Ch.201201 – The Reason for Sending Ahead

# 201 – The Reason for Sending Ahead

Oknodie was keeping students who weren’t friendly with her from crossing the river.

The suspicion soon proved true.

“Oh, you’re all such lazybones! Why are you still here instead of crossing over?”

The group of five—Hestia, Zigoku, Lotta, Dorothy, and Rockpell—were trying to cross the swirling river surface by dipping their bodies in the water.

As soon as they put their feet in, Oknodie’s cheerful voice rang out from somewhere, as if she had detected their presence.

“Oknodie?”

“Where are you speaking from?”

“From across the river!”

They were no longer even surprised by her voice, which sounded as clear as if she were speaking right beside them.

“Gyahaha! That’s amazing. What a talent.”

“Oknodie. I need to talk to you for a moment. Can you listen?”

Unlike Zigoku, who was genuinely impressed, Hestia addressed her seriously.

“If you’re trying to stop me, don’t bother. I have absolutely no intention of forgiving those who’ve only chosen to do bad things!”

“I heard you laid magic traps on the riverbed so no one could cross.”

“I told you it’s useless!”

“Could you let just us pass through?”

Instead of scolding her for behaving badly, they prioritized passing the test by attaching themselves to Oknodie’s power.

Dorothy, watching from behind, was somewhat disappointed.

Hestia often showed signs of caring for Oknodie, resembling Isabelle in that way.

She had unconsciously assumed that Hestia, like Isabelle, would try to guide Oknodie onto the right path.

Of course, demanding others do what you yourself cannot is something only a self-righteous person would do.

Dorothy herself equally wanted to pass the test by using her connection with Oknodie.

After all, wasn’t the Imperial faction doing the same thing—blocking paths and attempting control at every opportunity, while letting their own people pass freely or helping with the control?

“No problem!”

Naturally, Oknodie permitted them to pass.

“Wait. I don’t remember giving permission to you people.”

“Are you really going to be this petty with fellow senior students?”

“There were many opportunities to live peacefully together as students at the Academy. During the past two months, you’ve squandered those opportunities.”

Oknodie warned Honer FriedChicken, who was trying to get a free ride, in a cold voice.

“You’re free to follow if you want. That’s your choice. But you’d better not expect my abilities to help you too.”

While those friendly with Oknodie dove underwater and passed through easily, the Imperial faction students remained stuck.

Honer FriedChicken regretted trying to control the situation, but seeing the crowd of sophomores approaching from beyond the stairs, he realized there was no time for regret.

“What is the Hero doing? She broke through the first section just fine!”

“She should have crossed by now.”

“Has anyone seen the Hero?”

“Not here.”

“Wait. If the Hero isn’t here, doesn’t that mean she’s already crossed the river? After all, she’s the one who broke through the magic traps Oknodie set up.”

“So what? Her absence only means she’s prioritizing her own grade and heading toward the finish line with her mount.”

Unlike Honer, who always chose to torment others and confirm his own authority through cruel acts, Cheddar PotatoPizza, who responded to his words, had strong self-love.

He had enough self-confidence that he didn’t need to push others down to reaffirm his position, and thus didn’t care about relationships with others.

For someone with such individualistic tendencies, the Hero’s direct path to the finish line was reasonable and hardly a betrayal.

“If you need someone to rely on, find someone else.”

“Tsk. In the end, is the Second Princess our only option?”

Now their only hope was the Second Princess Massgakki, who possessed both military and political power, served by the children of the Empire’s three great noble families.

They didn’t want to appear to be dragged along by imperial authority, but enduring a moment of humiliation was better than completely failing the midterm exam for a required course.

Of course, this was only relevant if the princess would take them in.

“Huh? Take care of your own grades. So~ pathetic.”

“Princess, haven’t you always set an example by helping fellow students with their assignments?”

“Assignments and exams are completely different. Don’t you even know that? So stupid~”

“…The more of us who pass, the more hands and feet you’ll have to look after your convenience. We’ll serve you even more actively than before.”

“Kik kik. Are you planning to have more than ten limbs combined? That many would be gross. If you’re going to be my hands and feet, you should know how to follow properly♡”

The Massgakki Princess jumped into the river with a laugh.

They cursed, wishing she would drown.

Contrary to Honer and Cheddar’s curses, the Second Princess Massgakki popped her head out on the opposite side of the river.

Fraud.

Conspiracy.

The Imperial students’ worries only deepened as they faced Oknodie’s trial, which prevented those who used underhanded methods from passing.

* *

Yufi asked her close friend:

“Are you sure it’s okay? To leave Oknodie like this.”

