Chapter 3 Part 1
Chapter 3 – I Thought I Had Transferred To Another Academy, But Suddenly I Had To Fight Against The Four Gods: Azure Dragon
So basically, by invoking the personal right of the headmaster’s authority, in this case, Merlin being the headmaster, it was an immediate decision for both me and Anastasia to enroll in Merlin’s academy.
Incidentally, both Anastasia and I are disguised on paper as direct disciples of Merlin’s adopted child.
Furthermore, I’m going to live in Merlin’s house.
“Ha, ha, hahaha! What a large mansion this is!”
There is no doubt that the mansion is as Anastasia said.
Or rather, the house Merlin currently lives in was originally my house though.
I gave Merlin the house, leaving her in charge of the grimoires and treasures. This in turn lets her use the property and house as she sees fit.
Hmm…this explanation doesn’t feel quite right.
I also loved Merlin in some way after all, so it would be appropriate to say that I wanted to leave something for her. I would feel embarrassed to just hand it over like that, so I made it out to be like a business deal.
With that said, it seems like it is going to take some time to go through the formalities before transferring to another academy, so in the meantime, I’m going to spend my time at Merlin’s, or rather, my private residence ──
“Ephthal-sama…what would you like to wear next?”
“Ah…yeah…”
This is my tenth change of clothing.
I’ve had a number of clothes merchants come to me and I’ve been made to play dress-up doll for a while now to help me choose my personal clothes and formal attire.
Well, it’s like…where you get one luxurious and well-tailored clothes after another, just as royalty would wear.
“Um, Merlin?”
“What is it, Ephthal-sama?”
“It doesn’t matter what I wear, or rather…as long as I don’t look weird in the eyes of other people, then that should be just fine, right?”
“No! I won’t allow that!”, said Merlin as the look on her face immediately changed.
“Eh?”
“I’ll lose face if I make Ephthal-sama look shabby! We must choose carefully here…! Ah! These clothes are cute!”
Ehh? Cute?
And so I was made to wear unisex clothes which could be worn by both boys and girls alike.
“As I thought, it’s cute!”
“You know…”
“These clothes are cute, too!”
Ah, there’s something about Merlin’s eyes that are sparkling.
I mean, those are some lively eyes there. Come to think of it, she’s always liked dress-up dolls and other cute things, didn’t she…?
I remember being worried about her because of her unusual obsession with doll clothes when she was a child.
Like, right now…the clothes that Merlin has with her. That’s something I’m definitely not supposed to wear, right?
“Hey, Merlin? Those clothes are totally for girls…”
“Ephthal-sama is such a beautiful boy ── so you should care more about what you wear”
“I’m not interested in cross-dressing…so I won’t wear it, you hear me? I won’t wear it, okay? Wait, ah…st-stop…ahh…ahhh!”
And so, I had spent a nightmarish hour as Merlin’s dress-up doll.
☆★☆★☆★
── The next morning.
“You better return to where you came from before you get hurt”
As we descended the long, long spiral staircase, we finally arrived at the underground treasure vault, but we were immediately given that warning.
Right now, in front of us stands a high-ranking familiar called the Lamp Genie.
It looks like the one you might see in the Arabian Nights stories or Aladdin.
There are quite a few mythologies and legendary creatures from Earth in this world that are very real.
I’m not sure why, but maybe it’s because there are places in this world that are connected to Earth…sightings and stories might have just naturally become part of Earth’s mythology and folklore?
Well, I’m not interested, but that’s beside the point.
Merlin has been away on official business since last night, and the plan is for her to be back by noon today.
After eating breakfast, I invited Anastasia to come to the treasure vault, saying “Now that I have learned how to use a sword, there’s a sword that I’d like to have”, so here we are ──
Perhaps this is Merlin’s familiar, an outstanding treasure vault guardian.
It probably can do everything from fighting off thieves to the maintenance of the treasures.
“So, are you two fucking thieving brats? Ah, that’s not a nice way of putting it, so you want the Raikiri?”
Fucking brats….
I was dumbfounded by its vulgar speech.
“It’s the legendary sword brought back from the Demon King’s Castle by the legendary Four Emperors, Ephthal-sama, you know? Its rarity value is SSS-rank, and you will rarely find one of the same value in the treasure vault of any nation”
“Well, that’s true”
“You both are students in Merlin-sama’s voluntary magic class for the local children, aren’t you?”
