<567 – Too Fast for a Child (2)>
Oknodie became a senior.
It was really a chilling story for Ishtar.
I thought she was my rival.
I considered her my archenemy.
I had vowed that this time, when I returned to school, I would win the title of top student fair and square.
But to jump a whole grade ahead without even establishing a competition? Isn’t that just plain evil?
“You coward! Not only did you postpone our showdown, but you also fled to the third year?”
“Showdown?”
Blink blink.
Oknodie, with eyes clear enough to capture the stars of the lake, exclaimed, “Oh! You wanted to compete for the title of top student?”
“…”
Hehe. “You’re so cute! Even having caught the emperor, you’re still hung up on something so trivial. Newbies really are adorable.”
“Cute? You’re the one who’s cuter! Who are you calling cute with that tiny stature? You’re the shortest little kid in the academy!”
Hehe, yes, yes.
I was thwarted.
Something about the atmosphere, where no fight could even be established, drained my energy.
“What on earth were you thinking when you jumped to the third year?”
“First, let’s do the room assignments! If we’re late, we’ll have to endure the ‘sleeping well anywhere’ lecture for a whole year!”
I was dragged into the Adventure Department Dormitory, following Oknodie, who took my hand unexpectedly.
━━━
[This Week’s Internal Facilities of the Adventure Department Notice]
1. Peace Lounge
2. Children’s Sanctuary
3. Challenge Classroom
4. Underground Caverns
5. Underground Tunnels
6. Uncharted Area
━━━
The notice made me want to say a lot.
“Why are the lounge and sanctuary separate?”
“Ah, I guess I need to inform you about some precautions! Notices must establish clear criteria!”
“What criteria?”
“Whether it’s based on who!”
“…Clearly, it’s a notice for the academy students using the Adventure Department dormitory.”
“Really? After a whole year of being taken aback, are you really going to trust such blatantly naïve information?”
“!”
“Think carefully.”
Ishtar, who really didn’t want to think about it, ended up blurting out an intuitive answer unbeknownst to his own mind.
“About the dead, monsters, and non-human beings…?”
“Correct! More precisely, it’s for students who couldn’t graduate from the Adventure Department and died.”
“How come you reached that conclusion from the same notice we both saw?”
“It says ‘Peace Lounge’ but the rooms attached to the lounge are so small you can barely lie down. Right?”
“Yeah, it does feel kind of like the capsule hotels used by the working class in an expensive empire.”
“For the dead, just a square meter of land to lie down on is plenty. Isn’t it the same thing?”
“…Isn’t that a bit of a stretch?”
“To begin with, it’s not even a magical spell, so why would there need to be a parallel notation? The latter part means ‘trick!’”
“Is that really the point?”
“The lounge can also be used as a restroom. But here it’s the lounge since there’s no toilet. Doesn’t the ‘Peace Lounge’ remind you of any spells? The priests use it a lot!”
“I’m sure Yufi used it occasionally during adventures… Ah! Rest in Peace!”
Rest in peace.
R.I.P.
May you rest peacefully.
A magic of mourning for the deceased.
A spell to prevent corpses from rising as skeletons or zombies from their graves.
So, the facility is meant for the dead.
“Of course, unsuspecting newbies who go there to rest will be mercilessly attacked by restless spirits throughout the night!”
Ishtar flinched as he saw a group of unsuspecting second-years line up toward the lounge.
Wondering if he should warn them, he didn’t call out, perhaps because he didn’t have any close friends there.
“Where are the members of the Warrior’s Guard?”
“They were sent off to the Knight or Magic Departments for extra training because they were too weak.”
“Good job! The Adventure Department might look like the easiest, but if you dig deeper, it’s actually the toughest. The dormitory shifts are so intense that it feels like there are two weekly events happening at once!”
“So where do we rest?”
“While the Children’s Sanctuary can easily be mistaken as a sacred sanctuary, recognizing it as a resting place for young spirits changes the level of risk.”
“Does that mean adult spirits protecting the kids will ambush us?”
“Kids will pop into your dreams and annoy you all night to play! They’re stamina-infused kids who don’t tire or sleep.”
“…That definitely won’t lead to any rest.”
Before I knew it, bold lines had been drawn through items one and two in the Hero’s notebook.
“The Challenge Classroom lets you learn special spells from the spirits, and since it’s related to spirit bodies, it wouldn’t hurt to learn. But if you’re discovered to be alive, the classroom will become a total chaos!”
“…How can I avoid being found out?”
“You’d need to wear a chilly veil to avoid revealing your body heat and imitate a ghost well! And you better not scream when you see unfortunate ghostly figures covered in blood and twisted limbs, calling them ugly!”
“That’s surprisingly practical advice.”
