Ch.126126 – Oknodie Is Not a Bad Child

<126 – Oknodie Is Not a Bad Kid>

The connection with the Dark Cult Church turned out to be unexpectedly useful.

“Blood stone, huh? Have you developed an interest in secretive and cruel arts that don’t trigger magic detection by borrowing power from cursed blood magic?”

“I just happened to acquire this item, but I don’t feel comfortable using it myself, so I want to sell it. Could you possibly connect me with a suitable buyer?”

A secret meeting place of the Dark Cult Church.

A dusty chapel of a failed religious order that no one visits.

The senior from the Dark Cult club, who had an atmosphere rivaling that of a serial killer, set this place as our meeting location when I requested an audience.

Every step made the wooden floorboards creak, and torn scriptures caught under my feet—the atmosphere was so intense that I could believe they were secretly raising a demon somewhere in the church.

‘This senior might be scary, but they’re trustworthy.’

Didn’t they warn me that the second-year seniors were angry about their illegal red-tooth mushroom cultivation being disrupted?

Thanks to that, I know this senior is like a pure-hearted macho—scary-looking but kind-hearted.

“I’ll take a commission fee. Is that okay?”

“Yes!”

After having a confrontation with third-years, it would be awkward to directly approach them to sell items, but by placing the Dark Cult Club between seller and buyer, I can hide my identity and ensure safety.

“There’s a cruel fellow among our apprentice members who’s well-versed in blood magic.”

“Oh. How does that senior handle blood magic?”

Just as necromancers handle corpses and elemental mages handle elements, blood mages handle blood.

Blood magic without blood is like a fire mage who can’t light a campfire, a necromancer who can’t raise the dead—utterly useless.

Unless you’re a vampire who can control others’ blood, handling such a difficult magic is fascinating!

“I heard his original class is Tamer.”

“Wow. Is he the one who pioneered the ‘Crimson Tamer’ class that exploits pets’ blood?”

“No. He’s the one who pioneered the ‘Mosquito Mage’ class by taming mosquitoes to collect blood.”

How can such a terrible profession exist in this world?

This is worse than being a vampire.

But the points are what matter!

Until I sell the blood stone, they’re a valuable customer!

“Go into the confession booth.”

“Okay.”

“The buyer will arrive within 30 minutes.”

The confession booth—a space just big enough for one person.

A coffin-like place that you couldn’t escape from if someone nailed wooden boards from the outside.

It was a bit scary to trust a senior who cultivated red-tooth mushrooms in cramped spaces, bordering on abuse, but my greed for points overcame my fear.

“Are you the one? The person who wants to sell the blood stone.”

“You found the right place.”

“Show me the item first.”

On the opposite side of the confession booth.

That dirty mosquito mage entered.

The silhouette visible through the translucent glass was quite unexpected.

I had expected a wild man with a bushy beard or a pot-bellied weirdo, but surprisingly, the other party was a beauty with clean white skin under a thick robe.

My impression of the mosquito mage, which had started at negative 30, reset to zero.

When dealing with beautiful women, one should always be objective.

So I objectively removed my dislike and looked again.

I’m so objective!

“What’s the weight of the blood stone?”

“3500 grams.”

“It won’t be particularly brilliant in color then.”

“If it were that high quality, I’d sell it to a professor.”

“…Hmph. It’s not completely worthless.”

The buyer made an offer.

“1000 points.”

“No deal.”

As I stood up to leave the confession booth, the buyer hastily stopped me.

“Plus 1000 points.”

“Try again?”

“Damn it, 2000 points for a blood stone is already generous. How much more are you trying to squeeze out?”

For ordinary students, 2000 points was what they could earn only by finding the perfect life lecture that gave them a hefty point bonus.

At the Academy, that’s 400 standard meal tickets—if you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner diligently, it would last 133 days, or 4 months and 12 days, a whole semester. But many students can’t even earn that much, so they eat only two meals a day, or in severe cases, forage for wild vegetables.

It’s no wonder clubs appeal to new members by advertising their food supply capabilities.

“Haven’t you heard that a new blood magic professor is being appointed?”

“What? How do you know that?”

“I just mentioned it with good intentions. If you don’t like it, don’t buy.”

“W-wait. I heard yesterday that the principal brought in a professor from outside, could it be…?”

“What will you do?”

“I’ll give you 4000 points. No more. I don’t have any more points to squeeze out.”

The price jumped to double the last offer, quadruple the initial offer.

“Deal.”

Not a bad transaction.

[You cleverly sold the <Blood Stone> at a greatly increased value.]

[Negotiation experience +5]

[Bad Kid experience +1]

At this point, I don’t even feel nervous when Bad Kid experience increases.

Most functions are things you don’t know what they’re for until you accumulate them and then suddenly realize, “Oh, so that’s what it’s for!”

