<118 - A Reaction That Shouldn’t Be Seen>
A week that felt like a nightmare had passed for the freshmen.
[Weekly Event [Heavy Rain Week] completed.]
[Survival Bonus: 100 points awarded.]
“Wow!! This is worth it!!”
“Now we can finally buy food!!”
The lower class students cheered.
So, the weekly events aren’t all bad!
But as a veteran player, I trembled in fear.
“Akaidia unni, please, for the love of all that’s good, do NOT have tea time at the outdoor tables this week.”
“Oh dear! Didn’t you miss our tea time together? Now you find it bothersome and annoying? Sob sob.”
“Ahh, it’s not that! It’s about safety!”
Akaidia, pretending to cry, finally lifted her head from her hands.
“Safety? Is there something more dangerous than the giant king crabs roaming around last week?”
“Rain is scary when it falls, but it’s even scarier afterward!”
Having lived by the sea all year round, Akaidia seemed to barely empathize since she was a water-type character, but this place was nestled near mountains.
You can’t just say “the water flows down from the Maritime Power” like in the Kingdom of Florence—there’s a harsh reality here!
“Hello, everyone. I hope you all had a good week! But, honestly, whether you did or not doesn’t matter much, does it? You’re just helpless first-years, so think that you did well!”
Monday first period homeroom time.
The shapeshifter Professor Mahabharata burst into laughs at everyone’s attire.
“Oh, and this week, there’s a new weekly event [Beware of Mosquitoes] so do be cautious when going outside! Didn’t you learn about the scary mosquitoes during the entrance exam?”
The students grimaced, remembering how the mosquitoes had almost prevented them from using the magic circle.
But even they didn’t truly grasp the real fear of the [Mosquito Warning].
“Oknodie. They say a swarm of mosquitoes is coming.”
“That’s great! I’m glad I stocked up on mosquito repellent. I think business will do well this week.”
“Tch. No fun at the mountains. Guess I’ll have to save the bananas for later.”
The comrades just spouted nonsense.
Their eyes turned to the Eastern Swordsman Sing, who had shot up from his seat by the window.
He wasn’t the only one focused on him.
In the upper class, the most taciturn one, Sing, reacting so vehemently stirred everyone’s interest.
“Did he forget to turn off the water in the bathroom?”
“He might have forgotten an assignment.”
“Maybe he’s thinking of a girlfriend he left back home? That guy, while gruff, is quite handsome.”
Sadly, all their guesses went sideways.
“It’s a swarm of mosquitoes!!!”
“Whaaat?!”
They were shocked to see a massive swarm of mosquitoes flying in from outside the window, ones the size of fists.
*
There’s a saying by a British economist that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
The Dragon Principal was no different.
He didn’t bear any ill will.
Rather, his concern for the students moved him, leading Professor Mahabharata to harbor doubts once again.
“Why have you summoned the mosquito swarm this time, Principal?”
“After a flood, pests and contagions are bound to arise, so while we purify the facilities and carry out pest control, it would be a nuisance for the new students to roam about carelessly.”
“Your intentions are always commendable, but it’s just too much of a burden for the students.”
The Dragon Principal had his fair share of words too.
“If they can’t endure that, do they really have the qualification to be in the best educational institution in the world?”
That relentless talk of “the best in the world” never ceases.
Has this Dragon forgotten that he once expelled the world’s greatest villain from his academy?
“Should I remind you of the student who, under your guidance back in the early days of the academy, grew to become a proper Demon King?”
“Oh come on, that was a first-time play! Everyone stumbles and learns from their mistakes!”
The Principal dismissed it lightly.
Mahabharata agreed.
Regardless of the situation, the Principal had become quite humane over the millennium.
Once, he had barged into the royal palace demanding treasure, breaking towers, stealing princesses, and raiding granaries to fill his horde—he was the original Dragon.
But this time, he seemed quite passionate about these “games” and played the educator’s role.
“Still, for the sake of the students, could you handle it with care so they don’t perish? There’s a guardians’ observation meeting once a month; if students are dying and vacant desks are adorned with flower vases, what thoughts do you think will arise?”
“This generation truly is weak?”
“…They would think you’re a cruel dragon torturing students to death.”
“I can’t agree with that!”
The Principal blew up in a fiery rage.
“Even now, I’m straining not to torment the freshmen like fourth-years!”
“…I would appreciate it if you could continue to hold back from now on.”
Mahabharata sincerely requested as the head of the first-year students, not just as a Dragon Guardian.
*
Weekly events.
This event, decided each week by the Principal’s whims, can lead to character declines or rises.
Yet, if one plays favorites and distances oneself from the disadvantaged while clustering around the advantaged, the player’s reputation plummets.
Nurturing relationships regularly and not abandoning comrades in dire straits is a code that’s hard to keep in the hands of new players but revered as golden advice for those somewhat skilled in navigating the academy.
As the elemental rotation shifts this week from the electricity-heavy, fire-weak attributes last week to being strong in fire and weak in water, seasoned players had their own strategies:
Instead of constantly following elemental characters, they’d select a few attributes to nurture like a farmer sowing seeds, all that knowledge accumulated through repeated exposure to the events!
Among the vast number of weekly events, analyzing which ones are statistically more likely to occur and where the Principal’s interests tend to lean is a strategy revered by high-level players.
But as for veteran players, they aren’t particularly concerned; they just raise the comrades they want to grow!
Why? Because they’ll overcome whatever event comes their way through their own capability!
At this point, they might focus solely on a combat warrior like Yusuh and exclusively raise power-type comrades, or gather party members solely based on charm like a flower garden.
Though there are occasionally truly insane players formulating parties titled [Even a Fool Could Figure It Out], I would never dare to participate after seeing their V-tube videos—they’re far too terrifying!
