Chapter 20
Once the exams started, the two of them returned to their usual routine of spending their days together.
There was still some time before Bellatrix’s practical exam, but she said she was only training lightly to manage her condition.
She kept saying strange things about needing to make up for all the energy she hadn’t gotten lately by staying with Belver.
“Stop casually rubbing my waist! That’s harassment, you know?!”
“I’m checking whether you’ve gained weight.”
“That’s rude?!”
Belver felt as if he’d returned to everyday life, complete with the very familiar harassment.
He knew it was strange to think of being harassed as everyday life, but what could he do? That was just the kind of relationship they had.
It was exhausting, since she came up with some new form of harassment every single time.
He could only lecture her about how indecent it was so many times before it got old. Doing it more than five times a day wore him out.
Though it wore him out, he enjoyed this kind of relationship.
It absolutely, absolutely wasn’t because he enjoyed being harassed.
He meant the kind of relationship where Bellatrix teased him, he fired back and lectured her, and so on.
Belver and Bellatrix were always smiling by the end.
“Where should we go today? I feel like we’ve been to most places lately.”
“Then how about a dungeon? I’ve never been to one, so I want to check it out.”
“A dungeon? I told you I’m managing my condition.”
“A low-level training dungeon would be fine. I want to try one.”
“If it’s just that much, it should be okay. Fine, let’s go.”
Belver’s heart thumped with excitement.
Magic was plenty fantastical, but a dungeon was even more so.
Though a little over half a semester had passed, he still hadn’t been to a dungeon.
If he’d attended lectures regularly, he would have gone, but the only classes he’d ever attended were the ones Roho had taken him to.
Seeing the expectant look Belver gave her, Bellatrix couldn’t refuse.
Low-level training dungeons were places even lower-ranked students frequented, so they were hardly dangerous.
For Bellatrix, who had grown to an upper-middle level, and Belver, who had somehow gained magical ability on par with her original top-tier level, there was no threat at all.
So taking him there for the experience seemed like a good idea.
He shouldn’t be a first-timer if he ever got trapped in a dungeon by accident.
“I wonder which one would be good.”
“Anywhere is fine with me! I’m so exci—gah!”
“You’ve become a total girly girl lately.”
“It was a slip!”
Bellatrix patted Belver on the head as he growled, considering where they should go.
She’d been in and out of training dungeons many times while practicing.
Which one would Belver not be scared of, where she could protect him perfectly, and still give him a proper sense of what a dungeon was?
To start with, she ruled out places with creepy creatures or where a surprise attack might happen, just to be safe.
After eliminating those, she thought of a few dungeons.
There was a swamp dungeon with numerous slime colonies, the most basic of the basics, and a forest dungeon with many goblin settlements.
Goblin attacks wouldn’t even reach him if she put up a barrier.
“Which would you prefer, the swamp or the forest? Both should be safe.”
“I’d like to try the swamp.”
“It might be a little gross. Are you sure?”
“Do you think I’m a kid? It’s a dungeon, so that can’t be helped. Let’s go!”
After hearing “swamp” and “forest,” Belver immediately recognized what monsters would appear and made his choice.
He’d played through the game as well as devoured the novel and setting guide.
Weren’t these dungeons with the classic fantasy starter monsters, goblins and slimes?
In truth, although he’d said a dungeon was fine, he’d picked the place with slimes because they were less unpleasant.
He’d still find it hard to watch a humanoid monster like a goblin die.
He didn’t want to tremble with embarrassment as he watched one die.
Of course, he knew that someday he’d have to kill another human to reach a happy ending.
Even during these midterm evaluations, a terrorist incident might happen where he’d have to kill someone if things went wrong.
Still, he wanted to put that off as long as possible.
That was because he believed life was absolutely precious.
“Why are you getting gloomy all by yourself again?”
“Hehe. It’s nothing.”
“Then that’s good.”
Feeling Bellatrix’s concerned touch, Belver grinned happily and headed on ahead.
He hadn’t meant to, but for some reason he felt good when he made her worry.
Once he felt better, he realized there was no reason to be gloomy anymore.
It hadn’t happened yet, and if he worked to prevent it from happening, wouldn’t that be enough?
For now, he just had to enjoy spending time with Bellatrix.
He happened to know where the training dungeons were, too.
A little while ago, Bellatrix had wandered around and told him they were this way.
She’d catch up in no time; for every two steps he took, she only needed one.
He was simply trying to do for himself what Bellatrix had always done: lead the way.
Bellatrix smiled as she followed Belver, who was excitedly walking ahead.
Was he really that excited to visit a dungeon?
There was nothing special about them.
