<417 - Wild Thoughts>
“I asked the professor to let the Oknodie rescue team go on a search mission!”
“You mean you went all the way to the barrier without running into anyone…? What on earth did we even do…?”
While the defeated mob let out a weak sigh, I poked the sprawled-out Sing with a stick.
Why was Sing standing there like a deer in headlights while everyone else dodged, only to get swept away by the explosion across from Urgas, puffing out white steam and retiring?
“Sing. Are you alive?”
“…Barely.”
“Why didn’t you dodge? It was obvious they threw something dangerous. Even if an explosion happens in the transport hub, common sense says if the hub breaks, the explosion spreads nearby.”
“I knew that.”
Sing had no regrets about his foolishness.
“I couldn’t dodge because I knew.”
Hmm, is that it?
It’s not an explosion strong enough to take a direct hit, but it’s the stubbornness of a guy who can’t be satisfied unless he can take that much.
I really like Sing.
There’s no one like him with such spirit.
No matter how much he’s pushed, he sticks it out until he’s begging for his life, squeezing every bit of mana and willpower without a whimper.
Like an NPC who patiently invests time for revenge and grows steadily showing returns, there’s no man more admirable than that.
“Hehe. This is why I like Sing!”
“…!”
Mob behind me grumbles with a frustrated expression.
Well, Mob tried hard in their own way.
But still… the Upper Class and Lower Class are on different levels, aren’t they?
With Mob’s little stamina, it’s just not satisfactory.
I want a bold opponent who can handle a harder training course!
“Alright, everyone, let’s hurry back. There are still people that need rescuing. Do you know where Jiang and Irene went?”
“Before answering that question, there’s something you need to hear first.”
“Jigoku?”
“Was this your plan for the lecture from the start?”
“Huh?”
“Using a baby Kraken to call its mother and while everyone’s in chaos, infiltrating the Student Dormitory Zone. Did you even think for a second about how many people would get hurt or whether I’d worry?”
Sing isn’t easygoing, but Jigoku is really delving into the little things.
“Jigoku. I’ll tell you a good thing!”
“…What is it?”
“The Jigoku Pirate Group was originally a bunch of small fries. If the test had proceeded to the end, we would have gotten beaten up the moment the melee started.”
“…So?”
“If it’s going to be a mess anyway, wouldn’t it be more profitable to call for a halt to the test before the melee and get everyone collective high scores thanks to the professors’ negligence?”
It’s simple math.
So pathetic it’s going to be a mess anyway.
If it’s going to be a mess, pull off an event that yields some benefit.
Even I, a veteran player, gain some profit, the pathetic pirates gain profit, and the professor loses out but it’s still a win-win for everyone!
“Even if you say you’re worried, I managed just fine on my own. Worrying about the weak is as useless as worrying about a celebrity, right?”
So I’m saying I didn’t do anything wrong!
As I replied confidently, Jigoku’s hand reached out.
What does he want to do?
My face, which was blank from staring, suddenly jerked to the side.
A sharp shock caught me off guard.
I got slapped.
As I realized this, I stared blankly at Jigoku, and the passion simmering in his eyes gradually became apparent.
“Those kids were studying for the weekday assignments, but they didn’t slack off preparing for the weekend exams. They all wanted to show off. Even more so than me, the captain, who shows up for lectures on weekends.”
“Eh…?”
“You just belittled the efforts and passion of those kids, saying ‘It’s going to be a mess anyway.’”
“I didn’t mean to…”
“If someone belittles your past with such a light remark, the only people who can accept that are those who’ve given up on their own lives. Those kids aren’t like that. None of my crew have given up on life under me!”
A heat more intense than the sting of my cheek radiated from somewhere deep within.
Why do I have to be slapped?
I was just trying to do something good for everyone.
Did I do something wrong?
But, but……
“Enough already. We received help from Oknodie.”
It was only when Son Ohchun put a hand on my shoulder that I realized I was trembling.
In a game world now more fun and happy than Earth, being rejected by a cherished game character feels no different than being rejected by reality itself.
“Ugh, I hate Jigoku!”
“What’s got you all riled up?”
Thunk.
“Ugh!”
“Jigoku is being nice enough to let you off easy, but even I would’ve been upset just now. You little rat.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong! I just wanted to create an event that benefits everyone…”
“That’s only what you decided for yourself.”
With a serious face from Son Ohchun, who I always thought was a lighthearted fool, there was an air of weighty authority that was different.
I shouldn’t argue back.
So, he seriously advised me with an expression I couldn’t decipher.
“Outcomes, achievements—those things matter. But people can’t live by outcomes alone. Is there any satisfaction in an outcome without a process? In a life devoid of effort, does respect and admiration follow, merely chasing the fruit?”
