It couldn’t be, right?

In the first place, mages considered uninvited visits to their secret spaces a tremendous sin. Not only did they store research materials there, but they might also be developing new magic.

It wasn’t like I hadn’t prepared myself, but of all things, if this was a place where someone invented these bizarre toys, that notorious Kozarni Jorunia might tear me apart. So my only way to survive was to escape this place quickly.

Please, let no one be here. And let this door lead to an exit. Please…! Please!

Just as I was about to slowly turn the doorknob, I felt someone’s presence right behind me.

“What’s this?”

“Aaaaaah!”

I was so startled I fell right on my bottom. There definitely hadn’t been anyone in the workshop just moments ago, yet someone had appeared without a sound. My heart felt like it was shrinking.

“Wh-who are you…?”

He was a man of tremendous beauty. He had long hair that he’d rolled up carelessly and secured with a feather, seemingly too lazy to do it properly. Stray strands of hair that hadn’t been tied up hung down like silver threads.

“Who are you?”

Below his lake-clear blue eyes were dark circles. He looked exhausted, like he hadn’t slept. Yet he was such a stunning man that even that seemed to transform into decadent beauty.

My heart pounded without any sense of timing. The older women I’d worked with had repeatedly warned me that the more beautiful a man, the more I should be on guard. But I seemed to have already been captivated.

“Wow, he’s really handsome…”

The thought slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it. I belatedly covered my mouth with my hand, but the damage was already done.

But something was strange about the way the man looked at me. His eyes said he couldn’t understand at all. Following his gaze downward, I saw my body clearly visible through the semi-transparent April apron that was worse than wearing nothing.

“Kyaaaah!”

Only then did I realize I wasn’t wearing anything that could be called clothing. I hurriedly covered my body with my hands. I was truly embarrassed. Could there be anything more humiliating than this?

“This is, well… I’m not usually like this… I didn’t mean to do this. Ah, I mean. I saw this apron so I borrowed it for a moment…”

I rambled incoherently in my shame. Just as I was about to introduce myself, cracks appeared on the man’s face.

“Get out of my workshop right now.”

A terrifying magic circle appeared in the air. It was a tremendous magical power. Then I felt a familiar magical wavelength.

“M-Master…?”

Master’s magical power was something no one could forget once they’d seen it. It was an alluring magical power of dark red that felt both chilling and sad.

That notorious Kozarni is my master…!

It was our reunion after six whole months. In such a shocking situation, no less. But Master had changed a lot from six months ago. His appearance had become particularly splendid.

The Master in my memory definitely had carelessly arranged features like potato dough that had been roughly rolled out, but now he looked so sacred that just seeing him seemed to purify evil thoughts.

I didn’t know what was going on, but it seemed he maintained a blurry illusion spell when going out and showed his true appearance in his workshop. With such a handsome face, he must have had some hardship I didn’t know about.

“…Master?”

Master was just as surprised. He narrowed his eyes and looked at me. His densely woven eyelashes trembled finely. No matter how I looked at him, his appearance inspired awe.

“I’m… Luina Arizne.”

What kind of reaction would Master show toward the disciple he was seeing after six months? I hoped he wouldn’t be angry like last time.

Fortunately, he didn’t get angry. Instead, he sped up the formation of the magic circle. Strong sparks flew up, as if he was casting high-level magic. It stung just from the touch.

Master is going to k*ll me like this!

If I got hit by that, I’d disappear from this world without leaving even a speck of dust. I didn’t want to die so futilely. In my desperation to survive, I shouted in an urgent voice.

“I’m Luina Arizne! Your one and only disciple!”

“…My disciple?”

Master Kozarni blinked slowly. After a brief silence, a low voice followed.

“Ah, I did have one of those.”

So he had forgotten me after all. Fortunately, the terrifying magic circle he’d been forming disappeared. What would have happened to me if he hadn’t remembered he had a disciple? Goosebumps rose on the back of my neck.

But now wasn’t the time for this. I had to pull myself together from now on. This was directly connected to my and my family’s survival.

“It’s been… six months since we last met, right? Learning of Master’s brilliant appearance, I feel like even the grime in my heart is being washed away. So about that…”

I worked hard at flattery before carefully broaching the subject. Just as I was about to get to the main point, Master’s face turned cold.

“Finding this place is unexpected, but I’d like you to leave now.”

It was a merciless order to leave. I couldn’t hide my bewilderment.

“Already… you want me to go? I haven’t even said what I need to say yet?”

“Looking like that and trespassing without permission, you think you need to say more?”

His sharp reaction wasn’t completely unreasonable. Other mages would have killed me already and it still wouldn’t have been enough.

I bowed my head and pleaded. Petty pride wasn’t going to feed me anyway.

“I’m sorry for barging in. I can’t apologize enough for that. But there’s something I really need to ask you. Please just give me a moment of your time. I won’t take much of it!”

I spoke urgently without giving him a chance to interrupt, afraid he’d tell me to get lost immediately.

“If I don’t produce proper research results this time… my research stipend will be cut off. Then something very, very troublesome and terrible will happen. So I was thinking… if you could just supervise this one research project…”

It was the most polite tone in the world. I didn’t forget to make my voice quaver here and there so he couldn’t help but feel sympathy. But the answer that came back was utterly cold.

“Is that all?”

“Yes? Well, yes…”

“I heard you, so now get out.”

This heartless, cold-blooded man. If it were me, I’d help a disciple who came looking for me like this, even just out of concern. No, why did he take on a disciple in the first place?

