The Damn Family Is Back Again

239. School Trip (2)

In the end, I found myself unable to leave this beach.

I lost even in a bet against Arshien that seemed unwinnable.

As Harnié said, if I didn’t want to be suspected, I had to continue pretending we were a couple.

‘More importantly… is Harnié not wearing a swimsuit?’

With her arms crossed, she urged me toward the beach, still wearing a swimsuit unlike everyone else.

As I followed her in a daze, a cheer erupted from Harni as she dipped her feet into the sea.

“Wow! It’s refreshing!”

“Harni, is this your first time at the beach?”

“Oh no! I’ve been here quite often!”

Harni flinched and displayed an all-too-predictable reaction.

‘Yeah. She’s never been here. Not once.’

Honestly, she’s such an easy person to read.

It might seem surprising, but in some ways, it makes perfect sense.

Considering how every time she’s been cooped up at home with her head buried in books, it’s no wonder she hasn’t had the chance to visit a place like this.

…I suppose that was true for me as well—if I hadn’t lost my memories before possession.

Anyway…

I thought about letting this slide…

Should I tease her a little?

“Of course not! There’s no way you’ve never been to the sea.”

“Hmph. Of course not! What do you take me for…”

“Come on now. Right? You wouldn’t just dip your toes in and leave like some amateurs.”

“…!”

“People who truly love the sea go in and play, you know? Just like those people over there.”

For a moment, Harnié hesitated, blinking as if coming to a realization. She loosened her arms crossed over her chest and walked toward the deeper waters.

“W-who said I was just dipping my toes in? Hmph. I like the sea too, you know?”

Cute. Absolutely adorable.

Still, perhaps it’s time to stop teasing her.

“Let’s turn back.”

“What?!”

I gently lifted the woman who was about to step into the water.

“W-what are you doing? I was going into the sea…”

“It seems there’s a little game happening over there. It looks like it would be more fun.”

“…Huh?”

At my words, Harnié turned her head away.

“What did they say? Didn’t they mention something about prizes for first place? I want to join in.”

“…Fine then, just put me down.”

With that, Harnié turned away with an air of indignation.

“I can’t help it. Since you want to participate in that game… we’ll have to postpone our water play for now.”

“Um. Thank you.”

“Come on then, let’s hurry up!”

She quickly crossed her arms again and urged me toward that direction. Though it felt more like an insistence than a suggestion…

-Well then! There’s no helping it! We’ll save swimming for later; let’s go check that out together!

Once again, she faintly comes to mind.

“Ten left!”

“Oh, it seems like it’s first come, first served! Karsein. Hurry up!”

“Yes. Let’s go quickly.”

Harnie was much like the author; she seemed a bit afraid of entering the water. Perhaps I should teach her how to swim later on.

▶ You can undertake an emergency mission. ◀

▶ Will you proceed? ◀

‘I wouldn’t have touched this under normal circumstances.’

But well… there’s no turning back now.

What the heck, let’s do it.

▶ The emergency mission is now in progress. ◀

▶ Try to score as many points as possible. ◀

It’s just a side thing anyway.

“Alright. Looks like quite a few people have gathered. Shall we have a match?”

…Hmm? A match?

– Whoosh!

Arshien threw the ball into the air.

“It seems everyone is having fun—splashing water and tossing balls around. Among them, you all seem to particularly enjoy dodgeball. So I’ve prepared something.”

With a sly smile from the princess, one of her magical tools activated.

– Flutter.

“…?”

-Wham!

“W-wait! Isn’t this the kind of thing that could kill you if it hits?!”

“A melon falling from the sky, you say!”

“Haha. Don’t worry. It’s all just an illusion.”

“Huh? An illusion…?”

As the bewildered nobles stared in confusion, Arshien chuckled and explained.

“The rules are simple. Various objects will fly towards you, and your job is to dodge them as best as you can. If your body sustains significant damage or becomes incapacitated, you’ll automatically be ejected from the web. How does that sound? Easy enough?”

…Of course, it sounds easy. You fool.

-Boom!

“Mother!”

“Ahhh!”

This isn’t just a simple game of dodgeball!

“The score will be determined based on how long you manage to endure. We’ll run several rounds in succession, so enjoy yourselves! Oh, and here’s a tip: you can push them away with your hands or kick them with your feet.”

-Thud!

“How am I supposed to push these away with my hands or kick them?!”

“Stop talking and start running! aaah!”

▶Emergency Mission I: Obstacle Dodging has begun.◀

▶Try to last as long as possible to earn points.◀

“Ahhh!”

“Ugh!”

Objects began to swirl chaotically in the field that had suddenly appeared before my eyes.

Just a short while ago, those who had been filled with anticipation were now solely focused on dodging for their lives.

“Try harder to avoid it! Hahaha!”

Good grief. What a nasty disposition.

While everyone else was busy trying to escape, this person was just waving a fan and enjoying themselves.

‘…Should I just get eliminated and leave?’

That thought crossed my mind, but—

“W-wait! Don’t push me!”

Here too.

“Ahhh! Why is it only me? Why meee!”

Over there as well.

“Ahhh!”

It was all like that.

I could sense the faintest trace of mana lingering among the nobles scattered about.

No. More precisely, it must be in their clothing.

The swimsuits were enchanted with waterproof magic. However, given recent unfortunate events involving the royal family, they had stated that an inspection process would be necessary this time around.

For that reason alone, I too had to present my swimsuit for inspection.

That’s when I first felt out of place.

The swimsuit was merely enchanted with waterproof magic, yet it felt strangely as if something foreign had seeped in.

It was likely that it had mixed in during the royal inspection process.

The problem lay in the reason behind it.

“Why would they insert mana that holds no significance like this?”

In truth, there was nothing dangerous involved.

