Lucky Right Hand

July 20th, the plot officially began.

Duke teleported away with Misaka 9800, making sure not to run into Misaka Mikoto face-to-face. He had no system and no missions to trigger. Following the principle that less trouble was better, he naturally wanted to stay as far away as possible from dangerous plot characters.

It was the scorching heat of late July, and the entire research institute was like an oven. With the power outage, research had come to a standstill, and everyone at the institute had collectively skipped work to escape the heat. The project leader, Kiyama Harumi, had no idea where she had run off to have fun, so everyone felt perfectly justified in making a break for it.

This worked out nicely for Duke. He brought Misaka 9800 to the office without obstruction, and no one asked where Misaka had come from.

Duke made several ice blocks in the corner of the heat-dominated room to cool it down. Looking at bandage-covered Misaka 9800, he was at a loss over how to handle her. Bringing her back to his tiny place was definitely impossible. He was, after all, a mentally and physically healthy man. Living with a pretty girl—what if something happened?

Especially when the girl would not refuse him. It would be far too easy to get 404’d.

To make sure this book would not vanish from the shelves, Duke decided to wait for Kiyama Harumi to return and have her take care of the girl instead. Although the young woman was rather slovenly herself, no matter how slovenly she was, she was still a rich woman who drove a supercar. Misaka 9800 would be better off staying with her than eating instant noodles with him.

"In a few days, I’ll introduce you to an older sister. You’ll live at her house from then on." Duke settled the matter without even asking whether Kiyama Harumi agreed. As for whether she would consent, Duke felt that was no problem. He would work hard to sleep his way into persuading her.

"Is the researcher abandoning Misaka? Misaka asks sadly." Misaka 9800 had been wondering why the air conditioner was broken. Upon hearing Duke’s words, she immediately trotted over.

"It’s inconvenient, after all. You’re a pretty girl." Duke used a head-pat, and Misaka 9800 narrowed her eyes with a delighted expression.

"Misaka is very happy to receive praise from the researcher. Misaka adds." Misaka 9800 was very easy to satisfy.

"And these injuries of yours…" Duke looked at Misaka 9800’s bandages and cast, gathered a ball of dark green radiance in one hand, and gently placed it on her head.

Medical Ninjutsu, Heal Bell, Responded, internal energy, light magic…

After tossing down a whole pile of buffs, Misaka 9800 was instantly restored to full health. Her delicate skin, soft enough to break with a puff, bore not just no scars, but not even a red mark.

Her back no longer ached, her legs no longer felt weak, and she could climb five flights of stairs in one breath without panting.

Originally, Duke had not intended to heal her. That night, he had only treated her severe injuries in passing before sending her to the hospital. But now that he had become her guardian, he could not simply leave her alone. Though Duke was deeply dissatisfied with, even resistant to, the identity of guardian forced upon him, the words of refusal still stuck in his throat when he saw Misaka 9800.

Duke knew that if he drove Misaka 9800 out, she would very likely die like a stray dog in some dark alley. Out of the unwillingness in his conscience, he could only accept the reality of being her guardian. After all, the girl before him was innocent.

Of course, this also had something to do with her looks. If the Misaka Sister had been so ugly that people would still tremble after closing the browser, Duke would have kicked her away long ago.

So looks were victory! Not to mention the blue-and-white-striped attribute bonus… three years of blood profit, and even a death sentence would not be a loss!

Duke crushed the cast on Misaka 9800’s arm with one hand. Looking at her perfectly intact limb, she said calmly, "That was amazing. Misaka’s injuries were healed in an instant. Misaka cannot understand how the researcher did it."

Ignoring Misaka 9800’s surprise, Duke took Kiyama Harumi’s lab coat from the clothes rack beside them and tossed it to her. "Wear this whenever you’re in the institute from now on. Hmm… girl, do you crave power?"

"Misaka has no interest in power. Misaka says so." Misaka 9800 quickly put on the lab coat. She seemed extremely interested in every item Duke gave her, as though she had developed some sort of collecting habit.

"Since you crave power, I’ll reluctantly… Wait, you said you’re not interested?" Duke was speechless. He suddenly remembered that he had asked Misaka 9800. The girl truly was not someone who craved power.

"Why should Misaka crave power? Misaka asks."

"Uh… forget it. Go wander around the institute and get familiar with the place first. I need to organize some data, so don’t disturb me for now." After saying that, Duke turned on the computer and began browsing recent experimental data. Dense strings of numbers flashed rapidly before his eyes, and he soon lost all awareness of the outside world.

