Bai Ming: Time was limited, materials were limited, and even if I stuffed two Holy Grails into my heart, I didn't want to use the Grails' magical energy for something like this.
You won. You should think about what will happen after the Humanity Foundation incineration ends, when those abstract Type-Moon humans turn a blind eye to Chaldea saving all of humanity and focus only on holding it accountable. Someone like you wouldn't put up with that kind of humiliation.
Bai Ming: There's nothing to think about. I already have a plan. Just tell me how to cure Mash.
Put your hand on her. I'll handle the rest.
Bai Ming nodded and said nothing more to the system. He did not leave the bathroom until he had washed himself clean and changed into fresh clothes.
When Olga Marie saw that Bai Ming had finished bathing, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Bai Ming had finished bathing and come out, which meant her life was safe too.
"Bai Ming! Cough, cough—Bai Ming."
Olga Marie called out excitedly, then realized that acting so frivolously in front of Mash, an "outsider," went against the serious and dignified noble etiquette she usually maintained. After coughing twice, she resumed her usual cold expression.
Seeing Olga Marie like this, Bai Ming could not help asking, "What are you pretending for?"
"Who's pretending?!"
Olga Marie bristled on the spot, but quickly returned to normal. She spoke slowly and seriously. "I won't ask too much about Mash, and I don't want you to tell anyone about sealing the Beast and the Demon God Pillars."
"I know."
As Bai Ming spoke, he sat down beside Mash. Mash's face instantly turned completely red, and she could not help thinking, Senpai had just taken a bath and sat right beside me. Even with some distance between us, I can still feel the warmth left by the hot bath. How embarrassing...
Seeing Mash blush so unnaturally, Olga Marie also began to blush. At first, she had not thought much of it, but considering how cold-blooded and absurd the world of Magi could be, perhaps treating Mash required her to give something in return.
Maybe it involved their bodies becoming entangled, or perhaps something else. In any case, it had to be something extremely private. Otherwise, Mash would not be blushing like this.
With an unnatural expression on her face, Olga Marie asked, "Do I need to leave?"
"Why would you leave?"
Bai Ming completely failed to understand why Olga Marie was blushing so mysteriously. Seeing the flush on her face deepen, he pressed, "Did you think of something weird?"
"N-No... did I?"
Seeing Bai Ming's earnest expression, Olga Marie could not help feeling annoyed with herself. This was Bai Ming! How could he do that to poor Mash in the first place?
Thus, no matter what, Olga Marie would not admit that she had just lumped Bai Ming together with those Magi who would do anything to reproduce or achieve their goals.
But Olga Marie became worried again. What was the price of curing Mash's body? Just as magic required magical energy as a price, and keeping Mash alive consumed Bai Ming's energy, making up for Mash's physiological defects had to come at a cost.
Bai Ming placed both hands on Mash's shoulders. Mash immediately felt warmth like sunlight flowing throughout her body. Whether it was her mental state or physical condition, everything was improving.
"This is all it takes."
"Senpai... I..."
The girl was perceptive. She could clearly feel death retreating far away from her. Before she could express her feelings, she heard Bai Ming speak.
Bai Ming released Mash and said, "Now, once you've adjusted, transform into your Spiritron Dress state and go to the training room. Double your usual training intensity. This is your punishment for letting your teammates in the rear get attacked during battle while acting as a shield soldier."
The girl's thoughts shattered.
Before she could share the joy of being reborn with the person she cared about most, that very person stuffed her into the training room.
"So, Olga Marie, what did you want to tell me?"
"What was the price of curing Mash?"
Olga Marie's face was full of worry. Once Mash had left the room, she no longer needed to pretend to be cold and strong. Naturally, she revealed her most vulnerable and uneasy side to Bai Ming, whom she trusted completely.
"The price? I don't know, and I don't care. Even if there is one, it probably won't be too severe." Bai Ming brushed aside the matter of the price. "Olga Marie, I have a question for you. If I became humanity's enemy—"
"I choose you."
Without the slightest hesitation, Olga Marie immediately made her choice. "If it really came to that, if I had to choose, I would stand with you. My life was continued by you. Magi are selfish, so when that time comes, right or wrong, I will stand by your side."
A Chinese Ghost Story (?)
Would she choose him?
Bai Ming glanced at Olga Marie and said nothing. He merely immersed his consciousness into his mind and began asking the system a few questions.
Bai Ming: Come to think of it, do systems have genders? Are you considered higher-dimensional lifeforms?
Gender does not exist for us. As for whether we are lifeforms, you could say we are and you could say we are not. After all, most systems exist only to assist their hosts. Unless the host calls us, we are absent by default.
Bai Ming: I see. Since you're idle anyway, go rob some materials from other worldlines for me.
