After Natsuki Minamiya left, Luo Shu gave a knowing smile and said:
"As expected, spending 5,000 points on a last-minute upgrade to make the bracelets impossible for even someone of Hero rank to see through at a glance successfully kept the Witch of the Gap from discovering anything."
Luo Shu had deduced this from the fact that neither Utaha Kasumigaoka nor Eriri had been exposed as having superpowers.
"By that reasoning, Natsuki Minamiya probably hasn't reached Demigod rank. Is she a Hero? Or an Elite? Most likely a Hero."
"If she really is that Witch of the Gap who could hold her own against a Progenitor for a while..."
Considering that Natsuki Minamiya was a witch who could rival a Vampire Progenitor in another world, Luo Shu wasn't surprised by her strength. What surprised him was that she would actually be his teacher:
"To get a teacher of this caliber to instruct me, Chief Tachibana must have paid through the nose."
Although Natsuki Minamiya's tone hadn't been particularly friendly, Luo Shu knew enough about her to understand that this unexpectedly acquired teacher was genuinely dedicated to her profession.
So, to some extent, Luo Shu believed that even if she discovered Utaha Kasumigaoka and Eriri, it wouldn't cause too much trouble.
Still, he had instinctively taken precautions, improving the bracelets' concealment and deliberately acting especially close to the two girls.
In Japan, a high school boy and girl eating together on the rooftop could easily be mistaken for a couple.
And although Luo Shu was with two girls, his identity as a sorcerer and his age made it easy to steer that misunderstanding toward him two-timing them.
Luo Shu also suspected that Natsuki Minamiya took her role as a teacher very seriously and had an instinctive habit of correcting students with "poor foundations."
Teachers naturally paid a certain amount of attention to their students' romantic relationships, making them easy to mislead in this way.
Of course, that was also why Luo Shu had deliberately asked Eriri and Utaha Kasumigaoka to come up to the rooftop for lunch today.
His goal from the outset had been to make Natsuki Minamiya believe he was two-timing them.
And the purpose of that was to bring both girls onto Natsuki Minamiya's radar.
After all, rather than having their identities as sorcerers exposed later without knowing it, he might as well put things out in the open now.
As the saying went, the most dangerous part of an iceberg wasn't above the surface, but below it.
Exposing Utaha Kasumigaoka's and Eriri's "intimacy" with him would actually help conceal their real secret.
In Natsuki Minamiya's eyes, I'm probably a scumbag who couldn't resist starting a harem once he gained power, dragging his two girlfriends into a dangerous world without their knowledge, right?
So what she said just now was advice to either cut ties with them quickly or tell both girls the truth? She's surprisingly understanding!
Natsuki Minamiya's deliberate reminder before leaving put a curious look on Luo Shu's face, like a fox that had successfully raided a henhouse.
It's perfectly normal for someone head over heels in love to let a few things slip.
That was probably what Natsuki Minamiya had thought, which was why she had tacitly accepted Utaha Kasumigaoka and Eriri as being in the know. Of course, the more important reason she thought that was...
Luo Shu quietly took the slightly faded Lucky Wallet out of his pocket and opened it. Looking at the 100-yen coin that immediately shattered into four pieces, along with the roughly thirty 10,000-yen bills that had vanished, he said with a slight pang:
"Forcing 'luck' to activate once costs a little too much. Still, at least it achieved its purpose."
That was right. The main reason Natsuki Minamiya had believed this "truth" was the Lucky Wallet's ability: a single blessing of Demigod-level good fortune.
When dealing with a "living" Abyssal Artifact, Luo Shu could use his "identity" to disregard the cost and force its ability to activate once.
That was the answer Luo Shu had obtained after asking the system and consulting the Abyssal Artifact itself.
Of course, although this trick seemed convenient and let him disregard certain properties of the Abyssal Artifacts themselves, its cost was greater than using them after satisfying their conditions.
First, he had to pay a higher price afterward. Second, he had to offer the Abyssal Artifact certain benefits.
Those two things were the biggest drawbacks to using this trick.
This time, Luo Shu had activated the Lucky Wallet's luck boost and successfully caused Natsuki Minamiya to misunderstand because he had paid a sum of cash and an Ancient Serpent Shedding worth 3,000 points. Feeding those two things to the Lucky Wallet had made something unreasonable seem reasonable without further intervention.
The trick worked well, but the expense was rather steep, whether in cash or points... Shaking his head, Luo Shu stepped out from around the corner. Looking at Utaha Kasumigaoka and Eriri standing on the stairs, he gave a sly smile and said:
"Lucky us. Looks like the Astronomy Club gets instruction from a top-notch teacher for free this time!"
Today, she would conceal the truth about Luo Shu and the two girls from outsiders and teach them in secret.
Tomorrow, she would cooperate with Luo Shu and deliberately spread false information.
The day after, she would join the Astronomy Club and become their accomplice.
In a sense, Luo Shu was trying to arrange every step of Natsuki Minamiya's future involvement.
Meanwhile, as someone privy to the plan, Utaha Kasumigaoka glanced at Luo Shu and said with a slightly resigned expression:
"So you paid all that just so we could study properly right under that teacher Minamiya's nose? Don't you think that's a huge sacrifice?"
But Luo Shu shook his head. "No, the reason for doing this
"was more about finding someone powerful to back us up, just in case."
"Don't let Natsuki Minamiya's petite appearance fool you. Right now, she's probably the strongest sorcerer I know."
"Is that so..." Utaha Kasumigaoka wore an expression that said, "If you say so, I'll take your word for it."
"???"
Completely lost, Eriri looked at the seemingly exasperated Utaha Kasumigaoka, then at Luo Shu, who was clearly much more at ease. Her eyebrow twitched, and she said helplessly:
"There it is again. That feeling that I'm the only one being left out."
"We're not leaving you out..."
Luo Shu turned to look at Eriri, raised his hand, and patted her shoulder.
"Simply put, thanks to a few little maneuvers of mine, Natsuki Minamiya will become our teacher in occult studies and the faculty adviser for our school's Astronomy Club."
At that, Luo Shu paused before continuing:
"Besides that, if we really run into some major trouble we can't handle, you'll have someone other than me to call on for backup."
Although Luo Shu still had only a patchy understanding of this world after two days, he had been preparing fallback options out of habit.
Leaving himself an escape route and finding some allies first was better than running into trouble later without a single way to resolve it.
After all, Luo Shu didn't like facing hopeless situations.
Just then, ding-dong! A long chime rang out-the warning bell for class.
Hearing the bell, Luo Shu glanced at the window, then said to Utaha Kasumigaoka and Eriri in front of him:
"In short, just treat Natsuki as a real teacher. You don't actually need to worry about the rest."
"Also, it's about time to head back to class. Remember, we're meeting at the Astronomy Club after school."
"Understood." Utaha Kasumigaoka nodded slightly.
Eriri also nodded firmly and said:
"I'll get there as soon as I can."
The three then went their separate ways at the stairs.
Before you continue