༺ Marie, an ever-so-normal Countryside Girl (3) ༻
Korin Lork, 18 years old.
More than 20 years on Earth,
And 4 years here.
Adding that to the memories of my life as Korin Lork, it was possible to say that I was more than 40 years old.
However, it seemed that the mental age still couldn’t help but be affected by the physical age – I was still a teenager in the middle of puberty.
And the life I had been leading was one void of relationships with girls.
Going through boys’ middle school, boys’ high school, physical education college, and the military, I had a lot of male friends but didn’t have much chance to make female friends. I had a few during primary school, but that was the same for everyone, right?
And yet in front of me was Marie, whose eyes were rotating in circles while her cheeks were flushed red all the way up to her ears. Silently, she was giving me permission. Opening up the hems of her robe revealed an overwhelmingly voluptuous… thing that seemingly had the power to suck in everything like the center of the universe.
Frankly speaking, there was no way that guys wouldn’t be stimulated by that sight, unless they were the biggest eunuchs of the century.
“Thanks.”
“Unn?”
“You’re doing this to cheer me up, right? Hah… I guess I’ve been feeling too down these days.”
“Y, yeah…”
It wasn’t an overstatement to say that it required a superhuman level of patience and resilience. Honestly, I wanted to jump in and take a long break.
‘That won’t be a manly thing to do though.’
It was all about manliness for men. Resting on the breasts of a comrade just because you were tired wasn’t something men should be doing.
‘Huu… It’s a shame, but…’
Forcing myself to turn down the kind offer of the considerate potato girl, I was about to turn around from that temptation but…
“E, eitt…!”
Suddenly, Marie pulled me by the arm as the two of us landed on top of the bed. During that process, I…
“Uhp?!”
It was truly a shameful thing to say, but my head ended up being buried in the crevice between her breasts.
“S, Senior?!”
“Stay there. Stay still.”
She wasn’t being forceful by relying on her strength, but her warm hug and the deep canyon pulled me in like a quagmire.
“Uahh…”
Slowly… I felt more and more lethargic. As if I was being sucked into a black hole, there was an irresistible suction force pulling me in.
Big.
I thought I knew it already… but they were big.
They were soft like the sea of clouds above, and their fluffiness enveloped me from all sides.
It was impossible to resist!
My head… was starting to turn blank.
“Korin… You need a break.”
My face was burning hot, so how embarrassing would it be for Marie? However, I could feel the concern from her hands that were pressing down on the back of my neck, and that made it difficult for me to say no.
Despite shyly wriggling her body, Marie was still giving me a warm hug for my sake.
“Uuhh…”
Unable to lift my face that sunk deeper and deeper in, I felt my consciousness fading away.
…It seemed that I had indeed been exhausted, but that wasn’t strange considering how I hadn’t taken any days off recently.
“Umm… Korin? Are you sleeping? Huh? Wait, are you sleeping? Actually?”
Her pleasant voice tickled my ears like a lullaby as my consciousness started to fade.
………
……
…
“Korin. Korriiiinnn~. Wake up.”
Hearing a voice, I slowly opened my heavy eyelids to wake myself up.
“Hmm…”
Opening my eyes, I found Marie shaking me back and forth, with her long hair fluttering near my face.
“Uhh, did I fall asleep…?”
“Un. You were in a deep sleep. See, you must have been tired.”
“What… time is it right now?”
“It’s nighttime. I made some food. Let’s have dinner first.”
Saying that, Marie led me to a portable table that was set up inside the fancy room. On it were several dishes that seemed to have been made just recently.
“Tada~! Bacon-rolled potatoes, and a stew!”
The dishes were still steaming hot. It seemed that Marie had made them herself. Even though she was ridiculously rich, she was somehow still very good at cooking, and I was always on the receiving end.
I must be very lucky… that I can sleep in such a fancy room and wake up to have the food personally made by the young lady of a rich family.
“How do you feel now?”
“Much better than before.”
“That’s good!”
