***
“Linia, I’m counting on you to take care of things.”
“Why me?”
Linia looked at me as if I were talking nonsense.
“Then am I, the brains of the operation, supposed to take on those beefy guys?”
“We could just not fight?”
“Don’t you need your tablet?”
“Who do you want me to take out first?”
At my heartfelt persuasion, Linia’s eyes gleamed menacingly as she got into a stance.
“What, you bastards… Kuaaak!”
One of the delinquents who was approaching and picking a fight was hit by the bat Linia swung and rolled on the ground.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Each time the intense sound of impact rang out, another delinquent rolled on the ground.
I didn’t know if Linia was exceptional or if the delinquents were pathetic, but it was an overwhelming difference in power.
“Th-the enemy is just one girl! Attack her at the same time!!”
“We have mana-reinforced suits, so we just have to watch our heads!”
The delinquents, who had been getting their asses kicked, slowly started to use their heads.
However, there was one thing they had overlooked: this bat was no ordinary bat.
“Hwaaaak! What is this?!”
“What’s wrong with our clothes?!”
I calmly looked at the delinquent—no, the man who had now evolved into an exhibitionist—and opened my mouth.
“You seem to think those clothes are some kind of armor, but if you just disable the circuits, they’re worse than a scrap of cloth.”
“Wh-what did you say?!”
“And this bat has the function of shattering any circuit it touches.”
Even though it wasn’t a main weapon, it was one of the prototype’s 136 armaments.
It was originally developed to break through the force fields or barriers deployed by monsters.
But as a result of testing it here, it turned out to have an excellent effect in shattering magic circuits.
At my words, not only the delinquents but even Linia sent me a dumbfounded look.
“Hurry up and get naked, and drop your items, you mobs! Mwahaha!”
“Eek! R-run away!”
“A steel pipe that strips your clothes! What the hell is that thing?!”
Watching the backs of the shrieking delinquents, I quietly gave Linia an order.
“Go! Linia! Finish them off!!”
“No! They’re already half-naked, they look like perverts!”
“The tablet.”
“Uwaaah! I really don’t want to!!”
Linia pouted but took the bat, and right after, she chased after the delinquents, leaping gracefully with her usual 10-meter jump.
-Clang!
“Kuaaak!”
-Clang!
“St-stop! My clothes! My clothes are coming off!”
With my hands behind my back, I followed lightly behind them as if on a stroll.
Every now and then, I would bend down and pick up the items that had fallen on the ground.
-Jingle!
As their clothes were pulverized, the items they had in their pockets and such had fallen to the ground.
Since they were nobles, gold coins, daggers with luxurious decorations, and accessories were rolling around on the floor.
“Oh, not bad.”
I put everything I picked up into the Dimensional Hangar and continued walking. My eyes met with Linia, who was holding the bat and looking at me with a dumbfounded expression.
“Why did you stop chasing them?”
“Well, the place they ran to is the middle of the campus, so all the other students are taking pictures with their tablets…. No, more importantly, why are you so casually picking up other people’s things?!”
Linia suddenly spouted some conscientious words.
To correct that mistaken thought, I said,
“This is loot.”
“Loot?”
“It must have been in those adventure novels you read. The things you get after defeating an enemy.”
“I-it was, but.”
“This is that. We fought, and we won, so we are entitled to the loot.”
Linia still looked confused, but she soon shook her head from side to side.
“But why are you taking it all for yourself? What about my share?”
“I’ll divide it up later. For reference, the split is 9 to 1, and of course, I’m the 9.”
“Why?! I’m the one who fought!”
“But I am your employer’s son.”
“What does that have to do with anything!”
“I’m not trying to draw a line based on status, but formally, I am above you. Right?”
“Well, yes.”
“And you must have heard of the term ‘trickle-down effect’ at least once, right?”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
A sigh escaped me at the sight of Linia, who couldn't understand even when I was telling her common sense, but I held my patience and continued speaking confidently.
“For example, it means that for you to have money, I must have money.”
“What are you talking about! Why did the conversation suddenly turn to that?! I don’t accept it!”
Looking at the shouting Linia, I replied as if I were being generous.
“Alright, in recognition of your contribution, I will return the tablet to you.”
“What? That’s…!”
“Think carefully. Which is more precious, these trivial items or the tablet?”
“Well, the tablet, but…”
“Then what is there to hesitate about? If I give you the tablet, you should take it gladly!”
“…I-is that so?”
And so, I quickly and appropriately moved past the conversation about the loot.
[As expected of you, Master! That was some amazing persuasive power, befitting the number one contributor to the Minister of Defense’s hair loss!]
Shut up.
Should I just dismantle you, repairs and all?
[Hwaeng! Please respect and guarantee my human rights!]
What human rights do you have? You’re not even human.
[I am Master’s small and precious powered armor! A smoprea!]
You mean you’re good at smashing things into smithereens?
I let the prototype’s useless chatter go in one ear and out the other, and focused on collecting the loot.
For a bunch of delinquents, they were quite rich, so the income was pretty good.
As I was assessing the value of the collected loot and contemplating how much to sell it for.
“My apologies for the late greeting. Thank you for your help, Young Master, Young Lady.”
I had somehow completely forgotten his existence, but the black-haired boy who had been getting beaten up by the delinquents earlier offered his thanks.
As a noble, he was being formal and polite, but since he had just been cleaning the floor with his body and getting beaten up, it felt like a beggar was being polite.
