Episode 26
I ignite small ‘Muru’ fires at the tips of my five fingers, from thumb to pinky. Ten fires in total, across both hands.
“Koooohhhhhh… Muuuun!”
I launch them all simultaneously. The fireballs shoot out with vigor, tracing beautiful, straight red arcs, and every single one hits the target without fail.
“Geez, doing weird stuff again. You have to be serious, you know?”
“It’s not weird. It’s something every guy wants to try at least once.”
“Ehhh…? But the other guys aren’t doing it, are they?”
“Those guys aren’t men.”
Perhaps worried about me turning into a human torch, Millie-sensei’s heart-pounding, close-contact lesson became even more earnest. Thanks to her, I can now control the output freely, even with manual operation.
I’ll be indebted to Millie-sensei for a while, as she kept adding water whenever my clothes started to dry.
“Alright, that’s it for today, everyone. Good work. But Geld-kun, you can’t go out into the hallway until your clothes are dry, okay?”
“W-what did you say…?”
Now that she mentions it, my clothes are indeed soaking wet, with water dripping everywhere. It would be extremely inconsiderate to go out into the hallway like this.
“Hmm. Should I just jump into a big fire and dry them quickly?”
“That’s why you keep turning into a human torch…”
While the other students stream out of the Training Room, I take off my clothes, careful not to be indecent, and wring them out lightly.
“Geld-kun, just hold them there. I’ll dry them with ‘Ray’.”
Millie can use wind magic too, apparently. That would certainly be faster, but I feel bad making her go that far.
“No, no, it’s fine. You’ll run out of time for lunch.”
“So will you, Geld-kun, right? I’m fine.”
“My seat’s in the back corner, so I can eat lunch during class.”
“During class…? Eh, you eat during class…?”
It’s the least conspicuous seat, and the guy in front of me is built like a tank. With my speed, I can manage to eat. Soup might be tough, but I can calmly eat something like bread. Actually, I’ve already done it before.
Serious Millie seems bewildered, unable to comprehend the idea.
“Anyway, I’m fine. Look, if you don’t go, I’ll hug you.”
“Eh…? Y-you’re joking, right…? W-wait, st-stop, waah!?”
I spread my arms, still dripping wet, and inch closer, then suddenly pounce. Millie runs away, screaming. I want to believe she’s running because she doesn’t want to get wet. It’s not because she simply doesn’t want to be hugged and is screaming in disgust. Definitely not.
“…Phew.”
I sigh in relief, confirming that she’s not coming back.
Millie is a kind Archangel, which is great, but she’s a bit of a hassle in situations like this. I can’t let her see what I’m about to do, so I had no choice but to chase her out like that.
“…Alright, needs must.”
I wring out the rest of my clothes roughly, then take a broom from the locker in the corner of the room and pretend it’s a Sword.
Then, being careful not to stretch the clothes, I hold them in both hands and activate ‘Spinning Slash – Modified’, the evolved version of ‘Spinning Slash’ that I learned at Sword Skill Level 7.
“Uoooooooohhhhh!”
‘Spinning Slash’ is just a technique where you spin around really fast. It’s so lame that I sealed it away, but it’s the only way to dry my clothes quickly.
As for its evolved form, ‘Spinning Slash – Modified’, I don’t even know how fast I’m spinning anymore. The only thing I know is that it stops exactly twenty seconds after activation.
“Oooooooo… oh?”
Crap, I sense someone trying to enter the Training Room. And I can’t stop yet.
Ah, they came in. They’re definitely looking at me. But I’m spinning so fast that I can’t see anything.
“…………”
“…………”
Eventually, the set time passes, the spinning stops, and my vision returns. Standing at the entrance of the Training Room is a female student. An appearance that’s far too conspicuous. A familiar Blonde Long Twin-tails.
She’s staring at me with a dumbfounded expression. No wonder, seeing a half-naked guy spinning around with a broom.
“Uoooooooohhhhh!”
“Why!?”
Since my clothes aren’t completely dry yet, I activate ‘Spinning Slash – Modified’ again. I really don’t want anyone to see me in this lame state, but once someone’s seen it once, it doesn’t matter how many times they see it after that.
