Chapter 186
His ability would continue to develop.
However, Kono Lint still couldn’t participate in the subsequent practical class. He only managed to teleport with his underwear, but his offensive abilities were still the worst.
In fact, even if he managed to teleport along with a weapon, his skills wouldn’t even be enough to twist a child’s wrist.
Except for Ibia and Kono Lint, there were four people participating in the practical class:
Charlotte, Heinrich, Liana, and me.
As soon as the class started, Charlotte went off somewhere alone. Her abilities had been strong enough to defeat an orc by herself when we were undertaking the mission on the deserted island.
The performance should be outstanding in practice.
Heinrich was busy dodging and rolling around in the practical class, probably because of the activation time of his ability.
“Hyuok… Huuk! Hyuok!”
-Flare! Flare! (SFX for fire igniting)
He wasn’t able to hit the goblin in front of him, although he was able to keep it from approaching by setting fire to the area around him.
In Liana’s case…
-Flash! Bang!
When she hit the goblins, who were either rushing at her or standing still, with her lightning bolt, they would disappear like smoke. As if the time when her range was barely five meters was a lie, her output and range had increased tremendously.
When we were on the deserted island, Liana’s ability wasn’t even able to properly damage the orcs.
However, with her current abilities in the practical class, those orcs would have been thoroughly roasted as soon as they came closer to her.
No matter how I looked at it, that was totally a cheat skill.
Lightning…
Lightning sure was invincible…
What I did was simple.
-Baam!
The summoned goblin simply disappeared in a puff of smoke after I kicked its head as it was rushing towards me.
“…I don’t know whether your supernatural power or your body has grown stronger.”
My teacher told me that they didn’t know whether it was my physical abilities that improved or my supernatural ability.
* * *
After my classes on Wednesday, Liana de Grantz and I went back to our dormitory together. All of us would meet up at the dorm to go shopping, after all, so there was no reason to go back separately.
Ellen had awakened her magic body strengthening too early, so I knew that she was taking private lessons. She should be taking a lot of classes related to that topic. I didn’t really know if they were all taught by that yoga master-like teacher. though.
After returning to the dorm and waiting for a bit, Harriet and Adelia returned. They both went back to their rooms and changed into some casual clothes before coming out again.
“Did you put on makeup?”
“Yes, and?”
When I asked her that after noticing that Harriet’s lip color had changed slightly, she nodded. I didn’t know exactly how and where she applied her makeup, but she felt somewhat different from usual.
“I heard that it’s best to apply makeup in a way that isn’t noticeable.”
Harriet glared at me when I uttered those words.
“…So, are you trying to make fun of me for not being good at applying makeup now?”
“No, I was going to say that you did a good job…”
Why did she think that I would always be on the offensive? Her face flushed red at my words.
“Well… I mean. I didn’t do it to hear something like that from you or anything, okay?”
No.
If she said something like that, my tongue would just begin to move on its own.
“I was just saying that to make you feel better about yourself as well, you know?”
“Feel better about myself?”
“Don’t you feel good? Aren’t you grinning from ear to ear because I praised you?”
“I’m not grinning from ear to ear! And I don’t feel good because of that either!”
“Even if I praise you for being good at applying your makeup, you get angry. What’s your problem, girl?”
“Argh! You’re so annoying!”
Harriet eventually came to the realization that talking to me was a waste of time, so she stuck herself to Liana’s side.
“Isn’t it about time that you realize that just exchanging more than five words with that guy will make you mad?”
“Urg!”
Liana patted Harriet on the shoulder as if trying to make her realize that trying to deal with me was just a huge waste of time.
Anyway, after waiting for a bit longer Ellen was the last one to arrive at the dorm.
* * *
Liana told us that she only rarely went to buy clothes directly to begin with.
In most cases, they were custom made, or she would just contact a boutique, telling them to bring some clothes to her from which she would buy some she liked.
That was the way of rich people.
Another rich person, Harriet, said that she didn’t really care that much about clothes. If it was just a new robe she needed, she would just have someone make her one according to her current size.
Although she didn’t look like that at all, Harriet was quite the nerd. A nerd that only put her everything into exploring the subject she majored in.
She wasn’t as extreme as Ellen, but Harriet was also the type of person who would only focus on her major, so it didn’t seem like she had a lot of casual clothes either.
Adelia was also a nerd and an ordinary student who lived on the allowance given to her by Temple, but she had no interest in buying anything fancy with it.
Anyway…
With the exception of Liana de Grantz, who brought us along with her, almost none of us would go out to buy clothes or were interested in them. I wasn’t particularly interested in that stuff either.
