15 Chapter 15

[Editor: Sen_Ritsu]

"Yuuto~! Thank you very much~!" Tears cascaded down the grandmaster's face as he embraced the books on his desk, overwhelmed by nostalgia.

His secretary stood behind him, speechless and incredulous, while Shizu let out a resigned sigh.

However—

—Igarashi simply shook his head before turning his gaze away from the grandmaster.

His lips curled into a crazed, sinister smile as he silently thought, 'Enjoy the gift I left you, Grandmaster~'

"It did consume most of my resting time to gather all of these," Igarashi remarked with a shrug, directing an unspoken message to Yuuki that said: 'If you want more, you'll have to pay up!'

Yuuki, understanding the message, nodded in acknowledgment. "You don't have to worry; I'll hold up my end of the deal. I'll arrange to send you a batch—"

"—Every thirty days. And I'll provide feedback when the next shipment arrives in thirty days. Sounds good to me," Igarashi interjected, taking the words from Yuuki's mouth, who settled back into his chair.

"Deal. Sounds fair to me…"

"Moving on, I assume you've completed all your business here?" Yuuki asked, to which Igarashi confirmed with a nod.

"Yeah, everything's squared away. Now, I just need some time to formulate my own plan of action," Igarashi replied, sinking back into his seat with a sigh.

"I see. Should I arrange for adventurers to accompany you back?" Yuuki asked, turning his gaze to Shizu.

Igarashi parted his lips to speak first, however, before Igarashi could, Shizu interjected firmly, "There's no need for that, Yuuki."

[Editor's note: Shizu becoming a yandere?]

 Hearing his teacher's words, Yuuki sighed before breaking into a smile. "Alright then, it's Shizu-sensei after all."

Igarashi silently observed Yuuki before rising from his seat and stretching his body. "Anyway, I'm finished here. I'll be expecting the supplies we discussed."

"Don't worry, as long as you hold up your end of the deal, you'll receive them," Yuuki assured, picking up one of the books and waving it at Igarashi and Shizu.

Shizu rose from her seat and followed Igarashi out of the room. However, unbeknownst to Yuuki, Igarashi wore a sinister expression as he exited the office.

Before leaving, he cast a sidelong glance at Yuuki, who had a contented smile on his face.…

… Igarashi mentally remarked, 'Enjoy reading the forbidden sacred text—Metamorphosis, Bug, along with the other forbidden texts I compiled for you!'

His grin grew even more malevolent as he stepped through the doorway.

Igarashi compiled several sorts of traumatizing forbidden sacred text into one book in itself.

The book's cover and the first three pages has explicit warnings, cautioning the reader against proceeding further due to potential trauma, among other tags.

Knowing people like Yuuki, would obviously be wary, Igarashi has no doubt about this.

However, the curiosity will push Yuuki to reading that book Igarashi had hidden beneath the other books. He could even visualize how it would play out.

Igarashi could roughly guess the time from where Yuuki came from, Yuuki didn't know Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood exists, as evident when he asked, how the series ended or if it had ended.

So, there's no way in hell Yuuki would know the forbidden sacred text, especially the traumatizing one.

Since he gave Yuuki a whole lot—by sacrificing his nighttime of sleep—of sacred text. Igarashi guesses Yuuki would take his time to go through everything.

Additionally, Igarashi deliberately included numerous cliffhangers throughout the sacred texts to keep Yuuki eagerly anticipating for him to send him the next volume.

The equation was simple: cliffhanger leads to anticipation for the next volume, which prompts Yuuki to continue supplying him with necessary supplies.

This cycle would keep on repeating as Yuuki would read another sacred text, only to be left hanging yet again, driving him to eagerly await the next delivery.

And to top it all off, Igarashi had strategically placed the forbidden sacred text beneath the others, which would have more overall impact on the grandmaster!

"Muehehehe," Igarashi chuckled to himself.

"Yuuto... What did you do?" Hearing Shizu's voice stunned him for a moment. He turned to her, parting his mouth exasperatedly before shaking his head.

"I simply pulled a little prank on the grandmaster," Igarashi shrugged, excluding the fact that the prank would be traumatizing enough for anyone.

After all, he made sure to pick from the traumatizing categories. Shizu followed behind, simply staring at his back.

