Chapter 78 The Last Chance
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Tester Life: Day 32, Morning – Room Sanada Yakumo
I woke up to morning surprise: Sayaka and Sheena were tag-teaming me with a double b**job. I took my time enjoying it before I finally came.
Watching the two of them take turns catching and sharing the rhythmic pulses of mys**men- there was something strangely sacred about it, even for a Monday morning.
”Morning,” I said to the two of them as they used their fingers to lick the white slurry off each other’s faces. I got out of bed earlier than usual so the three of us could shower together.
Since I’d spent all of yesterday having s*x with Sayaka and Sheena, I’d only summoned one Wall-Butt¹ last night.
The fact that Freya appeared as that first person makes me suspect this room is being bugged. Not that I have anything to hide – we’re basically locked in a dungeon cage anyway. It’s only natural we’d be watched. I’m starting to feel like a high-security inmate.
I’ve gotten pretty used to Freya’s Infinite Tentacles² by now, to the point where I can make her climax from the inside out in just two rounds.
Still, that sensation… the way her walls clamp down while the tentacles deep in her womb go absolutely haywire… it makes my knees feel like they’re going to give out every time.
She makes me feel that good without even looking me in the eye. If we ever actually did it face-to-face, I don’t think I’d ever get tired of her. Lanora’s the same way. Even Mia’s “healing” vibe is hard to pass up.
I was busy with those greedy thoughts while Sayaka brushed my teeth with her usual grin and Sheena shaved me with her typical blank stare. I finished up and stepped out of the bathroom first.
The girls still had to dry their hair and handle their “maintenance” – skin care and hair removal – so I headed to the living room to buy some breakfast.
I spent a few minutes in the Shop menu staring at a ‘Ring of Protection.’ It’s a magic item that claims to block every kind of attack. I wanted it, but 300,000 DP³ is a steep price. The girls eventually appeared, and the three of us sat down to eat.
After the meal, I took a sip of the coffee Sayaka brewed while some “Puppies of the World” DVD played on the monitor.
In the meantime, Sayaka and Sheena bagged the trash and tidied up the bedroom.
Once they were done, we lounged on the sofa for a bit before heading to the service room.
I buckled on my gear. While the girls were getting dressed, I stepped out to check the atmosphere in the plaza.
I spotted the shut-in group huddled away from the dungeon entrance, clutching their stomachs and begging.
Some of them were just sprawled out on the floor, seemingly too hungry to even sit upright.
It looks like they were cleared out from the entrance and the spring area during the break and corralled into one spot.
The other testers were giving them a wide range of looks – disdain, pity, or just straight-up shouting at them for being an eyesore. Those screams were coming from the kickboxing club guys. Typical. They’re always loud when they have a weak target.
I saw Oida and his group too.
They walked right past the shut-ins – the same people they tried to “save” before abandoning them to become beggars – with their faces twisted in scowls.
The shut-in students glared back at Oida’s group with pure resentment.
See? That’s what you get for helping.
Gratitude only lasts as long as the handouts. The moment the tap runs dry, they turn on you.
These people don’t need “mercy.” They need to be forced to choose: live or die.
That’s why I told Oida to set a hard deadline. Give them a window to find their resolve to fight, and if they can’t, toss them aside.
But the guy didn’t have the stomach to abandon them. He just kept dragging them along, and to top it off, he started skimming Magic Stones from the students’ stash.
He probably thought he could keep that grift going forever. But a teacher’s “authority” doesn’t mean shit in a place like this. The second the students caught him embezzling, they cut him loose. It’s so pathetic it’s actually funny.
In the end, he dumped them with nothing, right as food prices quadrupled. So much for “protecting the students.” The guy’s a total flake.
Anyway… this is becoming a problem. It’s definitely not good for Sayaka’s headspace to see this.
Time to do a little spring cleaning.
I turned my back on the plaza and went back inside.
I gave Sayaka and Sheena their orders and started roping together the Weapons and Armor from the service room.
It was a massive pile.
Over thirty iron knives, twenty clubs, and about thirty shields – a mix of small bucklers and wooden rounds.
