Ch.214214 – Breaking a Habit

<214 – Breaking a Habit>

Giselle, who had come to the classroom early as usual, was puzzled when she didn’t see the person who should have been there.

“Isabelle. Where has our little lady gone?”

“That’s what I wanted to ask. Didn’t she leave early because you called for her?”

“Unfortunately, I haven’t seen her face today. I suppose she’s collecting something strange somewhere again.”

Oknodie the collection maniac.

Considering her obsession with collecting, it was entirely plausible.

Still, she was a model student who never missed lectures and attended diligently on her own.

When the time came, she would show up on her own.

The two thought lightly of it.

“Let’s begin the lecture.”

“…!”

Until the lecture started without Oknodie ever showing up.

“Oknodie didn’t come to the lecture.”

“She might be late because she’s gathering rare materials somewhere.”

“This has happened exactly once before.”

“…The curse incident.”

“What if something happened to her again?”

“Let’s go look for her together as soon as the lecture ends.”

The dormitory supervisor would readily open the door, given the previous curse incident. With this in mind, the two visited the supervisor’s office, only to receive an unexpected answer.

“Supervisor Francis. We’re worried because Oknodie didn’t come to class. Could you check if she’s inside?”

“That child left the Academy with proper permission. You can rest assured.”

“Left? Oknodie did?”

“This is fortunate timing. Isabelle. There’s a letter Oknodie left for you, please take it.”

Perhaps cooking meals for her regularly hadn’t been without effect.

Like a child writing to their mother before running away from home, there was a letter Oknodie had left for Isabelle.

━━━

To my dear Isabelle,

I’m sorry, Isabelle.

I received a summons from the Foundation and had to leave for a while.

Don’t worry about me falling behind in lectures.

I’ve already finished preparing for the final exams!

Since my attendance is approved, there won’t be any problems with my studies while I’m away from the Academy.

Hehe. Jealous, right?

Just promise me one thing.

Don’t feel too lonely without me!

Please say hello to Uncle Giselle, Uncle Ocheon, Sister Arcadia, Dorothy and Hestia, Zhang and Titosoga, and Morb.

Wait, that’s not just one promise anymore, is it?

Hehe. Consider it two promises as a special favor!

They said a week, but I’m not sure when I’ll be back.

I’ll try to return as early as possible.

Actually, there’s not much for me to do outside.

I miss you.

I’ll work hard and come back quickly!

Sending my regards, written by Oknodie.

━━━

The hand holding the letter trembled.

“It’s the Foundation. The Foundation took her.”

“Is that really true?”

Isabelle handed the letter to Giselle.

Giselle’s expression hardened as he read it.

“We’ve been had. To think they would make Oknodie leave the Academy like this.”

“What should we do?”

“There’s nothing we can do. We have no way to bring back Oknodie who has left for a destination unknown to us here at the Academy.”

“So we just let Oknodie leave like this?”

“…All we can do is hope she returns.”

Whether the infamous Wiheomhae Foundation would willingly return Oknodie, who had tarnished their reputation countless times, after a week was uncertain.

All they could do was believe that the Foundation would send Oknodie back.

“…I’ll look for a way.”

But while Giselle himself might not have options, his connections might.

“If necessary, contact the Esonia Adventure Guild and ask for help. If you tell the guild friends it’s my request, they’ll surely help.”

The connections of Giselle and Isabelle began to mobilize to retrieve Oknodie who had been taken by the Foundation.

* *

After crossing the dimensional gate and leaving the Academy, a man in a tailcoat approached her at the gateway transit station entrance, as if he had been waiting.

“Miss Oknodie. Is that correct?”

“Where is Jona?”

“Today, I have been assigned to accompany you instead.”

A stranger, not Jona.

Honestly, it was disappointing.

One reason for leaving the Academy had just disappeared.

“Then where is Leaf?”

“You’ll be able to see him later with Jona.”

Neither the butler nor the maid was her person.

Her mood worsened a bit.

“Let’s go.”

She got into a carriage where the outside wasn’t visible.

When she pulled the curtain covering the window, she saw a spot nailed with wooden boards.

She gave a look that seemed to ask why the carriage was so stuffy, and the butler who wasn’t Jona answered.

“We’ve also reinforced the exterior with steel plates to prevent sniping.”

“…It’s suffocating.”

“Please bear with it. It’s a measure for your safety.”

They traveled like that for a full day.

The food they provided was even unpalatable black bread.

She could tolerate bad taste.

But what was intolerable was being served food she had already cataloged in her food compendium long ago.

Her mood worsened considerably.

“We’ve arrived. Please get out.”

Without an escort, she got out of the carriage and entered a facility thoroughly protected by multiple barriers.

The adults moving around the facility were all dressed as clowns wearing masks.

They were members of the <Clown Mask Group>, a villain organization ranked in the middle tier among those spread throughout the continent.

“Do you know where this is?”

“I do.”

“Of course you wouldn’t know. This is a subordinate organization of the Foundation…”

Dull people have dull reactions.

Even the speed of his blinking was sluggish—a shoddy butler.

His pathetic face was colored with bewilderment.

“You know?”

“The Clown Mask Group. They take in orphans promising to help them make a living as circus performers, then train talented children as acrobats and sell them to the higher assassination organization, while using the rest as informants or feeding them to the circus animals, right?”