He’d seen monsters before, surely.
A dungeon was just a peculiar space where slightly more monsters appeared.
For Bellatrix, teasing and playing with Belver was more fun than entering a dungeon.
Like this.
“Commoner! Your skirt’s riding up!”
“Eek?! Where?!”
Belver stopped running excitedly, startled, and hurriedly pressed down various parts of his skirt to pull it back into place.
His mind filled with mortifying possibilities, like what if he’d been walking around showing everyone his underwear.
He kept trying to pull it down, but didn’t feel anything loosen.
Of course, nothing had ridden up, so there was nothing to pull down.
“Lady Bellatrix…! Please help me…!”
He asked Bellatrix, who’d come right up beside him, with a tearful expression.
Belver trembled with embarrassment and bewilderment, looking ready to burst into a waterfall of tears at any moment.
Since he didn’t have eyes in the back of his head, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t see what had ridden up.
So, even though it was embarrassing, he had to ask Bellatrix.
“Ah, here it is. Hold on.”
“Hurry… up…?”
“Wow. This is really hiked up. That’s pretty daring. I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything like this. Where did you get it?”
Belver froze at Bellatrix’s unbelievably baffling behavior.
Why was she lifting his skirt when she was supposed to be fixing it?
And why was she evaluating someone else’s underwear instead of lowering the skirt she’d lifted?
It didn’t take Belver long to realize the whole truth.
He could tell just by looking at those shamelessly smiling eyes.
It had all been a prank from beginning to end.
The tear at the corner of Belver’s eye disappeared, only for another to well up in its place.
Before he knew it, his hand had curled into a tiny fist.
It was obvious where that fist was headed.
“Y-you…! You…!”
“I’m sorry…? Can’t you let me off just this once…?”
Bellatrix realized how utterly mortified Belver was and hurriedly lowered his skirt, then patted it smooth as she used to.
Not realizing it would backfire spectacularly.
She hadn’t considered how Belver might interpret her kindness while he was already so mortified he could burst.
Bellatrix’s final action made Belver snap completely.
He’d been making it clear with his whole body that she should stop, and now she’d outright groped him.
Even now, the sensation of her patting his butt was crystal clear in his mind.
“You shameless pervert!!! A disgrace to nobility!!! A disgrace to humanity!!! The height of indecency!!!”
Belver swung at Bellatrix with all his strength, his embarrassment unconsciously drawing mana into the blow.
Thud—Bellatrix flew backward and hit the ground with a heavy crash, and the tear hanging at the corner of her eye fell.
The sound startled Belver too, and he froze again.
Then he realized this was no time for that and hurried over.
Bellatrix, who’d barely managed to defend herself with aura, got up, rubbing her sore lower back.
She’d trained hard, and she’d blocked it properly, so it didn’t hurt much.
What gave her a headache was figuring out how to use this to her advantage.
“Are you okay?!”
“Ow… That commoner really packs a punch. He sent me flying.”
“I’m sorry… I think I accidentally used mana…”
“You could’ve seriously hurt me, so you need to be punished.”
“This is your fault, Lady Bellatrix?!”
“Ow! My whole body hurts!”
“Ugh…! Fine!”
In the end, Belver was always the one who lost.
Bellatrix always held the initiative, so he never had a chance to win.
Even though he’d only exercised his legitimate right, he was about to be punished.
He swallowed tears of rage, thinking how unfair it was.
Bellatrix blurted it out without much thought.
Whenever Belver was clearly at least partly in the wrong, she could get him to agree to anything.
Of course, she knew she was mostly to blame, so she wouldn’t really punish him; it was only words.
“When we get into the dungeon, show me your panties. I need to check what kind of indecent panties our commoner is wearing.”
“What?! What are you talking about?!”
“Don’t be shy. I’m a woman, after all, aren’t I?”
“You’re a man right now?!”
“Then are you a woman?”
“I’m a man… Ah.”
“Right. Is there anything wrong with a woman looking at women’s panties?”
Belver followed exactly where Bellatrix led him.
When he reached the end of her argument and realized he’d been led into a trap, he despaired.
She’d laid a trap that tightened the more he resisted, leaving him no way out.
In the end, like a princess of a kingdom captured by an enemy nation’s tyrant, all he could do was nod, a tear trickling down his cheek.
In the end, he followed Bellatrix toward the dungeon in a pitiful state.
His expression brightened as soon as they reached the entrance.
[All training dungeons are under inspection during the midterm evaluations. Please use them another day.]
“Then this doesn’t count, right?!”
“I guess I’ll have to check right here. Come here!!”
“Aaaah!! This is a public walkway?!”