漫画大王

Chapter 185

“Why are you suddenly pretending to worry about him? And I really didn’t hit him!” I explained.

“Sure, sure.”

“I’m telling the truth! I really didn’t hit him!”

No matter how much I insisted, though, no one believed me.

Anyway, I was somewhat dumbfounded because I never expected Harriet to try to stop me after seeing what I was doing. The three hopeless idiots had already sneaked back to their rooms, so it was just Harriet and I left in the lobby.

“Why would I worry about them? I just don’t want to see you acting like that. It’s annoying.”

So it wasn’t about the kids that were being bullied, but about my actions themselves. That was kind of sad in its own way.

Harriet’s personality had changed so much that she couldn’t be compared to her character in the original story. The Harriet who despised commoners and did not consider those of low status as humans seemed to have disappeared completely.

It seemed that being involved with me had forcefully wiped out her passive disdain for commoners.

“What is it this time?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why did you act out again? What got on your nerves this time?”

“Oh.”

Harriet seemed genuinely curious about the reason, and believed that I wouldn’t have done it without cause.

“It’s nothing much. I just asked him where he got beaten up and why.”

“... Got beaten up?”

“Yeah! I’m telling you, I didn’t beat him up!”

“You didn’t beat him up?” Her eyes clearly showed that she still didn’t believe me.

She was so sure in her judgment of me. Well, it couldn’t be helped since I was basically the boy who cried wolf. In situations like this, no one would ever believe me no matter how much I tried to explain things.

“It seems like he got into a fight with the Orbis Class and got beaten up. All I did was tell him not to pick fights randomly...”

“... The Orbis Class?”

“Yeah. It seems he lost a practice duel, got annoyed, and picked a fight after class, only to get beaten up by them.”

Harriet seemed a bit dazed, as this was very different from what she had thought was going on.

“Why does he act like that?”

“If you ask a leaky bucket why it’s leaking, it’ll just tell you it’s because it’s leaky. There’s no other reason why.”

“... What does that even mean?”

“It just means he’s that kind of person.”

Harriet seemed to think Erhi was even more pathetic for picking a fight after being beaten and then being beaten again.

A guy who went around getting beaten up and had a terrible personality...

Harriet’s opinion of Erhi seemed to drop even further.

She crossed her arms and glared at me.

“... Come to think of it, you’re the same kind of person.”

“... What?”

“You pick fights anywhere and charge right in if you get annoyed.”

“... So what?”

She seemed convinced that if I ever ran across the Orbis Class, I’d definitely start a fight as well. She believed that, given my personality, I’d end up either beating someone up or getting beaten up, just like Erhi.

“... There was actually a similar incident today,” I said.

“... What? Did you get into a fight already?” Harriet asked.

“Not a fight! Okay, I know I might look like a crazy person who throws punches at the slightest provocation, but we were just having a practice duel this time!”

When I explained how I had already had a practice bout with a member of the Orbis Class and had won an overwhelming victory, Harriet seemed to be taken aback.

“... Alright, I guess it wasn’t really a fight then.”

“See? It might surprise you, but I actually do care about manners and appearances. It’s hard to believe, I know.”

Harriet sighed. “But you didn’t use your abilities from the beginning, lost the first round on purpose, and then used them to win everything else, right? I know you did that out of spite.”

“... That’s not true.”

‘How does she know me so well? She just accurately described how messed up my personality is!’

As Harriet and I continued our conversation in the lobby, someone called out to me from behind.

“Reinhart.”

“Oh, hey.”

It was Ellen, who had changed out of her uniform and into training clothes.

She gestured towards the training ground with her chin, asking me to go train with her.

“You know you only won because you used your abilities, and without them, you’d have been completely beaten, right?”

“I know, alright? I’m not being overconfident.”

“You are overconfident, relying on your powers.”

‘Damn.’

Anyway, it was training time.

“I’m gonna go now, okay?” I told Harriet.

“Hm? Oh... okay,” Harriet said, nodding absentmindedly.

***

The training session did not go on for very long, since I had something I needed to give Ellen that I couldn’t the day before.

“... Are these all gold coins?”

“Mhm.”

Ellen looked surprised at the enormous pouch of gold coins that I had brought to her room.

“These are all yours—one thousand one hundred and eighty gold coins, to be exact. Count them if you want,” I added.

“It’s too much trouble.”

To be fair, it did seem like a hassle to count them all. While Ellen appeared astonished at the amount of gold, she didn’t seem particularly pleased. She was probably just wondering what food to buy with it.

From a materialistic point of view, the true gains from the Dark Land weren’t the cursed sword or the magic earrings I’d given Harriet, but all this money.

An astounding amount of money, equivalent to roughly a billion won...

However, since we were in the Temple, an environment where our food, clothing, and shelter were completely provided for, neither Ellen nor I were significantly moved by the money. Ellen picked up and put down the heavy pouch of gold coins repeatedly, trying to find a place to stash it.

She finally looked at me with a grumpy expression. “It’s just luggage to me.”

To Ellen, this enormous sum of money seemed like nothing more than a burden.

