Is It Wrong for an Extra to Steal the Protagonist's Harem?-Chapter 40: A lesson in humility

"Alex, why are you so shameless?"

I didn’t bother to answer. I just picked at my ear with my pinky finger, looking at the sky.

She asked again, stepping into my personal space, her perfume mixing with the ozone smell of her anger.

"You started it, didn’t you? You refused to use a magic scroll because you are confident, right? Well, let’s put that confidence to the test. Let’s have one of us withdraw from the Expedition today."

Ariana looked up at me, her head cocked crookedly, eyes flashing with malice.

"You were regarded as a trash support mage, remember? Let’s make a bet. The one whose Mana Crystal flies the shortest distance... drops out. Right now."

Her voice was as cold as ice, but her eyes were burning.

The other students gasped. A withdrawal from the Freshman Expedition meant failing the semester. It was academic suicide.

"Ariana is serious..." "She really wants to kill him."

I, too, was somewhat amazed by her confidence. I only now realized how much she was disregarding me. She looked at me like I was a bug she could squash with her thumb.

There was not much deliberation needed.

I looked down at her. She was cute when she was angry. Like a chihuahua barking at a wolf.

I nodded my head toward the open plaza.

"You go first."

"Ha." Ariana chuckled, flipping her twin tails. "Fine. Don’t change your mind later, you bastard. I’ll make sure you crawl out of here."

Ariana Flamehart, with her arrogant, high-born attitude, marched over to where a student had placed a Mana Crystal—a clear, fist-sized stone used to measure raw telekinetic projection.

I found that attitude somewhat amusing. I briefly contemplated what gift I should bestow upon her.

’A lesson,’ I decided. ’A lesson in humility.’

"Fuck, let me show everyone how I create a dropout right now."

Ariana placed her hand on the crystal. She closed her eyes. Her mana flared—a bright, aggressive red aura.

I, too, prepared myself. But I didn’t reach for a crystal. I reached into the mathematical abyss of my mind.

[Calculation Power: 28] [Mana Sensitivity: 75]

My world shifted. The physical plaza faded, replaced by a grid of blue lines and equations. I could see the flow of mana inside Ariana’s body. It was a complex system of pipes and valves, pumping energy from her core to her hand.

It was impressive. For a student.

But to me, it looked like a circuit board with exposed wires.

’Snip.’

I visualized a pair of scissors.

I didn’t attack her. I simply inserted a tiny, chaotic variable into her casting formula. An interference spell.

Ariana’s eyes snapped open. "Fly!"

She poured her mana into the crystal. She expected it to rocket forward, breaking the sound barrier.

"Huh?"

The Mana Crystal merely trembled. It vibrated against the pedestal with a pathetic clack-clack-clack sound. It didn’t move an inch.

"What... is this?"

Ariana’s bewildered face was quite satisfying.

"Why isn’t it moving?" she muttered, shoving more mana into it.

"Hnngh!"

She pushed. I could see the veins popping on her smooth forehead. Her face turned red.

But naturally, it wouldn’t move. I had severed the connection between her intent and the output. Her mana was swirling uselessly in her wrist, creating heat but no force.

With a clatter, the mana crystal trembled once more and stopped.

Overwhelmed by confusion, Ariana swallowed dry saliva. Her confident smirk was cracking like cheap porcelain.

"Why is this? I’ve never had anything like this in my life...."

It was a failure. A humiliating misfire.

"Make a mana crystal again! Give me a fresh one!" she screamed at her lackey.

The student scrambled to replace it.

Ariana wiped her hands on her skirt. "It was defective. Watch this."

She grabbed the new stone. She focused.

Failure.

The stone just wobbled.

"What the hell is wrong?!" Ariana shrieked, her voice pitching up. "This is driving me crazy! Damn it!"

Failure.

"..."

The silence in the plaza was deafening. Even her friends were looking at her with awkward expressions.

I leaned against a nearby pillar, crossing my arms.

"How much longer do I have to wait?" I asked politely. "My legs are getting tired."

"Shut up! Just wait quietly!" Ariana snapped, sweat starting to bead on her upper lip.

I nodded my head and gave her a calm smile.

"Why... why is this happening..."

She tried again. And again.

"Haa... haa..."

Ariana was panting now. Her pristine uniform was sticking to her skin. Sweat dripped down her neck, soaking into her collar. Her chest heaved violently with every breath, making her breasts bounce in a way that would have been erotic if she wasn’t so pathetic.

