And a Random Box in the Club Room! (2)
And a Random Box in the Club Room! (2)
— Clang!
Elena deflected the bastard's dagger and shouted.
"Brother Ian! It's a muscle ghost!"
"How the hell is that thing a ghost?!"
"But look!"
I turned my head where she was pointing.
There was a second blond thug now, identical to the one who'd thrown the dagger at Elena.
"...A clone?"
That threw me off.
I'd never heard of clone magic existing.
In that moment, the bastard hurled another dagger.
— Clang!
Elena surged forward and struck the blade aside with her shield.
"Brother Ian! Get a grip!"
"You're small, so maybe that's why you're so quick."
"Quit joking around and focus, brother! The ghost...! I said it's a ghost—kyaaaa!"
"...You're kind of the one who needs to get a grip."
I muttered under my breath as I watched Elena flailing her feet with her shield raised.
"Exorcism!"
She latched onto one of the blond thug's clones and started bashing it over and over with her shield.
Watching that berserker-like display, I let out a small sigh.
Anyway.
"Strange. I've never heard anything about clone magic."
As far as I knew, clone magic had never appeared in Fanta X Aca. Not once.
Granted, that wasn't proof that clone magic didn't exist.
'Still, that basically means it's an exceptionally high-difficulty spell.'
And someone capable of deploying it was here to shake down a club for pocket change?
Something about this didn't sit right.
"What's got you so deep in thought?!"
The blond man materialized right in front of me.
And then.
— Thwack!
My vision went dark in an instant.
My head buzzed.
Had I just been clocked?
When I opened my eyes, I saw the bastard grinning down at me, reeking of smugness.
"Ian! Is that really all you've got? You're way weaker than I heard!"
I stared at him dumbfounded as he flicked his fist at me in provocation.
'...What the hell is this bastard?'
That movement just now. It was faster than most enemies I'd faced before.
No.
It was more accurate to say I hadn't felt the punching motion at all.
'Maybe Elena wasn't just babbling when she called it a ghost.'
Literally ghost-like movement.
The blond thug smirked.
"Shocked, are we, Ian Blackangus?"
"A little. What the hell even are you?"
"What do you think? I'm the neighborhood boss here to collect dues."
"With your level of skill, you could be collecting dues from the national treasury, not just some academy clubs. That's all I'm saying."
"A bit late to be licking my boots now, you little shit!"
— Thud, thwack. Thwaack!
Attacks rained down at terrifying speed.
I frantically deployed Luna to block, but...
"Gahahaha! You're fun to hit! Be my punching bag!"
Several of the punches landed clean, and my whole body throbbed.
Seriously, what was this guy's deal?
With this kind of skill and that loose screw of his, he'd have no trouble claiming a spot among the named villains.
I couldn't place him at all.
"That's one hit for every copper you're too broke to cough up, asshole."
The moment he shifted into his next stance.
I used a leap to retreat all the way to the window in a single bound.
The candle flames wobbled belatedly.
Shadows writhed in the flickering light.
I scanned my surroundings quickly.
One wall of the room.
Underneath the clock.
"Heueeng!"
Elena was being pummeled by the other clone.
But.
— Clang! Claaang!
She had crawled completely under her shield, so no matter how hard the bastard hammered at her, Elena seemed completely unharmed.
'...Is she a hedgehog?'
"Where do you think you're running?!"
The blond clone assigned to me was on me in an instant.
Even as I hurriedly raised my arms to block, my doubts refused to fade.
This guy had this kind of power, and he was using it to beat people up for pocket change from snot-nosed cadets? And that wasn't even the only thing bothering me.
More than anything, this space. It reeked of wrongness, top to bottom.
I quickly raised my hand.
"Wait. I'll pay."
"What?"
"The toll, and the development fund or whatever it was? I said I'll pay it."
"...Seriously?"
"I'm loaded. I'll pay as much as you want."
As I calmed him down, I kept scanning our surroundings.
Definitely weird.
Had that candle on the corner table been there from the start?
But what really made my skin crawl was the analog clock hanging in the center of the room.
It had been pointing at exactly 17:53 this whole time.
And.
'...It doesn't have a shadow.'
Not the hour hand. Not the minute hand. Not the clock body itself.
No shadow where there absolutely should have been one.
I glanced over.
As I turned my head, I locked eyes with the blond thug.
His face went pale.
I pulled a battery from my pocket.
Then I leaped. Full output.
— Boom!
The blond thug threw himself at me, trying to catch me mid-leap toward the clock.
"Too slow."
— Crack!
I smashed the clock to pieces.
The world rippled violently.
And the scenery of the clubroom flipped inside out.
Now standing before me wasn't a muscular blond thug, but a bold-looking girl in an oversized witch's hat.
"Wha...what? How did you break my hypnosis magic..."
The girl collapsed, her legs giving out as she muttered to herself.
◆
Lupina.
A student of Lichten Academy's Magic Faculty.
President and sole member of the Occult Research Society.
She knew immediately that something had gone terribly wrong.
"My... my hypnosis magic, broken so easily..."
Now entering her third year at Lichten, the crowning achievement of her nightly research in the Occult Research Society was none other than wide-area hypnosis.
Running her club alone in the old Magic Faculty building, she had turned the entire place into a single sprawling formation for her hypnosis magic.
The moment anyone stepped through the front gate and their eyes caught the swaying vines, the hypnosis began, triggered by layers of formations and spellcraft.
The building's notorious reputation as a haunted place—all of it was the result of that same hypnosis.
By occasionally fleecing curious students who wandered into the building—taking a modest amount (about one silver, depending on what they had)—she'd funded the club's activities.
