Chapter 30
I was slightly flustered, but since it wasn’t 8 AM—the designated meeting time—yet, I decided to be patient and wait a little longer.
Then, ten minutes before the meeting time.
"We’re here."
"Huh? Wasn't today an outdoor class? Why isn't anyone else here?"
El and the black-haired guy had arrived.
Only these two showed up.
Why?!
Since they were here, it meant that I hadn’t made a mistake in announcing the time and place. And, of course, I would never make such a rookie mistake.
But this was the reality.
"What happened?"
"How should we know?"
"I have no idea."
Right. There was no way they would know.
But one must always be prepared for any situation!
And I was already prepared!
"I anticipated something like this, so I announced the meeting an hour earlier than the actual time!"
That’s right. Expecting this outcome, I had informed everyone to gather an hour earlier than planned.
"Then what are we supposed to do, since we arrived early?"
Any minor sacrifices made in the process were, of course, easily ignored.
"There’s plenty to do near the station, so just kill some time and come back later."
"I don’t have any money."
"I’ll give you some."
I handed some pocket money to the broke black-haired guy.
"You’re really giving me this?"
"Yes."
"For free?"
"Consider it a reward for arriving early."
"Thank you, boss!!"
Since he came early, I had to at least give him this much as a reward.
I watched with satisfaction as the black-haired guy bowed so deeply it looked like he was about to drill into the ground.
Then, I met eyes with El, who was staring at me with a dissatisfied look.
"What?"
"Am I not getting anything?"
The black-haired guy was so poor he could survive on just grass, so I gave him money, but you? You’re loaded.
"You have plenty of money."
"That’s different! I also deserve fair compensation for my labor!"
El reacted dramatically.
Such greed for someone already wealthy!
Well, I wasn’t sure if this counted as labor, but it wasn’t a big amount, so I might as well give him some too.
"Here."
"Much appreciated! I’ll spend it wisely."
I handed El the same amount as the black-haired guy.
"Alright, then. Go kill some time. I’ll stay here and wait for the others."
"Understood! Let’s go, Caron."
"I’ll be back, boss!"
The black-haired guy and El wandered off near the station.
Now alone again, I checked my watch.
It had already been well past 8 AM.
There was no sign of the other guys coming, so I figured I might as well get something done while I waited.
The first thing to do was...
I took out the Master Box from the Dimensional Vault and shouted.
"Come forth! Gaychu!"
Then, from the Master Box, a bald man in gaming-color-shimmering underwear burst out.
Naturally, he was the leader of the cult we had captured the previous day.
"Ugh! I... I won’t give in!"
Now turned into Gaychu, the man knelt on the ground, contorting his face in all sorts of expressions as he glared at me.
From the way he was talking, it seemed his training wasn’t complete yet.
"If you won’t give in, well, there’s no helping it. Go back inside."
"W-Wait! No, hold on—!"
"Return! Gaychu!"
At my command, the glowing Gaychu was sucked back into the Master Box.
"AAAAARGH! P-Please! Not in there!! Stop!!"
Gaychu was sealed back into the Master Box.
[You always talk about human rights, but where are they now?]
'What kind of human rights for criminals are you talking about?'
There were no human rights, but since this was being done for a righteous cause that benefited me, Gaychu should be satisfied too.
[And why, of all things, is his name ‘Gaychu’?!]
'Gaming colors + Pi**chu.'
[...]
The AI fell silent and spent some time running various system checks. Before I knew it, it was 9 AM.
"Why aren’t they here?"
El and the black-haired guy had already returned a while ago, but the others hadn’t.
Was I unknowingly being ostracized by the group?
What the hell?
"Isn’t it gathering time now? Is this really okay?"
When did he even get here?
El asked worriedly as he licked his green cone ice cream.
"Heh."
I laughed at his question.
"Raniël, calm down. In times like this, you need to keep your composure."
"I haven’t lost my composure."
Ignoring the ever-creepy black-haired guy, who I hadn’t even noticed arriving, I once again put on a determined smile.
"I was prepared for this."
"You were... prepared?"
