Episode 146
"...Gulp."
Looking at Frey lying dead still beside her, Irina began to swallow dry saliva.
"Is it really true that no one has offered their purity to Frey?"
First, Cania is not.
If that cat-like woman had offered her purity to Frey, she would have made it obvious for anyone to see.
Clana and Serena are also not.
Clana, who hated Frey until recently, wouldn't have had time, and Serena's 'Curse of Subjugation' prevents her from having 'relations' with anyone according to the magical knowledge she knows.
Finally, Perloche once showed her the stone of purity in front of her with a proud expression.
So, no one has offered their purity to Frey yet.
"Frey, are you sleeping?"
Having reached that conclusion, Irina spoke to Frey with a trembling voice.
"........"
"Really?"
She grabbed and shook Frey's shoulder who gave no response, but he remained silent.
Although Frey is quite sensitive when sleeping, it seems he fell into a deep sleep due to the many incidents that occurred today.
- Swish...
Having learned this fact, Irina moved her body slightly and began to approach Frey closer.
"Mmm..."
Eventually, Irina, who pressed her body against Frey's embrace, whispered softly while looking at Frey's face that had come right before her eyes.
"You're really sleeping."
Frey's breath, slowly exhaled from his deep sleep, tickled Irina's face.
Frey's heartbeat mixed with Irina's heart that was beating unusually roughly, creating harmony.
His chest, which had been rising and falling with each breath, stopped moving as it touched Irina's soft chest.
"Ugh, ugh..."
In that situation, clutching her heart that felt like it would burst, Irina quietly reached her hand toward the button on Frey's collar.
"...Meow!"
"Eek?"
When a cat doll suddenly jumped onto the bed, she was startled and pulled away from Frey.
"Meow...!"
"W-what?"
The cat that had been glaring at her dug into Frey's embrace and began shaking its head.
Why was that?
From that cat doll's expression, a quite desperate feeling was emanating.
"S-sorry. Just let me borrow your master for a moment."
But Irina was equally desperate.
"Hah...!"
Therefore, she pulled out the doll that had dug into Frey's arms, used a simple binding spell, and pushed it onto the floor.
"Meow..."
Having removed the hindrance, Irina began to reach for Frey again while listening to the pitiful cat doll's crying sound.
"...Mmm."
But she couldn't bring herself to touch the button and buried her face in Frey's chest, murmuring.
"Will doing this... really make Frey like me?"
Frey unconsciously swallows his saliva when having romantic encounters with Cania.
It goes without saying with Serena, and he even becomes conscious when dealing with Clana and Perloche.
But that same Frey didn't show any consciousness at all just before.
Even when she took off his clothes and her inner flesh was revealed.
Even when he touched her bare body with his hands for hours.
Frey didn't show any sign of embarrassment.
The only one who was embarrassed was herself.
This means Frey didn't see her as a woman.
"W-well. What man would like me?"
Rough and fierce, and with unnecessarily strong pride. Irina, whose whole body was covered with scars.
"Frey is surrounded by overflowing women."
She murmured, feeling infinitely small today.
"..........."
And silence flowed for a while.
- Shuuu...
"...Meow."
Except for the low crying sound of the cat doll that had been scratching the bed leg in a frenzy while bound all over, then suddenly making a cold expression and starting to spew black smoke from its body.
- Swish
Just when it seemed everything would end in vain.
Irina, who had her face buried in Frey's embrace, suddenly raised her head with a determined expression.
- Click.
Then Irina, who started reaching out again, began to unbutton Frey's collar.
- Click, click, click.
Slowly down, down, and further down.
Irina, who unbuttoned all the buttons on Frey's clothes with careful hands.
"This is... just magic."
With her face completely red, she began self-suggestion.
"I'm only doing this as one of the necessary steps in the magic ritual. It has no more, no less meaning than that."
Unlike her words, Irina removed Frey's coat with trembling hands and placed her hand on his neatly unbuttoned shirt.
"So... so..."
Eventually, after removing the shirt as well, Irina, who had somehow stood up and carefully climbed on top of Frey, murmured with a very flustered expression.
"...W-what do I do?"
Irina, who had devoted herself only to magic research and combat in both the previous and current iterations.
Naturally, she had lived a life far from men, let alone having a boyfriend, and thanks to that, she was bound to be completely clueless in this area.
"I-I don't know."
That doesn't mean she had no sexual knowledge at all.