That is possible. The Type-Moon world is a major world containing countless parallel worlds and parallel timelines. Sometimes different timelines even collide in order to survive. It would not be a problem for me to gather a few things.
After saying that, the system stopped replying to Bai Ming.
Bai Ming then looked at Olga Marie, who appeared to be reading but had clearly not put her heart into the book.
What Olga Marie had just said already revealed her romantic feelings, but she herself seemed unaware of them.
"By the way, why are you reading books like Legend of the White Snake?"
"Oh, that..." Olga Marie's expression turned subtle. "I felt that I owed you more and more, so I asked Akuta Hinako how I could repay you. Then she recommended these books to me."
"Oh—" Bai Ming gave them a quick glance. "Every single one is about offering oneself in marriage... Though considering it was Akuta Hinako, it's not hard to understand why she recommended that kind of thing. I'm deeply sorry that that Hebei girl caused you confusion."
"Why are you apologizing for Akuta Hinako's behavior?"
"Because it's too stupid."
Olga Marie could not tell whether Bai Ming meant her, Akuta Hinako, or both of them.
Olga Marie admitted that she was not particularly clever—otherwise, during Singularity F, she would not have nearly forgotten what Bai Ming told her and almost run toward Lev Lainur Flauros when he was obviously acting strangely.
Bai Ming sat opposite Olga Marie, his tone melancholy. "I feel like leaving idiots alone will cause huge trouble. If I were Akuta Hinako, I would have recommended A Chinese Ghost Story to you. After all, you're a female ghost now, just like Nie Xiaoqian."
"Wait..." Olga Marie memorized the name Bai Ming had mentioned before asking, "A Chinese Ghost Story... It isn't some story about a romance between a human and a ghost, is it?"
"Mm-hm~ It is."
"Ugh..."
Olga Marie's face turned bright red. Her pearly teeth bit gently into her lower lip, and the conflicted expression on her face kept changing as if she were struggling internally. Finally, Olga Marie shouted, "Ah... honestly! That wouldn't be impossible!"
"Huh?"
Bai Ming had no idea what inner struggle Olga Marie had undergone. After all, the people in Chaldea who could not be honest with themselves were always good at imagining nonsense and blushing for no reason. Whether it was Olga Marie, Da Vinci, or even Roman, they all loved overthinking.
Seeing Bai Ming's utterly confused expression, Olga Marie's face reddened even further. She immediately shouted, "Do I really have to say it myself? Won't you leave me even a little dignity? No matter what, I'm still a girl who has never dated even once! Even though the current situation isn't suitable for properly falling in love or going on dates... at the very least, show some of the manners a gentleman should have!"
After shouting, Olga Marie muttered, "Though if I'm just a soul now, I probably don't need to bathe, right?"
Romance, dates, manners, bathing—once those words connected in his head, Bai Ming finally understood what the cryptic Olga Marie wanted to do to him.
"What are you trying to do? Have spiritual sex with me?!"
"Wasn't it you who mentioned A Chinese Ghost Story?" Olga Marie glanced at the tightly shut dormitory door, let out a long sigh, and spoke with a touch of resignation. "You stare at my legs every time we have a meeting, don't you? That means you actually already..."
"You're so cringe."
"I..." Olga Marie paused, then retorted unwillingly, "No matter what, I count as a beautiful girl, don't I?"
"From the perspective of an unmarried young woman, yes. But in terms of age, Director Olga is already over eighteen, isn't she?"
Bai Ming said, "Could it be that Director Olga intends to give me Chaldea as a dowry along with the last of her youthful girlhood? Is that it? Once you agree, there's no room for backing out. With me, there's only widowhood—there's no such thing as breaking up."
"That's unexpectedly heavy!" Olga Marie complained, then asked what concerned her more. "Since you lived from King Arthur's era until now—"
"It seems the Director has become a qualified straight man too. But sorry, I'm genuinely the same age as you. I was merely active at different points in time for certain reasons."
Bai Ming explained, "As for Morgan, whom you want to ask about—sorry, I don't know whether she is dead or alive. But considering that useless dream-demon Merlin is still alive and well, Morgan is probably in the Inner Sea of the Stars, watching* me deal with Singularities like a rat in a gutter."
Olga Marie's previous embarrassment and shyness were displaced by Bai Ming's words about being active at different points in time, as well as the information about Morgan. Hearing him compare Morgan to a gutter rat left her with complicated feelings, and she asked:
"Is it really okay to speak of your wife that way? Or do you not love her at all?"
"Morgan—"
Bai Ming drew out the word. "My feelings for her and Lily are complicated. They cannot be explained by any single emotion. But let's not talk about her."