That’s right. My smile had a reason.
"I announced the gathering time two hours earlier!!"
"You said it was an hour earlier before!!"
"Two hours?!"
El and the black-haired guy were taken aback by my words.
Clearly, they were shocked by my wise decision.
"Then isn’t it unfair for those of us who came early?!"
The black-haired guy protested in disbelief, but did he really have the right to complain?
"I paid you."
"I sincerely apologize, Boss!!"
The moment money was mentioned, the black-haired guy immediately slammed his forehead onto the ground.
This guy was drifting further and further away from his noble lineage every day.
"Well, he believes that one should always arrive early for appointments, so he has no complaints. He’s just a little concerned."
"Don’t worry. If they’re not here by 9:30, we’ll go drag them in."
They were going to capture it with a UGS box and keep it there until they reached their destination.
With all sorts of thoughts running through my head, I waited, and finally, it was 9:30.
"Boss, we're here."
The kids arrived all at once.
What the hell? This was the most bizarrely infuriating perfect timing.
"Why are you late?"
Well, since there’s no grave without an excuse, I decided to at least hear their last words.
Then, a guy who looked like an engineer—whose name I had already forgotten—stepped forward.
"Normally, when making a delivery, it's standard practice to announce it two weeks in advance."
"That's true."
Since what the engineering guy said was correct, I nodded.
"In this case, I figured it wouldn’t be two weeks early, but maybe two hours ahead of time. After all, boss, you're a man more dedicated to magical engineering than anyone else."
And then he started spouting nonsense.
Damn bastard, even his nonsense made sense!!
"Indeed. That was a reasonable argument."
It was such a perfectly logical piece of nonsense that I had no choice but to accept it.
Since I had accepted it, I let the tardiness slide and quickly checked the headcount.
"We're missing four people."
"The Senea sisters and Roine aren't here."
"Oh, thanks for the quick check, El."
El swiftly identified who was missing.
The three noisy dog-like sisters and… who was Roine again?
I quickly flipped through the student roster given to me by the homeroom teacher.
[Isn't a once-in-a-generation genius like the Master supposed to know everything?]
‘Yeah, well, I tend to forget anything I'm not interested in.’
I don't see the point in allocating brain space to things I don't care about, so I forget them right away.
But… doesn't this guy already know that? Why is he even asking?
Since it wasn’t important, I decided to move on.
Just as I turned my gaze back to the roster—
BOOM!
A loud explosion echoed from somewhere.
It sounded just like a rocket launch.
SWOOOOSH!
And then, the sound of something flying through the air—like a rocket.
An ambush?!
[Should I enhance the audio?]
‘Yeah.’
Immediately, I could hear the sound more clearly.
Amidst the explosion, I could make out distinct voices.
"Senea! I think we're about to crash!"
"The calculations are perfect! We'll make it right to the station!"
"HAHAHA! We're flying!! We're really flying!"
I definitely recognized those voices.
It sounded like those missing dog-like sisters. But what the hell were they doing to cause rocket sounds?!
That question was soon answered.
"Cough."
In the distance, a metal object that looked like a high-speed motorboat was soaring through the sky.
"AHHHH! GET OUT OF THE WAY!!"
"What's flying toward us?!"
It was obvious that the crash landing site was exactly where we were standing.
Of course, the kids scattered in a panic.
"Ah, for f—!"
I also stepped back.
And then—
KWAANG!!
As I moved away, a chunk of metal crashed into the ground, and the doggies also slammed into the floor.
…Are they even alive?
"That was fun!"
"But crashing is a no-go! The people below could be in danger! But still, it was fun!"
"Next time, should we blow it up mid-air before it crashes? That sounds fun too!"
[They're alive.]
It looks like all three of them survived.
I don't know whether it's because their bodies are tough or because they had some kind of safety mechanism, but not only are they alive—they're completely fine.
Since there doesn’t seem to be any real damage, I’ll let it slide for now.
"Why are you late?"
"Ah! Hi, Captain!"
"Good morning!"
"Do you want to ride too, Captain? It's fun!"
