The old man not believing that I’m a wizard was annoying, but I didn’t expect him to be this concerned about me.
“Why, why won’t you learn!”
“Sir, please let go of my hand. And I already showed you my account earlier. There’s simply no reason for me to learn.”
“With that talent, that ability! Why!!”
On my way home.
The old man’s presence clung to my ankle.
Indeed.
Literally, the old man was hanging onto my ankle.
“…People are watching. Sir, if you keep this up, I’ll really be in trouble.”
“Then will you learn magic?”
“Well, no.”
“…Why won’t you learn!”
The conversation circles back again.
The old man’s desperation and presence were so strong that people were only staring at me and completely ignoring Eve and Julia.
It has been known since ancient times that people are drawn to beautiful women, but it seems that it was hard for them to overlook the spectacle of an old man begging a young person.
And amidst this.
The ‘Great Wizard’ and ‘Confucian Scholar’ inside me were locked in a fierce battle.
‘How can I ask for learning from a wizard who uses a grenade launcher!’
‘…How can I ignore the elder who is asking for help as a young person!!’
I’m about to lose my mind.
Of course, it’s not like I had no way to escape this situation.
There were plenty of ways to drop Merlin.
I could use the power of the cyberware implants lodged in my muscles to forcibly drop him.
I could use magic to send the old man flying into the sky, or I could even ask Eve or Julia to take care of it for me.
However, I couldn’t just toss aside an old man who was begging like that.
No matter how long I’ve been living in this Cyberpunk world, I haven’t become that much of a scumbag.
In the end.
The answer I could give was already set.
“…Alright. I’ll learn, but—”
“Wow…! Good thinking!”
“I don’t think I’ll have time at the moment, so I’ll give you my personal number. Please contact me later.”
I decided to leave tomorrow’s matters to tomorrow’s me.
29. Outing of the Wizards (5)
When we first met, indifference.
After showing magic, obsession.
By the time we parted, smiles abound.
The old man, Merlin, who was like a storm, vanished just as he appeared.
However, because he kept turning back every three steps to wave at me, I had no choice but to wave back until he disappeared into the building.
Finally, with Merlin’s figure truly gone.
I exhaled a sigh and caught my breath.
“…Is that how he usually is?”
“……It’s the first time I’ve seen him like that too.”
Julia answered my question.
Maybe she was embarrassed by her master’s antics towards me. Julia was radiating an apologetic aura.
Thank goodness I sent a signal that I was okay when Merlin was crawling on the ground, clinging to my ankle.
Otherwise, she might have naturally pulled out a folding knife from her rabbit plushie.
The atmosphere was equally tense for Eve.
‘Should I take care of this?’
‘…….’
What exactly is there to take care of…
It was obvious what Eve meant by “take care of” regarding Merlin.
I cautiously guessed that if I hadn’t stopped him, Merlin might have turned into “Mer/Lin.”
Well, anyway.
The enjoyable “scaling time with Drake,” which was one of the biggest hurdles in my life, was over.
And I successfully wiped out the organization that had instigated Julia’s assault.
I could say this was the most rewarding outing I’ve had recently.
“Well then.”
Now all that was left was to return.
I casually looked around.
We were still in the middle-class area of “South Pilly.”
It wasn’t a likely spot for the organization that had instigated Julia’s attack, but since South Pilly is very close to Cloud Park, it is essentially classified as a lower-class area.
By the way, our home, the Golden Smile Condominium, is located in North Houston.
It’s basically directly opposite to Neon City.
In other words, it was incredibly far.
…Should I ask for a ride back to Drake’s workshop again?
No, Drake said he was going home early since he had no more scheduled guests.
Although Drake’s house was nearby, I didn’t want to disturb the peaceful time of a newlywed couple.
Should I call a taxi? Or maybe, because I’m a bit tired from Merlin, should I just kill some time at a café?
I thought briefly.
It was then that I noticed Julia staring blankly at something.
Julia, who always had a dead look in her eyes.
But now her gaze seemed a little brighter.
I turned my head to follow Julia’s gaze to see what she was so intently looking at.
“Oh.”
At the end of it was an “arcade.”
Naturally, my steps moved toward it as if drawn by an invisible string.
