Chapter 18: A Duel?!
As I was approaching my room, I saw someone leaning on the door to my room, it was Tsukiko-san.
She sees me approaching and was surprised, and I asked, "What are you doing hanging around my room?"
She got flustered and responded, "W-Why? Do you have a problem with that?"
"N-No, I just find it weird, that you're hanging around my room.."
"W-Well, you see, I want to ask you something."
"Hm? What is it?"
"...Umm..."
She's fidgeting... Did she hear me and Joy-san? Is what she's about to ask me is about what we talked about?
Stay calm, I'm still not sure if it is that, so I'll play dumb for now.
"What was that? I can't hear you, can you speak up?"
"...Y-You... *sigh* What I was about to ask you is..."
W-What is this intense feeling I'm feeling? Is what she's about to ask me that serious?
"A-Are you and Natsuki going out?!"
...
"What...?" was the only thing that came out of my mouth after she said that.
"Well? You are right?"
I couldn't answer, because I'm was still caught off guard of what she said.
"I knew it, you two are!" she said.
When I came back to my senses, I told her, "We're not! What made you assume that I'm going out with her?!"
After I said that, I looked at her face, and she had a confused look on her face, and said, "B-But, you two were talking to each other and when you got injured the other day, she had a worried look on her face, she almost cried!"
"That's what made you assume we were going out?!" I responded.
"W-Well, what else am I suppose assume when I saw that?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe she was just worried about her classmates, and what you saw was just her asking if I was okay, does that answer your question?"
"...Yeah..." she said with a disappointed face.
Why is she disapponte- oh right, Syouma-san likes Natsuki-san, that's why she's disappointed...
"Well? Do you have any more misunderstandings you want to say?" I said.
"N-No..."
"Good, now would you step aside, I'm gonna go to sleep."
"But there is one thing I was confused about," she said.
"Oh, what is it?"
"I saw you and that Librarian talking to each other at the Training Field, I don't want to misunderstand again, so what were you two talking about?"
"..."
Just as when I got off the hook, she had to ask that...
"W-Well, she said, thank you to me, because I saved her, so she called me and thanked me."
"Oh, well that's good then, I'll go back to my room now."
"Y-Yeah, you should, we have a long training ahead of us."
She moved away from the door and started walking away, I opened the door and entered my room, but as I was about to enter, Tsukiko-san called me saying, "Hey!"
It startled me, and I said, "W-What?"
"...I'm sorry."
...Did I hear that right? Or am I having trouble hearing? Because did I just hear, The Tsukiko-san, who's prideful and have to ask Syouma-san to get her to apologize, is here apologizing? To me of all people?
As I was having trouble forming words, Tsukiko-san said, "I'm sorry for misunderstanding, and I hope you won't tell anyone about this..."
She apologized TWICE!!
I'm so shock that her apologizing twice shocked to come back to my senses, so I responded, "Y-Yeah, no worries, b-but word of advice, don't just jump to conclusions, and try to read the situation first, okay?"
"*//* Y-Yeah..."
"Well then Good Night~" and I entered my room.
Tsukiko-san then whispered, "Good night..." and left to return to her room.
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2 hours later
While I'm waiting for Joy-san, I started reading the book about Earth Magic for the past 2 hours, and I start to understand it a little, maybe it's because my Intelligence Stat went up.
I want to test it out, because I don't want the materials that Joy-san brought me go to waste.
So I started testing it out, I closed my eyes and doing what the book said, imagine what shape I want it to be, once I'm done, start pouring out mana and imagine the mana taking shape and making it a solid, while still imagining the shape..
This is harder than what imagine it to be, it took shape, but not quite.
I wanted it to be something that's the size of my hand, that I can throw, but it didn't turn out well...
It's so small, almost like a pebble, but smaller than that, I want it to be small, but not that small..
Why did they made it easier in anime...?
I looked at my Status, trying to see how many MP did I have to use to make that pebble? "STATUS."
[MP: 345]
I used up 5 MP just to make a pebble of a pebble..
I wouldn't say it's a waste, but if I had used up 10+ MP making that, that's a waste.
...Wait, so, when I used Earth Magic and make something, I only used up 5 MP?
I looked outside my room, Joy-san isn't here, so I can practice, until she arrives.
Okay, let's get to practicing.
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*pant* *pant* *pant* I've been practicing for an hour and a half now, and I finally perfected it.
A smooth, hand-sized rock.
I already perfected the appearance, it took me only 30 minutes to perfect it, but the only thing that was so difficult was adding the feature to it.
It looks like a light hand-sized rock, but when you try to pick it up, it will be heavy as a as a 10kg dumbbell, it took me an hour to make it actually heavy.
I made a lot of rocks, for counting, I made over 56 rocks, half of it are pebbles.
I looked at my MP to see how much I used, "STATUS."
[MP: 235]
I used up 110 MP... but it's okay, it's not even that much, I still have much to use, when Joy-san gets here.
Plus, I finally perfected it, the reason I want it to be heavy is because... No reason, I just want it to be heavy, I mean, I don't want it to be just a rock, I want it to be a special one, what better way to do that than making it heavy, right?
The real question is... How am I suppose to clean all of this rocks?!
Wait... what if...
I let out my hand, closed my eyes, and began to extract the mana from the rocks.
If I'm correct it should work.
I began focusing on trying to absorb the mana from the rock, but it's harder than I thought..
