— Clang!
Elena blocked the thug’s dagger and shouted.
“Brother! It’s a muscle ghost!”
“How is that a ghost!”
“But look!”
Ian turned his head as per Elena’s instructions.
There was another blonde thug who looked identical to the one who had shot a dagger at Elena.
“… A duplicate?”
Ian was bewildered.
He had never heard of a duplication spell before.
Meanwhile, the thug threw another dagger.
— Clang!
Elena quickly charged forward and knocked the dagger away with her shield.
“Brother Ian! Get a grip!”
“Elena, maybe it’s because you’re small, but you’re fast.”
“Stop joking and get a grip, Brother! It’s a ghost…! It’s a ghost, aaaaah!”
“… I think you’re the one who needs to get a grip.”
Ian mumbled as he watched Elena stamping her feet with the shield in hand.
“Exterminate the ghost!”
Elena clung to one of the blonde thug’s duplicates and started smashing it with her shield.
Seeing her berserk-like behavior, Ian sighed softly.
Still.
“This is strange. I’ve never heard of a duplication spell.”
As far as Ian knew, there had never been a duplication spell mentioned at Lichten Academy.
Of course, that didn’t prove the spell didn’t exist.
‘In any case, it must be a very high-level spell.’
Would someone with such a skill really just come to extort money from a club?
Something felt off.
“What are you so deep in thought about!”
Suddenly, the image of the blonde thug appeared before him. And then.
— Thud!
His vision darkened abruptly.
His head felt fuzzy.
Did he get hit?
When he opened his eyes, he saw the thug smirking wickedly.
“Ian! Is that all you’ve got? You’re much weaker than I heard!”
The thug wiggled his fist tauntingly, and Ian stared at him in disbelief.
‘… Who the hell is this guy?’
That movement just now was faster than any opponent he had faced so far.
No.
It was more accurate to say he didn’t even sense the punch.
‘Was Elena right calling him a ghost?’
Literally ghost-like movements.
The blonde thug sneered.
“Surprised, Ian Blackangers.”
“A bit. Who are you, really?”
“What do you think? I’m here to collect the club dues.”
“With your abilities, you could collect dues from royalty, not just some club.”
“It’s too late to kiss up, b*stard!”
— Thud, thud. Thud!
A barrage of attacks came at a tremendous speed.
Ian barely managed to block them with his Lunar.
“Hahaha! This is fun! You should be my punching bag!”
Ian’s whole body ached from the few effective hits he took.
Who the hell is this guy?
With this level of skill and insanity, he could easily be a named villain.
Ian couldn’t figure it out.
“I’ll hit you for every copper you owe, you bastard.”
As the thug prepared his next move, Ian used [Leap] to quickly retreat to the window.
The candle flickered belatedly. Shadows danced in the wavering light.
Ian quickly scanned his surroundings.
One side of the room. Under the clock.
“Ahhh!”
Elena was being attacked by another duplicate. However,
— Clang! Clang!
Having crawled completely under her shield, she seemed unharmed despite the thug’s relentless strikes.
‘… Is she a hedgehog?’
“Where do you think you’re going!”
A own blonde duplicate pursued him immediately.
Even as he raised his arms to block, the questions remained.
Why would someone with this ability just beat people up to extort money from a club?
The suspicion didn’t stop there. Above all, this space. It felt off.
Ian quickly raised his hand.
“Wait. I’ll pay.”
“What?”
“The fee and development fund, right? I’ll pay that money.”
“… Really?”
“I have plenty of money. I’ll pay as much as you want.”
Calming the thug down, Ian scanned his surroundings.
Something was definitely off.
Was that candle on the table in the corner there from the beginning?
Most disturbing of all was the analog clock hanging in the middle of the room.
It had been stuck at exactly 5:53 PM since they entered.
And.
‘… No shadows.’
There were no shadows on the hour hand, the minute hand, or even the clock itself, where they should have been.
A glance.
Turning his head, Ian locked eyes with the blonde thug.
The thug’s face suddenly paled.
Ian pulled a battery out of his pocket.
Then he leapt. Full power.
Bang!
As Ian leapt towards the clock, the blonde thug lunged to grab him.
“Too slow.”
— Smash!
Ian shattered the clock.
The world trembled violently.
The scene in the club room transformed.
Standing before Ian was no longer the blonde muscle thug but a bold-looking girl wearing a large wizard hat.
“H-How did you break my hypnosis spell…”
The girl collapsed, her legs giving out.
◆
Lupina.
A student of the Lichten Academy’s Department of Magic.
President and only member of the ‘Occult Research Club’.
She sensed something had gone terribly wrong.
“My… my hypnosis spell broke so easily.”
In her third year at Lichten, Lupina had spent countless nights and days researching ‘wide-area hypnosis’ for the Occult Research Society.
She had turned the old building of the Magic Department building into a single hypnosis array.
Entering the building, one would encounter various arrays and spells, starting the hypnosis process from the shaking vines at the entrance.
The building’s reputation as a haunted house was a result of these hypnosis effects.
