Chapter 268: Suspicious Person!
Luke and Touka chatted while walking toward the student council.
Before long, the two of them arrived at the student council office.
When they pushed open the door and entered, what appeared before Luke was Misogi Utakata, who had his back to the door and was absorbed in a game.
"Utakata, are you the only one here? Where is everyone else?"
Touka, who had entered before Luke, walked straight over to Misogi Utakata's side, snatched the controller from his hands, and asked.
"Whoa! What the heck? So it was Touka. You scared me to death."
"Kanata's match is after yours. Tomaru and Saijou went to watch."
"And hurry up and give me back the controller!"
"No! You're only allowed to play games for one hour a day, and you've definitely gone over the limit today!"
After receiving the explanation, Touka rejected Misogi Utakata's demand without the slightest hesitation.
"And Luke-kun has already arrived. You're even less allowed to play games when we have a guest."
While Touka and Utakata were arguing, Luke observed the student council office.
The entire room was very neatly arranged. He did not know if it was because they knew someone was coming and had cleaned it in advance.
The tidy interior, paired with the orderly office supplies, gave a pretty good first impression.
Touka did not make him wait for too long. Very quickly, she "suppressed" Misogi Utakata.
After putting away the game console, she turned around and invited the boy to sit down.
"The main reason I specially called Luke-kun over this time is because of a request from the director."
"Before the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival every year, Hagun Academy holds an intensive training camp for its representative contestants."
"And the location of that training camp is the training center in Okutama."
After Touka brewed three cups of tea at a nearby table, she carried the tray and sat across from him.
She handed two of the cups of tea to Luke and Utakata respectively, then continued,
"However, recently, someone spotted a suspicious person near Okutama."
"The teachers are currently extremely busy because of the selection matches, so the director entrusted the investigation of this matter to our student council."
"But the investigation range includes the training center used for the camp, as well as the large forest and mountain areas around it. After all, we have to ensure the safety of the representative contestants."
"With such a large area, if we rely only on the five members of our student council, searching through it will probably take quite a lot of time."
"And Kanata and I still have to participate in the selection matches. On top of that, the student council's work can't be halted for too long."
At this point, Touka looked at Luke somewhat apologetically.
"Considering the possibility of fighting the suspicious person, I hope Luke-kun can help us."
"At the same time, we are also preparing to ask Kurogane-kun and Vermillion-san for help."
"But all of you are Shizuku-san's family and friends. Since she is injured right now, I feel too embarrassed to call all of you over, so I only called you first."
After listening to Touka describe the entire cause and sequence of events, Luke first nodded to show that he understood, then asked,
"I understand the situation, but is there any more detailed information about this so-called suspicious person?"
"Misogi-senpai briefly mentioned this matter to me before. At that time, he said it wasn't suitable for outsiders to overhear."
"I'm guessing the reason lies in the identity of this 'suspicious person,' right?"
"Oh my, as expected of you. You're quite sharp."
The one who answered him was Misogi Utakata, who had just recovered from the loss of his game console.
"Judging from the witness description, the suspicious person seems to be a giant over four meters tall!"
"Huh? Giants actually exist in this world?"
Hearing Misogi Utakata's answer, even Luke could not help asking in surprise.
Speaking of giants, he had seen them with his own eyes before.
Back in the dungeon world, Luke had not only seen large monsters several meters tall—he had cut down so many that he had nearly lost count.
But after coming to the world of Chivalry of a Failed Knight, this was the first time he had heard of the existence of "monsters."
Could it be the kind of "magical beast" that often appeared in fantasy novels?
Although magic power existed in this world, surely even magical beasts did not exist too, right?
Just as Luke's imagination began running wild, Touka took over and continued explaining to him.
"Mm… We truly can't rule out the possibility that it really is a giant."
"Although they are very rare, there are still some similar individual cases in the world."
Magic power was the power of fate in this world. Its quantity represented how much influence one could exert on the world.
However, humans were not the only living beings capable of influencing the world.
Although far lower than humans, there had been quite a few cases around the world of special individual animals carrying magic power and using Noble Arts.
At present, the mainstream theories of this world mostly believed that those companions who went to battle alongside heroes in ancient times, or the spiritual beasts, divine beasts, and similar beings who left behind myths and legends, might all have been animals possessing magic power.
"In other words, it's possible that some kind of humanoid animal gained an ability related to gigantification?"
A trace of amazement appeared on Luke's face.
He truly had not expected this world to have such an interesting setting.
One had to know that if martial arts were not counted, most animals were actually better suited for combat than humans.
And whether they, who possessed innate advantages, would undergo a qualitative change after obtaining magic power was something no one could say for certain.
If those ancient legends really were animals with magic power, then the existence of these "monsters" could not be underestimated.
"Compared to humans, animals dislike individuals who differ from the group even more. Once such an abnormal individual appears, they are basically driven out of the group."
"Logically speaking, it does make sense. It can be considered one of the directions we are thinking in… but…"
Touka's hesitant appearance made Luke return from his curiosity.
After calming down and thinking for a moment, Luke understood what she was thinking.
"I see. As expected, the possibility of it being a human Blazer is still greater…"
The trace of disappointment in his tone made Touka, who was sitting across from him, feel somewhat awkward.
After all, the probability of a special individual animal appearing was extremely low. Generally speaking, it would not be used as a reference direction at all.
If the witness this time had not insisted that the giant they saw was absolutely not human, Touka probably would not have thought in that direction either.
"Personally, I think it should be a Blazer with a gigantification-type or armament-type ability, or perhaps some kind of long-distance manipulation ability…"
"In, in short, this is the information we currently have. If possible, I hope we can receive your help, Luke-kun."
"Mm, of course I'm willing to assist the student council. I also said this to Misogi-senpai before—if there's anything I can help with, I definitely won't refuse."
Luke smiled and nodded, agreeing to her request.
However, what he was thinking in his heart at this moment was something else.
"Okutama, the student council, a giant…"
Although there were some differences from the original plot, he could basically confirm that this was the same incident.
However, what he needed to pay attention to was that in the original work, this incident had been designed by the Kurogane family to cause trouble for Ikki.
Now, Ikki had not yet decided to go to Okutama, so what was the cause behind the changes in the incident?
No matter what, in the end, Luke still decided to go and take a look.
Even if nothing major happened, he could also use this chance to spar with Touka.
(PS: Vote for more chapters this week. If this fanfic reaches 100 powerstones, I will upload 5 more chapters next. So, hurry up!)
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