My Taboo Academy

Biggest flaw: I couldn’t use it on myself.

"Anyway, a dungeon this size is easy for the two of us. Ready?"

"Are we going to get covered in blood?"

Aria grinned.

"If we finish fast we might have time for another run."

"Another round. Perfect!"

Final strategy: pure reckless charge.

"Haahh!"

Aria stormed into the cave.

"Kiiirk!?"

"Keeek! Retreat!"

"Retreat!!"

Goblins started jumping everywhere.

"I’ll leave the rear to you, Ren!!"

"On it."

*Clatter.*

[Malfunction!!]

Oh come on!

The Glock’s slide locked open and refused to return.

"Damn it...! Captain, cover me!"

"Figure it out yourself, idiot!"

Once we got out of here I was buying a revolver.

Technique 83 had completely betrayed me.

"Cackle!"

"Screech!"

"Don’t come any closer!"

Goblins swarmed toward me while Aria was busy cutting down the ones in front.

"Keek!"

Screw it!

I swung the broken firearm like a club.

"Personality-Betraying Gunkata!"

"Splurt!"

The goblin I smashed crumpled, spewing jelly.

I told you not to come closer.

The martial arts I learned from **Liliana** proved surprisingly useful.

Dodging surprise attacks.

Countering with fists and feet.

"Turn into a Fleshlight."

Even the finishing line was clean.

[Dungeon Cleared]

[Contribution: 91% MVP – Aria Nakamori]

[Others: Ren Asahi]

"..."

Contribution percentage didn’t matter that much. The result was what counted.

I had still performed decently on my own.

"A Magic River appeared."

"Magic River?"

"Special material."

When I walked over, a radiant green gem the size of a fist glowed brilliantly in Aria’s hand.

"Ren Asahi. You don’t know how to process magical materials, do you? I’ll teach you today."

"Does that mean we’re still in the same squad?"

"...Huh? When did I say I was leaving?"

I stared at her while she pretended to be nonchalant.

"I thought if you stayed quiet it meant you were done. You kept saying you were only looking after us for no real reason."

"...Looking at you, Ren Asahi... I feel like I can’t just walk away."

"So we’re staying together? You’re not leaving the squad?"

"Why do you need such a clear answer? It’s embarrassing."

She kept avoiding my eyes, so I took her hand again.

It was soft and warm—hard to believe this was the same hand that swung a sword so cleanly.

"...You’re grabbing my hand again?"

She didn’t pull away. If anything, she seemed not to dislike it.

"I’m holding on so you can’t leave."

"You said you’d leave if I tried to manipulate you inside the dungeon."

"We already cleared it. And we didn’t do anything inside, so that promise is invalid."

"...."

She squeezed back, just a little.

Aria held my hand with quiet strength.

I felt like I might get hard just from this...

Shyly, she glanced at my face and mumbled,

"That’s... well..."

We stood there holding hands while the dungeon began to crumble around us.

That single minute of silence felt like the most enchanting moment in the entire world.

---

"Alright, workshop next."

The moment we stepped onto the training ground, Aria quickly pulled her hand free from mine. Was she worried someone might see us holding hands so casually?

"We still have time left. Not going to train more?"

"First I’m teaching you how to use Masugang."

It had been a while since my last proper hunter lesson with Aria.

"You said it’s a special material, right? Does it drop often?"

"It’s a material that carries magical properties. Simply put, it enhances equipment."

"Wow."

So basically an enhancement stone?

"One important thing: Masugang can only be refined at facilities officially recognized by the country. Do it anywhere else and you’ll get in serious trouble."

"Recognized institutions?"

"Hunter Association, Hero Association, places like that. High-ranking academies also have their own refining facilities."

This was a high-ranking academy, wasn’t it? How had the original Ren even gotten in here? Realistically it should have been impossible. Another one of Lustbound’s mysteries.

"So they do the actual enhancements there?"

"Some people reinforce their uniforms, but most of the time it’s weapons."

"Of course it’s weapons."

Men are weapons, after all.

"Excited, Ren?"

"This is peak content for me."

I could never resist equipment upgrades.

"True... a D-rank like you wouldn’t normally even see Demonic Beast River materials."

"Don’t act so superior just because you’ve seen more."

"I have seen a lot. Hehe. My Aria is ranked A, after all."

"What do you mean ’my Aria’? Is that the name of the sword?"

She patted the sword at her waist with clear pride.

"This is my treasure. I couldn’t use it during the scarecrow evaluation though..."