“That’s all just useless for weaklings.”
“Of course not. But it’s society’s and the parents’ and mentors’ job to tell you the harsh weight of reality. It’s not something that should come from a fellow classmate or a comrade who’s equally adorable.”
…This is hard.
In the all-in mage build, I never had to worry about such things.
And no one ever told me this.
What’s different?
Did I really do something so wrong?
“Hmph. I get it.”
My cheeks puff up with air.
To be honest, I’m a little sulky.
“If you all think you’re so great, I won’t save you in the next crummy event!”
“Hey, you little rat!”
“Don’t chase me! Oknodie will need time too! Anyway, I’ll be back at the barrier entrance soon after saving everyone else.”
I let the voice of Mob in my ear slip by.
—
“That really happened. Isn’t it too much?”
“…And you’re consulting about this at the eighth level of disaster?”
“Well, Jiang came here!”
With a look of disbelief, Irene stared, while Dorothy let out a few chuckles.
“Oh come on. I’m drained. Just when I thought I’d really die if I went any further, suddenly chatting about worries. Your pace is too off the charts.”
“Ugh, if you won’t listen, then don’t tease me!”
“Sorry, sorry!”
As Dorothy hurriedly apologized, Jiang slammed a dagger into a rock, splitting it as he sat down on the motionless boulder.
Despite his usually neat and tidy demeanor, wearing dirt or stone dust now seemed to matter little to him as he sat with an air of indifference.
“Oknodie did nothing wrong.”
“Right?”
“Absolutely. Being weak is a crime. It’s wrong for the weak to shove their emotions onto others. The rules are made by the strong, not the weak.”
I knew Jiang would understand me.
My best friend, my top buddy is undoubtedly Jiang!
“Sigh… I’m exhausted.”
“Jiang?”
“Just let me rest a bit.”
And with that, Jiang plopped down.
Confident in my high favorability, I stealthily lifted his mask, revealing a twisted face contorted in pain while his eyes were closed.
“Let me see.”
Irene, who rushed forward, pressed her cool hand to his forehead and chanted a healing spell.
“There’s an incredible fever. He’s definitely injured.”
Irene quickly extended her mana, scanning Jiang’s entire body.
As she pulled back his coat, revealing stained shirt buttons, a nasty metal shard was embedded deep in his abdomen.
“What a fool. He must have been in considerable pain with each movement.”
Irene seemed genuinely surprised that she hadn’t realized it herself, having traveled so many battlefields as the Northern Grand Duchess.
It seems Jiang managed to hide it well enough to fool even her keen eye.
“This is a ship fragment! It looks exactly like the debris strewn along the coastline when I woke up.”
Dorothy identified the origin of Jiang’s injury.
It was from the shipwreck covered by debris when a Kraken’s tentacle went wild.
“Jiang got hurt because of me…?”
“How is that Oknodie’s fault? The monster ran rampant out of nowhere, that’s on the monster!”
No, it was I who summoned it.
In my dazed mind, the pieces of the puzzle began clicking into place.
The Assassin’s technique of Silence.
Using that, Jiang could’ve endured the pain and kept going without a hint.
It was revealed through Dorothy that Jiang’s desperate actions were to follow me after I entered the Student Dormitory Zone.
He’d apparently been ahead of everyone else even before they entered.
For some reason, when we met in the Safe Zone, Jiang claimed he paused because the lava zone’s monsters couldn’t be fooled by stealth, but I recognized it immediately upon hearing that.
That was a lie.
Jiang’s high-level invisibility could conceal even the Golem’s mana detection and heat detection.
He must’ve been badly injured and taking care of himself.
“Infection is developing from the wound. We need to hurry back to the medical room.”
Right, it’s my fault.
I pushed Jiang to get hurt and overexert himself.
Being weak is Jiang’s fault, but…
Seeing Jiang like this, I couldn’t bring myself to say it was his fault even if it twisted my mouth.
“I’m sorry, Jiang. It’s all because of me…”
I pulled out my secret potion from my backpack.
A single potion that Papa had given me for emergencies. I poured half on the wound after removing the shard and let the other half trickle into his mouth.
In just three seconds, Jiang’s injury healed, and he opened his bright eyes.
“What did you just do?”
“I poured an elixir!”
“The one that resurrects dead people if you give it to them within three minutes?”
“Yup! I’m nice, right?”
Healthy again, Jiang jumped up and slammed his fist down on my head.
“Ouch!”
Not just once, but several times.
“Fool. Fool. Absolute fool.”
“Ouch, it hurts, really hurts!”
Sniff. I got hit even after doing something nice.
The supporting NPCs in this chapter are all just too savage!