Her food was delicious. They tasted great, but that wasn’t the end – I could feel the hard work she had put into making them, and that added to the warmth of the dish. Each and every bite was so warm and soothing that it put my heart at rest.
“I’m full now.”
“Are you? Then what do you want to do now?”
“Hmm… Should we just lie down?”
“Sounds good!”
When I laid myself down on the bed that was way too big for just myself, Marie followed suit and laid down next to me.
“Hehe…”
I couldn’t tell why she was so happy, but she constantly giggled while playing with my face.
“This feels… nice.”
Marie… was one of those people that put you in a good mood just by looking at them. She had given me so much help time after time.
“Senior.”
“Uun?”
An amazing person.
Kind, beautiful, capable and generous. I wanted someone like her to have a happy ending. We can’t have someone like that being unhappy, and that thought was one of the elements pushing me forward.
“Seriously, you’re the reason I live, Senior.”
“Haht…!”
Marie, was the outcome of my decision – the evidence that I was going the right path. Having someone so adorable supporting me from the side was very reassuring.
“Korin.”
Caressing my face, she let out a wide smile. We were very close, but we had become used to such proximity by the time I realized it.
“What happened a few days ago surprised you a lot, right?”
“A lot, yeah.”
“Even though you turned it down… I want you to rethink that.”
“But Seni…”
Placing her finger on my lips, Marie quietly made me stop.
“You promised me, didn’t you? That you would do whatever I ask you once everything is over.”
I did remember making that promise. There was a time when Marie had asked me for a way to motivate herself or something like that.
“Korin, I want you to… accept what I give you and not feel pressured by it.”
Her request… was for me and not for her.
“Every time, you help people and just end it there, saying ‘What’s good is good’. But I think it’s okay for you to be more greedy… that’s why I like you even more, but still.”
“Senior.”
After slowly taking in a deep breath, Marie gazed at me with a pitying look on her face and continued talking by herself.
“You have so many things on your shoulders. Saving me… might not have been something special for you.
“But you see, Korin. That one help that you gave me… is very special and means a lot to me.
“I can do anything for you, and I want to, as long as it can reduce the burden on your shoulders by even a little. Peerage? Land? Hresvelgr? None of them are that important.
“I want to give you e~verything I have, and do whatever I can for you. Because you’re so, so precious… And if you want to walk the hard and dangerous path… I want to polish that road even a little.”
Wrapping her arms around my neck, she slowly buried my head in her chest. Cherishingly, she slowly patted my head while giving me a warm hug.
“I am just… returning the favor.”
Intoxicated by that warmth and comfort of her embrace… I couldn’t turn anything down.
However, her love, and her sincere and passionate emotions… were all things that I could not reply to as of yet. Right now was not the time to progress any relationship, and that was why I had been trying to reject those overly expensive gifts.
“Use everything about me, Korin. I can give you everything I have. I lov…”
I could not hear the rest of her words. She cut her words off short, and instead of saying anything else, she simply gave me an even tighter hug.
****
“Huhakk…!”
The pride of the Tower of Mages, the leader of the Red Cult who was one step away from being a great mage, Elder Admelech woke up in the middle of a sunny afternoon.
“Oh, are you awake, master?”
A man called him while walking up to him. His face, which was starting to show the wrinkles of an old man, was a very familiar one for Elder Admelech.
“Z, Zollin? Where is this place!?”
It was none other than his head disciple, Zollin, who was going to succeed his position as the future elder of the Red Cult.
“Hmm… How should I explain this?”
Looking around, Admelech realized that he was next to an ocean – a vast sea was laid out in front of his eyes… That was what he thought initially, but upon closer inspection, he noticed that it was a shallow reservoir that was storing sea water.
“W, where are we? What in the…!”
“Oi~. Old Man Zol! What are you doing, slacking off like that?!”
That was when a man who looked like a poor villager walked up to Zollin in large strides. Seeing him approach with a wooden club in his hands, Zollin took a few steps back in fright.
“O, Officer… This is not how it seems!”
“Not how it seems my ass! We’re super busy, and here you are trying to slack off!”
