Chapter 164: You’re supposed to wear it
I have made it to Class A.
Unprecedented in the history of the academy, I jumped two grades before the final exam.
It was a haphazard move, but the audience was definitely there, and I think I gave them a good time.
Many people were also interested, especially the guys in class C…
“Oooooh! Kaen, I believed you!”
“You’re the hero of class C.”
“We’ll do our best too!”
It was an overwhelmingly positive response.
The old me would have been thrilled by the attention but amidst the outpouring of praise and enthusiasm, I felt empty.
It was all meaningless.
They had no value to me now.
I was just climbing the stairs to fulfill my purpose.
My purpose, the object of my attention, was a man.
His calm hair reflected the silence of a starless night. Beneath it, a white bandage hides his eyes.
The blind saint of the academy, the blind swordsman or the acupuncturist brother. He had many other nicknames but his name is Zetto.
My first impressions of Zetto, and how I first came to know him, were not favorable, but as I got to know him, I realized that he was more than that.
I was instantly drawn to his charm, which was like an unfathomable ocean.
I was intoxicated by his scent.
I did. I admit it.
I have a crush on him so I want his attention.
What’s more, I even have my grandfather’s permission.
I realize I can’t have him now, but it wouldn’t hurt to have him someday…If it’s Zetto’s child.
However, my relationship with him was quite secretive so I didn’t see a natural opportunity to talk to him and lately, he hadn’t been looking for me.
Has the world suddenly become peaceful?
It was a good thing for the world that he wasn’t looking for me, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
I felt dissatisfied and wondered if it was because of the physical distance, but nothing much changed.
After observing him for a few days after the trip I came to a conclusion.
Zetto was very busy so he didn’t have time to pay attention to me.
The day began with Lucia Windless, a fresh-faced, cute girl with bluish hair.
She took a bite out of the bread she had brought with her, and with her eyes still wide awake, she casually walked up to Zetto and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Mr. Zetto, Mr. Zetto, I’m going to buy underwear this time, but I can’t decide on a color, can you help me…”
“What color?”
“…I’m torn between light blue and white.”
“Hmm…I don’t know about colors, but I’m guessing light blue would be a good choice.”
“Light blue. Your choice, Mr. Zetto, I’ll keep it in mind.”
Mostly, it was a very stupid question.
More than that, it was ridiculous to ask Zetto, who was blind, about colors… It was ridiculous.
I wondered why she was asking Zetto, a man, about the color of the underwear she wanted to buy in the first place.
“What do you think, Amon and Crank?”
Lucia asked the two cadets who were eating bread.
“Hah? Underwear, that’s what you call it…Who gives a shit about your underwear?”
“I think any color is fine.”
They replied, but their response was less enthusiastic than Zetto’s.
Lucia then turned to Ophelia, another member of the Four Elements.
“…”
The famously silent Aisin didn’t answer.
‘Why don’t you just ask her a normal question…?’
As if Lucia had read my thoughts, she spotted Aizel, who was walking to school with a sullen expression.
“Ms. Aizel!”
Lucia rushes over to Aizel and asks her a question, and Aizel nods as if she’s listening.
“Don’t wear it.”
“Eh…?!”
“If you’re that worried, don’t wear it.”
“Does that mean you don’t wear underwear…?!”
“Sometimes.”
“…”
Aizel’s nonchalant reply is followed by an open-mouthed Lucia looking at her with a face tinged with embarrassment.
‘She doesn’t wear underwear sometimes…?’
I glanced around quickly, wondering if the other cadets had overheard their conversation.
“Phew.”
Luckily, no one else seemed to be paying much attention to their conversation, and they were all busy talking to their friends.
Then I heard Zetto’s voice.
“Ms. Aizel, you shouldn’t play pranks like that. Lucia believes it’s true.”
“Was it a prank, Ms. Aizel…!”
Lucia smiled, and Aizel turned her head to look at Zetto.
“I wasn’t kidding.”
“What?”
“I’m not wearing it now.”
“…”
“Can you tell with your senses whether I’m wearing underwear or not right now, I’m curious.”
“…Do you really need to check that?”
“Just kidding.”
“…”
Leaving the frozen Zetto alone, Aizel nonchalantly sits down.
‘What kind of a request…’
Aizel’s tone is almost begging and her natural charm flows like water.
Aizel was a strong opponent.
Charm is a woman’s weapon, a sword and a spell to seduce a man.
It was the force I would use to win Zetto.
Just as the thought was passing through my mind a head of blue hair lifted, and her wild eyes were in my face.
“Lou, Cadet Lucia…?!”
I was surprised.
“I was thinking of something else, I’m sorry, Ms. Kaen.”
“No. Is there something you need?”
“Well… I was going to buy some underwear…”
She was asking me too.
‘What the hell is bothering you?’
At this point, Lucia was asking so many people questions that I wondered if she was advertising underwear.