"Restrictions?"

"You’re not allowed to bring specially refined weapons when measuring against scarecrows."

Probably to stop people from bringing overpowered gear and skewing the results.

"An A-rank weapon is higher grade than its owner."

"It’s proof I’ve worked harder than most. Weapons and armor like this are called masterpieces, no matter the type."

「Masterpiece」

So Aria’s masterpiece was literally named ’Aria.’

Mine was... the Glock?

’Still not sure.’

More than anything, the earlier malfunction still pissed me off.

I thought practice would fix the reliability issues, but it failed at the worst possible moment. Maybe I should start reinforcing a revolver instead.

While I was thinking, we left the training ground and boarded a large elevator heading underground. Dozens of students from different years packed in with us.

"We’re going to Workshop A. That’s where the Demonic Steel refining facility is."

The elevator descended slowly. The academy’s basement levels were packed with equipment dedicated purely to refining and crafting. Furnaces and workshops lined the corridors.

"This is Workshop A."

"You could call it the heart of Veyron. Come on."

"Alright."

Aria took my hand again and pulled me forward. Soon we entered a massive blacksmith’s forge where a female smith was hammering metal. The scale of the place was impressive.

"Miss Reid, we’re here to request Demonic Steel refinement."

"Who’s the handsome one?"

"I’m Ren Asahi, member of Aria’s squad."

"A squad? Aria, you’re actually in one of those?"

"Just the people I drag around the academy with me."

Reid looked me up and down carefully.

She was tall with a solid, muscular build and an intimidating presence.

All unnecessary fat had been burned away by hard labor, yet she still kept full breasts and a sexy, well-tanned figure.

A cigarette dangled from her lips as she worked, matching the short bleached bob perfectly.

"You use a gun?"

"Ah... yes."

"Aria, you’re raising a gun user?"

"He seems to like it."

"Tsk tsk..."

...

I was already being pitied just for choosing a gun build.

"Is it really that bad?"

"Did you pick it knowing the downsides?"

"Well... I figured you’d know better than me, older sister."

"Older sister?"

Reid threw her head back and laughed loudly.

"Ahahaha! Yeah, I know plenty. Choosing a gun is like a hippopotamus trying to eat an entire demon river. Wasteful as hell."

"..."

The enhancement efficiency was terrible. That much I already understood.

"On top of that, firearms take a heavy finesse penalty inside dungeons. Even if you pour resources into them, the improvement is minimal."

Aria added from the side.

"What do you mean?"

"Guns get weaker inside dungeons. Swords don’t have that problem."

"Seriously?"

"If a sword gains +5, +10, +15 in sequence from monster power, a gun only gains something like +8, +9, +10, +11."

Hmm...

Should I restart my build at this point?

Was it already too late?

"Don’t look so depressed. Let’s rethink this before you dump demonic power into it."

Still, I believed guns had their own value.

There was something appealing about not having to get up close and personal with demons.

Besides...

’Enhancement isn’t completely impossible, right?’

If a pistol could be reinforced like a monstrous weapon, wouldn’t it start showing unexpected results?

"I still like guns."

"You sure? Most people avoid them because the return on demonic power investment is garbage."

"That’s exactly why I like them."

Other people don’t use them. That makes it cooler.

Isn’t that stylish as hell?

I was the type who always got hooked on the unconventional options in RPGs.

"I want to do the things other people avoid."

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Reid laughed so hard her whole body shook.

Aria shot me a look that clearly said *please make a rational choice*, but...

"Please reinforce my Glock ’Judgment of Light.’"

"How much magic essence did you bring?"

"Just one goblin essence."

"Ah, what are you supposed to do with that? If you want to shoot actual beams you’ll need at least 30,000 B-rank magic stones."

"You can shoot beams with 30,000?"

Incredible!!

Reid clutched her stomach and laughed even harder.

"Ah ha ha ha ha! Where did you dig up such an entertaining kid, Aria?"

"..."

Aria’s face turned red with secondhand embarrassment.

"Is it pure naïveté... or just plain stupidity..."

"Why not, Aria? They say 30,000 lets you shoot beams. That’s insane!"

Could I fire a personality-dissolving beam or something?

"How are you supposed to gather that much essence? Are you the student council president?"

"Liliana? Does the student council president shoot beams?"

"Our academy president’s masterpiece is the Devil Suit. It’s famous, supposedly powered by 27,000 magical essences."

Unbelievable...

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