After sending Eris back to her solitary cell.
“Ahh, I feel like I can finally live.”
I threw myself onto the bed.
It was the same bed where sex had taken place only a few hours ago, yet it was dry and fluffy, without a trace of dampness.
‘This is magic.’
Was it called Cleaning Magic?
As befitted a trainer’s room, the bed had been enchanted so that it could return to a clean state at any time.
With nothing more than the snap of a finger, the wet sheets dried and every odor vanished, allowing me to throw myself onto the bed without a care.
‘Back when I was a porter, I really had it rough.’
I had no money, so there was no way my laundry could have been properly cleaned.
No matter how badly it smelled, I had to hope my nose would plug up and grow accustomed to it, and even when it was stained with filth, I couldn’t wash it every time.
Domestic magic was quite expensive.
Since most people worked inside dungeons, domestic magic had developed considerably, but the problem was that it came with a hefty price tag.
Here in the trainer’s room, I could enjoy such magic to my heart’s content.
It was true that this convenience of living was enough to drive away the heat lingering after sex.
But where was the harm in that?
Whether I pissed all over this bed or spilled blood on it, the fact remained that a single snap of magic would clean it instantly.
‘Is Cleaning Magic another kind of regression magic?’
By what principle did it become clean?
Did it return to the past when I met some particular condition, like I did?
Was that point the moment when it had been at its cleanest?
Or the moment when someone had used it an appropriate amount?
I had no idea.
My magical power was so feeble that I could neither use nor learn magic. What meaning would there be in analyzing its principles?
‘Magic can be outsourced.’
The succubus assistant secretary was an excellent mage.
Of course, most of the magic she had used so far was specialized in training and prisoner management, but precisely for that reason, she was the greatest help to me as a trainer.
‘Is she a virgin?’
The notion of a succubus being a virgin was absurd, but one never knew.
If she was a virgin, my options would open up in many ways.
‘I hope she is.’
It was as though the energy of the entire universe was praying for my life to go well.
As if to compensate me for all the hardships and tribulations I had endured, my life as a trainer was progressing smoothly, despite a few difficult situations here and there.
Where else could I find a situation this good?
Knock, knock, knock.
“Hm?”
A knock echoed from the door.
There was no reason for anyone to knock this late at night.
“.......”
There was nothing in the trainer’s room that could really be used for self-defense.
But there were tools used for training.
Whoosh.
I gripped a whip with a luxuriant tail of strands.
It was an object meant to discipline and beat people, but if used together with certain magic on a bed, it could serve as a new form of ‘training.’
Knock, knock, knock.
The sound came again.
“Who is it?”
[This is Natalie from the Supply Department. May I come in?]
Her voice was crisp and composed.
I searched my memory, but I had never heard such a voice before.
“.......”
I carefully opened the door.
Outside stood a pink-haired succubus pushing a cart of the sort one might see in a hotel.
“......Who are you?”
I looked her over from top to bottom.
She wore a secretary’s suit, and her breasts were larger than her head. Her figure was so violently voluptuous that I found myself swallowing involuntarily.
“I am Natalie, newly assigned to the Supply Department of the Training Corps. I was ordered to supply you with anything you require, Trainer.”
“Anything I require?”
I pointed at the cart.
“I didn’t order anything.”
“This is a late-night meal.”
“.......”
I subtly backed away.
I was slightly wary of anyone other than my succubus assistant secretary for some reason, but more than anything, the fact that I had never seen her before made me uneasy.
“Were you transferred here from another corps?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Which unit were you originally with?”
“I was with the Intelligence Corps.”
Once I stepped aside, Natalie the supply soldier pushed the cart all the way inside and placed it beside the dining table.
“The Intelligence Corps. Your main duty must have been gathering and handling information.”
“Yes.”
“Are you dissatisfied with being assigned here?”
“I merely follow orders. Wherever I am, my work for the Demon King’s Army remains unchanged.”
“.......”
Was it because she was a succubus?
If she had been a vampire like Chief Aide Archamond, she would have said ‘For the Vampire Corps’ before anything else.
‘It doesn’t matter.’
The Vampire Corps was ultimately part of the Demon King’s Army.
If one compared it to the relationship between a nation and a local government, saying that she worked for the Demon King’s Army—the nation itself—was technically more accurate.
Clatter, clatter.
Supply soldier Natalie took the food out of the cart.
“.......”
The types of food were rather fearsome.
The table was filled with greasy, fatty meats, with not a vegetable in sight—nothing but protein and fat.
“Enjoy your meal. Please leave the dishes and utensils on the cart and place it outside. I will collect them.”
“Is this dinner?”
“Pardon?”
“I’ve already eaten dinner.”
“......?”
Supply soldier Natalie tilted her head.
“......I apologize. It seems there has been some mistake.”
Natalie frowned sharply and lowered her head.
“No, it’s fine. Since you’ve come all this way, I can’t just leave it untouched.”
It looked a little more heavy and filling than drake steak, but this body was that of a young man in his early twenties.
‘Liquor and meat? I can put away as much as I want, even as a late-night snack.’
It wasn’t that I was being gluttonous.
But what could I say about the meals in the Vampire Corps? At the very least, they were far more delicious than anything I had eaten since being reincarnated into this fantasy world.
