༺ The Third Ordeal ༻
“…Gulp.”
As Irina glanced at Frey, who lay motionless beside her, she felt a lump in her throat and gulped.
“Really, nobody has given their chastity to Frey yet, right?”
First of all, it couldn’t be Kania.
If that cat-like woman had offered herself to Frey, she would have shown it off so that anyone could tell.
And it couldn’t be Clana or Serena either.
Clana, who had hated Frey until recently, wouldn’t have had the opportunity, and the ‘Absolute Obedience Magic’ that Serena had, according to her knowledge in the field of magic, prevented her from having a ‘relationship’ with anyone.
Lastly, Ferloche had once proudly held up the emblem of chastity in front of everyone.
So, it was evident that no one had given themselves to Frey yet.
“Frey, are you asleep?”
Having reached that conclusion, Irina addressed Frey with a trembling voice.
“……..”
“Really?”
She reached out and shook Frey’s unresponsive shoulder, but he remained silent.
Frey was usually quite sensitive when he slept, but today’s events had exhausted him to the point of a deep sleep.
– Whoosh…
Realizing this, Irina began to sneakily move her body closer to Frey.
“Uhm…”
Soon after, Irina, who was pressing her body against Frey’s, looked at his face that had come close to her and whispered softly.
“He’s really asleep.”
Frey’s breath as he slowly exhaled in deep sleep, tickled Irina’s face.
His heartbeat intertwined with her own unusually rapid heartbeats, created a harmonious rhythm.
With each breath he took, his chest rose and fell, briefly pausing as it brushed against Irina’s soft chest.
“Uh, umm…”
In such a situation, Irina struggled to suppress her pounding heart and quietly reached for the button on Frey’s collar.
“…Meow!”
“Eek?”
Suddenly, a cat doll leaped onto the bed, startling Irina, causing her to recoil away from Frey.
“Meow…!”
“What, what is it?”
The cat, that had been staring at Irina, nestled into Frey’s arms and began to shake its head.
Why is that?
Somehow, a desperate feeling emanated from the cat doll’s expression.
“S-Sorry. I’ll just borrow your master for a moment.”
However, Irina was desperate too.
“Haah…!”
And so, she removed the doll that had nestled into Frey’s arms, employed a simple binding spell to immobilize it, and pushed it to the floor.
“Meow…”
Having removed the obstacle, Irina reached for Frey again while listening to the pitiful cry of the cat doll.
“…Eh.”
Unable to put her hand on the button, she mumbled with her face buried in Frey’s chest.
“Will Frey really like me like this?”
Whenever she was with Kania, Frey would unconsciously gulp.
There was no need to mention Serena, and even when dealing with Clana and Ferlotche, he was conscious.
However, just a little while ago, Frey hadn’t been conscious of her at all
Even when he undressed, exposing her bare skin.
Even when he caressed her exposed bare body with his hands for hours.
Frey showed no trace of embarrassment.
The only one feeling embarrassed was herself.
It meant that Frey didn’t see her as a woman.
“Ha, who would like a woman like me?”
Irina, with her rough, fierce demeanor and an unnecessary sense of pride, bore countless scars across her body.
“With Frey surrounded by women.”
She mumbled, feeling smaller than ever before.
“……….”
And for a while, silence engulfed them.
Shuuuu…
“…Meow.”
Apart from the soft meowing of a cat doll that suddenly made a cold expression and began to emit black smoke from its body, while tied up and scratching the bed leg, causing a fuss.
– Swooosh
Just when everything seemed to be in vain,
Irina, her face still nestled against Frey’s embrace, suddenly raised her head with a determined expression.
Click.
Then, reaching out again, Irina began to unbutton Frey’s clothes.
Click, click, click.
Slowly descending, lower and lower.
With utmost care, Irina unfastened all the buttons on Frey’s attire and said,
“This is… just magic.”
She blushed and began to convince herself.
“It’s merely a necessary step in the magical ritual, nothing more, nothing less.”
Despite her words, her hands trembled as she removed Frey’s coat and delicately placed her hand on his unbuttoned shirt.
“So… So…”
After removing his shirt, she cautiously climbed on top of Frey, and soon mumbled with a very flustered expression.
