Ch.119119. Repeatable Quest

It was only natural for a crowd to create a lively atmosphere, but the mood inside the carriage was unbearably cold.

This was because Celia was glaring at Lilith.

“…”

If she had said something, it would have turned into their usual light bickering, but today Celia was unusually tight-lipped.

The current seating arrangement in the carriage was as follows:

I sat on one side with Celia and Alkine on either side of me.

Across from us sat Lilith and Professor Reina.

In other words, Lilith was currently facing Celia’s glare head-on.

“Yaaawn… I’m dying of sleepiness.”

Yet she was yawning as if nothing was wrong… which was impressive in its own way.

I wondered if she was genuinely oblivious or just pretending.

‘She probably knows and is just pretending not to notice.’

Lilith wasn’t the type to be oblivious.

Even so, this atmosphere was uncomfortable, and just as I was about to say something to break the tension, Professor Reina beat me to it.

“By the way, do you two know why you’re coming along today?”

The “you two” referred to Alkine and Lilith.

And those two… each showed expressions of denial.

Come to think of it, that was true. Yesterday, Professor Reina had kicked those two out, so only Celia and I had heard about today’s plans.

They had joined so naturally that I assumed they knew what was happening, but now I realized they had just tagged along without knowing.

That made me even more curious.

Why did Lilith come anyway?

How did she even know about this?

Alkine made sense. We had exchanged messages yesterday and even discussed what time we’d be departing today.

But not Lilith. I hadn’t even told her we were going somewhere today, let alone when we were leaving.

Perhaps sensing my confusion, Celia sighed deeply and provided the answer.

“I invited her.”

It was a very clear answer, but one that raised another question.

…Why on earth?

Celia had been trying to get rid of Lilith by any means necessary.

The reason… well, at this point it wasn’t surprising—jealousy, obviously.

Celia seemed to consider Lilith a friend to some extent and maintained boundaries, so I just observed quietly. But Lilith was naturally sociable, which made the introverted Celia see her as a threat.

You might ask if I should have mediated and managed the situation better?

It’s not that simple. This was my first time being caught between female jealousy, so being stuck in the middle was the best I could do.

Anyway, one thing was certain: Celia wasn’t fond of having Lilith around.

And yet. This same Celia had invited Lilith?

Even after what happened yesterday?

“What are you thinking?”

“I have a lot to talk about.”

I asked directly but only got a brief answer.

A lot to talk about… yet she was just glaring.

I didn’t know what she was planning, but I decided to let it go. This was between the girls, and my involvement would only complicate things. They’d figure it out themselves.

For now, explaining today’s plans took priority.

It wasn’t anything particularly special.

At first, I wondered why she called us on a weekend, but as I listened, I realized it was something already revealed in the original story.

‘Monster Subjugation Operation’

A name that sounded like a repetitive game quest, and it actually was a repetitive quest.

Why were we suddenly doing this? Because Professor Reina was from the Trier Family.

The Trier Family.

This family, to which Professor Reina belonged, might seem like the type to provide support from the rear due to their unique healing magic abilities, but in reality, they were most frequently seen on the front lines.

What was it they said? “Patients who need healing magic are found on the front lines.”

With the family head setting such an example, it was natural for the family to develop that kind of atmosphere.

So, members of the Trier Family had impressive physical abilities separate from their healing magic.

The front line wasn’t just for show, after all.

Of course, Professor Reina was no exception.

Well, right now things were quite peaceful, so there wasn’t really a “front line” to speak of… but that didn’t mean those physical abilities were going to waste.

“We’ll be participating in the weekly monster subjugation operation from our side.”

She was regularly involved in operations to eliminate monsters in areas where their numbers had grown too high.

Yes, that’s the monster subjugation operation we’re heading to now.

As Professor Reina said, it was weekly. Not once a month, but once a week.

The fact that they could gather enough people for these group operations was quite remarkable.

Military power, authority, wealth. Plus a sense of justice and responsibility.

It wouldn’t work if any of these elements were missing, which made it all the more impressive.