“You heard her. She promised with her own mouth.”

“I’m asking because it’s so suspicious.”

Ishtar and Yufi had advanced to the river, determined to settle things with Oknodie.

Prepared for a decisive battle, the two were disappointingly met with Oknodie willingly opening the path.

“Go ahead.”

“You’re just giving up the lead position?”

“I have something to do here!”

This child is hiding something again.

“If I said I’ll defeat you here and pass?”

“You’d regret it! The others who’ve followed right behind you would be happy to head straight for the goal line.”

In response to Oknodie’s words, a reply came from behind the stairs, from the rear of where Ishtar and Yufi stood.

“If that’s your strategy, I’ll play along.”

The Northern Archduchess Irene, with a voice so cold it seemed to lower the surrounding temperature by several degrees.

If only she had appeared alone being cooperative with Oknodie, they might have tried to overpower her, but several others followed behind her.

Cassia from Group C, crackling with electricity.

The rest of Group C trailing behind her.

If Oknodie held them back while letting Cassia and the others pass in a line, the first through sixth places would be determined.

For someone who wanted to surpass the joint top score from the entrance exam to become the sole top freshman and recruit promising talents, giving up first place was a huge burden.

The Hero isn’t all that great.

We could do it too.

What if such opinions started to form?

Of course, she knew.

In terms of skill, only Oknodie could compare to her, the Hero.

But even baseless rumors could tarnish her reputation and name value.

The cunning nobles of the Empire wouldn’t miss this opportunity to reduce their support for her, manipulating the situation to gain favors from her family.

The thought of having to deal with all that political maneuvering and annoyance just because she couldn’t secure first place in a midterm exam filled Ishtar with immense fatigue.

“This doesn’t have to be the place where we settle things.”

“Right?”

“But I can’t simply pass by after seeing such an ominous power that controls monsters. You’ve provoked my duty as a Hero.”

“Then how about we make a light contract?”

“Contract?”

“Your companion, Saint Yufi, can receive divine certification and declare a divine word to establish a credible verbal contract, right?”

“What kind of certification are you asking for?”

“I won’t attempt the riding section until I’ve sent 100 people through here. In return, you should go straight to the finish line. And don’t come back to harm me.”

“…A contract without restrictions is meaningless. What’s the penalty for breaking the promise?”

To Yufi’s question, Oknodie cheerfully exclaimed as if she had thought about it from the beginning:

“The saint who serves Golgotha of Beheading has extremely powerful <Severance> abilities, right? If I break the rules, you can increase the <Severance> damage I receive from Saint Yufi by 10 times! In exchange, if you and the Hero break your promise, you’ll also receive <Severance> damage from me 10 times greater.”

“!!”

“Why are you proposing such conditions? What benefit do you gain by sending us ahead and staying here to send 100 people to the third section first?”

“Hmm, I don’t think you need to know that!”

“What?”

“I’m saying I won’t tell you. If you were in my position, would you spill all your thoughts and desires to someone who dislikes you?”

Yufi glared at Oknodie and said:

“It’s not worth hearing. We can just ignore such a suspicious proposal.”

“…Let’s accept it, Yufi.”

“Ishtar!”

“I know too. That Oknodie has some suspicious scheme. But fighting here won’t resolve anything, and we’ll only harm our grades.”

Breaking the contract means taking 10 times the damage.

Receiving the power of a critical hit in a normal strike.

In a battle between powerful individuals, the probability of violating a contract with such risk is practically zero.

Oknodie was showing her strong will to fulfill the contract.

In the end, Ishtar and Yufi concluded the contract and began the third section’s riding test.

…Or more precisely, they wanted to begin and were eager to start.

But they couldn’t.

“Instructor. Where are our mounts?”

“My mount is a stag with beautiful antlers.”

At the test site’s mount storage area.

The instructor responded indifferently to the two who were bewildered by the empty storage:

“I don’t know.”

“…Pardon?”

“They’re somewhere in the forest.”

The instructor pointed to the forest beyond where they needed to ride, speaking dispassionately:

“Completion of the riding section is measured by riding a mount from the starting line to the finish line. If you can’t find your mount, your record won’t be recognized.”

“Why aren’t the mounts in the storage area but scattered somewhere in the forest?”

“Because the person who arrived first destroyed all our pens.”

So that was it.

She made that contract to buy time while she did what she needed to do, getting divine certification for the verbal agreement.

That bad child.

Cunning little one.

What an evil Dark Princess!

Ishtar and Yufi realized they had been thoroughly tricked by Oknodie’s scheme and stomped their feet in frustration.