In the end, Ottbo was dragged all the way to the teahouse where Pasmo Ti-e was.

He looked rather tired, but after taking a sip of tea, his face seemed to regain some composure.

“Ugh… I’m tired…”

“Is it true that you found the magic stone bomb?”

Of course, to Luca right now, Ottbo being tired was of no importance. What mattered was whether it was true that the magic stone bomb had been found.

“Yeah. I think I found it.”

“… Are you not certain?”

Luca’s expression grew flat at Ottbo’s uncertain words. In response, Ottbo spoke hastily.

“I can’t distinguish devil’s magic. But you can, right Luca?”

“… Probably.”

“Then let’s go! I’ve already pinpointed the location.”

As Ottbo said that, he quickly sipped his tea, almost dropping the teacup with an “Ah, hot!”

Watching him, Luca clicked his tongue.

“I’ll wait until you finish your tea at least. In the meantime, explain it to me.”

“E-explain?”

“How you found the magic stone bomb.”

Ottbo, with a face twisted as if he’d burned his tongue, cleared his throat with a ‘Khm.’

“Um… Well, I found the location of the magic stone bomb indirectly.”

“… Indirectly?”

The word ‘indirectly’ made Luca show a subtle expression.

– If you search for the magic stone bomb’s location indirectly, you’ll naturally find the culprit in the process, too.

That was exactly what he’d heard last night. Ottbo was echoing something Herote had said.

“Magic stone bombs cause mana interference around them due to their characteristic mana instability. So I went to all the places in the Academy where people gather and checked for mana interference.”

“…”

Luca’s face was uncertain at his words, as if he hadn’t understood. Noticing this, Ottbo grew a bit flustered and said cautiously:

“Um… Can I explain?”

“… Go ahead.”

Ottbo put effort into his explanation.

“Back in the day, magic stone bombs were just magic stones inscribed with explosive spells and thrown, but they were too easy to deal with, and the efficiency of the magic stones was terrible. These days, the modern magic stone bomb uses an application of drive magic to make the internal mana run wild and induce a mana explosion. With this, you can achieve enough destructive power even with weak magic stones, and it can’t be canceled with a dispel or other magic-canceling spells. It’s similar to when I blew up the armored soldier’s core during practice! But doing this means you have to sacrifice the mana stability, which is the main advantage of magic stones. So they put in some kind of safety device feeling…”

At times like this, Ottbo’s explanations were non-stop, almost like rapping. Watching Ottbo explain at length, Luca remained expressionless, and finally spoke.

“So, to summarize: because of how they’re made, magic stone bombs inevitably cause mana interference, right?”

“Yeah!”

“… Next time, please just summarize it from the start.”

Luca basically knew what a magic stone bomb was, but hearing about it in such detail just left him unimpressed.

‘This guy, he’s like a man possessed when it comes to drive magic.’

Luca clicked his tongue and looked at the proud-faced Ottbo.

“But what if devil’s magic conceals that mana interference?”

“Mana interference disturbs the flow of mana in nature. If devil’s magic tries to cover it up, it’ll only cause greater disturbances.”

Ottbo scratched his cheek.

“I’ve already found a suspicious place, so we can check it out and see for ourselves, right? If it’s not there, I’ve also found a clue on the airship, so we can follow that! I found the hint thanks to the info Milia gave me!”

Luca didn’t entirely understand all his words, but could tell Ottbo had done something impressive.

‘It’s amazing enough that this guy thought the same way as Herote.’

Luca, rather impressed on the inside, didn’t want to praise him openly, so he let out a modest exclamation.

“Heh. You sure put in the effort running around.”

At Luca’s praise, Ottbo gave an awkward smile.

“I couldn’t just laze around when you were working so hard, sick as you were, Luca.”

“?”

“Weren’t you out and about last night too? It didn’t seem like you went to the infirmary…”

Ottbo tilted his head in confusion. Luca paused, then chuckled softly.

“Your observation’s improved.”

“Huh, huh?”

“But Ottbo, unfortunately, there’s no need to find the magic stone bomb right now.”

At Luca’s words, Ottbo blinked.

“Why?”

“Their goal isn’t to watch me find the magic stone bomb.”

Luca’s eyes turned cold as he spoke.

“As soon as I find the magic stone bomb, their objective is to set it off and frame me as a terrorist.”

“…!”

The reason for preparing such a grand prank as a warning letter was obvious.

They’d watch him run around looking for it, get a good laugh, and set it off at the final moment.

That was the sender’s intention.

“Few things are as distasteful as such bad taste.”

“B-but why…?”

Ottbo’s face was blank, clearly not understanding. Luca spoke flatly.

“Who knows. The only thing that comes to mind is someone trying to avenge the late Martin Curves.”

“Martin… Ah…”

“The hint was probably only half-complete as well. What they most want is for me to use Martin Curves’ demonic eye to track devil’s magic.”

Of course, Luca didn’t know how to use the demonic eye. But the warning letter had implied, ‘You might find it if you use the demonic eye…?’ mischievously, clearly attempting to lure him into trying it.

“Did they think I was a naive first-year? Or perhaps just Milia’s dog. Maybe they even think it was Isella, not me, who killed Martin Curves.”

Luca sneered.

“Pathetic. If that was the extent of their scheming, it hardly deserves mention.”

“…”

Ottbo swallowed with a gulp at the sight.

‘Sometimes I seriously doubt we’re both first-years…’

Moments like this made Ottbo sense a distance between them. But he shook his head vigorously to dispel that thought.

‘Still, we’re friends! I have to accept even that side!’

Whether he knew what Ottbo was thinking or not, Luca smirked for a moment, then spoke.

