Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: How to Steal the Protagonist's Woman
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I stretched in my chair before flopping down onto the desk.
"Haa... Another boring day begins."
"Yeah, she should be here any minute now."
Luna was the only one missing from the murmuring classroom full of students.
I didn't care if the others showed up or not, but without Luna, something felt empty.
As I pondered this deeply, Black Joker, the teaching assistant, stepped up to the podium and made an announcement.
"Today is the first sub-attribute class. The locations for each classroom are written on the blackboard, so head over there. And please, for the love of god, don't mix up main and sub-attribute rooms like yesterday."
The assistant looked at the students with pleading eyes.
Tsk tsk, there's always a couple of idiots who can't get it together.
...What? For real?
I rushed over to the assistant as he stepped down from the podium.
I barely caught him before he left the classroom.
"Excuse me, Assistant."
"Yes?"
"I'm sub-attribute thunder, but the classroom isn't listed."
The assistant lightly tapped his left palm with his right fist, as if remembering something.
"Ah, right! You're the one who signed up for thunder-attribute this time."
"Yes."
"I have to go around notifying students of their classrooms, so could you wait here for a bit?"
"...Sure."
Something felt off.
He could just tell me and I'd go, but was he planning to take me somewhere?
I returned to my seat.
The other students filed out to their sub-attribute classrooms, while the guy with the lingering cheek mark—that bastard—lingered around Luna's seat.
He seemed worried since she hadn't shown up.
But seriously, why isn't she here?
I'll ask the assistant when he gets back...
As I lay on the desk communicating with Armonia, the bastard next to me spoke up.
So rudely.
"Hey."
I responded with maximum courtesy.
I turned my head and gave him a 'what do you want?' look.
"What?"
"You asked the assistant earlier. Why isn't Luna coming?"
"?"
I messaged mentally while glaring at the irritating bastard.
What the hell is this bullshit?
...Did he even ask?
What a pain in the ass.
I buried my head in the desk again and replied.
"How the hell should I know."
"Haa... Cut the attitude?"
"What?"
I shot up in disbelief and stared at Louis.
The classroom was empty now—just the two of us.
Confirming no one else was around, Louis dropped his facade.
"I've been easy on you, but keep mouthing off and you won't last till the end of the semester."
"Who the hell are you?"
I could practically feel my sanity fleeing my brain.
This guy was completely unhinged.
The bastard glared at me from lowered eyes, snorted, turned, and walked away.
"Hmph... If you're gonna be a retard, at least know how to lick shoes."
He left those words behind and exited the classroom.
"What the hell was that?"
"Psycho."
"Heh heh, Luna's already leaning my way, so no reason to get mad. If anything, I'm looking forward to that bastard's broken expression later."
I couldn't crush him physically, but I was confident I could grind his mind into pulp with a blender.
Bang!
Suddenly, someone burst through the back door of the classroom with a loud noise.
"Haa... haa... haa..."
"Hm?"
I turned around to see Luna panting heavily as she headed my way.
Well, more accurately, toward her own desk.
She reached her desk and looked my way.
"Hoo..."
Once she'd caught her breath, Luna turned to me and asked,
"Th-that... today's class..."
"Oh, sub-attribute class. Everyone moved already. You should hurry too."
"Then together—"
"Nah, I have something to take care of, so I gotta stay. Go on ahead."
"...Okay."
Luna looked a bit disappointed as she turned to check the blackboard for the classroom location.
But then she touched her lips with her finger, looking flustered.
Curious, I asked,
"What's wrong?"
"Um... the water-attribute classroom location..."
"Huh?"
The water-attribute classroom listings on the blackboard had been partially erased.
Probably smudged by students' clothes as they passed the podium to check.
The assistant was supposed to come back anyway, so she could just ask him.
But he looked busy earlier—might've forgotten to return.
I didn't care since mine was self-study, but Luna would end up tardy.
Poor thing. Guess she'll have to wait for the assistant.
Ooh! As expected of the boss—great memory.
I turned from the blackboard to look at Luna.
She wore a serious expression.
And her condition was a mess.
Her glossy silver hair was disheveled in places, and her usually neat uniform was wrinkled all over, unlike normal.
I spoke to the fidgeting Luna.
"3rd floor, Lutel Hall."
"Pardon?"
"Head to 3rd floor Lutel Hall."
"Ah... Did you..."
Luna was mumbling to herself again.
"What?"
"...No, thank you."
As Luna bowed and turned to leave, I stood and grabbed her right hand.
She yelped loud enough to echo through the classroom.
"Wh-what are you doing!"
"Whoa, startled me. Why yell..."
"Y-you grabbed my hand so suddenly..."
"Your button's undone."
"Huh?"
I fastened the button on the right sleeve of Luna's uniform.
Once done, I sat back at my desk.
"Go on."
"..."
Luna stared intently at the sleeve I'd fixed.
"You're gonna be late."
"Ah!"
The word "late" snapped her back, and she spun around and dashed off.