“……?”
Besides being the headmaster of a magic academy, Merlin also personally does volunteer work like that, huh?
There are a fair amount of children who don’t have the opportunity to learn magic after all, so she does some personal charity work for those children….
Yesterday, she made me dress up as a dress-up doll, and here I thought I had raised her wrong, but it seems that she’s grown up to be a proper good and honest child, so I’m very glad.
The Lamp Genie then looked at Anastasia and tilted its head slightly.
“This is strange? Merlin-sama’s magic class is…supposed to be nothing but beautiful boys from 10 ~ 16 years old. I can understand the black-haired brat, but why a pink-headed little bitch…”
I take back my previous statement.
Aaghh, Merlin….
What the hell are you doing collecting shotas….
“The black-haired brat is strange, too. You haven’t been made to change your clothes…in fact, you still have ordinary clothes”
It used to be dress-up dolls, and now it’s dressing up beautiful boys, huh…?
I don’t want to meddle in other people’s hobbies, but I’m a bit taken back.
“Anyway, I’d like you to open up the treasure vault?”
“Like I said, that won’t do. As a brat in Merlin-sama’s magic class, I’ll overlook the fact that you are stealing from her. I’ll pretend that it was just youthful enthusiasm that you wanted to examine the treasure and that it was a joke…so you can go away now”
“No, like I said…”
“In the first place, this treasure vault belongs to Merlin-sama, but at the same time, it also doesn’t belong to her. It’s just that Merlin-sama was entrusted with curating the treasure vault by the legendary Four Emperors, Ephthal-sama”
“That’s why I have the right ──”
“Shut up, you little shit. Not even Merlin-sama can take out the many artifacts in this treasure vault at a moment’s notice, you know?”
Aaghh, this is getting nowhere.
It didn’t listen to me in the first place, and it’ll never understand me when I talk to it….
“By the way, you little shit. Where’s Merlin-sama now?”
“Guess she will be back from official business by noon?”
Hearing that, the Lamp Genie smirked.
“I see, Merlin isn’t here now…no matter how sharp her ears are, she can’t hear us from outside the mansion, can she? Alright…hey, little shit? I’ve had enough. Shall I make things clear?”
“Clear?”
“The old hag seems to have a soft spot for her favorite beautiful boys ── but it’s not before long that she’s going to slowly drive you to death, you know, you little shit!”
“…Eh?”
“That old hag has been such a slave-driver…ever since she used me as a familiar. And you know what? The story is that her Master, Ephthal, was incompetent with no aptitude for magic, and that’s why Merlin is shady in the first place. I bet her Master used some dirty tricks to get the position of the Four Emperors. Not by using his own ability, but by applying pressure from the political world of power struggles”
“……”
“That old hag, Merlin, still seems to be obsessed with the old geezer, Ephthal, and looks like a young Merlin back then was…much more loved at night by the old geezer, Ephthal. He must have been a good-for-nothing lolicon”
“……”
“Well, that old hag must have been corrupted by all the night-time abuse she received as a child. So basically, what I’m saying is get the hell out of here now”
“…Where is the Raikiri?”
The Lamp Genie pointed to the back of the treasure vault with a repulsive smile.
“Over there, you know?”
Hearing that, I walked towards the radiant azure-silver sword lodged into the pedestal.
This sword is the one I brought back from the Demon King’s Castle a long time ago…. No, to be exact, it was the sword used by Demon King’s Army No. 2, the Commander-in-Chief.
I remember being anxious when he cut my ‘Level 10: Emperor of the Thunder God, [Ephthal]’, in half.
“No matter what you say, I’ll take it with me, okay?”
“Fuhahaha! I’ve been quiet about this until now, but…all the treasures here are protected with magic. They are enchanted with enshrinement magic that no ordinary thieves and mages can even touch, you know?”
I slowly reached out to the sword on the pedestal.
“Useless, useless, useless! You’d have to be on old hag Merlin’s level to do anything about it!”
“…Level 8: Complete Spell Release, Perfect Dispel”
I then effortlessly pulled the sword from its pedestal.
“That’s…impossible…!”, said the Lamp Genie with his eyes wide in shock.
