Chapter 236 – The Composed Child
9 AM.
If it were any other day, it would be time for the first lecture to begin.
As I turned my steps toward a place without students to start my delightful blood-drawing event, someone called out to me.
“Hey, Little Mouse!”
“Oh, Mr. Ohchun?”
“Where are you trying to go again?”
“I have somewhere to be for a bit!”
“You said that, but you didn’t even participate in yesterday’s desk toss competition.”
“Oops! I forgot!”
“You’re lying. With your good memory, you couldn’t possibly have forgotten.”
Ohchun came firmly prepared for a confrontation.
His expression hinted that if he let Oknodie go like this, he’d be facing something worse than death!
“Is it because you can sense it? The nasty things they’re saying about you.”
“What does it matter? I could skip one or two matches.”
“The you I know would never do that.”
“Why would you know anything about me, Mr. Ohchun?”
“Lately, I’ve been thinking I may not know much about you, but I definitely know you love to play.”
Ohchun’s voice oozed with confidence.
“Gathering stones. Collecting insects. Building sandcastles. Playing hide and seek.”
“!”
“You’re having all this fun while others are grinding away in training, and you’d never skip desk tossing? I don’t buy it!”
Well, speaking like that leaves me speechless.
It’s true I wasn’t just goofing off.
What I did with the sand was serious business.
Hidden trigger sandcastle building was all about finding the hidden items buried in the sandy beach faster.
The moment I built a magnificent castle, buried treasure chests would magically rise, giving off the impression that my hard work was just child’s play.
“What else could it be? If that wasn’t just play, was there some training involved?”
“Ah, still! It has nothing to do with you, Mr. Ohchun!”
“Isabel is worried, you know?”
“Ugh.”
“That girl even packed a lunch for you, working tirelessly as an underworld chef to experiment with a variety of recipes, collecting all sorts of ingredients from the forest.”
“If she’d told me in the dormitory, I would have stopped by earlier…”
“Are you whispering while sneaking out through the vents right now?”
Tch. A monkey humanoid who has a way with words, I couldn’t even argue.
“Well, I understand you might have your reasons. So, tell me.”
“… Do I really have to?”
“If you don’t, just watch how Isabel sulks and feels gloomy, saying she no longer wants to eat the meal she made for you, until the sports day is over.”
Urgh… That’s such a low blow.
Pretending to be pitiful was my specialty!
But when it comes to Isabel, what can I do?
“Okay, okay… I’ll tell you.”
Thinking about Isabel’s suffering, I whispered softly to Ohchun what I had been up to.
“I’ve been gathering blood.”
“Blood?”
“With this.”
Invisible lift.
As I sent a signal, a squad of invisible mosquitoes flying around the area became visible.
“Mosquitoes?”
“Yup.”
“You?”
“Yup.”
“Mosquitoes?”
I demonstrated for Ohchun, who could hardly believe it after asking for the umpteenth time.
“Mosquito, bark!”
“Why-ink!”
“Mosquito, sting!”
The mosquito squad poked the stone Ohchun pointed at, using their sharp proboscis repeatedly.
His blank expression as he stared at the stone riddled with holes was quite humorous.
Since his reaction was so good, should I give him a little treat?
“Mosquito, fire!”
Bang!
The mosquito squad, activated with Bloody Boost, fired a stream of compressed blood like bullets from a machine gun at the stone.
The poor stone couldn’t withstand the destructive force and crumbled to dust, leaving Ohchun stammering and asking.
“So, you mean you bit people with this?”
“Yup!”
“How many did you kill?”
His face was devoid of humor, dead serious.
*
When Ohchun kept droning on about mosquitoes, I thought he was delirious, bitten in his sleep. But believing it might be worth it, I followed him, only to discover there really were mosquitoes.
Under Oknodie’s command, they approached students stealthily to suck their blood—blood-thieving mosquitoes.
“Aren’t those kids getting a bit too pitiful?”
A knight student subconsciously sensed the invisible mosquitoes and swatted away multiple mosquito bites in quick succession.
The furious mosquitoes retaliated, launching Bloody Missiles, causing a startled student to trip and fall.
While on the ground, the mosquitoes quickly sucked up blood from the student’s wrist.
