“Hoho. So, are we setting out?”
“Right. Let’s form the second Oknodie search and rescue team.”
Unlike the overly enthusiastic Jezel and Isabel, Son Ohchun felt a bit uneasy.
“Why do we have to name it that? Last time we went out bravely, we ended up getting rescued by a mouse. Isn’t it going to be the same again?”
Thwack!
Isabel’s cleaver narrowly missed Son Ohchun while he was wiping the staff with a cloth, embedding itself into the wall.
Son Ohchun’s eyes went wide at the sight of the cleaver, which was completely stuck in the wall, leaving only the handle visible.
“Son Ohchun, don’t you want to eat?”
“I was just saying let’s not have a great experience like that without me.”
As Isabel lightly pulled out the cleaver and retrieved it, Son Ohchun thought,
“Isn’t the cook getting stronger than the one who eats?”
“But if we go just the three of us, it might really end up the same way. Shouldn’t we gather some additional help first?”
The forlorn men who thought Oknodie would abandon us and live happily were obviously not part of the team.
Among the women, Dorothy and Countess Arcadia, who were lost in vain fantasies, and Irene, who was downcast like the men, were also excluded.
Those with the will to rescue.
Those who had not given up on Oknodie.
Whether anyone who fit that criteria would still remain was questionable even to themselves.
The news of becoming the Empire’s Fourth Princess seemed like the ultimate fortune in an ordinary sense.
Even Jezel, if she didn’t know the purpose of the revolutionaries and the Revolutionary Army, could think that way. For others, it was a pity to part with Oknodie, but to Oknodie personally, it felt like a golden destiny.
“Leave it to me.”
“Ziang?”
A character appeared who made even Jezel, usually skeptical, consider the possibility.
Ziang, who had been meaning to help but was becoming increasingly expensive to hire.
“Let me help too!”
“That light stand… it must be Titosso.”
Even Titosso, famous for being a coward.
Son Ohchun was dumbfounded by the bizarre combination of Ziang and Titosso.
“What are you kids, small as mice, going to do? It’ll just make the number of captured people increase if you go to rescue them. Are you aiming for the Empire’s Fifth or Sixth Princess?”
“Who knows? Since the light stand shines even from afar, maybe Oknodie is trying to signal us with its location while asking for help.”
Isabel chimed in, and Titosso started to pout.
“Waaaah! Why say such mean things!”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry. It’s just, you guys are kind of small, right?”
Ziang replied to Son Ohchun’s doubts.
“Considering your height, it’s not unreasonable to think that way. Still, we are certain that we can definitely help in the rescue of Oknodie. We have our reasons.”
“I’d like to hear those reasons.”
Even under Jezel’s urging, with fingers interlaced and chin propped up, Ziang responded willingly.
“I’m an assassin. Titosso is the youngest daughter of the mayor of Kanelle City, with connections to the Thief Guild, making us the most suitable selection.”
“Is that really the only reason?”
Jezel’s sharp gaze made Ziang hesitate for the first time.
“If you don’t tell us honestly, we can’t help but act on our own. If we share a mutual desire to rescue the little lady but act separately, it’ll be a tremendous waste of manpower. Please trust us, for the sake of the little lady as well.”
Reluctantly, Ziang spoke up.
“Oknodie hasn’t returned, and Professor Sadako’s lectures are getting tougher by the day.”
“What?”
“At this rate, before we know it, we all might end up as undead under the professor’s hand.”
Drrrr!
Suddenly, they felt a tremor as if an earthquake had struck.
The source of the quake was Titosso, who began trembling uncontrollably as if a trauma switch had been flipped.
“Finding the hidden doll in the subdimensional… hiding from the high undead… no screaming… don’t lift your head if your shoulder is tapped… even if your back is cold, don’t run… sniff, sniff… hold back the sobs too…!”
Hearing Titosso’s genuine mumbling, Son Ohchun and Isabel spoke sternly.
