<290 - The Hidden Mouse>
Jiang secretly roamed the cruise ship, deep in thought. A fortune was mobilized that could easily take the head of an academy professor just with the operation of the cruise ship. What on earth was the foundation thinking by making such an enormous expenditure?
Money = Power in this world. The foundation is not an organization that indulges in luxury and waste.
“The motto of the Wahyhiemhai Foundation is extreme efficiency.”
Unnecessary impurities and the fallen are all disposed of under harsh ‘orders.’ Only those who withstand these strenuous commands and prove their worth can retain their positions. In this light, it becomes clear that there’s something at stake in this cruise trip equal to the head of a professor.
“Was it a point auction? An attempt to gauge the taste and selection criteria of the future titan of the continent, Warrior Ishtar?”
At first, Jiang thought it was just that. The only high-value dignitaries invited aboard this ship were the Warrior and the Second Princess of the Empire. It wasn’t until after the fifth day of the auction that Jiang realized his mistake. There was a real titan hidden here.
Oknodie. The Chief Scholarship Student of the Foundation. A genius with the best talent the organization has acquired—one that could rival even the greatest of warriors.
“Would you all like to come over to my house?”
“If not, I guess there’s nothing to be done! But my Papa prepared a special gift for friends, so they’d be missing out!”
“I heard it’s a very special gift! I was told everyone would surely be delighted. If you don’t receive it in time, you’ll regret it terribly!”
While persuading Dorothy, Oknodie mentioned that Papa had prepared gifts. A request to invite friends, which was essentially an order.
Who would consider the request of a competent person controlling countless scholarship students with orders that dictate the continent as merely a request?
“Do you know how to raise an elephant in a circus?”
One day, when Professor Sadako had chased after a ghost on a dark road, she taught him how to escape without falling.
“An elephant sold to the circus from a very young age is tied to a stake. The young elephant tries to pull away but cannot uproot the stake and eventually becomes submissive in despair.”
“I can’t uproot the stake. If I cause a ruckus, I’ll be tormented with burning skewers. I dislike experiences that only bring pain without results.”
“That grown elephant lives tied to the stake, never realizing its true strength and constantly fearing pain.”
Titosso asked with a bright face.
“What does that have to do with us?”
“The soul chasing you is the vengeful spirit of an elephant that died crushed in a burning barn after being tied to a stake. If caught, you’ll be flattened.”
“Uwaah!”
“…”
Titosso’s foolish cry was irrelevant; Professor Sadako’s story served as a lesson. Even an elephant, which could easily kill a person by stepping on them, can be stripped of its aggression by its caretaker since childhood.
Oknodie was experiencing something similar. She was being gaslit by the foundation. Just like the elephant tied to a stake. Like an elephant that suffers pain when it resists. She must harbor the fear of being sold off to the Light Stand while growing up bound to the foundation.
It would, of course, be impossible for her to refuse Papa’s ‘request.’
With friends brought along, the princess realized that everyone else was just baggage, thinking the real goal was to draw out the warrior. But Jiang’s thought process was the opposite. The warrior was just a bonus, while the true objective lay with Oknodie and her close associates.
At least that was how Jiang felt about the foundation’s director and Oknodie’s Papa’s intentions.
“Could something like threatening to sell Oknodie to the Light Stand truly act as a stake like the elephant’s?”
There’s no way. That girl is strong. Even if she genuinely believed those words, she was clearly aware of how useful and strong she was. She wouldn’t even worry about facing a future where she became useless and was disposed of.
So what would Oknodie’s stake be? A stake embodies a person’s fear. It shackles even massive strength like an elephant. What is she holding back against?
Jiang already knew the answer.
“Friends.”
If the foundation also knows this fact, then this is a place to firmly plant a new stake. It’s a threat from the foundation’s Papa aimed at Oknodie.
Friends formed over the past six months. The foundation already has leverage over all of them. They could reveal anyone’s weaknesses, shaking a person’s relationships whenever they want.
“Oknodie.”
“Yeah?”
“Am I a hindrance too?”
He didn’t want to be a stone in their path. So, he needed her to say it. That she needed his help.
“Hmm. Jiang is strong but…”
“…”
“I wonder how it’ll go~?”
“…”
“It feels like it might work, but maybe not?”
Who is she trying to tease right now? Jiang glared intently, and Oknodie flinched and quickly replied.
“Just stay and watch over me!”
