Ch.156156. The Hostess

[First Place: Ludion]

I couldn’t help but be dumbfounded as I stared at the name clearly written there.

Well, it made sense. We had already agreed that Celia would be the top student.

The top student for the 4th year remained the same. The 3rd year top student… also remained Alkine.

Even the 2nd year top student was the same. In other words, only the 1st year top student had changed to me.

Why on earth was my name up there out of nowhere?

If there was some unavoidable reason, they should have at least told me. Even yesterday when I returned and reported the situation, I hadn’t heard anything about this.

Of course, I don’t think anyone would find it strange that I’m receiving the top student position now… but I felt uncomfortable.

After all, I had subconsciously thought of that position as Celia’s personal seat.

Before leaving my spot, I decided to quickly check the important things.

First year intermediate class. I looked for the two familiar names there.

Scanning from the top, I found them quickly.

‘Wow, they’ve both grown a lot.’

Frang Kenstein, whose combat ability had increased through magical tool development thanks to the laboratory I provided.

And Artes, whose growth was insanely fast just because of his protagonist buff.

The two had advanced to take classes in the intermediate level through the last exam, and they had already grown enough to be positioned in the upper ranks of the intermediate class.

But… while Artes was understandable, Frang was somewhat unexpected.

Surprisingly, based on the exam results, Frang was ranked higher than Artes, not the other way around.

What kind of magical tool did he develop to beat Artes… is this the power of a mad engineer?

Whatever the case, I felt proud that they seemed to be growing well on their own.

I had been too busy dealing with my own affairs and hadn’t paid much attention to them, thinking they would manage fine on their own.

“I should go meet them.”

“Who?”

“Frang and Artes.”

“Who are… oh, those people.”

Celia seemed momentarily confused as she didn’t particularly care about them, but with her exceptional mind, how could she forget? She wouldn’t forget the names of people whose faces she had seen, even if she had only overheard them in passing.

“That item I received back then was quite helpful. I should thank them this time.”

And then, after recalling their names, Celia said that.

Come to think of it, that’s right. At that time, Celia had been interested in the magical tool Frang made and had asked me to borrow it.

The name of the magical tool was…

“Reflector A-01. I received it from Ludion back then, and it should still be in my dormitory.”

Was that it? I don’t remember even after hearing it.

The fact that she remembers this exactly really shows her exceptional mind.

Anyway, I thought she would learn some technique from it, and since I didn’t particularly need it, I gladly lent it to her… come to think of it, did she learn anything?

I hadn’t been paying attention at all, and Celia had accomplished so many things.

Due to her rapid growth from the favorability reward and the expansion of her abilities, I couldn’t distinguish what technique she had learned from Frang’s magical tool.

“Ah, I completed it a while ago.”

For my benefit, Celia demonstrated it herself.

A protective barrier surrounding my body. This was definitely…

“I used it to protect Lilith when we went on the monster subjugation last time. Remember?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“Although I didn’t get to use it properly since Lilith performed better than expected. It’s a barrier created by applying the formula from Reflector A-01, so it has the property of deflecting attacks to some extent.”

According to Celia, even if Lilith had made a mistake and allowed an attack through, it would have been the monster’s head that exploded, not Lilith.

Is that really deflecting attacks? Isn’t it just the barrier itself firing magical attacks?

I had fundamental questions, but knowing I couldn’t win against Celia in such matters as a magic novice, I let it go.

And as we were having such a conversation while heading to the auditorium where the vacation ceremony would be held…

“Lord Ludion! Have you been well?”

“‘Lord’ Ludion? Aren’t we the same age?”

Speak of the devil. It was nice to run into them right after talking about them.

Frang greeted me respectfully, while Artes beside him seemed confused about what attitude to take.

They seem to have become quite close, as expected of classmates who advanced from the lower class together.

“It’s been a while for both of you. Have you been well?”

“Of course! The Striker and Reflector I showed you before have been developed up to C-12 and E-03 respectively, and besides that… I’m sorry. Due to many failures in various areas, only the Omnidirectional Search Machine A-08 and Propulsion Triggers A-03, B-07, and C-02 were practical enough to use for this exam.”