One sentence from me, three responses from them.
Just listening to them is giving me a headache.
"Give me a reason for your tardiness."
"We’re not late!"
"Yeah! Senea’s design is perfect!"
"Right! We got from the dorm to the station in just 10 minutes!"
Design? Are they talking about that thing I just saw, the one that looked like either a rocket or a human torpedo?
Wait, 10 minutes to get here?
For something like that, doesn't that seem a bit too long?
"Cough."
At that moment, a thought flashed through my mind.
"You arrived in 10 minutes?"
"Yeah!"
"Exactly 10 minutes!"
"We want to shorten it, but then there would be safety issues!"
Three responses again, but I ignore them for now.
"How long did it take to build that?"
"I think a little over an hour?"
"No, it took 1 hour and 30 minutes!"
"If you count gathering parts and materials the day before, it took even longer!"
"So you're saying you spent an hour and 30 minutes building that just to get here in 10 minutes?"
"That’s right!"
"Captain is so smart!"
"1 hour and 30 minutes! Exactly!"
"Isn't it actually a waste of time to spend an hour and 30 minutes making something just to travel for 10 minutes?"
At my words, the three doggies all turned to look at me at the same time.
That look… I’ve seen it somewhere before.
[They look just like dogs right before they turn a lab into a disaster zone, don’t they?]
AI’s comment jogged my memory.
In my previous life, there was this one assistant who brought three dogs into the lab because they couldn’t feed them due to an all-nighter.
The lab really turned into a disaster back then.
But these three are humans, so surely they wouldn’t cause that kind of mess… right?
"A magic engineer shouldn’t measure efficiency by production time!"
"Yeah! The time spent making something doesn’t count!"
“If you’re an engineer, just look at the result that took 10 minutes!”
He wasn’t making a mess, but he was confidently spouting nonsense.
However.
“That makes sense.”
It was such a convincing nonsense that I accepted it.
A true engineer doesn’t care about production time, efficiency, or budget. As long as the result is good, that’s all that matters, right?
‘Anyway, is everyone here except for one person now?’
Cough.
But what’s with that cough that sounds like someone’s about to cough up blood?
Hack.
This time, I definitely heard it.
I turned my head towards the source of the sound, and there lay a girl with elegant violet-black hair, giving off a pure and delicate vibe, covered in blood.
Is she Loin?
Why does she look like a murder victim?
“Did she get hit by what you guys rode in on?”
“No!”
“Loin always coughs up blood and collapses!”
“She has a slit-eye allergy! When she sees slit eyes, it gets worse!”
Slit-eye allergy?
What kind of absurd, unheard-of condition is that?
“What kind of nonsense…”
Cough.
At that moment, another coughing sound made me turn my head.
And there, the blood-coughing girl was getting up.
“Slit eyes.”
Then she collapsed again.
What the hell? Is this for real?
Slit-eye allergy actually exists?!
I was as shocked as when I first heard that eels grow on trees.
Anyway, based on what the three dog-like sisters said, it seems like this girl coughing up blood and collapsing is a regular occurrence, so I guess I can just ignore it.
“It’s about time to board the train, so someone carry her.”
“Leave it to us!”
“We’ll do it!”
“I’ll take the left leg! Hanea, you take the right leg! Senea, you take the left leg!”
At my words, the three dog-like sisters lifted the blood-coughing girl.
Their way of carrying her looked like they might end up killing her, but I didn’t want to deal with it anymore, so I decided to ignore it.
“We’ve done the headcount, and there’s not much time left until departure, so get on the train quickly.”
Fortunately, unlike gathering everyone, there were no issues boarding.
[Are you really sure there’s no problem?]
At the AI’s words, I glanced at the blood-coughing girl being carried by the three sisters.
“Just throw her into the train’s medical room.”
One patient was thrown into the infirmary, and including myself, all 30 members safely boarded the 1-A class car.
Beeeep!
A little while after everyone had boarded, the train let out a whistle and departed.
“Whew…”
I was already exhausted.
But I didn’t know yet—this was just the beginning.
