Ch.232232 – Junior With Potential

<232 – A Promising Junior>

<Dave’s Love Letter>

<Potato Chips Secretly Eaten During Guard’s Lecture>

<X-Ray Glasses for Peeking at Answer Sheets>

I hit the jackpot.

“Look at this, Second Mad Hatter. I scored a love letter!”

“…Is that really so great?”

“A love letter from a second-year advanced class student could be traded for some amazing items, you know?”

I obviously don’t deal in things like X-ray glasses.

Glasses nerds say even normal glasses are good, but when they come with special functions, they’re to die for. Still, these are just X-ray glasses made by underclassmen.

To see through magical barriers, you need to increase the penetration rate, but that causes magic light to leak out. The glasses emit a backlight on their own, creating a subtle blue glow that’s basically like shouting “I’m cheating! I’m cheating!!” directly to the instructors.

For this reason, suspicious glasses-wearers with frequent backlights are the top surveillance targets for written exam instructors.

[You have swept 45 types of confiscated items into the bag you brought in advance.]

As I was about to leave the confiscation room with my Santa-like sack of goodies, I noticed the room across from me.

What was that document the maid was peeking at?

I scurried over for a quick look and found it quite interesting.

It was a transfer record of prisoners confined to the Grand Prison for committing crimes.

In an academy where most misbehavior is overlooked as part of students’ growth process, those who end up in prison are truly exceptional cases.

Indeed, the reason for imprisonment listed for this student was certainly prison-worthy.

━━━

Imprisonment Log

Prisoner Name: Yumi

Prisoner Class: Mosquito Master

Reason for Imprisonment: Using pet mosquitoes to steal blood from classmates, causing chronic fatigue, impaired recovery, anemia, and itching, resulting in 3 falling accidents and 7 injuries during practical training.

Additionally, evidence was found of her orchestrating black market transactions of blood stones worth 200,000 points, leading to additional charges.

Estimated Number of Victims: 215 students, 13 faculty members, Professor Pinkberry

Place and Duration of Imprisonment: Grand Prison 2nd floor, 2 weeks

Bail: 300,000 points

※It is recorded that Professor Pinkberry and the Student Council are responsible for this prisoner’s punishment.

※Upon payment of bail, Professor Pinkberry takes 7 and the Student Council takes 3. The instructors were forced to serve as notaries and provided certification.

━━━

On the back was a small scribble by a staff member that read “Pinkberry, you bastard,” making it a truly perfect imprisonment log.

“Hmm~. Looks like there might be a spy among those locked in the Grand Prison.”

“If I report this, I can expect a reward.”

“Report it? Why would I do that? It’s not like they’d give me a hefty reward for it.”

In an academy heartless enough to sell second-year promotion rights for points, there’s no reason to do poorly compensated work that’s practically volunteer service.

Moreover, Yumi was a trading partner I’d previously dealt with during blood stone transactions.

“This works out perfectly. Thanks to not being caught by the maids, I have quite a bit of time left.”

* *

Grand Prison, Basement Level 2.

Mosquito Master Yumi pouted as she rubbed the rope marks on her wrists.

“Those petty jerks. Keeping me from attending lectures for two weeks just for stealing a little blood.”

Her giant mosquitoes were a bit large, true.

But she only had them suck enough blood to keep people from dying.

Anemia? Dizziness? Falling accidents?

Those were the fault of people who panicked about mosquitoes and fell while trying to stand up or run away.

And those idiots who scratch their itchy mosquito bites during practical training are complete fools.

Do they plan to die in real combat by scratching their stomachs when faced with a spear?

Those idiots should actually be grateful.

They’ve experienced a preview of the stupid deaths that could happen in real combat, so they can avoid making the same mistakes when it counts.

The same goes for the professor.

It’s his fault for taking a hit because he couldn’t handle a little itching despite his experience. Why go this far against a student just because he lost a bit of face?

“Mosquito Master Yumi. You have a visitor.”

“For me?”

Did she have any classmates who would visit her?

Yumi tried to recall.

-That bitch who brings around those nasty mosquitoes.

-Enemy of humanity. Go die somewhere else.

-I don’t even want to call someone like you a third-year. You’re like a fourth-year, you hag.

…There probably weren’t any.

All her classmates hated her.

When she went to the visiting area, the person sitting across from her was indeed not a classmate.

It was a maid with cat ears, dressed in black and white that accentuated her chest, exuding mid-battle energy. The beastkin maid kept her tail straight up rather than swishing it, and Yumi openly showed her confusion at this appearance.

