Third Place in Omok as Well
After regaining her memories, Louis summoned her courage and stepped into Ashen’s room. Enduring the burning embarrassment, she had chosen an outfit that whispered I’m not openly revealing I’m a woman, but it would be nice if Ashen noticed at least a little—that long, deliberate ensemble. And yet, for roughly five hours sharing the same room with Ashen in that very outfit, absolutely nothing happened.
“...Huh?”
Louis only realized how strange that was once bedtime arrived and she returned to her own quarters. As her trembling eyes drifted down to her carefully chosen clothes, black smoke began to coil upward beside her.
Really pathetic. How is it possible to achieve literally nothing in all that time?
“N-no… I did manage to make him notice—”
He did show one reaction that could be called noticing, but it doesn’t seem to be the response Master desired.
“...”
At a loss for words, Louis pressed her lips shut. Shane’s black form suddenly coalesced, twisting into a perfect replica of Louis—completely naked.
“H-hey! What are you doing…!”
With a body this fine, why insist on taking the difficult route…? As far as I know, this size is considered quite large even among humans.
“I-I know it’s big, okay! But I told you it can’t be revealed yet…!”
Sigh…
Watching Shane casually knead her own breasts while wearing Louis’s exact appearance, Louis’s face flushed crimson. She hurled the blanket at the entity.
What are you doing?
Naturally, since Shane had no physical body, the blanket passed straight through and fluttered to the floor.
A week had passed since the midterms. Thanks to the professors taking a relaxed approach to lectures, Ashen had gained a decent amount of time to focus on his gauntlet modifications. Each session, Louis would visit his room and hover nearby, watching intently. Lately it felt less like he was observing the work and more like he was staring holes through Ashen himself… but it wasn’t quite at the level where Ashen could complain.
Anyway, with a week gone by, it was finally the day grades were released. Countless students swarmed the bulletin board area to check their results.
“Ugh… the crowd…”
“Well, grades are important.”
The sea of people made it look nearly impossible to get close. Ashen wrapped an arm around Louis’s waist, then leaped high, pressing the gauntlet against the ceiling. Like this.
“Can you see from here?”
“...The gauntlet has functions like this too?”
“I can’t fly yet, you know. Gotta equip even these miscellaneous tricks.”
If it had been Loxia or Levia, they probably would have just floated up or skipped checking altogether out of annoyance. But since Ashen couldn’t fly, this was his only option.
“Let’s see…”
Still dangling from the ceiling, he scanned the results.
Magic Engineering Department — 3rd
Economics Department — 3rd
“What the—? Fuck, third place again?”
She said she just cast one spell and called it a day, you crazy woman.
Levia had gone toe-to-toe with Leona, so the mountain of casualties made sense. But Loxia supposedly only used one spell too?
“No way…”
She cast one spell, stayed put, and still took first? Don’t give me that crap. He wanted to deny it, but since the opponent was Loxia Astra, he couldn’t quite bring himself to claim it was impossible.
…What a ridiculously unfair world.
“Sigh… Yeah. If you’re third place, you should act like it and not get cocky.”
It was his own fault for hoping. The opponent was Loxia Astra—an inhuman mage.
After confirming he was still third in both Magic Engineering and Economics as well, Ashen prepared to drop from the ceiling. Louis had checked his own results and was nodding in satisfaction.
Just as Ashen was about to descend, chaos erupted below.
“Whoa!”
“What the—!”
“!! Hey, move!”
“It’s here…!”
The students below suddenly shoved aside, creating a narrow corridor just wide enough for one person. The cause was obvious.
“Move… You’re in the way.”
Levia Gloria. Her familiar brown bob cut through the crowd like a blade, heading straight for the results sheet. She looked up, scanned the board for a moment—
-Grit.
“…Loxia.”
She ground her teeth, muttering the name of the person in first. It seemed her inferiority complex toward Loxia ran deeper than he’d realized. Ashen felt inferior too, but to this extent? That was when—
“Ashen… Serdis? Third place?”
His name must have caught her eye.
“Third place…? The third place that Loxia mentioned… Hah.”
She had been muttering to herself, but suddenly twisted her head and stared directly at him.
