<418 - Stuck for Words>
“Bingna gomen!”
After escaping the Student Dormitory Zone barrier, I lowered my head in front of everyone.
“Stop using obscure dialects and just speak plainly so we can understand.”
Isabel scolded me with a stern face.
With her arms crossed, she glared, determined not to forgive me even if I made a pitiful face.
As I looked around nervously, everyone just chuckled or shook their heads, clearly siding with Isabel.
Hmph.
There’s nothing I can do.
“I’m sorry for causing worry. I won’t get into trouble alone without saying anything in the future.”
“And?”
I panicked at Isabel’s insistence. What did I do wrong now?
Thanks to Jezel, who was subtly gesturing toward Jigoku from behind, I realized the reason for Isabel’s anger.
“I’ll properly apologize to Jigoku and the Jigoku Pirate Group…”
The shabby pirates of the Jigoku Pirate Group, who couldn’t enter the barrier, relaxed a bit at my words.
“Hey, kid. You think we’ll let it slide just this once?”
“If it weren’t for the captain, we wouldn’t have forgiven you!”
“But if we don’t forgive you, what can you do?”
“Someone shut that guy up.”
With the crew bickering, Jigoku let out a sigh.
“Just this once.”
“Thanks, Jigoku!”
“Who are you calling that?”
After I awkwardly thanked him with a pout, he got angrier, shaking his fist. What’s with him?
“And?”
Isabel’s scolding continues. How much more is there?
As I recalled more wrongdoings, uhmm…
“I’ll make sure to brush my teeth properly before going to bed after midnight snacks.”
“And?”
More?
Hmph. It’s getting hard to think.
“I won’t stick blue cellophane on the light stand no matter how much I press buttons and pout.”
“And?”
Oh come on.
Isabel… please just forgive me already.
Isabel maintained her strict expression, clearly wanting to correct my habits in this moment.
Resigned, I had no choice but to confess my ongoing list of wrongdoings.
“I won’t lick yogurt containers clean, thinking that it counts for my collection without licking the container first.”
“And.”
“I won’t stealthily cut off the power for an hour without permission, taking the electric stone the Thunderbird left in the dorm’s mana power room.”
“And.”
“I won’t kill the infiltrated assassin in secret and hog the experience points…”
“What??”
In an unexpectedly warm atmosphere, the faces of everyone, who had been giggling, turned icy.
“The corpse was turned over to Professor Sadako’s Lecture materials, so that’s not something I need to apologize for, right?”
“Really?”
“Yeah. They’re using it as lecture material next week. Shouldn’t I actually thank Jiang and Titosso for that?”
They even resurrected the corpse as Undead to scoop in those sweet experience points, so praise is in order!
“Professor Sadako’s lecture is on [Adventurer's Terrain Adaptation]…?”
“They’re training to adapt to terrains with Undead!”
Isabel, who seemed to be getting jealous of my cheerful conversation with Jiang, pounced on us.
“Who sent that assassin, when, and where?!”
“Which assassin are you talking about? The one that came last week? The one from the week before?”
Isabel’s relentless “and” finally hit a wall.
Suddenly, an awkward silence took over, and our time to scold Oknodie came to an abrupt halt.
Thanks to that, I had some time to leisurely check my notifications on the way back to the dorm.
[Foundation’s Agassi [Charlotte] successfully encountered the Unsanctioned Individual before being killed.]
[Quick Movement Experience +30]
[Quick Reconnaissance Experience +30]
[Finding Experience +30]
[Successfully rescued the searching party of Oknodie wandering in the Student Dormitory Zone.]
[Quick Movement Experience +20]
[Quick Reconnaissance Experience +20]
[Finding Experience +20]
[With a sincere apology and remorse, I eased my angry comrades’ hearts.]
[Social Life Experience +30]
[Adding a Touch of Charm Experience +10]
[Causing Protection Experience +10]
[Good Kid Experience +10]
Thanks to that, I also had an epiphany.
When you mess up and apologize, you level up as a good kid.
It’s just like praying!
You do bad things and just apologize, and you can repent, right?
Only now did I realize the mechanism behind leveling up as a good kid.
First, commit wrongdoings.
Then, by apologizing, you become a good kid, right?
*
Oknodie was being tormented by assassins.
No one knew that he was aware of the assassins’ existence until he himself revealed it.
