Chapter 39.2

MC POV

I had figured out the trick of the pencil case thief, but I didn't tell Jihye because it would be best for her to never find out about the existence of the hidden camera.

It had really fluttered about like a living bird, to the extent that it was almost indistinguishable from the real thing if one were just to look at its shadow.

However, its white, thin, angular appearance indicated that it was certainly not a living creature.

And if it had no life, it had to be an artefact.

Since it was out to steal things, it was probably the tool of some malicious criminal.

It had to be a branch of magic I did know about yet.

Waking up from a mostly sleepless night thinking about all the possibilities, I went to school.

Eventually, with all my classes finally over for the day, I visited my club room to work out the identity of the thief and the tool used if possible.

The Magic Club—

The entire club room was a huge library.

The bookshelves that filled the room were densely packed with books on magic. Members, who were at the tables placed in the corners of the room or between the bookshelves, read and studied quietly.

I had heard that Jihye's Sorcery Club gave homework to newcomers to study some basic witchcraft materials.

But here, everything was left up to you.

There were no assignments or a curriculum.

You could freely choose the field you wanted to explore, and you could come and study whenever you wished.

I liked this free and open system.

It was nice to be able to learn the magic I wanted to study to my heart's content.

The downside of this system was that there was very little exchange between the members of the club, but you could always build a network by asking questions to seniors and studying together.

"Weren't you talking about something like this? The Food Soul- a branch of puppeteering magic. The cover of the book looks like the 'paper bird' that you are talking about."

"Oh, that's right. Thanks for that."

When I received the thick book from Esna and thanked her, her facial expression morphed into that of a triumphant smile.

She, with her distinct grey hair, was a freshman who at the beginning of the semester, was curtly told by the attributes professor to build connections and not to ever think about becoming strong.

Because she was the daughter of an imperial subject, I had met her by chance at the magic research club, and she happened to be living in the same commoner dormitory as me.

Esna was passionate about magic.

Ever since she was a child, she had been obsessed with studying magic, or so she said.

Gods were too heartless to not have given attributes to such a child.

Esna was the exact opposite of me.

I was lacking in theory, but my attributes and magic aptitude were excellent.

On the other hand, she had solid knowledge, but her magical skills were poor.

Nevertheless, seeing that she had joined this club, it appeared that she was determined to ignore the professor's advice.

Even so, one could tell the attitude towards her own position by the way she had placed importance on making personal connections by talking to me and trying to be friendly with me.

She often came to my aid even when I didn't need it so I tried to keep a little room between us until a found a use for her.

"Ahem. Don't forget this favour!"

I started going back to her dormitory after borrowing the books Esna had found.

For now, the hypothesis that it was a shikigami capable of remote control was my greatest bet.

It could be said that food souls were convenient tools that were able to become the eyes, ears, and hands of wizards.

This was witchcraft.

So, had someone in the witchcraft club played a trick on Ji-hye?

In that club, I only knew of Jamie, the president, besides wisdom.

But he did look bored enough to do something like this.

Then why was her pencil case stolen?

Was it because it was a property of Jihye's?

Or was it really just for its rarity and monetary value?

Of course, the president of the club could not be concluded as the culprit without further investigation.

The culprit could have been a member I didn't know of, or a magician unrelated to the club altogether.

Anyway, this was a type of witchcraft.

In this other world, witchcraft was a branch of magic, so could I learn witchcraft too?

So far, I had succeeded in learning all kinds of basic magic, such as fire, water, and light magic.

This was thanks to the innate talent of my attribute.

Since that was the case, it was probably the case that learning witchcraft was also possible.

"·······!!!!"

I quickly turned around and stretched out my arms to grab the air.

There should have been nothing there, but I had caught something thin and transparent in my hand.

I went cold.

My underwear became damp with a cold sweat.

It was the first time since being summoned that I was left so embarrassed and surprised.

Sudden incidents would always come so unexpectedly.

While I had been walking in an alley with very few people in it, late in the evening, in a moment—

*Be-Beat*

The moment my heartbeat had started to pulsate erratically, my attributes, which were usually as calm as a lake, were stirred without warning.

I had reflexively checked up on my state, and as soon as I realized my wallet was missing from my trouser pocket, I threw my arm in the direction my attribute indicated towards.

I was nervous.

What should I have done?

Should I have let go and run away there and then?

I instinctively caught whatever it was that took my wallet, but now that I thought about it, this pickpocket was suspected of being an idiotic archmage.

Could I fight him as I was?

Could I beat the archmage if I fought him?

Could I even run away in the first place?

Suppressing the confusion in my head that was spinning faster than it had ever been, I hastily gathered elemental mana in both my eyes and my other hand so that I could counterattack at any time.

"Uh... Did I get caught?"

A beautiful voice filled with laughter made my hands almost loosen up for a moment.

The empty space where there had been nothing previously gradually became opaque.

The space in front of me gradually began to be coloured white and sky blue.

It appeared that what I was holding right now was this bastard, no, this bitch's arm.

The outline of her figure gradually revealed itself.

She had slender arms, light blue hair, eyes like that of a cloudy summer sky, bright red lips, fair skin, breasts like that of a volleyball, and…pink nipples?!

"!!!!"

Holy crap, this bitch was naked!

How many times had I been surprised today?

I came to a realisation about this archmage when I thought about the fact that they pickpocketed unnecessarily.

And as expected, there was no way that this individual's mind did not have a screw loose.

So she was a kleptomaniac and an exhibitionist too?

It appeared that she was fairly confident in her invisibility magic.

Now, there was a woman grinning at me who was frozen in shock.

Regarding her outward appearance, she was extremely beautiful.

She could even be compared to the likes of Hyerin.

Even if one were to say something absurd like this person was the incarnation of a goddess, I would just nod my head and accept the statement.

"You found me♡"

She then randomly hugged me.

I had yanked her by the arm that was gripped by me, so she lost balance, so there was no other option but to allow her to fall into my arms.

My body trembled at the strange feelings evoked by her chest being crushed against mine.

*Haljjak-*

Her tongue rolled out of her mouth and she took one long lick of me, starting from my collarbone, down my neck, and then up to my chin.

"Well, see you later?"

Immediately after having said that, her body 'melted'.

Just as soft ice cream would melt in the hot sun, her body collapsed on the ground in the form of liquid and disappeared without a trace as if it had soaked into the ground.

"·······."

In the alley, I was left alone once again.

In the place where she had disappeared, along with my wallet, there were some thin, flat, sky-blue stones that were shining brightly, reflecting the light of the street lamp in all directions around me.

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