Before exiting, she turned back, smiled at me, and said,
"Thank you."
"..."
She left immediately after.
Not long after Luna departed, the assistant arrived.
"Student, follow me this way?"
***
"Uh... so, this is..."
"Yes, you can self-study and practice here."
The assistant had brought me to some rundown lab.
It looked like a warehouse at first glance—truly shabby.
Furniture scattered everywhere, stacks of wooden crates filled with who-knows-what, dusty desks and chairs, bookshelves lined with books bearing difficult titles.
The office hadn't felt like a warehouse, but this really did.
If I had to pick something better than the office, it was the size.
The lab was surprisingly spacious—about a third the size of a classroom.
The assistant explained that the school deemed dedicating a full classroom wasteful, so they'd given me the previous thunder-attribute professor's lab.
"Alright, I'm swamped, so I'll head out. Study hard!"
"Yes..."
The assistant struck a fighting pose and left the lab.
I brushed the dust off a chair and sat.
I waved away the flying dust with grimaces.
"Ugh, this dust is no joke."
If I clean it, that is...
I stood and looked around again.
Dust covered the floor so thickly that every step left footprints.
As I wandered the lab, the bookshelves stood out most.
But their state was abysmal.
"Ugh, this place is a disaster."
From high-quality tomes to crudely bound experiment reports—everything imaginable.
Casually, I pulled one out and dusted it off.
A massive cloud of dust revealed the cover title.
[Lightning Magic Research Club Activity Report]
"Oh? This is from our club. Right, Sonya wasn't the original advisor—this guy was."
I flipped through the report.
The contents detailed extracurricular experiments from back then.
The difference? This one meticulously noted the purpose, utility, and value of each.
If our experiments were child's play, these were the real deal.
Skimming pages, one caught my eye.
-Thunder Sphere Acceleration Experiment-
"Oh, this is the one we did."
Memories of that day flooded back.
Regrets too...
"I should've nailed that bastard with a steel ball!"
Thinking of his face earlier made me regret the miss even more.
Now that I wasn't in the club anymore, I'd never get the chance.
I focused back on the page.
Purpose of Experiment: To overcome the thunder-attribute weakness of hard-to-hit targets amid its fickle nature, we infused thunder magic into flung steel balls and tested hitting targets.
"Hm? This is a bit different from what we did."
"Makes sense. Tech here's way behind science on Earth, so they'd miss a lot."
Even Earth only harnessed electricity properly in the last two centuries.
Surprisingly, the report had many pages.
The initial test failed, of course, but after failures, they discovered steel balls accelerated after passing thunder magic circles—leading to the version I knew.
"Kinda interesting?"
"...But he died."
Seeing this, the guy seemed pitiful as hell...
The pages detailed the magic circles used back then.
And crucially, the failure reason at the end.
-The fatal issue was mana pressure. When multiple students lined up to generate circles one by one and flung steel balls, they veered off wildly.
-Even matching input/output, tiny fluctuations in mana pressure ruined accuracy and speed.
-Without identical clones, this method is deemed impossible.
The last page bore the word "Failure."
"Yeah, even when we focused, we missed the wood."
"......Wait."
I went back to the first page and examined it slowly.
This experiment failed because one person couldn't generate multiple circles.
Mana pressure was just one issue.
It required multiple people for multiple circles.
If that flaw could be fixed...
I opened a stacked wooden crate and rummaged inside.
"Any steel balls around here?"
I found a crate full of steel balls.
"Plenty."
"Watch this."
I also spotted a useless-looking steel plate.
About 30 cm by 30 cm, 2 cm thick.
Grunting, I hauled it onto the desk, pushed the desk against the wall to stand it upright.
Distance to the plate: roughly 5 meters.
I reopened the report and memorized the magic circle used.
Very different from the one the club used—far more complex.
But I could commit it to memory.
"Good."
Preparation complete.
I pulled my middle finger back like a finger snap, fixed by my thumb.
Placed a steel ball between index and ring finger, pinching to hold.
"Hoo... hoo..."
After deep breaths, I raised my arm, adjusting so the ball would hit the plate.
Closed left eye, sighted with right—ball aligned dead center on plate.
"Let's start with... four."
I generated the magic circles without waiting for Armonia to finish.
Golden circles about a meter wide appeared—two on each side in a row.
They menacingly sparked electricity at neighboring circles.
"Ngh...!"
My legs buckled instantly.
The input was far stronger than club circles—mana drained from my body in a flash.
Armonia's shout came through mentally.
"Gah!"
Snap.
I focused utterly and flicked the steel ball with my middle finger—then tumbled over.
Clang!
A deafening metallic explosion assaulted my eardrums.
Dust exploded everywhere, filling the lab with a cloud.
"Haa... haa... haa..."
I wanted to reply to Armonia's yell, but I had no strength left even for mental speech.
After inhaling dust dozens of times lying down, I shakily lifted my head.
"Haa... haa... haa..."
The dust began settling slowly.
As it cleared from my view...
A coin-sized hole pierced clean through the steel plate.