Ch.226226 – Points

<226 – Points>

[You eliminated the Fog Mage Cloud and the surveillance agents by turning their own magic against them.]

[Mana Control Experience +50]

[Shadow Clone Experience +50]

[Body Design Experience +50]

[Dark Magic Experience +20]

[Deception Experience +20]

[Breathing Experience +10]

[Throwing Experience +10]

[Fear Inducement Experience +10]

[Dark Electricity Generation Experience +10]

[Bad Girl Experience +10]

[Synesthesia Experience +5]

[Stealth Experience +5]

[Concealment Experience +5]

[You have completed the <Attack With Rain> event.]

[5000 points have been awarded as a reward for successfully completing the event.]

[The surveillance team of the Ceviche Ducal Family has been annihilated.]

[The Ceviche Ducal Family, the Wiheomhae Foundation, and Gift Academy have become aware of this fact.]

[World attention toward you has been generated.]

[Your current attention level is ‘Person of Interest’.]

Phew.

I finally caught them all without letting a single one escape.

“I’m sorry, Di… Because of me, you had to take so many lives. If only I wasn’t unable to handle explosives due to the trauma from the explosion…”

“It’s okay. I should help when Arcadia is in trouble. After all, I owe you from the tea party, don’t I?”

“Di…!”

Arcadia hugs my face tightly.

I can feel her soft, squishy breasts against my cheeks.

Even the faint scent of flesh emanating through the gunpowder.

The reward is much more generous than when I was playing a male character, where overcoming difficult events only resulted in hand-holding.

“If we stay here any longer, we’ll be caught by the kingdom’s investigation team. If we return to the academy, we can resolve any troublesome matters under the academy’s name, so let’s hurry and move. We can talk about the details afterward.”

Giselle, who had been looking at me with an expression that suggested she had a lot to say, composed her emotions with those words.

* *

How strong would Oknodie be if she got serious?

It was a question many students secretly wondered about.

Today, Giselle witnessed the answer.

The thick gunpowder smoke filling the room.

The fog that formed in the pouring rain.

She overcame these dual visual obstacles.

A magical tool for detecting magical substances, permitted only to true merchant magnates.

The <Limited Absolute Vision> provided by that tool perfectly revealed the battle beyond the fog.

She could see everything.

All the magical substances being manifested and all the processes of their attempts to take each other’s lives.

Oknodie’s vicious intelligence, creating false bodies to completely deceive and overwhelm her opponents before eliminating them.

‘How frightening. This is the extent of that child’s true ability.’

She felt fear.

If that talent were used as a killing technique.

If it targeted not one but many people.

Anyone who wasn’t skilled enough to thoroughly defend against external mana infiltrating their body would inevitably suffer damage.

As fearsome as a mage who handles such practical combat magic was, Oknodie was even more terrifying for standing above them and instantly absorbing all their techniques.

The truly scary thing lies beyond this.

If Oknodie, who could already copy such achievements against combat mages, were to copy the knowledge of the academy professors—who are world-class masters in their respective fields—how strong would she become?

How dangerous would she be?

What acts could she commit?

It hints at a future too frightening to even imagine.

It’s understandable why the Foundation sent Oknodie to the academy.

If even she, who doesn’t know much, feels fear from mere vague imagination, what must the Foundation see, having raised and taught her first?

What future are they envisioning?

‘Oknodie must absolutely not be returned to the Foundation.’

Now that emotion stemmed not from simple anger, but from fear.

* *

I returned safely, having been just one step away from the abyss.

Professor Destroyer called his people when he saw the secret funds packed in the magic backpack, and each valuable item was appraised one by one to determine its worth.

One gold coin. 100 points.

Equestrian statue. 3850 points.

Crown decorated with fake jewels. 15 points.

The accumulating points sometimes rose slowly, sometimes rapidly, displaying the total appraised value on the magic panel.

The slave ledger containing the Ceviche family’s dark secrets.

Its value: 500,000 points.

Excluding the 200,000 points paid by Giselle, the secret funds should total at least 300,000 points.

115,000.

177,500.

244,900.

The price, which had been rising steadily with occasional jackpots, eventually stagnated and froze at 290,000 points.