‘In the game, it just felt like a simple repeatable quest.’

It was a quest that unlocked after meeting certain spec requirements, completing at least four tasks to increase Professor Reina’s trust, and then interacting with the relevant documents.

The rewards were increased goodwill with the Trier Family and a small amount of money.

A family that could boast about their unique healing abilities but willingly participated in monster subjugation operations.

Building goodwill with such a family was certainly not a bad thing, but that wasn’t the main reason for doing this quest.

A small amount of money.

That was the real reward for this quest.

You might wonder why I’m making a fuss about a “small amount” of money, but the important thing here isn’t the word “small,” but who was defining what “small” meant.

Simply put, “small” wasn’t based on the commonly accepted standard but on the Trier Family’s standard.

‘It wasn’t just the usual pay for monster subjugation.’

The “small amount” of money from the wealthy Trier Family was incomparable to what you’d get from ordinary requests.

Once you earned money this way, other money-making methods wouldn’t even catch your eye.

Of course, despite being a weekly operation, I couldn’t go every week. It depended on Professor Reina’s schedule as well, so going three times a semester would be considered frequent.

Still, one trip would keep your wallet comfortable for the rest of the semester… maybe even into the next one. So I should just be grateful for the opportunity.

I hadn’t thought about it since I hadn’t been short on money lately, but if I were ever in financial trouble, this would have been the first money-making method that came to mind.

Now, that aside.

Going at this point was refreshing.

Originally, no matter how well-developed the protagonist was at this point in the story, they couldn’t earn Reina’s trust, so not only could they not participate in the operation, they couldn’t even unlock related dialogue.

In other words, participating in this operation now was a completely new route that deviated from the game.

Well… I’d been on a route that deviated from the game for a while now. But this felt different.

While I was thinking about this, Professor Reina finished her explanation.

“…so, I’ve talked at length, but simply put, we’re going to hunt monsters. The details will be clearer once we get there, so I won’t explain further.”

Alkine and Lilith heard the same explanation, but their reactions were completely different.

Alkine just accepted it with an “I see” kind of attitude, while Lilith looked confused, as if she had misheard something.

“I-I didn’t hear it was that kind of thing? Shouldn’t I not be involved in this? I feel like I’ll just be a nuisance rather than help…”

“You’re a saint. You did well enough in the practical exam despite failing the written one.”

“But that’s just at a first-year level. And stop making fun of my written exam scores.”

I meant that she should just accept it since she had already come along, but Lilith’s self-awareness was surprisingly clear.

This isn’t a criticism of Lilith, just an unavoidable reality.

Celia’s growth curve was abnormally steep, but even for advanced class students, this kind of mission would be too much for first-years.

“Just try using your divine power, and if that doesn’t work, you can just watch. You know, there’s a good word for it—field trip.”

“I guess… ugh, I shouldn’t have come just because I was invited.”

She seemed a bit anxious, but she was a key character after all.

Who knows? This experience might serve as a stepping stone for her growth.

As that conversation ended, Professor Reina continued.

“Actually, with what happened recently, there’s no need to bring Ludion along… but we’ve already decided to go, so let’s just make the best of it.”

“I never had any complaints about it anyway.”

“Indeed. You certainly look much more enthusiastic than during lectures.”

…It felt like she was subtly calling me out for dozing off during her lectures. It was my fault, so I should just accept it, right?

Anyway, that was actually the main reason Professor Reina had planned to take me along this weekend.

The enhanced normal attacks I gained when my abilities were strengthened.

I had been using them without understanding the principles and had put innocent people in danger… Professor Reina saw that and apparently decided to plan this trip.

She probably mistook me for a battle maniac who had been suppressing his power and was now frustrated.

So she must think I already relieved that frustration during the recent Rift incident.

The misunderstanding is a bit troublesome, but ultimately there’s no problem or concern for this trip.

For me, it’s a good opportunity to test my enhanced parrying, and as for the monsters, Celia and Alkine could handle them easily.

The only concern was Lilith…

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

But she could take care of herself, so she’d be fine.