Well, since I was bound to trigger a trap anyway, I took some hits for the sake of resistance and exaggerated my injuries just enough, causing Jiang’s expression to turn into that of a really sad cat.
[You have stepped on all the traps. A total novice rogue whose skills in trap disarming and evasion are lacking, but your sweet heart towards friends is that of a genius first-rate buddy.]
[Trap Detection Experience Points +15]
[Pain Resistance Experience Points +15]
[Bleeding Resistance Experience Points +5]
[Blow Resistance Experience Points +5]
[Paralysis Resistance Experience Points +5]
[Fainting Resistance Experience Points +5]
[Sleeping Resistance Experience Points +5]
[Burning Resistance Experience Points +5]
[Frostbite Resistance Experience Points +5]
[Cursed Resistance Experience Points +5]
[Poison Resistance Experience Points +5]
[Good Child Experience Points +5]
[You have completed the daily quest.]
[You acquire a Ticket for the Treasure Vault.]
[You have gained 3000 points.]
[You did not become Professor Bronze’s disciple.]
[Next week, the difficulty of [Professor Bronze’s Underground Treasure Vault Stairs ③] will increase by one level.]
I easily found the mimic and stuffed it into a box.
Titosso has also been treated and is back to being fine.
“Look~ I can do stuff like this too, right?”
Titosso, spinning the light stand around, unleashed a flashy show of staff skills as the misaligned light stand flew horizontally toward the courtyard in front of the healing room.
With an anguished face, Titosso ran off to pick up the light stand.
As always, a bit of a clumsy kid, but the intent to show Jiang his unscathed self to alleviate any guilt was clearly conveyed.
Is that why?
Whenever he picked up the light stand again and spun it diligently, he’d occasionally glance at Jiang.
From the side, it looked like a pet trying to cheer up its sad owner.
So, what animal would Titosso resemble?
Definitely not a cat.
With how prickly he can be, especially with those “cat punches.”
Harmless combat power paired with harmful cuteness.
If I had to liken him to something, maybe he’d be more like a timid and cute rabbit?
Imagining Titosso with rabbit ears and a bunny tail made me chuckle a bit.
“Oknodie. I need to talk to you for a second.”
“Uh-huh?”
After following along on a dangerous quest and having a rough time, he had probably grown a little and didn’t want to come up to me sulkily saying “This time for sure!” filled with guilt.
Perhaps because an assassin has high resistance to ruin, he said with a determined look in his eyes.
“Oknodie, you know…”
“Yeah.”
“I want you to take me back to Professor Bronze next time.”
“Oops.”
It wasn’t guilt but a sense of responsibility that emerged.
Well, is that okay?
Maybe it’s fine for Titosso, but Jiang is quite skilled.
“I felt it this time. How dangerous the professors at the Academy are. And how weak first years can be.”
“Heh. So it wasn’t a favorability event but a power-up event?”
“Can you not say silly things when I’m being serious?”
“Sorry!”
“I’ll steal and learn everything from Professor Bronze and someday repay the humiliation of today. Having fallen into the cold stone floor without even getting treated, while Oknodie opened the way, becoming all battered.”
It really was a power-up event.
Not wanting Jiang to get mad again, I covered it with a grin.
“Then let’s go together the week after next!”
“Aren’t you mad? We made you go through a tough time, and now you want me to take you again.”
“Friends don’t get mad over stuff like that!”
Jiang slightly turned his head.
“What’s this~? Is someone feeling shy right now?”
“I don’t know, idiot.”
With a pffft, a memory flicked through.
The shy hand I extended casually sent an ebony dart spinning past Titosso’s head, embedding deep into the nearby tree trunk.
He’ll probably never know, huh?
That the dart just pierced the body of a wasp as it was preparing to launch the poisoned stinger at him.
“Jiang is a good kid!”
“Stop it already, calling me that way. What’s an assassin going to do being a good kid?”
“Maybe on the day of the ritual, you can receive Renowned Deity’s faith?”
“The day of the ritual…? Wait, was there something starting next week when you said we’d go the week after?”
“Probably? It’s bound to start soon! The final exams of the first semester are approaching! If that principal is going to engage in his hobby of tormenting students, next week is probably the only right time?”
Weekly Event [Day of the Ritual].
The wind is hot and summer’s heat arrives with the cicadas’ cries in early June, on one fateful summer day.
Using the power of faith, the first-year students, who cannot gain any stat boost, are seduced by the priests—such cowards have made this day of faith begin.
*
The students gathered in front of the hallway window, pressing their cheeks against the glass or poking their heads out the door.