She looked like she was struggling against invisible bondage.

"...Why can’t she do it?" "Is she... impotent? Like, mana impotent?" "Ariana herself said she was confident. This is embarrassing."

Other students started whispering. With each word pouring towards Ariana, her face grew paler.

Ariana Flamehart took a deep, shuddering breath. Her eyes were watery. She looked desperate.

"Please..." she whispered to the stone.

She gathered all her remaining power. She squeezed her eyes shut.

’Let’s give her one last push,’ I thought.

I tweaked the interference, creating a feedback loop.

"Nnnngh!!"

Ariana groaned, her legs trembling. A drop of sweat ran down her chin and fell to the ground with a thud.

Before she knew it, Ariana’s entire body was drenched. Her armpits were stained dark. Her hair was matted to her forehead. She looked like she had just run a marathon—or finished a grueling sex session.

In the end, I interfered with Ariana Flamehart’s magic until her mana reserves were dangerously low. She was running on fumes.

The surrounding students looked at her with pity and secondhand embarrassment. They wanted to tell her to stop, but no one dared to speak to the "Villainess."

’That’s enough,’ I decided. ’The toy is broken.’

I released the mental grip on her circuit.

Snap.

The blockage vanished. The mana flow roared back to life, unobstructed.

At the same time, with a sharp WHOOSH, the Mana Crystal rocketed forward.

"Ah! That’s it!"

Ariana’s pale face finally regained its color. It was a sight almost like a corpse coming back to life.

The crystal flew true, soaring across the plaza and hitting a target dummy fifty meters away with a solid CRACK.

The range was impressive. It was an A-Rank throw.

Ariana jumped around, throwing her hands in the air.

"I won! I did it! Did you see that?!"

She turned to me, her sweaty face beaming with manic triumph.

"I definitely won! Beat that, you trash—"

Suddenly, a hand reached out from the shadows.

It moved with a leisurely, terrifying grace. Long, slender fingers with sharp, black-painted nails snatched the Mana Crystal out of the air as it bounced back.

"...?"

Ariana’s expression froze. She looked at the hand. Then she looked up the arm. Then she made eye contact with the owner.

Her face went from triumphant to horrified in a split second.

She finally realized why the surroundings had become quiet.

"Haah... Ariana Flamehart."

Professor Cassandra sighed, tossing the crystal up and down in her hand. She stood there, her witch hat casting a long shadow over her eyes.

"I clearly told everyone to do nothing and just wait."

"..."

Ariana pursed her lips, trembling. She opened her mouth to make an excuse, but no sound came out.

"Creating a disturbance. Unauthorized use of magic. Gambling on school grounds." Cassandra listed the offenses lazily. "Do you want detention before the Expedition even starts?"

I watched Ariana shrinking in real-time. She looked small, wet, and defeated.

Then, all of a sudden, I felt a gaze burning into the side of my head.

It was sharp. Cold.

I turned.

My eyes met a pair of glacial blue irises.

Emily Frost.

She stood a few feet away, her arms crossed. The wind blew her blue hair back, revealing a forehead that was currently creased in suspicion. She started approaching me with a subtle, unreadable expression.

"How ridiculous were the professor’s words for you to behave like this now?"

"I’m sorry... I just wanted to..."

In the background, Ariana was still getting chewed out by Cassandra.

In the midst of that noise, Emily stood right in front of me. She smelled like mint and frost.

"You," she said.

Her voice was cold and rigid. It was hard to believe this was the same girl who, according to the game lore, had a secret habit of drinking alone in her room.

"Did you do something just now?"

’She must have a keen sense of magic,’ I noted. ’Mana Sensitivity: 80, perhaps?’

Even if I told her the truth, it wouldn’t matter much. But admitting it would be boring.

I looked her dead in the eye, keeping my face perfectly blank.

"Did you have a drink?"

"...?"

Emily blinked. The question was so random, so completely out of left field, that her brain stalled.

"What?"

"You look a little hazy," I lied smoothly. "Maybe you’re seeing things? Or maybe you had a nip of something strong before class?"

Emily stared at me, her mouth slightly open. She looked confused, insulted, and panic-stricken all at once (wondering if I knew her secret).

Thinking that I was talking absolute nonsense to mess with her, she swiftly turned her head away with a huff.

"Crazy," she muttered, her ears turning slightly pink. "I’m not drunk."