Why Are You Here?
Why Are You Here?
It's not like I suddenly went crazy with a lust for power and became a colonial pioneer of the Academy.
This is a kind of experiment.
In the original <Dice and Academy>, this Tea Club was nothing more than a throwaway line of setting, where they had their club room snatched away by Bianca-sunbae and were pointlessly disbanded.
But I became curious. The existence of the status window, and the developments up until now.
There are parts that are definitely flowing the way I intended, but the main trunk was still following the gravity of the original work.
So I decided to try operating an element that didn't exist in the original work at all, starting from zero.
The act of picking up a chess piece that was scheduled to be discarded and putting it back on the board.
Since it would be dangerous if that chess piece attacked its owner on its own and broke the chessboard, the leash to control it is that colonial-style slave contract.
"Hiccup, hiccup.... Y-you really have to find my club room. You promised...."
"I told you not to worry. Have you ever seen me make empty promises?"
Grace trembled at my answer.
In truth, Grace wasn't an idiot, so there was no way she would have readily signed a contract filled with such toxic clauses.
But Grace had no choice, because the heat of the Burning Wheel flickering behind my back was constantly stimulating her survival instincts.
Grace Sterling's ability is 2nd Generation.
Uniquely, the trigger is not a tool, but Grace's own body.
Thanks to that, she possesses high potential, enough that it wouldn't be wrong to call her 2.5 Generation.
The essence of the ability is Deterministic Reproduction.
She can perfectly copy a motion or action that succeeded once in the past by consuming mana. (However, it is limited to once per action.)
Because of the disadvantage that the ability weakens rapidly if a tool breaks or if there is even the slightest deviation during reproduction, she chose the speed shooter type, which maximizes her own physical abilities rather than holding a weapon.
A strange fighting style where she designs future actions in advance and applies bonuses to those trajectories to perform predictive shooting.
Theoretically, it's an ability close to flawless, but...
"Hiccup... monster..."
"What was that? I can't hear you well."
"I-ing-ing! It's nothing!"
Grace's ability has a fatal weakness: it is trapped in the frame of common sense.
Being able to predict and reproduce in advance means, in other words, that she is powerless in the face of overwhelming violence that falls outside the scope of prediction.
For example, she can fully predict things like her past self dodging bullets or swords, but is there any lunatic who lives while predicting that a nuke might suddenly drop?
And at this point, the firepower spewed by my Burning Wheel is not in the realm of prediction or response for first-year students, but an unavoidable divine punishment.
To Grace, who witnessed that terror firsthand, it seemed I had already been branded as the Academy's hidden mastermind and disaster.
"Now then, shall we begin the first mission of our cute guardian spirit?"
"So, hoobae-nim. How on earth did you beat that American-descended freshman? She was blabbering about battleships and whatnot, so I thought she was a firepower nerd, but she seemed like the type to fight with her body."
Penelope, who was scanning a list of easy-target clubs in the corner of the club room, asked as if interested, so I took a sip of steaming black tea and grinned.
"It wasn't anything special. She was just running around a bit, so I just stopped her appropriately."
Bianca-sunbae, who was wiping a figure next to me, shrugged and chimed in.
"...I'm still a bit creeped out by Seo-yeon-ssi's ability. The summons act all cute, but how on earth can that be cute? When I see them fighting, they're just balls."
"Ayy, how cute our kids are. They're kind because they take after their owner, you know?"
"...That's a bit."
I put down my empty cup and recalled the duel with Grace a while ago.
"Seo-yeon-ssi! For a talent with a bright future like you to rot in an otaku den like this is a loss to human history! I will save you!"
Grace challenged me to a duel with a determined expression.
Bianca-sunbae stepped up with a worried face, saying she would fight in my stead, but I stopped her and stood in the dueling arena.
Well. Because I'm strong?
Grace showed a strange behavior right after the battle started.
She started jumping violently from side to side in place, then started accelerating while sparking mana flames.
Shoosh, shooshoosh!
Deterministic Reproduction.
Grace's movements, repeating the fastest moment of the past and stacking acceleration, gradually turned into afterimages and pressured me.
I ran around here and there without summoning the Burning Wheel, observing Grace's trajectory.
That was when it happened.
Grace's fist, which had dug into my side in an instant, touched the hem of my clothes.
The moment the heavy impact reinforced with mana was transmitted, Grace suddenly stopped and struck a strange pose, sweeping her bangs up with one hand.
"...Hey, Grace-ssi. Why on earth did you do that pose just now?"
"Hehe, it's cool, isn't it! Like the signature pose of a protagonist who has seized the upper hand?"
