I Killed the Player of the Academy-Side Story 6

TL note: This is the last of the translations I have currently, will be posting the rest of the side stories soon.

→ Side Story – The Agony of a Playboy (2) ←

The deep father-and-son discussion with Doggo gave me an insight into a miraculous possibility.

Harem.

Yes, I just had to make a harem.

If I choose everyone, no-one will become unfortunate!

“I have decided. It has to be a harem. I will make all of them my wife!”

“……!”

“……!”

Guardians Office.

Jaeger and Lark were shocked to hear my harem declaration.

Lark had the biggest reaction; taking off his glasses with his trembling hands and placing it down on the desk, he erupted in anger.

“You piece of trash! Enemy of women! Enemy of men! Actually, you’re just the enemy of humanity!”

“I saved the world, though…”

“Now now. Calm down.”

Jaeger gave a few claps to draw the attention before turning towards me.

“You see,” he then said. “I’ve been saying you’re a playboy and a son of a bitch and whatnot this whole time… and I wasn’t wrong. You really are a piece of fucking trash.”

“I know! I know!”

But what do I do then? I would die if I didn’t do it, on top of everyone else becoming unhappy!

“I would gladly take in all the criticism, but this isn’t something I can choose,” I said.

“…Damn, he’s serious.”

“He is saying that for real! What a piece of…”

“You guys were the ones who said marrying the Arden sisters or the Princesses was the best!”

“It was just a joke…”

“And plus, you are saying you will marry all seven, not just two,” Lark added.

“Do you have any conscience left inside?” Jaeger asked.

“Probably not,” Lark answered again. “It wouldn’t have come to this if he did.”

The two of them were getting increasingly harsher with their words. It’s not like I could talk about my Precepts either…

“Give me some more realistically helpful advice. I’ll die if I don’t make a harem.”

“I guess you’re right,” replied Jaeger. “They’re not the type of people to just sit back if you chose someone else…”

“Aren’t they all pretty nice though?” Lark asked while tilting his head.

“They are,” Jaeger answered after shaking his head, “but they are all… a bit different in a bad way.”

“What do you mean?”

“I… saw it. Marie-sunbae…”

Jaeger trembled while recalling a certain memory from the past. He scanned the surroundings before continuing with a shivering voice.

“Professor Lulara wanted me to move something to the laboratory so by chance, I went into Marie-sunbae’s lab and…”

“Oh? She doesn’t let many people in there—”

“She was cooking blood soup there.”

“Kuhup…?!”

Clotted blood soup. I knew the identity of that, but Lark didn’t seem to catch on, wondering what the issue was.

“And what?” Lark asked. “Not many people like it but it’s still… Wait, a mage was cooking that in the lab?”

Mage, lab, a soup with blood.

Lark arrived at the shocking truth upon assembling those keywords.

“Is she using… her own blood? It wasn’t just the black pudding?”

Ah, now that I think about it, I did tell them before about the blood sausages. Technically the blood soup came first though.

“Did you see Marie-sunbae give it to anyone apart from Korin?”

“…!!”

Lark shivered from shock.

“K, kuhum…”

Well… It’s been quite a while anyway.

“She boils a soup out of her own blood to feed him. Do you think she will just watch Korin marry some other girl? And vampires are that, right? If they feed you their blood…”

“Vampirification…!”

He appeared greatly shocked about the true nature of his future boss, as he looked at me with eyes of sympathy.

“K, kuhum… Anyway, what’s important is that I have to persuade Marie, Alicia, Hua Ran, Princesses Estelle and Miruam, Lunia-ssi and Master Erin. Yeah?”

“…Nothing new but hearing them at once reminds me just how much of a piece of trash you really are.”

“But are you sure it’s only seven? From what I know—”

“Shut up! Don’t let me be ‘aware’ of anyone else apart from that! It’s none of my business!”

““What a piece of garbage.””

Seven is already enough! Like, one is supposed to be enough already, and my plan was to just date one of them!

With little regard to the thoughts spiraling in my head, Jaeger murmured.

“First off, I think the Arden sisters will be quite open in that regard.”

