Chapter 131: Cheer Up, Dorothy! (3)

Turning back time briefly to when Dorothy was enthusiastically collecting necklaces.

“Something seems to be going wrong.”

-“Huh?”

Sion, who had just defeated a Lesser Troll and secured her 1,000th necklace, suddenly frowned and muttered.

Hearing her sudden and seemingly random remark, Exia raised a question mark above her head, metaphorically speaking.

-“What do you mean something’s going wrong? Isn’t this going smoothly enough as it is?”

“On the surface, it might seem that way… if we were dealing with just an ordinary student.”

-“On the surface…?”

In response to Exia’s curiosity, Sion scanned their surroundings briefly before replying.

“Simply put, the frequency of monster encounters is far lower than expected.

The point values of the necklaces range from 10 to 50, with a total of about 300 necklaces.

Considering her high detection skills, by now—two hours into this—she should have collected at least 1,500 points.

Yet, the total points collected are only 1,000. This can only be considered an abnormal situation.”

-“Uh…?”

Exia gasped in shock.

For Sion to call this an abnormal situation, it must be quite serious.

-“What does that mean exactly? Is there an intruder in the school? Or maybe the barrier has been breached, and monsters are escaping?”

“No, that’s unlikely. If that were the case, classes would have been halted, and the barrier would be under repair by now.”

Sion shook her head firmly.

“The school has stated that they are monitoring the entire forest in real-time through crystal orbs, so it’s unlikely to be a serious incident.

Conversely, the lack of any announcements indicates that this anomaly is likely the result of activities within the established rules.

And with that in mind, there’s only one plausible hypothesis I can think of.”

-“And what’s that?”

“Someone is collecting necklaces at a pace that surpasses mine.”

-“What?!”

Exia was stunned.

Could such a person even exist in this world? A student, no less?

-“How is that possible? Aren’t you the Demon King, Sien? Is there really someone who can hunt faster than you?”

“Well, I’m not exactly going all out here. I’ve been taking it easy, with the mindset of maintaining first place comfortably.

If someone else with remarkable skills were to give it their all, it’s possible for me to fall behind.”

Even so, isn’t that strange…?

When Sion said “maintain first place,” it implied keeping figures like Isabella and Lancia below her.

Those two were renowned geniuses in both magic and swordsmanship.

Moreover, Lancia had been particularly motivated to surpass Sion, so she must have been working relentlessly.

For someone to easily surpass those two and even outdo Sion, could such a skilled individual exist among the first-year students?

How is that even possible?

“I do have a suspicion.”

Sion crossed her arms and muttered.

“That blue-haired girl from earlier… Wasn’t her name Dorothy?

Her initial speed was anything but ordinary. She might be a skilled individual hiding her identity.

Not to mention, the way she burns with such competitive spirit against her is rather suspicious.”

-“Hiding her identity? Then who exactly is she?”

“How would I know? I’ve never even had a proper conversation with her.”

Sion shrugged nonchalantly.

“What about you? Don’t you have any guesses? Anything you might have picked up over the last 500 years in the temple?”

-“Um, let me think…”

Exia pondered for a moment.

Unlike Sion, who had stubbornly refused to acknowledge Dorothy’s real name, Exia had once called her by it properly, 500 years ago.

She had even seen her human form a few times.

But Exia was fundamentally dim-witted, far less intelligent than even an average person.

She could barely recall what she ate for dinner last night, let alone remember the name of a girl she spent only a week with 500 years ago.

Ultimately, she shook her head.

-“I have no idea. Sorry.”

“I see.”

Sion nodded indifferently, unsurprised since she hadn’t expected much from Exia.

Her focus had already shifted from “Who is Dorothy?” to “How can this situation be resolved?”

“Anyway, this is quite troubling.”

Sion muttered, fiddling with the pouch of necklaces she had collected.

“I have a duty to uphold the brand value of the title of ‘Hero.’ That includes maintaining first place in activities like this.

No matter how extraordinary she may be, I can’t allow her to outshine and overshadow me.

I must reclaim first place by any means necessary.”

-“But how?”

Exia asked hesitantly.

-“All the monsters are almost wiped out, aren’t they? That Lesser Troll from earlier took nearly ten minutes of searching to find.

How do you plan to gather more points now? By creating fake necklaces?”

“That’s not an option. They’d catch on during the final scoring.”

-“Then what? You’re not suggesting stealing necklaces from Dorothy, are you?

Setting aside the ethical implications, that would be an immediate rules violation, and you’d get expelled.

The forest is being monitored in real time by the instructors, so if any conflict between students arises, they’ll intervene immediately and punish the wrongdoer. There are many precedents for that.

But if you can’t get necklaces from monsters or students, how are you going to secure first place?”

In response to Exia’s skepticism, Sion smirked.

“Oh, I’ve already got a good plan for that.”

-“…..”

Why did this feel so ominous?

As Exia remained silent out of unease, Sion began chanting a spell leisurely.

“First, let’s figure out where that Dorothy is. Echolocation.”

The spell, which had once been used to detect a Giant Death Worm, relied on echoes to pinpoint the target’s location.

Sion infused the spell with an immense amount of magic, expanding its range to cover the entire forest.

