Ch.140140 – Acrobatic Training

# 140 – Acrobatic Training

When Giselle first heard from Dorothy that Oknodie was making a lower-class student jump through a burning ring, she thought there must have been some misunderstanding.

Isn’t that right?

A child with a pitiful past but kinder than anyone else.

Such a good and harmless child doing something so cruel.

It was unimaginable to him.

“…Why is this real?”

Upon arriving at the scene.

There was no falsehood in the sight unfolding before his eyes.

* *

In <Graduating Academy with Luck>, when you accomplish achievements, you receive titles along with stat correction effects.

However, these achievements don’t always include only remarkable activities.

Some eccentric feats like <Passing Through a Burning Ring> that people wouldn’t normally do also award titles upon successful completion.

‘The circus stunt course is the most efficient way to gain stats in a short time!’

So she was enthusiastically wielding her whip.

“Jump, Morb! This time you’re going to clear three in a row!”

“Can’t do it, can’t do it, can’t do it! My body’s too heavy!”

“If you clear this, you’ll become more agile!”

While she was earnestly encouraging Morb, she heard a horrified voice from behind.

“Young lady. What exactly are you doing?”

“Oh. When did you get here, Uncle Giselle?”

“I came because I heard Oknodie was abusing a male student, but to think it was actually true…”

“Ugh. It’s not abuse! It’s training.”

“I suppose you could argue that circus training is still training.”

Seeing his incredulous expression made her reconsider how this scene might look.

A girl wielding a whip, making a male student with weights dangling all over him jump through burning rings.

…Not exactly a normal sight.

“Please understand. Morb needs to raise his stats by today so he can pass tomorrow’s exam!”

If Morb hadn’t been at risk of failing, she wouldn’t have had to do this in the first place.

“Aaaagh! My leg, my leeeeg━!”

“Ah, I’ll put it out right now!”

She quickly doused him with a bucket she had previously filled with a water creation spell, extinguishing the fire on Morb’s leg.

After thrashing about and getting soaked, Morb’s slumped appearance looked like a corpse at a murder scene, which made her chuckle a bit.

“Hehe. What are you doing, Morb? If you’re this exhausted after just doing this, what are we going to do?”

“…Let me rest for 10 minutes…”

“Okay. Exactly 10 minutes!”

As she flipped the hourglass and precisely timed it, Morb let out a deep sigh.

“No matter how urgent the training is, isn’t this too dangerous? He actually caught on fire.”

“That’s why I prepared a bucket of water!”

She cast the <Water Creation> spell again on the bucket she had just emptied, and bubbling water appeared.

She dipped her finger in and tasted it—sweet and delicious soda-flavored water, just as she liked.

Water that can be both sprayed and drunk—isn’t that totally amazing?

“Won’t the Academy intervene, concerned about safety accidents?”

“Ah. That’s fine. Oknodie already got permission, and I’m watching over them.”

An instructor sitting in the shade behind a box waved his hand, revealing his presence.

“Would you like some water?”

“Oh. Yes, please. Strangely, the water Oknodie makes has this fizzy, sweet taste that I really like. Those apprentice water-selling magicians should learn something like this.”

“Heheh. It would be troublesome if just anyone could do what I do. This all comes from know-how.”

“Haha. Those who lack the know-how of an eleven-year-old don’t deserve to call themselves magicians.”

“Aw. It’s just because I’m so talented.”

While casually laughing and chatting with the instructor, Giselle glared at the instructor with a look of strong disapproval.

“Young lady. A proper adult doesn’t make others do what they themselves cannot do. Even with an instructor present, this training is excessive.”

“Is that the problem?”

“Yes, that is the problem.”

“Hmph. Then I just need to prove it, right? And then Giselle can’t say anything?”

“Oknodie? What are you trying to… Oh, Miss Oknodie!”

Before Giselle could intervene, she quickly leaped toward the burning ring.

Pop-!

Due to her small stature, instead of ducking through like Morb, she jumped high to pass through.

After clearing one ring, she pushed off the ground with her arms, using her arm strength to propel herself through.

Finally, she landed on both feet, then sprung up like a spring, spinning a full 1080 degrees before landing with arms spread wide in a ta-da pose!

[You have successfully performed the acrobatic feat of jumping through a burning ring.]

[Jump experience +10]

[Acrobatics experience +5]

[Long jump experience +2]

[You have acquired the title <Acrobat:Burning Ring>.]

[Your agility increases by 1 due to the title effect.]

Giselle finally relaxed after her skillful landing.

“You really excel at giving people a fright. I was terrified you might catch fire. Please, I beg you, don’t do that again.”

