CHAPTER 23: DEN OF SUN’S FOLLOWERS

“Hey, hey. What are you looking at?!”

Noticing Wayne’s wandering gaze, Vera raised her fist and shook it threateningly before punching the pervert in the stomach. He let out a soft grunt. What a weak punch. She hit like she had no strength at all, and she called herself a mage?

How about you keep trying? I promise I won’t hit back!

“Senior Kristen has been busy lately,” Vera continued. “Her mentor suddenly assigned her a new task, and Veronica is busy with her papers and reports. So I’m here to give you the gift.”

“Don’t you have papers and reports to complete, too?” Wayne was puzzled. He remembered that Vera and Veronica were roommates, both approaching graduation. Could it be that this chick was a top student? Well, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched; given how well she had assumed the role of William, she had to be good at learning.

“Nope! I can just copy Veronica’s report and co-author her thesis. I just have to sign my name once she’s done.” She looked smug and completely shameless about it.

Wayne fell silent.

You’re checking all the boxes for a stereotypical busty airhead, girl.

Their graduation thesis wasn’t an ordinary university paper, but rather one for the inner department’s assessment of students’ magical studies. Joint authorship was allowed, and the practical exam was even more straightforward—destroy a den of heretics and submit a mission report, and they were done.

As Veronica’s roommate and best friend, Vera had dumped all the heavy work on Veronica under the guise of ‘trust’. As for the graduation thesis for the mundane side of the Evanston Women’s Academy? Well, a mage shouldn’t be held back by worldly concerns. She had brazenly asked Veronica to throw money at the problem and take care of it.

Listening to her shameless boasting, Wayne couldn’t help but cast a look of envy—no, disdain—her way.

How nice! He also wanted someone with money power to save him. Let him cling to Veronica’s coattails, too.

“So, where’s the gift?”

“At my place. Come. I’ll satisfy you, I promise.”

...Phrasing!

***

The gift Vera had prepared was at her place—more precisely, Wayne was supposed to choose the gift for himself.

Messenger birds!

Messenger birds were essential to a mage. Not only were they trusted companions for mages, but they could also be used to cast certain spells. The tradition had a long history, and even after the invention of the telephone, the tradition stayed.

On the taxi ride, Vera explained that the messenger bird was only part of the gift—a welcoming gift from the three of them to congratulate Wayne on awakening mana and becoming a promising mage apprentice.

The gift wasn’t expensive, but it was something many couldn’t buy even with money. Mages not from a formal education system could beg on their knees and still fail to acquire a messenger bird, having to spend a long time breeding their own. He was offered the choice of messenger birds that suited him from already trained ones. Fill out some forms, and it would be his.

Vera’s chatter was all over the place, with logical and chronological leaps as she followed her stream of consciousness. It took him quite a while to understand what she was saying.

The messenger birds were bred by the Three Goddess Alliance, only available to their devotees. Veronica, Vera, and Kristen had vouched for Wayne to let him have two birds now; One for day, and one for night, designed specifically for each use.

“Sounds like sanitary pads...” he muttered under his breath.

Once the taxi stopped, he followed Vera out and found himself on a bustling street in the Northern District of Londan. It was also called North Londan. While not the Central District, where elites gathered, the Northern District and the Western District housed the city’s middle class and were several times more prosperous than the Eastern District, where he resided.

The Northern District had incredibly wide streets. Even the sidewalks could accommodate three cars driving side by side. Just like all streets in Londan, though, there was a lack of greenery.

The Green Belt Act was passed two years ago for urban greening, but the city layout was already established, making it impossible to free up space for plants in the short term.

They stood before a gym with a simple, direct name: Power and Faith Bodybuilding Center. Wayne was surprised that gyms already existed in this era, and his surprise was compounded when Vera said that the gym was her home.

She opened the door with him following behind. A wave of heat immediately hit him, making his eyes water and nearly bringing him to tears.

So hot! It’s the dead of winter. Do they run a boiler inside?

He rubbed his eyes and saw a spacious gym filled with various old-school equipment—well, they were old-school by his standards. For this era, the machines filling the gym were undoubtedly state-of-the-art.

Pull-up bars, dumbbells, barbells, stair climbers, rowing machines, punching bags, bench press racks, a box ring... The room on the side was a fitness area for women, and further beyond that was a swimming pool, visible through the glass door.

A number of scholarly-looking fitness enthusiasts were pumping iron in the equipment area, each with a beefy trainer providing one-on-one coaching. They were wearing matching white tank tops and shorts with muscles so defined on full display that one couldn’t help but watch their words when talking to them.

Everyone was two meters tall and bald. The hair on their bodies wasn’t found on their heads.

In a boxing ring, two trainers were wrestling in nothing but shorts, rubbing muscles and mixing sweat, their bodies clashing and frotting with passion. Soon, the scarred, bald trainer gained the upper hand, using superior ground techniques to pin his opponent and lock him in a chokehold, dominating the practice match.

His thick, rock-solid arms slowly tightened like a python. His opponent’s face turned red, but he refused to surrender.

