Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: I Shoulder-Tackle the Pretty Heroine Who's Buying Me Dinner
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'He wants me to go with him?'
Absolutely not. I'd rather die at the hands of that demonic human from before.
A crazy battle maniac who couldn't distinguish between courage and recklessness, charging in foolishly.
That was Liche's impression of Arthur.
A self-centered person who, unable to recognize the difference in skill between himself and his opponent, made his own judgment and gambled with the lives of his team members.
If Luke hadn't happened to fly in and intervene, all the students there were fated to die, caught up in Arthur's bravado.
Only after the incident was over did Liche report what had happened to the professors who arrived late as support. After a simple check-up at the infirmary, she immediately left the academy.
She had called out to him for certain this time, but he'd run off. She was going to find Luke.
Though she left the academy without a plan, she had a destination in mind.
The Adventurer's Guild.
If a non-student had a reason to hunt monsters, it had to be as an adventurer. So, Liche headed straight for the Adventurer's Guild.
And just as she expected.
The beastkin woman who was with Luke, who seemed to have just finished his business and was heading for the entrance, came into Liche's view.
"Found you."
Liche waited for Luke to walk over before speaking.
"Luke."
"?"
Only when she called his name did Luke turn to look.
He suddenly made a strange face.
"No, this is Patrick."
"…?"
What was he talking about?
She hadn't come here to play word games.
Luke, despite his dumb expression, was subtly trying to slip away.
"You're not getting away this time."
She surrounded him with a wall of low-intensity fire, blocking his path.
If he tried to break through by force, he would have to deal with both of them. Liche glanced at the beastkin woman next to Luke to gauge her reaction, but…
"…?"
She was strangely calm.
So calm, Liche wondered if they were even companions.
Then, a voice suddenly came from within the wall of flames.
"Dispel."
She didn't know what kind of spell it was, but as soon as the voice was heard, Luke confidently walked through the flames.
"…How!"
"What do you mean, how? I just walked through it."
That wasn't what she meant.
How could a person walk through fire with their bare body?
She was flustered, seeing him completely fine except for a few singed marks.
Normally, one could prevent damage by enveloping their body in mana.
But something she kept forgetting, only to be reminded of, was that he had no mana.
He couldn't use the technique of shrouding his body in mana.
That meant he had truly walked through with just his bare body.
"No one can stop me!"
He was the type of person who never backed down from a fight, even if it was with a main heroine.
That was the kind of person Luke was, but there was no way Liche would know that.
With a thunderous roar, Luke charged forward, shoulder first.
"W-Wait a minute! Aah!"
A shoulder tackle.
Liche was sent flying a considerable distance by the full-force tackle.
***
"Sir Luke… I think she just wanted to talk…"
"Luna. We've agreed to call people like that stalkers."
It's a social contract.
"That's very different from the stalkers I know…"
"Does someone who just wants to talk immediately start throwing magic around?"
"Well, you have been running away from her until now…"
"It's not running away. It's a strategic retreat."
"Yes… of course."
This Luna girl is something else, even after I saved her. I should just toss her into a horde of monsters the next time there's an invasion event at the academy.
That'll make her grateful.
Liche, who had gotten back on her feet, seemed to have blocked the impact with mana, as she appeared to have no injuries or shock.
After lightly dusting off her clothes, Liche approached me again.
"Sorry for attacking so suddenly. You kept running away, so I had no choice."
"It wasn't running away, it was a strategic retreat."
"…Fine, let's call it a retreat. Can we talk for a moment?"
"No!"
"I'll buy you dinner."
"Yes!"
"…"
What? I can't resist a pretty girl buying me dinner.
Technically, she's not an older sister since we're the same age, but hey, what's good is good.
Saved money on dinner tonight. Sweet.
I headed to the restaurant district with Liche, who had offered to buy me a meal.
Normally, I'd go to a reasonably priced restaurant, but since she was paying today, I had no intention of holding back.
When someone else is treating, it's standard practice to bleed them dry, and I intended to do just that.
"Excuse me! We'll have one of everything on the menu!"
I deliberately chose an expensive restaurant and ordered every single item from the waiter.
Liche was a high-ranking noble, so this much shouldn't make her bat an eye.
"You really have no shame…"
"I'm a real man. I'll milk the favor for all it's worth before it turns into an entitlement."
Don't they say that if a favor continues, it becomes a right?
Then, the polite thing to do is to milk it all dry in the favor stage before it becomes a right.
