Ch.1010 – Cheating on the Ticket Exam

<10 – Cheating the Ticket Exam>

“The food made from the ingredients you gathered—maybe not all of them, but several—are rare dishes that people normally can’t eat even if they want to.”

“Ah, yes… Well, that’s true…”

“As you can see, I grew up malnourished, so I’m short and have many regrets. I don’t want to miss this great opportunity to eat various foods!”

Giselle asked with an incredulous expression.

“Then what about the ticket?”

“Can’t we eat first and think about it later?”

“Ha. Do you think a solution will magically appear if you just eat without any preparation?”

“Why not?”

“This hurts my pride. To say such lazy things after witnessing my skills firsthand.”

Giselle’s eyes turned cold.

“If you’re that confident, how about a bet?”

“What kind of bet?”

“The 32 dishes from the meal voucher. Until you finish eating all these dishes, three types per day for 11 days, if you acquire a ticket through a method impressive enough for me to acknowledge, I’ll give you the meal voucher for free.”

“Heh…”

“But if I win, you’ll pay me 100 gold coins and buy a silver ticket from me. Either way, you get a ticket, and I keep my pride. That’s the bet.”

Giselle lifted her chin arrogantly.

“If you’re not confident, you can surrender now before losing face and get the ticket… the ticket…”

Drool dripped down.

Seeing me drooling at the thought of free food, Giselle was left speechless.

“Miss. No matter how much you appreciate food, a lady drooling is not an appropriate sight for men outside your family. Please be mindful.”

“But you’re offering free food.”

“Ha. What incredible confidence. I don’t even need to ask if you accept the bet.”

And so began the ticket exam bet between Giselle and me.

* *

On the fifth day of staying at the inn.

Black market merchant Giselle, who had been monitoring the girl’s every move expecting some brilliant method to obtain a ticket, thought to himself:

‘Should I report this as child abuse?’

He knew noble families had strict education.

They lived in a different world from commoners.

But even so, there should be limits.

“This dish has a perfect lingering taste that wraps around the tip of the tongue at the end.”

The girl smiled with satisfaction after eating the rare dish.

The fork and spoon she placed on the table made a heavy thud sound.

And it wasn’t just the tableware.

After finishing her meal, under the pretext of agility training, she practiced a terrifying exercise where a fork was jabbed between her widely spread fingers.

One mistake and a finger would be severed in this insane training.

Yet this was considered one of the easier exercises.

“With your specs, normal running is no longer beneficial. So you need to practice evasive maneuvers while avoiding attacks.”

“Great!”

“I’ll announce the target area before attacking. If your evasion is slow, you’ll be wounded, though not severed. Keep your guard up.”

A butler who uses formal speech but swings knives at his mistress.

Swish

A maid who checks the components of a poison—a single drop of which would kill an ant in agony—and nods with satisfaction before applying it to the young lady’s candy.

The young lady who innocently accepts it and hugs the maid’s skirt, saying how nice she is.

‘This goes beyond child abuse—it’s like they’ve been hired as assassins. This should be reported to the local lord.’

What circumstances could possibly lead to a girl receiving daily death threats and poisoning attempts from her butler and maid?

Giselle sent people to investigate.

“The cool taste of strawberry shaved ice clears my head and feels refreshing! The sweetness that follows is the best!”

“The harmony between the diced ingredients and curry is fantastic! 10 out of 10!”

Oblivious to all this, the young lady innocently offered food reviews like a professional critic.

For days, he watched her with a complicated gaze.

“Is she just going to pay 100 coins and buy the ticket?”

“If I’d known it would be like this, I should have bet on imprisonment.”

“Damn it, be honest. You’re all in this together, acting to take our pocket money, right?”

The long-term guests who had placed side bets on who would win became angry.

Startled by the loud voices, the girl shrank back, and a murderous glint flashed in the butler’s eyes.

The butler clenched his gloved fist, making a cracking sound as he walked forward.

“Watch your mouth. Do you think I, Giselle the black market merchant, would be blinded by your petty money and fix a match? For an unofficial bet I’m not even running?”

Giselle shouted before the butler could act.

The long-term guests who had witnessed his skills firsthand didn’t dare raise their voices against Giselle.

“Get out of this inn now. If you don’t leave, you’ll pay the price for irritating me.”

Tickets were valuable items.

Someone who had schemed to obtain dozens of such items wouldn’t have come unprepared.

Several mercenaries employed by Giselle placed their hands on their weapons at nearby tables, glaring at the guests.

“Kuk…!”

“We’ll see about this.”

“Bastard.”

The long-term guests left, each muttering a complaint.

