Woosh.
A luxurious cruise ship sounding its horn as it prepares to set sail.
Oknodie, who just left the Academy, ran eagerly toward the dock, seeing a familiar face clad in a suit.
“Jonnas~!”
With one hand, Jonnas caught the rushing Oknodie and spun her around, landing her on the ground while Oknodie felt dizzy.
Jonnas’s gaze followed Oknodie and landed on students who stopped in shock.
“I understand your desire to enjoy the joy of reunion, but please maintain your dignity, Agassi. The title of Chief Scholarship Student comes with responsibilities.”
“Hmph! No one asked for that at the Academy.”
“The Foundation does.”
Jonnas effortlessly handled Oknodie like a balloon, even Hestia expressed her admiration.
“What an incredibly developed physique. I can see the muscles threatening to burst from under that suit. That person possesses muscles so extraordinary that they can’t even be fully compressed using Mana Refinement Technique.”
“Ah ha! Now that I’ve attended the Academy, I see it. That butler was ridiculously strong, wasn’t he?”
Son Ohchun realized the former butler’s strength he encountered before.
Having just survived the grueling first semester of the Academy, he could barely catch a glimpse of that strength, making Jonnas’s power truly extraordinary.
“It’s only natural to feel the tension as he may be on par with professors. After all, he’s a butler of the ‘Wahyhiemhai Foundation.’”
With a smiling face, Jezel approached Jonnas while shouldering a magic backpack.
He reached out and greeted her.
“It’s been a while. Ever since the entrance exam, Oknodie has always missed the butler. The longing for him never stopped after the meeting.”
“Our Agassi has been greatly indebted. Thank you on behalf of the Foundation for supporting her within the Academy.”
Inside, Isabel thought to herself about Jezel’s poise while casually exchanging greetings.
Jezel was no ordinary person.
Those with power were all in awe of that strength, even Sing, who is dangerous, was cautious around him while nonchalantly stepping within Jonnas’s space to shake hands.
That took guts that most couldn’t muster.
Yet, with Jezel breaking the ice, others slowly relaxed and lowered their guards.
The infamous Wahyhiemhai Foundation didn’t seem to have any intention of opposing them at least for now. If anything, this reaction was close to a welcome.
“This cruise ship is fully rented by our Foundation and will operate with vetted crew members, so you can board without worry.”
Despite the less than reassuring words, everyone hesitated to take a step forward, except for Oknodie, who eagerly asked.
“Is there a chef in the cafeteria?”
“Of course.”
“Let’s hurry and eat! New food!”
With an eager tug, Jezel got pulled along, and Isabel and Son Ohchun chuckled and followed behind.
Then, Dorothy, Rockbell, Hestia, Sing, Arcadia, Jiang, and more trailed in line after them.
*
The first thing everyone on the vast cruise ship showed interest in was food.
Jonnas thought to herself, What a consistent obsession from our Agassi.
The cruise ship was often used by the Director to identify locations where someone’s desires were in motion.
While Oknodie reacted to food, Isabel reacted to cooking utensils.
Even in the same location, one could gauge what captured a person’s interest, which tools might win their favor, and conversely, what types of traps would be effective.
All these pieces of information would eventually have a major impact on commands the Foundation might issue.
Small kindnesses.
Bountiful kindnesses.
Big and small favors come with different costs.
The bigger one shows, the cost to pay also grows.
“Sorry, we’ve completely lost track of a friend of the Agassi named Jiang.”
“Indeed, a skill to deceive even an assassin maid’s eyes. Truly worthy of being a member of the continent’s top ten thieves and the disciple of the Life Thief.”
“I’ll immediately start searching.”
“No need. Just let it be. Not being observed is also valuable information.”
Jiang, who was extremely sensitive to information leakage, had his face hidden and maintained a stiff demeanor, but there were plenty of others who were also not enjoying the festivities.
For instance, anyone could see the ‘fake friends’ who were exhibiting suspicious behavior.
“Reap, are those truly the Agassi’s friends?”
“Of course not.”
Oknodie was happily munching on watermelon near the swimming pool while Warrior Ishtar observed her with suspicious eyes.
