<279 - Boarding Ticket>
Titosso was fiddling with a golden boarding ticket.
“This, you know. Why do they give you a ticket when boarding a ship? As a souvenir or something?”
“Well, there’s probably a reason for everything. Just don’t lose it. I have a bad feeling about it.”
Arcadia felt an uneasy premonition. Being from the maritime nation of the Kingdom of Florence, she had a better understanding of the ship’s value compared to the other students.
This cruise ship was too massive. It was excessively large for just over a hundred students.
“Arcadia, you’re not enjoying yourself at all. We’re on this fancy ship!”
“Tito, have you ever counted how many crew members there are going back and forth?”
“Not at all?”
“There are over two hundred.”
“Wow, that’s a lot!”
“That’s just on the deck we’re staying on.”
“…Isn’t this ship huge besides the deck?”
“Are you starting to get it now?”
There’s no such thing as a generous investment without reason. Especially when the other party is a foundation.
“They’re currently making an investment. An extravagant one that we can’t handle. And the bigwigs are confident they can definitely recoup this investment somehow.”
“…I’m starting to feel a little scared of this ship.”
“Now can you see why I’m not using the amenities on this cruise ship carelessly?”
Titosso, nodding repeatedly with a frightened expression, looked like a small animal shivering from a predator, but it was better to scare someone like Titosso who lacked caution just enough.
With a firm scare established, Arcadia’s eyes narrowed as she stared intensely at the ticket under the light.
“Tito, can you show me your boarding ticket for a moment?”
“Here…”
“Just as I expected.”
“Is there something on the ticket?”
“The number has changed.”
“Huh?”
“The ticket number. It’s an identification number to ascertain boarding passengers. Do you really think a boarding ticket, whose number should never change, just changes randomly?”
“Absolutely not!”
“I think I need to visit Oknodie once.”
If they just stayed put, they would get entangled in an uncontrollable situation.
Arcadia sensed that ominous feeling.
“Hello, popular Agassi ♡”
“…Masugaki Princess.”
“Do you want to see this~?”
Masugaki pressed a button on some kind of toy shaped like a gun that she had brought from somewhere.
Bang bang bang bang bang!
Seeing bills being shot out in rapid succession from the barrel made Titosso’s eyes go wide.
“Wow! Money is coming out!”
“Hee hee. This is called a money gun♡ Isn’t it a fun toy~?”
“…You’re not saying it’s real money, right?”
“Actually, it is~? I’ve even had cocktails with this♡”
Arcadia’s ominous premonition intensified.
“If it’s not too much trouble, can I see your boarding ticket?”
“Hmmm~? Is there something on the boarding ticket~?”
“If you show me, I’ll share information with you.”
“Should I show it then♡?”
“Y-Your Highness, it’s not wise to hand your belongings over so easily to someone from the border region…”
“Cheddar~?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Don’t mess around♡”
With a single word from the princess, Cheddar Potato Pizza grimaced and shut his mouth.
She was no ordinary princess, indeed.
“Your Highness.”
“Can I call you Masugaki~?”
“Didn’t the boarding number start with a 1?”
Masugaki Princess answered cheerily at the boarding number that Arcadia pointed to.
“I don’t know♡”
“Even though it’s your ticket?”
“I don’t care if I don’t know that kind of stuff~?”
Well, for an imperial princess, a boarding ticket was just a trivial thing that could be reissued.
If it was a regular ticket, that is.
Noticing something in Arcadia’s attitude, the princess called over a passing crew member.
“Excuse me, staff~?”
“Did you call, guest?”
“I’d like to have my boarding ticket reissued~”
The crew member looked at Arcadia’s ticket and replied.
“If you already have a ticket, we recommend you handle your current ticket carefully.”
“What happens if you don’t have a ticket~?”
“You will lose your qualification as a guest, and you will not be able to use the services of our cruise ship.”
A smile appeared on Masugaki Princess’s face as if she had found a more amusing toy than the money gun.
“The foundation knows how to have fun, huh♡”
After sending the staff away, Masugaki Princess took Arcadia’s ticket and asked.
“What’s different from yours~?”
“The digits are all different. If I’m correct, this number corresponds to points, the currency needed to use services on the ship, linked to the academy’s point system.”
Hearing that, Masugaki Princess stared intently at the ticket and pressed the button on the money gun.
Click.
As several bills shot out, the boarding number spun like a roulette and decreased in value.
