Ch.210210 – Backfire

<210 – Backfire>

Unlike Jona who had kept me waiting for a long time during the previous visit, Leaf, who attended this second visit, showed her face at the visiting area right from the morning.

“It’s been a while, miss.”

“Leaf~!”

Excited to see her, I ran over and hugged her tightly.

As I clung to her waist, Leaf spun around once to naturally dissipate the impact, then used her wrist and waist to snap me around in circles like a spear handle in mid-air, and just before I could dive headfirst onto the table… she abruptly stopped.

The gap between my head and the table was less than 1cm!

“Please be careful with sudden physical contact. You could get hurt.”

Other parents and students in the visiting area looked at us with bewildered eyes.

“L-Leaf… please put me down…”

Our house maid has some scary habits.

If I cling to her twice, I might end up getting German suplexed (grabbed by the waist and flipped backward) onto the table.

“Where’s Jona?”

“After the last visit, we determined that an active assassin capable of stealthy infiltration would be better for visits, so I came instead.”

“I see.”

“…Are you disappointed that I came instead of Butler Jona?”

“Not at all! I like you just as much as I like Jona!”

Though I say that, there is a slight difference.

Unlike Jona, who has 100% loyalty thanks to the <Butler’s Whistle>, Leaf doesn’t have such an item.

That means she’s a character with potential for betrayal.

Of course, Leaf is a good person too.

And Jona employs her as a maid as well.

Still, the fact that she’s not someone I can trust 100% creates a small wall in my heart.

Like having to use a +14 enhanced item when you have a +15 legendary item?

Like feeling your damage output is slightly lacking and might slip at a crucial moment?

“Have you eaten a lot of candy?”

“I ate them all!”

When I proudly showed her the empty candy basket, Leaf quietly smiled.

…I feel like garbage for having such bad thoughts about such a kind and grateful sister!

“I heard you had problems with the hero.”

“That’s right. It’s such a headache. They keep picking fights with me one-sidedly…”

“Orders have come down from the Chairman.”

“…Chairman?”

“Orders from the person you call ‘Papa’.”

“!!”

Oknodie’s father.

A figure who never revealed his identity either before or after my enrollment.

So he was the chairman of the foundation?

I had sensed from Jona’s treatment and attitude toward me that Papa was indeed a big shot.

But for such an important Papa to contact me now.

What could be the reason?

If it’s about coming home, that would be a summer vacation event, so there’s still plenty of time left!

“Recently, several unfortunate incidents have occurred at the foundation due to your activities at the academy.”

“At the foundation? Because of me? Why?”

“I don’t know the reason, but people have emerged saying things like ‘How dare they abuse a child so cruelly, I’ll never forgive the foundation,’ and attacking us.”

“Gasp.”

“There’s also been indirect interference with various groups sponsored by the foundation, and one of them even faced a direct offensive crisis.”

I had some idea of what might be happening.

-Papa told me to!

-This kind of information is common knowledge at the foundation!

-Sorry, Papa!

The all-purpose foundation excuse that I wielded like a shield whenever there was something difficult or awkward to explain.

It seems that it created a butterfly effect and irritated powerful people through unexpected channels.

“What does Papa’s family say about this?”

“Family?”

Leaf frowned as if she couldn’t understand.

“The Chairman is not a noble.”

“Whaaaat!? Really? But he has so much money?”

“If I may ask, where did you hear such things?”

“He gave me 100 gold coins to prepare for the entrance exam, supported Jona with airship expenses, and even employs butlers and maids…”

“…Is that so? First, let me correct your misunderstanding: there are plenty of wealthy people in the world who aren’t nobles.”

“So Papa is just rich?”

“That’s right. And whatever rumors you’ve heard about the Chairman, forget them all. He’s not someone who can be judged by gossip spread by outsiders of the foundation.”

Suddenly, I became curious about Papa.

“Then what kind of person is Papa?”

“He’s a frightening person.”

“Hmm. I know that!”

He was such a bleak person that during the random Papa letter event, he just wrote the address of the entrance exam venue and included only money needed for training and a whistle to summon the butler.

From a player’s perspective, he’s a convenient Papa who doesn’t cause trouble and provides ample support, but from an NPC’s perspective, he must be scary.

“What else? What’s he good at? Does he have any special skills? What does he look like?”

Leaf suddenly quietly took my hand.

Through the white gloves, I felt Leaf’s warmth.

The sensation of hands trained to the point of worn fingerprints was interesting, like a warrior’s hands.

“There are many listening ears here. I’ll tell you separately over a meal.”

“Did you bring any food?”

“I have a lunchbox that Jona packed. It’s a lunchbox of rare foods you’ve never tried before—your favorite. He said he confirmed that none of the items overlap with the academy cafeteria menu, so you can rest assured.”