“So, I’ve come up with a plan to lure them out.”

“A plan to lure them?”

At the mention of a plan, Ottbo grew a little excited.

“That’s right. First, let’s go enjoy the festival.”

“… Huh?”

First, they needed to enjoy the festival.

* * *

Sshhk. Sshhk.

A long table, large enough for more than a dozen people to sit. At the head sat a boy with purple eyes. Before him was an array of luxurious dishes.

The boy sliced his steak and put it in his mouth, smiling serenely. Next to him appeared a rugged-looking man: Donovan.

“My Lord! A report has come in from the Watchers about Luca Traverse!”

At Donovan’s announcement, the boy burst into laughter.

“Haha, they say he’s looking hard for the bomb, isn’t he?”

“Um…”

Donovan began to sweat nervously.

“Luca Traverse is… doing a street vendor tour around the festival.”

“…?”

The boy paused for a moment, then subtly turned to look at Donovan. Donovan simply lowered his head and trembled.

“That’s it?”

“W-we’re trying to find out exactly what he’s doing, but… that maid keeps interfering, so it’s not easy.”

“…”

The boy stared hard at Donovan’s head, then stabbed at it with his fork.

Thunk!

“Aaaargh!”

Donovan screamed and collapsed forward.

“Is that all?”

“Uuuh… th-the thing is…”

“Donovan. I came here because I wanted to see something fun, not to listen to such tedious nonsense.”

With that, the boy wiped his lips with a napkin and stood up. His mysterious purple eyes shone coldly.

“What is Luca Traverse doing?”

“A-as far as we can tell, because of what happened yesterday, Milia Fille told him to give up on the terrorist issue. Milia Fille is also currently at the Arcane Science Department!”

“Yesterday?”

The boy tilted his head at Donovan’s reply, then seemed to realize something and sighed.

“Oh—Herote Marcato?”

“Y-yes! Instead of the regular teacher we expected to stop the airship, she suddenly appeared instead…”

“Hmm… that’s right. After that, Milia Fille did act differently.”

The boy nodded, seeming satisfied, then clicked his tongue.

“Annoying woman. She should just hole up in her lab as usual.”

“Well… because of her, our airship hint was quietly buried, and there’s no way for Luca Traverse to find the magic stone bomb now. What should we do?”

“Hmm…”

The boy pondered for a moment at Donovan’s question, then smiled delightfully.

“Alright. Why don’t we toy with him a little more, then?”

“E…eh?”

Donovan looked blank for a moment, not understanding, while the boy reached for his staff and turned.

“Let’s go, Donovan. To where Luca Traverse is.”

“M-My Lord! Wait for me!”

Donovan hurriedly pulled out a mask from somewhere, covered his face, and followed after the boy.

* * *

“This is actually pretty good.”

Luca munched on a sparkling snack and expressed his admiration. At his side, Ottbo was nervously glancing around.

“L-Luca.”

“This one’s not bad, either.”

Ottbo cautiously called to Luca, but Luca simply took a bite of a skewer made from crustacean meat, looking quite satisfied.

“L-Luuuca…”

“Ottbo, you try some, too.”

“D-do you think it’s okay for us to just stand around eating like this?”

Though Luca casually offered food, Ottbo looked uncertain about what to do.

Luca pouted his lips and glanced somewhere as he spoke.

“Ottbo, isn’t that something you’re good at?”

—Mini Armored Soldier Control Competition—

It was a small booth where you controlled a toy armored soldier made by the Arcane Science Department to battle.

“…”

Ottbo’s steps unconsciously headed that way.

“Go, mini Livik!”

Thunk!

“W-what the? Does our armored soldier toy have that much power?”

Before long, Ottbo had even named his toy armored soldier and was demolishing the competition. After a while, he snapped back to his senses and slumped in defeat.

“Tang it… I didn’t even realize what I was doing…”

“You really become a different person as soon as drive magic comes into play.”

“This isn’t drive magic… I mean, never mind.”

As if about to explain something, Ottbo quickly regained his composure and shook his head. Luca chuckled but then looked puzzled as something bumped into him.

Tap!

“?”

“Hey! Who just bumped into me?”

“Was it you, pretty boy?”

A handful of stereotypical delinquent-looking upperclassmen glared at Luca. Luca said admiringly:

“I’ve never actually met someone who uses the phrase ‘pretty boy’ before.”

“What the hell are you saying?!”

“You bump into someone and don’t even apologize?”

Luca’s words made the mood even more menacing.

Ottbo, caught in the middle, shook with fear, and seeing that, Luca faced the bullies head-on with a faint smile.

“I was standing still, so if someone bumped into me, whose fault is it really?”

“What? A first-year talking back?”

“That’s it, you’re coming with us!”

The bullies tried to drag them away by force. Ottbo panicked.

“L-Luca, let’s just apologize and get it over with!”

“But why should I apologize when I haven’t done anything wrong?”

“Those guys are third-years! And you’re hurt!”

Admittedly, even for Luca, it was impossible to beat up a group of third-years in this situation.

But he remained calm.

“Don’t be flustered by such an obvious farce. They’ll be here any moment.”

Luca remembered a similar experience from before.

It had happened before. Bullies appearing as if on cue, almost absurdly staged.

He’d wondered, ‘Could this really be happening?’ at first, but now he knew.

This was just an event to set up someone’s appearance.

“Who’s coming…?”

Luca paid no real attention to Ottbo’s hesitant words and instead looked toward the person approaching them.

“A minor supporting character.”

“Hey! What are you doing over there?!”

The student supervisor, Kirius Blavon, was coming toward them.

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

A nuisance…

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep