章節 22: Fireforge Gauntlets
Rosella entered the room.
"You are up. How are you feeling?"
She put down the briefcase, then sat on the seat next to the infirmary bed.
My eyes secretly scanned the room.
It was a private infirmary room. There were two ways to escape: The window and the door.
I doubted I could outrun her. My best choice was to settle the matter with words.
Rosella removed her hair tier, letting her hair fall.
"Was it you who saved the princess?" She massaged her head with a sigh.
"No," I let out a weak smile. "I'm not strong enough to do that, even if I wanted to."
Rosella stared at me.
Unlike Doll, she should know the reason Maestro put me in the Academy.
Acting as Doll's bodyguard was my secondary job.
I was a prisoner before that.
The Academy was a cage. Maestro put me here so he could keep me under his surveillance.
If I tried to escape, he would kill me.
I, or should I say Zain, was Maestro's little toy. He hadn't killed me yet, as he was waiting for the perfect time.
"...I see." Rosella gritted her teeth.
She banged her fist on the table. "I'll make sure he doesn't live to see another day when I find him!"
Her sudden outburst caught me by surprise.
"You will kill the person who saved Doll?"
"Yes, he corrupted the princess!"
"...!"
My gaze shifted to Nutless.
How come Rosella knows about the parasite already?
Did Doll tell her?
So Doll had heard my words back then, but she didn't follow the advice.
Worse, I was being framed as the one who fed her the parasite!
While I thought of ways to survive the worst-case ordeal, Nutless shook its body.
"No, Doll hasn't told her about the parasite. I think Rosella is talking about a different kind of corruption."
"...?"
When I didn't understand his words, Nutless opened a live feed of Doll.
She was staring at the park through the window. Her gaze was vacant, as if she was lost in her thoughts.
Every few seconds, she would snap out of her thoughts, blush, shake her head, sigh, and get reabsorbed in her thoughts.
Her appearance didn't suggest any signs of corruption.
Just as I was thinking of what it could mean, Rosella opened the suitcase. There was only one item inside.
A Top hat.
"Anyway, I was here for this. Take it."
"Hehe, a present? But it isn't my birthday."
"I know." She mumbled.
"Sorry?" I acted as if I had not heard her.
"It's a Grade 2 Genius Tech." She wiped her gloomy expression and smiled. "Even if it's temporary, you are a member of the troupe. This is your welcome gift."
I took the hat.
Was she being kind, or was this her way of harassing me?
Why would I need a welcome gift from a bunch of villains who had threatened me to join them?
"Try it."
Her anticipation made my stomach twist into a knot.
I sent my mana into the hat.
A Genius tech needed to be bonded before using it.
We can't use a Genius tech bonded to another metahuman.
If a metahuman wanted to change their Genius Tech's ownership, they needed the Spiritual Sense of the Genius, who created the tech, to alter the bond.
The hat glowed.
I sensed my mana signature being imprinted on it, which signified the end of the bonding process.
The information about the hat automatically appeared in my head.
"Oh," I was surprised.
It was a useful tech, contrary to my expectations.
I applied my mana to the hat. It broke into countless nanobots.
The nanobots moved like an army of ants and covered my entire arms.
[Fireforge Gauntlets]. A Grade 2 Genius tech that had the three functions.
It increased the movement speed of my arms, making me nearly twice as fast.
The gauntlets were made from military-grade steel. They could be used to defend against attacks.
Despite this, they were thin and flexible like a cloth.
The third function was the best.
Huuuuuuuum!
My palms were covered in a fiery red color. With just a thought, I could shoot plasma beams.
"Do you like the plasma weapon function? I added them to cover for your lack of direct combat power." Rosella smiled when she saw me excited.
I couldn't deny it. The Gauntlets were exactly what I needed.
The Godsbane Needle had high penetrating power. But it was hard to control and this was just one of its weaknesses.
If the opponent blocked or dodged the needle once, he could do it more times.
It was only useful for surprise attacks, leaving me lacking in frontal battles.
"The plasma weapons have two types: Plasma beams and Plasma cannon," Rosella explained.
Plasma beams had lower firepower and could be used for a longer duration.
Plasma Cannon could be used only once. The attack would empty the energy source of the Gauntlets. It could nearly insta kill any Grade 2 metahuman and below.
The Gauntlets would be fully recharged after 24 hours on their own.
"...Thanks." I transferred my mana into the gauntlets. They morphed into a plain hat.
"Don't worry about it. Take care." Rosella left after patting my head.
Her actions were that of an older sister, who was looking after her younger brother.
