Dorothy Gale Is a Wizard Who Wants to Slack Off (3)

It was truly a blessing that I didn’t have to worry about dying to those grotesque creatures, but that didn’t mean my life force was being drained any less. I wasn’t sure whether it was because Silph and Kasa had learned how to operate my life force more efficiently, but the strain on my body was definitely less than before. At this point it was just a slight nosebleed. If it had been the old me, I would probably be vomiting blood and passing out by now. With my head spinning and blood trickling from my nose, this was truly my peak form.

“I, Cain, am getting stronger every single moment!!”

“What the… are you even saying…”

I lightly ignored Dorothy, who had tossed the words out in clear disbelief, and slowly moved my hands to guide the Fire Tornado. Those tentacle-like monsters didn’t seem to feel screams or pain; they simply burned as the flames swallowed them. The ones that had exhausted their life force turned into black powder and scattered into the air as if they had never existed in this world. Even that black powder soon glowed a dark red before vanishing completely.

With two spirits summoned and the experience points pouring in from cleaning up the otherworldly monsters on top of that, the amount of EXP I was gaining was no joke.

Catching a few beastly bastards wearing human skin and beating up some monsters had raised my level by fifteen. So it really was an EXP event? Even while blood dripped from my nose, I grinned and savored my growth. I was getting stronger every single moment.

“Mmm~ The problem is that gate over there.”

Dorothy pointed at the gate, still speaking in her stiff, lethargic tone. Even though she had personally confirmed how useful I was at handling ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the monsters, she showed zero surprise and immediately began considering the next objective. In the game she had always talked more about future schedules and goals than about interacting with other people. She probably had a perfectionist personality from the start. The fact that she seemed lazy about work or had a laid-back attitude might be a completely separate matter. A perfectionist when it came to duties, but easygoing in daily life? Then wanting to slack off didn’t make much sense. Maybe she simply lived however she pleased? One thing was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠certain—she was an unpredictable woman.

For now, I decided to focus on how to close the gate.

“Senior Dorothy, how many times have you handled situations like this?”

“Not many. Three times? The appearance of an otherworld gate inside the academy itself is quite shocking.”

“How did you resolve them? The way you’re pondering the gate now makes it seem extremely tricky.”

“There are a few methods. Either eliminate the monsters until the gate closes on its own, or force it shut—though that method is rather exhausting.”

In the game, the gate would naturally close once its power was depleted after you blocked the monster wave.

“What are the ways to close it by force?”

“Hmm… To be honest, that part is something I don’t know much about either. I was unconscious at the time.”

“Isn’t that… labor exploitation?”

“Labor… exploitation…?”

“Ahem… Never mind.”

Watching Dorothy tilt her head with round eyes at the words “labor exploitation,” I once again concluded that this medieval fantasy world was completely broken. According to her, it meant someone had forcibly closed a gate before… I needed to figure out the conditions for that as well.

“So right now we can’t close it by force ourselves, and we simply have to hope the gate disappears naturally?”

“Pretty much. Ah, it’s closing over there.”

The gate was slowly shrinking. Just as she said, its power seemed exhausted; it stopped summoning additional monsters and began to close.

-Cain. Body. Okay?

-This time! Adjusted as much as possible! Cain! Kasa did good, right?!!!

[Yeah. Thanks for not killing your contractor.]

I gave the spirits—who were twisting their bodies in front of my eyes as if begging for praise—the friendliest smile I could manage, sent my thanks, and then looked at Dorothy. She seemed to be contemplating the conditions for forcibly closing the gate, resting her left hand on her chin while staring into space and muttering. I was impressed that even now she kept giving me credit.

Her only notable passives seemed to be Mana Detection and Archmage’s Talent, yet I couldn’t hide my astonishment that she was already at 6th Circle as a second-year. When playing the game there was a choice where Alex picked between the Martial Arts Department and the Magic Department, and choosing Magic included circle-raising training. Back then the consensus was that even with every trick, the limit right after entering the second year was 4th Circle at most… Dorothy really felt like a character with heavy plot armor.

Come to think of it, it was about time for Alex to pick a fight with those noble bastards and have a proper brawl. I needed to hurry back and finish my own business.

“Um… Senior Dorothy. If the work is finished, could you please handle my matter quickly?”

“Yeah. Ah, right. I’ll listen on the way.”

She really handled things with lightning speed. No wonder she held a key position in the student council. Setting my small admiration aside, I recounted everything I had experienced in detail, pouring in the sincere wish that those bastards would get fucked over.

