Mistaken for a Masked Monster - Chapter 21

WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 21: The One Who Collects Misunderstandings

──────

The assistant instructor's vacant voice rang out.

《...The test is over. The winner is Viktor.》

The examination hall fell silent in an instant.

The crackle of flames died away, and even the intense heat faded from the stage.

Two shadows shimmered in the empty space.

A red-haired girl, slumped helplessly.

And the clown standing calmly before her.

“Hehe.”

The mask chuckled softly.

It was a sticky, mocking sound, as if to humble someone's lofty pride.

“Urgh, ngh...”

Shariel looked up at the clown.

Her hair was drenched in sweat, and her ruined twin tails only made her look more pitiful.

“...”

The audience watched.

They watched as her bravado was scorched, shattered, and driven to the brink.

-There's no way Shariel lost, right?

-Why are you even asking something so obvious?

Those who had spoken so lightly before now kept their mouths shut.

The entire audience lost its voice.

Yet even amid that vast silence, the boy's presence was deafening.

Everyone's gaze gathered on him.

It was simple.

The strong stood above.

The weak remained below.

“Ugh, haa...”

Shariel's breath trembled.

This entire situation felt like a nightmare.

Her sharp pride had broken, leaving her looking pathetic.

The trauma buried deep in her heart began to crawl to the surface.

-What... did she really lose? The top student of Class C lost to some Class E nobody?

-Is this for real? They're not even one class apart, they're two classes apart!

-And Viktor? Didn't they say his overall stats were E-rank?

-This is ridiculous. How could she possibly lose?

Voices.

Their voices stabbed at Shariel's ears.

-Viktor, was it? Is that guy really in Class E? He seemed pretty good...

-No... fuck, but does it make sense for the top student of Class C to lose to Class E?

-So what? She couldn't do anything against him.

-She couldn't land a single attack, could she? She couldn't even leave a scratch on him.

-Balloons... pfft. With all that pride in her magic, she couldn't even pop a single balloon.

They laughed.

She had become the target of their laughter, and their stares burned.

The sticky whispers kept stealing her breath.

It felt as though she had been forced to kneel before the gallows.

“Haa, haa...”

I... lost?

Even Shariel found it hard to believe.

No, perhaps she simply didn't want to believe it.

'That's impossible.'

A hollow breath escaped her.

Color drained from her face.

'This can't be happening.'

A genius of flame magic.

The top student of Grandia Academy's Class C.

The prodigy of Count Labriell's family.

'How could this...'

Everything she had held onto began to crack.

Her mind crumbled like glass, and with nowhere to look, her gaze wandered through empty air.

Then she heard footsteps.

“Lady Shariel?”

The smiling mask.

That grotesque grin looked down at her.

The clown. A boy who had neutralized her magic with nothing more than a single balloon.

Pushed to her limit, Shariel couldn't bear the pressure he gave off.

“Eek...”

Thud.

Her body flinched involuntarily.

Did she want to get away from the clown?

Her seated backside slid backward across the ground.

“D-Don't come any closer...”

“Oh? Why not? You look frightened.”

The boy kept walking, his voice full of laughter.

He seemed to be enjoying Shariel's reaction.

“Don't come... I-I don't want this...”

The girl was already crushed beneath her trauma, mentally cornered.

She couldn't help being afraid.

Afraid of the ominous presence she felt from the clown.

Afraid of the crushing sense that he would press down on her until she burst.

“I haven't even done anything yet.”

The mask.

The mask smiled.

'Ah.'

Huh.

When

had

started

smiling?

“Lady Labriell.”

Riiip.

The mask's mouth tore all the way to the ceiling, its pitch-black maw opening without end.

Darkness swallowed her vision.

A bottomless abyss without light.

Within it stretched a sea of festering ooze.

And thousands of pairs of tentacles writhed without bodies.

“...”

The girl couldn't scream.

From a height she couldn't even fathom, something gazed down at her.

An eye.

Amid tentacles tangled together like mountains, a massive eyeball stared wide open.

Its surface was large enough to cover several seas of ooze.

“...”

She even forgot to breathe.

It felt as though that being would move if she made the slightest sound.

Her lungs burned from lack of air.

But even that pain was insignificant beside the terror.

Then, amid the rolling silence.

. -. -..

It spoke to her.

-.. --- -. .----. - . ...- . .-. -.-. --- -- . -... .- -.-. -.- .... . .-. .

A language she couldn't understand.

Yet simply meeting that eye's gaze made it feel as if every circuit in her brain had burned out.

