<582 – Delicious Linked Quest (6)>
Because of that, I went to find Ishtar’s best friend, Yufi. I cutely posed with both hands under my face, the same way I had learned from Rife.
“Please help me!”
“Nope.”
Yufi replied without a moment’s hesitation, her smile unyielding.
“Ugh! How can you say that? This is a serious matter involving lives! That’s just cruel!”
“Do you even know what kind of trouble would come from forming something like the Saintess Alliance?”
“They would probably gang up on us, right?”
“Exactly! The previous hero, Ni’alatotep, has made countless gods his enemies. Do you understand how rude it is to ask a god to let you join the warrior party while having that Ni’alatotep crush gods in the background?”
“Just figure out a way to make it work!”
“Nope.”
Again, Yufi answered immediately, her smile still bright.
“If you want to ask someone for a favor that puts them in a bind, you should at least show some sincerity. Is it really reasonable to make such an unreasonable request empty-handed?”
“Hmph.”
“Nope. No can do. Absolutely not. What are you going to do if I don’t help? Are you just going to tremble and glare at me with your tearful eyes?”
As expected, that’s just the kind of attitude one would expect from Ishtar’s comrade.
Even the veterans can’t get past her casual annoyance!
“The Foundation will not forget this!”
“What are you saying, you fool? Just disappear somewhere. And don’t ever show your face in front of me again. Just your trickery has made Ishtar gain the Foundation’s support, and that makes us sworn enemies!”
Yufi clearly had no intention of cooperating.
So I went to find Ishtar.
“Convince Yufi!”
“That’s going to be tough. Yufi has been stubborn since we were kids. When I became a warrior, she insisted on following me to the warrior party and even fought and snatched the position of the Saintess from the Saintess of Golgotha.”
“Wait, you can actually snatch the title of Saintess like that?”
“I heard it was a loud clap and cheers from not just her but from Golgotha as well?”
Yufi snatched the Saintess position by force!
No wonder Ishtar, who was obsessed with just one stat, would have a Saintess who was extraordinary in ‘strength’ by her side. It must be that Yufi had an incredible amount of strength since she was little.
If Hestia, with her voluptuous figure, realized that Yufi, who was skinnier than the Forest Guardian Dorothy, actually had enough strength to satisfy Ishtar, she’d be very sad, right?
I absolutely have to keep that a secret from Hestia!
“Anyway, please find a way to convince Yufi! Otherwise…”
“Otherwise?”
“I won’t tell you where to sleep at the dormitory starting next week!”
“!!”
“Can you handle it? Attending second-year lectures without proper rest.”
“…I guess I’ll just take an additional class on sleeping well somewhere.”
Huh?
Ishtar showed an unexpectedly calm demeanor.
“Last year was tough with all the classes I had, but I heard the tales of Duke Andersen from the sidelines and reflected upon myself. It’s more important to take quality classes rather than just a lot of them. Actually, even the members from Andersen’s Seoguyeon can quickly recover their energy even after sleeping anywhere.”
Sleeping outside while being battered by the rain and cold might harm your body, but with the skill of a veteran, your stamina can be preserved.
Though I can’t compare to the professor’s verified teaching methods in terms of consistently building up skills, with the environment at the Academy naturally pushing second years to experience these things, they will naturally develop sleeping techniques.
That’s a brilliant idea for a warrior, but as a quest helper, such an attitude is just a big fat zero.
“Then I’ll issue a command!”
“A command?”
“Ishtar received the Foundation’s support, right? So she should be supported by a higher-up.”
“…You’re being petty.”
“Hmph. Who told you to get support in an uninhabited island auction?”
“If it’s the Foundation’s request, I would help.”
“Yay!”
“But you are the head ‘scholarship student’! You’re not my superior!”
“Uh-oh?”
“Hand over the Foundation’s official directive. I’ll wipe out my debts with that. But I won’t act on just your word. How about that?”
Did I just get one over on her? Ishtar looked smug, a prime example of a second-year who has smoothly adapted to the Gift Academy.
“Hmph. I can’t help it then. I’ll make sure to issue the directive through the official route, so wait for a moment.”
What Ishtar doesn’t realize is that I also have a connection to the higher-ups who issue commands to the scholarship students.
*
The shapeshifter, Pasible Yep, who has shifted into a flying skeleton.
He recreated a human appearance through transformation magic, and on the surface, nobody could tell he was undead.
As long as he could skillfully hide the signature blue glow in his eyes, that is.
“Director, we’ve received contact from the Academy branch. Oknodie requests you to transmit a specific directive to Warrior Ishtar.”
“Oh, it’s nice to get some good news. I thought the request was for a special executive meeting for a meetup with the butler, one of the director’s direct subordinates, but have we not heard back about that?”
“I was promised I could join later, so I asked to free up a seat for a beastfolk bodyguard in the executive meeting.”
“Why two seats?”
