I Became the Academy’s Heroine Stalker – Chapter 27

—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
—————————————————————–

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

 
“Master—!! Master! Please answer me—!!”

Ten minutes had passed since Bersha crossed through the portal.

Ten minutes of sprinting along the forest path, finding only two monster corpses. Her Master was nowhere to be seen.

The goat horns that had sprouted from her head were also gone.

The polymorph had been temporarily undone by the surge of magic power triggered by her extreme anger, but after regaining her composure, she had reverted to her Reina form.

In her polymorph state, she could only use half of her true power.

That’s why she hadn’t been able to gain the upper hand against the black-clad man earlier.

Of course, if she had been certain her Master was in danger, she would have disobeyed his orders and canceled the polymorph.

In any case, she was now running around, tears streaming down her face, despite her usual cool and composed Reina persona.

“Master! Where are you, Master?! Waaah!”

How anxiously she had waited!

She had prayed for his safe return, but had that small wish been too much to ask?

She had even prayed fervently to Leshyas, the patron deity of succubi.

‘Oh, Leshyas, please allow my sixth Master to return to me safely…’

She had been devoted to all five of her previous Masters, as well as Han Tae-jin.

She had served them loyally.

As their summon, it was her duty, and she did her utmost to fulfill the contracts for the prosperity of her clan.

Upon completing a contract, she could choose several items from a list of Earth’s remarkable technologies and transfer them, along with their manuals, to Drogfia.

As the Succubus Queen, she fulfilled her duties diligently, and her reign had brought prosperity and abundance to the succubi.

Inspired by her example, even the lower-ranking succubi diligently fulfilled their contracts.

The conditions for contract completion varied.

The mission was tailored to the summoner.

If summoned by a scientist, the contract involved the success of their research. If summoned by a businessman, it involved the success of their business. If summoned by an avenger, it involved the success of their revenge.

And if summoned by a Hunter, the conditions could be growth, wealth, or becoming the strongest.

The conditions were based on the summoner’s profession and values, and the rewards were determined by the difficulty.

Sometimes, the conditions were also based on the summoner’s destined responsibilities.

Although that was incredibly rare, so rare that there wasn’t enough data to compile statistics.

Even now, Drogfians summoned through contracts were carrying out their missions on Earth in various forms.

Some as humans, some as tools, and some as pets.

Bersha was one of those Drogfians.

The contract completion condition for her sixth Master, Han Tae-jin, was…

[Salvation]

She didn’t know what kind of salvation it referred to, and as a summon, she couldn’t ask her Master.

The Vow of Silence prevented it.

This vow applied to both the summon and the summoner.

Even if the summon spoke about Drogfia, the summoner couldn’t disclose that information to others. That was the primary effect of the Vow of Silence.

Summons usually had to infer the contract completion condition from a single, short word.

But with Han Tae-jin, it was impossible to discern.

‘What kind of salvation is it? For Hunters, it’s usually S-rank, money, fame, or something like that, according to what I learned.’

Drogfia had an educational curriculum designed to increase contract completion rates.

It was a mandatory course based on data compiled from all contract records throughout history.

According to that data, the most common contract conditions for Hunter summoners were:

[S-rank]

[Money]

[Fame]

[Success]

[Strongest]

[Love]

‘Salvation’ was a condition she had never even learned about.

So, she had no idea.

What kind of “support” did she need to provide her sixth Master, Han Tae-jin, to fulfill the contract?

She had pondered this countless times since being summoned, but she couldn’t figure it out.

That’s why she followed him everywhere.

As soon as she had an excuse, she followed him to the Academy.

To understand what “salvation” meant to him.

But her days were filled with fruitless efforts.

And…

She had another question about her sixth Master, Han Tae-jin.

‘Does he have a girlfriend? I don’t think so?’

The contract was fundamentally based on a master-servant relationship.

Therefore, three of her previous five Masters, all male, had made sexual advances within two weeks of summoning her.

Not forceful demands, but subtle hints and suggestions.

But she had never complied.

The contract guaranteed Drogfians the basic right of sexual autonomy.

And her reason for refusal was simple.

None of them were attractive to her.

Two of her summoners were female, and sometimes, their reproductive cycles didn’t even align.

A thousand years ago, sex was considered a succubus’s duty, and seduction was a source of pride and self-esteem.

But as the succubi evolved, their diet, culture, and values became increasingly similar to those of Earthlings, and they began to change.

The invention of the [Yang Energy Converter] using Earth’s technology was a revolutionary breakthrough.

They no longer needed to extract Yang energy through sexual intercourse.

This change in dietary culture led to a change in education.

Sex for extraction was no longer a duty, and seduction for Yang energy was no longer a source of pride.

Their evolved motto was something like, “A superior seed resides within a well-maintained body.”

The succubus DNA, once imprinted with the instincts of a temptress, had adapted to its environment.

So, Bersha, as the Succubus Queen, was searching for the perfect Earthling seed.

As Queen, she needed to bear exceptional offspring.

Then she met Han Tae-jin, her sixth Master.

He wasn’t overweight or scrawny, his reproductive cycle aligned with hers, he was male, and he was handsome.

And even aside from her loyalty, he was a rather appealing summoner.

Although he had looked like a skeletal pet during their first encounter, as if he would die of exhaustion after a single sexual encounter, he had gained some flesh and even muscle within just a few weeks.

And during those few weeks of observation, she discovered…

He was excellent at self-management, passionate about growth, skilled, incredibly talented, and intelligent.