“…Did Jona teach you even that? That should be information not disclosed to scholarship students attending the Academy…”

“Stop with the trivial talk and tell me why you brought me here.”

“…The person who called for Miss Oknodie is the supervisor who manages the Foundation’s butlers. There’s usually only one case when scholarship students meet that person.”

The fake butler tried to put on a menacing expression, seemingly wanting to create an atmosphere.

“When a scholarship student repeatedly fails to accomplish their directives and needs ‘punishment.’ That is, when they are to be punished.”

If anger could stack, his arrogant words just now would have maxed out the stack.

“How unfortunate! I prefer giving punishments rather than receiving them.”

“Don’t maintain such an insolent attitude. Even if I don’t, the supervisor who came from the Eastern Empire will never tolerate a scholarship student who challenges his authority.”

“The same goes for me. Think of that as the reason you’re going back!”

With a bright smile, she lightly touched the butler’s leg with her palm.

“Urghk!?”

Dark mana is similar to radiation.

Keeping a small amount doesn’t endanger life, but exceeding a certain level causes the body to rapidly collapse, as if suffering from “radiation exposure.”

That’s exactly what was happening to the fake butler’s captured leg.

She raised and injected a lot of dark mana.

Just with that light process, he convulsed with seizures and collapsed with a thud.

If it had been Jona, he would have easily broken free without being caught by a malicious hand.

Indeed, he was pathetic compared to Jona.

“Did you really not think this would happen while removing someone else’s butler and resorting to threats? Seriously.”

What a trivial fellow.

She lightly stepped over the butler who was writhing and emitting black smoke, and called for the clown masks.

“Would someone please take me to the supervisor gentleman?”

For a rare outing, it won’t even take three days, let alone a week.

Boredom permeated her steps as she walked, staring at the back of the head of the mask who was cautiously leading the way.

* *

Versatile in many ways but with a gentle personality.

May be cunning but doesn’t harm people.

‘Gentle personality? Doesn’t harm people?’

The supervisor tore up the report.

It was a worthless piece of garbage.

Had they done a sloppy investigation on Oknodie?

Or had Oknodie concealed her true nature thoroughly enough to deceive even the Foundation’s investigation?

Either way, this scrap of paper was of no help.

“Did you call for me, mister?”

“I heard you harmed a butler by poisoning him with dark mana. Aren’t you afraid of the consequences? That your only supporting force might turn against you?”

“Not really? The Foundation dislikes weak people, right?”

The energy emanating from that child was completely different from the “controllable child” that Jona had reported.

One who commits crimes out of fear of the misfortune that would befall them if they don’t follow the Foundation’s directives.

Or one who pretends to enjoy sadistic behavior as if trying not to hurt their broken moral compass.

She showed none of the typical characteristics of a Foundation scholarship student.

One who feels no emotion from killing.

One who doesn’t even know what guilt is.

The ultimate scholarship student the Foundation aims to create.

A useful worker.

She was different from all of those too.

She couldn’t be defined by anything.

She didn’t fit anywhere.

“Why do you have the Foundation’s hat?”

“I won’t tell you, mister.”

Come at me if you’re upset.

I’ll make you like that fool I sent ahead.

Oknodie gave a cold smile that seemed to say just that.

The supervisor thought.

Force won’t work on this child.

Surprisingly, even he wasn’t confident he could break her by force.

Indeed, he understood why the boss specially noticed and cherished her.

“The reason I called you here was to question and correct your crime of not complying with the Foundation’s directives and further tarnishing our reputation… but it seems ordinary means won’t work on you.”

At the supervisor’s gesture, torture specialists and illegal healers wearing clown masks who had been hiding behind pillars quietly left the building.

“Is it because of the Academy? Is that why you disregard the Foundation’s orders so much?”

“I’m angry because you bring garbage events and call them new events.”

“Events. Indeed, the Academy’s principal used such terms. So the Academy was the cause after all.”

The supervisor finally understood.

The Academy could surpass even the Foundation’s influence.

It was possible for that child to harbor different thoughts.

That they would liberate her from the Foundation’s embrace.

It’s plausible she might have wrong ideas after being captivated by those who only say what benefits them.

“Then let me tell you. What the Academy is doing in places you don’t know about. Do you know Princess Arcadia of the Kingdom of Florence?”

“…What are you trying to do to Arcadia? You should know you’ll all die if you even lift a finger against her.”

“We’re not the ones who touched her. It’s the Academy.”

The supervisor handed over a report that had just arrived today.

“A day ago, a blockade order was issued on <House Ceviche>, the birthplace of Princess Arcadia. It means your dear friend’s homeland is in danger of disappearing by the Academy’s actions because it’s a major cooperating family with the Foundation.”

The friendship with Arcadia had already been reported through spies within the Academy.

He had seen all the reports that went to Jona, so it was certain.

If she realized the Academy’s actions threatening her close friend Arcadia, Oknodie would surely redirect her hostility from the Foundation to the Academy.

‘Heheh. Checkmate. To save your friend, you must now follow the Foundation’s will.’

You can no longer defy the Foundation.

To the triumphant supervisor, Oknodie said:

“So what?”

“?”

“It deserves to fall, so it’s falling. What’s the big deal?”

This child is much more ruthless than expected.

Despite being friends, despite her friend’s home family being on the brink of ruin.

Does she feel nothing?

Jona, this guy…

What kind of monster have you raised?