Admelech could not believe what he saw next. The villager lifted the club and smacked Zollin down on his shoulder.
“Ahk! Ahk! It hurts! It hurts sir!”
“Lazy bums need to get scolded!”
Zollin was an elite mage of the 7th floor, sitting at the pinnacle of the Red Cult. He was a professor of the Tower of Mages, who was like the personification of wisdom and knowledge.
How could a random villager dare strike him with a club?
“T, this crazy peasant. You must have lost your mind!”
Admelech tried to activate his mana heart and use up a ball of ether to create flames. It was humiliating that he had to use magic against a random villager, but he couldn’t handle letting go a peasant that dared to lay his hands on someone walking down the grand path of magic.
“What?”
However, his fury was unable to swallow up the villager. Despite his perfect preparation, he could not use the spell. In fact, he couldn’t even gather mana inside his body.
“W, what is going on?”
That was when Admelech realized something.
There was… no mana in his heart.
“What? This senile old man. Were you trying to use magic just then?”
“N, no… Wait.”
“O, ohh, Officer! It’s all because my master doesn’t know what is going on yet! Please forgive him!”
“This darn little bastard. Shut your trap before I break that mouth of yours!!”
Slam! The club landed on Zollin’s head. His head turned as he powerlessly fell to the side.
“These fuckers. How dare you try to attack Lady Marie? You will be in service for the rest of your lives, you bastards.”
Not knowing what was going on, Admelech was mumbling like a goldfish but the so-called ‘Officer’ lifted his club without caring about his feelings.
It was then.
– Kieeeeek!
An enormous flying beast, Hresvelgr, descended from the sky. The large monster carrier carried a container and landed next to the reservoir.
“Aigu! Looks like we got a big guest!”
Immediately retrieving the club that was about to strike down at Admelech, the officer started rushing to the container. He wasn’t the only one – other people wearing the same outfit as the Officer, as well as those wearing tattered convict clothes all raced to the Hresvelgr.
Soon, a girl with sky-blue-colored hair walked out of the container.
She was the daughter of the dukedom of the south, who was known very well by everyone in these southern archipelagos – the one who will inherit 25 peerage titles and 2 million hectares of farmland.
““Welcome, Lady Marie!!””
The officers and prisoners all bent their backs in a straight angle, while welcoming her with a sonorous voice. Her face remained unperturbed even at the grand welcome of a bunch of vicious-looking convicts and officers.
“Hello. Thank you very much for your hard work!”
“Young Lady…”
The head officer, who had been bashing up the convicts until just then with a club, walked up to her while hiding the club behind her back. It was because he did not want to show the blood-drenched wooden club to the noble and elegant lady.
“Uncle Mark! I heard you got a grandson last month! Congratulations! We will give you a small gift very soon, so don’t worry about the fees!”
“Haha, thank you very much. By the way, may I ask what brings the most-esteemed lady to this most-horrible place…”
“Uun~. I came here because I wanted to give a new set of commands and give you some new convicts.”
“Hoh~? So you mean…?”
Click! When Marie clicked her fingers, a crowd of people wearing the outfit of a prisoner walked out of the container. Seeing them, Admelech gasped for breath.
“W, what? Those guys are…!”
There were about 20 of them, and he immediately recognized their faces, because they were the disciples of the Red Cult and the Black Cult, who had been with Admelech until recently.
The only source of relief was that Elder Morushtan of the Black Cult was nowhere to be seen.
“These convicts here are sentenced for the rest of their lives, and they’re tough so you can be stricter to them!”
“Ehem. It won’t be a nice sight, though, Lady Marie.”
“They are all, realllyyyy bad people. So don’t worry about it!”
“Those fuckers… Ah, my apologies. Those f… freaking bastards are the suuuper bad guys that tried to kidnap you as a test subject, is that correct?”
“Yes!”
“Hmm… I see.”
Head Officer Mark flicked his head around with a dreary smile on his face. He then declared to the convicts looking at him.
“Oi bastards! We got newbies! You are free to do with them, whatever you wish!”