She used this setup to occasionally extract small amounts of money (around 1 silver coin) from curious students to fund her club activities.
She also drove away those who sought to use the empty club room.
Regular inspections by the student council were easily handled with hypnosis.
This was how the ‘Occult Research Club’ maintained its official club status with only one member.
So when she saw Ian and Elena enter, Lupina licked her lips.
She only needed to collect about 10 silver coins as an entrance fee to the ‘haunted house.’
And she planned to drive them away so they wouldn’t claim the club room.
‘Where did it go wrong?’
Was it when she didn’t drive them away at the entrance and let them in because the girl’s reactions were amusing?
Or was it overestimating her own hypnosis?
Perhaps it was a mistake to let that keen Ian Blackangers, a perceptive monster, enter at all.
Ian Blackangers, who had broken the hypnosis object and returned to normal vision, started walking towards her.
“Kyaa, kyaa—! S-Stop!”
Lupina, her legs giving out unexpectedly as the hypnosis broke, fell over.
Rumor had it Ian Blackangers was truly fearsome.
At this rate, he might beat her just as badly as she had attacked him with the fake blonde thug illusion.
“I-I’m sorry! I, I was just trying to scare you off…!”
Lupina, retreating while on the ground, her skirt riding up, exposing her white legs through the torn black tights.
Ian extended a hand to her.
“…?”
“Stand up.”
Lupina, dazed, took his hand and stood up.
Her skirt fell back down, covering her legs again.
Even after standing, Lupina remained flustered.
… He’s not going to hit her?
Ian pointed at Elena and asked her.
“When will she wake up?”
“…Ah.”
Lupina snapped her fingers.
“…Nooo! Brother Iaaaan! …Huh?”
With a dumbfounded exclamation, Elena regained consciousness.
While Ian checked on Elena’s condition.
“Th-Then, I’ll be going now. There won’t be any side effects.”
Lupina attempted to slip away quietly.
“Wait.” “Uh… yes?”
“Your name.”
“I’m Lupina, president of the Occult Research Club downstairs.”
“Alright, Lupina. I’m planning to use this club room. No objections, right?”
Lupina nodded hurriedly.
“Of course. This kind of thing will never happen again.”
“Good.”
“Then…”
As Lupina bowed her head and tried to leave the room.
“Oh, one more thing.”
Ian snapped his fingers.
“The fee. And the development fund.”
Ian approached with his hand in his pocket, and Lupina trembled, stepping back.
— Thud!
But soon, she was against the wall.
“I really don’t have any money. I couldn’t even pay for the club certification fee, which is why I did that!”
— Step, step.
But Ian’s footsteps didn’t stop.
This was the student with the fearsome reputation of even taking down the Grand Duke of the North!
“Eek!”
Lupina, eyes tightly shut, shouted.
“T-Then! I’ll pay with my body!”
Only after shouting this did Lupina manage to slip away.
◆
“What’s with her?”
Ian, who had been taking out his wallet, scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
“It’s probably because Brother Ian’s face looks scary. You looked like you were trying to extort money.”
“I was actually going to give her some. For the development fund and fee. Aren’t those necessary?”
Ian shook the wallet in his hand.
“… All club rooms are managed by the Student Council. There’s no such thing, Brother Ian.”
Ian was somewhat shocked.
He had assumed that, just like in rural areas where development funds were collected, there would be a similar culture for maintaining this somewhat rundown building.
Or some kind of premium for using the room.
Even so, experiencing a hallucination like that was worth paying for.
Honestly, the fight with the blonde thug was something Ian wanted to try again someday.
Those overwhelming movements.
Extortion and paying for an experience were entirely different matters.
‘She might have a talent for dark magic.’
It would be interesting to learn if given the chance.
Anyway.
Ian looked around the club room with a satisfied smile.
“This place is the best. It seems comfortable enough to live in.”
The room was reasonably spacious.
The plumbing was already connected, and with just a stove, cooking wouldn’t be a problem.
“You’re really going to live here?”
“Yeah. There’s also a deposit for using the club room, right?”
“Yes… about 50 silver.”
“Living here will save money. Plus, it’s convenient being inside the Academy.”
“But what if ghosts appear…!”
At Elena’s words, Ian responded,
“In that case, our devoted sister Elena will handle it.”
“I-I’ll do my best!”
Ian chuckled and walked over to a shelf.
Fortunately, it was there.
Number 777. Mystery Box.
“I was worried it might be a hallucination.”
With the promotion test just days away, this item was perfect for securing resources.
The problem was the golden, dazzling lock.
… He had to find the key to open it.
Ian smirked.
‘Luckily, I know where it is.’
It’s not even hard to obtain.
Ian knew about this item because, in the game, the key was found before discovering the box.
“Elena, are you free tomorrow?”
“… Yes? I think I can make time.”
“Great. Gather the party members, we’re going on a trip.”
“Where to?”
“A dungeon.”
“A dun…geon? But most dungeons are dangerous…”
“There’s nothing to worry about.”
He already knew the strategy for conquering it.