As for armor, we had nearly fifteen sets of gauntlets, knee pads, leather vests, and trousers.
I stuffed what I could into the Magic Pouch and had the girls help me lug the rest out.
Sayaka and Sheena looked at me like I’d lost my mind, but they followed me out into the plaza. Every eye in the place immediately locked onto us – or rather, onto them.
I ignored the stares and walked straight into the middle of the shut-in camp.
I dumped the pile of gear on the floor with a heavy crash.
The metallic clang rang out through the entire plaza.
The shut-ins barely moved. They just looked up with vacant, puzzled expressions.
Only the four-eyed otaku in the front and his buddies seemed to wake up; their eyes went wide the second they saw Sheena’s rabbit ears.
I looked down at them and spoke.
”Yo. You losers ready to starve to death because your host kicked you off? I’m giving you one last chance. You can sit here and wait for the end, or you can choose to fight for the right to live.”
The look on their faces instantly shifted to terror.
I didn’t let up.
”If you fight, I’ll do my last job as the guard who was supposed to be looking after this school. I’ll train you enough to at least survive a Horn Rabbit⁴. This is it. Your last lifeline. If you miss this, nobody else is coming to save you. So, what’s it going to be? Starve in the dirt, or learn how to survive? Pick one.”
”T-that’s impossible! We can’t fight monsters!” one boy cried.
”I don’t want to die! Help us, Mr. Guard!” another pleaded.
”I can’t take any more pain, I swear it… verily-degozaru…” a third student whimpered.
”It’s too scary… we just can’t,” a boy sobbed.
”Is that so?” I said, my voice cold. “Then hurry up and starve.”
I spat the words at them. They went dead silent, staring at the floor as they started to cry.
I wasn’t done.
”If you’ve chosen to starve, then begging is banned starting tomorrow. If I catch you doing it, I’ll drag you into the lower floors and dump you in the dark. You’re a nuisance. Your existence is an eyesore.”
”That’s… that’s not fair, verily-degozaru!” the eccentric boy shouted.
”You’re a murderer!” someone else yelled.
”You’re an adult! Help us! You’re a staff member, aren’t you!?” another student screamed.
They were sobbing a second ago, but the moment I threatened their begging, they found their fight.
I let out a sharp, derisive snort.
”An ‘adult,’ huh? You were already thrown away by a teacher – an adult who actually had a responsibility to you, unlike a simple guard.”
”Ugh…” Oida muttered from the crowd.
”He’s a teacher… and he just left us…” a student whispered.
”Dammit! What are we supposed to do!?” one boy asked desperately.
”I can’t do it… I can’t fight…” another whined. “I always got failing grades in gym class…”
”I don’t want to die… somebody, please, help me,” one of them whimpered.
”That’s exactly why I’m giving you this final grace, isn’t it?” I barked. “I’ll ask you one last time. Choose! Do you rot here and starve, or do you pick up a blade and fight?!”
”Ugh… h-ugh…”
Abandoned by their teachers and driven into a corner by my prohibition on their begging, the shut-ins could only weep, their faces twisted in agonizing conflict.
They knew. They could feel the cold stares of the other Students; they knew no savior was coming for them. They knew that in a matter of days, starvation would claim them.
As I watched them wallow in their silent despair, an otaku-looking student in front of me gnashed his teeth. Through a veil of tears, his trembling hand reached out toward a weapon.
In that moment, his silhouette overlapped with my own-the day I was abducted, the day a cold weight of steel was first forced into my palm.
(If you want to live, take the gun and fight! If you can’t, then rot and die right here!)
Heh… what a joke.
I guess I’ve become just as much of a bastard as those guys were.
God, I hate this.
* * *
**Tester Life: Day 32, Morning – The Main Plaza**
**Tsukigase Sayaka**
”Choose! Do you rot here and starve, or do you pick up a blade and fight?!”
Master’s frigid ultimatum cut through the air, lashing against the Students who had remained hidden away.
