Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Learn It the Hard Way
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I left the Headmaster's office and headed back to the dormitory.
When I answered Lucia's question, she showed a side of her completely different from the Lucia I knew.
The same Lucia who calmly commanded students even when demons appeared before her was now flustered by just a few words from me. It was fun seeing a new side of her.
- Dunno.
- E-Excuse me?
- I said I don't know.
That was the end of our conversation.
What else could she say when I told her I didn't know?
'If I don't know, I don't know. What else am I supposed to say?'
I don't know why Luke enrolled in this academy.
He's not even a character in the original story.
'Frankly, it's none of my business.'
Who cares what an extra does?
This world was made for the protagonist to run the whole show—struggling, fighting, saving the day, and sleeping with the heroines.
After returning to the dorm, I started to sort through my belongings.
As befitting someone living in this cramped dorm, my only possessions were a single longsword and a coin purse that might or might not have any money in it.
The currency used in this world is gold coins.
Except there were none. Only a few copper coins rattled inside the purse.
'Turns out he was dirt poor.'
How did he even pay the tuition?
I have no idea how he earned money for food and tuition.
'But now, it's me.'
Even if I don't need tuition money since I've dropped out, it's now my problem that I have no money for lodging or food, and that I'll be starving.
"Hmm... this is a pain to carry around."
Money is money, no matter how little.
It's annoying to carry, and there's a chance I could lose this pitiful amount.
"Or I could get pickpocketed by some thief."
As I mulled over what to do.
"Ah."
I remembered that I have a skill, too.
"Heh heh... This is a fantasy world, after all."
Back on Earth, I would've had to stuff it in my pocket or a bag.
But I have the blessing of a skill!
"Inventooooory!!!!"
As I puffed out my chest and yelled, a translucent blue window flashed into existence.
A screen with neat rows of square slots.
It was just like the inventories you see in games.
It was a little underwhelming, but still surreal enough for me to be satisfied.
'Or is it? Maybe this is considered realistic in this world.'
I don't know.
But how do I put things into the inventory?
'Will it go in if I just think about it?'
I imagined the coin purse entering the inventory.
...
Nothing happened.
"Coin purse, move."
...
Again, nothing happened.
"Ah, dammit."
I just threw the coin purse at the blue window in front of me.
The screen rippled, and the coin purse entered the inventory.
"See? Everything listens once you beat it up a little."
Inside the inventory, I could see the coin purse I'd just put in, sitting in one of the square slots.
"Yeah! Now *this* is a skill. Who said Inventory was F-rank?"
In web novels and webtoons, people dominate with the most ridiculous, garbage skills. What's so wrong with Inventory?!
Anyway, as long as I like it, that's all that matters.
***
Leaving the dormitory, I walked through the academy grounds, thinking about what to do next.
'Maybe I'll check out the Adventurer's Guild.'
The novel I read was set in a world teeming with monsters.
While there's an elite training institution like the academy, its members alone aren't enough to stop the monsters flooding the world.
That's why the Adventurer's Guild exists, allowing even commoners who couldn't attend the academy to legally hunt monsters for pay.
To put it simply, it's like choosing between going to college or getting a job to build a career.
Well, I personally prefer the latter.
But this isn't Earth. The academy's job placement rate is probably 200%, not 100%.
Just graduating from the academy brands you as a talent, and everyone wants to recruit you.
'Though it all ends when the protagonist defeats the Demon God anyway.'
I possessed this body right when the novel ended.
I don't know what happened in any side stories after that.
"Hey. Last place."
Maybe I should go check out the protagonist and heroines' faces before I leave.
Lucia was damn pretty earlier. If she's not a heroine, I bet the real ones could make you cum without even getting hard.
"Hey! Last place!"
As I was walking blankly, a voice from the side caught my attention, and I turned my head.
A short distance away, some guy and what looked like his cronies were looking at me with sneers on their faces.
"Last place? You talking to me?"
"Who else in the academy is in last place? You worthless commoner with no mana."
Even if he'd used my name, I probably wouldn't have responded since I just got here. Calling me 'last place' made it even harder to realize he meant me.
Besides, I dropped out, so I'm not last place anymore, am I?
The kid who was 199th is last place now.
"That aside, how dare a mere commoner speak to me so informally?"
"That's right! Commoner! Do you even know who you're speaking to!?"
"This is Lord Bernard Clinton, the second son of a count!"
The lackeys next to the guy who'd picked a fight with me chimed in from the side.
To me, they just looked like a bunch of losers.
'What's with these Fatty and Scrawny-looking bastards?'
He spoke informally to me first, and now he's getting mad that I'm doing the same. What a hypocrite.
And from what I know, the class system of noble society means nothing inside the academy.
Yet this bastard is proudly flaunting his rank.
"So what?"
"Hah? This commoner bastard. How dare you try to act like my equal."
Since I don't recognize him, he must be either a worthless side character or an extra, not even worth remembering.
Looking at this trio, who were bound to suffer all sorts of hardships just because the protagonist attends this academy, I suddenly felt a pang of pity for them.
Or maybe they'll just get expelled before any of that happens.
"You bastard...! What's with that look!"
"What about my look?"
"I'm asking why you're looking at me with such pity in your eyes!"
Looks like I let my sympathy show without realizing it.
I don't have a mirror, so I can't even see what my expression is.
Well, since I'm already looking, I might as well keep looking.
"Eek...! You son of a bitch! How dare a commoner like you insult me!?"
"What is this idiot talking about? Freaking out just because I looked at you. Are you paranoid or something?"
At my words, Fatty and the two Scrawnies beside him stared wide-eyed, their faces a picture of shock.
'The reactions here are priceless. They fly off the handle at the slightest thing.'
Fatty, who had been standing there speechless with a dumbfounded look, suddenly turned beet red, a vein popping on his forehead.
"You commoner...! Today, I shall personally teach you what manners are!"
Saying that, he pulled a white glove from his pocket and threw it at me.
And upon seeing that, I.
-*Fwip*!
Quickly kicked off the ground and lunged forward.
***
At first, he had planned to tease him as usual and then watch him run away.
But today, the guy was strange.
He didn't recognize his own nickname, stared at him with insulting eyes, and to top it all off, the commoner had the audacity to speak informally to him, a noble.
Bernard, deciding that today was the day to drill some manners into him, challenged Luke to a duel by throwing his glove.
But the moment the glove touched the madman's body, he charged forward without warning.
'What is this lunatic...?!"
As his opponent rushed him, Bernard hastily twisted his body to dodge.
Then, he quickly created some distance.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"What? You threw the glove. Doesn't that mean you want to duel?"
"Normally, one signifies acceptance by picking up the glove! But what are you doing?! Charging in without a word!"
"Why are you talking so much? You're the one who wanted to fight."
Luke was honestly a little disappointed.
'Too bad. I was hoping to end this quickly and get out of here.'
A crowd of students had gathered around Luke and Bernard, eager to watch the fight.
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
- Pfft. Look at them, fighting amongst themselves. Birds of a feather.
- I guess that's the only way the bottom-rankers know how to fight.
Still, a good fight is the best entertainment, so even while mocking Luke and Bernard, no one left their spot.
"Sigh..."
"How dare you sigh in the middle of a duel with me!"
"Just shut up."
Luke's patience was slowly reaching its limit.
Never mind being a monkey in a zoo right now; just seeing that idiot's manner of speech and personality was making his stress pile up.
"Hey, this isn't working. Just take the beating."
In an instant, Luke kicked off the ground and leaped toward Bernard.
Luke pulled the right side of his upper body back.
It was a signal that he was about to throw a right punch.
Bernard recognized it, dodged precisely at the moment the punch should have flown, and gathered mana in his right fist for a counterattack.
However, the expected punch never came. Luke's fist remained pulled back.
'...?'
The moment Bernard wondered what he was doing.
-*Thwack*!
"Keuk!"
Luke's fist struck Bernard square in the left side.
As Bernard regained his posture, he replayed what had just happened.
He was sure he had dodged in time.
But the problem wasn't him; it was Luke.
After pulling his right hand back, he'd made no move to extend it, even after he had dodged.
By the time he realized something was wrong, Luke's fist was already buried in his side.
'What kind of childish attack is this...?!"
But before Bernard could even fix his stance, the second attack came.
Again, just like the first time, Luke pulled the right side of his upper body back.
'Here it comes!'
Anticipating the same attack as before, he decided to dodge more slowly this time.
However.
-*Thwack*!
This time, the attack was much faster than the original speed.
Left with no choice, Bernard could only take another blow to his side.
"Keuk!"
***
'Idiot.'
You think you can dodge that after seeing it only twice?
Such simple-minded thinking.
If you could dodge an off-beat attack after seeing it just twice, words like 'Hollow' or 'Elden Lord' would never have been invented.
Maybe because Luke had no mana, his body was in pretty good shape. Thanks to that, compared to my heavy body from my past life, my movements felt as light as a feather.
The fact that even I, who used to just laze around in my room, could win a fight proves it.
'I really don't get how he managed to rank 200th with a body like this, losing to guys like that.'
This is why a magic-first mentality is no good.
After just two hits, Fatty started drooling.
He was a weakling, just as I thought. He seemed to be struggling just to breathe.
'Well then, all that's left is a one-sided beatdown.'
Before Fatty could catch his breath and fix his posture, I rushed in and knocked him over.
Then I got on top of him in a full mount and started relentlessly punching him in the face.
"Gak! Keuk! S-Stop!"
"What are you talking about? There's no stopping."
You started this whenever you wanted, so you think you can end it whenever you want?
Not a chance.
"I-I lose! So please, stop! Keok!"
"Cry about it."
If I had lost, I'd be the one getting beaten. If you were me, would you stop?
What a way to think in a world with monsters.
This is the kind of guy who'd get his ass kicked by a monster and then start begging, 'Sorry, I lose! Spare me!'
After that, I continued to punch Fatty's face for a good while.
My fists only stopped after Fatty's face had become a swollen mess and he passed out.