“Perhaps even if we didn’t know, this person knew about the assassin’s presence.”
Hestia immediately headed to the training ground.
“Reap, there was a cracking sound from my bones.”
“Stop whining, April. People don’t die from broken bones.”
“Woof woof! Happy is a beastkin! Beastkins aren’t people, so if bones break, we die! I’m done training!”
“I firmly believe that even beastkin have human rights. Your bones are like human bones, so you won’t die from a little break.”
…There’s no need to look far for an assassin.
There’s a trainee assassin right here.
“Why are you breaking the maids’ bones?”
“To enter the advanced level of the Mana Flow Technique Manual for Maids, we need to change the properties of mana embedded in the bones. Hestia, you too will be entering the advanced level after the second semester, so prepare yourself.”
“I finished preparing for bone breaking long ago. However, I wanted to ask if you were aware that Oknodie was attacked by assassins.”
“What would that change?”
“Supervisor Reap. The desire to care for and protect Oknodie is shared by all her peers.”
Reap’s eyes held a murky dread, like muddy water obscured by pouring rain.
But seasoned by her mercenary days, Hestia could break both foes and sometimes even the skulls of betrayers blinded by greed for results and spoils without flinching.
Reap’s thin leaf-like lips parted slightly as he held firm to that fearless image.
“It’s as you suspected. Assassins have attacked every week.”
“Are they enemies of the Foundation?”
That was the only enemy Hestia could think of against Oknodie.
Activating under the formal title of Chief Scholarship Student, if an assassin had only appeared now, it would be overdue, as the Foundation has many enemies.
However, Reap shook his head.
“The attackers targeting the Agassi are Elven assassins.”
“Elf assassins…?”
“The fact that the Foundation assaulted the World Tree for her exquisite dining is now known.”
“!!”
Hestia could recall.
The Director’s Mansion of Wahyhiemhai Foundation, the Tower of Training.
The feast of countless dishes served from there.
The food Oknodie consumed was particularly special among them.
Not knowing that this specialness could incite the hatred of other races was the problem.
“The enemies have a valid reason to bear a grudge. The attacks will continue for as long as there are Elves living on this land.”
“So, does that mean Oknodie can never go into the forest alone for the rest of her life?”
The true potential of Elves is expressed in the forest.
Even assassins who were easily repelled at the Academy could claim lives in the woods.
Elves receive maximum functional enhancements from every action they take in the forest.
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Why didn’t you warn Oknodie about this sooner?”
“The Director wishes for the Agassi to rely more on the Foundation. I have no power to impede that. My only role is to teach her enough so that she can withstand these attacks.”
For the Agassi and for the maids who protect her.
Hestia realized.
The reason Reap allowed her to learn the Mana Flow Technique Manual for Maids.
It was all a pretext to protect Oknodie from the early noticed Elven attacks.
At the same time, she could see how pitiful a being the Agassi of the Foundation truly was.
While teaching her to gain strength, they also made her a target that could not survive outside the Foundation.
Regardless of how great a power the Agassi possesses, she was just a puppet moving as the Foundation willed.
At least that was the Director’s intention.
Even for Oknodie.
“It’s too far until vacation. Please start the advanced course immediately.”
Reap’s parched gaze, akin to a dried leaf, pierced into Hestia’s resolved eyes.
“If we start, there will be no halfway points. Depending on the case, you may have to forfeit your grades for the sake of achieving the technique. Still, do you wish to proceed?”
“Absolutely.”
*
As Hestia entered the advanced course of the Mana Flow Technique Manual for Maids, Jiang sought out Professor Sadako, having heard about the corpse of the assassin.
That was quite a brave act for him.
He was so terrified of even attending lectures and always hesitated to take a step without his super chicken buddy Titosso.
“Did you bring a corpse too?”
“I want to examine the assassin’s corpse that Oknodie handed over.”
Assassins can glean a lot of information just by looking at their partner’s corpse.
No matter how much they try to hide their affiliation, the body cannot lie.
One can deduce where they trained, what they’re trying to conceal, how the corpse reacts to mana, and what mana circuits it holds if they just put their mind to it.
“When you become a second-year, there will be a lecture on [Introduction to Dark Sorcery].”
“Really?”
“If you enroll, they might even show you the corpses.”
Jiang pondered for a moment before coming to a decision.
“I think I don’t need to see the corpses.”
