46 – Club 3
Lucas, upon hearing the words “40 minutes left,” immediately dashed into the forest.
Other students stared at Lucas, who ran into the woods, with puzzled expressions.
“What do you mean there’s only 40 minutes left?”
“I don’t know! We have to run into the forest right away!”
No student accurately assessed the current situation like Lucas did, but upon hearing what Idra had said and seeing Lucas running, all the students rushed into the forest.
Lucas ran much faster than the other students.
“Loki must have found something by now.”
It’s been 20 minutes.
Loki hasn’t been disturbed by other students for the past 20 minutes.
“All the beads on the outskirts must have been found; I need to go deeper.”
With that thought, Lucas entered the forest. And then he stopped.
“Ha… Ha… Ha…”
The sound of a disappointed laughter echoed in the dense, vast forest.
“Really… This is driving me crazy.”
It is said that when people see something too shocking, their bodies freeze. Right now, Lucas momentarily stopped thinking.
He learned not to stop thinking, but anyone could see that he wouldn’t be able to think for a while.
“How much time is left…”
“Why did it stop…”
The students following Lucas also stopped like him when they entered the forest.
“What is this?”
“Am I seeing this wrong right now?”
“How many are there exactly?”
Countless blue beads spread across the forest as far as the eye could see.
The blue beads occupied the entire ground, making soil and weeds invisible. Even the trees were covered from trunk to leaves in blue beads.
The forest, originally supposed to have a greenish hue, now shimmered in a blue light due to the covered blue beads.
Professor Hydra didn’t specify the exact number of beads in the forest.
Students, with desire and greed in their eyes, rushed in.
“They’re all mine!!”
As students reached out their hands to grab the blue beads scattered on the ground, the beads disappeared like illusions upon contact.
“Huh?”
While students who tried to obtain the beads were perplexed, one student shouted.
“All of these are fakes made by him!!”
Only then did the students recall that Loki was invisible and remembered Loki’s abilities.
“He deceived us and went in first?”
“Then everything here must be fake.”
Realizing that everything was fake, the students tried to venture deeper.
“Hey!”
Annoyed at being deceived, one student kicked the rolling blue beads on the ground.
Thump.
“Huh?”
The bead that should disappear if it’s fake rolled under the student’s foot.
The student ran to where the bead had rolled and grabbed it with their hand.
“Hey, is this real?”
The student said, lifting the bead while looking puzzled.
Other students around stared intently at the scene.
“It’s real?”
“Not an illusion made by that guy?”
“If he made it, it would touch and disappear.”
The students, who were preparing to venture deep into the forest, all stopped in their tracks.
“So, does that mean among those things over there, there’s a real one mixed in?”
“……………”
The students looked again at the forest covered with an overwhelming number of blue beads, eyes filled with greed and desire.
“There must be a real one among them.”
Still, there were so many blue beads that it was impossible to count.
Most of them were probably fake, but there might be a real one among them.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
The students rushed toward the place where the blue beads were.
Swish, swish, thud, thud.
To get rid of the fake blue beads, they swung their swords or kicked the ground.
With dozens of students doing so, the blue beads on the ground quickly disappeared.
“Hah…. Hah..”
“…..Hah…ha ..”
The students moved as quickly and as much as possible to seize the marbles before others, and as a result, many students became exhausted.
“There can’t be only fake marbles here, can there?”
“Surely there must be more real ones.”
The students’ gaze turned towards the trees covered with blue marbles.
Eyes that were filled with nothing but greed and desire were now filled with anxiety.
.
.
.
While most students were moving to find the possibly non-existent real blue marbles,
Lucas was running alone through the forest.
The speed at which he was running was evident from the leaves that floated up from the ground as Lucas passed by, creating a breeze.
“Rocky wouldn’t leave many real marbles there.”
When the other students stopped upon seeing real marbles, only Lucas kept running.
They must also know.
That there would be hardly any real marbles.
Yet, why stay and search there?
Because others might find them.
Because they dislike the idea of others easily finding the marbles, that’s why they stayed to search.
‘And Loki will be aiming for it.’
Professor Elysia often told Loki.
He is strong in hand-to-hand combat.
Asked his father.
What’s the secret to being good at hand-to-hand combat?
His father, with a puzzled expression, replied.
Read people’s minds.
At first, he didn’t understand what that meant.