Staring at their crimson bodies, I was at a loss for words.
Like primitive people hunting mammoths or elephants with spears.
“Before discussing hunting methods, I’m more worried about the targeted students. Look closely.”
At Jezel’s careful observation, Isabel and Ohchun suddenly realized something.
“They’re trying to harm the other students.”
“Little Mouse… Were you protecting everyone?”
I thought she had fled, scared of being slandered, but it turned out she had been safeguarding them all along.
Isabel was already tearing up, and seeing Jezel comforting her made Ohchun’s heart swell with emotion.
“Little Mouse, it’s okay now. The Dark Trading Company guys and I will help out, so leave the back to us and go play, alright?”
“Eh? No way. This is more cost-effective for me!”
“Stop with that cost-effectiveness nonsense. Saying that your sacrifice will make everyone else happy is pointless. If kids like you can’t enjoy the sports day without a sacrifice, they should just drop out of the Academy.”
“Sigh. Fine. Just please check around Arcadia. They seem to swarm that area in particular.”
A rush of emotions echoed again.
To think Arcadia, often treated as obsolete, was being secretly defended!
Even Ohchun quietly turned his head and wiped his eyes.
“?”
Oh, confused Oknodie looked as Isabel grabbed their hand.
“Let’s go, Oknodie. The paper airplane throwing competition is still left. Let’s do it together.”
“Do you really want to?”
“Yeah. I really want to.”
“Hehe. If Isabel wants to, I can’t help it. Today, I’ll play along with you specially.”
As the two walked away, Jezel quietly spoke up.
“Oh, Mr. Ohchun. To catch the students the mosquitoes were harassing, a somewhat violent approach would be needed. If the Student Council finds out, there might be penalties. Will you still help?”
“Of course. Don’t you see how pitiful Little Mouse is? No matter how strong that little one is, it seems they don’t know the joys of life; it breaks my heart. If I can help out like this, it’s actually a welcome change.”
The two men made a pact.
They would somehow deal with the unruly students that Oknodie was tracking along with the Dark Trading Company.
*
Paper airplane throwing duel arena.
The lower class students who came in hopes of an easy win were left speechless at the spectacle that unfolded before them.
“Why are missiles coming out of paper airplanes?”
“AAAH! My airplane was shot down!”
“The little buggers with no sense of decency… Did they really have to inscribe firebomb techniques on their planes?”
“Just use 3-stage acceleration to escape.”
“Who doesn’t know how to inscribe defensive spells here?”
The students faced a dismal competition, caught in a cruel grand showdown where products hitting a total of 10 billion were being tested!
The dazzling flight shows of the competent folks had all of them on edge, especially with Oknodie’s appearance making the tension rise further.
“Not even upperclassmen are this wild. Just how good is Oknodie?”
“Surprisingly, this might be doable. Oknodie may have just come out for fun.”
“Has anyone seen Oknodie in any other events this sports day?”
“I feel like this is the first time their face has shown up in the event reports. Is that right?”
Individual event categories weren’t the large-scale competitions where hundreds of students were lined up to compete at once.
Instead, it was a system that held competitions in increments of 5 to 10 students, filling one group up at a time!
“Ugh. If you see a powerful competitor, just back off.”
“I thought that the Fire Mage Rosgini would burn up their own paper airplane first, but they ended up getting first place after roasting everything in flames…”
“When it rains, just avoid it.”
Watching each other carefully, the students started to withdraw their feet from the participant line.
Isabel, who had held Oknodie’s hand and stepped in, felt a twinge of guilty feelings.
“Sorry, Oknodie. I should have waited a bit longer before jumping in.”
“It’s fine. The longer we think about what spell to inscribe, the better.”
Isabel’s guilt deepened.
Such a bright and thoughtful child.
Anyone else would feel discouraged with no competitor showing up and all the eyes avoiding them, yet they instead comfort her with mature words.
Who’s the kid and who’s the adult at this point?
“Hey, first year. It looks like you’re in trouble with no opponent around. How about a match with us? We can compete among ourselves if we agree mutually.”
During their preparation, a voice called out to them.
Peeking beyond the paper airplanes, two second years, adorned with cloaks, welcomed them.