*
An arcade in the Cyberpunk world didn’t look much different from the arcade I remembered from my past life.
The only difference being that there weren’t any punch machines.
It was only natural, considering the likes of Catherine would break the machine every time they used it.
Arcade.
The last time I went was out of curiosity while I was a mercenary.
Recently, since a giant arcade facility was built on the third floor of the Golden Smile Condominium under the Chairman’s patronage, I’ve had even less interest in them.
Still, it looked just right for passing the time right now.
Julia was blankly staring around, mouth agape.
It might be because she was tightly hugging the rabbit plushie, but she looked every bit like a little kid.
If you ignore the fact that her true identity is a 28-year-old older sister and a wanted criminal registered in the NCPD database, it was actually quite heartwarming to see.
There were few shadows of people inside the arcade as well.
A few that looked like thugs were trying to approach Eve and Julia like moths to a flame, but.
“…Oh, look over there.”
“Hey, ladies—, ugh! My eyes!!”
Suddenly, due to a malfunction of the cyberware implant, they were carried out. Seriously, one should take care of their implant scaling, tsk tsk.
Then, I stopped in front of an arcade machine.
“Oh, this too.”
There was an old paper attached to the machine that read “IRON FIST – Ⅲ.”
After that, Eve sat down in the opposite chair.
【Get Ready For─】
With the familiar announcement, a new game started.
Eve, huh?
I stared at Eve blankly.
I expected Julia to play, but I didn’t foresee Eve sitting at the arcade machine first.
And naturally, sitting across from Eve was Julia.
“……Let’s see.”
“If Siwoon hadn’t been there, the outcome would have been different.”
She seemed to be talking about the time they participated in the fighting game tournament.
If I hadn’t interrupted here and there calling out Eve’s name, the one who would have held the championship trophy would have been Catherine or Eve.
…So I was subconsciously paying attention.
I pulled a chair to the middle.
To watch their match.
I figured Eve would win, but if I interrupted again, the outcome could be uncertain.
So, what should I do.
I pondered a bit as I watched the match unfold.
And.
I was overlooking how strong they were beyond my imagination.
“…….”
If I’d known they would break the arcade machine’s joystick, I would have warned them in advance.
*
In any case, I had a great time.
Playing retro games after a long time was indeed a different kind of fun.
Eve was also holding onto the cat plushie I jokingly gave her. I’m relieved that I wasn’t the only one having fun.
Julia seemed satisfied too.
“…Could you maybe take a picture with that?”
“Hmm?”
She still didn’t seem satisfied.
It seems a lot of people want to leave their traces even in the Cyberpunk world. Julia was pointing her finger at the “sticker photo machine.”
“…….”
Alright.
Well, a picture should be fine.
Even though the ‘I’ inside me was screaming, I didn’t want to break the warm atmosphere we had right now.
I felt like I had become one of the “cool kids”.
I didn’t show my awkwardness.
I pulled the curtain of the sticker photo machine with Eve and Julia and stepped inside.
Is it okay if I just stay expressionless?
I stared blankly at the camera lens.
Julia quietly approached me.
“…Thank you for today.”
“Thank you for what.”
I had just suggested we go get a ‘cyberware implant scaling’ together because I didn’t want to die alone.
By some twist of fate, we ended up wiping out an organization, and somehow we ended up playing in the arcade.
“…But for suggesting that to me, and for saying it’s okay even when your master was being rude, and for many other reasons…”
“Eh, why are you being so concerned about that?”
I waved my hand dismissively.
I wanted to pat her head.
【The photo will be taken in 3 seconds.】
The machine’s voice echoed.
I took off my mask for a moment.
Still, it’s courteous to take off the mask for a photo, right? I managed my expression to avoid looking weird.
【3, 2, 1. Click.】
The set countdown passed.
The camera’s flash burst.
– smooch.
At that moment.
I felt the sound of lips on my cheek.
That scene was probably captured in the photo.
My surprised face, Eve staring at me, and Julia jumping to kiss my cheek.
*
The next day.
A few housemates were gathered in front of Julia’s monitor.
““…….””
Because there was a small sticker photo on top of Julia’s monitor.
It’s a bit scary.
I slowly started to back away.
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