Oknodie and Ishtar could hardly be called friends.
Yet, Oknodie brought her along.
Taking the Director’s cue to leverage her desires to the full extent, she had gathered everything that wasn’t even hers.
From Jonnas’s perspective, who could somewhat guess the Director’s intentions, it was ridiculous.
“Who would have thought a mere foundation could pull this off♡”
“For a foundation to suddenly rent an extravagant cruise ship like this, it seems they are not ordinary after all.”
In the wine bar, the princess was enjoying cocktails alongside the offspring of a major noble.
Jonnas couldn’t help but question Oknodie’s definition of friendship.
“What does a friend mean to you, Agassi?”
“Classmate?”
“So, that’s why you brought 128 of them.”
Oknodie said with a pouting face filled with disappointment.
“Everyone rejected me saying they felt burdened, so this is all I could gather. Since it’s a rare chance for Papa to invite friends, I feel humiliated it’s so few!”
“You need not worry. I assure you that no matter how many the Director expected, it wouldn’t be less than 128.”
Having 128 friends being insufficient is just too much of a social butterfly.
*
The lower-class students splashing in the water were the aspiring knight students led by a girl in dolphin pants who followed them around every dawn.
The female students sitting on the bench, glaring at the volleyball court at the sight of a volleyball, were aspiring magic students, represented by Rosgini.
The male students drifting around the girls, attempting to approach only to be awkwardly dismissed, were noble aspiring administration students who had room for romance.
Looks like bringing so many friends was a good call!
Seeing the stressed-out students enjoying themselves reassured Jonnas.
It was a significant event when Papa offered free cruise tickets that reduced stress by 50% and increased favorability by 10%, how could they miss such an opportunity?
Inviting everyone, he requested the entire first year to join, and with Dorothy included, 128 responded to the invite.
“How rich is Oknodie’s Papa?”
“Hmm… I don’t know!”
“So rich that you don’t even know his wealth!”
Not entirely incorrect.
Still don’t know much about Papa!
“The cruise ship is a total of 200,000 tons, 350m in length and 50m in width, with 2,000 crew members across 15 floors, showing how affluent he must be to rent it that easily.”
The butler, standing by the Agassi’s side, considered his life’s purpose and was astounded by Jonnas’s response, leaving Titosso in utter shock.
“Won’t a mosquito get in?”
“Agreed!”
Titosso urgently covered his mouth with both hands.
As always, there’s fun in teasing them.
“Why did Papa suddenly ask you to bring friends?”
“He wants to know about the Agassi’s friendships. It seems he wishes to confirm it firsthand.”
“Oh. So he possesses special observational powers!”
Jonnas felt something peculiar in the way he looked at her.
Seeing the once foolish child mature brought a somewhat bittersweet gaze from a parental figure.
“What do you think the reason is, Agassi? The cost of using a cruise ship isn’t cheap. It’s quite a hefty expense to extend to your friends.”
There could be various answers.
Checking if the friends were worth inviting, wanting to see if her prospects met his expectations, or perhaps to flaunt overflowing wealth to provide solid backing so she wouldn’t have to care about others’ opinions during academy life.
But then again.
The Three Great Evils wouldn’t simply stir things up for simple kindness or mere curiosity.
“Could it be that he wants to play a game guessing the murderer?”
Jonnas’s face stiffened, realizing it might not be that.
“Perhaps sealing off deck sections one by one and gifting those who survive in the last section?”
“What on earth have you learned at the Academy?”
“Hmph. Isn’t this it?”
“It wouldn’t make sense to do such a thing to a mere first-year.”
“True, that was a bit hasty, wasn’t it?”
No matter how much of a Three Great Evil they were, they wouldn’t hasten an event meant for the third year’s summer vacation this early.
“Well then, perhaps they would just drop us off on an uninhabited island and go back to observe our love and friendship before bringing us back home.”
Jonnas simply listed possible events that seemed plausible but looked as if she had been struck with a hammer in disbelief.
“How on earth did you know we’re heading to an uninhabited island?”
Oops.
Yeah.
How did I really know?
