〈 Chapter 198 〉 Rule is Important.
*
“St-stop it!!!”
A hollow cry echoes.
What responds to that cry is not a voice from someone.
Kwah-zhik!
The sound of something breaking followed by the sound of it hitting the ground.
At the same time, a long object flies through the air with a whirr.
When the two sounds come to a halt, at last, a human voice is heard.
It’s Elcia’s cheer.
“Husband! Did you see? This is a huge profit!!!”
For the blond student, it meant that Elcia’s hellish turn was finally over.
Elcia swept away a third of the displayed items.
Half of which might as well be completely broken, but it was still enough to break even.
Hyeji and Ayeon quickly joined in and started gathering the items.
The blond student, staring at the display rack with a blank expression, snapped back to reality and hurriedly tried to kick us out.
“Get lost, you dog bastards!!!”
“Damn it. I haven’t gone yet. I’m going to do it right now.”
“Wait!!!!!!”
As I got ready to throw something like Elcia, the blond student anxiously blocked me.
Judging from the number increased above his head, it seemed I had regressed to a future where I threw something.
Soon after, he hurriedly added more rules to the signboard where he wrote the rules earlier.
Throwing something at the target is invalid.
Getting close to the items and shooting is also invalid.
“What the hell are you doing? You said there would be no changes.”
“This is the last time!!! Those things are now invalid!!! Invalid!!!”
“Is that all you’re adding? Are you really done?”
“Yes!!! So hurry up and finish it!!!”
Now, he was shouting with veins popping out of his neck, ignoring all decorum.
Eventually, I couldn’t even throw anything.
I’m such an idiot even with my shooting skills.
[What you’re doing is simply a waste of time, isn’t it?］
‘No, it’s not.’
But I don’t give up.
I quickly got into position.
“Here I go?”
“Hurry up!!!”
“Yap!”
I tried to swing the gun upside down with all my might.
Seeing that, the blond student burst into loud laughter.
“Hahaha!!! What a pointless—”
Bang!!
Before I swung the gun and knocked over the cash register.
As the cash register fell, money scattered to the ground.
Countless bills fluttering about and coins pouring out with a clink.
Ending with my laughter.
“No way wwwwwwww.”
Hearing that laugh, the blond student snapped back to his senses and started protesting.
“Y-you damn it!!! Why!!!”
“Are you unhappy? I should have just said ‘laughing’ www.”
“This isn’t a product!!! It’s a rule violation!!! I’ll report you to the Academy!!!”
“Where’s the rule violation?”
There’s no such thing as a rule violation.
I didn’t throw the gun, nor did I get close and shoot. I just swung it.
If the cash register wasn’t a product, there should’ve been a notice beforehand.
This is an academy where the weak can’t survive.
After hearing my explanation, the student couldn’t refute anymore.
Instead, what he chose was to collapse weakly on the spot and soon faint.
He chose to escape from reality.
Now, the obstruction was gone.
It was time to gather the legitimate spoils.
“Kids! Let’s hurry and collect them!”
Hyeji, Ayeon, and Elcia started eagerly picking up the cash.
There was a significant amount, but with all three working together, they could collect every coin without missing a single one.
At that moment, someone suddenly yelled at us.
“Don’t mess around!!!!!!!”
It was Caressy.
Seemingly quite angry, her hair on her ears and tail puffed up considerably.
In response, Elcia bravely stepped forward to confront the enraged Caressy.
“What the hell do you think the rules are!!!”
“Furry! Why would there be rules in the first place!”
With her hands on her hips and her chest puffed out proudly, Elcia stood tall.
Her large chest seemed to represent Elcia’s confidence.
“The rules are there to mean don’t do this kind of thing!!!”
“No way! You still haven’t adapted to the Academy!”
“Shut up! Then why are there rules!!!”
Then Elcia thrust her finger at Caressy dramatically.
With that, her chest swayed considerably.
Emphasizing the importance of what Elcia was saying.
“It’s to take advantage of what isn’t defined by the rules!”
“You dog lady.”
Caressy had a face that looked utterly drained.
She seemed to be slightly showing her resignation for having had any hope that we could communicate.
Meanwhile, I was deeply moved.
Unlike her earlier foolishness, Elcia had perfectly adapted to the Academy now.
Overwhelmed with emotion, I tightly hugged Elcia and roughly patted her head.
“Good job, our little shit.”
“Hehehe.”
Receiving my touch, Elcia’s face turned into a big grin in an instant.
Anyway, the MVP of this store was Elcia.
Of course, she deserved such treatment.
Still, Caressy wasn’t convinced and opened her mouth again.
