Buying Magic Stones

I moved the front desk and chairs slightly back to make room for the experiment. Because of this, even the students who were glaring at their textbooks raised their heads to pay attention.

"What's going on?"

Voices asking that question could be heard here and there.

Ninomiya, with a determined look on his face, was standing about three meters in front of me. It seemed he was planning to charge at me with a body slam.

"This is an experiment to test the effects of 'Push'. Don't come at me too hard."

"I get it."

Ninomiya smirked and began stretching. This guy definitely planned to come at me full force. I thought about countering with a Triple Push, but that might cause serious injury.

Ninomiya crossed his arms in front of his face and charged at me. I activated the 'Push' spell, not from the front, but from the side.

Just before Ninomiya could hit me, his path was altered by a D-particle plate, causing him to tumble and roll to the floor. He passed by me and fell onto the classroom floor. I sighed.

"I told you not to come at me full force."

Ninomiya glared at me as he got up.

"That's not fair. You hit me from the side, you didn't say you'd do that."

I retorted to his selfish complaint.

"You didn't say you'd come at me full force either."

Having been talked back to, Ninomiya glared at me with an annoyed look before hiding behind the other students who were watching.

"Sensei, may I try too?"

Alisa raised her hand. When I gave permission, Alisa crossed her arms in front of her face like Ninomiya and ran towards me. I struck her head-on with a D-particle plate.

The impact stopped Alisa, and she staggered back two or three steps.

"How is it? Did you understand the power of 'Push'?"

Alisa nodded with a surprised look on her face.

"Yes, thank you."

"See? Now you understand that 'Push' can be useful even in dungeons."

When I said that, one of the male students spoke up.

"But it's kind of lame."

Laughter spread throughout the classroom at those words.

I felt like giving him a Triple Push as well. But I stopped. Doing that would cause trouble for Principal Kiryuuin.

"Well, considering your magical talent, whether or not you learn 'Push' is up to you. But for those who do learn it, I'll teach you its advanced applications."

"Teach us now."

The student who had called it lame complained.

"I'm talking about advanced applications of 'Push'. It's pointless for those who don't intend to learn practical magic."

After finishing the lesson, I went to the staff room.

"Grimm, come here for a moment."

Unluckily, I got caught by Gojou. I suppressed the urge to click my tongue and approached him.

"You know there's a dungeon drill in five days, right? Instructor Kaizuka, who teaches attack magic, had to go to Mizuki Dungeon suddenly. You're going to take his place."

"You mean I have to accompany the students into the dungeon?"

"Yes. We're short-handed. Instructor Mochizuki will be guiding the students, so you just need to follow along without getting in the way."

"Understood."

I was handed the schedule for the dungeon drill and read it. I was to accompany the first-year team of Amane, Alisa, Yukari, Ninomiya, and Kishi to the third layer of the Cliff Dungeon.

The Cliff Dungeon is also an introductory dungeon. There shouldn't be any problems going as far as the third layer.

After finishing my second lesson, I left the academy and headed to the adventurer's guild.

The adventurer's guild is located on the first floor of an ordinary building. It's not a rough place like those seen in fantasy, but rather it has the atmosphere of a hospital waiting room.

I took a number and waited. When my number was called, I went to the reception counter. Behind the counter was a male employee in his thirties.

"Are you here to sell?"

"Yes, I'd like to sell these."

I placed the magic stones on the counter.

"Oh, you even have a red magic stone. You worked hard."

"Yes, it was tough."

"Please show me your adventurer card."

I handed over my G-rank adventurer card and placed it on the counter.

The back of the adventurer card has spaces for stamps. One stamp was placed there. In a world where computers can't be used, this stamp culture has made a comeback.

This stamp is given when you bring in a certain amount of magic stones. It serves as proof of an adventurer's achievements. When the stamp spaces are filled, you can take the test to move up to the next rank. The elderly say it's like the early days of the Heisei era when similar stamp cards existed.

The staff took the magic stones to the back for assessment. When he returned, he had a cash-filled envelope with him. The assessment amount was written on the envelope.

"This is the amount. If you have no objections, please sign here."

The envelope contained 524,000 yen. My hands trembled a bit. This was the first large sum of money I had ever earned. I quickly signed and left the adventurer's guild.

Most of this money came from the red magic stone left by the dungeon boss. It seems a large red magic stone has that much value.

I headed straight to the armor shop. If I was going to accompany the students into the dungeon, I needed proper armor. I had ventured without armor during the three-day weekend, but showing up in casual clothes in front of the students would likely damage my credibility.

The armor shop had chain mail, leather armor, scale armor, greaves, and gauntlets lined up.

"Welcome."

"Could you show me the leather armor, greaves, and gauntlets?"

"For leather armor, the set series is popular."

Blue lizard leather, orc leather, and ogre leather are popular. However, since my budget is up to 400,000 yen, ogre leather is out of the question.

Blue lizard leather costs 260,000 yen, and orc leather costs 410,000 yen. After some hesitation, I decided on the orc leather. It's a set of leather armor, greaves, and gauntlets made from orc leather.