“Ohhh!”
“Look at their soft skin! Looks like they had been indoors for most of their lives!”
“I will make them pick up soaps tonight, uhahaha…!”
The original convicts shouted with heinous smiles on their faces. They were all those who had been sentenced to at least 5 years of service after committing heavy crimes in the south.
They rejoiced at the sight of the intelligent-looking mages, who looked like they hadn’t even lifted a pile of documents before, unlike them who had been leading a harsh life.
“Uncle Mark? What do they mean by picking up soaps?”
“Haha. It’s a way of saying that they will try to be harmonious with each other. It has a positive effect on work efficiency, so we’ve been letting them be.”
“Is that so? Hmm hmm! Harmony is indeed very important! Because they are going to be working together for a long time!”
Marie nodded without fully understanding the words of the head officer. That innocence further solidified her image as the treasured flower of the south.
“Wait! Lady Dunareff! Young Lady Dunareff!”
That was when Elder Admelech called out to her after breaking through the crowd of convicts and officers.
“Admelech, right!? I heard you couldn’t wake up because of your age. How do you feel now?”
“T, thanks for your concern. B, but young lady? W, what in the world is going on…! My mana…!”
Admelech mumbled, not knowing where to start. Everything was a source of confusion for him, from the fact that he was here… to why he couldn’t use his mana.
“Uun~. The mages of the Tower are all as dangerous as convicts. I turned all of you into ghouls, so you shouldn’t be able to use magic anymore.”
“G, ghouls?!”
Ghouls – the slaves of vampires. Weren’t they lowly demonic beasts that didn’t even have a sense of self? And what? Everyone from the Tower including himself had become a ghoul? When did that happen?
“T, that blood soup…!”
That was when he recalled the boiling red soup that was forced down his throat, and the horrible pain he went through as the liquid was forced down in spite of his tongue and mouth being burned.
“Attempted murder of the daughter of a duke and the assassination of the chairman… Plus a few other allegations, so Admelech, you… Hmm, Admelech is a bit too long, isn’t it? I’ll call you Chunsik from now on~!”
Marie said with a bright smile on her face, as the officers immediately responded to her words.
“Number 4,885 will now be named Chunsik! Keep that in mind, folks!”
“Yes, Head Officer!”
“Y, you bastards! These damn peasants…!”
Infuriated, Admelech went up and grabbed the Head Officer by his neck. Despite being a mage, he was exceptionally strong; strong enough to strangle a peasant like him to…
“A, ahh?”
He noticed that he couldn’t put any strength into his grip. He wanted to bash that stupid peasant to death but that wasn’t working out either. It felt like his body belonged to someone else.
“Chunsik and the others; I made it so that you can’t use your power unless it’s for work, because we can’t have you hurting the officers and other convicts. Oh right, ‘You must always listen to the officers.’ Okay?”
Those were just the words of a tiny girl, but the ghouls from the Tower of Mages instinctively knew that they had to obey her commands.
After degrading to the subjects of a vampire, and after realizing that they hadn’t even been turned into a dracule or a draculina, it became very evident that they couldn’t make any choices for themselves without permission.
“Work here from today! If you make salt for about 100 years, I will let you guys work on the potatoes!”
“Y, you want me… this Elder Admelech… to make salt? D, do you know all the nobles that bring in gold and other treasures just for a single lecture?!”
“Did you not hear the Young Lady calling you Chunsik just then!?”
Slam! The wooden club struck Admelech… or rather, Chunsik on his knees, and he couldn’t help but kneel from the intense pain.
That was when the Elder Vampire walked up to the old ghoul.
“Unn? You want to be paid? … Aht! I’m giving you a place to sleep and food, though. Don’t you think that’s a bit too much?”
She said while looking down with eyes half-tainted in crimson red. At the face of the absolute sovereign of demonic beasts, Chunsik trembled without even daring to meet her eyes.
It didn’t take long for him to realize that he had to live as a slave forever… until the death of the immortal vampire, Marie Dunareff.