As I watched a student reach for a weapon with a hand shaking from terror and grief, I saw it-a flash of sorrow across Master’s face, instantly masked by a hollow smile.
My chest tightened at the sight.
His eyes weren’t smiling at all.
They looked lonely… like eyes that had already accepted a world without hope.
No… if Master forces them into battle like this, he’ll never forgive himself. If one of them falls, if blood is spilled because of his words, Master will lose the very thing that makes him who he is.
I could feel it in my soul, a suffocating pressure in my heart.
Master is a kind man.
He was the one who gave Noda-senpai a dignified burial when he was left exposed as a warning. He was the one who gave the survivors the strength to look forward, healing their shattered hearts with his counsel.
Even while he tells Yuki-senpai and the others that he’s merely “utilizing” them, he’s always there, watching over them, worrying for them.
And he felt the same for these shut-ins.
I had always wondered about the mountain of gear in the service room. The knives, the wooden shields, the gauntlets, the greaves, the leather jackets and trousers… everything he’d pulled from those treasure chests. Master never discarded a single piece, making Rock-chan haul every scrap back to the plaza.
Even though the Shop wouldn’t pay a single copper for Weapons or Armor.
I couldn’t understand why he was hoarding it all.
But today, the truth became clear.
Master had been planning this since long before I was ever purchased. He intended to give a final lifeline to these shut-in Students who had squandered their DP⁵ and were left defenseless.
It was all to save them.
That’s why he was so furious with the teachers who tried to “help” them half-heartedly. They were interfering with his plan; they were stalling the only thing that could actually save these boys.
He couldn’t stand the cruelty of the teachers-giving those boys a false sense of security only to abandon them when things got dire.
And now, my kind Master… my Yakumo-san was trying to take all the hatred upon himself.
I won’t allow it! Yakumo-san has cared for them more than anyone. I won’t stand by while he kills his own heart to play the villain. I won’t let them hate him or resent him for his kindness!
If someone has to be the catalyst… then let it be me!
”Please! I beg of you, help us! We need your strength!” I cried out.
Before I realized it, I was on my knees. I pressed my forehead against the cold floor in a desperate prostration⁶ before the stunned shut-ins.
”Please, save the girls! They’re trapped by the succubi, trembling in terror, knowing they’ll be slaughtered if they aren’t sold! I’m begging you… please!”
I will be his shield.
I will protect Master-I will protect the man I love, my Yakumo-san!
* * *
**Tester Life: Day 32, Morning – The Main Plaza**
**Sanada Yakumo**
I was lost in the bitter irony of my own actions when Sayaka suddenly dropped into a bow, her voice ringing out in a frantic prayer to the cowards before us.
As I stood there, stunned by her sudden outburst, the hand of the otaku guy in front of me stopped.
He wiped his eyes with a trembling hand, then-smack!-he slapped both his cheeks with his palms. He looked up, eyes wide and blazing with a newfound light, and stood as he gripped a weapon with white-knuckled intensity.
”I-I shall do it-degozaru! To remain idle while delicate maidens are held captive by demons-and while a beautiful girl prostrates herself in plea-is to forfeit the title of a man-degozaru! We are checkmated anyway-degozaru! If our end is nigh, then I would rather fall in battle for the sake of a lady-degozaru! I refuse a death as pathetic as starvation-degozaru! Men! Are you with me?!”
”I… I’ll fight too! I’m going to save Leticia-chan!” one shouted.
”Me too! Let’s save everyone’s little sister!” another added.
”Damn it… ugh! I’ll do it! If I’m going to die anyway, I’d rather die a hero!” a third student cried.
”Guh… aaaaaah! To hell with it! I’ll fight! I’ll fight, dammit! If Tsukigase-san is out there risking her life, how can I keep acting like a coward?!”
”Yeah! Shit! Let’s do this! We’re going for broke! If we’re going down, let’s make the flowers of our lives bloom one last time!”
”I… I’m in! I’ll give them hell! I’ll kill them! I’ll kill them all!”
At the glasses-wearing student’s reckless, desperate battle cry, the men who had been the picture of despair just moments ago seized their weapons, their spirits catching fire.