"...."
Is she a crazy bitch?
If it weren't for that pose just now, one or two of my ribs would have been broken.
She was a severe case of a 'concept-addict' who valued looking cool over performance.
"Alright. Let's end Grace-ssi's play-fighting here. It was fun."
"Play-fighting, you say! Now my speed is something even your eyes can't follow...!"
Grace accelerated once more and disappeared from view.
It was certainly top-tier speed even among the 2nd Generation.
It was to the point where only afterimages remained even with vision reinforced by mana.
However.
"Link."
I giggled and shared my vision with the Watching Eye.
At that moment, information captured by thousands of pupils poured into my head.
The rapidly flowing surroundings began to flow slowly, as if submerged in a sticky swamp.
The Angel's Eye floating in the air marked the spot where Grace's next step would land.
"Epheta. Rota."
A giant golden wheel was summoned beneath my feet.
"It's so boring I want to die."
I recited a chuunibyou line that only the strongest characters in the original work would spout, and snapped my fingers.
Kwaaaaaang!
A single blow.
The flame explosion of the Burning Wheel, which I had laid out in the predicted path in advance, engulfed Grace head-on, and without even a moment to scream, the girl who shouted about the romance of battleships was toasted golden brown and flew to the corner of the dueling arena.
"...So, what happened to that hoobae?"
At Penelope's question, I returned to the present and answered.
"She's over there right now, lecturing the senior members of the vassal group about the tactical value of ships of the line."
In the corner of the club room, Grace, with a bandage wrapped around her head, was holding onto the senior knights and speaking passionately.
"Now then, let's end the small talk. Shall we go expand the territory of our Literature Research Club? Where is the next target?"
We spread out the Academy map and carefully chose a target.
If we touched too large a faction, the pressure from the school side would intensify, and if we hit a place that was too small, we would be branded with the infamy of bullying the weak.
"Here it is. [Cheonsin-ryu Martial Arts Preservation Society]."
A club that studies Japanese-style swordsmanship and martial arts. The faction size was appropriate, and above all, a haughty nameplate was attached in front of their club room saying: 'If you want to challenge us, come anytime!'
The justification was sufficient.
I decided not to step forward myself for the sake of image management. Instead, I borrowed a few members of the vassal group from Penelope and put Grace, who needed to gain practical experience, at the forefront.
"Ah, ah, this is Command and Control. Do you hear me, Agent Grace?"
I leaned back comfortably on the club room sofa, watching the real-time video transmitted through the Watching Eye, and grabbed the microphone.
Bianca-sunbae was next to me, drinking juice with a straw, having finished preparations for long-range sniping.
— Hiccup, yes... I hear you... but is this really okay?
"Of course. They advertised for us to come first. Now, Bianca-sunbae. Let's take care of the gatekeepers first."
As Bianca recited a passage from a book, a transparent mana bullet flew and accurately struck the gatekeepers who were dozing behind the door.
While they collapsed without even being able to scream, 20 knights and Grace smashed the door and stormed in.
"Go, Grace! Show them your spirit!"
— What does this have to do with battleships! Uwaaaaah, get out of the way!
Grace, while tearing up, unleashed high-speed combos and cleared out the members of the Martial Arts Preservation Society.
Penelope's knights were very excited, shouting 'Territory recovery! Conquest! Definitely conquest!' and seized the terrain.
Well, since they are who they are, I guess it can't be helped...
This is why the Brits are...
Penelope was blushing as if embarrassed by that, but you were the one who planned it the most diligently.
The result was a landslide victory. The nameplate was recovered, and the members of the Martial Arts Preservation Society were kicked out without even having time to pack their bags.
The next day.
It was when I visited the hideout of Grace's Tea Club, where she was still cleaning the new club room with trembling hands.
"How is it, Grace-ssi? I got your club room back just like I said, didn't I?"
"Hiccup... I'm grateful you found it, but the process was too evil... Those people all left crying..."
"The world is survival of the fittest. Let's cut out the weak talk."
"...You said your ability uses angels. Doesn't your conscience or something hurt when you do things like this?"
"That is merely the morality of the weak."
"Crazy bitch..."
"What did you say?"
"I didn't say anything..."
Just as Grace was whining while mopping, the sliding door of the club room opened with a creak.
"...Excuse me. I heard this is the club that recently changed."
A low and familiar voice.
Wait, what the f*ck, why are you showing up here?!
I hid immediately.
A boy in a black martial arts uniform with a wooden practice sword on his back.
"I don't want to talk much, I've come to take back the club room that was forcibly taken."
...Si-woo? Why are you showing up here?