LGHTNOVELBOOK 12
Whether he comes to see Rukia.
Or just comes because he has nowhere else to go.
Count Train was camping out at the gambling den today too.
“Ah, you came. You two.”
The gambling den, which should normally be bustling, was extremely quiet today.
It can’t be helped.
While the dormitory inspection notice is secretly spreading among students, what Athena would be leisurely gambling?
“…Rukia?”
“Yes?”
“Who on earth is that dealer?”
But there was just one person.
The dealer who was playing against Count Train.
I hadn’t paid any attention because they didn’t seem like an important person.
…Was there such a student in the old school building?
“Ah~ that one?”
Rukia giggled, then thump.
She immediately disappeared from my side.
Then the dealer who had been quietly distributing cards raises both hands to the sky.
“Ta-da!”
“Ugh!”
As if startled by the loud noise from behind.
Count Train slid right off the round chair.
I thought it was someone else.
It was Rukia’s clone.
No wonder the face didn’t look familiar no matter how I looked.
So, was it called a ‘dummy’?
It’s probably an awakening skill where if you’re in the same space as Rukia, you perceive it as ‘a face you can’t identify’.
And if you’re in a different space from Rukia, you perceive it as Rukia.
“Kyahaha! Were you surprised, Daddy?”
“Really, Rukia….”
“My my~ Has Daddy become afraid of loud noises now?”
“After experiencing that, it can’t be helped.”
Everyone who has directly witnessed the Thunder Emperor’s lightning suffers aftereffects.
The thunderous noise that feels like your ears might burst.
The tingling sensation as if you’ve been placed in an electric tank.
The spine-chilling terror.
It’s the extreme three-piece set.
I smiled slightly and stepped forward with my right foot.
[Characteristic – ‘Greenhouse Flower’] [Active]
…It took less than 2 seconds for my vision to tilt obliquely.
Pop.
There was a sound like a balloon popping when I hit the wooden floor.
“Oh no. Department head!”
“A-Are you okay!”
Count Train and Rukia threw down the cards in their hands and rushed to me in a flurry.
If you’re lucky when you fall and roll, your vitality doesn’t get reduced.
But in cases like now, where you hit your face directly, the vitality loss is substantial.
————————————————
<< Shana Midgard >>
Regin Academy / Aesir Dormitory / 2nd Year
— Enhancement Effect ‘Vermilion Heart’ Applied
(Time Remaining: 411 minutes)
[Status]
Vitality 4/12
————————————————
It wore down by 3.
When the Thunder Emperor appeared and I rolled in the car, it wore down by 7, so there must be a problem with my body.
I raised my hand that was bracing the floor and touched below my nose.
Red, hot liquid was pouring out.
“…Ah.”
Indeed, my nose is broken.
I thought so.
[Weakening Effect, ‘Bleeding – Lv4’ has occurred.]
Mid-level bleeding.
My vitality gets reduced by as much as 12 per hour.
If I don’t go to the infirmary right away for treatment, it means my vitality will decrease by 1 every 5 minutes.
Other Athenas gradually recover naturally as time passes even if they get weakening effects, but I’m different.
————————————————
[Characteristic – ‘Greenhouse Flower’]
“Don’t leave this pitiful flower alone.”
…
— 25% chance of choking when consuming food or drinks.
— 25% chance of twisting your ankle when walking or running.
— Weakening effects do not recover naturally.
————————————————
If I don’t get treated by someone, I’ll just die.
Is this how hemophiliacs feel?
Well, it’s laughable to me now.
Because there are several bottles of Vermilion Heart in the bag that Rukia has been carrying since earlier.
“Rukia, just one bottle, please.”
“Uh… you’re drinking it now? I think it will mix with your nosebleed?”
“Yes. Hurry to the infirmary. The blood….”
“There’s not much time.”
To prepare for the unannounced inspection in a few days, I need to remove the items from the club room today.
So consultation with Count Train comes first.
The continuous loss of vitality can somehow be made up for with Vermilion Heart.
“Rukia, hurry.”
Rukia reluctantly takes out a medicine bottle from the backpack she’d been carrying.
Count Train immediately removed the cork stopper with his large hand.
[You have used Vermilion Heart]
[All Vitality is restored]
[Warning: You have consumed Vermilion Heart that is not perfectly refined. Side effects may occur]
“…Haah!”
How should I put it.
It’s only the fifth time I’ve started taking the counterfeit, but it already feels like the stage of sensory expansion has decreased.
If we assume the expansion of time was originally 1000 times, it now feels like only 999 times.
They said I would gain one friend.
It wasn’t true after all, there were other side effects too.
‘Not that it matters particularly….’
I habitually tried to throw the bottle on the floor but firmly gripped it in my hand.
I walked unsteadily to place the bottle on the game table, and Rukia, who was standing on the opposite side, immediately took it.
“You look terrible, department head!!”
The life water flowing from my nose is warm.
It keeps flowing no matter how much I wipe it.
Athenas are like game characters, so they’re different from humans.