Although Irina knew only magic, among curses and spells, there were quite a few that used relations as a medium, so she naturally had read and learned basic information from literature.
"...Hah."
But the gap between information read in literature and reality, and the awkwardness born from a lifetime of distancing herself from relationships with men, left Irina in panic.
"F-first, do I take everything off? Or do I strip Frey first? No, I already stripped him... I haven't taken off his pants yet."
Nevertheless, Irina, who managed to find the way to the next step, began to speak incoherently while undoing Frey's belt.
"It's magic. This is an extension of magic. Magic performed to activate the oath made to him. It's absolutely not for self-satisfaction or selfish motives..."
Saying things that wouldn't fool anyone, Irina threw the belt to the side.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, she began to look toward the window with sharp eyes.
"What is that?"
Outside the window with blinds drawn, quite noisy sounds were coming.
"Could it be, an intruder?"
Thinking of that possibility momentarily, Irina quietly took out a scroll from her bosom and began to slowly approach the window.
"...Hah."
- Rustle!
Irina, who arrived right in front of the window without incident, gripped the scroll tightly and raised the blinds.
"Huh?"
She was fully prepared to unleash an attack at any moment, but what unfolded before her eyes when she raised the blinds was quite a ridiculous scene.
"Gooooooo!!!"
"Gugugu!! Gugugugu!!!"
"Chirp! Chir-chirp!!"
The birds that had been sitting quietly at the window until recently with fierce eyes were now running wild.
"W-what..."
Irina, who frowned at such an absurd sight, tried to fire an appropriate threatening spell to chase away the birds.
"......!!!"
But soon, she discovered something and froze.
"T-that is...!?"
In the middle of the madly flying birds, a spherical mass was floating.
"That's the energy the Secret Society Master had, isn't it?"
A purple mass emanating the energy of the Secret Society Master, who had been fighting Irina to the death until just a while ago.
"No, wait. That can't be. I definitely landed an effective hit on the Secret Society Master..."
Irina, who had inflicted significant damage on the Secret Society Master although she herself suffered fatal wounds, murmured with a pale face.
"Troublesome things."
"...did!?"
When the Secret Society Master's voice was heard from the purple mass floating among the flying birds, she began to show an expression of astonishment.
"Goooo!!"
"Gugugu!!"
An owl and a pigeon flew at the purple mass simultaneously.
"Mere birds, daring to interfere with me..."
The mass tried to scold the owl and pigeon as if they were ridiculous.
- Shaah...!
"...Hmm?"
At that moment, the two birds began to emit white energy.
"This energy is... could it be, spirits?"
The purple energy that stepped back just before touching that energy.
"...Absurd."
- Bzzzt!
It released energy that seemed like electricity flowing but dyed purple, binding the two birds.
"Goooo..."
"Gugu..."
The two birds tried to resist somehow against that energy filled with vicious energy, but eventually reached their limit.
"I always think this, but that person's power is truly great. To be able to defeat ancient spirits so easily."
The purple energy, looking at the two birds and murmuring in a triumphant voice, sensing victory.
"Chir-chirp!"
"What?"
Seeing a small canary flying toward it with a determined expression, it tried to urgently avoid it.
- Boom boom boom!!!
"Kugh!!"
It got caught in the canary's attack that self-destructed and spread sun mana everywhere and began to stagger.
"Haaaaaa!!!"
And at that moment.
- Bzzzt!!!
"Gaaaah!!!"
Irina's magic, which had been preparing to activate her most powerful attack scroll, pierced through the window and struck the purple energy.
"Grrr..."
As a result, the mass, which had even let go of the white owl and pigeon it was holding, began to repeat contraction and amplification.
"It can't end... it can't end here..."
As the white energy that the two birds squeezed out their last strength to infuse began to erode it.
"I'm just one step away from being abandoned by that great person... I was about to place the empire... no, the world under my feet!"
It began to mutter in a furious voice.
"I don't know what the invitation to trial is... how this is even possible..."
"What, what is that?"
"I can't give up here!!!"
Eventually, the mass squeezed out all its strength and began to explode its demonic energy at once.
- Crash!!
Through the broken window, leaving behind the two birds that had fallen behind due to injuries.
"W-wait!!"
Thanks to that, Irina, who was flustered, hurriedly took out a magic scroll, but the rampaging mass had already reached right in front of Frey.
- Shuuu...!