'If he says it's a little prank, then it shouldn't be anything serious,' she innocently thought.

Unbeknownst to her, her student had began to unleash hell, even Veldanava cannot contain without erasing the very concept of the forbidden sacred text.

—At the same time, in Ruberios unbeknownst to Igarashi.

Some days after he left.

The craftsman who had helped him create the little chessboard had become fairly popular in Ruberios.

There were even some craftsmen who had replicated the game and started plagiarizing it, something Igarashi wasn't prepared for.

Apparently, the man the craftsman had been playing the game with leaked it to another craftsman, who plagiarized it and is currently benefiting from it, even going as far as selling the board game at a high price.

Of course, this angered Igarashi's craftsman, who honestly blamed himself for being so careless.

However, there was nothing he could do. He could not report it either, as he didn't have any evidence that his client made the board game first.

And even now, it's been a few days since then, and he's still contemplating what he should do or what he should have done, but he couldn't come up with a solution.

He would just brace himself for whatever Igarashi would do to him.

And now… Currently.

"Haah, what am I going to do now?" The man pondered, rubbing his forehead, his brows furrowed as he thought.

It was highly likely that the Holy Knight would have already been aware of the new game that was going around and all. "Even if it's the "kid," it would be—"

By "kid," he's referring to Igarashi...

But then, if he remembers correctly, a statement the "kid" said before he left for Ingrassia. "If it's the "kid" he would surely have a solution."

And just as he was thinking about this, "Yo, old man, it's been a few days…? Or, was it a week or two?"

A voice rang out as the door to his shop opened. The man fixed his gaze, seeing a familiar figure, as a weary sigh escaped his lips.

"Haah, so you're back?" The man said, his expression that of someone who had resigned himself to his fate.

However, his attention was caught by the woman standing behind him, wearing a mask. 'That woman...' The man's eyes slowly widened.

'Is that... it, then?' he thought as his head hung low.

"Old man, what are you thinking?" Igarashi's eyes twitched as he moved closer to the counter, taking a seat on the stool in front of it.

It was somewhat of a shock for Igarashi when he returned from Ingrassia.

Passing through Ruberios' streets, his attention was suddenly drawn to a shop where two people were happily playing a board game he was oddly familiar with.

After some inquiry from the two men, Igarashi realized he messed up.

"I'm not going to blame you." In this respect, it could be said he was naïve, and now that it has already become popular with the locals, there was little he could currently do.

As for the culture plan, he would have to adjust his plans. 'I have already forgotten; this is a world where magic is common, other people plagiarizing my plagiarism would also be common.'

Even in the real world, plagiarism was common, so why shouldn't it exist in a medieval world like this?

"I was the careless one," Igarashi sighed, looking towards Shizu standing at the front door. He motioned for her to come and sit down on the stool beside him.

Shizu nodded and sat on a stool beside his'.

"So, what do you plan on doing?" The man nervously looked at Igarashi, who held his chin in thought, mulling it over.

"Reporting it would only further complicate matters, so, for the meantime, I'll do nothing."

"There are two instances here. First is to see how the church will react to this new trend. I can watch their actions and come up with a plan of my own. However, if they don't act against it, then I'll be going all out."

Igarashi's lips curled up as he calmly stated. If anything, this was even good for him. He would wait and watch the church's action against this new trend.

Depending on the church's movement, he'd do as he sees fit.

"Haha, I was already worried you'd hang my head on a stake," the man wryly smiled, as Shizu shot him a silent stare through her mask.

Chills ran down his spine lightly as he saw Shizu staring at him through the corner of his eyes.

He cleared his throat and fixed his gaze back on Igarashi as the man silently thought. 'As expected of the game master. Using the situation to his advantage is a good plan of action indeed.'

'And to think he has that famous Champion of Flames by his side, just who is this kid.'

In this moment, the man's admiration for Igarashi rose several levels.

At the same time.

The sacred mountain. Inside the Inner sanctuary.

A certain demon lord had also taken notice of the commotion stirring within her territory. "Those humans have come up with something interesting, haven't they?"

She mused, sitting on her throne, resting her head on her hand, her brows furrowed. "What could have been the cause?"

"Now then, what shall I do with this new interference?"