However, that alone seemed to be perceived as something quite undeserved by Linia.
“Y-y-young Lady! I’m not a noble!”
“The term ‘Young Lady’ is not used exclusively for nobles.”
As Linia was flaunting her ignorance, I immediately corrected her.
“Really? I didn’t know. Still, being called Young Lady feels burdensome!”
“Not at all. To me, you two are my saviors. How can I ever repay this debt…”
Debt, my foot.
Judging from the earlier situation, he was a nobody.
A count was a high-ranking noble, yet a child from that house was getting beaten up by others?
Forming a relationship with such a useless guy was, literally, a useless act.
“We didn’t particularly intend to help you, and we don’t need you to repay any debt, so you can be on your way.”
I said cynically and turned my body.
“You came here for the exam, so you’re 15 years old?”
“Yes, don’t tell me the Young Lady is too?”
“Y-young Lady, oh my! And we’re the same age! We’ll be in the same class if we get in, so let’s speak casually!”
“I-is that alright?”
“Of course! And I told you to speak casually, didn't I? My name is Linia! What’s yours?”
“I-it’s Karon.”
“Alright, it’s nice to meet you, Karon!”
What are these two?
Why are they suddenly introducing themselves and getting friendly?
Linia, who immediately spoke casually to the son of a count, not a baron or a viscount.
And that guy, happily giggling and calling Linia by her name.
‘A bunch of dimwits, birds of a feather…’
“Ah, right. The Young Master over there is…”
“Ah, he’s the same age as us too. His name is Raniel. Feel free to speak casually!”
Throb.
I let her off the hook, and now she’s crossing the line of our master-servant relationship?
The feeling of a vein popping on my forehead was surely not my imagination.
“Hey, you blockhead! Who do you think you are, telling him to…!”
“I look forward to getting to know you! Young Master Raniel! Thank you so much for earlier. I will definitely repay this debt, on my name and the honor of my family!”
“…”
When he came at me with such a subservient attitude, it was hard to say anything.
[From the looks of it, it seems they will become friends, just like in a common academy cliché.]
There was nothing more inefficient than keeping a useless person around.
But on the other hand, thinking about it that way put my mind at ease.
‘Come to think of it, this guy said he can’t use aura, right? How can a guy who can’t even use aura get into the academy?’
Seeing as he was talking about aura earlier, he was probably aiming for the warrior faculty, and since he couldn't use aura, he would have naturally failed the exam, and I would never have to see him again.
Thinking that made me feel relieved.
[As expected, Master’s personality is efficiently shattered!]
Repairs and all, maybe it would be better to just dismantle it and build a new one.
“Oh, look at the time! Raniel! I have to go for my exam, so I’ll be off!”
Linia waved her hands and ran off into the distance.
I looked at the black-haired guy who was staring blankly at her back and said,
“Why aren’t you following her?”
“Huh? Why?”
“Aren’t you taking the warrior faculty exam?”
“I’m not aiming for the warrior faculty.”
What kind of nonsense is this now?
“No, you were getting beaten up earlier for not being able to use aura. Since they mentioned aura, I thought you applied to the warrior faculty.”
“Ah, I can’t use aura. But that’s why I applied to the magical engineering faculty instead of the warrior faculty. Oh, don’t tell me you’re also aiming for the magical engineering faculty, Raniel?”
[This is a cliché! It’s the cliché where he becomes Master’s companion!]
Oh, for heaven's sake.
My mind was going blank.
“To meet a fellow magical engineering faculty applicant like this! If this is fate, it’s fate!”
“But why are you suddenly speaking so casually? A moment ago, you were talking about saviors and all that…”
“Then the thing that stripped their clothes earlier, was that also a magical engineering technique?! My goodness! A technique that dismantles clothing etched with magic circuits! You’re a genius, aren’t you?!”
“A-ahem. Ahem.”
[Come to think of it, Master has always been weak to flattery and compliments, probably because his self-esteem is so high.]
Of course not!
“It was nothing. I just unraveled the clothes that had magic circuits etched into them.”
“No, that’s incredibly amazing! It’s something that even a team of technicians couldn’t do even if they worked slowly, but you dismantled it just by touching it with a steel pipe! You’re really amazing, Raniel!!”
[Master, you look so cool, unknowingly shrugging your shoulders and puffing out your chest!]
You, just shut up!
“H-hhm. Anyway, it’s almost time for the exam, so we should get going too.”
“Ah, right. We should!”
And so, I headed to the magical engineering faculty’s practical exam hall with the black-haired guy named Cliché or whatever.
<><><>
The location of the practical exam hall was, of course, different from the written exam hall, and its external appearance was also quite different.
Various parts and machines were lined up in a space similar to a huge factory.
It felt like a workshop, but it also had the feel of a museum showcasing the Empire's own technology.
And in the center of it all, at some distance from each other, were workbenches surrounded by various machines, with the examinees' numbers and names attached.
“The written exam hall was nothing compared to this.”
Karon said in admiration as he looked at the scene.
I also nodded slightly from the side.
If the written exam hall felt like taking a test, this place finally felt like they were properly selecting engineering students.
“Alright, before we begin the exam, I’d like to draw your attention over here!”
This time, the proctor had a younger and more energetic feel than the previous one.
An assistant professor, maybe?
The proctor was on my mind, but now was the time to focus on the exam, so I tuned him out.
I focused on the notice that appeared on the large screen behind the proctor.