“Not enough. We’re short 10,000 points. Can you pay it?”

“…No. I don’t have that many points.”

“Then the deal is off.”

300,000 points.

Equivalent to 3,000 gold coins.

A quantity that would fill three boxes of gold coins.

Of course, the Ceviche family’s secret funds weren’t so meager that they couldn’t even afford that much.

The problem was with items placed in the <Transaction Denied> category.

“Thieves deal in stolen goods. But an academy professor cannot handle stolen goods. Especially if they could cause major political controversy.”

If only there had been three boxes neatly packed with gold coins in the magic backpack, there wouldn’t have been a problem. But instead of storing gold coins in boxes, the Ceviche Ducal Family had stored valuables and exchangeable items that were lighter and easier to keep.

The Thief Guild members brought by Professor Destroyer assessed the origins of these items and firmly stated:

“These items were being transported on a merchant ship that was raided by pirates. If the origin of these precious metals is traced, we could be implicated for receiving the goods.”

In an era where magical investigations are possible, one shouldn’t carelessly accept suspicious items.

The Thief Guild placed most of the items in the non-tradable category, resulting in a situation where exchangeable items couldn’t be recognized as points.

“Giselle.”

“I’m sorry. These items are burdensome for me as well.”

With enough time, there might be ways to launder them into safe funds, but there’s no time for that now.

“However, since they do have value if effort is put in, I can purchase them at one-hundredth of the market price. What would you like to do?”

“One-hundredth? Such a highway robbery proposal…!”

“They’re stolen goods anyway. You’re in no position to complain when you’ve brought tainted items.”

At the Thief Guild appraiser’s words, Arcadia’s eyes welled up with tears of indignation.

Those items are worth a million points.

Converted to gold coins, that’s 10,000 coins.

Enough to fill 10 boxes with gold coins.

So much that even if poured into a chest, one wouldn’t be enough to hold it all.

And they want to settle for just 10,000 points!

Considering the safety guaranteed by the academy, she shouldn’t be caught in such deliberation and anguish, but she couldn’t help feeling upset and angry.

“Don’t make the deal!”

Oknodie, who had been standing on tiptoe looking up at the table, interjected.

“Hey, little miss. Didn’t anyone teach you not to interfere in adult matters?”

“Enough. She’s my disciple.”

“I-I apologize. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful to Destroyer’s disciple…”

The appraiser cowered and watched cautiously.

Destroyer showed interest.

“The professor was going to be considerate and let it slide, but cutting it down by 100 times is too much.”

“If you’re stopping the deal, do you have an alternative?”

“I’ll just pay the 10,000 points myself!”

Arcadia felt both touched and guilty.

She couldn’t be indebted to Oknodie any further.

“Di, you don’t need to go that far. These fortunes were built on evil deeds anyway, so even if I lose everything, it’s just karma. Starting a new life is worth paying even millions.”

Arcadia Ceviche.

No matter how fallen she was, she wouldn’t stoop so low as to borrow points from a child.

But Oknodie was no ordinary child either.

“It’s fine, really.”

“I feel too guilty about it.”

“If you insist, then grant me one favor.”

“A favor?”

“Promise to fulfill one request I make in the future, whatever it may be. Promise?”

“How can you be so considerate?”

Unable to contain her emotion, tears flowed.

She firmly grasped the small hand.

“Alright. I promise. I’ll grant whatever request Di makes.”

In the end, unable to break Oknodie’s stubbornness, she had to accept her help.

“Here, 10,000 points. I’ve paid on her behalf, right?”

“…All 500,000 points confirmed. The ledger is now yours. Use the Ceviche family’s lifeline as you see fit.”

The fate of the family was now in her hands.

She could sell it to a foreign country for a large sum.

She could show copies to the family elders to gain their loyalty.

Depending on how it’s used, it could be a weapon more precious than ten million gold.

But Arcadia’s gaze was directed elsewhere, not at the ledger.

“Huh…?”

She happened to glimpse Oknodie’s magic watch.

While manipulating the watch to pay the points, she caught sight of Oknodie’s point balance.

But… Oknodie had a lot of points.

Enough to easily pay the required amount and have plenty left over.

A lot.

An unbelievable amount.

Points in the millions.