<528 – Evidence of a Best Friend>
“Really? You didn’t come to sell out your friend just because you got blinded by points from that kidnapping request for Professor Sadako, did you?”
No matter how many times I grabbed Jiang’s shoulder and asked through tears like a spoiled child, the answer remained the same.
“If you keep bothering me, I might just want to throw you aside.”
Hieeek!
“Oknodie hasn’t changed a bit even after becoming a princess. If anything, you’ve become even more pathetic than before.”
Heheh. I could hear laughter tickling nearby.
Has the length of her hair changed?
Is her hair damaged?
Why does the touch as I look around not bother me at all?
It’s probably because the fear has passed and the joy has arisen, right?
“So Oknodie, what are these strange clothes? Where’s your school uniform?”
“I was fitting the ultimate item!”
“Ultimate item?”
“The effect of set items increases as the number of parts increases, right? The Alice in Wonderland look has so many parts that I really wanted to wear it if there weren’t any gender restrictions!”
“Really wanted to?”
“Gah… Ah, it’s nothing!”
“Ohh~ really~?”
Jiang’s thin finger poked my cheek.
“Umm.”
“Is this mouth of yours making me curious until I die?”
“I’m sorry. Please forgive me!”
“If you don’t want to talk, you don’t have to force it. I have ears to hear the rumors.”
“Rumors?”
“The rumor that the empire bought girl clothes for the homunculus children. I thought it was a lie, but it seems not all of it was false.”
“?”
“You don’t need to worry about it. I’m just talking to myself. Anyway, what are you planning to do with all these Alice in Wonderland looks?”
“I was enhancing them!”
“Enhancing?”
“Well, the higher the enhancement, the greater the chance of destruction, you know? It’s hard to challenge without getting some support from the palace!”
Jiang was fiddling with the shimmering over-knee socks on the enhancement platform, snorting quietly.
━━━
[Alice's Over-Knee Socks (Relic +12 Enhancement)]
Grade – Rare Grade 2
Description – One of the 12 parts of the set item [Alice in Wonderland] born from the imperial family of the empire. The true value of this relic has yet to mature.
Effect 1 – Protects against physical damage of level 4 or below.
Effect 2 – Protects against magical damage of level 4 or below.
Effect 3 – This item automatically recovers when damaged. If enhanced further, it increases the automatic recovery rate of all set items.
Effect 4 – Absolute Territory: The thighs between the over-knee socks and the dress ignore all attacks of level 6 or below.
Effect 5 – Wonderland: This item has multi-dimensional properties.
Effect 6 – The effect of these over-knee socks decreases by 2 levels if not equipped with set items.
Effect 7 – The effect of these over-knee socks increases by 1 level when equipped with set items.
Effect 8 – While wearing these over-knee socks, height and weight do not increase.
Appraisal Value – 12,000 gold coins, 1.2 million points.
━━━
Did Jiang use the insight learned from Professor Bronze? She carefully laid down the ridiculously awesome junk item that was so effective it made me feel scared.
“Isn’t this amazing enough? These over-knee socks are so incredible they’re intimidating to wear.”
“Well, there aren’t many opportunities to enhance such amazing over-knee socks except with the imperial family, right? You can enhance them at the academy’s Enhancement Room or the Tower of Training of the Foundation, but it costs points or you’d have to do errands for Papa. So, I need to cash in now!”
“But then you missed a whole semester in the academy! You signed up for several classes and ended up as a leave of absence, aren’t you regretting it?”
“Not really. I earned a ton of points! For advancing, you just pay points. I took down lots of big shots, so it’s more profitable to skip the remaining lectures and focus on enhancements!”
Jiang’s expression clouded slightly.
“So Oknodie doesn’t care what happens to the academy as long as it benefits her?”
“Of course! My goal is to survive!”
“Survive?”
“The reason for wanting to graduate from the academy is ultimately to survive, right?”
“Survive from what?”
“From what? Ummm. Bad endings? Dead ends? I can only say it’s something like that.”
In reality, that’s true. The title of the game world I entered is [Graduating from the Academy with Luck].
Recently, I’ve been worried less because my character development has been going too well, but originally it’s a game where you have to do your best to avoid suffocating unfairness.
It’s a game requiring the ability to cope with events that fluctuate with luck each round by adjusting controllable variables, as well as innate luck.
And specifically, early rounds with good luck tend to be met with tremendous unfairness later on.
The wealthy Papa can become a demon’s enemy during a summoning ritual and get killed by Ishtar before graduation, or he might end up discarded as a disposable piece connected to an evil organization.
“Anyway, to prepare for the upcoming future, I need to gather as many enhancement items as possible from the palace!”
“You weren’t planning to go out?”
“Of course I was. I fitted the gear to clear quests easily, and if I don’t actually go to clear them, the round will be ruined!”
“What kind of quest does Oknodie have?”
“The removal of all types of end events that obstruct a happy ending after graduation?”
Jiang asked, looking out the window.
“What if the only chance we have to get Oknodie out is right now?”