"You can order more too, you know."
"I'm fine, thank you."
"Luna, you shouldn't refuse someone's kindness."
"I think it would be fine if you refused a little, Sir Luke…"
Is there anything more awkward than having your kindness refused?
It's people like Luna who, trying to save face or be polite, end up starving to death somewhere.
Since we ordered so much, the food was served one dish at a time as soon as it was ready.
I speared the first piece of meat that came out with my fork and popped it into my mouth.
"I'm going to ask you some questions, so answer while you eat."
"(Munch, mumble.)"
"You mentioned Hex last time. How do you know about Hex?"
"Thash nof, *chew*, wha I shaid, *chew*, ash all."
"Swallow what's in your mouth before you speak…"
She tells me to answer while eating, but she sure has a lot of demands.
Normally, Liche would be holed up in the library around this time. I guess this happened because I accidentally dropped a spoiler last time.
If she hadn't shown up, I was planning on some irresponsible fun. Too bad.
I swallowed all the food in my mouth and answered.
"I didn't say Hex, I said sex."
"…Huh?"
For a moment, Liche looked dumbfounded as if she couldn't understand, while Luna put a hand to her forehead and shook her head.
Did she not even get sex ed?
When guys get together, the thing they say whenever they're bored is, 'Ah, I wanna have sex~.'
I made a circle with my index finger and thumb and moved the index finger of my other hand in and out of it.
"You don't know sex? S-E-X? It's when a man's thing goes in and out of a woman's down-there—"
"N-No! It's not that I didn't hear you!"
Liche shrieked, her face now bright red.
She wasn't the type to get flustered or act emotionally.
I guess reality is different from the novel.
That was amusing to see.
'What's there to be so embarrassed about over something like this?'
As someone who has read the entire novel, excluding the side stories, I know there are R-18 chapters.
Every heroine has done it with Arthur.
Even if this is before that happens, she's going to do it eventually. What's she going to do if she gets this embarrassed?
Then again, in the novel, Liche was incredibly shy during her first time.
It wasn't that the other heroines weren't embarrassed, but Liche's reaction was almost excessive.
But that seemed to please our purist fans, because she took first place in the heroine popularity poll.
"And I'm sure I heard you say Hex!"
"Yeah, whatever. Even if you meet him, you can't win."
This and that, for this reason and that reason.
It was a pain to explain, and besides, even though Liche had spent half her life searching for Hex, she wouldn't be able to beat him when they finally met, so Arthur would have to take care of him instead.
"I won't ask how you know about Hex… Just give me information so I can win."
"No, I'm telling you, you can't win no matter what you do."
Whether I nag you to train or push you to the brink of death, as a heroine, you're designed to be unable to beat him.
If you could beat him on your own, there'd be nothing left for the protagonist to do.
If you're going to complain, you should have gone to the damn author, not me.
"…Then tell me how to get stronger."
100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10km run. Do that every day.
"You should ask a professor, why are you asking me, you crazy bitch."
"…?"
"Sir Luke, I think your inner thoughts and outer words got swapped…"
Who said that was an inner thought?
"I think I've told you enough, so I'm going to sleep."
"…Huh? You're leaving?"
"No, I'm sleeping."
My body is craving rest right now!
In that sense, I'm entering power-saving mode immediately!
***
-Slam!
Luke, who had been talking just fine a moment ago, boldly declared his intentions and then slammed his head onto the table.
Liche and Luna, who thought it was some kind of joke, soon heard snoring and realized it wasn't a prank. They were left speechless.
"…He's really asleep."
She hadn't gotten a single piece of proper information yet.
Should she wake him up now before he falls into a deep sleep?
The moment Liche raised her hand.
"I wouldn't wake him up."
"…Why not?"
"You might die."
"You don't think he'd kill someone for waking him up, do you…?"
Would he really kill a person for waking them up?
Isn't that what a psychopath would do?
Liche, who had thought it was a joke, changed her mind upon seeing Luna's serious expression.
"He'd really kill me…?"
"If you're curious enough to try, I won't stop you, but please do it when I'm not around. I don't want to get caught in the crossfire."
Hearing Luna say that with such sincerity, Liche slowly lowered her raised hand.
"You don't know anything, do you, Miss Luna?"
"No."
"Haa…"
The more she dug, the more questions she had.
How on earth did he know?
Liche had failed to get any of the information she wanted and had only wasted a ton of money.