<226 - Points>
Whoosh!
[The Fog Wizard Cloud took down the sentinels by cleverly utilizing their own magic.]
[Mana Control Technique Experience +50]
[Dark Doppelganger Experience +50]
[Human Design Experience +50]
[Dark Magic Experience +20]
[Trick Experience +20]
[Breath Experience +10]
[Throwing Experience +10]
[Fear Induction Experience +10]
[Dark Electric Generation Experience +10]
[Naughty Child Experience +10]
[Sensory Experience +5]
[Stealth Experience +5]
[Concealment Experience +5]
[Successfully completed the event “[Attack with the Rain].”]
[You receive a reward of 5000 points for the successful event.]
[The Sebiche Ducal House’s surveillance team has been annihilated.]
[The Sebiche Ducal House and Wahyhiemhai Foundation, Gift Academy realize this fact.]
[The world’s attention towards you has been generated.]
[Current attention level is ‘Person of Interest’.]
Phew!
Not a single one got away; I finally caught them all.
“I’m sorry, Di… I can’t believe so many lives were taken because of me. If it weren’t for the explosive waves that made handling gunpowder impossible…”
“It’s okay. I should help when Arcadia is in trouble. After all, I owe you a lot from that tea party, right?”
“Di…!”
Thud!
Arcadia holds my face in a hug.
The soft feeling of her squishy chest presses against my cheek, and I can even smell her scent wafting through the haze.
The rewards I couldn’t claim during my male character days come flooding back to me now.
“If we stay here any longer, we’ll get caught by the royal investigation team. If we head back to the academy, we can brush off any annoying issues under its name, so let’s hurry and move. We can talk in detail afterwards.”
Gulp!
Jazel, who had been looking at me with a face full of things to say, composed her feelings.
*
Just how strong would Oknodie become if they got serious?
It was a question that many students quietly harbored.
Jazel witnessed the answer today.
Puff!
The indoor fog was thick.
The rain poured, creating a fog.
I overcame the dual hindrance to visibility.
A magical tool reserved for true magnates among merchants to sense magical substances.
The [Limited Absolute Vision] provided by this tool perfectly revealed the battle beyond the fog.
He saw it.
Every magical substance manifested and every movement aimed at taking each other’s lives.
Oknodie’s malicious intelligence overwhelmed the opponent by crafting a false body and completely toying with them.
‘How terrifying. The child’s sincerity is at this level.’
He felt fear.
If that talent were used for killing arts…
If it targeted not just one person but many…
Anyone who wasn’t a competent person capable of thoroughly defending against external mana intrusion would take damage.
It wasn’t just the wizard handling practical magic but Oknodie, who effortlessly absorbed everything with their quick wit, that was more frightening.
What lay beyond this was truly terrifying.
With Oknodie achieving this level of accomplishment against practical magicians, the professors at the academy were top-tier experts, acknowledged as the best in their fields worldwide.
If Oknodie absorbed all their world-class knowledge, how strong would they become?
How dangerous would they be?
What kind of havoc could they wreak?
It hinted at a future too terrible to imagine.
It’s understandable now why the Foundation sent Oknodie to the academy.
Even I, who doesn’t know much, feel a palpable fear with just vague speculations; what might the Eye of the Foundation see?
What kind of future is being envisioned?
‘I must never let Oknodie return to the Foundation.’
Now, that sentiment stemmed no longer from mere anger but from fear.
*
Having taken a step toward the abyss, I returned safely.
The Professor Destroyer, seeing the hidden treasure packed in the magic backpack, called his subordinates, who began appraising the numerous properties through emotion.
One gold coin: 100 points.
Equestrian Statue: 3850 points.
Crown adorned with fake gems: 15 points.
Cha-ching!
The points stacked gradually, sometimes slowly and sometimes steeply, displaying the total appraised value on the magical panel.
The slave ledger containing the Sebiche family’s wealth.
Its value is 500,000 points.
After deducting Jazel’s 200,000 points payment, we need a total of 300,000 points.
115,000.
177,500.
244,900.
Once in a while, a windfall raised the price, but it reached a point of stagnation and froze at 290,000 points.
“It’s insufficient. We need 10,000 more points. Can you pay for it?”