Anyone who came sniffing around hoping to claim the vacant clubroom got chased off.
The student council auditors who made periodic visits were easily dispatched with hypnosis.
That was how the Occult Research Society, with just a single member, managed to maintain its official club status.
For that same reason, when Lupina spotted Ian and Elena entering the building, she'd licked her lips.
It should have been simple. Just charge them about ten silvers as an entry fee for the "Haunted House."
And as a bonus, drive them off so they wouldn't claim the clubroom.
'Where exactly did everything go wrong?'
Was it when she didn't chase them away at the entrance and let them come deeper inside because the girl's reactions were amusing?
Or had she been too confident in her hypnosis?
Maybe the mistake was letting Ian Blackangus—that unnervingly sharp-eyed monster—inside at all.
With the hypnosis object shattered, Ian Blackangus had returned with clear eyes.
He looked straight at Lupina and started walking toward her, each step deliberate.
"Kyaa—! W-wait!"
Her hypnosis had shattered at the worst possible moment, and Lupina's legs gave out, sending her to the floor.
If the rumors were even half true, Ian Blackangus was a terrifying piece of work.
At this rate, she was going to get beaten just as badly as her fake blond thug illusion had beaten Ian—maybe worse.
"I-I'm sorry! I was just trying to, to scare you off...!"
Scrambling backward on the floor, Lupina's skirt bunched up.
Her black tights tore, revealing pale white legs.
Ian extended a hand to her.
"...?"
"Get up."
Lupina stared blankly at the hand and took it, pulling herself to her feet.
Her skirt slid back down, covering her pale legs once more.
Even standing, Lupina remained flustered.
...He wasn't going to hit her?
Ian pointed at Elena and asked.
"When does she wake up?"
"...Ah."
Lupina snapped her fingers...
"N... noooo! Brother Iaaaan! ...Huh?"
With a dazed exclamation, Elena snapped back to her senses.
While Ian checked on Elena's condition.
"Um... w-well then, I'll just be going. There shouldn't be any side effects."
Lupina tried to slip away quietly.
"Hold on."
"H... huh?"
"Name."
"I'm... Lupina. From the Occult Research Society. Downstairs."
"Alright, Lupina. I'm planning to use this room as my clubroom. You don't have a problem with that."
Lupina nodded frantically.
"Of course. And this kind of thing will never happen again."
"Got it."
"Th-then."
Lupina dipped her head and was just about to slip out of the classroom.
"Ah, right."
Ian snapped his fingers.
"The toll. And the development fund."
Ian approached, hands tucked into his trouser pockets.
Lupina trembled, backing away.
— Thud!
But her back hit the wall almost immediately.
"I-I really don't have anything. I only did all that because I didn't have the money for this semester's club accreditation fee!"
— Step. Step.
Ian's footsteps didn't stop.
This was the cadet rumored to have subdued even the great Northern Duke!
"Hiiiiik!"
Lupina squeezed her eyes shut and cried out.
"Th-then! I-I'll pay you back with my body!"
Only after shouting that did she finally manage to slip away.
◆
"What's with her?"
Ian, who had been reaching for his wallet, scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"That would be because your face is frightening, Brother Ian. You looked just like a man about to extort money."
"I was actually about to give her some. The development fund and toll—wasn't I supposed to pay those?"
Ian shook the wallet in his hand.
"...All club rooms are managed by the student council. There's no way anything like that exists, Brother Ian."
Ian looked genuinely taken aback.
He'd figured that, just like rural villages collected development funds from new settlers, this somewhat run-down building would follow a similar custom.
Or maybe something like a key money deposit.
Whatever the case, this time, it seemed his modern-world sensibilities had been a little behind the curve.
'Well, even so.'
An illusion like the one he'd just experienced—wasn't that worth paying good money to go through?
Honestly, that fight with the blond thug had been interesting enough that he almost wanted a proper rematch someday.
Those overwhelming movements.
Getting shaken down and paying for an experience were two entirely different things.
'She might be someone with a real talent for black magic.'
If he got the chance, he'd like to learn from her.
Anyway.
Ian surveyed the clubroom with a deeply satisfied expression.
"Yeah, this place is definitely the best. Doesn't look too bad to live in, either."
Reasonably spacious.
Water was already connected, and if he brought in a stove, cooking wouldn't be an issue.
"A-are you really going to eat and sleep here?"
"Yeah. There's a separate deposit for using a clubroom too, right?"
"Yes... about 50 silvers."
"If I want to save money, this is the best option. Plus, it's inside the academy, so all the facilities are close."
"B-but what if a ghost shows up...!"
At Elena's words, Ian said,
"Then our devout Sister Elena can handle that for us."
"I-I'll do my best!"
Ian smirked and walked over to the shelf.
Fortunately, it was still there.
Numbers Box No. 777. The mysterious box.
"I was worried this might be an illusion too."
With the promotion battle barely days away.
There was no better way to stock up on items than this.
The problem was the lock gleaming in brilliant gold.
...Which meant he had to find the key to open it.
Ian's lips curled upward.
'Well, I already know where that is.'
And it wasn't even hard to obtain.
He knew about this item's existence in the first place because, while playing Fanta X Aca, you always found the key before you ever found the box.
"Elena, you free tomorrow?"
"...Huh? I think I can make some time."
"Good. Let's round up the party members and head somewhere for a bit."
"Where?"
"A dungeon."
"A dun...geon? But dungeons are usually dangerous..."
"No need to worry about that."
After all, it was a dungeon he already knew everything about clearing.