Ch.106NPCs Who Work Hard Even Without NPCs (3)

“What? You want me to teach you [Wind Riding]?”

“Yes. Please.”

“Bowing your head and asking nicely doesn’t mean I can teach you. Besides, even talented elves take a thousand years to master this sword technique. Even if you learn it, you’ll only grasp the basic form, and a very crude one at that. This isn’t because I don’t want to teach you…”

“I know. I’ve learned while studying swordsmanship that Master Green isn’t that kind of person. So please. Just show me the sword and teach me how to form the basic stance. If it’s not possible, I’ll give up right away.”

“…Sigh, let me at least ask why. If you continue with the basic sword forms you’re learning now, you could become twice, no, three times stronger than you are now. I guarantee you’d reach that level before thirty. So why do you want to learn [Wind Riding] when it’s certain you can’t master it?”

“Three times stronger by thirty is too late and too weak for me.”

“Huh? You’re already exceptionally strong for a human. Three times your current strength would be about the level I was at when I killed those demons that day…”

“The person I care about can already do that much now.”

“……”

“Ten years is too late. I want to work harder and become someone worthy of standing beside that person. So I’m asking you again. Even if it’s just the individual forms of [Wind Riding]. Couldn’t you teach me?”

A few months later.

“…You must be joking?”

“Master! I can do up to the fourth form! I’ll learn the rest when I see you again someday! Thank you!!!”

“This is… insane. Such talent… Hah. Makes me feel deprived.”

*

The falling rock seemed to float in the air like leaves scattered by the wind.

-CRASH!!!

The rock that was clearly falling toward the enemy suddenly got sliced like cube steak and tumbled to the ground.

And the blonde woman who created this spectacle started running away again without looking back.

“Damn, what the hell. Was that swordsmanship? That’s not a technique a human in their early twenties should be able to perform! What is she?! Some other race? Beast-folk? No, an elf?!! What the hell?!!”

For decades, as the academy’s headmaster, she prided herself on having met all kinds of geniuses.

She had certainly met humans she thought would surpass her someday, and she even believed that a girl named Ira she met recently would become a mage twice as talented as herself at the same age.

But.

“That’s… no. ‘That too’ is a genius.”

The red-haired girl that blue-haired woman had brought was also someone with once-in-a-millennium talent.

But what this blonde woman just demonstrated was, by any measure, a technique impossible without comparable talent.

Could it be? Do geniuses attract other geniuses?

Is this what the Spirit King meant when he said…

“…Absolutely, absolutely must not let them escape.”

The man who broke the barrier. The man called Jack, the women with him, and that girl.

She didn’t know why such geniuses were gathered together, but she couldn’t let them escape now.

If they and their companions were responsible for breaking the barrier, she could use that as leverage to temporarily bind them to the academy.

“Hehehe. Things are getting interesting.”

The headmaster curled up the corners of her mouth and chased after the fleeing Rey.

And.

‘What are you thinking? Why are you smiling so creepily?! It’s disgusting!!’

The headmaster failed to notice that Rey was deliberately staying within sight and not running too far away.

*

“Was the headmaster behind this all along? Neiti is really going downhill.”

“That’s not it. You just need to act according to the timing I specified. It’s not life-threatening. Don’t be so scared.”

“I’m not scared, but… fine. As an employee, I’ll do my job. It’s for the kids too, after all.”

“Right.”

Ragni and Rey were completely improvising what Jack had intended to do.

Without Jack, they felt they were somewhat lacking in terms of combat power compared to what they had planned, but it was just a slight disadvantage, not a complete deficiency.

Thanks to Rey staying behind to buy time, they had found another way to compensate for the power gap.

‘Well. The rest depends on my persuasiveness and…’

-Squeeze.

As Jack said, hopefully that woman has at least a minimum of conscience. Ragni, holding all her guns, quietly closed her eyes and simulated the situation. And then.

-Tap.

“Huh?”

[They’re coming now. Please sit down.]

Gorg, writing with his slime body, tapped her shoulder and offered her a chair, making Ragni smile.

“Hah. Until just now I was about to have a nice dream, but why am I doing this at dawn?”

[Master used to say: Life is always a real battle, and unfair… that is, unreasonable situations never care about our circumstances.]

“Hehe. If he said that, it’s quite a heavy statement.”

Both Rey and I are impurities that clung to him regardless of his will. Perhaps when he first met us, he felt this way.

People who have nothing to do with his situation keep clinging to him, while reality and unreasonable circumstances keep pushing forward without considering the current situation. Thinking about it that way leaves a somewhat bitter feeling, but.

‘…I no longer intend to remain an impurity in his life.’