‘…So what color should I get?”’
Lucia tilts her head, her eyes serious.
I tilted my head to look at Zetto, who was a short distance away.
Zetto must be listening to this conversation just like he did with Aizel earlier.
What would be a good answer?
“Umm…”
I think about it, but I can’t come up with an answer.
My answer was far from colorful or desirable.
Lucia speaks up first, even as I’m drooling over my answer, wondering if I can keep Zetto’s attention.
“I’m very troubled…!”
As if that’s the right response, Lucia crosses her arms and snorts.
“Well, yeah…You do have a problem.”
“So what color is it, Kaen choice?”
“Umm…I think sometimes it’s better not to wear it.”
“What? I asked about the color…”
“Oh, that’s because…”
I couldn’t think of anything else to say, so I mimicked Aizel’s answer but Lucia’s response was too serious.
“Ka, Kaen sometimes doesn’t wear underwear either…?”
“Sometimes? I think it’s good for my health.”
“Health…”
She muttered, then looked at me as if I were a strange person.
‘You were fine with it when it came to Aizel…’
Why is she so strict with me?
I don’t care about the color of Lucia’s underwear either.
After all, it was Zetto I was after.
‘At least I’ll get his attention.’
As I thought that, I tilted my head to check Zetto’s reaction on the other side.
“…”
Zetto, who had kept his mouth shut, turned his head toward me.
He must have been listening.
I didn’t think it was a very good answer because it sounded like I was mimicking Aizel, but I didn’t feel too bad about it since I had his attention now.
Suddenly, Zetto stood up from his seat.
He stalks over to me, stomping his feet.
‘What’s wrong?’
He puts his hand on my shoulder and tilts his head, his lips to my ear.
“…Miss Kaen, I need a moment.”
“Eh…? Cadet Zetto, why?”
“There’s something I need to talk to you about in private.”
“Oh…”
I trailed off and stood up from my seat.
I wondered what this was about.
For some reason, Zetto grabbed my hand as I stood up and dragged me away, rather roughly.
Something seemed urgent.
‘No way…’
Was it really urgent?
In the same instant that I was being dragged away by Zetto’s hand, a million erotic fantasies flashed through my mind.
I said I wasn’t wearing any underwear…
‘What do you mean…?’
‘This, this, this.’
‘No, it’s impossible… that size…’
I shook my head vigorously, trying to clear the tender imagery from my mind.
It couldn’t be.
It couldn’t happen without any foreshadowing.
But as Zetto’s footsteps dragged me out of the classroom and into the hallway, somehow he didn’t stop walking.
His legs were headed in the direction of…The direction of the restrooms.
There was no reason for men and women to go into the restroom together… My worst fears were coming true.
I scrambled to stop him and shouted.
“Hwa, you can’t go in the bathroom…!”
“…What do you mean?”
“I don’t know, it’s my first time, but I don’t think toilets have any wealth or atmosphere…”
“……”
Zetto scratches his cheek silently.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but it seems to be reasonably quiet in here.”
“Not in the hallway, if you’re going to do that, I’d rather be in…”
What on earth is this guy trying to do so early in the morning in a hallway with all these people coming and going?
I suppose it’s a good thing he’s active, but…I’m embarrassed.
“No, I don’t think I need to go into the restroom, at any rate.”
Zetto says in a calm voice and puts his hand on my shoulder.
“…”
“…”
His mood had suddenly become quite serious so I unnecessarily averted my gaze from his face.
Then I hear Zetto’s voice.
“Kaen.”
“What…?”
“I don’t know if I should tell you this, but…”
“…”
“…but I think you should wear your underwear properly.”
“What?”
What is this man talking about?
“It’s just good manners between people.”
“No, it’s not that…”
…It’s a joke.
Why does he actually believe this?
“Everyone wears normal clothes, except for their underwear…”
Zetto, who was rubbing his chin, said in a voice that couldn’t have been more serious.
“Ah…”
I’m speechless and breathless at the same time.
Lucia did the same and so did Zetto.
I didn’t think I was any different from Aizel, but why have they reacted that way?
Their reactions were too serious for me to simply say it was a joke.
“Anyway, make sure to dress properly next time.”
Zetto says, and smiles at me.
I didn’t have the presence of mind to say, “I’m kidding,” to such an earnest smile.
The water had already been spilled.
“…I see.”
“Well, different people have different tastes, and I respect that.”
“…”
My head went white and Zetto’s voice was barely audible in my ears.
Just as I was about to let out a sigh, someone walked down the hallway.
Red hair in a tight braid, a face equally as red, it was Yuri Clementine.
Zetto turned to greet her.
“Miss Yuri! You’re a little late for some reason.”
“…Zetto… Uh, Kaen… What are you two doing there?”
“We were just having a little chat.”
“Oh, really?”