“It sure has been a long time since I’ve come here in person.”
That was what Liana said when we arrived at the luxury street lined with multiple clothing stores. Although there were many clothing stores within Temple, Liana wanted to really go out to shop.
“Ellen, if you just close your eyes and buy stuff here, don’t you think a thousand gold coins would disappear in no time?”
What the hell were they trying to buy?
Even though it wasn’t my money, I already felt like it would be a huge waste.
* * *
Of course, that time, Liana wouldn’t be the one buying stuff for us. We would buy clothes with our own money as we went around to shop. Ellen was rather blind when it came to fashion, so she stuck close to Liana, who recommended her various things.
As she went around the various shops, she was busy trying on and buying a lot of different clothes. I also didn’t have any casual clothes, so I wasn’t really any better than her, so I also bought a few clothes that caught my eye.
“…Try them on before you buy them.”
“They should be about right, though.”
“Are you guys twins? How can you actually end up saying the exact same thing?”
Liana seemed to be shocked that both Ellen and I bought our clothes without trying them on, estimating that they should fit. It looked like she even started to hypothesize that we were actually twins who had been separated at birth.
Harriet and Adelia also bought some clothes.
“…”
Harriet looked at herself in the mirror after she put on a dress, some other clothes, and shoes. Then, wearing a white dress and some pink shoes, she made eye contact with me as she looked into the mirror.
“…Don’t say anything.”
Her face was flushed red out of embarrassment. Why? It did look good on her, though? Did she think I wouldn’t be able to resist picking a fight with her?
“…”
She told me to not say anything, so I just kept my mouth shut.
“…I did tell you not to say anything, but you really aren’t saying anything!”
“…What do you want me to do, you punk?!”
“If you’re not going to say anything, why do you keep st-staring at me like that?!”
It seemed like she got annoyed because I kept staring at her in silence.
“Will it kill you if I look at you? I was looking because it suits you! It’s cute! Huh?!”
“Wha-what?! Why are you complimenting me in such an angry voice?!”
Harriet’s lips twitched as I complimented her, although my tone was rather harsh. Eventually, she trembled a bit and ran into the dressing room.
“Hey. Hey. Come here.”
Liana called out to me suddenly.
“Why?”
“Shut up and look at this.”
Liana dragged me to where Ellen was.
“…I feel naked.”
Perhaps feeling a little awkward in that outfit, she tugged on the hem of her dress.
* * *
Translator – KonnoAren
* * *
Ellen was wearing a black, shoulderless, frilly dress, and her feet were encased in black enamel shoes. Because of her naturally white skin, the contrast between her white legs and the black dress was very eye-catching.
If Harriet was cute, then Ellen was breathtaking.
“Why do you always only wear tracksuits when you look so good?”
Liana murmured as she looked at Ellen vacantly. She looked wistful as if thinking: “I can’t believe she let her potential rot away like that!”
“This stuff is uncomfortable.”
Ellen looked quite uncomfortable wearing such revealing clothes, no matter how good they looked on her. She made eye contact with me. Harriet told me not to say anything just then, but suddenly Ellen was the one who looked at me without saying anything.
‘Should I say something?’
Of course, even if I didn’t say anything, Liana would continue to talk all on her own.
“Hey, just look at her waist. Where is all your strength actually coming from?”
When she touched Ellen’s waistline, Liana was more than stunned. Surprised by her thin waist, she seemed unable to comprehend how she could be the current No. 1 in terms of physical stats in the Royal Class.
“No, I mean, you eat so much to begin with, so how does it make sense for your waist to be like that?”
It seemed like Liana was starting to question the fallacy of this world’s laws of physics.
‘…This is my fault. I’m sorry.’
“Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“…Huh?”
Ellen posed a question towards me all of a sudden, as I was looking away not saying anything. What? Did she want me to tell her that she looked good? Liana grinned when I was acting a bit dumb and not replying.
“So that’s what it is.“
Liana looked at me as she wrapped one hand around Ellen’s waist.
“She’s usually only sweating while swinging a sword around with you, but seeing her wearing these kinds of clothes… Hm? What is it? Does she seem different to you?”
“Wha-what the hell are you talking about?! Shut up!”
What was that brat talking about?!
“What? Cat got your tongue? Come on, say something. ‘It suits you well.’, ‘You’re pretty.’ Don’t you have anything to say? Why can’t you even say these simple words?”
“Shut up! It’s not like that.”
That’s not how it was! What I felt was a bit more complex. I couldn’t explain it properly!
“It looks good on you, yeah.”
“…Is that so?”
What would she do next?
Ellen ended up buying those clothes.