-SLAM!!

“Ragni!! Come on!! They’ll be here in one minute!!”

The door to the room where Ragni and Gorg were organizing their thoughts burst open, and Rey rushed in with her long blonde hair flying, drenched in sweat.

“Yes, preparations are complete. Let’s do this.”

On the stage he set for us, I’ll repay my debt with my own hands.

Tonight. The three of us will prove that we can overcome the situation without Jack, that we are not impurities.

*

-BANG!!

“Running away to an underground place like this? You’re dumber than I thought?”

The middle-aged woman, Naika, headmaster of Neiti Academy, broke through the iron door with magic. Rey and Gorg stood ready for battle in front of her. And between them.

“Ha! Who are you calling dumb? You scarecrow headmaster whose head is just for decoration.”

Ragni sat with her legs crossed, arrogantly curling up the corners of her mouth in mockery.

Seeing her acting like a villainous woman straight out of a play, the headmaster frowned.

“…What are you doing? Are you the boss, and these two are your subordinates? Is that the atmosphere you’re trying to create?”

“No? I’m just sitting because I’m tired from running because of you. And I’m just recreating ‘that day’s’ situation with the positions reversed.”

What is she talking about?

That woman clearly escaped being carried by that golem beside her. She didn’t even run with her own legs, yet she’s spouting nonsense. The headmaster irritably brushed her bangs aside and drew up her magical power.

“Here’s your last chance. If you all surrender now, this can end without anyone getting hurt. You’ll all be investigated, and if there’s evidence against you, you’ll be punished accordingly. But depending on the circumstances, I might forgive some of you with a lifetime research contract under me. How about it? Aren’t I kind?”

Blue magical power moved as if to devour the space. Seeing the headmaster’s actions not matching her words, Ragni frowned.

“This is annoying. It’s making me remember that day even more. This was a bad idea.”

“Should I do it?”

“No. I have to do it myself.”

-Click.

“Ha. That weapon, I checked after that day. It’s a gun made by those [IT] people? A weapon that simply absorbs the user’s magic power to rapidly fire elemental bullets. It was a threat when I didn’t know about it, but do you think today will be the same?”

“Oh my, you’ve done your homework? So your head isn’t just a hat rack after all?”

“……”

Completely ignoring the headmaster, Ragni stood up with her gun and approached her. The headmaster’s magic power writhed as if to devour Ragni.

“Come any closer, and I’ll kill you.”

“Really?”

-Tap.

“I’m here now?”

“Don’t regret this.”

As soon as the headmaster finished speaking, the air around them compressed, and formless magic flew toward Ragni.

Rey and Gorg noticed the attack was stronger than they had anticipated and were about to move to protect Ragni, but.

“Now I can see it.”

-BANG BANG BANG!!!

“!!?”

Ragni blocked all the attacks by simply turning her gun barrel in place. The headmaster’s eyes began to waver at her actions.

“What? Now that I can see it, it’s nothing special. So you were intimidating with such formless magic that day too? Right?”

“…You, what exactly…”

“I don’t know much about spirit arts. Is it some kind of formless spirit? The source of the magic isn’t even you. Right?”

“……”

Ragni curled up the corners of her mouth mockingly and continued approaching the headmaster, who hesitated and stepped back at the sudden turn of events.

“Pfft. You were so confident until just now, but you back down immediately after one trick is exposed?”

“You…!!”

Now within arm’s reach, Ragni narrowed her eyes into crescent moons and declared to her.

“First thing. For the insulting remarks you made to Ira that day. I’ll collect payment for that first.”

“Wha—Guhk?!!”

The headmaster’s waist bent.

The gun barrel hadn’t fired. She knew its power now, so she had been paying attention and was fully prepared to block whenever it might fire.

Moreover, having seen the skills of the blonde swordswoman and the golem’s attacks, she was naturally prepared for close combat.

And yet.

“First, you need to be in a state where we can talk after my husband’s special punch.”

-Clang!!

“Ugh?!!”

“My goodness. You blocked it right away?”

‘What is this, what is this, what is this?!!’

Ragni suddenly threw a punch instead of firing her gun.

The headmaster couldn’t speak and spread a barrier as she retreated.

It was bewildering. She had thought this woman was someone who used an obscure ranged weapon and had no connection to physical combat.

Just from seeing her being carried by the golem earlier, her physical abilities didn’t seem particularly impressive, so what on earth was this power?!

“Incredibly strong husband’s special technique. Dialogue (physical) punch.”

“What the hell?! What are you saying…?!”

A complete surprise attack. The headmaster’s confused questions were drowned out by the sound of her barrier shattering.