“More than that, Yuri, did you wear the right underwear today?”
“…Mu, what kind of question is that, you’re being inappropriately flirtatious…”
“Ah, I have no ill will, I just want to make sure…”
“……You’re supposed to be wearing underwear!”
Yuri, whose face was bright red, got angry.
…It was a situation that would normally make her angry.
As Yuri stalks down the hallway, Zetto taps me on the shoulder again and gives me a kindly smile.
“See, everyone’s wearing them, right?”
Don’t smile like that when you say that.
It wouldn’t mean anything to him if I showed him I was wearing underwear, and if I let him feel them, the picture would be too weird… Most of all, it was impossible.
Now that I think about it, it would be very difficult to explain to a blind man that I was wearing underwear.
“…”
I trailed off and became a shirtless maiden.
***
“……Come on, I’m supposed to be wearing at least some underwear!”
Yuri thought as she walked down the hallway, ignoring Zetto’s strange question.
‘How did he know…?’
She wasn’t wearing underwear today because of the laughter that was now ringing in her head.
[Cackle, cackle, cackle…]
Benno was the reason.
Yuri had to fulfill Benno’s demands as the price for using Benno’s power.
Surely, she thought, she would be able to handle whatever it was.
As Yuri was getting ready for school, Benno demanded that she wear no underwear.
Benno made up some bullshit story about being prepared for a sudden mating.
It was a good reason but not wearing underwear was unreasonable.
That’s when Benno spoke up.
[You said you were going to take Zetto. Show me how you’re going to do it.]
I didn’t know what the connection was between taking the Zetto and not wearing underwear, but if I didn’t comply with Benno’s request, my bond with her would be weakened and I would have less power to use.
Not wanting to be weakened any further I…
…came to a decision.
“Hmm…”
Unusually, the slightest breeze bothered me.
“I’m crazy, really…”
[…To make such a fuss about not wearing underwear… I don’t understand humans. It’s easier to mate if you don’t think about it. Why did you hide it? You could have just said that you didn’t wear it for Zetto.]
“Shut up, perverted lizard…!”
Yuri was worried.
She had gotten this far, but there was no telling how much more dangerous this perverted lizard’s demands might become.
She would have to find a way to control Benno before the road ahead became even more treacherous.
***
Meanwhile, at that time, an investigative team from the Alliance has been dispatched to the Order of the Golden Lion in the Kingdom of Terracia.
With their deputy leader, Delion, discovered to be a demon and slain, the Alliance has chosen Saint Bernice to lead the investigation since her powers would prove useful in this endeavor.
The purpose of the Inquisition was to investigate and, if deemed necessary, disband the Order.
The Knights of the Golden Lion were, of course, knights of the Kingdom of Terracia, and there was some backlash against them, but the Alliance shrugged it off, saying that they should be grateful that the incident was not publicized.
The Kingdom of Terracia couldn’t afford anymore opposition.
Humans and demons were only in a truce, after all, and their intelligence networks had been informed that the Demon King would soon be resurrected.
Going against the Alliance would leave Terracia isolated when war came and the nation itself would be destroyed.
The roles are reversed if the kingdom finds the hero first…but finding the hero would be no easy task.
“So he was right.”
Ines, who had been sent on the investigation with the Saint, murmured as she perused the Order internal information.
“This country is rotten to the core…”
“If you were a demon, you would be able to look at this country with a more objective eye.”
Bernice interjects and soon, Ecline, who had been investigating outside, enters the room.
“There are tails over here, too. Most of them, I suspect, were tied to the First Prince and his father, Grand Chancellor Crente Okentia.”
“The First Prince…”
Bernice, who had traveled in and out of the royal castle several times as an investigator, could quickly recognize the various issues surrounding the succession in the Kingdom of Terracia.
As the Allied Commander-in-Chief had said, her powers were useful in many ways.
Bernice had met the First Prince.
As a bonus, she had also met the Second Prince, who was still a boy.
In her eyes, it was the second prince who was fit to be king, but… The power seemed to be in the hands of the First Prince. He was already the crown prince.
‘First Prince…I could definitely sense a bad aura from him.’
Even if the Knights of the Golden Lion were gone and a new demon-hunting organization was to take over, would that be enough of an excuse?
In the chaos that would ensue, Terracia would become a fertile ground for demons.
“Ha…”
I swiveled in her chair and stretched, but it didn’t help.
All-nighters and overwork.
I was physically fine, but mentally exhausted and in need of healing.
With that thought, a man’s face appeared in my mind.
I longed to hear Zetto’s voice.
‘Why don’t I take it easy tonight and talk with him?’
She had heard that her patron, Anthony, had made a fortune this time.
Maybe it was okay to be that greedy.
“…Okay.”
Bernice smiled faintly and returned to her work.
Watching her, Ecline thought to herself.
‘She’s thinking about Zetto again.’