Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Petite Fang
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“The club is on the verge of being disbanded.”
[What?]
Delphine’s words made my thoughts screech to a halt.
…Disbanded?
Our club?
That beautifully elegant “Mask Club”?
The hideout filled with our dreams and hopes was going to vanish?
‘Why?’
With a flicker of hope, I looked at Delphine.
But… Delphine silently nodded, and my heart sank at the motion.
【Eek….】
“Gasp…!”
Lamenta and Neru let out gasps in unison.
Neru’s face even held the shock of the world crumbling.
…Honestly, I was just as stunned.
But someone had to pull themselves together…
I let out a small sigh and picked up the whiteboard.
[Why?]
“Why, you ask… There are many reasons.”
Many reasons.
Did that mean our Mask Club was so useless in the cradle?
…No, even so, “many” felt too harsh.
“The biggest issue first…”
Delphine trailed off.
Neru gulped nervously, while Lamenta went 【Gasp…!】 with a sound effect.
“There are no achievements.”
【Ah.】
Lamenta needlessly smacked her lips.
Neru wagged her tail while scratching at the floor for no reason.
Her eyes refused to focus, pretending not to know the situation.
But with her tail tip trembling, it was obvious she was inwardly fretting, ‘Is it really getting disbanded, nyang?’
And I, too, froze with the pen hovering in midair, unsure what to write on the whiteboard.
‘…Achievements.’
The word “achievements” kept circling in my head.
I didn’t want to accept it, but I had no choice.
Had we done any activities since founding the club?
…None.
Unlike the beautiful and elegant name “Mask Club”…
The official name on the paperwork was “Social Club.”
We had no accomplishments or records beyond mere socializing, making the name ring hollow…
‘Hmm…….’
I let out a clear hum inside and glanced at Neru.
‘…Does teaching a cat to speak count as an achievement?’
Strictly speaking, Neru wasn’t just a cat but a cat beastkin.
But still, she spoke human language.
There had never been a bizarre achievement like “Cat successfully learns human speech!” in cradle history.
Wouldn’t that be achievement enough to commemorate?
‘Oh…….’
I mulled it over briefly before shaking my head.
No… It felt too forced.
Swish.
I shifted my gaze to Lamenta.
【Huh?】
Sensing my look, Lamenta tilted her shadowy form questioningly back at me.
Maybe, right now, Lamenta’s very existence could count as an “achievement”?
If we submitted a report saying “Shadow learns to speak!”, wouldn’t the cradle staff gape in excitement with “Really?!”?
‘…Tsk.’
But… regrettably, that was impossible.
Lamenta was only visible to me and Rev.
To others, I’d just look like I was talking to thin air.
‘Still….’
Even if it sounded absurd, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
If we could save the club on the brink of disbandment…
A little forcing of the issue might be worth it.
And so… I raised the whiteboard.
[Professor.]
“Yes, Adel.”
Delphine replied in a calm voice.
Dark circles lingered under his eyes, deep traces of overtime etched there, but…
His gaze held the same desire as ours to keep this club alive.
I immediately turned to Neru.
[Neru.]
“Nyang?”
[Speak.]
“Nyang.”
Swish.
I turned back to Delphine.
[What do you think?]
“…?”
[A cat is speaking human language.]
Seeing the words on the whiteboard, Delphine closed his eyes awkwardly for a moment.
“That’s…”
Neru’s eyes sparkled as she stared at Delphine.
Her tail swished gently, ears perking repeatedly.
Her untrained body language screamed “Recognize it already!” nonstop.
“A cat speaking…”
Delphine crossed his arms, tapping his own arm with his fingers as he pondered.
What if we wrote “Cat vocal training success!” on the club achievement report?
I thought it sounded plausible.
Lamenta gasped 【Gasp…!】, her shadow quivering.
…She was fully endorsing it, as if it were a perfect idea.
“Excellent.”
After some thought, Delphine nodded and uncrossed his arms.
Unexpectedly, he accepted my proposal positively.
“Let’s try that for now.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Delphine and I didn’t always see eye to eye… but sometimes our thoughts aligned.
【Wow!】
And so…
Our “Mask Club” narrowly escaped the doom of disbandment.
***
“…Hey.”
[Yes.]
-Vroom!
-What’s up, what’s up?
-Kyaaah~…!
Training grounds.
Veronica called me with a suspicious look amid the gathered S Class members.
“If you keep charming all the spirits like that, Laphia won’t have any left.”
…She was exactly right.
Laphia’s spirits had all flocked to me instead of their owner.
“Ah, no……!”
Laphia wailed over on the side, robbed of her spirits.
Betrayed eyes… trembling hands… desperate expression.
Laphia embodied the perfect trinity.
“They call this NTR, right?”
Veronica spouted her usual nonsense beside me.
Flick. Flick.
I waved my hands this way and that, shooing the spirits away.
-Hing….
-That’s mean!
-Sniff….
The sulky spirits returned to Laphia.
“Sorry, master,” they said, but their gazes lingered on me…
Seeing that, I foresaw this happening every day, and my vision darkened.
And…
“Ahh… so that’s what happened…?”
I’d explained the moonlight incident to Veronica in full.
“No wonder… the imperial side kept nagging to meet you and Shiny… So that was it?”
Veronica’s eyebrow twitched.
She finally grasped the context.
‘More than that… already?’
That meant, outside the cradle…
The empire was already reaching for me and Klaus.
Less than a week after the disaster vanished.
‘Haaa…….’
When would this sighing ever end?
