Chapter 85: Reward

「Something’s strange about him… His power is not normal.」

Elna-sensei was regarding Yolt who was calmly flexing his biceps, probably trying to emphasize his strength.

「You did something, didn’t you?」

「I guess the cat’s out of the bag. To put it simply, I took a potion that gave me superhuman strength and I’m wearing accessories that provide a similar effect.」

So he used tools and potions to temporarily surpass his limits. With that much power, I don’t even want to think about the possible repercussions.

「Did you arrange for those just for today?」

「That’s right. I used everything I owned to get them. Hah.」

Elna-sensei just heaved a deep sigh, lamenting at the fact that they’d do all this just to take a peep.

「I must say, it’s almost praiseworthy how you can do all that for something stupid.」

「Stupid? From a woman’s perspective, maybe it is…」

「I’m sure it’s still stupid from a man’s perspective. Right, Noir? You just can’t comprehend why they’re doing this, right?」

I was at a loss for words. I can understand why they were doing this. I was desperate at stopping them right now because I wanted to protect Emma, but if she wasn’t here, there was certainly a possibility that I would’ve joined them. And Yolt-kun seemed to see through me and asked.

「It’s every man’s dream, am I right, Noir? If Emma-san wasn’t here, you’d have joined us, right?」

「…Hmm.」

「Noir? You’re kidding, right? Why would you want to see something as insignificant as your classmate’s naked body?」

Uh, oh. You shouldn’t have said that, Sensei. Yolt was seething with rage, the most angry he’s been all day.

「Insignificant… you say? Well it’s not! We get excited because it’s our classmates’ naked bodies. Not prostitutes or strippers! Passion… you’ll only feel real passion from those near you! And those girls are the greatest object of our passion and desires! We’d even put our lives at stake if it’s to see them nake―gghuawhahuh!」

Zzzt. Bzzzt. I could feel the air creak. It showed just how much emotion and power I put into it. Elna-sensei seemed to have realized she misunderstood and apologized.

「I understand what you feel… no. It’s just, you know. Anyway, I’ll stop you from peeping.」

「Just be honest with yourself, Noir Stalgia. You want to see, right? There’s nothing wrong with that. Let’s go and take a peep! Five seconds… I’ll give you five seconds to get over here. One… two… three… four… five…….. You goddamn traitor!」

He’s lost it. He came charging at me, his drool flying about. Oh, god no. He was much more terrifying than some monster.

His punch grazed my cheek. Oh, crap. That was close. I’ll get knocked out cold for sure if I get hit by that.

Elna-sensei landed a powerful kick on his stomach, but he just staggered a bit.

「So your muscles got beefed-up, huh?

「That’s right, Sensei!」

Yolt-kun lunged at her and they switched to grappling. Unlike before, Elna-sensei was now in battle mode so she was evenly matched with Yolt. I was impressed by how she could fight him without any weapons.

And thanks to that, his back was wide open. Should I cut him with a blade? Nah, I can’t do that to a classmate. I gave him a straight hook to his spine.

「You have to do better than that. You think you can protect Emma like that?」

Yolt-kun flung Elna-sensei aside and grabbed me by the collar. His hands dug in to my neck and it was getting hard to breathe.

「Those with strong ambitions win. That’s how it’s always been. Am I right?」

「Ughh…」

I kicked his stomach with the tip of my toes but to no avail. I can’t believe this. I should be much higher-levelled than him. There was something more to his power than just the potions. Perhaps his desire to peep was much more powerful than my desire to stop them… That kinda pisses me off.

I tried to grant him a【Powerless】skill which required quite a lot of LP but I didn’t hesitate. Forget about saving LP.

「….Ah?」

Yolt-kun felt something unusual with his body. I grabbed both his hands and pried them off me.

「I’ll show you what I really feel!」

I slammed him down with a shoulder throw. He hit his back hard on the ground, his mouth gaping open and shut.

「This is how I really feel… I’m beat.」

I sat down, exhausted. We won.

「…haha. Hahaha.」

「Why are you laughing?」

「We win, Noir.」

Yolt was smiling even though he couldn’t move. I have a bad feeling about this.

「Now! Go, the plain and inconspicuous Speed Star, Kent!」

「What?」

A student who was lying face down quickly stood up. Kent bolted away, roaring with laughter.