-.. --- -. .----. - - .-. ..- ... - - .... . -.-. .-.. --- .-- -.

Her vision went black as if she had gone into shock.

Her consciousness drifted away.

The

girl

couldn't

come to

her senses.

'Whoops, was that too much?'

Viktor looked down at Shariel, sprawled on the floor.

She had fainted, foaming at the mouth.

He'd only meant to scare her a little, but it seemed he hadn't controlled the intensity very well.

As he scratched his head, the assistant instructors rushed over and checked Shariel's condition.

'Well, she probably just fainted...'

Viktor casually looked away.

At the edge of his vision were the students in the waiting area.

The Class C and Class E students were looking his way.

Their gazes were blank.

They had clearly been shocked.

“...”

The glorious victor.

The clown raised two fingers in a V-sign toward them.

“So.”

A ritual no gamer could resist.

“Anyone else got a problem with my lackeys?”

It was taunting the enemy team after crushing them.

A perfect teabagging.

After that, Class E's Freshman Welcome Test came to an end.

* * *

The day after the Freshman Welcome Test.

I walked beneath the morning sunlight.

A refreshing breeze brushed past me.

'This isn't bad once in a while.'

Walking to school on my own.

I'd been riding around in a rickshaw for the past few days.

With my status window floating before me, I crossed the campus as if I were taking a stroll.

[Reward Details]

-You have obtained the title 'The One Who Collects Misunderstandings.'

-The status window function 'Misunderstanding Collector' has been unlocked.

Freshman Welcome Test.

The message had appeared as soon as the spar ended.

It said I'd fulfilled the conditions and received a reward.

“Hmm...”

I'd already skimmed through the rewards once.

After closing the message, I opened my status window again.

Ding!

――――

[Status Window]

Name: Viktor

Title: The One Who Collects Misunderstandings

Equipped Items: Mask of the Evil God, Robe of the Evil God

Active Set Effect: The world ■■■ sees.

[Misunderstanding Collector]

1. Step Skip

2. Slowdown

3. Parrying

-> If a single Misunderstanding is used thirty times or more, it will be registered in the Collector.

-> A Misunderstanding registered in the Collector greatly reduces the user's burden.

――――

Misunderstanding.

Maybe that was what it called bugs.

I read through the information in the status window.

'It reduces the burden, huh...'

That rang a bell.

Every time I used a bug, I got motion sickness and headaches that felt like someone was digging through my brain.

That had limited how freely I could spam bugs.

After yesterday's test, I'd even spent a while vomiting in the bathroom.

'If it reduces that, it's an incredible reward for me.'

I tried using Slowdown a few times, and the nausea was definitely less severe than before.

An unexpected gain.

'So the registration requirement is at least thirty uses...'

I definitely used bugs like crazy yesterday.

Maybe those uses had piled up enough to unlock this function.

'I thought I might've overdone it yesterday, but it turned out to be a benefit instead.'

Thanks to that, my walk to school felt light today as well.

As I walked, the front pocket of my uniform wriggled.

A bat with bleary eyes, perhaps still sleepy.

[Viktor...]

“Yes, Princess.”

[Are you walking to school today?]

“I told the others to rest just for today. They must all be tired after suffering such humiliation yesterday.”

[What a shame. It was rather nice being able to travel while lying in bed...]

“It can't be helped. Think of it as protecting the athletes. Marathon runners are supposed to get several days of good rest after a race, aren't they?”

[Marathon...? What is that?]

“It's kind of like malatang.”

[I see...]

I had no idea what she understood, but the princess stretched anyway.

After blinking a few times, the bat lightly tapped against my chest.

[That aside... you were quite harsh yesterday.]

“You mean Lady Labriell.”

[Yes, was her name Shariel...?]

“I simply paid back what I received. If someone wants to laugh at others, they should be prepared to be laughed at themselves.”

[A ruler who is too cruel only earns fear...]

“That much is enough, so it's fine. It's not like I want the people around me to respect me. I find it more comfortable to work quietly with just you, Princess.”

[If that is what Viktor thinks, there is nothing to be done.]

The princess nodded and leaned back again.

I walked carefully so I wouldn't make her uncomfortable.

Before long, I arrived at the Class E main building.

'Everyone must be depressed.'

They'd been trampled so badly yesterday that I expected the classroom to feel like a funeral home.

Expecting a gloomy atmosphere, I opened the lecture room door.

Creeeak.

“...?”

The next moment, I saw the others lined up in a row.

When our eyes met, the lackeys at the front greeted me.

Their straight backs bent at a perfect ninety degrees.