‘Jigoku may be part of that party, but surprisingly, he’s the mildest among them.’
Fortunately, the party I’ve concocted consists of the [Entrance Exam Party] and the [Group Project Outcast Party]—there’s absolutely no chance of getting kidnapped and stuck under a crazy psycho lesbian in the classroom!
I just have to calmly prepare to fend off mosquitoes and get through the week.
“Mosquitoes are scarier than assignments…”
“Just when I finish one assignment, another pops up. Finish that one, and yet another new assignment arises. I keep finishing them, only for yet another assignment to land on my desk…”
“Do those imperial fellows learn such things from childhood as early education? They’re admirable.”
While students are busy drowning in assignments regardless of weekly events, it’s now time for Oknodie to step up.
The [Entrance Exam Party] which consists of Jezel, Isabel, Son Ohchun, and Dorothy is fortunate enough that Jezel has brought mosquito repellent!
But the [Group Project Outcast Party] made up of Hestia, Jigoku, Lotto, and myself has 0 mosquito deterrents!
A physical party with a warrior, a trigger-happy member, and a fighter, all lacking elemental mana attack methods—the tragic fate of pure physical characters.
So it’s time for the all-purpose magic swordsman Oknodie to step in!
“Oknodie, did you hear? Today in the 3rd period during [Fundamentals and Understanding of Mana Usage] we’ll finally learn magic!”
“Can’t wait to learn!”
“Seriously! Just wait for it, Oknodie!”
Given Jonnas’s urging, it’s time to finally unleash those magic skills I had kept sealed until now.
*
Professor Bronze wasn’t pleased with the state of mind of his promising disciples during the lecture.
“Oknodie, first-year. What was the purpose of today’s lecture regarding the value of paintings?”
“Rich households use paintings for money laundering; there are paintings of real value and those that aren’t, as well as genuine and counterfeit ones—it’s essential to discern between them!”
“Your answers flow easily even while your mind wanders. Is the lecture boring?”
Oknodie, taken aback, quickly denied it.
“No, not at all!”
“Then focus properly. You don’t need to concentrate as hard as those boys there, but at least pretend to listen attentively.”
Professor Bronze had prepared his lecture quite ambitiously.
Knowing that typical paintings would bore the students, he had collected various nude artworks of scantily clad men and women.
Among them were cheap spring paintings, nude studies with pro models, and even masterpieces famous for their nudity.
The main age range of freshmen at the academy is between 18 and 20, when one’s eyes are wide open to the opposite sex.
They could well be hitched already, bearing their first child, living in life’s roles.
Regardless of experience, this age yearns for interest in the naked body of the opposite sex, yet Oknodie, seemingly too young, showed hardly any.
“Wow, what an outfit! They wear those at pubs, huh?”
“I’m starting to drool… Hehhhh…”
“Bixton, can you stop glancing at the picture and imagining everyone naked?”
“N-No! When did I do that?!”
Today too, they just wished to hurry up, become a couple, and get over that sweet stage to face the dreaded ‘relationship fatigue’ in their second year, the duo Bixton and Lizna.
“Oh wow… It really was true what unni said. So many boys are flocking around. The more revealing the clothes, the more popular one gets… Maybe I should wear something like that?”
Today again, Titosso, revealing her naive emotions, was swayed by her sister’s comments, evoking sympathy.
“More revealing than the southern dancers. The paintings of shirtless men are just something else.”
She tried to feign indifference, but could not hide her flushed face—Isabel, a first-year, fell victim to the atmosphere.
Such were the reactions of most students.
That’s normal.
It was Oknodie’s rather composed reaction that stood out as strange.
“Tsk.”
If you exclude the first-year Sing, who clearly seemed like a sociopath with his focus entirely on swords and combat, everyone else found Oknodie’s reaction unfathomably strange.
“Oknodie, could it be that you’re not unable to focus, but rather accustomed to this kind of artwork?”
There was neither a blush like the shy type who’d seen such things for the first time, nor a squeamish response.
Instead, it was a perplexing demeanor, as if observing something below standard with disregard.
Testing the waters, the professor asked, but the response was alarming.
“Wow. How did you know?”
Once again, I mention the collection Professor Bronze had meticulously curated was enough to raise the students’ temperature and bolster their focus with its erotic appeal—albeit not actual sex scenes, they were sexy enough to meet the desires of anyone except a bloodthirsty psycho.
If a ten-year-old girl displayed indifference or adaptation to such images, that was concerning.
“Have you seen worse than this?”
“Ah.”
Oknodie, who had been answering casually, suddenly cast anxious glances around her.
“Professor… You’re not going to scold me for seeing naughty pictures too early, are you…?”
The only thing worse than the collection she had brought to class was to have seen actual sex scenes or countless images so often that all shame had faded into oblivion.
And all that at the tender age of ten.
How had she stumbled upon such experiences?
Every thought led back to unfortunate circumstances.
Born as the child of a brothel?
Or perhaps someone had introduced her to prostitution at a very young age, giving her a ‘field trip’ to its reality?
In a world where 15 is legally acceptable for marriage, ten is far too young.
Especially given that she was a girl, not a boy.
This bordered on coercion—implying she would one day engage in such activities herself or could easily fall into that life.
“…I ask just one favor from my students. Could you keep this incident regarding Oknodie a secret? It’s for the sake of the young student’s honor.”
Nodding solemnly and promising to keep it confidential, the students’ faces turned serious.
But as the situation grew graver, Professor Bronze’s expression stiffened even further.
Oknodie’s educator.
Patron of talented thieves.
An organization notorious for threatening a child with eventual descent into a brothel if their whims were not followed.
“Was it called the Wiheomhae Foundation?”
Justice-fueled rage swelled within him.
The next target of the rogue was decided in that moment.
