The Mob Noble Who Got Reincarnated in a World Where Men Are Naturally Protected—So I Trained Like Crazy to Protect Girls Instead, But Their Love Got Way Too Heavy - Chapter 20: Academy Rumors

Chapter 20: Academy Rumors

A week later, the prototype grappling hook was finally complete.

“We did it…”

“Yes, it’s finished.”

Wiz and I nodded at each other, basking in the satisfaction of success.

“…Tect, you’re insane.”

Meanwhile, Aegis was just staring at me like I’d turned into some kind of monster.

“Wait, how did you finish something that complicated in just one week? And only working a few hours after class? I thought it’d take weeks! Tect, you’re insane.”

“Hey, hey—if you put it that way, then Wiz finishing the assembly perfectly is just as insane.”

“…No, compared to you, Tect, I’m nothing. I only assembled it according to the blueprint.”

“Don’t just betray me like that out of nowhere, okay?”

Her calm, Buddha-like face as she casually threw me under the bus left me completely unsure what expression to make.

“A-Anyway! Today’s session is all about trying out this prototype grappling hook. Everyone, applause please!”

The group gave a half-hearted round of claps. Good enough. I was satisfied.

It was another after-school adventure, and we’d gathered once more in the same deserted lot in the lower town—the very spot where Wiz and I had messed around with chimera. A place where a little chaos wouldn’t get us in trouble.

That’s when Wiz spoke up.

“But we don’t have a golem’s core metal, right? How are you handling the claw at the end of the rope?”

“For the prototype, I came up with a simple little mechanism. Here.”

I pulled out ten arrowheads, each fitted with a special attachment.

“When the arrow hits a wall, the mechanism waits just a beat before the barbs pop open, locking it in place. Then, when you need to move on, you just cut the rope with a sword.”

“Kinda wasteful, though, considering you just built it.”

“They’re just arrowheads with a little gadget attached, and the rope’s nothing but plain wire for now. It’d be a pain to rely on this long-term, but as a temporary cost it’s not bad.”

Normally, I’d want rope with way more durability—but then cutting it free would be a nightmare.

In short, this was only ever meant to be a prototype.

“Alright, time to test it out.”

I couldn’t help grinning as I said it.

This was always the best part of inventing—messing around with the prototype, seeing the idea finally take shape.

Taking a few steps back, I raised the grappling hook launcher strapped to my left arm and aimed at a ruined wall.

Then I hit the switch and fired.

Psshunk!

The wire and claw shot out, embedding firmly into the stone. A beat later—clank!—the mechanism locked tight.

I hit the reel-in switch, and the pull was so strong it yanked me right off the ground.

“Whoooa—hey—ooof!”

My abs worked overtime as I twisted midair, barely managing to land against the wall without slamming face-first. But I couldn’t exactly move like this, so I eased down the winch speed.

And just like that, using the grappling hook, I clung to the wall about three meters above the ground.

“Woooow!”

Both girls clapped with sparkling eyes. Honestly, I loved how easily this world’s girls got swept up in the romance of cool gadgets.

“Not bad at all. The gear shift strength is working just as planned.”

“As expected of you, Tect! Seriously, that was amazing! You looked so cool!”

“Wow… seeing it in action makes me super jealous. Let me try it too!”

“Go for it!”

“Wait, shorty, are you seriously gonna try that?”

With a quick flick of the knife at my hip, I sliced through the wire. “And—yep!” I spun once midair and landed clean on the ground.

“…You just do these insane acrobatics like it’s nothing, don’t you, Tect.”

“He’s Tect, after all. Anyway, Tect! How do you attach it? Show me, show me!”

“Alright, so here’s how.”

I strapped the device onto Aegis’s arm and walked her through the controls. Fire with this. Reel in with that. Adjust strength with this one.

“Okay! Here I go! Hyaaaah!”

From Aegis’s arm, the wire and claw shot out, embedding high in the wall and locking in place.