No need to try to figure it out in advance!

But I couldn’t help noticing the steadily increasing numbers, like damage over time.

[You’ve secured the blood stone despite interference from mosquitoes and third-year seniors. There might be one giant land-walking mosquito that survived, but that could just be your imagination!]

[Drug Manufacturing experience +5]

[Bad Kid experience +5]

[Blackmail experience +3]

[Climbing experience +3]

I want to see my status window.

I want to read the function descriptions.

But I can’t waste the points I earned from selling the blood stone just to satisfy my curiosity.

‘It’ll work out somehow!’

I forced myself to ignore the uneasy feeling.

“By the way, why does a mosquito mage need a blood stone? Don’t you make them by diligently stealing blood with mosquitoes?”

“I actually had mosquitoes under my control, but some nasty seniors sprayed a strange reagent that took away my control and burned them to death.”

“…Wow, that must have been terrible!”

“Right? I was looking forward to harvesting the blood stone, but it was really disappointing. Where did you get this blood stone anyway?”

“That’s a secret!”

I don’t want to see a vengeful mosquito mage releasing mosquitoes in the dormitory, so I’d better keep my mouth shut about the blood stone’s origin.

* *

Arcadia was curious.

Did Oknodie know too?

That every year around this time, a junior from the Wiheomhae Foundation causes an incident.

There’s no point in suffering alone.

She should ask directly.

She stopped Oknodie, who was returning to the dormitory with a light step.

“Di. Can we talk for a moment?”

Oknodie flinched as if caught doing something wrong.

“Can’t we do it later?”

“I have something I really want to discuss now.”

“Alright.”

Oknodie returned with a strong smell of blood.

Arcadia thought she understood this child better than anyone after their tea parties.

Now she wasn’t so sure.

Surely she hadn’t killed someone.

…Right?

“Di. What were you doing before coming here?”

“I just finished a transaction!”

“A transaction, I see.”

The indoor lounge with windows closed to prevent pests.

At this late hour, only Arcadia and Oknodie were in the lounge.

Looking from inside at the balcony where they used to open the windows, place tea and desserts on the white table, and enjoy the sunshine and conversation on nice days.

Separated by just a window pane.

Yet those times and memories felt so distant now.

“Actions that cause innocent blood to flow always bring karmic consequences. Even if no one demands payment, you’ll feel your own wrongdoing first.”

Arcadia recalled her days fighting pirates to protect her family’s merchant ships.

The pirates weren’t born evil.

A poor fishing village.

A nation that diverted naval forces meant for security to protect merchant ships.

Villagers who could no longer survive by fishing due to increasing sea monsters.

They began going out in small boats to rob merchant ships, and thus the first pirates were born.

The Ceviche Ducal Family that Arcadia belonged to.

Their lobbying that caused the navy to protect a single family’s merchant ships was the root of all evil and the beginning of all misfortune.

The day Arcadia realized her family’s deep-rooted original sin, she volunteered to venture into dangerous seas.

It wasn’t just to protect merchant ships.

Under the pretext of practicing artillery with the family’s military power, she regularly went out to eliminate sea monsters that threatened the villagers’ lives.

It was to face the karma her family had been avoiding.

“Those who face their karma can be true to themselves. But those who turn away find their hearts worn down. Because they can’t endure otherwise.”

Like many in her family, the Ceviche Ducal House.

“I don’t want to see Di’s heart worn down like that.”

“Arcadia…”

“I won’t ask anymore what you’ve been doing. Instead, promise me one thing. That you’ll be true to yourself.”

Oknodie hung her head low and confessed.

“Arcadia. Actually, I have something to confess.”

“I’ll listen to anything.”

Thank goodness.

It’s not too late.

The “Good Kid” aspect of Oknodie remained within her.

Waiting for hours to meet Oknodie.

Worrying.

Preparing for the worst.

Those hours weren’t wasted.

As Arcadia felt deep relief, Oknodie said:

“I’m sorry. The Academy might have more mosquitoes because of me.”

“…Di? What do you mean…”

“I made a deal with someone who raises mosquitoes. I sold them a method to raise more mosquitoes.”

Numerous pieces of information flashed through Arcadia’s mind.

The Wiheomhae Foundation.

The foundation’s scholarship students as numerous as mosquitoes.

The incident that might soon occur.

Oknodie’s confession.

Someone who raises mosquitoes.

A method to raise mosquitoes.

‘Oknodie gathered information that the foundation demanded and passed it on so other scholarship students could survive at the Academy!’

Now she understood why Oknodie had seemed strange lately.

Oknodie’s scheming demeanor.

The plan to collect and sell blood stones to get carriage tickets and gather antidotes.

It was all at the foundation’s request.

The Wiheomhae Foundation is the evil one!