Ch.146146 – Night Play

<146 – Night Play>

“Oknodie. I’ll grant you the honor of teaching me your soul-extracting technique♡”

An uninvited guest approached me as I was busy sweeping through the grass with my insect net, trying to complete the insect collection achievement.

Chirp chirp chirp.

Amidst the cricket sounds echoing through the field, I naturally had no idea what she was talking about.

“What’s that?”

“Playing dumb won’t work♡ My subordinates already saw it at the exam site and told me♡”

By exam site, she must mean when I was watching Morb and Zaku’s exam earlier today.

But did I use a soul-extracting technique?

No, I didn’t.

I only extracted dark mana.

Ah, I see.

That’s what she wants!

I suppose it might look that way to someone who doesn’t know better.

“Why should I teach you?”

“I’ll give you points♡”

The Heugmag princess confidently offered 5,000 points, writing it in her notebook.

Indeed, it was a bold bid worthy of the princess of the Central Holy Empire, the current hegemonic power of the continent.

But I hadn’t brought it up expecting points.

“No!”

“…With 5,000 points, you could get permission to possess artifacts, you know?”

“I have plenty of points too.”

This isn’t a joke.

I’ve been steadily saving points to use for future events, and I’ve accumulated over 300,000 points including all the small amounts.

For other students, 5,000 points might be enough to sell their soul for.

But for me, points are something that steadily accumulate even during conversations like this.

“Ah, caught one!”

“Chirp chirp chirp.”

I put the cricket I caught with my net into my collection box, and with that, I was able to fill my insect collection with 20 species.

[You have achieved Insect Collection Beginner Level 2.]

[You have acquired the title <Baby Fabre>.]

[Title effect: All activities consume 0.1% less stamina.]

[You have acquired 500 points as a title achievement bonus.]

As they say, little by little adds up to a lot. While others are busy with their studies, I’m upgrading my specs and collecting points by filling various collections and earning titles instead of studying things I already know.

This is the secret to how veteran players can overtake newbies and get far ahead despite playing the game for the same amount of time.

“Pfft. No wonder they call you Baby Nodie for playing around like that♡ So childish♡”

“What? And what great things do you spend your time doing?”

“If I want insects, I just order my followers to get them and bestow appropriate rewards for their contributions♡ Running around myself is just too provincial~?”

The Heugmag princess maintained her uniquely cute yet irritating way of speaking, even when talking to another girl.

She had a lovable appearance that was annoying yet hard to hate.

Especially for someone who was originally a man before being possessed!

“Hmph. You think I can’t do that? I just feel bad about using others!”

“Says the person who makes Isabelle cook for her every day~?”

“Gasp! H-how did you know that!”

“And gets snacks from Arcadia Ceviche at tea parties~?”

“Ugh. T-that’s because Arcadia invited me first!”

“And accepts wild vegetables that Dorothy collects~?”

“Argh. Why do you know everything!”

She’s like a stalker, knowing everything!

“It’s no different from usual. This time you’re just getting points instead of food♡”

Someone who’s been stalking me so meticulously probably won’t give up easily.

“Fine. I’ll teach you. But instead of points, you need to bet something else.”

“What do you want~?”

“A wager!”

“A wager…?”

“If you win in a competition against me, I’ll teach you the technique I used to subdue Zaku during the mana verification exam. But if you lose, you have to do what I ask!”

The Heugmag princess pouted her lips.

“No♡”

I was greatly surprised, not expecting her to refuse.

“Why not?”

“You’re the top student in your year. Too strong♡”

“I won’t make it a strength competition!”

“Magic then~?”

“Not a magic duel either!”

“Hmm~. I’ll listen before deciding. Tell me what it is♡”

“An insect collecting competition!”

“Insect collecting… ugh. How undignified~. Why would we make such a thing a wager?”

“Because I’m collecting insects.”

“Planning to become an insect sorcerer or something~?”

“Anyway, if I win, I get all the insects you collect too. If you don’t like it, I won’t do it!”

I’m trying to pull the princess into my title work that I was already doing, which will help me collect the Bug Collector title.

The princess seemed to think she wouldn’t lose much even if she lost, so she readily accepted the wager.

“Fine♡”

And so the competition began.

* *

Oknodie hadn’t returned to the dormitory.

It wasn’t the first time this had happened.

She often wandered all over the place talking about secret training grounds or hidden pieces or whatever.

But Hestia was worried.

Rumors about what she had done at the lower class exam site today were spreading throughout the dormitory.

“They say Oknodie bound a lower class student’s soul and forced them to swear absolute obedience!”

“Has the Dark Princess finally begun her first move!”

“She might be collecting classmates’ souls to advance to the Demon Lord class. So scary…!”

Oknodie has awakened to evil!

Hestia naturally didn’t believe the rumors.