She didn’t know what had happened to him before her summoning, but she seemed to have found a decent Master.

So, she had high hopes.

Moreover, the previous Queen had been…

[Tsk, tsk, what’s the point of fulfilling contracts if you can’t even conceive a single child after nine reproductive cycles? Are you unlucky, or do you lack the will?]

…increasingly pressuring her.

Just like humans on Earth faced pressure to get married, she was facing pressure to reproduce.

[At least extract some Yang energy from the Avankans in the Northern Continent.]

[Mother! That’s not right! Avankans have inferior genes!]

[Do you think I would suggest it if I had a better option? It’s true that children conceived with Earthling seed are superior and will lead the future, but if you don’t use it, you’ll experience early menopause.]

[M-Mother!]

Driven by defiance and a sense of spite, she had subtly tried to seduce him at the DVD room.

She even “accidentally” chose an erotic parody film.

But she failed.

‘Ugh, is he impotent?’

She honestly considered that possibility.

She had heard that there was a relatively high probability of summoners being impotent or homosexual, which made it difficult to secure the next generation of Drogfian leaders.

It made her anxious.

Of course, the development of their race through contract completion was more important than personal reproduction.

‘T-this is for the advancement of our race…!’

With that thought, Bersha channeled magic power into her legs and ran even faster.

And soon…

She saw one of her group members running towards her.

“Hey! Seo Yoon-ji!”

“Waaah! Help me—!!”

“…”

Seo Yoon-ji was a mess of tears and snot.

A sense of foreboding washed over Bersha.

“Wh-what happened!?”

Seo Yoon-ji didn’t appear to be injured.

In fact, she looked too clean.

“A Hobgoblin! A Hobgoblin appeared!! We have to run!!”

“W-where?! Is my Master alright?!”

“In the boss sector! I-I don’t know if he’s okay!”

Bersha’s urgency instantly turned into suspicion.

It was strange that Seo Yoon-ji was completely unharmed after encountering a Hobgoblin.

It was also strange that she was fleeing alone.

“…What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“W-well…”

“Tell me the truth. Now.”

If her premonition was correct, there was no time to waste. She pressed Seo Yoon-ji, who hung her head and confessed.

“I… I-I was so scared that I ran away…! I’m sorry! *Sob!*”

Bersha’s face paled and hardened.

But Seo Yoon-ji, oblivious, turned to run again.

“I-I’ll go get help! I’m really sorry!”

But…

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Huh?”

Bersha, or rather, Reina, grabbed her shoulder.

Seo Yoon-ji struggled, but her body wouldn’t budge, as if bound by a barrier.

It felt like a giant boulder was pressing down on her.

Confused, she cried out, “L-let go of me!”

“Help has arrived. Where are you going?”

“What are you talking about?! The Hobgoblin will catch up to us! Let go!”

Seo Yoon-ji struggled and swung her club, but Reina caught it with one hand.

The club wouldn’t move.

Terror filled Seo Yoon-ji.

Reina’s eyes glinted with malice as she whispered, “Take me to my Master, you pathetic wretch. Or I’ll skin you alive along with those Dungeon Guards and feed you to the Hobgoblin.”

Seo Yoon-ji, fleeing from the Hobgoblin, had encountered something even more terrifying.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

“Waaah! They’re all going to die! Let me go!”

“I said, shut up. Unless you want to die by my hand.”

“Waaah!”

– *Slap!*

“Kyaaak!”

– *Slap!*

“Eek!”

Two slaps across the face silenced Seo Yoon-ji, who was being dragged towards the boss sector by the scruff of her neck.

Her cheeks were swollen and bloodied.

Finally, the entrance to the boss sector came into view.

“Is it there?”

“Yes…”

Bersha followed Seo Yoon-ji’s directions, hurrying through the entrance.

As they got closer, a powerful magical energy filled the air.

It definitely wasn’t her Master’s.

But it didn’t seem like it belonged to a C-rank monster either.

She had once defeated a B-rank monster during a previous summoning.

‘What…! What’s going on?’

Could someone have arrived before her?

If so, that would be a relief, but there was only one entrance to the dungeon, and no one had passed her on the way.

And then…

Bersha witnessed the source of the magical energy.

“M-Master?!”

Tears welled up in her eyes at the sight of her Master, safe and sound, but his state shocked her into speechless surprise.

His eyes were devoid of pupils, filled with a white, manic glow…

– *Thwack!*

– *Kiek…*

– *Crack!*

– *Kieee…*

…as he brutally beat the Hobgoblin with a club.

Forgetting he was an archer, he had snatched the Hobgoblin’s club and was now crushing its skull.

His left arm was stained black, as if corrupted.

It was a glossy black, as if he had dipped it in a bucket of black paint.

And he was wielding the Hobgoblin’s club in his left hand.

His left hand, which he never even used to hold a glass of water or a toothpick.

– *Crack!*

Baek Mi-jin and Yoo Soo-ah were lying unconscious a short distance away.

They didn’t seem to have any life-threatening injuries, so they were likely still alive.

Han Tae-jin, his face covered in green blood, turned his head and looked at Bersha and Seo Yoon-ji.

And…

“Seo… Yoon… ji… die…”

A burning rage filled his vacant, white eyes.

He began walking towards Seo Yoon-ji.

Seo Yoon-ji, who had been fleeing from the Hobgoblin, now faced something even more terrifying.

He was in a state of delirium and delusion, suffering from the combined side effects of the Frail trait and Overheat.

A moment later, the traitor’s shrill screams echoed through the silent forest.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