And just like that, the genie dropped to the floor, repeatedly having its mouth opening and closing, like washed-up fish gasping for air.
── Right then and there, the door of the treasure vault opened with a creak.
Just as I thought, it was Merlin, who now has a number of bulging veins on her temples, and it looks like she had decided to stand with her arms crossed.
“M, Me, Mer…Merlin-sama…?”
“You…I can hear you from the spiral staircase outside, you know? Hey, say it again…who’s the old hag?”
“A, A, A…Aieee…”
“Merlin? I think you’d better discipline your familiar properly, don’t you?”
Merlin got down on one knee and bowed to me.
“My apologies, Ephthal-sama. It appears that I have made you feel upset…”
“Ephthal…?”
The Lamp Genie alternately stared at my face and the Raikiri that I had drawn out more seriously now.
“Ephthal…? It can’t be…”
“Ah!”, exclaimed the Lamp Genie as it opens its mouth wide ──
“I’m, I’m, I’m sorryyyyy!!”
It immediately got into a Dogeza, but there was an insane amount of veins bulging on Merlin’s temple, so ──
“Namu Amida Butsu”. I recited the Nianfo with one hand.
That night ──
“Ephthal-sama? There’s something I want you to hear…”
Merlin has come to visit me in my bedroom.
By the way, my room is the one I used in my previous life. The large collection of books laid out on the bookshelves on all sides of the room were left as they were.
There’s a lot of knowledge that I have forgotten, so I’m really thankful for it.
I can see that each book has been meticulously and regularly preserved with Preservation Magic. The technique used here is also quite advanced.
Perhaps it was Merlin who took the time to perform maintenance on the tremendous number of books, one by one ── with her own hands.
Yes, I have a good apprentice. She really took good care of them because they were my legacy.
She honestly listened to the words I told her at the time, “In exchange for giving you the mansion, I entrusted you with its management”, ….
Unbeknownst to me, I was moved to tears from reminiscing the past.
“Ephthal-sama? What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing”
So I invited Merlin and a maid in and sat on the reception sofa.
The maid set down the tea utensils and left the room with a bow.
“So what is it, Merlin?”
“It’s about Anastasia…”
“Hmm? What’s wrong with Anastasia?”
“I took a bath with her in the large public bath today”
Aah, I see.
Then…well, I suppose that would make her want to come to my room and have a talk with me.
“Before we dive into that, I want to know why you are taking a bath with Anastasia?”
“Aah, about that. It’s an inspection”
“── Inspection?”
“It’s an inspection to determine if her body is fit for night service to Ephthal-sama”
“Err…I’m a little unsure of what you’re talking about”
“A top-notch man must have a top-notch woman in his arms. Of course, it is necessary that I, Ephthal-sama’s No. 1 apprentice, to be checked. Naturally, I wouldn’t mind, but Ephthal-sama doesn’t seem to be interested at the moment…”
“Hey, Merlin? Do you mind coming over here?”
When I beckoned to her, Merlin obediently came up to me.
Then she kneeled down on the floor on one knee and bowed.
“How may I help you?”
“I’m about to get really angry, you know?”
With a yelp, Merlin got teary-eyed as I knocked her on the head with my fist.
“No, but. As long as that girl is in Ephthal-sama’s arms every night, I need to check her for things like STDs, her three sizes, and so on”
I knocked her on the head with my fist again, Merlin got teary-eyed again as she let out a yelp.
“Because Anastasia and I don’t have that kind of relationship”
“Eh!? Then why did you pick her up?”
“Well, it just sorts of happened…”
“Aah, is this a usual habit of Ephthal-sama’s? I heard that I was picked up at the Demon King’s Castle, too”
“That’s right”
“By the way, about Anastasia ── after seeing that special slave crest, do you really intend to take her under your care?”
“That’s what I’m going to do though?”
Hearing that, Merlin gave me a bone-chilling gaze.
“── That’s equivalent to holding a bomb in hand…. The countdown for the time bomb has already begun. You understand that, don’t you?”
I shrugged and told Merlin.
“Stop whining. It’s my decision”
Merlin looked relieved after hearing those words.
“My deepest apologies. It wasn’t Ephthal-kun’s decision…but Ephthal-sama’s, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. Once you pick something up, it can’t be helped. You got to take care of it, right?”