“Oh right, yeah. Those two – their view on marriage is a bit…”

“Quite strange. Probably runs in the household.”

It seemed to be quite a famous story judging from how Jaeger and Lark were saying it. To be fair, it made sense because it had hit the newspapers already.

“In that same logic, Her Highnesses should be okay with it as well, right? His Majesty gave his permission after all,” Lark commented

He was right. King David was openly urging me to take both the two sisters already. They might be more okay with harem than I thought!

“But that’s just what His Majesty said,” Jaeger refuted. “Her Highnesses might have a different opinion. Besides, what His Majesty said is based on the assumption that he was marrying ‘only’ the princesses, right?”

“Hmm… that’s true. He probably has to persuade the two of them separately.”

Estelle and Miru, huh.

I honestly had no clue what they would think about harem. At first, they didn’t seem that discontent about both of them getting married to me but…

“Try persuading Marie-sunbae first. She’s… probably going to be the biggest hurdle.”

“Hmm…”

Really? I know she might seem like that at times, but Marie was still a kind-hearted girl that always stood on my side.

Personally, I couldn’t even imagine her refusing my request but…

“Alright. I will try persuading Marie first.”

For survival! And for everyone’s happiness!

For harem!!

****

3 pm.

Marie was usually at her laboratory during this time.

She was in her 4th year already, which meant she was due to graduate. The graduating cohort could replace their studies with an official employment but Marie chose to submit a research.

The topic of her research was about lengthening the expiration dates of fresh produce and safe calorie consumption, and was going to be submitted to the Guardian Association, and was tailored for its associates who had to leave and spend time outside for long periods of time.

“Marie-sunbae, are you inside?”

“Aht? Korin? What is it?!”

She appeared to be in the middle of her experiment, and came running out in her white coat.

“How is the experiment going?”

“Un. No real issue. I am a bit stuck on the expiry date though.”

“Take it easy. We’re the higher-ups so we can just pass it.”

“Hehe. That’s corruption you know!”

“But who are we again?”

“I’m the Manager of the Southern Guardian Association, and you’re the Chairman~”

“Huhuhu.”

So what if she failed the experiment a bit and the outcome wasn’t as satisfactory? I was the Chairman and Marie was the manager of the southern branch.

But Marie herself seemed quite keen about this research.

“I want to be successful with this research though, because it’s directly related to the profit of the south.”

“You’re using potatoes for the research, right? You really do love them don’t you?”

“Potatoes are the best crops that can suit all needs after all!”

Although she was kind and innocent most of the times, it was times like this that really showed her deep insights as the young lady of a dukedom.

The ability to lengthen the shelf life of potatoes meant a broader line of sale. Not only could it be used as preservative food for guardians, but it could also be used in various other situations like the military.

“Kuhum… by the way, sunbae.”

But that wasn’t the important part right now. I had something to receive the full agreement of from all the girls that loved me.

The Harem of Korin Lork.

First on the list was the acceptance of Marie Dunareff.

“Yes, what is it~?”

Marie constantly had a wide smile on her face.

It had already been a year since she first confessed her feelings for me. To think this was my reply after making her wait for a year… I really felt bad for it.

I went straight to business. She still had a smile on her face after listening to my proposal to ‘all date together’.

“Sun… bae?”

She was smiling. Marie was smiling despite my heavenly abomination of a suggestion!

This was looking good! Right? She was giving her agreement, yes? I knew it! I knew Marie would gladly accept the—

“No.”

“???”

“Korin. Was that what you’ve been thinking these days… running away from me?”

She brought her hand to my waist and slowly brushed it up.

“Kuhk…”

Tightly clasping on the hem of my shirt, she pulled it up with an insane amount of force. Before I could even retaliate, my vision was filled with her cold, ‘red’ eyes.

“No.”

“S, sunbae… There are circumstances that…”

“Korin.”

“Heek!”

Cold. Her eyes were blisteringly cold.

Within those eyes was still her love towards me, but she was as firm and resolute as I had ever seen her.

