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Chapter 380 Part 1

A cool breeze, filled with the fragrance of fresh greenery, blows through the royal capital that’s in the middle of spring and early summer.
This is the outdoor passageway of a certain high school. I squinted at what lies beneath the pleated skirt of the schoolgirl in a blazer blown by the wind.

「The movement of the legs is too exaggerated and unnatural. She must’ve wanted to show off, but for me, that’s no good.」

The one who said it while raising his eyebrows was the tough-looking man walking next to me. He is the manager of the merchant guild and is in charge of purchasing the potions I make.
Right now, we two old men had been dispatched by the merchant guild to be the judge for the 『Royal Capital High School Beauty Contest』.

「Ah I unconsciously pushed the button without a second thought, but I may have been too hasty.」

I shrug my shoulders, showing him the 『device that looks like a golf ball with a single protrusion』 that I had been clutching in my right hand. The tough-looking chief, with his black-rimmed glasses gleaming in the sunlight, replies, 『It’s not like she’s violating any rules, so please don’t worry about it』.

(I guess that’s true. And the judging criteria are left up to the judges’ preferences anyway.)

Let’s just say that I followed my inspiration. With this in mind, I held my middle finger on my black-rimmed glasses, which were slipping down due to my not-so-high nose, and put them back on to regain my composure.
This set of glasses is actually a magical tool used for judging.

『If you press the button on the golf ball while wearing the glasses, a point is given to the part of the female closest to the focused area in your field of vision.』

It is quite an excellent device. Incidentally, each judge has 100 points, which are distributed according to the number of times he or she pressed this button.
In other words, it is possible to 『pressed the same button multiple times with the same contestant』 in which case the points will be distributed in proportion to the number of times the button was pressed.

「Then, let’s go to the other building, shall we?」

The tough-looking chief nodded at my words.
This school, which has two buildings connected by an outdoor passageway, is filled with 100 beautiful girls, 20 from each school who were chosen by anonymous vote. And management and judges like us.

『Some schoolgirls spending a leisurely afternoon at their schools on their day off.』

And the judges look at them and put in points, which are tallied and announced in the evening.
Other than us, the judges consisted of the officials of the royal capital, representatives of the residents, and well-known cultural figures.

(Preparation, implementation, and cleaning up. And on top of that, they have to go to school like usual tomorrow morning.)

It must be hard for the teachers who are sent to manage the event. It seems that teaching is a busy business even in this world.
While thinking about such things, I went inside. I saw a female student in a light gray sailor suit going up the stairs, so I quickened my pace and followed behind her.

「Wow, that was so natural. As I thought, it has to be like that.」

The tough-looking chief lowered his posture to the ground, almost crawling, trying to peek inside the skirt of the female student in front of him. Of course, I also do the same.
Indeed, the blazer girl earlier was moving in a flashy manner in a way that made her skirt easily flipped up. If she wasn’t a beautiful girl, I would have thought it was a 『healthy walking method』.

『Flipping over the skirt, undressing, or touching it is prohibited. Taking it off and intentionally showing off the inside is also prohibited.』

By the way, these are the rules of the contest. It’s healthy for a world where there’s a sexy pro wrestling club activity like Flower Arrangement.
However, since 『sexual attractiveness』 inevitably has a big impact on the evaluation, so female students come to appeal in various ways. The female student from earlier too, has probably been circling this staircase over and over again.

「I see it! …But, it was black, huh?」

I said as I see it flash before my eyes. It seems the tough-looking chief pushed the button, but I don’t.
What popped into my head was a scene from my previous world, where a schoolgirl was riding her bicycle to school.

(Well, I guess that wasn’t counted as 『showing off panties』 but… still.)

Still, it kind of made me feel down when I see it’s black. Disappointed, you might say.
Even so, I didn’t stop peeking, and as I climbed the stairs, I could smell the sweet, savory aroma wafting down the hallway.