“Then I just reel in with this—kyaaAAAAHHH!? Oof!!”

She was yanked at full throttle, smashing face-first into the wall.

“Whoa—Aegis, you okay!?”

I rushed over in a panic. Aegis dangled limply from the wall by her arm, eyes spinning like she’d just gone ten rounds against gravity itself.

“…T-Tect… t-this thing’s way too hard…”

“Seriously? I designed it to be as simple as possible though…”

I folded my arms and tilted my head. Wiz, meanwhile, was trying—and failing—to stifle her laughter as she watched Aegis dangling helplessly.

“Pffft… come on. A tool that demands circus-acrobat levels of skill? Nobody but you could possibly master that, Tect… pffft.”

“Ughhh! If you thought that, then say it before I tried, you gloomy girl!”

As Aegis shrieked, still swinging pathetically from the wall, Wiz just kept teasing her until I finally managed to pull her down.

In the end, it seemed I was the only one who could really handle the grappling hook.

“Fire.”

Psshunk! The claw shot out and reeled me in fast. I landed smoothly against the wall, then sliced the wire free with my knife.

Right away, I reloaded another claw onto the wire tip. “Fire!” I launched again mid-fall, swinging cleanly to another wall and sticking the landing without a hitch.

Aegis just gawked.

“Tect, you’re insane. Having tried it once myself, I get it now—you’re absolutely insane.”

“Yeah, seriously. Compared to shorty’s failed attempt, you’re doing stuff at, like, five times the difficulty, Tect. And cutting the wire in a single stroke like it’s nothing…”

“Eh, once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy.”

““No way it’s easy.””

“…Was the synchronized denial really necessary?”

I fired the hook diagonally toward the ground, letting the pull redirect my fall into a controlled roll, then reeled myself in to absorb the impact.

Ksshh! Dirt flew up in a cloud as I slid to a perfect landing.

“Tect, you’re way too cool…!”

“So that’s what a grappling hook looks like when someone actually masters it… crazy stylish.”

Wiz was blushing hard, biting her lip, while Aegis just stood there, completely dumbstruck.

“And with that, the prototype’s performance gets full marks. Big success!”

I gave myself a round of applause. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

“Now the only problem is… until my off-campus ban gets lifted, I’m stuck with nothing to do.”

“Ahh, Tect, don’t make that lonely face!”

“Yeah, you really are the type who always needs to be working on something. Like your main hobby is… work itself.”

If it hadn’t gone so perfectly, I could’ve killed time tinkering with improvements. But no—it worked shockingly well from the very start.

Why? I mean, it’s a grappling hook. A total fantasy-weapon that usually only shows up in games. Why did mine end up perfect on the first try?

As I was wondering that, Wiz nodded solemnly.

“I understand, Tect. I really do. It’s kind of sad when something finishes so easily. I wish we could’ve struggled with it longer.”

Her serious expression almost made me laugh. After a moment of thought, I smiled and said:

“Ohhh, I get it. It’s like—‘failure is fun,’ so success feels lonely instead.”

“Yes, exactly!”

We looked at each other and broke into quiet giggles.

And then Aegis spoke up.

“Wait… what? What’s with that creepy-sounding catchphrase…?”

When I glanced at her, her face was pale as a ghost—like the world was ending. Geez, no need to look that horrified.

“T-Tect… my Tect is getting stolen by that gloomy girl…! They even came up with some secret phrase only the two of them understand…!”

“N-No, Aegis, it’s not that big of a deal. Right, Wiz?”

“…Heh. That’s right, shorty. (lol)”

“Teeeeect!! The gloomy girl’s bullying meeee!!”

“Ah—”

Aegis suddenly threw herself at me, clinging tight. I could only give a wry smile and mutter, “Yeah, yeah, cheer up already,” while letting her press her face against my stomach.

“Tect…! Don’t throw me away…! Stay as my Tect…!”