Esper abilities were a very wonderful kind of power. As an ability-less person, Duke dearly wanted to uncover their secrets and develop an esper ability of his own. Although he could become a god simply by clinging to the thighs of other worlds, he still had some ambition. Moreover, the upper limit of power in A Certain Magical Index World was extremely high, and he could not help developing some ideas.

People were like this. When they had nothing, they longed for an unexpected fortune. When that day truly came, they wanted to become the richest person in the world. This fit Duke perfectly. When he had first crossed into A Certain Magical Index World, he lacked the ability to protect himself, and his greatest wish had been to survive safely until the plot ended. Now that he had received gifts from multiple worlds, he had begun to covet new powers.

Speaking of Academy City’s esper abilities, the AIM Diffusion Field was an unavoidable hurdle. Perhaps Academy City had deliberately downplayed it, but most people knew very little about it. They only had a vague understanding, and knew nothing beyond that.

As Kiyama Harumi’s assistant, Duke had researched the AIM Diffusion Field for quite some time. The deeper he went, the more he discovered that there was much more hidden behind it.

The AIM Diffusion Field was a field unconsciously emitted by espers. Espers unconsciously released extremely weak versions of their own abilities, so weak that only precise instruments could detect them. Furthermore, the form of the AIM Diffusion Field was greatly related to a person’s health, emotional state, and other conditions.

Also, different AIM Diffusion Fields could interfere with one another.

That was highly thought-provoking!

The AIM Diffusion Field was not exclusive to A Certain Magical Index World. Many scientific worlds had related research. In other words, if Duke could uncover its mysteries, he could benefit other worlds and raise everyone’s strength to another level.

In the past, Duke might have had no clue where to begin. But now that he had acquired a Misaka Sister, things were different. Ten thousand Misaka Sisters came with signal terminals that could blanket the entire world in an AIM Diffusion Field. Duke was intensely interested in this.

In the Resident Evil world, there were twenty thousand Duke brothers. If he could copy its mysteries… Just thinking about it made him a little excited!

When Duke came back to himself, more than an hour had already passed. He stretched and stood up, easing his tired eyes. He discovered Misaka 9800 sitting on the sofa, happily clutching a phone, apparently chatting with someone.

"You made friends that quickly?" Curious, Duke leaned over and was surprised to find Misaka 9800 posting on Academy City’s forum.

Duke raised an eyebrow. At such a young age, she was already learning to spam forums. That was not a good sign. As a qualified guardian, Duke felt it was necessary to correct her. Spamming was wrong, and it was very addictive. It could easily have a terrible impact on teenagers’ physical and mental health.

Misaka 9800 raised her head, held up the phone to Duke, and said, "Misaka found an unlucky person and thinks he is very pitiful. Misaka hopes the researcher will take a look too."

Duke took the phone and began scrolling. At the first post, he discovered that the thread starter was named: Lucky Right Hand!

First post: On the first day of summer vacation, a circuit malfunction made the air conditioner stop working. I feel like a salted fish roasting on a grill… So unlucky!

Second post: All the food in the refrigerator was wiped out. I wanted to eat instant noodles, but accidentally dumped all the noodles into the sink… So unlucky!

Third post: I wanted to go out to eat, but stepped on my credit card and shattered it… So unlucky!

Fourth post: My teacher kindly called and said I’m an idiot, so I still have to attend tutoring during summer vacation… So unlucky!

Fifth post:…

Sixth post:…

Twentieth post:…

Fiftieth post:…

Duke read through it all in silence, marveling that someone could survive such a life. Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly saw that "Lucky Right Hand" had posted again.

Ninety-eighth post: While airing my bedding, I picked up a foreigner on the balcony who claims to be a nun. What should I do? Waiting online, pretty urgent.

Duke gave a sinister smile and silently typed a line.

Ninety-ninth post: OP can use your Lucky Right Hand to pat the nun on the shoulder, showing Neon Country’s friendly concern for foreign friends. The dignity of a great nation is in your hands, so don’t mess it up!

One hundredth post: Huh, so people have been paying attention to me all along? Bearing the mission of the nation, I suddenly feel so happy. Then I’ll do as the post above says.

And then…

There was no then. The thread starter never posted another update.

Thanks to readers "Book Friend 20180301115843938," "SOA灬Yang," "Whip Me, Queen," "A Leaf Drifts from the Horizon," "Book Friend 151207082521291," and "Ah Ah Ah Fallen" for the tips!