「Freshly baked cookies here! Please come and have a taste!」

They are making pastries in the cooking class and handing them out to the judges.
They must be from the same school. Three girls in matching sailor uniforms were wearing aprons and triangular hoods on their heads.

(It feels homey, it’s nice.)

This will certainly impress the judges who like this sort of thing. In fact, a young man with the same dark-rimmed glasses as us receiving the cookies in front of me had scored points with all three of them.
It was my turn next and I held out my hand to receive a cookie put on a small square of paper.

(I see, this is one ingenious idea they came up with.)

What impressed me was the fact that she wrapped my hand in hers when she handed the cookies to me. Moreover, he deliberately touched my fingertips with his fingertips.
Aside from the smooth texture of her skin, this little move is subtly erotic and pleasant.

(Hm?)

As put scores on them when they moved to the corner of the classroom, with my cheeks still stuffed with the cookies, something pulled my gaze instinctively.
Behind the two people who handed out the cookies was the person who seemed to be in charge of making the cookies. She gave the impression of a quiet and gentle girl with narrow eyes, but from a while ago, she seemed to keep raising both of her hands to her head to fix her triangular bandana.

(I see! You’re supposed to peek inside through the cuffs of her short sleeves huh?)

I nodded as I swallowed down the cookie I’d been chewing in my mouth as I figure out her intention.
What my eyes see is a perfectly maintained armpit. Just like a skirt, the more it is hidden, the more I want to see it.

『A sudden gap to peek.』

As it appears that way, it doesn’t feel as intentional as the “healthy walking method”.
I heard a clicking sound and moved my eyes to the side to see the chief turning his head to look at the narrow-eyed girl. He must have pressed the button multiple times.

(Good thinking.)

I pushed the button too as I looked at the two girls in front of us. Both of them are beautiful girls with well-defined facial features, their cheerful voices are pleasant to the ear, and their smiles are dazzling.
They are indeed the chosen beauties, but it is the girl with the stringy eyes who gets the most points among the two. She looks calm on the surface, but it appears that she’s a sharp and clever girl.

「I wish I could stick my nose to the cuff of that short sleeve and breathe in the air inside.」

After leaving the cooking classroom, the tough-looking chief says to me as I walk down the hallway and take a bite of a cookie. I nodded my head and replied.

「The guild master was disappointed though」

A small old man who looked like a goblin and a fat old man who looked like Santa Claus. Who are the guild master and vice guild master, wanted to participate but were turned down because they were too high-ranking.
So the bowl, or in this world’s terms 『a platter of bread』, was given to us instead.

「I wonder what would we see next. I’m looking forward to it.」

The music and singing coming from somewhere up ahead made the tough-looking chief slightly smile. After coming to where it came from, we found five female students dancing in a classroom with desks and chairs pushed against the wall.
Incidentally, the door to the classroom had been removed, as had the door to the cooking classroom earlier.

(There are always those who will still do it even if it’s prohibited after all.)

It must be a measure to prevent the creation of a secret room out of sight of the management.

(Hm?)

I tilted my head when I felt something off when I looked at them from the entrance.

「It’s a lip-sync. Their singing must have been recorded and played along with the music.」

According to the tough-looking chief, singing while dancing is quite a strenuous task. Therefore, it’s common to use this method when performing in public for a long time.

『Please sit directly on the floor to enjoy the view.』

Following the sign on the blackboard, the tough-looking chief and I sit down on the floor while holding our knees.

「Wouldn’t this count as breaking the rule?」

I asked him.
The choreography clearly takes into account the low viewpoint and the movement of the girls with their above-the-knee skirts. It allows the spectator to completely see what’s inside.

「Well, this much should be fine. Unless they brazenly lift their own skirts, they can just say that it was a force of nature caused by the dancing.」

The chief replied while stroking his chin.
I’m a man who frequents brothels as a part of his life, but this kind of soft stuff, like a lewd scene in a weekly shonen magazine, isn’t so bad. But I’m starting to get a little worried.