Genius? Don't Make Me Laugh!
Tap. Tap.
It was morning once again. I walked to the academy with an exceptionally light step and an even lighter heart.
What a life—getting stronger for free.
Just yesterday my head had been pounding over the cost of catalysts. Now the more I saved, the stronger I became… Hoo! Spending was a loss, saving was pure profit. The world had never looked more beautiful.
I almost feel like humming a tune. But that would reset my Silence Accumulation, so I’ll hold off.
Words were a loss. Starting today, I resolved to keep my mouth as tightly shut as possible.
As I walked down the hallway, diligently stacking up silence—
“Hey! Ganon!”
Someone roared at me from the side.
…Huh?
When I turned my head, a girl with yellow hair was waving and jogging over. At a glance, her clothes and catalyst case screamed expensive.
What? It’s Neva.
Neva Argent.
I heard she enrolled, but…
She was someone I had known for ten years—ever since the day I fell into this world. The daughter of a prestigious family from the neighboring district. My childhood friend who greeted me every time with “Why are you such a cheapskate?” and teased me mercilessly.
Even though we lived in completely different worlds, for some strange reason we had stuck together since we were small.
I gave a small nod.
I had to conserve my words. Mm.
“Long time no see! You got in too, huh?”
Nod.
“But you.” Neva narrowed her eyes. “There’s a weird rumor going around lately.”
…Rumor?
“That you’re… a genius.”
…Ah.
“Something about making a magic circle with dragonfly wings and the instructor crying his eyes out.”
Nod.
I nodded again. It was the truth, after all. Mm.
…But.
“……Pfft.”
Neva’s expression twisted strangely.
“...?”
“Pffft… pfft…”
“??”
Why is she laughing? Has her brain finally gone bad?
“Ah—I can’t hold it in hahahahaha!”
“Hahahahahahahaha!”
“......”
“You’re hahaha a genius hahaha!”
Hey.
Neva clutched her stomach and started laughing in earnest.
“No, wait hahaha You? A genius? Bwahahaha—”
…What’s so funny?
“Ganon, how many years have I known you? You can’t even use magic! All you do is count coins every day!”
That part is true, but…
“If a breadcrumb falls you snatch it up in three seconds flat! You read books in the dark to save on candles and ruined your eyesight!”
…That one’s true too.
Nod.
I simply nodded without a word. Every single thing she said was an undeniable fact. Mm.
“But a genius? Pffft—hahahaha!”
…Laugh. Laugh your heart out.
I kept my silence. Getting worked up here would break my Silence Accumulation. Whether the rumor was real or fake didn’t matter.
My accumulation is what matters.
…Just endure it. They’ll figure it out with time anyway.
But the quieter I stayed, the more excited Neva became.
“Ah, a pathetic guy like you hahaha. Hey, be honest. It’s all bullshit, right?”
I didn’t nod. I shook my head instead.
“Then it was just luck? You got it right by accident?”
Shake shake.
“Come on, liar. How could you possibly—”
The more I conserved my words, the more irritation crept into Neva’s face.
Shake shake.
“…Ugh! Say something! Why do you keep shaking your head like an idiot!”
Because speaking is a loss.
“Are you seriously pretending to be a genius? Huh? That Ganon? The coin-counting Ganon?”
Nod… shake… nod.
“What the hell is that! Was that a yes or a no?!”
Just go away. You’re breaking my accumulation.
Bang!
“Hey, Ganon Pedro! Are you ignoring me right now?!”
Neva stomped her foot.
“I know you better than anyone! I’ve watched you for ten years! Stop peddling this crap, you scammer!”
…Called a scammer, I finally opened my mouth.
“I didn’t scam anyone, idiot.”
“Oh! He speaks! So you were alive after all!”
…Ah. It’s broken.
Silence Accumulation has been reset.
.......
Because of that annoying yellow-haired girl, all my hard-earned accumulation vanished.
…It really pissed me off. My silence savings.
“Neva.”
“What!”
“On the contrary, with all that expensive catalyst you blow through, what rank did you even get?”
“...What?”
“You definitely didn’t get first place.”
Neva’s face flushed bright red in an instant.
“…T-that’s! I just wasn’t feeling well that day!”
Looks like I hit the bullseye.
“This time I’m definitely taking first! With real skill, not like a scammer like you!”
“Sure.”
I answered briefly.
“Good luck.”
Of course the top spot is mine.
—I kept that part to myself.
“…Hey! What’s with that relaxed face?! Huh?!”
At that moment the bell rang.
Ding— Ding—
“Ah, class is starting.”
Neva finally checked the time and grabbed my arm.
“Hey, which class are you in?”
“...”
I held up three fingers.
“3.”
“What? I’m in class 3 too?”
Worst possible outcome.
“Perfect! Let’s go, we’ll be late!”
It’s not perfect at all…
Neva dragged me by the arm and started running down the hallway.
“...”
Before I could even protest, I was being pulled along by the wrist like some kind of convict.
But that wasn’t the real problem.
As we crossed the hallway, every student’s gaze bored into me.
“Hey, that guy…”
“The dragonfly-wing genius?”
“He’s walking with Lady Argent?”
Whispers—
Ugh, this is burdensome.
The rumor that I was a genius combined with the image of me strolling beside a noble daughter from a prestigious family. Whether I wanted it or not, I was turning into some grand figure.
Neva seemed to notice the stares and glanced at me.
“…What the. You really are famous.”
“…It’s burdensome for me too.”
“…It pisses me off. You’re supposed to be mine.”
She mumbled something under her breath after that, but
Huh? What did she just—
It was too quiet to catch.