Since pleading wouldn’t work on someone like this anyway, I had to use my last resort. I had to attempt something called blackmail against my great and magnificent Master.

“If you keep acting like this…! I’ll spread rumors about what I saw in Master’s secret workshop!”

“That sounds fun.”

“No, you’ll really regret it!”

“That’s not bad either.”

He didn’t care about the blackmail at all. Still, the fact that I was his disciple must have bothered him a little, because this time he cast different magic.

A black stain surrounded me. A noisy barrier spread around me. Master’s face became blurry and I felt my body being sucked somewhere.

After coming all this way…!

Resentment suddenly welled up inside me. It didn’t make sense that he’d never treated me properly as a disciple and was now sending me away like this. Since this seemed like it would be our last meeting anyway, I hurled curses filled with anger.

“You irresponsible Master! You incompetent pervert who can’t make a single proper toy! Someone like you will never be able to make a proper toy in your entire life! You might as well become impotent!”

The rippling black energy suddenly disappeared. I, who had been floating in the air, crashed straight to the floor. It hurt terribly because I fell bottom-first.

“Ow…!”

“What did you just say?”

“Well, that is…”

This was bad. Had he heard everything? I thought he wouldn’t hear because of the noisy barrier. The atmosphere turned deadly and I lost my nerve.

Even if I was angry, what was I thinking…!

I belatedly tried to gauge Master’s mood. That was definitely an angry expression. Instead of shouting like before, I answered in a voice as small as an ant.

“…That I’d spread rumors about Master’s strange hobby?”

“No, not that.”

“Irresponsible Master…?”

“After that.”

“Ah…! That you’re an incompetent pervert who can’t make a single proper toy! And after that I said something about being impotent…!”

In my eagerness to find the right answer, I ended up answering loudly without thinking. My voice echoed repeatedly through the quiet secret workshop like an echo.

“Oh no… I mean, this is…”

“So, what exactly about the toys I made doesn’t satisfy you, and how?”

“What…?”

“You’ll need to explain clearly and precisely, one by one.”

An unexpected situation unfolded. Along with it, interest swirled in Master’s previously indifferent blue eyes. This might be my last chance to change Master’s mind.

“I can tell you that as much as you want. First of all, the toys Master made…”

Actually, I’d never properly used adult toys before. I was curious, but I was very timid. But very fortunately, the older women I’d worked with at the shop had a hobby of pooling money to buy adult toys. 

When customers left and there was a brief break, the women would chatter about vivid toy reviews.

Whenever that happened, I’d perk up my ears with sparkling eyes. Thanks to that, I became a pervert who was lacking in practice but well-versed in theory.

“First of all, things that look like that are hideous, so they don’t make you want to use them.”

“More.”

“Using them doesn’t seem like it would be pleasurable either.”

“Then?”

“Are you really asking because you don’t know? Every single one looks like a t*rture device.”

“Hmm…”

Master frowned slightly. He seemed not to understand what I was saying.

How can he be like that? Looking at his face, it seems like he could seduce any woman in the world. Could he really be impotent?

“Anything else besides that?”

I’d already reached the limit of what I could think of. Now all that was left was to recite the toy philosophy of Parslia, who used toys like eating rice. She was truly a learned pervert that everyone there acknowledged.

“People don’t like things that are too unfamiliar. They prefer very ordinary things from everyday life with just a slight touch of a special arousing point.”

Master’s eyes shook back and forth. He seemed moved by my words. I barely held back laughter because this situation was absurd and ridiculous.

“Hearing you talk like this, you must have used toys more than once or twice.”

No, I’m just a pervert with a big mouth.

Master’s tremendous misunderstanding began. If his gaze before was like looking at a pervert with exhibitionism, now it was meaningful, like looking at a true pervert he couldn’t dare approach.

Since it had come to this anyway, this situation was more advantageous than disadvantageous for me. I decided to be shameless and brazen.

“So what if I have?”

“Louise, was it? Become my assistant.”

“I’m not Louise, I’m Luina. And I’m already Master’s disciple!”

“A disciple and an assistant are strictly different. You know the difference, don’t you?”

An assistant did feel somewhat more respected as a person than a mere disciple. But I couldn’t just say yes without even knowing what I’d be doing.

“If I become Master’s assistant, what would I have to do from now on?”

“Help develop new toys. Also leave reviews after using the toys I make.”

“What? Master’s toys, you mean…”

When I turned my gaze, I saw a new object. It was a d*ldo made of crocodile teeth. Sharp teeth were embedded around the d*ldo, so the moment you used it, it looked like an irreversible festival of blood would break out.

I can’t! I can’t use something that horrifying!

I hadn’t even properly held a man’s hand yet. Even if I had, I wouldn’t use that thing, but if something that hideous took my first time, I’d cry tears of blood in the afterlife.

“What if I refuse?”

“Nothing much. I’ll just send you out of the workshop. But I don’t know if where you end up will be a proper world.”

My Master, whom I was meeting for only the second time, seemed like a person with a truly terrible nature. It was practically blackmail disguised as a suggestion, wasn’t it? I didn’t even have a choice.

“F-fine, I’ll do it! But… in exchange!”

“In exchange?”

“Help me with my magical research. And while you’re at it, teach me magic too.”

“That much is nothing.”

“And there’s one more thing.”

Master’s eyes instantly turned cold. Silent pressure emanated from his bleak smile.

“Looking at you now, it seems our dear disciple doesn’t know her place. You want quite a lot.”