‘So what if it is gluttony?’
I suppose it could be called compensation for having spent twenty years eating bread and soup worse than military rations.
Since I had gone hungry every day during my childhood after reincarnation, I could no longer stand by and watch food go to waste.
“Go on in.”
“Yes, understood.”
I sent supply soldier Natalie out.
“......Do demons normally make their meat this thick?”
When I pressed a steak roughly five centimeters thick with my fork, oil seeped out from inside.
The fragrant spices were mixed with a faint gaminess from the meat itself, but it wasn’t enough to complain about.
It had to be much better than the rat-meat soup I’d eaten in the beggars’ den of Baron Gilbert’s domain.
‘I can’t live a life outside the Demon King’s Army anymore.’
To enjoy this level of luxury, wouldn’t I at least have to be a noble among humans—someone of a rank equal to or higher than Baron Gilbert?
That was why I couldn’t give up my position as a trainer.
The wine before me included, I could never give up luxuries that a cheap porter-adventurer could never enjoy.
‘To the life of the glorious Trainer Azazel.’
Cheers.
I poured wine into the empty glass myself, then raised it toward the empty air.
I took a sip.
“......?”
The moment I thought the wine tasted far sourer than expected—
A sensation like my throat was burning.
“......!!”
Pain like my throat was melting burst through my esophagus.
Ah.
Fuck.
...
...
...
“.......”
When I came to my senses—
“Ahh, ohh, ngh, ahh....”
Eris was in front of me, her face completely slack with lust, greedily seeking a kiss from my lips.
“...Ah, ngh, kyaah?!”
Thud, thud-thud, thud-thud-thud.
I had moved my body somewhat forcefully, as though unconsciously pounding my cock into her, but—
“Ahh, m-more...! Harder...!!”
Fortunately, Eris was already crying out in pleasure, happier than before.
With a gush.
The bed grew drenched in the heat of the man and woman.
* * *
“Not... eating dinner?”
Eris watched me nervously.
Before, I had eaten dinner happily, thinking about how I had taken Eris. But now, continuing to act like a sweet, romantic gentleman while eating with her made my throat feel somewhat parched.
“...I’m happy enough just watching you eat.”
“.......”
Eris lowered her head.
She seemed to be blushing and grumbling under her breath, but—
‘Could there be poison in it?’
Unfortunately, Eris did not know my true feelings.
Even though I already knew that ‘this dinner’ was safe, I had made Eris eat food that might have been poisoned.
Scrape, scrape.
Fortunately, Eris remained perfectly fine after eating.
I slowly began to eat as well, but—
“Is something bothering you?”
Perhaps I wasn’t very good at hiding my expression, because Eris cautiously asked while watching me.
“If you mean the letter addressed to Mother....”
Eris glanced at the letter lying on the desk.
The letter had already been written. All that remained was dinner.
“No. It’s just that I thought it was fortunate to be able to eat so peacefully.”
“P-Peacefully...?”
“Yes. Isn’t it?”
I rose from my seat and approached Eris, picking up the half-eaten piece of bread she had left behind.
“In prison, you never know when you’ll be given food laced with poison. It’s nice to be able to eat in peace like this.”
Crunch.
Eris flinched when I took a large bite of her bread, then soon lowered her head.
“Are you planning to poison me?”
“Poison you? Who knows. If I were to put something in your food, it would probably be an aphrodisiac in your drinking water.”
“A-An aphrodisiac....”
“I’m joking.”
I patted Eris on the back and finished the rest of my dinner.
“Once you’re done eating, you should go back.”
“G-Go back? Where?”
“Why, obviously.”
I pointed outside.
“To your cell.”
“.......”
“Your shift is over.”
And it was time for scheming, too.
* * *
After Eris left—
I activated the magic that cleaned the bed and fell into thought.
“.......”
An assassination.
Of a trainer.
Why?
‘I’ve become an important figure. But why?’
Why would anyone in the Vampire Corps have a reason to assassinate me?
The obvious suspect was supply soldier Natalie.
That succubus, who claimed to have originally belonged to the Intelligence Corps, had presented the food with an utterly official demeanor.
‘An assassin, huh?’
Knock, knock, knock.
A knock echoed from the door.
“Who is it?”
[This is Natalie from the Supply Department. May I come in?]
The situation was no different from before.
In other words, there was no avoiding it.
‘Fuck.’
But—
If it couldn’t be avoided, I had no choice but to confront it, and if possible, enjoy myself while doing so.
“Come in.”
Without taking up the whip, I approached and boldly opened the door.
“What is that?”
“Dinner.”
“Dinner?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. Dinner.”
The food inside that cart—and the ‘wine,’ above all—were symbols of death.
“Perfect. I was hungry.”
“Your meal—”
“I’ll enjoy it.”
I reached out my hand.
“......?!”
“What was your name again? Ah, it doesn’t matter.”
I grabbed Natalie’s wrist and pulled her toward me.
“Sex is a meal to me, you see.”
Was she the culprit?
A minion?
Or was she simply an innocent woman who didn’t even know the things she had brought contained poison?
Thump.
I threw Natalie onto the bed.
“Take it off.”
Whatever her true nature—
“Or I’ll take it off for you.”
If I raped her, I’d get my answer.