Deep down, they were still terrified. I could see the tremors in their legs.
But unlike when I was the one threatening them, they now had the eyes of men willing to face the slaughter. They had the eyes of warriors.
Heh… I see. Yeah, that makes sense.
When a beautiful girl begs you to save some damsels in distress, there isn’t a man alive who can say no.
Well, look at that. I guess these guys had some balls after all.
The shut-ins began to swarm the armor, shouting and scuffling as they geared up.
Watching them, I felt the heavy weight on my chest suddenly lift.
I looked over at Sayaka. She was beaming at them, a radiant smile on her face as she told them, “Thank you so much.”
She saved me.
Sayaka saved me from myself.
You really are an incredible woman.
So incredible I don’t think I could ever let anyone else have you.
—
Summary:
Yakumo begins his 32nd day with his harem before confronting the starving shut-in students in the plaza. He discovers that the teacher Oida has abandoned them after a failed embezzlement attempt. Yakumo offers the group a harsh ultimatum: learn to fight or starve to death.
Sayaka realizes Yakumo’s hidden kindness in preparing gear for them and intervenes with a desperate plea to protect his morality. Her emotional appeal inspires the students to finally take up arms as warriors.
—
Trivia:
- Food prices have quadrupled since the start of the test.
- Yakumo suspects his room is being bugged/monitored by the dungeon.
- Oida was skimming Magic Stones from the students he was supposed to protect.
- Freya is a ‘Wall-Butt’ summon, which is a specific dungeon mechanic
- Yakumo has been hoarding low-value gear from treasure chests specifically for this moment.
- Yakumo’s trauma stems from being kidnapped and forced to use a gun.
- The shut-ins had already run out of DP, making them unable to buy their own weapons.
- The ‘Gozaru’ student is the one who flips the mood from despair to motivation
—
Character Insight:
Yakumo demonstrates his Darwinian philosophy, believing that only those willing to fight deserve to live, while Oida is revealed as a hypocritical and incompetent authority figure.
—
Behind the Scenes:
The use of ‘-degozaru’ by a student highlights the ‘chuunibyou’ archetype common in light novels—characters who act out anime tropes in real-life crises.
—
TL Notes:
Notes:
• Yakumo – A 25-year-old human male. He has facial scars, stab wounds, and gunshot scars from his time in a war zone. He works as a school guard.
• Sana – Black ponytail, hooded/sharp eyes, kyudo practitioner, average height.
• Sayaka – The academy’s premier beauty and a member of the swimming club. Currently classified as a Rank 1 Slave. She is seventeen years old and a virgin. E-cup. She has blue, short, boyish hair. Her best friend is Sanae.
• Sheena – Beastman Soul-less Doll with rabbit ears and a large chest. Flawless face, approx 165cm height, F or G cup, narrow waist, large hips, and a fluffy tail longer than a rabbit’s.
• Freya – A new ‘Wall-Butt’ succubus with long white hair, a high-class appearance resembling a high school student, and large breasts. She is currently trapped in a wall-style display for slave purchase.
• Lanora – The brown-skinned elder sister succubus.
• Mia – The comforting succubus. JC loli succubus; petite; wings and tail; small breasts (tiny tits); small pussy; initially shy, currently aggressive/lewd.
• Oida – A PE teacher with a large build and a plain, non-intimidating face. He was formerly an Olympic developmental athlete for Judo. He uses a greatsword in the dungeon and wears tattered jerseys.
• Noda – Vice-captain of the Baseball Club party. Catcher and tank.
• Yuki – A third-year high school student and leader of the Battle Sports Club. He is a national champion in medieval-style combat using swords and spears. He has a severe sister complex. He has hawk-like eyes and a polite but determined demeanor.
• Rock – A male Kobold summoned from a Magic Sealing Crystal. He has grey fur, round eyes, and a face resembling a Shiba Inu. He wears a leather jacket and a pilot’s cap
• Leticia – French exchange student, animation major 1st year, silver hair, small stature, slim, large breasts, 13 years old.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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