* * *
After shopping, everyone returned to Temple, having bought a lot of clothes. All of us wore some of our new clothes on our way back to Temple, and our respective closets were filled to the brim
“This, try this on.”
“…Annoying.”
“No, why don’t you try this on?”
“…Okay.”
Not returning to her own room, Liana followed Ellen into her room and made her try on one piece of clothing after the other.
This was also the day Liana de Grantz found out a new fact…
It was quite fun dressing someone else up. With a model in front of her that looked good in anything she wore, she kept on getting greedier as well. She couldn’t believe that Ellen would only ever wear the uniform or tracksuits. Liana firmly believed that it was a total waste of potential.
While trying on skirts, one-pieces, accessories, and boots, Ellen expressed her annoyance, but Liana’s tension was so high that she couldn’t brush her off.
“Oh, let’s go buy some more dress gowns later. You’d look absolutely stunning in them.”
“Dress gowns?”
Liana wanted to see her in a proper dress gown, not just a casual outfit.
Liana was sure that everyone would see the exercise addict in a different light.
“Yeah, that Reinhardt, you saw how he went dumb when he saw you wearing that one-piece today. How mindblown do you think he’ll be if he sees you in a dress gown?”
Reinhardt’s reaction was also very interesting. It was strangely refreshing seeing him unable to even make eye contact with Ellen.
“…Why?”
However, Ellen only tilted her head at Liana’s words. It was as if he didn’t understand how her wearing a dress gown and Reinhardt correlated. Liana stared at her.
Am I wrong?
“Don’t you like Reinhardt?”
“…?”
Ellen tilted her head to the other side.
“Then do you dislike him?”
“No, I don’t dislike him.”
Ellen remained silent for a while before she spoke once more.
“I think I like him… but I’m not really sure if it’s like that.”
“Ah… I know what you mean.”
They just thought of each other as very close friends. Liana didn’t know them for that long, but as she observed Ellen, she realized that although her abilities were incredibly excellent, she was very clumsy and inexperienced in a few areas.
She liked Reinhardt, but she didn’t know whether she liked him as a person of the opposite sex or not.
She had never loved someone like that, after all. Ellen definitely liked Reinhardt, but she didn’t know where to place her feelings.
Liana grinned.
“Hmm… Do you get nervous when you’re with him? Did you ever… feel like that?”
“Not at all.”
She had felt nervous before… When she had to kill for the first time together with Reinhardt when they were in the Darklands or when she had to fight the swarm of zombies. However, Ellen knew that she wasn’t asking about something like that.
Still, she had never felt nervous around Reinhardt.
“Did your heart ever pound at the thought of your fingers touching or did you ever tremble when your bodies were close to each other?”
“Never.”
In the first place, their daily routine was practicing their swordsmanship together, so that was normal.
Reinhardt would start shaking a lot.
However, that was just out of exhaustion. He couldn’t put any strength into his limbs anymore.
By the end of the training, he would be very shaky.
Liana, who showed more and more interest in the topic, slowly cooled down.
“Don’t you feel anxious for no apparent reason or do things you usually don’t do? Something like that?”
“…No.”
“Don’t you feel annoyed or upset when he gets closer to other girls?”
“Not at all.”
Ellen had never really felt that way. She felt comfortable when she was with Reinhardt. She had no reason to feel nervous around him. Liana sighed with a grim expression on her face.
“I thought there was something between you two after you went to the Darklands, but there’s nothing in the slightest. You guys are just normal friends, well, I don’t know how Reinhardt feels about you, but I’m sure that’s all you see him as.”
Liana sat across Ellen’s bed, exhausted, saying that Ellen just confirmed that she really thought of Reinhardt as just a friend.
“Do you feel like that when you fall in love?”
Getting nervous for no reason, getting upset if they get closer to others, and doing things one usually didn’t do.
Ellen was wondering whether Liana’s words were true, that one would act like that if they fell in love. Liana seemed to ponder for a while; then her expression suddenly turned blank.
“Right.”
“…?”
“Come to think of it. I’ve never loved anyone either. I mostly read all of these things in romance novels and such.”
Liana de Grantz suddenly realized that she had never fallen in love herself and yet she said that one would feel upset and nervous if one were to love someone.
“…”
“…”
A kid who didn’t even know enough about the topic to teach another was arguing about it as if she was an expert.
Ellen thought about Reinhardt.
‘It looks good on you, yeah.’
That was what he had said when he had seen her wear clothes she usually wouldn’t.
She couldn’t really put it into words, but when he said that, she felt rather strange around her chest, a little ticklish. It was a weird feeling she had never felt before.
Was that proof?
‘Probably not’, Ellen thought.