“Whatever classes we choose during next year’s enrollment period, we must avoid Professor Sadako’s lectures at all costs.”
“I completely agree.”
Seemingly assured, Jezel pulled out her identification badge.
“This is a proof badge that can help us gain the Dark Trading Company’s support. The ‘outside’ Dark Trading Company also carries this, so it will assist you all.”
“Thanks.”
Ziang thought to himself secretly.
“So Jezel figured out my ulterior motive beyond the assassin’s intuition.
Her observation skills are nothing short of extraordinary.
Are small eyes a cause for sharper observation because they see less?”
But this time, she was a step ahead.
Titosso feared Professor Sadako’s lectures for the entirety of the reason, but Ziang had another purpose for joining the Oknodie search and rescue team.
“A white teddy bear panty for girls, huh?”
Not necessarily interested in the increased potential for strength from such a panty, but it was said Oknodie only wore that.
A thought popped into mind.
“A best friend should at least have one similar panty, right?”
Like friendship panties.
Imagining that while on a trip to a hot spring, they’d undress in the locker room and see the same underwear and say, “Oh, you too? Me too!” which raises favorability, Ziang clenched her fist determinedly.
“Looks like Ziang is really worried about Oknodie!”
Titosso vowed to be of help to Ziang and overcame her fear, clenching her fist tightly together.
Watching this heartwarming scene, Son Ohchun and Jezel made their resolve just then.
Only Isabel drifted into a strange thought.
“What exactly are those slacker seniors doing to let the goo go out of the academy?”
Where on earth are those people, and what are they doing?
*
Murderer Urgas came to a conclusion after much contemplation.
“This is definitely not good.”
Tracking Oknodie’s movements and finding the Dark Harpies was good enough, but the problem was that the Empire’s pursuers were not only on the ground.
Bwaaaak!
A sharp wailing echoed through the air.
The Dark Harpies panicked.
“Hieeek!! Harpy meat is so delicious, it’s a wyvern!!”
“If we get caught, we’ll be treated like beasts by the wyverns!!”
“Nooooo!! To be violated not by a human but by a beast is a harpy’s shame!!”
The Dark Harpies cried out in sorrow, but ultimately, they couldn’t shake off the wyverns’ pursuit and were caught.
“Damn it. Ian!”
“Heh. The Empire’s guys are not bad, huh? Taming wyverns, are they? I wonder how much resistance to fire they’ve raised?”
After 13 years in the Student Dormitory Zone’s volcanic region studying elemental magic, the student gazed at the wyverns.
“Fire.”
1st rank Basics of Magic.
A spell that simply creates fire.
It doesn’t enhance potency or specify a range.
It neither incinerates matter right away nor summons liquid flames that envelop a body.
It was simply fire.
Just a simple act of lighting a lighter.
There was no way the power of such a basic spell could be great.
Kwaaaaaang!!
But it was different.
The reason lay in the overwhelming affinity for fire.
For those with low affinity, their spells are as small and insignificant as a lighter flame.
Their duration is short, and the intensity of the flame is low.
However, if the affinity is high?
Nearby fire-type mana puzzles gather on their own.
They strive to carry out the simple command to ignite fire with all their might.
They read the sorcerer’s intent without being told, following the optimal form he desires.
The result:
A massive fire that completely incinerates the wyvern blocking the harpies’ way.
‘If just a 1st rank basic spell can do this, what will happen if this guy truly casts higher-level magic?’
A chilling thought.
Urgas realized.
Ian is not someone who is in any way his inferior and might even surpass Charlotte.
Well, Charlotte couldn’t possibly defeat him since he possessed the lost item, the [Golden Apple], which controls the owner’s surrounding space… huh?
Urgas felt something was off in his head.
With the Golden Apple, Charlotte could never beat him.
Because the [Golden Apple] counteracts the functions of his lost item, which controls space.
But he has lost his lost item.
Why?
He grabbed his throbbing head as a knight, camped on a wyvern, got up.