“Wow! Wow!”

I’m so excited.

Jona is the best after all!

* *

My chest feels heavy whenever I see the young miss.

I heard the story from Jona.

I heard the young miss was an orphan found on the streets.

Of course, she was a special young miss.

I heard that the ‘Boss’ personally selected her.

Perhaps she remembers that moment.

Is that why she calls him Papa?

Because she wants him to become her real father.

Putting decent clothes on a child who wore rags and lived in such poverty that she ate stones, and letting her enjoy the luxury of eating new food at every meal.

For a child who didn’t even know what talents she had, it must be nothing short of heaven.

Because she suffered so much, she didn’t even realize that the training she underwent was excessively harsh.

‘Is that lack of common sense why she achieved such extraordinary results, ranking first in the entrance exam?’

Thanks to that, the Boss also began to regard Oknodie as special.

Her registration as a scholarship student with top honors, unprecedented in the foundation’s history, is proof of that.

But this cheerful young miss has caused quite a problem.

What on earth has she been saying?

The investigation reports coming in from all directions are quite something.

That the foundation kidnaps children between 5 and 15 years old, forces them to train, and sells those who don’t comply to brothels or slave markets.

That they feed good children poisoned candy and torture them with food until they beg for mercy, transforming them into cruel killing machines.

Such ridiculous stories.

Why would the foundation do such things in the first place?

If a child doesn’t listen, they can simply be disposed of without worrying about profitability.

And the poisoned candy is just to build immunity in case competitors secretly try to poison them.

“Please don’t expect too much from the Chairman. I think it will be extremely rare for him to indulge your childish whims.”

“Hmph. Why?”

“What I’m about to tell you is also a direct message from the Chairman.”

I don’t want to say it.

Because I know it will hurt her.

But I must follow the organization’s orders.

“Stop creating bad rumors about the foundation. The top scholarship student should be a role model who represents the honor of the foundation.”

“Did I cause trouble for Papa?”

“You may not have had ill intentions, but that’s what happened in the end. So please be careful with your words and actions in the future to avoid any misunderstandings.”

“Yes…”

“If the Chairman gets angry, I don’t know what orders he might give you. Please be careful not to direct his anger toward you.”

With this warning, the young miss should be careful for a while.

There should be no more incidents that draw the Chairman’s ire.

“Stay healthy. I’ll visit you again next month.”

“You too, Leaf!”

* *

The visit ended.

Children boasting about their guardians’ power as if it were their own—one’s guardian is a great noble of some kingdom, another’s is a great general of a country.

Children with nothing to boast about turned their eyes to gossiping about those less fortunate than themselves instead of praising themselves.

“Did you hear? The Chairman of Oknodie’s foundation is angry with her.”

“Wow. That’s big. Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Why would he be angry when her grades are so good?”

“Think about the rumors that spread because of Oknodie. I’d be angry too.”

“The letter I got from home mentioned the foundation. They asked if the Wiheomhae Foundation is really that dangerous. I wonder what’s happening outside?”

“I heard the Royal Internal Affairs Department conducted an audit and found some foundation scholarship graduates among military generals. They say that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

“The foundation is scary.”

Among such gossip, the hottest topic was naturally the current situation of the Wiheomhae Foundation, Oknodie’s sponsoring organization.

Reports of child abuse and inhumane, cruel education methods had emerged.

And their intelligence network was remarkably unusual, knowing everything within the foundation.

And how much knowledge they had crammed into her.

When asked, she never gets stuck and answers flow smoothly.

Even noble children felt gloomy thinking about how much abuse-like education she must have endured at that age to study all that, to the point where they looked at her with pity.

What made such bad rumors even more of a hot topic this time, unlike before, was Oknodie’s behavior after the visit.

“Oknodie. I wanted to ask something about the foundation.”

“The foundation isn’t bad!”

“…I haven’t said anything yet?”

“The foundation is Papa’s precious organization. Please don’t say bad things about the foundation. I don’t want to be a daughter who causes trouble for Papa… If someone’s bad, it’s me, so please criticize me instead…”

“…I see. I was being thoughtless. Sorry.”

Students who approached out of curiosity returned to their groups without even asking their questions.

“What did she say?”

“Don’t bring it up. Looks like she got scolded during the visit.”

“The foundation scolded her?”

“She used to smile 365 days a year, but now she looks so dejected and sad that it breaks my heart.”

“Wow… how much must they have crushed her spirit for her to be like that? She was the one who smiled while dunking seniors once at the bridge and once at the river during midterms.”

Despite Oknodie’s efforts to prevent the spread of bad rumors as warned through Leaf, contrary to her intentions, the infamy directed at the foundation grew even larger today.