He did it. He was acknowledged. Jiang felt true joy. An assassin shouldn’t express too many emotions, or they’d get killed. But he couldn’t suppress the grin that slipped out.
“I’ve stayed on this uninhabited island longer than Hestia, Son Ohchun, and Jezel.”
Among those who Oknodie trusted and followed, shouldn’t this mean he was the most dependable?
That’s surely the meaning. Even if it isn’t, he would interpret it that way. With confidence swelling within him!
However, there was something in Oknodie’s words that bothered him.
“Not ‘protect me’, but ‘watch over me’?”
“Yeah. Just watch!”
Indeed, being chosen as a trusted comrade was a fact. But the nuance was different. It meant she allowed him to observe her actions instead of being a comrade by her side.
“Just endure as much as you can!”
She even entertained the thought that he might fall behind at some point. While better than other comrades, it still indicated he wasn’t yet good enough to stand alongside her.
His pride was hurt. He was the successor of the only living Death Thief, notorious among the continent’s teens. He could even hide from warriors and professor-class figures, as well as outmaneuver the watchful eye of Jonnas Wahyhiemhai, yet that was not enough?
He knew Oknodie was strong. But this felt a bit excessive. He couldn’t accept it.
Frustration. Or perhaps resistance would be an appropriate term for the feeling rising inside him.
“Hmph. Until you say you need help first, I’ll just watch.”
Vowing to collect Oknodie’s half-hearted apology, Jiang stealthily retreated into the shadows.
“Squeak!”
“…?”
At that moment, Jiang spotted a tiny mouse gnawing on a rock near the shadows.
[Blue Metal Mouse]
[It constantly gnaws on solid materials and mana-infused substances to enhance the purity and efficacy of the rare metal that makes up its body.]
It was a rare monster he learned about from the academy’s demonic beast studies class. If spotted one, he could feel like he’d scored a win with rare metal, but spotting two meant staying tense, and three meant running for his life.
The reason was simple. The targets of the Blue Metal Mouse’s teeth go beyond living beings to include objects.
Crunch
Ignoring the resistance at the dagger’s tip, he struck down the mouse just as it dove into the crack under the rock.
“Squeak?”
“Squeak squeak?”
“Squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak!”
Not three, but dozens of them.
With the countless presences of Blue Metal Mice emanating from the island’s surface, Jiang realized the true meaning of Oknodie’s words to watch over her until she could endure the auction.
This auction site grows increasingly dangerous to endure on the uninhabited island as time passes.
*
“Hey, sir. Aren’t you sad you left early?”
“I already purchased the product that came before me in the line and escaped. I have no reason to be sad.”
Though Jezel spoke nonchalantly before Son Ohchun, he couldn’t shake the feeling of relief as he watched the scene reflected in the [Spy Doll] left behind on the island.
Blue Metal Mouse.
Had he spent the night on an island where such vicious predators lurked? If dozens of them burst forth from underfoot, it would be tough to preserve his life.
“They’ve detected mana and emerged.”
The cute little doll scurried busily across the island, observing how the mice flooded into the terrain where combat had occurred between participants or the remnants of Rosgini’s flames.
If the mice began to follow human mana like that, soon there would be a confrontation between humans and Blue Metal Mice.
Once may be manageable; they might win the fight. But if that conflict leaves more traces of mana, drawing more mice from beneath the island?
It could turn into a desperate situation where they’d plead to be returned to the cruise ship, swarmed by a horde of mice.
“Our little lady sending us off first might’ve been a consideration for the weaker ones among us.”
While he was thankful for her thoughtfulness, Jezel was still worried.
Oknodie had already engaged in battle with the Masugaki Princess. This meant she had been selected as the ‘target’ for the mice.
With this, Oknodie and the princess would naturally be chased by more mice and tire out faster than the warrior.
If he didn’t devise some clever plan, the next lifeboat trip to the cruise ship might just end up being with the princess’s team and Oknodie’s team.
“Let’s have faith. Our little lady will endure just fine. We’ll do our best where we stay,” Jezel concluded.
Utilizing the insight and calculations of a merchant, Jezel started rummaging through the food storage with Son Ohchun, checking the cargo list and quantities.
As they opened a food container, the Jigoku Pirate Group, gathered around a lantern playing poker, appeared.
“…So, mice aren’t the only ones lurking on this uninhabited island, huh?”