In truth, Bai Ming really wanted to complain. Ever since Morgan's maidenhood ended at his hands, Morgan's *desire had become utterly overwhelming. It only subsided after they had more children. Moreover, when the two of them were still merely pretending to get along, Morgan had inexplicably become a masochist. If she overheard him scolding her, she would instead be delighted.
It was as if the more he scolded her, the more she felt he cared about her.
But he had no one to complain to about such things, so he could only keep it bottled up inside.
"All right."
Olga Marie put down the book in her hand, her tone firm. "I've made up my mind. Once an Animusphere makes a decision, there is never any thought of changing it. But I don't have a body now, so it doesn't count as saying goodbye to my girlhood, does it?"
"Mm, I suppose not?"
With a single sentence from Olga Marie, Bai Ming's attention shifted directly from her to Akuta Hinako. Bai Ming had a somewhat perverted question he wanted Akuta Hinako to answer.
Old Bai's Incomprehensible Question
Bai Ming was a man of action. Thus, just as Olga Marie, having made up her mind, was about to put it into practice, Bai Ming formed a hand seal and put her away.
Olga Marie cried out in surprise. If this were anywhere else, with any other Magus, he would have pinned her to the bed without hesitation. Why did Bai Ming have no such impulse at all?
For a moment, Olga Marie began wondering whether she herself—
"I don't want to have *dreams. It would be better to wait until you have a body for something like that."
As Bai Ming spoke, he left the room and headed straight for Akuta Hinako's room.
At the moment, Bai Ming and Akuta Hinako's relationship was in a very subtle state. It was as if they had made up, yet also as if they had not. But once Bai Ming asked this question, their subtle relationship was completely shattered.
"Old Akuta, I want to ask you something pretty private. Is that okay?"
Bai Ming barged into the room so casually that he startled Akuta Hinako, who was reading. She then looked at him suspiciously and remained silent.
After a while, Akuta Hinako sighed and said, "Ask."
"Whenever you blow yourself up and reconstruct your body, does that thing get reconstructed too?"
"What thing?"
Akuta Hinako's mind was full of question marks. It was the first time this straightforward man, Bai Ming, had spoken to her in riddles, and she found it quite unfamiliar. His embarrassed expression made it even stranger.
Bai Ming coughed twice and said awkwardly, "You know, the wheat teeth."
"What wheat teeth..." Akuta Hinako instinctively retorted, but a memory so ancient it could not have been older resurfaced in her mind. Her face immediately flushed red—despite being over two thousand years old, her skin was still thin. She had not reached the point of being shameless in old age.
Wheat teeth came from the Classic of the Plain Woman, a traditional Chinese medical book about bedroom cultivation techniques.
The so-called wheat teeth referred to the membranous tissue at the junction of a woman's vaginal opening and perineum.
Akuta Hinako was truly flustered. She had never expected Bai Ming to ask such a heaven-defying question at a time like this, and she snapped in embarrassment and fury, "Why the hell would you think about something so useless?!"
"Look, every time you blow yourself up, you turn into a cloud of blood mist. Nothing is left. And every time you regenerate your body, you don't properly regenerate it, so that's why I had this question."
Akuta Hinako thought, Calling this bastard a pervert harassing me doesn't fit, because there isn't even a trace of harassment in his eyes. But if he isn't harassing me, he shouldn't have asked this question in the first place. Still, looking at him, he clearly won't let it go until he gets an answer. I should just brush him off.
Therefore, Akuta Hinako suppressed the urge to kick Bai Ming and answered, "Yes."
"Oh."
Bai Ming's flat reaction and the way he turned to leave immediately made Akuta Hinako furious. She grabbed him directly and demanded, "That's all you have to say? 'Oh'?"
"What else?"
Bai Ming looked utterly confused. Was he supposed to ask for some inspection of her jade gate opening and closing?
Akuta Hinako asked in confusion, "Aren't you going to mock me for being an old virgin or something?"
Bai Ming did not understand. "We aren't arguing right now. Why would I mock you?"
Akuta Hinako released Bai Ming. Seeming to realize something, she turned her face away. "You have principles, at least. If there's nothing else, get out."
"Don't tell me I've scolded you so much that you get ** off from being scolded by me?"
Bai Ming looked disgusted. Akuta Hinako's willow brows rose sharply as she shouted, "Get out! Give you a little sunlight and you start shining."
"Crazy. When I scold you, you get angry. When I don't scold you, you feel like something's missing."
Bai Ming shot her a glance, then left Akuta Hinako's room. Akuta Hinako clicked her tongue in irritation, locked her door, then sat curled up against the head of her bed with her knees together, wrapping both arms around her legs as she pondered.
She wondered whether she truly desired Bai Ming's mockery and insults from the bottom of her heart.
If she did not desire them, why would she have asked something so incomprehensible just now?
No... no, what Bai Ming asked was even more incomprehensible.
Before you continue