「Bwahahahaha! I just pretended to get hit and lied down! I’ll inherit everyone’s wishes. Don’t worry guys, I’ll make a full report later~!」

「Ah, crap. Wait…!」

I mustered all the strength I had left to chase after him, but he already had a head start. Plus I wasn’t gaining on him either. It looked like he had some sort of a skill that made him run fast.

「I can see the steam! I’m coming, girls! I’ll take a gander of Emma-san’s melons, no matter what!」

「Like hell I’m gonna let you do that!」

I have to do something. I was going to grant him a【Sluggish】skill but I hesitated. He was a fast runner so it required a lot of LP to grant a skill that slowed him down. It was doable but I would be left with about 200 LP. I’ll die when it goes down to zero. And when it goes down below 300 I get really sick temporarily. I don’t care. I swear I’ll stop him.

「Take this!」

I succeeded in granting him the skill【Sluggish】. He slowed down and I gradually closed the distance between us. But he was already in danger territory. He was only a few steps away from entering the hot springs. I hope I make it in time. Come on!

「Emma-saaaaaan!」

「No, you dooooon’t!」

Splash.

We both plunged into the hot spring.

「Fwuah!」

I took my head out of the water and so did he though I quickly grabbed his head and dipped it back into the water.

「Emma! Everyone, get out of the water right now! It’s a peeping tom! I’ll hold him down while I keep my eyes closed.」

Hurry up. I’m not feeling well already. I can’t keep this up for long.

…There was no answer.

It wouldn’t be surprising to hear a scream by now. I opened my eyes slightly to a shocking scene.

No one’s in the water! What’s going on? While I was confused, I heard Emma’s voice from outside.

「Noir? What are you doing?」

「Emma… weren’t you supposed to be in the hot spring?」

「No, we haven’t gotten in yet. Elna-sensei ordered us to wait until she arrived.」

Ahh, so she already made a move beforehand. I was relieved to see the girls with their clothes still on.

「Thank goodness. I’m already at my limit…」

「Are you okay?!」

「My LP is kinda low.」

「That’s not good! Wait a sec.」

She went into the water, not caring that she was getting wet and carried me outside. She then did lots of things to replenish my LP. They were just the usual stuff we did, but it was quite embarrassing since everyone was watching.

Unfortunately, I was still not feeling well.

「Why isn’t it working? Did you not regain LP?」

「No… We already hugged and kissed this morning.」

Once we did that, we had to wait until the next day for it to work. Maybe because things had to be fresh or something.

「Haa… haa… I’m all right. I feel a little bit better now.」

I was lying, of course. Truth be told, I felt awful. My head was throbbing and my body felt heavy and sluggish.

「You’re lying. You’re in pain for sure. Help me in soothing Noir, girls!」

Emma called for the girls and they willingly lent a hand. They must’ve realized that I fought hard to stop the guys from peeping on them. One by one, they hugged me and my LP got replenished right away. I was feeling a lot better now; it was hard to believe I was out of sorts just moments ago.

It was then that Elna-sensei came rushing over.

「I see you followed my orders. I’m glad you didn’t fall to the evil clutches of the boys.」

「Telling them to stand by was a nice decision.」

「You did a great job yourself, Noir. Thanks to you, we crushed these guys’ ambitions.」

Sensei grabbed Kent’s nape who was pretending to be dead in the water and dragged him out.

「I’m going back to the inn to give the boys a good talking-to. You may get in the water now, girls.」

And so I was about to head out to follow Elna-sensei but for some reason she handed me two towels.

「You’re exhausted, aren’t you? Get in the water too. I’ll talk to the hostess.」

「Uh, what?」

What on earth was she saying?

「You fought hard for the girls. You can have this as your reward. But, you’re to wrap those towels around your waist and eyes.」

Oh, so the other one was to blindfold me. Still, even if she allowed it doesn’t mean the girls would.

「He’ll be blindfolded. You’re all okay with that, right?」

「Yep! No problem.」

For real?! Actually it even felt like they were enjoying the idea of a harmless guy joining them.

「Hey, Emma. Is this really all right?」

「If you just cover your eyes completely, then yes. You gave it your all to keep those peeping toms away, didn’t you? We’re all thankful so just accept the gratitude. Get ready, quick.」

「You have to cover your eyes properly, okay, Noir-kun?」

「……I will.」

They were half teasing me as I got ready.

—That day, my total LP went a little over 10,000.