[Arcadia, No.00100015]
[Masugaki, No.00008743]
The smile blooming on Masugaki Princess’s face became noticeably stiff.
She felt a strange sense of danger from her actions.
*
“Didn’t something change?”
“What?”
“The students boarding the ship.”
Under the parasol, enjoying the sun, Rosgini looked over as Sandkooker lifted their head from rolling in a mound of sand.
The number of students, which had been plentiful until a moment ago, was now sparse.
“Maybe they went sightseeing on the ship. It’s such a big one.”
“Maybe. The weather is darkening, so we might as well head in; what do you think?”
“If I can’t enjoy sunbathing, there’s no reason to stay on deck. Let’s go together.”
Students came in from the shower booths, shaking off sand and salt, dispersing into various interesting places like the arcade or training room, while Rosgini and Sandkooker headed to the same location.
After enjoying their break, a magician’s place to go was certainly…
“Board games.”
“It’s board games.”
The two were headed to the lounge, holding playing cards.
Unlike complicated board games with hard-to-understand rules, playing cards were simple to play.
While they were deep into the card game, a student dashed through the hallway.
“How rude.”
“If it were the academy, they’d definitely get points deducted.”
As they criticized the unbecoming behavior of their classmate regardless of gender while enjoying the noble card game, an explosion echoed from somewhere on the ship.
“Oops.”
“Idiot.”
Sandkooker, who dropped their cards, shoved their head under the table.
Picking up the card that had fallen to the floor, they surprisedly lifted their head and bumped their head against the table.
“Are you really that dumb?”
“Ouch…”
While holding their head, Sandkooker couldn’t help but stay fixated.
Unbeknownst to them, across the table, Rosgini sat confidently in a swimsuit with just a gown, curling her legs under her and resting on the chair.
The way her gathered leg was slanted, with flesh pressing on her calves and thighs, was mesmerizing.
“The ship, it’s shaking, making it hard to hold on.”
“Truly foolish, aren’t you?”
Maybe they really were foolish.
What on earth am I doing?
Feeling an inexplicable self-loathing, Sandkooker tried to get up to leave the table when something fluttered down from above, gently landing on their hand.
“How many cards have fallen?”
“It’s not mine. It was under the table.”
Sandkooker placed the card on the table.
Rosgini looked on with curiosity.
“A hidden card from a con artist?”
“There’s no way there would be such an absurd denomination written on a card for a one-card game.”
[+10000]
What could this possibly mean?
As the inquisitive magician fiddled with the card, Rosgini blinked in surprise.
[+9000]
The number decreased.
What did I just do?
As they idly fiddled with the cards, they briefly considered if they could place it in the wallet where the boarding card was kept.
After stacking the cards again, the number decreased to 8000.
And when they placed the boarding card with it, it decreased further.
In contrast, the boarding card’s boarding number clearly increased.
[Rosgini, No.00102915]
“Sand, put that against your boarding card.”
The two realized this wasn’t just a simple boarding number.
“Could it be currency?”
“It must be similar to points.”
“What are you going to do, Rosgini?”
“I have to collect as many as possible. I’ve never lost out on points.”
Searching thoroughly for any hidden points, they found them in unexpected places.
From a fire hydrant, they extracted +5000 points, while from a shoe rack, they discovered +50 points; even finding +10000 points on the ceiling of a room that had its lights turned off.
“Is this for the service fee?”
“Probably.”
“Didn’t some kids also mention they were going to the first-class cabin?”
“There were quite a few. We were lucky we didn’t have to secure a cabin first since our luggage was light, and we just played on the deck.”
Still, suddenly curious, they pondered.
“What happens if the points run out?”
“Why bother thinking? Just ask an instructor or the crew member.”
True to the title of a wizard from the Red Magic Tower, Rosgini boldly approached the crew member and asked directly.
The crew member politely smiled and answered.
“You’ll be charged for any additional points consumed.”
“How?”
“You select items from the charge menu. Would you like to browse the menu for 1000 points?”
Unable to contain their curiosity, Sandkooker chimed in from behind.
“Let’s split it.”
“We’ll buy half each.”
Opening the charge menu, Sandkooker and Rosgini froze in astonishment.
━━━
Blood drawing 1ml for 10 points
Full service 100 points per hour
…
Breaking a finger joint 100 points per occurrence
Pulling a tooth 1000 points each
…
Receiving a scholarship from the foundation 100,000 points
Arranged marriage 1,000,000 points
━━━
The fun atmosphere vanished.
