“April. What are you doing? We need to run now!”
“…I can’t move.”
April’s face turned pale as her tail got stuck in the bag.
Andersen, who pulled once with all his strength, noticed that April’s face contorted in pain.
Pulling harder would definitely result in something going terribly wrong!
‘This is quite the predicament.’
Andersen sighed in dismay.
Just thinking about stepping into the Third Year Zone made his body tremble uncontrollably.
Even as a student in the Upper Class for First-Year, he had struggled against third-year seniors using the Minotaurs as practice materials.
If he got caught by those seniors who casually use monsters for lectures, who knows what kind of trouble he might face?
But with that stiffened body, jumping off the carriage would certainly cause serious injury.
“Go ahead first, Oknodie.”
“Aren’t you going, Andersen?”
“I can’t leave April behind.”
Andersen, the Grand Duke, resolved to stick together until the end.
Oknodie looked at him in surprise.
“What’s with that face?”
“Hehe. I just find it really unexpected. The Grand Duke usually has a ruthless and cold side, you know? I thought you’d ignore it like you did with Sister Arcadia!”
“…I have no words even if I had ten mouths. I definitely owe Arcadia an apology. She was in a situation where I couldn’t reach her.”
But now was different.
The Grand Duke Andersen declared so.
However, even April, who was receiving help, internally disagreed with his opinion.
‘If he’s a lousy low noble, it doesn’t matter what he does, but someone of the Grand Duke’s status should be careful to ensure not even a falling leaf gets dirty.’
An outside woman, and a mere maid at that.
Moreover, dressed as a beastfolk, she would be seen as a Cat Beastfolk by others, receiving help from someone affiliated with the foundation.
If discovered, it would create a scandal that would shake the academy.
It would surely have adverse effects on the main house as well.
And it would not bode well for Andersen’s future.
Yet he was helping her?
Because it’s within his reach?
Because it was manageable?
‘That can’t be right.’
Though it wasn’t as monumental as the incident with Princess Arcadia, the danger was still very real.
If he did help, it could only mean there was a change of heart in the Grand Duke Andersen.
“If it’s due to guilt, you don’t have to push yourself.”
“That’s not it.”
“In that case, let’s just consider it that way!”
He could be doing this out of regret for not helping Arcadia.
‘Or maybe he has feelings for me…?’
No way. That couldn’t be it.
April shook her head at the foolish thought.
*
The opportunity to jump off the carriage had passed.
They finally arrived at the Third-Year Exclusive Zone.
[Let’s Learn About Monster Patterns] Lecture Hall.
“This isn’t it?”
“Then where is this?”
Andersen was baffled by Oknodie’s words.
The teaching assistant who had parked the carriage in the open ground was making suspicious sounds with a whistle.
Rustle.
Moments later, strange students started appearing one by one from a dim pathway.
Could it be they had discovered their identities…?
Are they planning to gang up on an unassuming first-year who dared to step into the third-year zone?
As Andersen’s imagination ran wild, tension built up.
“Where are the items?”
“Check for yourself.”
Andersen trembled in fear.
One student approached the carriage, cut the bag with a dagger, and gulped down a jelly.
“Top-notch goods! The cutting technique is extraordinary. Who made this?”
“I don’t know. I just took it from the items left here for delivery.”
“Actually, this works in our favor. For our foundation’s scholarship students, this isn’t bad at all.”
The students grinned wickedly.
Their words shocked all three of them.
“!!”
Who would have thought they’d run into upperclassman foundation scholarship students like this!
Andersen realized that the situation was more serious than he’d thought.
Oknodie and April being foundation officials might help, but he was an outsider.
If caught, he would surely be in deep trouble.
With intense panic, he gripped tightly.
April, who just moments ago he had been trying to calm, now reassured him with a look, holding his hand.
‘There can’t be just one spy known to me at the academy.’
April realized this.
Her duties had primarily been focused on first-year lower classes.
There could be other administrators within the same grade, let alone in other grades.
‘What kind of operation are they planning to gather so many upperclassman scholarship students?’
She was dripping with sweat, realizing the foundation had sinister plans unknown to her.
With each other’s warmth, Andersen and April faced their fears.
They finally witnessed the foundation’s wicked scheme, its true nature!
“I won’t have to wait for the free distribution anymore!”
“Even if monster collection items disappear, the teaching assistant will be the one to get chewed out, not us.”
“Ha ha! This was such a good plan. Transforming into a teaching assistant with sticker magic and boldly raiding the collection!”