"It's surprising. According to my calculations, there was an 80% probability that it was a weapon to kill you." Nutless accepted that he was in the wrong. "She spent a week creating that. I never thought she would give it to you."
I shook my head at his simple-mindedness.
At my will, a port appeared in the hat.
"Upload yourself into it and run a scan."
"You are too paranoid. Yo…. there is a tracker inside the tech." Halfway through the sentence, his tone shifted.
"Once a villain, always a villain."
At the end of the day, it wasn't a gift but a cage.
"I can hack the tracker. But it will alert her. Should I do it?"
"No, let it be."
I didn't plan to escape yet.
Anyhow, the gauntlets were exceptional.
It was dangerous for me to bond with a Grade 4 Genius tech.
I was Grade 2, any Genius tech two ranks or higher, and I wouldn't be able to handle its load. It was a rank limitation. Everyone had it.
The gauntlets were Grade 2, almost as good as Grade 3. They didn't put too much burden on my spirit. Better yet, as they weren't Grade 3, I could still bond with more Grade 2 Genius techs.
I wore the hat and left the hospital.
Since I planned to leave the Academy officially, I had to submit an application.
"You want to go to Planet Palvos to clear the portals?" Mr. Walker read my application.
We were inside the teacher staff room.
"I need to gain credits." I nodded.
In the Academy, we needed 1000 credits to be allowed entry in the exam hall.
My credits were already in the negative.
The biggest contributor was Professor James. He gave me negative credits, for no reason at all. I swear it wasn't my mistake.
"Why? You wrote that it's to collect credits. If you cared about credits, you wouldn't have messed with the professors in the first place." He read the report that recorded my credits.
"I didn't do anything, though."
"Bringing snacks to the class, playing pranks on professors, writing dumb jokes in mock sheets, leading a group of students to bunk the class…."
By the end, Mr. Walker's frown turned into a surprised pikachu face.
"It hasn't been two weeks since the semester started and you did all of this? Even Alice isn't as bad." He praised me genuinely(?).
"Hehe, thank you, but can we return the application?" I asked.
Planet Palvos was the base of the Mythos Cult. It would take three weeks to get there.
If I leave by tomorrow, I should arrive at the Planet before Mythos Cult sends anyone after Doll.
I had to make sure those Cult bastards didn't meet her.
"Hmm, I wonder."
"Of course, if I go out, I will bring souvenirs for our dear homeroom teacher," I said with a smile.
Instantly, Mr. Walker's eyes shone like his bald forehead.
I was saying that I could buy items for him, even from the black market.
The Governor didn't allow Mr. Walker to leave the Academy grounds until absolutely necessary. So, I must have seemed like an angel to him.
Just as we were about to complete our deal, Professor James appeared next to us.
"Why are you two grinning as if you are cooking an evil plot?"
Mr. Walker flinched when he was caught red-handed.
"N-no? I was just signing Zain's application."
"Show it to me." Professor James snatched the application from his hand. "So, you are going for training and collecting credits?"
"Yes, the academy gives us credits for every monster core we bring from portals. I wanted to make up for my negative credits with that."
I was sweating buckets.
Professor James was the one who gave me the most negative credits. There was no way he would accept my excuse.
Suddenly, I heard him say something weird.
"Hmm, last week you were almost dying because you over-exhausted your body from training. And you want to train again just when you have recovered?"
No, professor, it was due to my quest. I wasn't dying because I over-trained.
There was no way I could say that.
"This isn't good. Who knows what you will do if we let you go unsupervised into the portals?" Professor James mumbled.
A chill crawled up my spine.
Don't tell me…
"Everyone, how about we take the first years for expeditions? It has been a long time since we did an outdoor training session." Professor James said loudly.
He muttered, "We can keep an eye on them in this way and make sure they stay safe."
All the professors in the staff room turned to him.
"That's a good idea."
"We can use this chance to train our students for the upcoming inter-academy competition."
"I'll finally get a holiday! Yes, let's go out!"
When everyone agreed, I turned to Mr. Walker.
I signaled, no, I begged him to disagree.
"Isn't it too sudden?" Mr. Walker tried to interfere. But Professor James used the secret weapon.
"If your class goes out, you will go with them as their homeroom teacher."
"Let's do it!"
That evening it was decided the first-years and second-years would be going on a three-week outdoor training session.
Each class would go to a different Portal Planet.
Our class' destination was Planet Palvos.
Professor James specially arranged for our class destination to be Planet Palvos because I was going there originally.
I was the reason everyone was going there, including Doll.
Shit...
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