“Hey, you pervert…! What are you doing, ah, water’s splashing…!? Stop it!”
Even if she tells me to stop, I can’t do anything once I’ve activated it. I just have to wait for twenty seconds to pass.
“The floor’s all wet, and there’s a pervert…! What is going on!?”
After the second ‘Spinning Slash – Modified’, my clothes are mostly dry, except for the parts I was holding. I decide that’s good enough and quickly put them on. I was hoping to look for the Harem Bastard during lunch break, but that might be difficult now.
“Ah, they’re a little burnt after all… I haven’t even been in school for a month, and I already need new ones…”
“H-hey, what are you… um…”
The Blonde Twin-tails is so bewildered by the scene she just witnessed that she can’t even come up with a coherent question. The best thing to do is retreat as quickly as possible.
“Ah, I’m done here. See ya.”
“Eh? Ah, wait a… no… hmm.”
She was about to tell me to wait, but if I actually waited, that would be a problem in itself. That’s probably it.
I was about to leave quickly before she changed her mind and started complaining, but I suddenly stopped near the entrance.
The one I was trying to find was this Blonde Twin-tails. I had assumed that the guy with her was the Harem Bastard, but what’s she doing here alone?
I turn around and see the Blonde Twin-tails firing magic at the targets. It seems she came to practice magic during her free time. But while it’s good that she’s serious, what’s a maiden in the prime of her youth doing spending her precious lunch break alone? She needs to be more aware of her role as one of the protagonist-kun’s Harem members… wait.
…Come to think of it, even if this Blonde is a Harem member, it doesn’t necessarily mean she’s already joined the Harem, just like Millie. In fact, judging by this, it’s more likely that she hasn’t.
And even if she had joined the Harem, I don’t think this Blonde is the type of girl who would be all over a guy in public.
I was trying to use this conspicuous girl as a starting point to find him, but unfortunately, that was a naive plan.
Does that mean I just have to wait…? No, now that there’s no one else around, maybe it would be quicker to just ask directly.
“Hey.”
“…Hmm? Eh? Ah, didn’t you leave!?”
“Yeah, but there’s something I want to ask you.”
“Ask me? What is it?”
“Do you have a boyfriend right now?”
The Blonde Twin-tails freezes at my question. Was that too sudden?
“Even if you don’t like him, is there a guy you’re interested in? Or maybe a guy you’re often with?”
“Hah!? W-why would I tell you that…?”
“Oh. Maybe you already have a boyfriend?”
“I-I-I don’t have a boyfriend!”
The Blonde’s face turns bright red, and she gets agitated. I wonder if she really doesn’t. Girls like this are likely to be shy about this kind of topic and not tell the truth… no, wouldn’t any girl not answer if a stranger asked them something like that…? Did I ask the question wrong?
But now that I’ve asked, there’s no going back. I should make an effort to find out as much as possible.
“Hmm.”
“W-well, what if I d-d-did have someone I liked!?”
Ah, this is bad.
“Ah, I just had some business with that person. It’s not like I’m going to hit on you if you don’t have a boyfriend or anything.”
“Hah!? I know that!”
Phew, that was close. If I created some weird flag from a misunderstanding, there’s no telling how things would turn out. It’s probably a one-in-a-million chance, but since it’s not zero, I have to crush it completely.
“So? Do you really not have a boyfriend? You can tell me without worrying about me spreading it around.”
“I-I told you, I don’t!”
“Really? It won’t do you any good to hide it.”
My way of dealing with strong-willed and intimidating people is to be even more strong-willed and intimidating.
With overwhelming military power, the authority of a noble family, and the advantage of being able to start over as many times as I want, I don’t have to feel intimidated by anyone.
“Ehhh…? I-I really don’t, I’m telling you.”
The Blonde seems slightly intimidated by my pressure, but her answer is still a firm no. It’s probably useless to press any further. I’ve completely lost my lead.
“I see… you don’t…”
“A-are you that disappointed…?”
“Yeah… sorry for interrupting your practice… see ya.”
The indefinite wait left me dejected, my shoulders slumping as I turned away. I’m used to waiting, but if things could be done quickly, that would be ideal…
In reality, more than a month passed with no progress whatsoever.