“Fine, give it to me then.”

“No, I won’t.”

Ellen shook her head, rejecting my attempt to make a quick buck with a single remark.

‘Tch, and here I thought I might get some easy money.’

Ellen stared intently at the pouch of gold coins. Perhaps she was thinking that money, if left untouched, was no better than a pile of barley corn left out in the open.

***

Dinner time came...

The main difference this time was that Ellen had started to eat with the other girls, and I was also included in their party. Of course, Ellen rarely talked or reacted much, and most of the conversation was carried by Harriet and Riana, with Adelia chiming in now and then.

I wasn’t the type to initiate conversations with them either, so unless someone spoke to me first, I stayed mostly silent. The girls had learned that trying to get anything substantial out of me was akin to putting a coin into a broken vending machine, so they didn’t bother talking to me much.

But then, something unusual happened.

“I have something I want to ask.”

Ellen had spoken up first for a change. She wasn’t addressing me, but looking at Riana and Harriet instead.

“Sure, ask away.”

“It’s the first time Ellen’s asking something. Yeah, what is it?”

Both seemed intrigued, since it was unusual for Ellen to ask questions.

Ellen tilted her head, as though in deep thought.

“You both have a lot of money, right?” she finally said.

“Money? Uh... yeah, I guess. Harriet too, probably.”

The Duke of Granz had estates all over the continent. And Harriet, she was more like a princess than a noblewoman of the Grand Duchess of the Principality of Saint-Ouen.

Asking them if they had a lot of money was like asking if they breathed. It was obvious. But why suddenly bring up money?

“If you have a lot of money, what do you do with it?”

‘This girl...’

She must have spent all that time before dinner in her room, clutching that pouch of gold coins, wondering what she should do with it and what would make people acknowledge that she spent it well.

Imagining Ellen sitting alone doing that made her seem oddly cute, since she did not usually come across as such a person.

‘What to do if you have a lot of money, huh?’

The two seemed a bit dumbfounded, not expecting such a question from Ellen.

“Oh... are you talking about the reward you received from the Adventurer’s Guild?”

The additional reward we’d received from the guild yesterday through Mr. Effenhauser was quite substantial, but to these two, it was probably a petty amount.

“Not that. I got some money from selling jewels and other things that we found. It’s a lot, but I don’t know where to spend it.”

“How much are we talking about?”

“More than a thousand gold.”

A thousand gold coins.

“Ahem! Hack! Kek! Kek!”

“Oh, Adelia! Are you okay?”

“Drink some water!”

Adelia, who had been listening quietly, was so shocked that she choked and fell into a coughing fit.

After her exaggerated surprised reaction subsided, her face remained beet red, and she continued with her meal in silence.

A thousand gold coins, equivalent to over a billion won...

“That’s an awful lot...”

“Indeed...”

Harriet and Riana didn’t deny that it was a considerable amount of money. While the amount itself might have been pocket change for them, earning such a sum in one go was a different matter entirely. Of course, they knew the details of the situation and understood that it hadn’t come easy.

‘What do you do when you have too much money?’

Ellen seemed curious about where they usually spent their money.

“Well... I usually buy various magical tools or rare magic stones to study. Even though it is quite a substantial amount, I think I’d spend it quickly,” Harriet said.

“Hmm... I often think the same; if I had a lot of money, I’d probably spend it that way too,” Adelia added.

While the Temple provided various forms of support, they did not provide unlimited financial support, and there certainly were things that could not be sanctioned due to financial constraints.

For someone majoring in magic, there was always something useful to buy. However, Ellen did not specialize in magic.

“I usually spend money on clothes and such. You do have a lot of money, Ellen, but I think I’d spend it all pretty quickly too.”

‘It’s a billion won, for crying out loud! You’ll spend it quickly on clothes? What on earth do you wear?’

I barely managed to suppress my urge to lash out at Riana’s offhand comment, which would give any commoner a serious headache.

Anyway, it seemed Riana could easily spend massive amounts of money on herself.

“... Now that you mention it, it reminds me,” Harriet said cautiously, as if she had realized something.

“Ellen, you don’t have any clothes other than your uniform, right?” she continued.

“I do,” Ellen said, pointing to the clothes she was wearing.

Her answer made Riana and Harriet’s faces darken.

“... I meant clothes other than training outfits,” Harriet clarified.

Harriet was right. Ellen had nothing besides her uniform and clothes for training in. I’d never seen her wear anything else. No casual clothes at all. Even right now, Ellen was dressed in a training outfit.

After classes, everyone usually changed into their everyday clothes. Adelia was wearing a gray dress, Harriet was in a lacey, elegant black dress, and Riana was sporting pants with a blouse.

They weren’t dressed extravagantly, just wearing casual outfits. But Ellen always wore training clothes, the designs of which hardly varied.

Realizing this, Riana’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Wait, you don’t even have a single plain dress?”

“... No.”

The only time I’d seen Ellen in anything resembling a skirt was when she wore her uniform.

Riana grabbed Ellen’s hand with a determined look.

“This won’t do. We need to go buy clothes.”