“Did others come too?”
“Out there are Jezel, Isabel, and Son Ohchun. They’re stirring up the citizens in the streets to draw the attention of the imperial soldiers. Inside, Titosso and company came too.”
“Ah, hello…?”
Titosso timidly peeked around the corner, having developed a shy demeanor after not seeing each other for a while.
“Tito!”
I was shocked.
“Where did you lose the light stand again?!”
“I-I left it behind… It was a hindrance to sneaking in.”
“What will you do if your body explodes from mana overdose? Don’t you feel your heart or lungs being crushed from too much mana gathering? How about the sensation of your hands and feet swelling? The dizziness, headache, and pain from not being able to manage your body?”
Hing-hing…! Don’t tell me such scary stories! It feels like something terrible is about to happen!
Seeing his cowardly demeanor made it clear he was indeed Titosso.
It seemed like the applicants for the entrance exam gathered outside too.
“Hmm. Well, I never asked for help….”
“You’ve already missed a semester. If another year passes like this, they might give up on you even in the academy. Who knows what the emperor might do? Yet you still value enhancements?”
“Ummm. Honestly, I wouldn’t get the chance to fit gear like this if I weren’t a fourth-year, so spending a year wouldn’t be too bad….”
Suddenly feeling mischievous, I asked.
“Does Jiang want me to go back?”
“Huh?”
“If I don’t return with you, would you feel sad and cry?”
“Idiot. An assassin wouldn’t go around whining like that.”
Hehe. Is that so?
Surely I expect to see the shy side of an assassin who has discarded her emotions for the skill of cutting off feelings.
I was being too frivolous.
“Still, it’ll be a huge regret.”
“Why Jiang?”
“Because we… are best friends.”
Gasp! To declare that we are best friends at a time like this is such a cowardly ambush attack for an assassin.
“I have proof. Want to see?”
“What proof?”
Jiang lifted the hem of her maid dress naturally.
I gasped and pressed the hem down.
“What are you doing?! You can’t do that as a girl!”
“Why are you stopping me, Oknodie? If you block it, I can’t show it.”
“Why would you want to show that?!”
“Friendship panties.”
What?!
“Best friends wear the same panties without having to say a word. It’s proof we’re that close.”
Gasp… I can’t believe there’s such an astonishing culture among female students in the academy!
“If you hate showing it, there’s also this method.”
“What method?”
“Oknodie can come under my skirt.”
“Such a humiliating method?!”
“Or I could just lift the hem. It’s still fine. I’m a feeling-less assassin, after all. Even if I’m mortified to death, I can still embarrass myself publicly to prove our friendship with Oknodie by exposing precious parts to a crowd of unidentifiable people.”
“Friendship is heavy!!”
“What will you choose? Oknodie can suffer humiliation, or will you force public humiliation on your best friend because you’re embarrassed?”
Indeed, Jiang, the first-class assassin with a bad nature.
Suddenly the threat of assassination popped up, terrifying beyond measure.
This isn’t my fault!
Jiang threatened me!
I couldn’t help it.
I’m a victim!
So, I just have to do it!
“Oknodie. Your breath is hot.”
“S-sorry!”
“If you keep stalling, you might just get really embarrassed.”
Alright, what’s the big deal with life anyway?
Let’s just get it over with quickly.
“Eh!”
I thrust my head under the hem in one go.
And then I witnessed it.
“Pfft. You didn’t seriously expect to see underwear, did you?”
The loathsome item, [Shorts], firmly guards the place where the underwear should be…!
“I trusted you. I believed! I did something embarrassing by leaning into a friend’s skirt, yet I received no proper reward!!”
“Well, there’s no helping it. If you’re so curious about what’s inside the shorts, you have to take that water play course at the academy together. Right?”
Don’t try to stop me.
It was that crafty Jiang who seduced me first.
“It’s a promise. Since Jiang proposed this first and lured me in, it’s useless to cry and plead later and say I don’t want to take such dangerous courses!”
Pfft. Did you want to see that badly? Oknodie, you’re a pervert.
“Humph. I’m really going to make you cry!”
Did she realize I wasn’t joking? Jiang became carefully cautious.
“May I ask what kind of course that class is?”
“[Surviving the 12 Dangers of Underwater Adventures]!”
“……Can I ask who the professor is?”
“Professor Sadako! I saw the syllabus for next year posted early, and I memorized it to avoid it, but Jiang provoked me first, so there’s no backing down now!”
“Couldn’t you take another class and skip the shorts?”
“It’s already too late!”
I’ll repay you for teasing a veteran player with that harsh class where both suffer!
“Hey, guys?”
Titosso asked with a crying face.
“I didn’t say anything, but we don’t have to take that class together, right…?”
“Tito! We three have always taken Professor Sadako’s lectures together as best friends!”
“Now that I think about it, it might be less scary taking lectures with super cowards like Titosso.”
Titosso’s eyes streamed tears down his face.
“Uwaaaah!”
Oops. I accidentally made Titosso erupt into a tier three cry from scaring him too much!!