She stood still, listening intently to the sounds, trying to locate the person moving the most frantically.

It didn’t take long for her to find the target.

“Alright, northwest it is. Let’s head there casually and pretend to encounter her by chance.”

With that, Sion began moving in the direction indicated by her senses.

Before long, as planned, Sion found herself face-to-face with Dorothy at a close distance.

Upon seeing the bulging pouch tied to Dorothy’s waist, she confirmed that her suspicion was correct.

So it was this girl who had wiped out all the monsters by collecting all the necklaces, Sion thought.

What followed was a conversation already described earlier.

“My score? Oh, just a modest 2,000 points.”

“That many? That’s amazing!”

Sion offered insincere praise, while Dorothy, taking it as genuine, puffed up with pride.

Watching Dorothy revel in her achievement, unaware of the fate awaiting her, was almost laughable.

Sion had to stifle a chuckle that almost slipped out.

Of course, on the surface, she maintained the perfect image of a saint, with no trace of jealousy.

“Want to see the necklaces I’ve collected? I can show them to you anytime you’d like.”

“No, that’s alright. I’ll gratefully accept the thought instead.”

Sion declined Dorothy’s offer with a smile.

She wanted to avoid being suspected later if the necklaces suddenly disappeared.

Naturally, her cautious behavior had a hidden motive.

After all, Sion was seriously planning to steal Dorothy’s necklaces.

“Alright, we’re far enough away now.”

After parting ways with Dorothy, Sion glanced back briefly and muttered under her breath.

A faint smile played on her lips.

“Heh, ‘show what’s inside’? There’s no need for that.

All I needed was to confirm the appearance of the pouch she carried.”

-“The appearance? What do you mean by that?”

“Like this. Major Creation.”

Hiding her hands inside her cloak, Sion cast a spell in secret, careful not to be detected by the instructors monitoring the forest.

The spell she cast was one of her specialties, a creation spell. She created a pouch identical in design to the one Dorothy carried.

However, this pouch had a large tear at the bottom, rendering it flawed.

Holding the newly created pouch in her hand, Sion once again located Dorothy’s position using her detection magic.

She then targeted the necklace pouch at Dorothy’s waist with her next spell.

“Teleport Item!”

In an instant, the locations of the two pouches swapped.

The torn, empty pouch Sion had created now hung at Dorothy’s waist, while Dorothy’s genuine pouch was now in Sion’s possession.

Without relying on manual dexterity or telekinesis, Sion used spatial magic to switch the items in the blink of an eye, leaving the victim completely unaware.

It was the ultimate act of pickpocketing.

“Hahaha! How’s that! With this, her score has plummeted from 2,000 points to zero!

Now it’s a foregone conclusion that I’ll secure first place in this class!”

-“Wow…”

Exia let out an involuntary exclamation.

It wasn’t admiration but a tone dripping with contempt, as if looking at trash.

-“I had a feeling you were up to something, but of course, you go and pull a dirty trick like this.

You truly are an unchanging person.”

“Heh, thank you for noticing. Never compromising on my way of life is my greatest pride.”

-“That wasn’t a compliment, you lunatic.”

Perhaps because she was a demon, Sion’s sense of pride and shame always seemed misplaced.

It wasn’t just a recent trait but something that had been part of her for a long time.

Stealing the necklaces a young girl had worked hard to collect and then feeling proud of it—what could possibly be worth boasting about?

If it were Exia, she would’ve been utterly embarrassed.

Knowing that voicing such thoughts would fall on deaf ears, Exia sighed inwardly.

-“So, are you going to submit those necklaces and claim first place now?”

“No need for that. With the 2,000 points I stole, my original 1,200 points are more than enough to secure first place.

I’ll just dispose of this pouch before the class ends, maybe toss it into a cliff or a cave where she’ll never find it.”

That alone would suffice. Dorothy would never suspect Sion as the culprit.

Not only did Sion’s outward image make it seem impossible for her to do such a thing, but she also made sure not to get too close during their encounter.

She had deliberately kept a distance of over five meters to avoid suspicion.

There was no way Dorothy would imagine that Sion had used creation magic to make a decoy pouch and swapped it with spatial magic.

Even the instructors monitoring from afar (and an additional observer, unknown to Dorothy, named Philia) wouldn’t suspect a thing.

All the spells had been cast discreetly, leaving no visible traces for remote observers to pick up on.

This was the perfect showcase of Sion’s specialty: stealth spellcasting.

Of course, the fact that such a remarkable skill was being used for mere pickpocketing might raise questions.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!”

As Sion reveled in her flawless execution, a distant, anguished scream echoed through the forest.

It was the cry of someone whose two hours of hard work had completely vanished.

Sion covered her mouth, chuckling quietly.

“Heh, don’t take it personally.

This is merely the result of a difference in ability. If you want to blame someone, blame your own dullness for failing to notice my trickery.”

Her sinister laughter was laced with unparalleled wickedness.

Watching that twisted smile, Exia sighed deeply, as if the ground itself might cave in.

-“Sigh… How did I end up partnered with someone like this?”

For some reason, Exia found herself missing Lier more than ever today.

It was that kind of day.