Collection theft!
It was no different from what Oknodie had done!
‘Should I think of Oknodie as being on par with third years, or that the foundation seems to operate at that level?’
‘…I missed out due to tension. But then again, most of the scholarship students I assist know the importance of points, living like stingy students.’
Though it seemed somewhat pathetic, Andersen reminded himself that it didn’t justify underestimating them.
They were third years just by virtue of surviving in this harsh academy.
April also remained cautious, keeping an eye on the possibility of being discovered.
“Even though we’re in uniforms, they would never have suspected we aren’t students, right?”
“Ha ha! It’s your fault for blocking students from having meals for 5 points!”
“Whoa, look at this! There’s even a Cockatrice egg! The assistants must be really good this time. They stole the egg from a bird that burns to death if you meet its eyes!”
“Will eating it half-baked increase fire resistance?”
“Should we toss it into lava?”
“You idiot! If it melts, it wouldn’t even be a lava golem that anyone could eat!”
Andersen pondered whether he should be surprised that these folks were merely students or be astonished at Oknodie’s sneaky skills in stealing an egg from such a dangerous monster.
“Oknodie. If we stay here any longer, the bag will be emptied and we’ll be found out. Shouldn’t we just turn ourselves in and leave now?”
“Just remain calm. Other presences are drawing near!”
The upperclassman scholarship students unloading the carriage turned their heads to something.
“This presence is…!”
“It’s the Student Council! The Student Body Enforcement has arrived!!”
Andersen, who was oblivious to the Student Council’s authority, couldn’t understand the reactions of the third-year seniors.
‘Why are upperclassmen so wary of one another? It’s just the Student Council, not instructors or professors.’
This was a thought only a clueless first-year could have.
“Fire the flare!”
“Over there! The unapproved intruding students have snuck into the student-only zone!”
“No, how did they figure out we were students!?”
“Could there be a betrayer among us!?”
The foundation scholarship students were thrown into chaos, recognizing the alarm even from inside the carriage!
“Identifying the traitor can wait. First, scatter… Kugh!”
“Ah~~~ Hahaha! You guys didn’t notice the ambush by me, Mandela Castera, did you? Seems like the seniors have wasted their academy food! You’re all so weak that even the one hitting is brought to tears!”
‘D-Did I just see that wrong?’
With that distinctive laugh and characteristic drill hairstyle.
There was no mistaking it.
That person was none other than the top student of the second year, who he had seen during the dodgeball competition at the big sports festival!
In an instant, a way out for the students emerged as Mandela’s figure appeared as though from thin air with [Short-Range Teleportation].
A cheat technique that would be the stuff of dreams for warriors who valued distance.
“Ha, that kid is just a second-year, right? It wouldn’t be scary unless it was a surprise attack; if they showed themselves from the front, I wouldn’t be afraid!”
The long-haired student lifted dozens of stones from the ground to shoot them like bullets.
Following that, a shield-bearing senior ripped apart his fake uniform, revealing armor as he began a full-on assault.
With powerful continuous fire magic and a reinforced charge technique, Mandela stood wielding a giant hammer as if she were a candle in the wind.
“Now, let’s sneak away!”
“Are you seriously not going to watch such an exciting battle unfold?”
“No matter who falls, we’ll be the ones caught next.”
Reluctantly, Andersen took the bag and pulled April’s tail out.
As they descended from the cart, cries of disbelief filled the air behind them, “What!?” “No way!” “How could even Professor Plato’s statue be taken down!?”
…He was too curious.
He wanted to see the fight!
As Andersen struggled to suppress his urge to turn back, April firmly grabbed his hand.
Seeing him still dazed, she took even bolder action.
“!!”
A gripping hold of fingers intertwined.
In an act reminiscent of lovers, Grand Duke Andersen stared absentmindedly at April.
“Don’t stop moving. The sound of Lady Mandela’s laughter is getting louder.”
If they were caught, they might face something worse than being identified by the foundation scholarship students.
With a curt tone, April led the way forward while occasionally twisting in pain.
Seeing April, who was also suffering because of him, while pulling herself together, Andersen finally snapped to attention and shook his head.
“Oknodie. April. I’m sorry both of you. If I had noticed the approach of the student body earlier, we wouldn’t have gotten involved in such a situation.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I just swiped something worth more than all the ingredients collected today from the fallen upperclassman who was attacked by Lady Mandela!”
From Oknodie’s magic backpack emerged the strange bundle of stickers that the upperclassman playing as a teaching assistant had used.