The sight of priests clad in various ways, roaming the hall, wasn’t something one would typically see at the Gift Academy.
Curiosity bloomed over the unfamiliar faces in an academy where outsiders are strictly prohibited.
“I’m going to lose my mind. What’s so great about making such a ruckus?”
Having already tasted the harsh flavor of faith, Grand Duke Andersen viewed the backs of the students with a cold gaze as if they were naïve children.
The Dragon Principal yelled at the enthusiastic first years, declaring that those weaklings, who ran from the power of faith, wouldn’t get good grades.
After all, it’s an event he instigated, though.
Thinking it wouldn’t make a huge difference if he brooded in silence, I simply left the classroom.
Not that I knew much, but they said it was a week to find a religion that might help in academic life, so those students who marked [Atheist] were likely to just have a perfect time to train.
“Everyone, don’t let your guard down. While you’ve already learned that using Sacred Magic without faith brings danger, priests are those who plunge humans into crisis and make them dependent on divine power. Rather than relying on something so cowardly, proving the strength of humankind and surviving with human might is a hundred times more correct.”
“Grand Duke’s words are correct.”
“We will not be ashamed to be Seoguyeon under Senior Velvet.”
The noble male students of the Western Noble Union showed that their resolve hadn’t changed.
“Alright, this week is personal training. It seems that regular lectures are also canceled, so I hope everyone meets again in a week with a transformed appearance.”
He called for dismissal, but most were nobles heading in the same direction.
Realizing that the destination was the training building, the noble students chuckled awkwardly and firmed their spirits, yet only Andersen turned his steps elsewhere.
“Is the Grand Duke not going to the training building?”
“Must have some busy business. Like assignments.”
“The classes the Grand Duke attends are the same classes we attend?”
“…Maybe meeting separately with Senior Velvet?”
“Must be nice. Meeting with Senior Velvet for a private talk before the vacation.”
The assumption that he was meeting a woman was correct, but Grand Duke Andersen’s target was not Senior Velvet.
While everyone else was peeking around the lecture room, where various religious folks gathered, Oknodie was slipping away on a different path.
‘Oknodie. A child strong enough to put up an equal fight with a warrior. I witnessed that strength during the sports festival.’
That Oknodie was sneaking off somewhere instead of leveling up through the power of faith.
Surely, it was something more advantageous for future academy life rather than flattering the gods on the Day of Faith.
If it was something that benefited Oknodie, it would surely benefit him as well.
These slightly cunning thoughts brewed in Andersen’s mind.
As Oknodie dashed through a wall’s hole and caused the guard dog to back off with a growl, keeping him at bay by passing alongside its doghouse, he realized tracking Oknodie was quite the challenge.
Had it not been for the [Chase] and [Tame] skills he learned during his childhood as a mischievous noble, he would have lost track of him entirely. He pressed his ear against the container that Oknodie entered.
“There’s no further.”
“!!”
A cold sensation touching the nape of his neck.
If he turns his head, he dies.
Even if he opens his mouth, he dies.
The dazzling sight before him was being threatened by a blade-wielding figure who asked.
“State the reason for following Oknodie.”
“To build camaraderie with a fellow who shares the same disinterest in divine power, while naturally deepening our friendship.”
“What will you do now?”
Oknodie, who had clearly seen entering the container, glanced down from the top of the container roof and spoke.
“Let me go!”
“Be thankful for Oknodie’s mercy.”
As the cold sensation on his nape faded, Andersen began to recognize what had threatened him in the first place.
‘Are you kidding me…’
It was a broomstick.
A broomstick bristled with stiff brown bristles.
For that mere cleaning tool to exhibit such a level of threat.
The maid with a cat tail truly was extraordinary.
‘Must be affiliated with the Foundation.’
Her tail maintained balance, remaining perfectly still without so much as a flutter—she was obviously a maid who had undergone rigorous training, unlike beastkin, who struggle to suppress their tails fluttering too easily.
“Well, this is quite troublesome! I can’t be discovered right now, and of all people, Grand Duke Andersen has followed me.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not in such dire straits as to covet points that I might gain from alerting the instructor or professors.”
Grand Duke Andersen revealed curiosity.
“So during this time, when others are preparing to tackle the final exams through the power of faith, where exactly were you sneaking off to?”
“Come on, I’m just saying the obvious. When the instructor’s away, the only thing left to do is thievery, right?”
…This child. Although she doesn’t claim to be one, isn’t her mindset leaning dangerously close to that of a rogue?
The day might come sooner to see the rogue Oknodie than the Dark Princess Oknodie, that thought popped into Grand Duke Andersen’s mind.