“…No. I don’t have that many points.”
“Then the deal falls through.”
300,000 points.
A total of 3,000 gold coins.
That means three boxes full of gold coins.
Of course, the Sebiche family’s hidden wealth couldn’t be so meager as to not handle that amount.
The issue was the items categorized under [Transaction Refusal].
“Thieves handle spoils. But professors at the academy cannot deal with spoils. If this item would create a significant political controversy, even more so.”
It would have been better if there were three boxes stacked neatly filled with gold. Instead, the Sebiche Ducal House foolishly kept their gold in items that were lighter and easier to store rather than boxes.
The Thief Guild, brought in by Professor Destroyer, assessed the origins of those items and firmly stated, “These are goods that were transported from a merchant ship raided by pirates. If we dig into the source of the precious metals, we might get tracked.”
In an age when various magical investigations are possible, one shouldn’t haphazardly collect questionable items.
Thus, the Thief Guild placed most items under ‘non-negotiable’ status, leading to a problem where there were convertible items not recognized for points.
“Jazel.”
“I’m sorry. It burdens me as well.”
If we had ample time, there might be a way to launder it into safe funds, but right now, there wasn’t time.
“Still, if it’s worthwhile, I can buy it at one-hundredth of its market value. What do you think?”
“One-hundredth, that feels like robbery…!”
“It’s still stolen goods. You don’t have much say having brought dirty items, do you?”
Sniff!
Jazel’s eyes were filled with tears at the appraiser’s words, feeling wronged.
That was a million-point item!
That would translate to 10,000 gold coins.
That meant having ten boxes filled to the brim with gold.
That amount wouldn’t even fit into a single chest.
And now they wanted to settle for 10,000 points?!
Considering the safety guaranteed by the academy, she knew she shouldn’t get caught up in this stuff, but it was impossible to not feel regret and anger.
“Don’t make the deal!”
Tip-toe!
The little Agassi on the side piped up while stretching to look over the table.
“Aren’t you the little girl? Didn’t anyone teach you not to interfere in adults’ business?”
“Enough. She’s my apprentice.”
“I-I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude to Professor Destroyer’s apprentice…”
Gulp!
The appraiser lost confidence and started glancing around nervously.
Professor Destroyer showed interest.
“If the professor had given a little more consideration, I would have let it go, but knocking off a hundred times is just too much.”
“If you block the deal, is there an alternative?”
“I’ll just pay the 10,000 points myself!”
Thump!
Jazel felt a mix of gratitude and guilt.
She couldn’t rely on Oknodie any further.
“Di. You don’t have to go that far. After all, it’s wealth built on malice; even if we lost everything, it would be karma. If I think of it as an opportunity to start anew, even spending a massive fortune wouldn’t be excessive.”
Arcadia Sebiche.
No matter how fallen she was, she wouldn’t go so far as to borrow a child’s points.
However, Oknodie was no ordinary child.
“It’s okay, I’m telling you.”
“I feel too sorry for you.”
“If that’s the case, just do me one favor.”
“A favor?”
“Later, whatever favor I ask, you have to grant it. Deal?”
“Wow, you have such deep consideration.”
Tear drop!
I couldn’t hold back my tears.
Our small hands clasped tightly together.
“Okay. I promise. I’ll definitely grant whatever favor you ask, Di.”
In the end, I couldn’t resist Oknodie’s insistence and accepted her help.
“Here, 10,000 points. It’s paid, right?”
“…Checked all 500,000 points. The ledger is now yours. How you use the Sebiche family’s legacy is up to you.”
The fate of the family was now in her hands.
Selling it abroad could fetch a fortune.
Showing copies to the elders of the family could earn their loyalty.
The ledger she held could become a priceless weapon, worth more than tens of millions depending on how she used it.
Yet her eyes drifted elsewhere instead of to the ledger.
“Huh…?”
She glimpsed Oknodie’s magic watch by chance.
While adjusting the watch to pay the points, something caught her eye.
But… Oknodie had a lot of points.
Enough to pay what was necessary and still have plenty left over.
Way too much.
An absurd amount.
Ding-ding-ding!
A whopping figure in the hundreds of thousands!
