episode_0037

The sky is clear beyond the wide-open window.

The morning air blowing in is cool, and the sound of the stream in the garden is refreshing.

It’s 9 AM, everything is fresh.

But Baron Philbrogue’s dining table wasn’t fresh.

Gulug, gulug, gulug…

“Puahaaa… I’m alive…”

He poured a whole bottle of cold water down his throat, which felt as dry as a desert.

He wondered how much he’d sweated throughout the night; his stomach felt completely parched.

Thud- thud-

Yuri, looking like a hunched-over grandmother, walked out.

“Ugh…” “Here, water…”

He offered Yuri a glass of water as she carefully sat down at the table, supporting her back. But the moment her bottom hit the chair…

“Yelp—!”

She flinched as if electrocuted and immediately stood up.

She touched her buttocks, specifically her butthole, with both hands… and looked at him with a red face.

He quietly replied.

“Why…” “…Nothing.”

If he were to ask whose fault it was, it would be everyone’s fault, but perhaps his was the most significant…

He thought he should go to the hospital first today.

Clatter-

On the other side of the table, Eve was having breakfast.

“You can’t even sit…?” “…Mind your own business.”

Yuri stood by the table, holding cutlery.

Her thighs trembled.

Unable to watch any longer, he created a small donut-shaped cushion with [Mana Veil] and placed it on the chair.

Flop-

“Whew… I’m alive. Thank you, unni.” “…I’m sorry.”

For a while, there was no conversation, only the clatter of cutlery on the table.

Everyone had impeccable table manners; there were no slurping sounds, nor any gurgling or gulping noises.

…Should he be happy about that?

He braced his aching back and absentmindedly poked at his food, unsure if it was going into his mouth or his nose.

That awkward silence was broken by—

“Uuuuurgh……”

—the appearance of a zombie.

“HIIK—?!”

Griving-Dead, with matted red hair that looked like it was covered in blood, shuffled towards them (crawled might be a more accurate description).

Yuri held her fork, Eve her knife, both assuming combat stances.

There weren’t any zombies around…

But the visual was quite fierce and believable.

He extended his leg and pushed the chair next to the table.

“…My last act of kindness. Have breakfast before you go.” “Ghuuuuurgh……” “Don’t refuse. It’s more of a nuisance to us if you collapse near the mansion and starve to death.”

Lulu, the living corpse, nodded.

“Gums-sup-nu-duuuuurgh…”

. . .

“Slurp—”

The tea tasted better than usual after getting rid of the uninvited guest.

The red tea leaves stimulated the tongue.

The gentle warmth enveloped the nostrils.

They went out to the garden and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with high-quality black tea.

“Haaah… Long holidays are the best.” “There’s nothing to do, should we go upstairs and do more? The back isn’t working, though.” “Should we?”

Crack—

Something broke from the seat beside them.

“Hey, you sex-crazed monsters… Can’t you see me…?” “Ah~ Eve. Why did you come today?”

Creak—!

“I’m leaving…” “Just kidding. You came because of the Adventurer Registration Exam, right?”

Hmph! You can’t even take a joke, huh?

It was a joke! Why are you so angry? It was a joke.

He suppressed his lower body and forced a good-natured smile.

Today’s appointment with Eve was a simple meeting and study session.

The upcoming labyrinth exploration.

To do that, he and Yuri needed to pass the Adventurer Registration Exam and obtain their qualifications.

The date would likely be after the academy midterms, but Eve put the Adventurer exam first, claiming the two exams weren’t very different.

“Whew… Anyway, you probably don’t know much about adventurers yet, so I’ll give you a brief explanation.”

She cleared her throat and began her explanation.

It was probably mostly things they knew already, but for the sake of review, Yuri and he quietly listened.

“To put it simply, an adventurer’s job can’t be defined by just one thing. Basically, they’re like problem-solvers, taking requests to deal with monsters or finding treasure. On the other hand, there seem to be people who travel the world freely, wandering here and there.”

There’s not much difference between the two.

They do a variety of things that can’t be categorized under one heading, but their very essence is ‘adventure’.

At the same time, adventurers are spread throughout society.

If the activities of so many people are left unchecked, various conflicts can arise.

“That’s why there’s a guild. To bring those many people together, command them, and create rules to suppress conflict.”

However, because of the diversity of requests, excessive regulation hinders adventurer activities.

Therefore, the guild provides various benefits to adventurers.

“First, free access to guild-affiliated dungeons.”

This is consistent with the previous discussion.

He had previously mentioned that to enter the Artemis Ruins in the imperial territory, imperial citizenship or adventurer status is required.

The guild manages various dungeons besides this one, so a guild’s free pass is essential if you want to explore various locations.

“Second, efficient and economical sale of spoils of war.”

There isn’t just an Adventurer’s Guild.

Most professions that do specialized work, such as Merchant Guilds and Craftsmen Guilds, have guilds.

The Adventurer Guild has a close relationship with the Merchant Guild.

Price adjustments are essential between the two guilds, where various goods and currency are exchanged. Adventurers, who are relatively less specialized regarding market prices, are likely to be overcharged if they don’t go through the guild.