“Hmph. It’ll be exposed soon anyway. That your real skill is garbage, heh…”
Well, she’s not wrong.
It was true that I had no real skill. Yet the results still came… I didn’t know how to explain this bizarre situation myself.
When we entered the classroom, class 3 was already packed. The moment Neva and I walked in, however, the room fell silent.
“…Is that Ganon Pedro?”
“It really is. His outfit matches the rumors…”
“But with dragonfly wings…?”
Buzz buzz—
Hey, I can hear every word.
I sat in an empty seat with the most expressionless face I could manage.
I like being alone. No one will talk to me.
…? Why are you coming over here?
Yet Neva plopped down in the seat beside me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Plop—
“Whew… Sitting next to you really is comfortable.”
“It even has that weird antique smell, right?”
Antique? Sure, this cloak is over ten years old.
“…Why are you sitting next to me.”
“Why, can’t I? We’re friends, aren’t we? Heh.”
Friends? You literally just called me a scammer.
Whisper whisper— creep creep—
As soon as we sat down, several students began inching closer.
“Um, Pedro. About yesterday…”
“What’s the secret to your mana control?”
“Do you have a special training method…”
“What, what is this? Why is everyone swarming you?”
Even Neva looked flustered.
Here we go again.
Ten pairs of eyes stared at me intently.
Quick thinking time.
Should I say “Mana is money” again? But that was too much hassle. Speaking was a loss, after all.
Keep it as short as possible.
“…There is no training method.”
“Pardon?”
“Just… save. That’s it.”
“Save…?”
The students started seriously writing it down again.
No, don’t write that down.
But at that moment Neva snorted beside me. She pushed me aside, stuck her face forward, and declared,
“Pfft. Save what? This guy just used cheap junk because he’s broke~”
Hey.
“...”
The students froze for a second.
But then—
“As expected… He pursues a life of frugality.”
“That attitude of not clinging to wealth is admirable—”
“The true posture of a magician…”
That’s not it.
Even though Neva had told the truth, they refused to listen.
“Eh…?”
Neva gaped, stunned.
“…What is with these people? I clearly said you’re just poor…?”
“…I don’t know either.”
At this point the truth itself had stopped working.
Something is seriously off course.
Separate from getting close to the top spot, my image is becoming…
While thinking that, I barely pulled myself together.
Still! Still, if I take first place it’s all good. What does fixing my image do—does it earn money?
This current situation is, in fact, a perfectly successful path…
“Aargh, so annoying!”
No.
I glanced at Neva, who was grumbling beside me and chewing her nails.
“Those snakes… to whom—”
…If I exclude Neva, it’s perfect.
A short while later the instructor entered.
“Everyone, take your seats.”
He was the homeroom instructor for class 3.
When he saw me his expression brightened strangely.
“…Are you Ganon Pedro?”
Nod—
I nodded silently.
Did that seem rude?
Sorry, professor.
“Hehe…”
The professor gave an awkward little laugh before looking at me and saying,
“I heard from Professor Borges. Creating a magic circle with dragonfly wings… Hehe, truly impressive.”
The rumor has spread this far.
“I’m looking forward to it. Become the pride of our class.”
The instructor smiled warmly.
“Huh…”
Neva muttered quietly beside me.
“…Wow, even the instructor fell for it.”
I didn’t deceive anyone, though.
I quietly swallowed a sigh.
It felt like I was riding atop an ever-growing lie.
The trap was that I had barely told any lies myself. I had simply saved money.
“Today’s lesson is basic mana theory. Open your textbooks to page twelve.”
Swish—
All the students opened their books at once.
Flutter—
I opened mine too, of course.
Ugh…
The smell of dust and old paper filled the classroom.
…It was borrowed. From the library.
I hadn’t bought a new one. Obviously.
Who buys books when they cost money?
Hmm… But.
When I glanced sideways, everyone else had crisp new textbooks.
They all bought them?
Even Neva’s was a luxurious hardcover embossed with gold leaf.
How much does one of those cost?
Same content as my used copy, yet only the paper was expensive.
As expected, everyone spends money way too easily.
In the middle of that—
Zero Spending Consecutive Days has been updated.
Current: Not a single gold spent since measurements began.
Condition progress has increased.
Oh.
My mouth corners slowly began to rise—
“Hehe…”
“Why is your book like that?”
“...”
They immediately dropped again.
Even now Neva was poking at me from the side.
“Hey! Hey! Why is your book so ragged?”
“…It’s borrowed.”
“Pfft, cheapskate habits as usual.”
These cheapskate habits are currently making me stronger, you know.
“Hey! Why don’t you just marry into my family?”
“I’ll feed and take care of you, okay?”
There it is again.
“There’s nothing to lose, right~”
The same repertoire she had used to tease me since we were children.
Marry in? It would be me marrying in. And I know it’s empty talk. What could you possibly lack to want someone like me?
“I’m serious, you know~”
“...”
And so class began.
I opened my tattered textbook and quietly started calculating.
The money I saved today. Textbook cost. Catalyst cost. Lunch cost. Was there any business in the world that yielded this much profit?
School is worth attending.
Of course, that statement only held because no one knew my secret.
…At least.
When I glanced sideways, “Ughhh…”
Neva was resting her chin on her hand, staring straight at me.
“Why are you so capable, seriously—”
As expected, she was muttering something incomprehensible with a somewhat distrustful look on her face.
That girl… seems like she might know something.
Well, whatever. In a world where people don’t believe the truth even when you tell them, it didn’t matter what Neva knew.
“Ha, rely on me, you bad guy…”
…I suppose so?