Dorothy Gale listened to my testimony with an expressionless face, but she flinched slightly when I reached the parts about the Saintess and Panzy Vlad.

“Saintess Eve Abraham and Panzy Vlad…”

“Ahaha. Well, somehow our fates ended up connected like that.”

“You don’t seem to have any intention of hiding your power.”

Was there any need to hide it? A pure question rose in my mind. Of course I understood that if word spread that I could cast magic without incantations or magic circles, it would become somewhat troublesome. However, when weighing the choice between being known as a ridiculously weak weakling who received contempt and disdain versus pretending to be weak while secretly being some absurdly strong guy with mysterious powers, I would obviously choose the latter. The only benefit of living as the weak is that your opponents let their guard down. And strictly speaking, since I really am weak, pretending ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to be strong is the correct move. Every opponent I had faced so far had judged me as weak and dropped their guard, which was why I had luckily won. Besides, these spirits were all lower-tier. I hadn’t felt their limits yet, but a limit to lower-tier spirits definitely existed.

[Silph, Kasa. How many types of spirits do you two know in total?]

-Um… We are nature, Cain.

-Nature has no types! If Cain wants water then water! If fire then fire!

[And if earth then earth. Got it.]

Spirits were nature itself given form. Even though Silph was called a wind spirit, thinking of her as the atmosphere or air itself made more sense. The system had simply classified her as wind for convenience. That being the case, for some unknown reason the other attribute spirits either had no intention of appearing before me yet or my ability was still insufficient.

“Well… it’s not really my business. I just don’t want to reveal my power and get dragged into annoying matters~ that’s all.”

“Haha… That’s because I really am weak. Don’t the weak either hide or try to puff themselves up as much as possible?”

“Hmm~ So you chose to puff yourself up as much as possible…”

How interesting~ With those final words Dorothy finished listening to my testimony. She seemed quite curious about my connection with the Saintess and Panzy, but the atmosphere suggested she would simply chalk it up to good luck.

When Dorothy and I returned to the workroom in Acropolis, Amy—who had been waiting with bated breath—came running with an expression that looked like she was about to cry and hugged Dorothy tightly.

“Dorothy! I was so worried! I thought student Cain might have kidnapped you for some kind of protest!”

It was a part that clearly revealed how she usually thought of Dorothy. And why was it so natural that I was the one doing the kidnapping? This was fucking student discrimination! Still, I couldn’t voice such thoughts openly. I approached Amy with a bright smile and said,

“I helped Senior Dorothy Gale with her ‘work.’ She probably won’t have to work for a ‘while.’”

“Mmm… For a while…”

“Amy. I have too much work. I need people to share the burden with.”

Just the documents piled on the desk were enough to make one’s eyes roll back; for a student who would soon have to attend classes, it was far too heavy a load. Amy, who had finally realized this, repeatedly apologized to Dorothy and begged for forgiveness, saying she would come up with countermeasures. Wait, was the system really structured so that one person had to handle everything? Even a small company would see everyone quit if it was like this.

Dorothy, who had practically collapsed into her chair, let out a deep sigh and stared straight at me. You’re going to bore a hole through me, dude.

“Cain.”

“Yes, Senior.”

“The full semester begins in a few days… For the time being, stop by my place.”

“Huh?”

She didn’t even pretend to think about it before speaking. Ignoring my flustered face entirely, she muttered a few thoughts to herself before nodding with conviction.

“By the authority of the Disciplinary Committee Chair, I appoint Cain as ‘Honorary Lacke—’ no, ‘Honorary Secretary to the Disciplinary Committee Chair.’”

She was definitely about to say lackey just now. This was all so she could dump work on me. I know exactly what’s going on.

“You know that’s complete bullshit, right?”

“Yeah. You swore.”

How could I not swear? Dorothy’s face remained expressionless, but I could feel that she was laughing inside. It seemed she had grown more interested in exploring the power of the spirits I used, or perhaps she planned to keep me close so we could handle monsters together if another gate opened. Since I probably wouldn’t have much to do after classes anyway… No, I needed to build up more life force…

“Is refusal not an option?”

“I’d like to say ‘I refuse your refusal’… but if stopping by every day is too difficult, I understand~ It’s not mandatory, but I’d appreciate it if you could come during emergencies.”

Dorothy raised her staff as if this was the one part she could not compromise on. Well, since EXP events kept popping up here and there, what user would turn that down? Of course it’s a carrot and stick, motherfucker!