“It doesn’t pass. We are the flight reconnaissance unit of the Legion. Your best magical power cannot burn through our high-altitude knight brigade’s defensive armor, no matter how great.”
“That guy didn’t even burn to death or fall despite suffering that level of firepower?”
As the wyvern flapped its wings furiously, the flames scattered like petals, vanishing.
Upon seeing the shimmering light, Urgas realized.
The already powerful wyvern was also clad in armor made of rare metal that imbued it with magical resistance.
“Ian, what are you doing not using high-level magic!”
“Hmm~ I just thought it would be better to send one junior to die than to antagonize the Empire’s high-altitude knight brigade.”
“What?!”
“Just take care of it.”
As the estimates grew ambiguous, the coward Ian immediately turned tail.
Urgas felt an overwhelming rage.
Yeah, even during his third year, academy students were like this.
Even if they could split the points, they would prefer to eliminate their competitors to monopolize the points.
He, too, had been blinded by such betrayal, pursuing a path of monopolization.
But now, with his lost item’s power diminished, he lacked the ability to ambush all while waiting for everyone to collapse and then sweep it all at the end.
“Urgas. Commence the Bivo attack.”
“Don’t you dare give me orders, insolent girl!”
While his mouth chided, Urgas activated Bivo.
If those guys aren’t taken down, everyone, including himself, would be in trouble.
However, most likely, the first to be troubled would be him, who had become the weakest link.
[Defense Barrier]
“Is it an internal magic? Ridiculous. Such a cliché single-type defensive magic tool? With just a few adjustments to the spell, one could breach it easily!”
[Bivo Modification Spell]
[Wave Passage]
A spell designed to have the same wavelength value as the detected barrier wavelengths.
As Urgas unfolded that spell, he recalled a grenade fired by a girl that had passed through his comprehensive barrier.
A girl who possessed the strength level of a fourth-year student and only stayed a student for the sake of her Number Artifact’s equivalent value had dealt him a significant blow.
He had clearly been hit hard by that blow.
He had passed out quite beautifully.
Yes, that girl.
That girl had stolen and taken his lost item.
So it made sense.
That was the reason he didn’t have the Golden Apple.
But why had Charlotte spared his life?
They’d piled up more than one grievance against each other.
“Pathetic. Altering the mana wave is something any expert can do. The elite flying knight brigade of the Empire consists of masters.”
Was it because his mind was being distracted?
Was it because he had substituted his lost item with something far inferior?
No.
Before that, the opponent was strong.
Urgas realized that his Bivo attack could not even touch them.
The knights clad in full armor, mounted on wyverns.
The rare-class aerial knights, regarded as the Empire’s elite flying knight brigade, had sensed their presence, which was stronger than Oknodie, and had come here.
‘I’ve been forced into a losing role!’
This time, the high-altitude knight brigade came forward, spear in hand for a counterattack.
[Thunder Charge]
[Man and Wyvern as One]
The wyverns made rapid turns in the sky, attacking from all directions with their spears.
Boom!
“Ten percent of the comprehensive barrier has been damaged blocking that strike!”
While the barrier quickly regained its shape due to the increased effort, the opponents were also capable of reading the spell structure and adapting their actions to become fourth-year level competent persons.
Those claimed to be the best in the Empire are the elite known as the Three Great Sword Kings, the Chief Court Magician, the Multicolor Magic Tower Lord, and the 19 strong individuals of the Ten Great Masters of Unarmed Combat.
Powerful individuals of equal strength convened in one knight brigade.
A brigade that could genuinely claim to be the strongest in the Empire.
Thanks to these warriors, even when the academy produces frightful fourth-years every year, the Empire never faces a coup d’état crisis through brute force.
Previously, a spear had been blocked by a layer of barriers, but now it began to penetrate through two, then three layers, and Urgas painfully felt that truth.
It was now down to prayer.
That professors would please just be a bit smarter.
If they sent a rescue team to save Oknodie, could they think of also sending a rescue team for that rescue team to save Oknodie?