“No matter what, this is too much! It’s just a difference in words!”
“Still don’t understand? The difference in words is important.”
“Go on, try saying it.”
Caressy crossed her arms and glared at me.
While continuing to pet Elcia’s head, I provided a simple example for easy understanding.
“For example, are ‘selecting’ and ‘choosing’ the same thing?”
“Of course they are!”
“No. Wrong.”
“Why not?”
Caressy clutched her head and expressed doubt.
“Listen closely. ‘Selecting’ specifies the target. ‘Choosing’ does not specify the target.”
“What the hell does that matter!!! It’s not that important!!!”
“It’s extremely important. The world of dueling is deeper than you think.”
In a brutal world of duelists where a single text could cost a life.
The importance of meticulous rules cannot be emphasized enough.
Just like how the blond student lost to me, a duelist.
Because he didn’t realize the importance of rules.
Dueling is crucial.
“How do you think Duel Academies exist?”
“Damn it.”
Now Caressy wore a gloomy expression, slumping down.
Seeing her like that made my heart ache, so I lightly tapped her shoulder and made a suggestion.
“Still, I’ll give you a tithe for this.”
“I got it!”
At my words, Caressy quickly regained her spirits.
You could see a historically excellent financial therapy taking place all at once.
Even the Lord wouldn’t say no to incoming money.
I was truly relieved.
[Relieved? Stop with that fucking nonsense!!!］
‘Oh ho. Just a dog opinion. Dog opinion.’
Anyway, the first store already showed good signs.
Though we couldn’t engage in business, we could enjoy the festival like this.
I moved the spoils to Hyeji’s room.
I originally didn’t plan to move it to Hyeji’s room.
Since Elcia got them, the initial decision was Elcia’s room.
But.
“J-just wait a moment!!! You absolutely can’t see it today!!!”
Elcia panicked and blocked our approach.
It was the first time I saw such a flustered expression from her.
“How messy could it be? Hyeji’s room is pretty much a mess too.”
“Stop it! I’ll make you pay for this today without mercy.”
“Ah, damn it.”
I misspoke and earned a backlash threat from Hyeji.
Meanwhile, Elcia completely expressed her refusal to show it.
“Let’s just check it out. What’s in there?”
“Today is absolutely NO, damn it!!!”
“……Fine.”
She even threw away her concept to block us so desperately.
So I thought about moving it to Ayeon’s or Caressy’s room.
“But I’m not sure about showing you either.”
“……It needs ventilation. The dogberry tree scent hasn’t gone away.”
“What the hell did you do, you crazy girls.”
Ayeon and Caressy also expressed their refusal.
In the end, by process of elimination, we had no choice but to move it to Hyeji’s room.
[It seems there are things in Elcia and Ayeon’s room that are embarrassing to see.］
‘What on earth could it be.’
Anyway, since my hands were lightened, there was nothing left to do but enjoy the festival.
I didn’t care where we went, so I decided to follow the heroines’ choice this time.
“Now, where should we go with this money?”
Upon hearing my words, the heroines pondered for a moment.
Then starting with Hyeji, opinions began to come out.
“Let’s go somewhere we can make money again. If possible, a place where we can work our bodies.”
“Then let’s find a place for stock or coin investment competitions!”
“……Are you crazy? Just go somewhere we can do simple gambles.”
“Hey, there’s a duel shop with the theme ‘Grandmaster’, let’s try participating there!”
But our hopes could not be fulfilled.
Because.
“Shinwoo student. There you are. Hah. Hah.”
A guest came looking for me.
That guest was none other than the lizard beastman, the chief’s aide.
Seeing her take deep breaths, it looked like she had been running around looking for me.
As a cold-blooded creature, it was expected for the lizard to have a pale face, but today it looked even more white than usual.
“I have something urgent to discuss.”
“What is it?”
However, I was curious about why the lizard beastman unexpectedly came to find me.
[It must not be something trivial that she would come looking for you.］
‘Well, I don’t have anything to talk about anymore.’
No matter how I thought about it, there was no special reason for the lizard beastman to come.
The hostage rescue plan and the academy breakdown plan had already been somewhat set in motion.
What remained was only one thing.
Waiting for the right time.
That’s why I thought there was no reason for her to come find me right now.
But it seemed the lizard beastman thought differently.
First, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her nerves.
After a moment.
The lizard beastman opened her eyes and stared at me with an infinitely serious gaze.
I couldn’t help but tense up at that serious look.
At the same time, a weighty voice flowed from her slowly opening mouth.
“Hey, let’s work together on something.”
Somehow, it felt like we were going to, into a new world.
What kind of new world, I didn’t know, though.
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