“Uncle Giselle, you ask for too much!”

“If you promise, I’ll buy you a food you’ve never tried before.”

“Really?”

“It’s a promise.”

“Yes, I promise!”

They linked fingers, shook them up and down, and sealed it with a thumbprint.

“Hehe.”

“Phew. Your acrobatic skills are impressive. Have you had similar experience somewhere before?”

“I’ve done it a lot before! You need to be good at acrobatics to become agile. When I was a beginner, I would catch fire and stuff, but once you get used to it, you’re not scared anymore and you get rewards easily, so it’s actually a sweet deal!”

Giselle suddenly turned away, looked up at the sky, and his shoulders trembled slightly.

“Uncle Giselle?”

“Ah, I apologize. Just got some dust in my eye…”

“Getting old is tough, huh!”

“…Indeed it is. I can’t seem to have a single peaceful day with all these worries.”

While they were chatting, the 10-minute hourglass had emptied completely.

“Get up, Morb. It’s time for acrobatic jumping again.”

“Urgh… too exhausting…”

“Stop whining and get up quickly. We still need to do dagger juggling with 5 daggers, plate spinning, and somersaults before tomorrow!”

“The exam is about breaking rocks, so why am I doing agility training…”

“Higher agility stats mean better critical damage when hitting weak points.”

“This is really weird…”

“Morb. Have you ever been top of your class?”

“…”

“Then do as you’re told!”

Like a zombie, Morb staggered to his feet and jumped toward the burning ring again.

This time, Morb’s upper body caught fire, and he flailed around screaming for help.

As she doused him with water from the bucket, she thought:

“Morb is such a slow learner!”

“I’d rather just fail…”

She poured the protein shake she had received from Professor Platton into Morb’s mouth as he complained weakly.

“Drink this and recover your strength quickly!”

After taking such good care of him, failing is absolutely out of the question!

* *

Hero Ishtar felt troubled.

“Oknodie… why of all people are you being considered a Demon Lord candidate…”

Top candidate for a companion.

The child she wanted most on her team was, of all things, a Demon Lord candidate.

Others might not know, but she could tell.

Demon Overlord.

Dark Princess.

These were all prerequisites for becoming a Demon Lord.

They were prerequisite classes.

The big shots of the demon realm have the qualification to challenge the Demon Lord’s throne.

Oknodie is someone predestined for that qualification.

She could become a Demon Lord candidate whenever she wished.

Even evil gods were watching her movements.

If evil forces extended their hand, could she resist the temptation?

Of course not.

Humans are inherently weak against the temptation of power.

Wasn’t that why most people enrolled in the Academy—drawn by that power?

“Ishtar. Just give up already.”

“Oknodie isn’t a Demon Lord candidate yet.”

“You know that when a hero’s party has a traitor, the hero of that era fails their mission eight times out of ten.”

“I’m just so frustrated. How did the Foundation find Oknodie and lure her into walking such an evil path? I resent fate…”

As soon as Ishtar heard rumors about what happened in the Developing an Eye class, she blamed the Foundation that was rumored to be behind Oknodie.

The Wiheomhae Foundation.

An organization that recruits talented individuals from around the world, sends them to the world’s premier educational institutions, and uses their talents as hostages to pressure the Academy.

This ominous group had successfully selected an incredibly talented individual who could have been a candidate for the hero’s party as a scholarship student, openly staging a hostage situation.

To the extent that Ishtar, the current hero, was consumed with worry over Oknodie’s situation.

“If you’re so worried, why don’t you go see her?”

Yufi, Hero Ishtar’s childhood friend.

Seeing Ishtar agonizing all day, she offered advice.

“You’re right. Thanks for the advice, Yufi.”

Let’s meet first.

Let’s go and talk to Oknodie directly.

Perhaps she just happened to have that aptitude, and maybe the Foundation actually provided proper education.

After asking around for Oknodie’s whereabouts, she found her in a remote location with a burning ring, an abused boy, and Oknodie herself jumping through the ring in frustration.

“This is how you do it, see? Why can’t you do this?”

What on earth is going on here?

In her dazed state, she heard Giselle muttering from the corner of the scene.

“Those Foundation people… at what age did they start putting Oknodie through such terrible training… and to think she considers such training a sweet deal, meaning their regular training must be even more brutal…”

Damn it.

So the Foundation really is evil after all.

Ishtar made up her mind.

She would definitely get that child away from the Foundation.

She would accept her into the hero’s party, even at great risk.

After all, what right does someone have to call themselves a hero if they can’t even save one girl right in front of them?