“…Wh-What am I supposed to do?”
Irina had only focused on magic research and combat in both her previous and current lives.
Naturally, she had led a life devoid not only of boyfriends but also of men in general, leaving her completely clueless in this domain.
“I don’t… I don’t know.”
But it wasn’t that she had no knowledge of sex.
Although Irina knew only about magic, she had come across a few curses and spells that involved relationships, so she naturally read and learned basic information from books.
“…Hah.”
However, due to the gap between the information she read in books and reality, combined with the awkwardness that came from spending her whole life distant from men, Irina couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by panic.
“Should I take off my clothes first? No, should I undress Frey first? No, I already did… I haven’t taken off his pants yet.”
Despite her confusion, Irina found her way to the next step and began unfastening Frey’s belt while talking to herself.
“It’s magic. This is just an extension of magic. It’s a magical act to solidify a promise to him. It’s not for my own satisfaction or personal desires…”
As she spoke and threw the belt aside, Irina suddenly cast a sharp glance towards the window.
“Huh?”
There was quite a loud noise coming from outside the window, which currently had the blinds drawn.
“Could it be an intrusion?”
Considering that possibility for a moment, Irina quietly took out a scroll from her bosom and slowly approached the window.
“…Sigh.”
Rustle!
Arriving safely in front of the window, Irina tightly clutched the scroll and raised the blinds.
“Huh?”
She was fully prepared to launch an attack at any moment, but the scene that greeted her after raising the blinds was rather comical.
“Grrrrrrrrr!!!”
“Grrrrr!! Grrrrrrr!!!”
“Chirp! Chirp-chirp!”
The birds that had been sitting calmly by the window with fierce expressions just moments ago were now in a frenzy.
“What… what is this?”
Irina frowned at the absurd scene and tried to drive the birds away by casting a moderately threatening spell.
“…!!!”
But soon, she froze upon discovering something.
“That, that is…!?”
Amidst the agitated birds, a spherical-shaped mass floated in mid-air.
“This is the mana the Secret Lordr had, isn’t it?”
The purple mass emitted the energy of the Secret Lord, whom Irina had recently engaged in a life-or-death battle with.
“No, wait. That’s not possible. I definitely dealt a significant blow to the Secret Lord…”
Despite sustaining grave injuries herself, Irina murmured with a pale, drained face, recalling the substantial damage she had inflicted on the Secret Lord.
“Annoying creatures.”
“…Huh!?”
As the voice of the Secret Lord resounded from the purple mass floating amidst the surrounding birds, a look of horror washed over Irina’s face.
“Hoo-hoo!”
“Coo-coo!”
An owl and a pigeon flew towards the purple mass simultaneously.
“Just a mere flying beast, daring to disturb me…”
The mass attempted to scold the owl and pigeon as if they were trivial, but…
Shaaaaa…!
“…Hmm?”
At that moment, the two birds emitted a white mana.
“This mana… Could it be, spirits?”
The purple mana, which recoiled just before touching the white mana said,
“…Insignificant.”
Fzzzzzzt!
Like an electric current tinged with purple, the mana was released and entangled around the two birds.
“Hoo-hoo…”
“Coo-coo…”
The two birds struggled to resist the strange energy somehow but eventually reached their limit.
“I always thought about this, but indeed, their power is great. To think I could defeat ancient spirits so easily.”
Observing the two birds, the purple mana muttered in a triumphant voice, sensing victory.
“Chirp-chirp!”
“No?”
Wearing a determined expression, the small canary flew towards the purple mana, which tried to dodge hastily.
Fwoooosh!!!
“Ugh!!”
The purple mana began to stagger after being caught in the explosion of the canary’s attack, which scattered the sun’s mana in all directions.
“Aaaaaaaah!!!”
And at that moment.
Fzzzzzzzt!!!
“Aaaaaaargh!!”
In that instant, Irina’s magic, which she had been preparing by activating the most powerful attack scroll she had, burst through the window and struck the purple mana.
“Krrrrr…”
Releasing the white owl and pigeon it had held captive, the mass began to pulsate, contracting and expanding repeatedly.
“I can’t… I can’t let this end here…”
As the white mana, infused with the last remnants of strength from the two birds, began eroding the mass.
