Chapter 17 – From a Small Battle to a Major Accident (02)

The place we took the carriage to was a forest about an hour away from the academy.

“The mission given to us today is wolf hunting. All you have to do is catch the wolf before the sun sets, then pull out the fangs and take the token.”

“If it’s for Aren’s pocket money, I’ll have to work hard.”

“Okay. So cheer up.”

The rewards received through this mission were converted into points by Celestial Academy for a certain fee, and it was up to the individual to spend the points on upgrading dormitories and facilities or to use them to purchase tools and weapons.

Among the academy’s students, there are many characters with a lot of money because they come from aristocratic families. They say that donation admission is prevented, but repairs, remodeling, and improvements to the academy’s facilities can only be made with points earned through requests.

‘That’s bullshit’

Ophelia and I also entered through donation admission. I was the one who put it on Ophelia as a hunchback.

The third battle and the first full-scale battle excluding the tutorial.

The evaluation varies depending on how many wolves can be killed within a given turn. The wolves themselves can be easily defeated by Ophelia alone, but you can get a lot of points by ignoring the miscellaneous wolves in the beginning and going deep into the forest to catch the leader.

‘Basic hunting request site’

The actual evaluation in the village was requested with the hope of reducing the number of wolves, but if the leader wolf was captured, it would be surprising and the reputation would increase even more.

By the way, there is a bandit den on the map right next to here, and it was something that could be defeated as one of the missions selected at the beginning.

When performing this mission, the wolves that were not caught now reappear, but at that time, no points were given because there was no bounty on the wolves, so it was just a pure hindrance.

In the first game, I had a hard time with Ophelia and retreated after catching about 6 wolves, but when I entered the bandit suppression mission in the beginning, there were over 20 wolves and 5 bandits, so it was game over.

‘Why are those damn wolves only attacking us?’

Well, it’s something like that in the game system. Anyway, the more wolves I eliminated this time, the more comfortably I could proceed when subduing bandits later.

However, since subjugating bandits is an early stage quest and the reward is low, you can accept other quests instead of completing it.

Gwaik-

Seeing that the carriage operated by the Academy had stopped, it seemed like it had arrived at the requested area.

“I’ll be waiting around here, so you can come back when you’re done.”

As we watched the coachman hired as an employee stop the carriage at a safe location and release the horses, Ophelia and I packed up our gear and went outside.

‘Hmm… It looks like this from a first-person perspective’

Since I am always in command, I only saw it from above.

“I’ll change my gear in a moment.”

Since she can’t put on armor from the carriage, Ophelia goes into the dressing room installed at the post station.

“Don’t peek?”

“I don’t look.”

If you try to spy on Ophelia, whose birthday hasn’t even passed, you’ll only end up in a plain swimsuit anyway…

Also, the body wasn’t properly researched, so it was all crushed up.

“Inori.”

Sigh.

While Ophelia was away, I called Inori over.

Currently, I thought Ophelia was hunting alone with me on this mission, but in reality, it was Inori and… Alice was probably following along with a slight time gap by now, so there were four of us in the end.

“Inori. Isn’t there an uninvited guest following you?”

Inori, who was wearing a kunoichi uniform and a combat mask that covered her chin and nose, could not hide her surprised expression at my question.

‘Well, now I can tell what you’re thinking just by looking at your eyes.’

“That’s right. I was going to let you know when I get the chance, but I noticed a carriage following me with a slight delay.”

“Alice.”

“How can you do that… After all, you are my lord.”

“Thanks to you, I have to revise my original plan.”

“I do not recommend eliminating the academy students. If you ask me to do it, I will do it, but if you turn the star wizards into enemies…”

“No, you wouldn’t kill your friend.”

Alice is so useful, why kill her? Moreover, even though she was a bit awkward at first, she was also my classmate.

“A little teasing is enough.”

“What would you like to do?”

“Inori, can you disguise yourself as me?”

At those words, Inori sat down on the floor and pulled out various tools from her shadow.

He put on an outfit similar to the men’s academy uniform, changed the high-heeled shoes he was currently wearing into low ones, and put insoles on them to make sure they were at eye level with me.

After tying her hair with a net, she put on a silver wig and put on some makeup, and soon she looked similar to me.

“Wow…”

It wasn’t perfect enough to look in a mirror, but it was hard to tell at a glance.

And Alice, she’s never really looked at my face, she’s never even made eye contact, so she’s going to be deceived at this level.

“It’s really similar. It’s not a shadow ninjutsu, it’s makeup, right?”

“Yes.”

There was a much nicer woody scent coming from the body, but I didn’t think Alice would be able to tell that apart.