“Why is a maid here? Don’t tell me you’re bringing my belongings from my room?”

“Don’t you resent having your freedom taken away because you possess an unpopular class?”

“What cat grass have you been eating?”

“Don’t you want revenge on the professor, student council, and classmates who imprisoned you here? While you’re locked in this damp basement, they’re enjoying the youth of the Grand Sports Festival.”

“Hmph. That damn Sports Festival. What youth? If you don’t suddenly die from getting caught up in upperclassmen’s mistakes, you’re lucky.”

Yumi was wealthy enough without chasing after points from the Grand Sports Festival.

The professor and student council had sentenced her to two weeks, demanding she pay 200,000 points in bail money from her blood stone dealings, but she was tough enough to use blood magic from mosquito blood.

Her wicked determination was to endure the two weeks and keep all her points for herself!

“I can get revenge after I get out in two weeks.”

“It doesn’t have to be now. Whenever you need help, visit the art room in the closed old school building. Someone who can help you will be waiting.”

“Hmph. You’re just here to recruit me into some weird organization with a strange name like the Bikini Warrior Squad or the Mein Society, right? Dream on. Not a chance. I won’t wear bikini armor, and I won’t wear the Mein Society’s black high-leg costume either. Not to mention anything weirder.”

Yumi drew a firm line.

She appreciated the skill it took to infiltrate the academy as a maid.

No evil organization had demonstrated this much talent before.

Still, she’d been doing fine on her own without them.

She was determined to use her mosquitoes more discreetly next time, stealing just enough blood to cause sleep disorders without making people collapse from anemia. She didn’t need outside help for her revenge.

“Ah, here you are! I was wondering why you weren’t in your cell.”

Suddenly, from above the maid, through the ventilation duct, a child wearing a pointed hat jumped down into the visiting room, her school uniform skirt fluttering to reveal her pantyhose. The child landed without making a sound, and unlike the maid who somehow didn’t quite feel like a beastkin despite her cat ears and tail, this one naturally incorporated feline qualities of a quiet hunter into every step and movement.

“Are you with that maid’s group too?”

“No? I came to make a request!”

“I refuse any offer to join an organization in exchange for getting me out.”

“Eh, that’s unreasonable. Just stay in prison and lend me your mosquitoes for a bit!”

“…Wait. That cheerful voice and small stature… You’re Oknodie, the one I traded blood stones with before, right?”

Oknodie nodded, forming dimples on her cheeks that looked so pinchable.

“You remember me!”

“I welcome trading partners. But why do you want to take my mosquitoes? More importantly, do you even know how to handle them?”

It was a fair question.

Without obtaining the rare Mosquito Master class, controlling those small, inferior creatures was not as easy as it looked.

Control magic requires the target to remain still until the formula is inscribed while subdued, but mosquitoes are incredibly fast and nimble.

Unlike ordinary small animals, they don’t stay still until the formula is inscribed.

Their body surface area is also small, so even for giant mosquitoes, one must carefully inscribe high-level control commands in a limited area.

In terms of taming difficulty, mosquitoes exceed the difficulty of most rare mob tamers!

Yet despite this, they have low combat power and are primarily utility-focused pests that straddle the line between harmful animals and monsters. Even second-years struggle to control them, so first-years have no chance.

“Bring out one mosquito. I’ll show you!”

“Your confidence is impressive. If you insist, I’ll give you a chance.”

A mosquito smaller than a finger flew in with an annoying whine.

“Bite!”

Whine!

Like a dog responding to its owner’s command, the mosquito charged forward with a whining sound.

It folded its wings and twisted its flight path into a spiral, instantly diving into a blind spot.

From behind, it caused a miss, and in that moment when the attack failed, the mosquito was excited to plunge its long proboscis into pale skin.

“Paralyze!”

The ambitious mosquito’s dream was cut short as Oknodie’s magic, which paralyzed everything within a 1m radius around her, hit it, causing it to crash onto the cold visiting room floor.

“Hmm. A good Mosquito Master should also master methods to subdue mosquitoes.”

Yumi nodded with a satisfied expression.

“Formula Inscription: Silence!”

“A silent mosquito? So that’s your preference, junior. A soundless mosquito isn’t bad. You can create a blood thief that steals without anyone knowing.”

“Formula Inscription: Shooting!”

“Wow. You’re inscribing two formulas on that tiny mosquito? Your skill is really good.”

“Formula Inscription: Invisible! Formula Inscription: Camouflage! Formula Inscription: Bloody Booster!”

“…Junior?”

How many formulas is she inscribing?

Is she… better than me?

Yumi’s pupils began to tremble.