Like that, the moment the mass tried to penetrate Frey.
"Meow!!!"
The cat doll jumped up, spewing fierce black magic power, and rammed the mass with its body.
"Frey!! Wake up!!! You need to get out of here right now...!!!"
Irina, who flew to Frey without missing that chance, slapped his cheek and shouted.
"...Frey?"
But for some reason, Frey didn't wake up.
"Hiyaa...!!"
"That Frey fellow, surprisingly well-prepared."
"N-no!!"
In the meantime, the mass, which had sent the cat doll struggling to squeeze out black magic power flying far away, leisurely avoided Irina's attacks as she frantically took out scrolls.
- Thud!
It succeeded in finally penetrating Frey.
"..........."
And silence flowed in the dormitory for a moment.
"Invitation to trial... trial... could it be?"
In that situation, Irina, who was urgently racking her brain, began to look at Frey with an expression of disbelief while chewing on the words the Secret Society Master had murmured.
"It's exactly the same as last time..."
Having confirmed Frey's condition, she discovered that his current state was exactly the same as when he fell asleep during the second trial and collapsed with a pale expression.
"No, no no. No...!"
Eventually, Irina, who fell into panic, began to draw out the black magic power in her body and imitate Cania's black magic.
The unconscious intrusion magic that Cania had attempted several times during the second trial.
Although Irina, whose self-esteem had lowered, didn't realize it, she was still a genius of magic in this iteration too.
If it was magic she had seen repeatedly, even if it was black magic, she could perfectly recreate it.
"...Ugh!"
But Irina, who tried to penetrate Frey's unconsciousness, was soon clutching her heart and bounced out.
'Something... something is intentionally blocking my intervention...'
As she suspected, the system governing the trials had been strictly blocking outsiders' intervention from the second trial.
"N-no. If this continues, Frey will..."
But Irina, who believed the trial occurred because of herself.
"Frey will be in danger..."
She could only be at a loss for the inexplicable phenomenon.
"........."
Like that, Irina, who had been stroking Frey with a pale expression for a while.
"...Let's try."
She gritted her teeth and stood up.
"I don't know what's blocking me."
Eventually, Irina, who bit her lip so hard it bled and headed to the desk.
"...Let's see who wins."
Using that blood as a medium, she began drawing complex magic formulas on blank scroll paper.
At the same time, she began complex calculations.
She, who had once shaken the world's providence by making a blood oath to a human while possessing the status of a mage.
"I will... I will save you no matter what... Frey..."
Began to challenge the world's providence once again.
.
"...Where is this?"
Irina Filliad, who quietly opened her eyes, began to look around with a blank expression.
"Could it be..."
Irina, who had been looking around for a while.
"Did it succeed...?"
Eventually, she stood up with an expression of disbelief.
"Really?"
The magic scrolls she had used numbered in the thousands.
The magic formulas she had calculated numbered in the hundreds.
The new formulas she had created numbered in the tens.
Irina, who had surpassed even her own level from the previous iteration with only the will to save Frey, began running somewhere without time to rejoice in her achievement.
"Hurry, hurry, I need to save Frey..."
She didn't know why, but toward the Starlight family mansion that had been spread before her eyes.
Thinking simply that since it was Frey's house, he would be inside anyway.
"W-who...?"
"Move aside!"
Irina, who opened the gate and entered inside, passed by the maid who had stopped sweeping and was looking at her in surprise.
"Please, please be there..."
Stepping up the stairs leading to the upper floor with big strides, she headed to Frey's room.
"Please..."
Irina, who arrived at Frey's room in an instant, took a deep breath.
"...Frey?"
She carefully opened the door.
"I, I'm here, Frey! So now, rest assured..."
Irina, who discovered silver hair protruding from the corner of the bed, began to speak with a happy expression but.
"...Huh?"
Seeing his appearance crouched in the corner of the bed, she froze.
"Oppa, I know you're sad... but, but..."
And at that moment, the voice of Aria, Frey's younger sister, began to be heard from behind the closed door.
"It's time to accept it..."
Hearing that voice, Irina's mouth fell open.
"...Mom is, no longer in this world."
Because she could roughly understand the identity of the third trial.
"E-excuse me..."
And to her, Frey, who had been very withdrawn, asked in a frightened voice.
"E-excuse me..."
With pure and tender eyes filled with tears, he was sniffling.
"Nuna... who are you...?"
He had the appearance of a very young child.