“Zhang. I want to find Oknodie. Please help me just this once.”

“That girl? I think it’s better to leave her alone.”

“If you’re saying it’s okay to hear harsh words, don’t. During my mercenary life, I was persecuted many times for being a berserker, but it was never really okay.”

Hestia knows.

The injustice of being unfairly insulted.

Even for Hestia, who was used to slander and false accusations, the rumors surrounding Oknodie now seemed excessively serious.

“It’s not uncommon for assassins. If our identity is discovered, we might even lose our heads. If no threat to your life comes, you should consider yourself lucky.”

Zhang, with her black bob hair swaying as she carved a statue with a dagger and checked it against the moonlight, showed no tension at all.

It was proof of how serious the dangers associated with the assassin class were.

“But Oknodie is our friend.”

Friend.

Zhang’s hand stopped at the appearance of a word she thought would never be associated with her.

Her concentration on the assignment from the <Let’s Become a Moonlight Sculptor> lecture, which she was taking to improve her dexterity, wavered.

An assassin should be able to maintain a clear mental state even in the middle of a marketplace if needed.

For that concentration to be disrupted by just the word “friend” meant her mental discipline as an assassin still had a long way to go.

‘This is troublesome.’

Her master had said:

Kill anything that causes hesitation.

Otherwise, it will kill you.

Zhang couldn’t do that.

She didn’t dislike Oknodie, and even if she did, she wasn’t confident she could kill her with her skills in any situation.

To regain concentration, she needed to eliminate the source of concern.

If she couldn’t eliminate Oknodie, confirming to Hestia that there was no threat to her would be the way to get rid of the distraction called worry.

“Alright. I’ll help.”

“Thank you. I knew you would help.”

“I just had a change of heart. I’m just curious about what ridiculous place she’s spending her time in this time.”

“Hehe. Even that makes you a good person. Oknodie is indeed surrounded by good people.”

“…Who’s good?”

Zhang was uncomfortable with Hestia’s assessment.

She knows better than anyone that she’s a bad person.

She has killed people.

She’s never considered good and evil.

She just did what she had to do.

If she could still be considered a good person, then Hestia’s standards for goodness must be wrong.

‘This is really troublesome. Oknodie, did you feel this way too?’

Someone who is worse than anyone else is called a good person.

More than the awkwardness, the impulse that rose in her was annoying.

The desire to really become a good person.

To become a gentle being like these kind and naive prey.

The feeling of wanting to become soft-hearted from deep within her chest felt like a thorn in her eye.

“First, we should check Oknodie’s room to find places she might go?”

“Not there.”

Hestia was surprised.

“Do you know where Oknodie went?”

“I put Thousand-Mile Fragrance on her. That girl goes everywhere when you need to find her, so there’s no way to locate her otherwise.”

“That’s impressive. Using such an Eastern item.”

“My master was from the East.”

The place Zhang led them to was the forest area where swarms of mosquitoes used to fly.

“…Is Oknodie really in a place like this?”

“Don’t be scared. The mosquitoes moved near the academy last time and were all wiped out.”

The value of something called blood stones made by mosquitoes has been skyrocketing among seniors recently, so it would be even harder to find mosquitoes now.

Zhang didn’t share this information with Hestia.

There was no reason to, and she was much more concerned about the sound she heard.

Clang clang…

Kang kang…

The sound of metal colliding from a distance.

Oknodie and someone else were there.

Someone who could engage in combat with her at a comparable level.

“I’ll speed up.”

Hestia tried to keep up by running as fast as she could, following Zhang who moved through the forest like a ghost without making a sound.

But something caught her body.

Protruding branches.

Dense bushes.

Trees swaying in the night wind and chaotic shadows.

She could see Zhang standing in the distance, beyond the forest that had an atmosphere where finding a corpse wouldn’t be surprising.

She was a bit annoyed that Zhang looked perfectly fine while she was scratched and torn up all over, but the scene before her quickly dispelled any negative emotions.

“Isn’t that the princess?”

“Probably.”

“What are they doing?”

The Second Princess was throwing tweezers into tree holes, while Oknodie was blocking with a shield held like a rock and throwing stones at the princess as she ran to another spot.

The nighttime battle, too intense to be called child’s play, was surprisingly dominated by the princess.

“Stop it! Don’t throw that, you bad princess!”

“Pfft~ Stupid Oknodie♡ We agreed on an insect collecting competition, but we never set a rule against killing the insects you find~? If I can’t find any, I just need to kill all the ones you find♡”

“Sigh… So they’ve been having an insect collecting competition until the middle of the night…”

Zhang sighed, and Hestia felt all her energy drain away.

If the impatient princess had been trying to kill Oknodie herself instead of waiting for an imperial execution order, they might have intervened.

But it was such childish play, despite the urgency, that they had no desire to step in.