Annoyed by these cowardly posers, one mercenary drew his sword.

Shing

Frightened by the chilling sound, the long-term guests fled in a hurry.

Some even left without getting refunds for their remaining accommodation fees from the innkeeper.

“Haha. Cowards.”

“They’re a disgrace to adventurers.”

When the mercenaries turned to scan the room, those who had been mocking the fleeing guests flinched and averted their gaze.

Unlike adventurers who take on all sorts of miscellaneous requests, mercenaries make their living through combat.

Even hired mercenaries were considered superior to adventurers.

“Come here, little lady.”

The girl looked at her butler.

Only after he nodded did she trot over.

“I’m not someone who makes bets with just anyone.”

“Are you disappointed in me?”

Giselle shook his head.

What bothered him was that she maintained the same spirited attitude as before.

It wasn’t her bold personality that concerned him.

He felt sorry that her life had been so harsh that she didn’t even recognize such minor troubles as problems.

His contempt for the butler and maid, those suspicious individuals who had driven the girl to this mental state, also played a part.

“I’ve seen enough these past few days to know how fiercely you live your life. I’m not disappointed, nor would I be disappointed over a mere bet.”

Disappointment was far from what he felt.

What he felt now was concern.

“If you ever find yourself with nowhere to go, you can use my name with black market merchants in any city’s back alleys. I’ll ensure you have a way to make a living.”

“Are you scouting me right now?”

Giselle maintained an expressionless face, conscious of the butler and maid guarding their table.

“With your strength and bold personality, you might become a rare great merchant in this field. That’s all I thought.”

“Heh… That’s the first time I’ve heard something like that.”

The girl’s genuine amazement prompted the butler to speak quietly, as if to counter.

“The young lady is scheduled to enter the Academy. We appreciate your offer, but she won’t be becoming a merchant.”

“That’s right. That’s not my plan either.”

“…I didn’t make the offer with great expectations. Just remember it for now. Life doesn’t always go according to plan.”

The girl tilted her head, then grinned like a mischievous boy and nodded.

“I’ll remember that.”

He considered trying to persuade her further but soon gave up.

Those child abusers wouldn’t let her go easily anyway.

This was enough for now.

If difficulties ever arose for her.

Giselle thought that just knowing there was an adult willing to take her side would be a great help to the young lady.

* *

Several more days passed.

As it had been a week since the ticket exam began, test takers who had left the inn started returning one by one.

“I’ve come to deliver ingredients.”

“Sorry, those ingredients have already been delivered.”

“W-what?!”

Of course, most of the inferior ingredients were already covered by Giselle’s early deliveries.

“Innkeeper, please give me one more chance. If I leave now, I won’t have money for lodging!”

“Our inn doesn’t accept credit. Will you leave on your own, or would you prefer to be thrown out?”

“This year is ruined. I’ll leave on my own…”

The innkeeper was connected to the examiners.

Disobeying his instructions could result in losing eligibility for next year’s exam, which would be an even greater loss.

“Wahaha! You little squirt. You’re still hanging around here?”

Amid the wave of failed ingredient collections, a monkey beastkin succeeded in a big way.

Thud!

A container full of sap from a thorny vine monster.

The innkeeper checked the scent and taste, then nodded with satisfaction.

“You brought the real thing.”

Senior Examiner Mihael took out a ticket emitting a soft golden glow from his chest.

“A gold ticket.”

“Now that I’ve passed, I don’t have to worry about examiners anymore, right? How about it, mister? Let’s have a match.”

“It’ll make for good after-meal exercise.”

After finishing a plate of rare food made from the delivered ingredients, the two went to the inn’s backyard.

BOOM!!

After a dull sound and a few shouts, Mihael, with his usual bored expression, came back inside and went straight up to the second floor.

In contrast, the monkey beastkin returned only an hour later, limping on one foot.

As expected—.

He’s lucky to have survived after challenging a senior examiner.

The groaning beastkin noticed me and sniffed.

“Lazy one. Haven’t even started yet?”

“I don’t need to.”

“How boring.”

The monkey beastkin shouldered his staff and left the inn without lingering, as if his business was done.

However, Giselle’s gaze toward me contained a strange admiration.

It was because he had witnessed my bold act while the monkey beastkin was competing with the examiner.

“Was that the opportunity the little lady was waiting for?”

“That’s right.”

The examiner’s special menu, which was always taken back up to the second floor after ordering.

During the brief absence while he fought the monkey beastkin, I opened the menu.

And I wrote down a <New Menu> that hadn’t existed before.

A veteran player’s strategy that transcends luck.

A <Special Menu> that forcibly creates the desired mission.