But after watching Loki duel with Lofri, he understood.
“No, you can’t call that a duel.”
It was like a well-orchestrated stage.
From start to finish, Lofri was in the palm of Loki’s hand.
Loki fought considering the opponent’s background, origin, and personality.
Watching Loki and Lofri fight, he thought several times.
From Noble mtl dot com
“If I were to fight Prince Lofri, could I win?”
He concluded that he could win if he used that power.
“Could I overwhelm and win without even taking a hit like Loki?”
He concluded that it was absolutely impossible.
“Then, could I win against Loki?”
No matter how much he thought, no conclusion came to mind.
When talking about someone else’s strength, it’s usually described in terms of their power, speed, skills, and so on.
I recalled Loki’s abilities. Unusual movements, unique magic, various magical tools, and so on.
Variables.
Everything Loki had was a variable.
Rip.
While running through the forest, something tripped my leg.
Without panicking, I kicked the ground and avoided the spot.
Kwahng!
A tree fell back to its original position.
[“Ah- Ah- Can you hear me well~.”]
I looked towards the source of the voice.
There was a small doll the size of a palm.
“Ha!”
I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.
The doll was wearing a white mask and a red cloak.
And even the voice. Clearly, it was Loki.
“Loki, is that you?”
[Just so you know, this doll can only convey messages but can’t hear anything.]
How on earth is this even made?
[I guess the one listening is Mr. Lucas, right?]
Is it really true that I can’t hear that?
[If it’s not Mr. Lucas, then someone else would have already fallen into the trap and wouldn’t have heard this voice.]
Does the condition the doll mentioned activate when the trap is triggered?
[I’m not sorry for deceiving others and leaving first in this manner… because it’s also my ability.]
“…………”
“I’ll give you this doll as a special gift.”
The doll said after hesitating.
“I hope no one is overhearing this. It would be terribly embarrassing, wouldn’t it?”
Lucas picked up the doll and put it in his pocket.
“Erika would like this.”
Lucas’s mutterings drifted into the woods.
“We’ve come this far, and yet there’s nothing to show for it… Rocky must have found everything…”
Still, it wasn’t fun at all.
Not even a bit.
Gah.
His fist clenched involuntarily.
He was infuriated. Incredibly infuriated.
It was in Rocky’s palm.
“Phew…”
He looked around to confirm that there was no one there.
He closed his eyes and focused. A golden aura enveloped Lucas’s body.
A single leaf fell from the tree and landed on Lucas’s head.
The leaf shattered into pieces in an instant.
“I don’t have the talent for hand-to-hand combat like Rocky.”
I don’t have any unique magic, nor the skill to handle various magical tools.
“I tried not to use it as much as possible…”
Swish.
The golden-aura-filled spear pierced through the air.
Zzangggg!!!!!!!!
All the trees in the straight line where Lucas’s spear struck were pierced through.
Lucas looked at the scene as if it were natural.
“From now on, let’s go all out.”
It might be strange today, but it will be different from now on.
.
.
.
“The first place goes to student Rocky!! Please congratulate him with a round of applause!”
Clap clap clap clap.
Lucas was the only one clapping.
But when other students saw Lucas clapping, they started to clap, glancing at him.
Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.
“Wow~ It’s so great to be welcomed by everyone.”
I received everyone’s applause and walked towards Professor Idra.
“Here, this is the potion we promised.”
I accepted the potion handed to me by Professor Idra.
With this, I’ll be able to take the potion given to me by the emperor as well.
“Student Loki, do you have any thoughts on coming in first place?”
After hearing Professor Idra’s question, I looked at the students and said, “I will dedicate this honor to all of you. Oh! Of course, I’ll be the one taking the potion though.”
Zap.
All the students stared at me.
Ah, it’s sweet, too sweet.
.
.
.
.
“So, what will be the name of the club?”
After class, we discussed it in Professor Idra’s lab.
When I came in first place in the exam, Professor Idra promised to be an advisor for the club I would create.
“Since Professor Idra will be the advisor, I’ll tell you in advance. It’s going to be called the Grand Union Club!”
Originally, I tried to keep it a secret until the end, but I told Professor Idra first.
“Oops! Is it possible to cancel, by any chance?”
Professor Idra had a puzzled expression upon hearing the club name for the first time.
How about the Clown Union Club??