“I’m on the verge of being abandoned by the great one… The Empire… No, the world is within my grasp!”
The mass started to mutter in an enraged voice.
“I don’t know what the ordeal invitation is… or how it made this possible…”
“Wh-What is it?”
“I can’t give up here!!!”
Eventually, the mass exerted its final ounce of strength, unleashing its magical power all at once.
– Clang!
Leaving the injured birds behind, the mass burst through the broken window.
“W-Wait!!”
Flustered, Irina hurriedly retrieved a magic scroll, but the rampaging mass had already approached Frey.
– Swoooosh…!
At that moment, as the mass was about to invade Frey.
“Meow!!!”
A cat doll, emanating intense dark mana, jumped in and took the hit with its body.
“Frey!! Wake up!!! We need to get out of here right now…!!!”
Irina, who quickly threw herself at Frey, slapped his cheek and yelled, but…
“…Frey?”
For some reason, Frey didn’t wake up.
“Heeek…!!”
“Frey’s surprisingly well-guarded.”
“No, no!!”
As the mass sent the cat doll that was wringing out painful dark magic, flying far away, it effortlessly dodged Irina’s attacks while she frantically pulled out scrolls.
– Swoop!
In the end, the mass succeeded in invading Frey.
“………..”
And for a moment, silence engulfed the dormitory.
“The ordeal invitation… ordeal… Could it be?”
In that situation, as Irina desperately tried to think, she began to look at Frey with a suspicious expression, pondering the words muttered by the Secret Lord.
“It’s the same as before…”
Upon checking Frey’s condition, she discovered that his current state was the same as when he had fallen asleep during the second trial, and she collapsed with a pale expression.
“No, no, no. No…!”
Caught in a panic, Irina began purging the dark magic from her body and initiated Kania’s dark spell.
The unconscious infiltration magic that Kania had tried several times during the second trial.
Although Irina’s self-esteem had dropped and she was unaware, she was still a genius in magic in this iteration.
As long as she had seen the magic repeatedly, even if it was dark magic, she could perfectly replicate it.
“…Ugh!”
But as Irina tried to infiltrate Frey’s unconscious, she was soon pushed out, clutching her heart.
‘Something, something is… Something is deliberately blocking my intervention…’
As she suspected, the system that oversaw the trials had been strictly blocking external interference since the second trial.
“No, it’s not working. If this continues, Frey will…”
However, believing that the trial happened because of her, Irina was at a loss as to what to do about the inexplicable phenomenon.
“Frey will be in danger…”
“………”
So, after a while of stroking Frey’s face with a pale expression, Irina said out loud,
“…Let’s try.”
Gritting her teeth, she stood up from her seat.
“I don’t know what’s stopping me.”
Soon after, Irina headed to her desk, biting her lip until it drew blood.
“…Let’s see who wins.”
Using her blood as a medium, she began to draw complex magical formulas on a blank scroll.
At the same time, she started making complex calculations.
Once, she had shaken the world’s providence by swearing a blood oath to a human while possessing the status of a magician.
“I’ll save you, no matter what it takes… Frey…”
Once more she began to challenge the world’s providence.
* * *
“…Where am I?”
Irina Philliard, who had quietly opened her eyes, began to look around with a blank expression.
“Could it be…”
After looking around for a while, Irina said,
“Did I succeed…?”
She rose from her seat, her expression filled with disbelief.
“Really?”
She had used thousands of magic scrolls, calculated over hundreds of magical formulas, and created dozens of new formulas.
Irina, who had surpassed her previous achievements with the sole determination to save Frey, dashed off without even pausing to celebrate her achievement.
“I have to hurry and save Frey…”
For some reason, she found herself heading towards the sprawling Starlight family mansion before her.
Inside her head was a simple thought… since it was Frey’s home, he would be inside.
“Wh-who…?”
“Move!”
Entering the mansion through the front door, Irina brushed past a startled maid who had stopped sweeping.
“Please, please be there…”
She swiftly climbed the stairs leading to the upper floor, heading towards Frey’s room.
“Please…”
Upon arriving at Frey’s room in an instant, Irina took a deep breath.
“…Frey?”
She carefully opened the door.
“I-I’m here, Frey! So, don’t worry now…”
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