“…Hello?”
“I’m not in the mood for greetings, so just answer this.”
“Yes?”
“...”
Levia’s gaze was openly disgusted. Ashen flinched for a split second, but since a sour expression was her default setting, he decided reacting to every little thing was pointless and simply waited for the question.
“Were you the third-place student who saved Loxia during the midterms?”
“Ah, that?”
There was no reason to hide it.
“Yeah, that was me. That semi-transparent wyvern completely nullifies magic, but it doesn’t nullify swords, right? So I took care of it pretty easily.”
It really hadn’t been that impressive. The only reason he’d succeeded so quickly was because he could use magic himself and immediately noticed the anomaly. Any decent knight could have handled it.
“It wasn’t that strong. Even upper-tier Knight Department students could probably take one down.”
Hell, Leon—who had fought during the exam—could have sliced that semi-transparent wyvern apart with his greatsword without breaking a sweat.
“…I see.”
After listening to his answer, Levia seemed to ponder something for a moment.
“Tsk. A mere third place.”
“This bitch—?”
Leaving behind those incredibly grating final words, she slammed her staff into the ground and vanished.
…He would definitely get revenge.
Only after swearing vengeance did Ashen detach the gauntlet from the ceiling and drop to the floor. Escaping the flood of curious stares, he fled to the safety of the club room.
-Bang!
“Sigh. What a life.”
“Are you okay, Ashen?”
“Well… I’m not that hurt, so no need to worry. It’s just… a little…”
Thinking about it is seriously pissing me off.
She’d said “a mere third place” right to his face? A mere third place? A mere third place? A mere third place???
“Haa… I need to cool my head with some board games.”
Just as he sat down hoping to heal his wounded pride, a voice greeted him.
“You’ve arrived, Ashen.”
“...?”
Unlike yesterday, the club president wasn’t stuttering. His skin looked firmer, his eyes sparkled, and his complexion was radiant as he walked over with confident steps.
“Did something happen to you…?”
Until yesterday he had been the same nerdy president Ashen knew. Could a person change this drastically overnight?
As Ashen stared in confusion, the president—who even seemed slightly taller—slung an arm around his shoulders and declared in a booming voice.
“Did something happen? Ah, my proud club member, Ashen. Last night I attained ‘enlightenment.’”
“What kind of enlightenment?”
“Omok.”
“...?”
“Last night, I grasped the true essence of Omok.”
“Excuse me?”
What kind of nonsense was this? What essence?
“Hohohohoh, it seems you don’t understand. Allow me to demonstrate for you.”
The president sat down at the table with natural grace and placed the Omok board with a heavy thud.
“You may go first. Consider it this senior’s generosity.”
“Uh… sure.”
Where did this confidence come from when the guy couldn’t even play properly? Thinking that, Ashen began the match. Then—
“Uh.”
He realized it.
“Hut. Do you understand now?”
“No, this is…”
The president’s Omok skill had completely surpassed his own.
Ashen had lost at Omok. He—a person from Earth—had lost to a native of this world. He, who used to play Omok all the time in elementary school!
…Wait a second.
There were currently six club members including the president. Ella had already beaten him, and now the president had too. Which meant…
“Third place… in Omok?”
He was third in Omok too? Even in Omok, he was third place?
“This… this goddamn—!”
Knight Department, Magic Department, Magic Engineering Department, Economics Department, and now even Omok. All third place.
“Ugh…! Uuuugh…!”
“A-Ashen…!”
The rage surged until he nearly exploded—until a new game saved him.
“Ashen…! What on earth is this game…?”
“Oh, this one?”
By introducing a brand-new game and reducing the president back to his usual nerdy self, Ashen barely managed to regain his sanity.
“Ashen, this is incredibly fun!”
“Haha, right?”
It was the game where you rang the bell the moment five fruits of the same kind appeared on the cards—Halli Galli.
-Ding!
“Haha, I’ll be taking this one again~”
Since it was a new game, no one should have been able to beat him. Or so he thought, playing with total ease.
-Ding!
“...Huh?”
“I won? I’ll take it~”
A new rising star had appeared—Louis.
…Why was he good at this too?