“If you don’t choose ‘only’ me… I don’t know what I might end up doing.”

“S, sunbae? What do you mean…”

W, what are you going to do, i, if I don’t choose you?

“You know, I have a lot of money.”

“Huh?”

I, I know that. Of course.

“And I also have 500 mages under me.”

You mean them ‘Chunsik’s? Weren’t we uhh… sharing them together?

“I don’t know… what I might do with them.”

“…”

It was a scary warning.

The wealthiest of this continent, the Potato Empire… even built the new Tower of Mages after taking in the mages of the old Tower.

Authority, wealth and strength. The Dunareff had all three of them… and what if they carried out actions that weren’t ideal?

“S, sunbae… It’s a joke right? P, please calm down…”

“Did it sound like a joke?”

“Hugekk…”

It’s not a joke!

You can’t fake those eyes!

I can’t believe Marie would say such scary things! Who are you! Where did you take my Marie!?

“Sunbae, you are not that kind of person! This isn’t who you are!”

Where is the farm girl Marie, who used to hand out boiled potatoes to juniors and joke around with a smile!? Give me back my Marie…!

“You changed me, Korin. You… you’re driving me crazy…”

Opening her mouth, Marie revealed her sharp fangs. By force she pulled me towards her and dug her teeth into my neck without even asking for my agreement.

It was the first time she was sucking my blood without permission.

What happened to my kind Marie!?

****

Persuading Marie ended up a failure.

She was dead serious about her disagreement with the harem plan and even half-threatened me, saying she didn’t know what she might do if I didn’t choose her.

“Ugh… Marie-sunbae… What happened…”

Huaang… There’s no way my Marie could be so scary. It’s impossible…

I certainly wasn’t expecting her to make such a declaration. Choosing one person was impossible already, but even if the Precept wasn’t there, it still would have led to a life-threatening situation.

“Fuu…”

But I couldn’t give up like this. I wasn’t carrying out the harem plan for my own happiness.

Choosing one meant the misfortune of the rest, and that came as a penalty for myself. It was an S-ranked quest – six of them at that, and the only way for survival was a harem.

“L, let’s put Marie aside for now.”

I had no idea she would be so against it. It would be better to put her aside for now and start off by persuading other people.

“…What are you doing?”

I was barely climbing up the hill while feeling light-headed when I found a girl wearing nun-clothes walking down from uphill.

“Hua Ran huh…”

“You seem tired.”

“T, there have been some circumstances you see…”

Hua offered to lend me her shoulder.

It felt like it was yesterday that this jiangshi girl used to be indifferent to everyone but now she knew how to be considerate of others.

Fuu… It brings back memories.

‘Right, I have to persuade Hua Ran as well. She should be easier than Marie.’

Technically Hua Ran was two separate personalities, Hua and Ran, in one body. The sisters didn’t feel repulsed by the idea of sharing me with each other, which might extend to other people as well.

“Hua Ran. I have something to ask the two of you…”

“What is it.”

Hiding my rising hope, I talked about my harem plan, and Hua Ran stayed there blinking her eyes and tilting her head before…

– Kuwaaaaaaaa—!!

Wait.

She’s raising her hand.

Hold up. Let’s see. Her palm was travelling upward, diagonally, towards me – towards my cheek to be precise.

What was her expression like? Indifferent? No, there was a slight frown which was a big change considering the faint changes in her emotions.

Even at this moment, her palm was travelling at a threatening speed.

The conclusion was that her palm was going to slap me on my cheek.

Right. It’s true that she had all rights to be angry. As a gentleman, there was nothing I could possibly say when being slapped for giving such a shameless proposal.

The issue however, was that it was Hua Ran who was slapping;

She was the Heavenly Yaksha;

Her Aura Rank was at Upper Unique, the highest this world had ever seen;

Plus the fact that she had unconsciously put in Aura into her palm;

And lastly, the fact that it was travelling at 2,722 km per hour, roughly 2.2 mach.

What would happen if I were to get slapped by that palm?

Would it just end with a wound? I don’t think that would be a fitting description to what would happen to me after coming in contact with that hand. I might even cross the river of no return.