“Grrr…! Same age as me, but she keeps using her shorty charm like it’s an advantage…!”

Apparently, Aegis was really shaken—no smugness this time, just full-on clinging and whining. Wiz, meanwhile, was grinding her teeth in frustration. These two sure knew how to keep things lively.

And then, still hugging me, Aegis spoke.

“So, Tect. What you need is… golem core metal, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Hmmm… about that…”

She finally let go, stepping back with a thoughtful look.

“What if I told you… there’s a chance we could get it right here, on campus? Would you believe me?”

““Eh!?””

Wiz and I blurted out in unison. What kind of bombshell was that?

Aegis began to explain.

“You two… don’t you know any of the academy rumors?”

“Nope.”

“Not at all.”

“You’ve never even heard from your friends?”

Wiz and I both averted our gazes in perfect sync.

“…Unbelievable, you two…”

“Blame the trashy guy in our class. He hogs all the girls except Wiz. Hard to make friends like that.”

“I-I don’t mind, though. As long as Tect’s around, I’m fine. And, well… I was never the type to make friends anyway…”

“…You gloomy loners.”

Wow. That was some brutal name-calling.

“Haah… fine. Since I actually do have friends, I’ll fill you in. This academy has all sorts of shady rumors floating around.”

Half like ghost stories, Aegis explained:

“For example: that the academy’s spiral staircase leads all the way down to hell. Or that the teachers’ wing has a hidden treasure sealed away inside its defense labyrinth.”

Hearing that, I couldn’t help feeling a surge of excitement.

I hadn’t explored the academy that much, but I still knew about the spiral staircase and the defense labyrinth.

The staircase was a massive vertical climb that went on and on—despite using it daily, I’d never once seen the very bottom.

And as for the teachers’ wing, it was rumored that part of it was literally a labyrinth, designed to keep students from sneaking in. Supposedly, even the teachers didn’t fully understand its structure.

“And here’s the rumor worth checking out this time: ‘At exactly 3 AM, the mirror in the History Building becomes a gateway to the royal family’s secrets. That gate is guarded by a golem, by royal decree.’”

Inside my chest, that itch for adventure started bubbling up.

A quick glance at Wiz showed she was the same—her face lit with an excitement she couldn’t hide.

Aegis grinned and said,

“I don’t really care about the so-called ‘royal secrets’… but we do have business with that golem, right? So how about we kill two birds with one stone—take down the golem and see if the rumor’s true?”

“I’m in.”

My immediate reply made Aegis smirk. Wiz also nodded eagerly, her head bobbing up and down like she couldn’t hold it back.

Sure, I doubted the rumor was completely real—but even if just the golem part turned out true, that’d be more than enough for me.

And if not? Well, it’d still be a fun adventure. Doing it together, all of us, had its own appeal.

Just then, I felt something—a presence slipping away. Someone had been here, holding their breath, and quietly left.

“…”

Well, it was the middle of town. Probably nothing worth worrying about, I told myself, and let it slide.

A little over ten minutes later.

News reached Narcis.

“…Oh? So they plan to sneak into the academy at midnight? And of all places, aiming for the so-called ‘royal secret’… Just how much do they really know, I wonder.”

The girls around him couldn’t read between the lines and only tilted their heads in confusion.

Noticing this, Narcis gave a casual shrug and smoothed it over with a flawless smile.

“Honestly, those three are such troublemakers. Sneaking around like that, especially while they’re still under a no-outings punishment.”

“Right? That’s why, um—I thought you’d be happy if I told you, Narcis!”

Eyes sparkling, one girl reported proudly. Narcis stroked her chin with a practiced touch and smiled.

“Well done. A good job. Of course, I could just rat them out to a teacher… but this time, I think I’ll have them do a little work for me instead.”

A low, amused chuckle slipped from Narcis’s lips. 

The girls at his side melted under his good mood, dreamy smiles spreading across their faces.