Would it even end?
“For now… don’t worry about it needlessly?”
Whether she read my expression through the mask or not, Veronica tossed light reassurance.
I couldn’t tell if it was perfunctory or brimming with a dragon’s confidence.
“I’m in the empire right now, briefly. I’ll hash it out with the emperor, so don’t stress.”
Ssshh…
Veronica’s shadow writhed.
…Though the Veronica before me stood still.
Apparently… the one in front of me was a clone.
“If things get dicey, I’ll just smash the empire.”
[Don’t smash it.]
Even as a joke, smashing the empire…
It had to be a joke, but coming from Veronica, it didn’t sound like one.
It felt like the imperial capital could vanish tomorrow without surprise.
‘Hmm…….’
I stared blankly at Veronica’s writhing shadow, lost in thought.
Veronica leaving the cradle meant…
Things were truly serious.
Veronica couldn’t leave the cradle.
‘No.’
Precisely… Veronica didn’t leave.
Due to the restrictions she’d placed on herself.
The moment she stepped out, she couldn’t even use 10% of her true power.
“So… any requests?”
[Pardon?]
“Bringing it up now means you want something, right?”
No.
I’d just wanted to explain the situation.
But… I wasn’t one to let an opportunity slip.
[Then give me anything, whatever.]
“Hmm… Later, come to the dean’s office with Shiny?”
[Later when?]
“Uuum… evening?”
Evening.
When the cradle day ends, and I’d be lounging idly in the dorm.
It was a shame, but missing the chance would be more regrettable, so I nodded.
…That’s when it happened.
- Boom!
An explosion rang out far away, and something crashed behind me.
“Guh….”
Klaus.
The unlucky protagonist adapting to S Class had been struck by Veronica’s clone and tumbled.
“Ah. Multis get tough from too far away.”
“P-Please… spare me, Dean…….”
The perpetrator, Veronica, remained utterly nonchalant.
“Groooan….”
Seeing Klaus sprawled on the ground, I swallowed a sigh.
…I’d probably have to go alone that evening.
***
Evening arrived swiftly.
Maybe because there was so much to mull over.
Time flew by.
“Oh, come in.”
Before I could even raise my hand to knock, the door opened on its own.
It felt uncanny.
Not just opening before I touched it, but precisely at the “moment of knocking.”
Anyone could see it was Veronica’s prank.
Creak.
And so.
The scene revealed as the door opened was…
“…….”
“What’re you staring at? First time seeing pajamas?”
Veronica, decked in dinosaur pajamas, pillow tucked under her arm.
I blanked out for a second.
But soon…
‘Yeah… even a dragon can’t resist dinosaurs.’
There was that term, king of dragons.
The dinosaur pajamas blended oddly well with draconic dignity, somehow convincing.
Not that I was convinced, of course.
“Yawwwn… So, what do you want? Let’s get it over with quick. I’m sleepy.”
She truly seemed sleepy.
Yawning long and diving straight into the point.
I was tired too, so I promptly raised the whiteboard.
[Give me materials to make a weapon.]
“Weapon?”
[Yes.]
“You’ve got that thing that spews that gross energy. That one.”
Gross energy.
From context, she meant 【Leviathan】.
[A shortsword to hang on a thread.]
“Ahh… thread… yeah, that makes sense.”
Veronica tapped her lip thoughtfully.
“Hmm… then it needs no mana? You’re using mana-woven thread, right?”
[Yes.]
Veronica as expected.
She pinpointed exactly what I wanted.
“Hmm….”
Veronica looked at me, then.
Ssshh…
A menacing aura leaked from behind her.
…Thick and dark enough to choke on.
“Wait just a sec?”
And it appeared.
A jet-black dragon tail slowly emerging from her waist area.
“Hyup.”
Thud. Thud.
Veronica swung the tail forward to her navel, then began peeling off the scales one by one.
‘…Is it okay to rip those off like that?’
As someone ignorant of dragons…
I had no clue if that was fine.
“Here.”
…What Veronica handed me were several gleaming black scales in her palm.
I took them with a strange feeling.
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【Petite Veronica Scale】
Rank: Legendary
A small, precious scale from Veronica!
Shiny is standard!
Usefulness… maybe there is some?
: Reflects ‘magic’.
Don’t underestimate it just because it’s small!
This petite scale will protect you!
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‘…Petite scale.’
The name was bizarre, and the effect even more so.
Unlike its small, cute appearance, a single piece reflected magic…
Terrifying.
And…
“Nyum.”
Veronica did something even more bizarre and terrifying.
…She slipped a finger into her mouth…
“Nyoohm…….”
Sucking it? Stirring with her tongue? An unknowable sound emerged.
Moments later…
“Ptooey―”
Veronica stuck out her tongue.
…Atop it lay a single glistening little fang.
“Take it.”
With her tongue still out, Veronica seemed to say “take it.”
So… Veronica’s fang.
A dragon’s tooth.
Dazed, I reached out and picked up the moist fang.
“Grow it pretty.”
Veronica kept babbling nonsense.
I let it go in one ear and out the other, gazing down at the damp fang in my hand.
The name, description—all bizarre…
But the effect was profoundly bizarre and terrifying.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
【Petite Veronica Fang】
Rank: Legendary
A small, cute fang.
But don’t be fooled by the cuteness!
It might kill if it bites! For real!
: Ignores all of the target’s ‘defenses’.
Veronica smiles petite-ly today too, baring her fang!
Small and adorable, but its power is legendary itself!
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