Volume 1, Chapter 58 – Club Presentation

The Holy Light gradually faded, and Stella withdrew her finger.

Sensing that Lainia’s meridians had completely recovered and had even become tougher than before, she nodded inwardly.

She had to admit that although the methods in The Asrita Scripture sent by the Inquisitor seemed a little crude, practically as though they were trying to work someone to death, the results were immediate.

According to the nineteen paths of ascetic training recorded in The Asrita Scripture, Lainia could not even be considered a beginner yet. But after nearly breaking down from the intensive training, followed by healing with highly pure Holy Light, her frail meridians had actually widened by a tiny amount.

As long as she persisted with high-intensity ascetic training, given enough time, Lainia would become her most reliable helper!

Her future was promising. Truly promising.

“How do you feel?” Stella stood up and asked with concern.

Lainia struggled to climb to her feet. The pain receded like the tide, replaced by an unprecedented and unfamiliar sensation that filled her body.

She experimentally clenched her fist.

Crack.

Her knuckles produced a crisp pop, and a kind of wild strength was gradually taking shape within her body.

She had grown stronger.

Just one afternoon of torment, just one blasphemous infusion of Holy Light, had allowed her to break through and regain command of the strength she had once possessed.

After becoming a demon’s prisoner, how long had it been since she had experienced this solid sense of control?

Yet Lainia felt no joy. Instead, it plunged her into even deeper worry.

She had grown stronger. That much was true.

But ultimately, the reason was still the silver-haired succubus standing before her.

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She was not merely enslaving her body. She was even trying to remake her, forging a holy nun into a deadly weapon that belonged only to her.

“…So this is your objective?”

Lainia lowered her eyes, her voice trembling.

“Objective?”

Stella dusted off her skirt and nodded as though it were only natural.

“Of course it’s to make you a little stronger. You’re too weak right now. If you don’t become a little more durable, how are you supposed to be useful later?”

After all, she would still need Lainia’s help with the theft plan and her work as a teaching assistant for Defense Against Holy Magic.

If Lainia shattered the moment someone touched her, Stella would have to go through the trouble of digging a hole and burying her. What a hassle.

But to Lainia’s ears, those words were practically the most straightforward declaration a demon could make.

——If you aren’t a little more durable, how are you supposed to endure the even more brutal ways I’ll toy with you in the future?

That was clearly what Stella was implying.

“I understand… Master.” Lainia did her best to make her voice sound obedient.

“Good. As long as you understand.”

Stella looked with satisfaction at her colleague, who had finally gotten the point.

No matter what, as long as she was willing to cooperate with the training, that was a good thing.

As for calling her Master every other sentence, she could do whatever she wanted. Lainia was probably only saying it because, in the eyes of the other succubi, she was still Stella’s slave.

Since Lainia had already grasped the essentials, Stella could just let her perform the ascetic training on her own.

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If she, a succubus genius, had to personally supervise her every single day, how was she supposed to get anything else done?

“You remember the whole routine, right? Weighted training, sword swings, ice-water baths, vine meditation…” Stella raised one finger and waved it through the air. “Starting tomorrow, you won’t need me supervising you. Complete one full round by yourself every day, then come to the dorm and find me so I can heal your injuries. Don’t even think about slacking off. I’ll check.”

“…This is going to be my daily routine?” Lainia’s face turned ashen.

‘This hellish torment was only her daily routine?’

‘No, no, no. No matter what anyone says, I won’t do it!’

One day was still manageable, but if this continued, she really would die from overwork.

She was only an apprentice nun. She completely lacked the powerful self-discipline of a Saintess.

She would just slack off a little and go through the motions.

“Then it’s settled.”

Stella let out a long breath.

Finally, that was taken care of.

She had properly arranged everything for this troublesome compatriot, increasing Lainia’s chances of survival while also securing herself a free future fighter, and she could even report back to the Inquisitor.

Perfect.

Now she could finally think of some way to deal with the trouble caused by Sanctity of the Heart.

Stella clapped her hands. She had just been about to tell Lainia that today’s intensive training was over and that she could return to the dorm to rest when she saw an emerald-colored figure running toward them, panting heavily.

“Mentor Stella!!”

“Patolize?”

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Stella recognized her at a glance.

What was she doing here?

“Mentor Stella! Huff… So you were here. You really made me search everywhere!” Patolize was carrying a huge stack of documents in her arms. “You weren’t in the dorm, so I had to ask several students before I finally found out where you were… Huff, I’m exhausted.”

She glanced at the half-dead Lainia on the ground.

“Wow, you’ve already started torturing your human slave this early? As expected of Mentor Stella. Your diligence is truly moving!”

“Uh… Is something the matter?”

“Did you forget? Today’s a big day!”

Patolize quickly flipped open the proposal in her hands and held it out in front of Stella.

“Today is the first club activity for Stella’s Spiritual Flogging Club. No matter what, as the club president, you absolutely can’t be absent.”

“…Huh?”

Stella’s brain stopped working for a second.

‘Spiritual Flogging Club?’

‘Oh. Right.’

It was that strange club whose application Patolize had filled out for her without permission, with a name that sounded like some kind of interrogation organization, but was actually… probably some sort of psychological counseling room?

That thing had actually been approved?

“No matter what, as the club president, you absolutely can’t be absent.”

“We might not have many members yet, but everyone’s waiting for you to personally host our very first club presentation.”

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Patolize glanced at her pocket watch. Completely ignoring Lainia standing nearby, she grabbed Stella by the sleeve without giving her any chance to object and cheerfully declared,

“It’s almost time. Please come with me, President!”

Stella felt her vision go dark.

‘A presentation?’

She had absolutely no idea this was happening. She hadn’t prepared anything at all…

Was she supposed to preach about the Lord in front of a bunch of succubi?!

“Wait! Stop pulling me! I seriously haven’t prepared anything—!”

Stella’s protests gradually faded into the distance.

“Spiritual Flogging Club… club presentation…” Lainia murmured.

Just hearing the name was enough to imagine what kind of evil gathering it must be, one that blasphemed the soul itself.

That demon had just finished tormenting her, and now she was going to teach even more demons her evil ideas?

“I absolutely cannot… let her out of my sight.”

Lainia gritted her teeth.

She had to follow them and see.

She had to see exactly what kind of even more terrifying conspiracy that silver-haired Archsuccubus intended to devise inside this so-called club!