“It’s a classroom!”
Next came the Underground Caverns and Underground Tunnels.
“What comes to mind when you think of underground?”
“A grave.”
“Then here’s a quiz! Why don’t ghosts sleep underground but use lounges or sanctuaries above ground?”
“Huh? That’s…?”
“Think about it. I thought you could figure it out, Ishtar!”
Hmm. Hmm… Ughhh…
Ishtar quelled his reluctance to think and tried to ponder earnestly.
The tiny kid looked up at her filled with expectation, and he felt he couldn’t disappoint her gaze.
Even knowing that this kid, Oknodie, was stronger than many adults, physical appearance and charm still came under the sway of external appearance.
Just like how you’d still feed mischievous cats that occasionally knock things off your desk with their paws, shedding fur everywhere and destroying wallpaper.
“Ah.”
“How is it? Do you have any idea?”
“The underground is related to spirits. But the fact that some ghosts have come up means… it does relate to the actions of territorial animals pushed out of their boundaries.”
“And?”
“Perhaps the ones above ground are the less dangerous ghosts. Those remaining underground must be the much more dangerous ones.”
“Wooow, that’s correct!”
“Hmph. It’s just a trivial inference.”
“So where do you think we should sleep today?”
“Obviously, the Uncharted Area. That’s the only place left after excluding everything else.”
“Um, the last one scores 50 points!”
Oknodie looked slightly disappointed.
Ishtar furrowed his brow.
“What’s wrong with the Uncharted Area?”
“It’s a place to sleep, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily safe.”
“…Is there something else?”
“Ghosts can roam endlessly with their boundless stamina, so what kinds of places do even those ghosts hesitate to enter?”
“A god’s sanctuary.”
“Or perhaps they’re predatory higher beings that consume spirits!”
“…….”
Ishtar, unable to hold back any longer, asked.
“Why are these things in the dormitory?”
“Because it’s the Adventure Department!”
“You picked the wrong department.”
“Hehe. Right? That’s why I praised myself for leaving the newbies behind!”
“Is it okay if I don’t go meet Jezel, Isabel, or Son Ohchun? Jiang, Titosso, Dorothy, and many others have come to the Adventure Department.”
“They’ve all come out to play with me, so they’ll adapt quickly! Since you’ve never done that, I was worried and took on the role of a daily coach.”
So she was worried about a kid.
Uncomfortable feelings rose up, but the echoes of ghosts through the underground tunnels soon brought those complaints down.
If I don’t know, I should ask for help.
Ishtar followed Oknodie like a mute with honey in his mouth.
Stepping only on the boundaries, avoiding the puddles, following Oknodie, extending his arms and balancing on the stones, occasionally jumping off to touch walls or ceilings, and diligently following through with throwing daggers at buttons or traps.
“What does all this even mean?”
“It’s functional training!”
“…The reason for avoiding the puddles too?”
“Ah, that’s an area we should definitely avoid. I had those transparent mosquitoes lay eggs there.”
“…….”
I worried that in about a week, the mosquitoes hatching from eggs would daily attack the Adventure Department students, seeking Oknodie’s blood for her blood magic.
While contemplating whether I should take down Oknodie for the peace of the department, she suddenly grabbed my leg.
“Hold your breath for 60 seconds!”
“…?”
Why?
Before I could ask, I felt a chilly aura coming from the far end of the passage as a swarm of ghosts rushed from left to right, terror-inducing to count.
Oknodie held her breath until the last ghost passed, and only towards the end did a ghost that floated slowly come into view.
<Little Girl Ghost>
No matter how I looked at it, the ghost seemed small and feeble, resembling the ghost that Oknodie kept inside her ring. Only after it passed did Oknodie exclaim “Ha!” and breathe out.
“What was that last one?”
“That was the predator that drives spirits away!”
“That tiny thing?”
“Remember, in the Adventure Department dormitory, beware of kids, women, and elders!”
“Why?”
“Imagine how terrifying a child, a woman, or an elder would be after surviving in such a harsh environment?” The ghost that just passed fit perfectly into the ‘Night Dorm Supervisor’ category!”
“…How can a child also be an elder?”
“Mastering mana discipline compresses muscles and shrinks the body, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Extreme mana discipline can turn a person into a child! So it’s possible to be both a child and an elder at the same time. That goes for extreme masters of mana discipline or even ghosts who died early but lived long. So every child might very well be an elder before assessing their age!”
Ishtar stared at Oknodie with immense suspicion.
With the most suspicious child in the world here, how important can the ghostly supervisor be?
But whether it mattered to her or not, Oknodie confidently guided her to the Uncharted Area, and Ishtar was able to arrange a place to spend the night.