In short, you won’t get scammed.

Before mentioning the last point, Eve gulped.

“Third, this might be the most important.” “Emergency support request… right?” “…That’s right.”

Adventure, just hearing the word evokes a feeling of romance.

The reality, however, is a continuous series of life-or-death gambles.

You never know when or where an unexpected threat will emerge.

Those who value their lives will carefully choose their dungeons, but even then, powerful enemies might appear.

This system is insurance for those times.

By using the adventurer pass to send an emergency support request to the guild, the guild will assess the situation and issue a designated request to a powerful adventurer.

From the Unique-grade one Eve has named herself to the legendary grade at the top.

If you are lucky, famous adventurers who are said to have saved the country might come to help.

Naturally, there’s a considerable cost for calling them, but what can you do?

Money is useless in the face of death.

You must be alive to see the future, and the future is to go on the next adventure.

“—Anyway, because of these benefits, it’s better to register for adventurer status and belong to a guild if possible.” “Why are you so passionate about the explanation? Nobody said they didn’t want to register.” “…I really want to go.”

Sorry, sorry! I was wrong.

Yuri tried her best to hold her back and he had to repeatedly bang his head.

“Well, thanks for the explanation. But for now, shouldn’t we prioritize studying for the midterms?” “That’s true but…” “We have to graduate. We can’t live at the academy forever, right?”

Saying that, he pulled out the reference books Eve had brought from her bag and spread them on the table.

They too went to their rooms, brought down the necessary materials and laid them out.

The atmosphere naturally turned into a midterm study session.

“Unni, how do I solve this equation?” “Oh… ah, that’s easy. Didn’t I tell you before? If there’s a phrase like ‘passes’ in the problem, try substituting numerical values.” “Ah! I got it.”

In his past life, he wasn’t very good at math, but he enjoyed the subject.

The academic education level at Nifrantz Academy was just right for him to enjoy.

So, he was happy to study magic and most of the subjects in the upcoming midterms.

Helping Yuri a little was also easy.

However, Eve had a slightly displeased expression.

“Guys… Aren’t you interested in the Adventurer’s exam…?” “You said it was almost no different from the academy exam.” “So, if we study for the Adventurer’s exam…” “No. So, we should study for the academy exam.”

She surprisingly couldn’t win her own argument and exploded on her own behalf.

In this kind of group setting, she wouldn’t usually assert herself this strongly.

Something was suspicious.

Why is she so obsessed with the Adventurer’s exam?

And soon, he realized he had the wrong perspective.

He had been thinking the opposite.

‘…She intensely dislikes the academy exams.’

Do you know?

The worse a student does, the harder they pretend to study.

They stack countless textbooks on their desks, highlight meaningless sentences with highlighters, implicitly emphasizing, “I’m studying.” or…

They might yawn excessively upon arriving at school in the morning and mutter, “I went to bed late last night studying.”

Those who really study hard and do well are already in their seats, self-studying before school starts.

It’s those students who can’t keep up that make a fuss and just stuff their bags with empty notebooks.

Hmm, that used to be him in his past life.

That strong people recognize each other?

The meaning is slightly different, but to him, a study hater, Eve looked exactly like that.

So, he subtly pushed the reference book in front of her.

“Try this.”

Sure enough.

Eve blushed and shouted.

“I, I can’t do this? Just a second… this is…”

…….

She struggled for about 10 minutes, during which he heard Yuri turn a page three or four times.

“…….” “This won’t do. I’ll be focusing on you for a while.”

Eve bowed her head briefly, then quietly picked up her pen.

‘Goodness, how can someone who hates studying so much be in the academy…’

Thump—!

A sudden, intense headache struck his mind.

“Kuh…”

Tingle, tingle.

He felt as though he must have had the same thought somewhere before.

In the midst of the intensely sweeping storm, a vague memory reached out to him.

Ni— Unni—!

Before he could reach it, he opened his eyes again.

“Huff, huff…” “Unni!! Are you Okay…?!”

Yuri was holding his shoulder, looking at him with a worried face.

“O…Oh, I’m fine. I just got a little dizzy.” “No, you need to rest.” “…Should I?”

He pulled her in and sat her on his lap.

When he slightly lowered his head, those cherry-like lips were at the perfect height.

He unconsciously swallowed her lips.

Churp—

“…….”

Eve narrowed her eyes and looked at him, and he pointed to her reference book with his finger.

‘If you hate it so much, finish it quickly.’

—That’s what he meant.

He pushed Eve into that strange dilemma of concentrating when she wants to concentrate.

Surprisingly, her hands seemed a little faster.

The weather is getting warmer again.

The studying was going smoothly, and the day soon arrived.

. . .

“…Damn it.”

I’m screwed.

It’s ridiculously hard.

As if someone had cast some kind of spell, all of the problems on his exam were strange.

Looking around, no one else seemed to notice anything wrong, it looked like only his exam paper was exceedingly difficult.

Without time to protest, the supervisor signaled.

“Begin!”

He didn’t feel like protesting.

Only one person came to mind who would do such a thing.