Around the ring, several other trainers and fitness enthusiasts watched, either cheering or cursing as they made bets and boasted about how they would break such a hold were they in the ring. They made such a ruckus that Wayne couldn’t hear the two fighters in the ring at all, but based on visual observation, he mentally supplied the squeaks of muscles rubbing together.

“I’m back!” Vera cheerfully waved at the ring.

“Oh, it’s Vera!”

“You’re home.”

“So early today? No school?”

The trainers gathered from all directions, enthusiastic and good-natured as they broke into matching beams that revealed their molars. Soon, so very soon, they completely circled Vera—and Wayne, too.

Violent waves of heat swept up to him, accompanied by a pungent smell that assaulted his keen nose. This wasn’t a good spot to be in for someone like him, and... he wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he had a feeling that these muscle-heads had a serious problem with him. Behind their seemingly honest smiles lurked terrifying demonic faces.

He shuddered. He shouldn’t linger. Just grab the gift and go.

Vera didn’t share the sentiment. Her family was so warm and friendly that she believed Wayne would come to love them all. She answered each of their questions, but soon got dizzy from the constant bombardment and was spun right out of the circle.

“Where did everyone go?” she asked in confusion when she was suddenly alone. “Wayne, come with me to... huh, where’s Wayne?”

He was in the trainers’ break room next door.

He had seen clearly how these brutes fool Vera with their masks of kindness, then, after leading her away, they showed their true faces and carried him to this room by crushing him between their pecs and biceps. His feet didn’t even touch the ground in the process.

“Kid, you seem close to Vera!”

“How did you meet her? Tell uncles about it.”

“What do you do for work, young man? How old are you? Have you graduated? Ever been beaten crippled?”

“Don’t worry. None of us is harmless!”

“Hehehe—”

(눈_눈)

The chorus of cackling left Wayne stone-faced. No wonder Vera was so convincing in her William persona—she had the perfect models in her life. He was more or less certain that these musclemen with steaming heat coming off them were all devotees of the Goddess of Sun.

So this was a base for Sun’s followers—no, given their looks and temperament, it would be more accurate to call it a ‘den’. Good thing that he had converted early to Moonlight, lying prostrate before Her translucent, laced, hollowed nightgown.

“Everyone, back off! This is Vera’s guest. What’s all this racket? What if you scare our guest?”

A pair of large paws parted the crowd, and the hand owner came up to Wayne with condensed heat. Even among this crowd of two-meter hulks, his impressive physique stood out like a crane among chickens. He cast a shadow on his own, making the 1.8 meters tall Wayne look like a dwarf in comparison.

“I’m Kien Dick, head trainer. Just call me Coach Dick. You’re Wayne, aren’t you, young man?”

Coach Dick grinned, his ghastly white teeth on display.

“Say something! Our boss is talking to you!”

“Shut up! I said to be polite to Vera’s guest!” Dick whirled around and threw a punch at a random person who happened to be standing behind him, not caring who had actually spoken. The unlucky guy flew into a metal locker, embedded into it.

(눈‸눈)

What, is this supposed to be the shovel talk?

Hah! You think I’ll be so easily scared?

Honestly, he had considered Vera a friend, but after this grand welcoming from her family, he promised to make Vera cry until she lost her voice in the future!

“Don’t mind them. They’re just fooling around. After all... this is the first time Vera’s brought a boy home, and you’re such a cute boy.” Dick patted him on the shoulder with a friendly smile, his scars writhing like centipedes.

∑(O_O;)

Wayne understood the unspoken threat perfectly. Honestly, he considered Vera a friend. Her family could rest assured that he wouldn’t move a muscle even if Vera was moving on top of him.

“Have you guys seen Wayne?”

A knock came from the break room door. Vera popped her head in.

“Haven’t seen him,” the men answered in a chorus.

“I’m here!” Wayne called out immediately and raised his hand, worried that the airhead would close the door if he were even a second late. He pushed through the crowd and hurried to Vera, but before he could take more than two steps, a thick arm wrapped around his neck from behind.

Dick leaned down for some face-to-face action, saying with a smile, “Vera, you’ve got an interesting friend. He’s funny. We all like him.”

“That’s great! I was worried that you guys would bully him!”

“We would never!”

“Impossible!”

“Hahaha, we aren’t bullies...”

“Exactly, exactly.”

Amid the laughter, Dick issued a warning only Wayne could hear: “Listen, kid. This pair of eyes is always watching you. You know what I’m talking about!”

“What are you whispering to him, Dick?” Vera frowned and pulled Wayne behind her—the little white rabbit spread her arms wide, shielding the big bad wolf.

“The coach said that I’m alright, and since I’m your friend, he’s going to give me a free membership so that I won’t have to pay when I come here,” Wayne spoke up to diffuse the situation.

“Really? Tell me the truth!” Vera was skeptical. She wasn’t stupid—just not that smart.

“Of course it’s true,” Dick said and nodded a few times, giving Wayne a look of approval and another smile. At least the kid knew what was good for him.

Wayne nodded back with a smile. Go ahead and laugh while you can, old man. Congratulations on being a grandfather a year in advance!