There was certainly no power to alter or disrupt magic contained within.

The amount of mana present was so minuscule that it rendered any influence on such a simple game nearly impossible.

The question of why this utterly pointless action had been taken felt deeply significant.

“…Should I expand my senses for a moment?”

▶ Expanding senses with mana! ◀

At present, neither my hearing nor sense of smell held any relevance. The same went for touch.

I figured the most meaningful expansion would be through sight.

I briefly closed my eyes and then opened them again, delicately focusing mana into my vision.

▶ Vision is expanding. ◀

Suddenly, I could see through the essence of magical objects plummeting from the sky without warning.

Good. This should be enough to see clearly now.

With my altered perspective, I began to scrutinize those around me meticulously.

And then…

I thought I understood why this had been done.

“Ha.”

“Karsein? Why all of a sudden…?”

I glanced at Harnié with a hint of hope.

“That’s a relief. You’re the same color as me.”

“What?”

Somehow, it felt like this game had started out of nowhere.

This artificial mana was imbued with distinct colors.

I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

‘Well… I suppose that might be more correct after all?’

Usually, such things are done by dividing teams.

It’s not just about dodging obstacles.

It’s not merely a game to pass the time aimlessly.

The essence of this game…

Must focus on the fact that there are teams involved.

“Ah!”

A splash echoed as water met skin, and a woman collapsed onto the ground.

Moments later, she was eliminated and unceremoniously ejected from the arena after being struck by a falling doll.

But… for something like that to be wandering around…

-Smile.

“Next is you. Karsein? Hehe.”

Looks like they’ve caught on over there too.

It can’t be helped.

“Harnie, do you want to try using your magic to grab those objects and throw them?”

“Eh? What do you mean all of a sudden…?”

“This. It’s not about dodging obstacles. It’s magical dodgeball.”

“Magical… dodgeball?”

“It’s hard to explain. The guys can only block those things. On the other hand, the girls can pick them up and throw them. Want to give it a shot?”

– Wicked.

“Um… I think I can do it.”

“Yes! Quickly throw that and knock out all of them.”

That’s how we can win.

***

Once both sides caught on, all sorts of objects began flying back and forth across the battlefield.

The red lines restricted our escape routes.

Hidden items scattered throughout could be used to hinder the opponent.

Thanks to that, it truly became a battlefield for dodgeball.

Aside from the fact that eliminated players couldn’t attack from the opposite side, it was exactly split in half with each side throwing objects at one another.

However, we were outnumbered here.

We were slower to catch on compared to the opposing team, and there were many more eliminations among our female allies, leaving us with fewer chances to attack.

‘…This is going to be tough.’

There are limits even when blocking those objects.

While it is possible to prevent elimination, it requires a significant expenditure of mana to do so.

This means that one must employ rather cumbersome methods to fend off the threat; if the men exhaust all their mana, they will inevitably face elimination from that point onward.

Once the men who serve as a bulwark disappear, the women who expend mana on offense will also have to use it for defense. Thus, being outnumbered compared to them poses a considerable disadvantage.

…No.

In fact, the disparity in power might be even greater than that.

“Yah!”

“Cough!”

Oh. Damn it.

On the opposite side, a pink-haired lunatic is mercilessly slaughtering our team.

She is none other than Claire II, whose presence alone has shattered any semblance of balance in this match.

That crazy girl seems overflowing with mana; there’s no one who can stand against her.

But that’s not all.

“Gasp!”

“Ughhh!”

There’s another one.

A wild girl with a red ponytail spinning her ball like a maniac.

Damn it. Just having one of them was enough to throw off balance; what are we supposed to do now that there are two members of House Bagrand over there?

“Hmph. Not much of a challenge, huh? Are you down to just four people now?”

“Oh my God. Did we pick teams wrong or something…? How are those two even…”

Staring hopelessly at his opponents, he quickly chose to forfeit and stepped out of the field.

“Hey, Young-sik? Wait a moment! If you go like that, what am I supposed to… Hic!”

In the meantime, the magic dodgeball was soaring through the air.

The noble lady couldn’t even react to the ball hurtling toward her through the fierce wind; she simply squeezed her eyes shut.

Tsk. There’s no helping it.

-Bang!

With a loud sound, a heavy grip of mana filled my hand.

Ugh, damn. Claire really throws hard.

Having caught the ball, I glanced back and nodded slightly.

“I’m going out now. Before I get properly hit and eliminated.”

“T-thank you…”

The woman stared at me with bewildered eyes for quite some time before scrambling to her feet and leaving the field in a hurry.

Phew. That leaves just me and Harnié now.

So it’s just us two. Meanwhile, their team still has plenty of players left.

Honestly, this is hopeless. It would be better to forfeit at this point.

But when I turned my head to suggest forfeiting to Harnié…

“…Hmph.”

She seemed rather upset for some reason.

As usual, I swallowed hard and asked,

“Why… why do you say that?”

“That noble lady seems quite pleased to have been saved by you. She’s watching only you from outside the field.”

“Um… Is that so?”

…Well, it’s only natural since it didn’t match up, right?

No. This isn’t the time for such talk.

If I keep dawdling, Claire and Arina will unleash a barrage on me.

“Harnie, let’s just forfeit. We can’t win this.”

At that, Harnie’s eyes narrow slightly.

“No way.”

“…What?”

“For some reason, I want to see this through to the end.”

No. Why on earth?

Why is she doing this when it’s obvious a smart person would lose?

“Please block everything. You won’t just let me get hit, right?”

With that response, she hurls an object with her mana and retaliates.

…It’s clearly unreasonable to expect me to hold off those two alone.

I’m somewhat afraid of all the objects that are about to come flying at me.

But… what scares me the most right now is:

Harnie was smiling again like back then.

…Did I do something wrong again?