Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: Third-in-Command
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Today felt like it would be a peaceful day for some reason.
Sunlight that suggested nothing would happen.
The sky shining through the window was exceptionally blue, and the clouds drifting lazily across it looked utterly carefree.
- Chirp!
The chirping of nameless birds from afar blended into the scene as gentle background music.
"Nyaam."
Please... just let today pass peacefully.
With that thought, my steps naturally led me toward the student council room.
I didn't have any particular purpose in mind.
Time was hanging awkwardly, and going to the clubroom felt kind of boring.
Above all, it was a vague hunch that Klaus would be there.
And... my guess wasn't wrong.
"Should I put this here, Senior?"
"Yeah, sure, go ahead."
Klaus conversing so familiarly.
The student council welcoming him just as naturally.
Klaus was, as always, working in the middle of the student council room more naturally than anyone else.
'Just where does this guy belong?'
His actual clubroom was right next door...
But that clubroom was always empty, and Klaus himself punched in at the student council room practically every day.
I couldn't understand why he stuck around there every single day.
No, at this point, hadn't he basically transferred?
The student council accepted him without complaint, and he blended in so seamlessly...
From my perspective, it was impossible not to feel a sense of betrayal.
"......"
And so, I sat unceremoniously in a corner of that student council room.
Of course, I wasn't there to help.
More like an observation... or surveillance.
Leaning against one side of the sofa, I blankly watched the student council's daily routine.
"Let's put that over there. It'll be easier to find next time."
"Yes."
"And label it so the others don't mix it up."
"Yes."
Even as the student council members bustled about, Klaus handled his tasks with a familiar, relaxed expression.
Rustle...
Then, the cat sprawled across my lap opened its mouth.
"Nyaam... Traitor. Traitor."
It was Neru.
Neru spoke while sucking on the churu I'd given him, slurping away.
Juice dribbling from the churu, but his tail still swishing lazily.
[That's what I'm saying.]
"Our club... nya...... betrayed."
[Traitor.]
"Nyaam... But our club is too quiet, kinda."
[We're a good club because we're quiet.]
"So... nya...... he only comes to sleep every day."
Ah, I see.
Staring blankly at the ceiling, I let out a sigh without realizing it.
So even this cat saw the clubroom as a nap center.
In the end, I was the only one serious about the club.
"Onyaamnyaam."
And then.
Neru crunched the emptied churu shell around in his mouth after slurping up every last drop...
"Ptoo."
And spat it right onto the student council room floor.
...A split-second silence.
Thud!
Carnel shot up from her seat upon seeing it.
"...!"
Neru immediately perked up his ears and tail, instinctively hunching his body.
...But it was too late.
Carnel's hand flew out and grabbed the cat by the scruff of the neck.
"Nya... Nyaaack...."
"You walking disaster of a cat!"
Chin.
Carnel hoisted Neru up in one go.
Neru's body dangled in midair, legs flailing wildly.
I grimaced at the sight.
Half pity, half curiosity.
'With one hand?'
Lifting Neru with one hand.
Carnel's strength wasn't supposed to be that high.
Some kind of magic application...? I observed the scene with interest.
"Nyack...!"
Stretch, stretch.
Every time Carnel tugged Neru's tail, he shrieked and twisted his body.
That fluffy tail even looked a few centimeters longer.
'Hmm.'
I nodded and quietly stood from my seat.
That was about to blow up.
Best to slip out before the sparks flew.
Slink...
I backed away stealthily, grabbed the door handle, and very carefully...
Click.
Closed the student council room door.
And a while later, a scream of "Nyaaaack!!" erupted from inside, along with Carnel's "Stay right there!!"
***
【Rev says help!】
Thump.
Something started bouncing on my stomach as I napped in the clubroom.
【Wake up!】
Thump. Thump.
...It was Lamenta's shadow.
Jumping madly on my belly to wake me.
I sat up groggily and grabbed Lamenta, lifting him in front of my face.
'......What now?'
Reality jolting my foggy mind awake.
Lamenta's shadow, who always stuck only to Rev...
For some reason, was right in front of me today.
Plop.
I carefully set Lamenta's shadow down on the table and picked up the whiteboard.
[What?]
【Rev says help!】
[Help with what, then?]
【Infirmary!】
Infirmary?
Did Rev get hurt?
【Rev requests help!】
Lamenta circled the table as he said that.
The tiny shadow hands waving, bouncing around—it was just like a little kid.
[Got it.]
Got it, so please be quiet.
Every time Lamenta "spoke," the voice echoed straight in my head.
He didn't even have a real mouth, and I wasn't hearing it with my ears, but it hit my brain like a hammer...
Plop.
Before I knew it, Lamenta had poofed up onto my head and sat down.
That familiar sensation.
...Somehow overlapping with the shape of a certain fish.
【Oh... comfy seat.】
Thump thump.
The shadow tapping my head.
I sighed, stood up, and headed to the infirmary.
If this guy was yelling for help... it probably wasn't anything normal.
"......"
And...
As soon as I reached the infirmary door and put my hand on the knob...
"Air raid warning!! Air raid w—!"
"......"
I cautiously removed my hand from the knob.