“I might bring a friend along. She’s my best friend.”
“Oh my gosh! A killing machine devoid of human emotion who realized the meaning of human touch through life with fellow students at the Academy has just scored a high potential score in my books! The future of the Foundation looks very bright.”
The two bodyguard and assassin owl beastfolk sitting by the window looked at Pasible with disdain.
“Jukeong.”
“Nope.”
“Get lost and die, Director.”
“Hahaha. I’m already dead as an undead, you know?”
In the midst of self-deprecating humor, Pasible noticed the flicker of guilt in the face of Kkamang, his loyal secretary, a crow beastfolk.
Looking down at the face shadowed by deep black feathers like ebony, Pasible patted his secretary’s shoulder.
“Oh my. Did my joke hurt my dear secretary’s feelings? Don’t worry too much. Though my little master is charming, she’s never as precious as my calm and collected office secretary Kkamang who’s always by my side.”
Pasible, who sacrificed a year’s worth of emotions as a tribute for his subordinates under the Death Field of Professor Sadako, has no feelings for his subordinates.
However, memories of his past self remain.
He mimicked feelings but didn’t truly understand what they meant, but whether Kkamang was oblivious to the difference or knowingly moved by it, she didn’t seem entirely displeased and fiddled with her hair for no particular reason.
“Why not just write up the command letter? One letter won’t doom us, so let’s make it a good one. I’ll even write the warnings a bit harsher than usual as a special service.”
The directive Oknodie requested was written up more smoothly than expected.
Yet misplaced loyalty could sometimes lead to unforeseen side effects.
If Oknodie was Pasible Yep’s little master, then his grand master is none other than Professor Sadako, who destroyed Pasible Yep’s body during midterms and resurrected him as undead.
The content of the directive he wrote has been transferred exactly to the parchment in Professor Sadako’s office due to the effect of her special item, the “Puppet Record.”
━━━
The foundation scholarship student Ishtar must persuade Saintess Yufi to launch the Saintess Alliance desired by Oknodie.
Should you fail to adhere to this directive, any danger that befalls Yufi will be your responsibility.
━━━
Upon reading the word-for-word details of the directive, the Skeleton Instructor excitedly rushed to find Professor Sadako.
“Look at this, Professor Sadako! The Foundation has sent an incredible directive!”
“…Threatening the warrior to launch the Saintess Alliance?”
“Let’s inform Oknodie of this news, promote the advantages of necromancy, and show off our undead transformation spells!”
“Be quiet.”
Professor Sadako, who hadn’t planned on turning her cute disciple into undead, silenced the Skeleton Instructor.
She thought deeply.
Pasible Yep has already been informed that every move he makes is communicated back to his true master, Professor Sadako herself.
He can’t be unaware of that.
Until now, he had been annoying her with the way he and his beastfolk secretary Kkamang were getting along, but today a significant incident has occurred.
The Foundation’s director is threatening a warrior.
If he did something she would not tolerate, there could only be one reason.
“The upper echelon of the Foundation. A directive from a higher authority. Direct instructions from the Foundation Headquarters.”
Someone is plotting to use the warrior to cause a major incident.
Professor Sadako couldn’t help but suspect.
Her guess was half correct.
Indeed, Pasible Yep knows that the directives he writes are passed on to Professor Sadako.
But he assumed Oknodie’s request was naturally agreed upon with Professor Sadako.
After trying to approach Oknodie and getting a bad reputation with Professor Sadako, he might have treated the two of them as priest and disciple, believing they shared a close bond.
“Skeleton Instructor, have we received any word from the Destroyer?”
“Gergelgel. None. The latest message was that they leave all activities and surveillance missions at the Academy to me.”
“So I can do it my way, then.”
Drenched in foreboding black hair that looked like someone had splattered paint over a pure white robe.
In between that, Professor Sadako’s fiery red pupils sparkled.
Unlike Pasible, who was left with nothing but bones, it seems the skin-covered people are going to suffer under the cruel torment of Professor Sadako.
The Skeleton Instructor eagerly asked, “Who are you planning to target? Oknodie? The Warrior? Pasible Yep? The Foundation’s upper echelon?”
“…Let’s analyze the cause first. The undead are beings who have already lost their time in life. There’s no reason to repeat the same mistakes. The Saintess Alliance requires three Saintesses. If we can bring in the Saintess currently registered at the Academy, then we will need at least two additional Saintesses.”
“I see!”
“Search around Oknodie. Find any candidates that qualify as a Saintess. If we can lay claim to one of them, we’ll understand the reason the Foundation is targeting the Saintess Alliance.”
The Skeleton Instructor, who had gone out to investigate, returned with a huge grin on his face and laughed gergelgel!
“I found a Saintess very close by.”
“Who is it?”
“Second-year student Titosso!”
At that moment, Titosso was about to be caught in Oknodie’s indiscriminate surrounding debris bomb explosion!