“Though I ended up breaking all those propulsion trigger things.”

“Thanks to that, I was able to crack your skull.”

“I won’t fall for it next time.”

“Sure~ You said that last time too~”

Hmm. I’m glad they seem to be doing well.

They seemed to be arguing for a moment, but Frang slipped away from the conversation and turned his attention back to us.

“Have you both been well too?”

“Yes, we’ve been fine. And, you know, that magical tool you gave us was quite helpful.”

Celia even learned a new technique from it.

Although she didn’t use the magical tool directly, that’s still a significant contribution.

Actually, I couldn’t even remember it until Celia just mentioned it.

“The, the garbage I gave you back then?”

However, Frang seemed unable to believe it. I guess his early creations would look quite crude from his current perspective.

“Hey, Celia. Show him.”

At my words, Celia manipulated her mana without answering. The reflective barrier she had shown earlier spread out.

But… how did it appear to him?

Frang stared at it as if entranced and then said:

“The Reflector I made was nothing but trash.”

Then he slammed the metal case he was carrying onto the ground and smashed it with the club-like object he had at his waist.

Reflector, dead from Striker’s blow.

Wow. The Striker’s power has become formidable. It even created a small crater in the floor.

However… Celia, who had been carefully observing the broken Reflector, looked at Frang with eyes full of interest.

“Your name was Frang, right?”

“…Ah, yes, mistress.”

“Mistress…”

Interest was replaced with me in her eyes.

“Hey, hey, we’re not there yet, so watch what you say.”

“Not yet! I understand!”

No, I mean… never mind. I decided not to say anything more as it would only lead to more misunderstandings.

What Celia might be thinking in this situation… let’s not try to read it. It’s scary.

After staring at me for a while, Celia sensed Frang’s gaze and hurriedly brought up what she had originally intended to say.

“A-ahem. Anyway. You remember the formula used in the Reflector just now, right?”

“Ah, yes. Is there a problem with the formula…?”

“Is the technical formula based on computational-driven or parallel organization?”

“Um… computational-driven.”

“And it was a nine-layered formula, correct?”

“Yes.”

“If my calculations are correct, the angle of the hyperbola in the seventh layer is twisted by 2 degrees, causing the inverse calculation to be misaligned. Did I miss something?”

“…What?”

Hmm. I can’t understand any of this.

It seems the genius’s eyes immediately spotted a small flaw in the mad engineer’s invention.

“J-just a moment, please.”

Frang hurriedly took out a notebook from the bag he was carrying and began to read through it.

It was filled with all sorts of formulas and designs that I couldn’t understand, and after looking at it briefly, Frang began to express his fervent gratitude to Celia with a look of realization.

“Thank you!”

“Uh, well… it’s nothing. If you fix that part, the entire third layer and the parallel line formulas in the fourth and fifth layers will probably get tangled. You can handle that part yourself, right?”

“Yes! I will definitely show you the results on the first day of the new semester!”

“…I’m not particularly interested. Do as you please.”

It seemed like Frang had been given a vacation assignment.

I decided to say something to Celia, who was feeling awkward at Frang’s enthusiastic response.

“Professor Celia… giving assignments during vacation is a bit too much.”

“I just gave a little advice, as much as it helped me.”

That’s what she says. In truth, now that Celia’s barrier was complete, the development of the Reflector wasn’t particularly anticipated anyway.

“…I’m really sorry to interrupt in this situation.”

At that moment, our protagonist, Artes, approached me as soon as the headache-inducing conversation ended.

He seemed to glance at Celia for a moment, but quickly turned his gaze back to me, perhaps just because she was standing nearby.

“Before the vacation ceremony starts. Could you spar with me once?”

Then he made such a request.

It seemed he wanted to show me how much he had grown.

He must have gained some confidence… I was quite excited.

Newbies around this time are the most delicious, you know.

“Of course. Follow me right now.”

I can’t miss this enjoyable experience just sitting around.

I immediately accepted his request and moved to find a suitable place for our match.