over to the goddesses. Even if it’s obvious that you’re lying.’
[W-wait a minute. You can’t do that]
I had a hunch, and it turned out to be true. Otherwise, there would be no reason for it to appear separately when I was alone. The voice hesitated a lot, but seeing my firm attitude, it seemed to have decided that there was no other way and began to reveal its identity.
She (if she wasn’t lying) said that she was a god who had existed in this world from the beginning.
As you know, Illycia, the high-ranking god of this world, is a god who was dispatched from another world. Illycia, who had newly arrived a few hundred years ago, had absorbed or subjugated the existing gods in order to establish a new order in the world, and this god said that she belonged to the latter category.
[She went around talking about a new order and subjugating us one by one with force. We were living well from the beginning!]
‘Was this land peaceful?’
[Peace? I don’t know what the standard for peace is, but the neutral gods and the demon gods coexisted, dividing the territory. There were no problems as long as they didn’t invade each other]
‘Demon gods? So, demons were openly running rampant in the world?’
[Well, something like that]
It was worth wiping them all out.
[Anyway, the goddesses’ power was strong, but they also had a lot of numbers, so there was nothing I could do]
‘I see… More importantly, what is this? Did you create some kind of magic circle in this space?’
[This is a kind of distortion field. It’s a disguise to avoid trouble if the goddesses find out. What goddess’s servant are you? If your patron goddess is watching now, she’ll see your normal appearance]
Hmm. Interesting.
Then, she was silent for a moment before she began to speak to me in a subtle voice.
[More importantly… please, give me a new body. Yes, if possible, a young and vibrant girl would be nice. Prepare a human to be the medium and infuse this cube with divine power. From then on, I’ll take care of it. If you release me, I’ll give you great power!]
I snorted inwardly at her words.
‘Don’t be ridiculous. You’re just stuck in a cube. Great power, my ass. Who do you think I am, a fool? If you try to trick me, I’ll really hand you over to the goddesses. Just give me information when I want it. I’ll think about what you said later, depending on your attitude.’
[……I!]
Before she could say anything, I focused my power and drove her out of my head. Soon, the distortion field that had been in the room disappeared without a trace. The cube lost its light and returned to its original state.
It was late at night, so I decided to lie down again.
‘It might not be a completely lost opportunity.’
I slowly closed my eyes, thinking that.