Then raised that hand to my head and grabbed Lamenta, who sat there comfortably.
【Huh?】
I stared blankly at the shadow in front of me.
Lamenta stared back with his clear eyes... and gestured.
Whoosh whoosh.
The shadowy hand pointing at the infirmary door.
A gesture like "Over there! Over there!"
".........'
I looked around, checking my surroundings.
Just in case I'd come to the wrong place...
But no, I'd found it perfectly.
'Hah......'
...Click.
In the end, I had no choice but to open the door...
And at the sight inside... I instinctively pressed my forehead.
"Gal!!"
In one corner of the infirmary.
A man in a white coat dyed garish colors, rampaging like a maniac.
And Rev looking down at him expressionlessly.
No matter how you sliced it, this wasn't normal.
"......"
One hand holding bandages, the other scissors.
Rev gripped both with an expressionless face...
I half-expected those scissors to plunge into the man's head at any moment.
Hop!
At that moment, Lamenta hopped from my head.
And landed precisely on Rev's shoulder.
【Hi Rev!】
"......?"
Rev turned his head slightly...
And his gaze shifted to me.
【I brought the mister!】
".........?"
His head slowly tilted...
A subtle question flickering across his blank face.
"......"
"......"
In that instant, I realized.
Rev hadn't asked me for help...
Lamenta... this guy had run off on his own and dragged me here.
And...
"Explosion is art—!"
The man's voice exploding again.
I grabbed a nearby blanket with one hand and wrapped his head tight.
[What's this guy's deal?]
I held up the whiteboard to Rev.
Rev stared at the man expressionlessly for a long while, then silently set the scissors down on a nearby table.
...He'd really been about to stab him.
"...Potion."
[Potion?]
"...Ate his research one by mistake."
I cautiously lifted the man's coat.
He had a uniform underneath, with a 3rd-year badge on his chest.
[What kind of research turns you into that?]
Rev shook his head slowly.
And the shadow on his shoulder, Lamenta, mimicked the motion exactly.
[Where's the teacher?]
There had to be a professor in charge of the infirmary...
But no sign of one amid this mess, not even a shadow.
"...Not here today."
[I see.]
In short, it was just me and Rev to deal with this.
[How do we fix this?]
I slightly lifted the blanket over the man's head.
Then...
"Kyaahoo......!!"
"......"
Swoosh.
I covered it back up.
Grabbed another blanket nearby and double-wrapped him tight.
【Hmm... kill him?】
Lamenta tilted his head on Rev's shoulder, whispering.
Hand to his mouth, cute yet creepy.
"......"
Rev pondered Lamenta's suggestion quite seriously.
But soon shook his head and raised his hand.
"Air raid war—...."
Holy light poured from his fingertips...
And the man flopped over unconscious.
[?]
"...Put him to sleep for a bit."
[Wouldn't it be better to just detox him?]
If he just drank the wrong potion, holy magic could purify it, right?
I shook the whiteboard with my question.
"...Mess up, and mana backlash. Mana cripple for life."
【He'd be neutered!】
I see.
But that sounded more like he was just too lazy.
'Tsk.'
I dropped my head with a thud and leaned against the next bed, raising the whiteboard again.
[You prepping for the assignment, Rev?]
"...Assignment?"
Oh no.
He hadn't prepared at all.
Well... someone like Rev could probably wing it...
"...There was an assignment?"
【?】
"......"
Ah.
He straight-up didn't even know there was one.
***
"Hmm."
Veronica popping out from the sub-space.
She straightened her collar upon landing and looked at the screen on the wall.
It showed Delphine, still fine-tuning the sub-space with her magic circle.
"Why's she so gung-ho?"
"What's wrong with that? It's nice to watch."
"Alberto... you're just glad you don't have to do it."
"Oops... caught me."
"Trash bastard."
Veronica shot Alberto a contemptuous look and shook her head.
Then turned back to the screen.
"Hmm...... Worrying."
"What about? Delphine?"
"No, no... you think I'd worry about Delphine?"
There wasn't a gram of concern in Alberto's tone.
Not one bit.
"What we should worry about are the students."
"Hmm... you think?"
"...Dean, what do you even think of Delphine?"
"Umm...... Fail-student?"
"Well... not wrong."
Alberto reminisced about the past.
When Delphine was a student at Cradle.
Back then, Delphine's name was always at the bottom of the grade sheets all day.
"Who would've thought."
Her skills were lacking, her senses dull.
Innate mana shortage, sloppy magic circles.
Nothing described her but "fail-student."
"Stubborn as hell, talent scraping the floor, always wearing the 'last place' label... and she becomes the youngest professor."
Like she didn't know the word quit.
Head held high through humiliating grades, scoldings, no despair.
Who could've imagined such a fail-student...
Would become Cradle's youngest professor.
"Hmm... high praise, huh?"
"How could we not? Even we professors feel it subconsciously."
"Feel what?"
"'We can't beat that guy.'"
Purely in terms of combat power, she still had shortcomings...
But in strategy, application, magical thinking, and circle analysis, no one could touch her.
"Interesting."
"That's how hopeless yet amazing she is."
Alberto thought.
The current Delphine...
Was more suited to Cradle's third-in-command position than anyone else.