“I have something to discuss, Count Train.”
Count Train’s gaze goes between my nose tip and the floor.
The red liquid continues to soak the red carpet of the underground gambling den.
“Ye-Yes.”
During the meeting that lasted about an hour, Shana filled one bucket that Rukia had brought with blood.
It’s amazing that she doesn’t have a single dizzy spell after losing so much life water blood.
Train shook hands with Shana, who was getting up from her seat, with an expression of wonder.
“Then, I kindly ask for your help.”
The conclusion was simple.
First, move all the items in the gambling den and Social Service Department room inside the secret passage.
Disguise the gambling den as a multipurpose room to avoid inspection.
And stop the operation of the secret door in advance so it won’t be discovered.
At this time, Count Train will fill the passage from the outside so that even if the secret door is caught, the passage won’t be caught, disguising it.
It’s a strategy that coordinates from inside and outside the academy.
“You know it’s the end if we get caught, right, Daddy?”
“I’ll do my best to construct it so that it’s never discovered.”
But even while saying this, different thoughts cross Count Train’s mind.
Like all academies.
Faculty members may discipline Athenas for minor mistakes, but they don’t expel them.
This is because the threat that arises when Athenas are released outside the academy is greater.
They are recognized as people, but at the same time, they are powerful biological weapons.
If they fall into the hands of bad people, they are bound to be used for bad purposes.
…And Count Train is a bad person.
He straddles both the light and darkness of the kingdom, but he fears the Fire Sword Ghost more.
‘If the two of them get caught with the items and gambling den, they’ll be disciplined…’
The academy will impose quite a harsh disposition on Shana and Rukia, who disrupted the study atmosphere.
‘If they’re lucky, maybe even forced transfer…!’
There are many academies in the kingdom besides Regin.
And high-grade academies like Regin, where many high-class children attend, often transfer problematic students they cannot handle to lower-grade academies.
It’s a kind of exile.
Unlike Regin with its A++ grade, if you go to B grade or below, there are many places where Athena management is lax.
In such places, even if an Athena suddenly disappears one day, they will hush it up.
There won’t be headlines about it in newspapers.
‘Good. Excellent…. Am I a genius?’
Although he lost the company and employees he had been cultivating due to the Thunder Emperor.
It’s not over yet.
“To survive that lightning. Not bad.”
“If you obtain satisfactory experimental results from the girl showing addiction symptoms, I’ll lead you to higher places.”
Count Train does not want to miss the recognition he received from the Fire Sword Ghost and the opportunity to go further.
That’s why the Count will seize it.
The golden nugget named Shana Midgard that has rolled before his eyes.
♦♦♦
After finishing the consultation with Train and leaving the gambling den, I immediately conveyed several important things to Rukia.
“Please ask Pixie to seal off the entire gambling den for just 3 weeks.”
“Huh? I thought you said you wouldn’t get help from Pixie?”
“…I can’t trust that guy.”
Vermilion Heart.
No, I gratefully received 100 bottles of the counterfeit, Scarlet Heart.
But not properly explaining about the side effects is a minus.
Then we must also consider the possibility that he’s hiding something else.
That’s also why I didn’t bring up the issue of storing Scarlet Heart.
Because he might shake my lifeline with Scarlet Heart if necessary.
“Kikik. Don’t worry! I can ask for help through a bet this time too!”
“Don’t tell me you’re betting your life again?”
“Gasp. How did you know?”
“Haah….”
“Don’t sigh, department head. Pixie won’t move unless I put my body up as an experimental subject.”
Four cards appear swish between fingers that were empty before, then disappear again with a fluttering sound.
Those cards were suddenly tucked behind my ear, then flapped and landed on the bucket full of blood.
“And there’s no way I would lose in gambling~?”
If I leave the Pixie side to Rukia.
Then the only remaining problem is the 94 bottles of counterfeit hidden in the gambling den.
…It would be really nice if I could store them all in my body and take them out whenever needed.
Why is Vermilion Heart the same color as blood, but can’t be stored in the body like blood?
————————————————
<< Shana Midgard >>
Regin Academy / Aesir Dormitory / 2nd Year
— Enhancement Effect ‘Vermilion Heart’ Applied
(Time Remaining: 665 minutes)
— Weakening Effect ‘Bleeding Lv4’ Applied
[Status]
Vitality 1/12
————————————————
The bleeding, which makes 12 vitality fly away per hour, is gradually making my body moribund.
I need to drink another bottle or it will be dangerous.
“Ruki….”
“Ta-da. I already prepared it!”
Rukia seems to have read my gaze and opened a new bottle.
That’s quite admirable.
I put the bottle mouth without the cork stopper into my mouth without hesitation.
[You have used Vermilion Heart]
[All Vitality is restored]
[Warning: You have consumed Vermilion Heart that is not perfectly refined. Side effects may occur]
When I came to my senses.
What I faced was a message I had never seen before.
[Status ailment, ‘I Love Strawberries’ has occurred]