But, I don't want to clean this up and throw it in the trash, they might get suspicious, because they will sense that there's magic in the rock and they will figure out that it's hand made, so if I just absorb it again, I can clean this up, plus, it's my mana anyway, so I might be able to absorb it.
I kept focusing and eventually, I felt magic going through my hand, I opened my eyes, and I see the mana going right in my hand, and I see the rocks disappearing and turning into mana and going to my hand, I didn't think it would work..
Then I finally finished up cleaning, I looked at my MP to see if I recovered some of my mana, "STATUS."
[MP: 305]
Wow, I recovered 70 MP, now I have even more MP to use, but where is Joy-san? She's taking so long..
I hope she didn't forget.
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It's been 30 minutes, where is she?!
I looked outside to see if she's there, but she's not.
So I kept waiting and eventually, falling asleep.
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I wake up to the sound of someone calling my name, so I opened my eyes, and I see Joy-san in my face, it startled me, so I ended up bumping her head with my head, and she said, "Oww, that hurts..."
"Why were you so close to my face then?! *//*" I said.
"W-Well..."
"Also, why took you so long?! I've been waiting for you for a long time!"
"P-Please don't scream..."
"O-Oh, right sorry, but what were you doing that took yo so long to get here?"
"W-Well..."
"Hm? What is it? Is something wrong?"
"...W-Well, the thing is, t-there's something you should know, Sie..."
"Huh? W-What is it?"
Oi oi, what is this? is this what I think it is?! Is this...a confession?!
No no, think logically here, the look on her face is not a face someone would make if their about to confess, plus we just met 2 day ago, why would she be confessing to me in that short period of time?
Phew, good thing I'm a logical thinker and a realist, if not then I might have misunderstand it, but what is it that's making her worry like that?
So I said, "If something's bothering you, you can tell me you know, it's not like it's something that will harm me...right?"
"..."
W-Wait, it is something that will harm me?!
"W-Why are you so quiet Joy-san?"
"T-The person we met in the library yesterday has something to announce later in the Training Field.."
"Has something to announce?"
Wait... is it what I think it is...? Please don't be that.
"I-I heard him in the hall way, when I was about to bring the materials you asked me to to you room, they were at the direction I was going to, and I was to scared and nervous on walking by them, so I decided to return to my room and wait for them to go back to their rooms, but I heard them mention you, so I had no choice but to listen to them, they said..."
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"Tch, that guy was being arrogant, just because he's surrounded by 2 girls, he has to act all tough on us, so annoying!"
"Hey, Dolion-kun are you just going to let that guy disrespect us like that?! I've never seen you left someone who disrespect you like that off the hook, so I'm assuming you have a plan, right? Right?!"
"..."
"*whisper* Tch, he's really letting that guy go, after he humiliated us in front of those girls? Especially that maid, hehehe she's definitely someone who plays hard to get hehehe~ I can't wait to make a mess of someone like that hehehe~"
"Will you stop that? You're acting like a creep right now, well technically you are one."
"S-Sorry Dolion-kun, but do you have a something in mind to get back at that guy who humiliated us?"
"W-What?! You have a plan Do-chan?! You have a plan of making those girls out sex slaves right?!"
"Hmm... Yeah, I have a plan."
"REALLY?!"
"REALLY?!"
"Keep it down you 2."
"O-Oh, sorry."
"Y-Yeah, my bad."
"But, those 2 girls can wait, we have to focus on that guy first, you two don't have any objections to that are you?"
"N-No, not at all, you're totally right! We should focus on that bastard firsts, but how are we going to do that, without them seeing us? I mean there are a lot of guys in armors watching our every move every morning to night, so how are we going to mess with him?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Hahaha, what are you saying? We're not gangsters, I have an even better one, one that everyone can witness."
"Huh? Everyone can witness? !...You mean.."
"That's right, way to catch on."
Huh? Wait, what? What are we going to do?"
"Isn't it obvious? We are..."
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"...going to duel you, tomorrow, so he better prepare himself," he said."
I knew it...
H-Haha, this is why, I don't like getting involve in something like this...
"I-I'm sorry for not coming here on time, when I got back to my room, I fell asleep so.."
"N-No, it's ok, you had no choice, you just did what you had to do, so it's fine."
But, if he's asking for a duel, what kind of duel? Do we use our weapons? Or Close Combat? If it's Close Combat then I'm screwed.
"Hey, Joy-san, did you hear him say what kind of duel it is? Did he say he'll use his weapon or Close Combat?"
"Huh? Umm... No, he didn't say what kind of duel it is."
"Hmm... I see.."
"Oh, right, Sie, here are the materials you asked for, again I'm sorry for not delivering them on time.."
"Ah, no problem, you can just leave them here."
"Alright then, I will be taking my leave now, I have to open the Library now, so see you later."
"O-Oh yeah, see you."
Alright then, let's see here,
-Copper, check
-Bronze, check
-Steel, check
-Rubber, check
-Brass, check
, and lastly -Gunpowder, check
Now, that I have the materials I need, it's time to make what I've been wanting to make, ever since I first held the Gun, a Bullet.
I have enough materials and enough practice, so I hope I can successfully make it, and if the duel he's about to announce later, will be a battle that will require us using our weapons, I need to be prepared.
But if it's Close Combat, then I'm toast,,,
I cracked my knuckles and said, "Now then, let's get to making bullets now, shall we~?"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Sie_Ryu
Sie_Ryu Warning: All of this are fiction, please don't take what I wrote here seriously. It is all F.I.C.T.I.O.N.
Thank you for reading this chapter. :)
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