But what if I were to dodge that palm? I learned you shouldn’t dodge a girl’s slap. It’s not about etiquette, but how dodging would make them more mad and give you a higher chance to getting follow-up attacks.

Dodging didn’t seem to be a good option.

Which meant I had to get slapped. But what twould happen then? Let’s calculate the force of the impact.

Hua Ran’s Aura Capacity was a bit over 105,000. But the amount she could spend at once was less than a thousand.

The basic attack of Demonic Aura was 18,500; 44,400 in a critical strike. Let’s assume, and being hopeful, that it’s not a critical hit – two of those attacks would be required to destroy a piece of rock weighing 35 tonnes.

Let’s say the resistance level of the rock is X, and the force of the 2,722 km/h super attack is Y—

By the time I thought up to that point, her palm was 0.5 mm away from my cheek.

Ah, it’s too late.

I’ve been thinking way too much.

“Hel—”

– SLAPPPPPPPPPP—

– KWANG! KWAGANG! KUGUGUGUGAAAKK!!

“……Hmph!”

****

After the final war against Tates, everyday at Merkarva Academy was relatively relaxed. The students were back, and it was decided that this year’s freshmen students would mostly be doing practical lessons for this semester.

Because half of the semester was spent in the so-called ‘War of the Sun’ against Tates, there wasn’t enough time to plan out a detailed curriculum.

Thanks to that, Erin had quite some time in her hands.

“Fuu… Maybe I should go see Korin.”

“Should I drop you off?”

“Heek…!”

Erin realized belatedly that Josephine was right next to her when she mumbled that, and dropped her head in embarrassment.

“Huaah…”

How scary was late love? Josephine smiled seeing the adorable first love of her motherly figure. As such, she wanted to cheer her on. Even though she had challenging competitors, she still hoped for Erin’s victory.

‘Well, Erin doesn’t fall short of her competitors either.’

She had a deep connection that the others didn’t have.

A cherishing memory from the future, and a deep bond as a master and disciple. She was Korin’s precious person whom he had been hoping to save this whole time, which theoretically meant there was no possibility of losing this battle.

After all, that was what she saw in a romance novel. It was called, ‘I disappeared after raising the male lead’.

Hmm hmm. Yep. Erin’s not someone who would lose to anyone—

“Masterrrr…!”

“Hiht? K, Korin?!”

Speaking of the devil.

Korin kicked the door open and ran into Erin’s arms with his cheeks swollen like a balloon for some reason.

“Korin? What happened to your face? How did this happen!?”

He hugged her while acting like a child. This guy… he was a bit shameless at times.

“C, Clara…! Medicine! Bring me some medicine!”

“I am sure he will regenerate soon enough considering his regeneration speed.”

“Eggs! At least give me some eggs!”

“…I am telling you he is probably fine.”

Erin was panicking in contrast to the nonchalant Josephine. Meanwhile, Korin continued sniffling while burying his face deeper into Erin’s legs.

“Why! Why does nobody understand? I’m just trying to make everyone happy!”

“Y, yes. I am sure you have deep plans, Korin. It’s the fault of the people that don’t see your kind intentions.”

“…Erin. Even your children will grow up rude if you raise them like that.”

“K, Korin will grow just fine.”

That was the typical sight of a parent saying, ‘My child’s different!’

‘Haa… Erin. You should be aiming for the lover position, not that of a mother.’

“Master…” Korin said. “My chest; it hurts.”

“Does it hurt a lot, Korin? Do you want me to rub it?”

Josephine sighed before asking a question.

“What exactly happened?”

“I got bitten by Marie… and got hit by Hua Ran…”

By those two?

Those two girls who loved everything about Korin? 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Josephine and Erin looked on with confusion. What in the world did he do, they wondered.

“Actually…”

Korin honestly shared his harem plan. Choosing one will make everyone unhappy, so let’s marry all of them! That will make everyone happy right?

““………””

The Chairman’s room turned increasingly colder the more he continued talking. Breaking through the chilling silence was Erin.

“That is a terrible thought.”

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