Ellen looked startled at her comment.

Riana had previously bought Ellen a swimsuit because she hadn’t wanted to see Ellen in the standard Temple swimwear. Now, she seemed annoyed at the realization that Ellen didn’t have any proper casual clothes either.

Having resolved to take Ellen shopping, Riana turned her gaze to me. “Hey, you come along too.”

“... What? Why me? I didn’t ask for advice on where to spend my money,” I replied.

Riana frowned deeply. “You’re the same. You’re always in either your uniform or training clothes too, aren’t you?”

Just like Ellen didn’t have a single skirt to her name, I didn’t own a single proper pair of pants aside from those for training.

Gender aside, Ellen and I practically had the same fashion style.

‘I mean, we’re constantly training and exercising—why would we need casual clothes? It’s not like we’d wear them anyway.’

Ellen was probably thinking the same way I was.

“Anyway, after class tomorrow, we’re going shopping. Everyone meet at the dorm.”

Was it just me, or did Riana de Granz seem like the one with the most authority in this group?

***

On Wednesdays, we had Meditation, Supernatural Power Control, and Supernatural Power Practical classes. Meditation and Supernatural Power Control were classes that we had also taken during the first semester.

The previous day’s Swordsmanship Practical class involved summoning dummies via summoning magic and having real combat practice with those dummies. Sometimes, monsters would be summoned, but it was mostly a matter of fighting remote-controlled puppets, like sparring with golems armed with swords.

The class we were at was the supernatural power version of that, and it was exclusive to the Royal Class.

There were six superhumans within the Royal Class: Riana, Connor Lint, Charlotte, Heinrich, Evia, and me.

Only those whose supernatural powers had offensive capabilities attended this class.

Evia from Class B had telepathic abilities, but since her power wasn’t used for offense, she did not attend this class. Her abilities would become capable of offense later on, but of course, at that moment, no one except me was aware of that.

In Connor Lint’s case, with his teleportation ability, it was a bit ambiguous. Depending on how it was used, teleportation could be a powerful offensive skill. However, due to the critical side effect of ending up naked, Connor Lint couldn’t participate in practical sessions.

Still, thanks to the improvements in the skills of the Royal Class’s superhumans, Connor Lint’s abilities had also progressed.

Before the Supernatural Power Practical class, we had a Supernatural Power Control class first.

—Oh... Oh my! Mr. Lint! This is incredible! I can’t believe it! You managed to do it!

—T-Teacher...! I did it! I finally... I finally did it!

—Yes! I-It’s great! But... please don’t come any closer to me in that state!

—Oh... O-Okay...

Connor Lint, who was practicing his abilities in a sealed classroom as usual, was exchanging emotional words with his instructor, who was congratulating him just as excitedly.

Having completed a round of ability tests, Riana noticed the commotion coming from Connor Lint’s side and tilted her head in curiosity.

“... What’s going on?”

“Who knows?”

Charlotte still wasn’t around; it seemed she was attending classes somewhere else entirely.

Bang!

Connor Lint’s training instructor suddenly flung open the door of the sealed room and exclaimed in a delighted tone, “Everyone! Great news! It’s about our fellow colleague Mr. Lint over here! Mr. Lint has finally managed to teleport with his underwear on!”

At these words, everyone’s activities came to a halt, and even the instructors were wide-eyed and speechless. It was a moment of collective shock.

“R-Really?!”

“Absolutely, Ms. Rellin! It’s not a fluke! He succeeded three consecutive times!”

“This... this can’t be!”

The once hopeless superhuman, Connor Lint, had evolved his ability through grueling practice to the point where he could teleport his underwear along with himself.

Sniffle... Sniffle...

Connor Lint, who appeared to have just put his clothes back on, was so overcome with emotions that he was muffling his sobs with his hands, tears of joy streaming down his face.

Heinrich and Evia were also stunned by Connor Lint’s remarkable progress.

The ability that once required him to abandon all of his dignity to use had now evolved to the point where he only had to forfeit about 90% of it.

Riana looked somewhat pale and seemed bewildered.

“It... It sure is incredibly impressive, but... why do I feel so strange...?”

Given that a critical penalty of using his ability had been removed, it was right to congratulate him, yet it still felt a bit awkward.

I distinctly remembered this part. Connor Lint’s ability would continue to evolve. Right now, he could teleport with his underwear, but eventually, he’d be able to teleport with all of his clothes. His ability would improve to the point where he wouldn’t have to sacrifice his dignity at all.

However, the process of getting there was just hopeless...

‘I think the next achievement is him teleporting with his socks or something like that...’

From what I remembered of the original story, after successfully teleporting with both his underwear and socks, Connor Lint decided that it looked too odd. So, even though he did manage to teleport with socks, he ultimately chose not to teleport with both socks and underwear together.

“I... I knew I could do it...!”

We couldn’t help but cheer for the deeply emotional Connor Lint in this captivating moment.

It was a strange moment, filled with both joy and a sense of bittersweet sympathy.

Anyway, the hero of the day was undoubtedly Connor Lint.