“Hang this on your belt and go.”

I handed over the old iron sword I received from Ofelia yesterday to Inori. If you walk around without a sword at your waist, you may be suspected.

“Then lure Alice with that appearance. Her location is…”

As she tried to remember this map from her vague memory, she remembered that she had received a mission map that showed the topography of this area.

The proportions of the minimap are a little weirder than I thought, and there are some places that are wrong when I actually see it, but I can correct that based on my memory.

“Here, near the rocky mountain. There are a lot of wolves here, so be careful.”

“Yes. I will follow the instructions to kill you. If you are killed by a wolf, even the wizards of the stars will not be able to accuse you of it.”

“No, no, you can’t die. If it gets dangerous, you can protect me.”

Inori says scary things with a nonchalant expression.

“Master, the shadow exists to protect you.”

“Protecting indirectly is also protecting. Besides…”

I waved the wooden sword hanging on my waist.

“Today I am very strong.”

* ​ * ​ *

Practice day.

Other 3rd year Class F students were recognized for their reputation and skills to a certain extent and were performing other tasks as practice.

In fact, Cylian and Marian, who were recognized for their skills, were participating as assistants in subduing monsters, so it can be said that it was a busy hunting day for everyone.

Sailian went to subdue the undead that had arisen as a result of death energy seeing into the ground of the cemetery without anyone controlling him, while Marian was put on a mission to chase down criminals of the Join tribe.

To such fantastic mission Compared, our mission was just to catch wolves, so if there was even a scream, the rangers waiting nearby would come to help, so there was no risk to our lives.

‘Unless you’re weak enough to be attacked by a wolf.’

The main character’s abilities are all 5, so if he is bitten by a wolf, he will die in one hit, so it is game over. In principle, even if the character is defeated here, he is only injured and is not considered dead.

Since Ophelia and I have no reputation, we are carrying out this mission that only first-year students would do.

The people who participated in the battle were very sensitive to the rewards of the mission they received, as the points they received from the request were evenly distributed after deducting the commission and used as personal pocket money.

Therefore, during the academy activities, the condition for Class F students to participate in the war together with the main character is that they must have a level of intimacy to the level of ‘I will help my friend’, even to the point of giving up their own missions with higher rewards.

Oh, and there was a concept of pocket money in Celestial Academy. When each character performed a mission, they earned appropriate points and used those points to purchase personal items.

At the friend level or higher, on anniversaries or special days, you give the main character gifts purchased with your own money, and you purchase potions, magic books, weapons, etc. That increase your ability to become stronger. Due to the nature of AI, you only buy things you like, so it is efficient for training. For this, the protagonist must intervene appropriately.

If you go beyond the best friend stage or become a lover stage, you can specify where to spend the allowance or you can take it, but if it is not a gift exchange, your favorability will be lowered.

In fact, I heard that when you start a strategy on the extreme difficulty level, you first raise the favorability rating and spend all the pocket money on all but the essential characters to get rid of them and then throw them away.

‘You’re just stealing money…’

In that sense, I wonder whether I should take as much as I can from Ophelia before the day of rebellion.

Anyway, if I go back to the Duke’s house, I will quickly become independent and ride the queen tech, so wouldn’t it be okay to take this kind of money?

“Hmm?”

Ophelia, who was wearing the basic protective gear provided by the academy, must have sensed my gaze and turned her head, but I smiled as if it was nothing.

‘I’m not crazy about efficiency… I can break even if I don’t go to that level, so let’s just live with it.’

In order to empty your pockets like that, you must first reach the level of best friends with Ophelia.

It’s not like they’re livestock raised to eat, but to increase their favorability in order to empty their pockets. That’s so trash.

“Aren.”

As Ophelia stopped walking and pulled out her long sword from her belt, her loud cries began to echo around her.

“Awww~!”

Wolves began to appear from inside the forest.

‘It’s more than I thought… Did the difficulty increase because it was the second time?’

As I remember, there were 8 wolves that appeared in the beginning, but now there are more than 10 that can be seen.

“Hide behind. I’ll take care of this number.”

“No.”

I walked over and faced Ophelia.

Bingle.

Then, by shifting his body with his weight on her, he turned Ophelia, who was looking ahead of her, and sent her to the rear of her.

“I go in first.”

“It’s dangerous for Aren. Besides, it’s not the sword I gave you, it’s a wooden sword for practice.”

That’s why I’m stepping forward.

“Awwwww-!!”

Before Ophelia pulled me again and changed positions, I charged first toward the wolf, which was howling loudly and wary.

Pgak!

The moment I swung the wooden sword, the human-sized wolf head in front of me disappeared.