Ch.274274 – A Trap Without Awareness

<274 – A Trap Without Awareness>

The forest of Nueain had somehow transformed into a dedicated resource gathering site occupied by the organization that played with Oknodie.

“I heard those Dark Guild gatherers were snooping around here and got kidnapped? Hehehe. What fools.”

“They should have chosen to be Oknodie’s slaves rather than Giselle’s.”

“The other side might give better points, but those idiots don’t even know in their dreams that only our organization has the authority to purchase test papers and answers.”

Recently, the job satisfaction of first-year foundation scholarship students had skyrocketed.

Unlike before, when they constantly fought anxiety about potentially being treated as disposable pawns if their academic performance dropped and being forced to carry out unreasonable orders, Oknodie provided test papers and answers to help anyone survive at the Academy as long as they followed her instructions, no matter how incompetent they were.

There was a minor drawback that they had to purchase these materials by providing labor, spending time, earning points, and adding their existing points, but that hardly mattered.

“We wouldn’t have succeeded by studying anyway.”

“If we can definitely pass the exams, we don’t have to suffer through unreasonable orders, so providing a bit of labor is nothing.”

“Gathering might be annoying and troublesome, but it’s surprisingly fun. I even feel like I’m getting healthier doing it.”

Students indirectly experiencing the collection effect while taking care of their health!

“Since April was assigned as a maid in our area, the <Secret Scholarship Society> hideout in the abandoned school building has become quite clean, and I’d like to live here forever.”

“Right. When we’re here, we don’t get raided by Zigoku’s pirate gang.”

“It’s unsettling how intensely the Hero’s Guard stares at us, but since we have numbers, they probably won’t attack easily.”

In short, perfect job satisfaction!

These scholarship students happily embraced lives that had become closer to gatherers than students.

Among them, only two people sensed that something was going wrong.

“Hey, Zaku. Let’s talk for a moment.”

“Primer. What trivial matter are you calling me for this time?”

“It’s something that involves you too. More precisely, I should say it involves all of us scholarship students.”

“…?”

Although Primer was a trivial person, they weren’t close enough for casual jokes.

Being distant acquaintances, Zaku sensed something unusual and followed him.

“This should be enough to avoid Oknodie’s eyes and ears. Start talking.”

“You obviously know about the mechanism of scholarship students being discarded, right?”

“How disappointing. Do I really need to state the obvious? That those with falling grades and low utility value are discarded in order of their lack of talent?”

“Yes, that. Everyone says they made the right choice by joining under Oknodie because they fear that. Since we can get all the test papers and answers just by running errands.”

“What’s your point?”

“That it’s dangerous. The longer this benefit continues, the more serious it becomes.”

What nonsense is this?

Saying something beneficial becomes poisonous?

“Sure, it’s nice that scores are improving now. But when second semester comes, what do you think scholarship students who can’t maintain their grades with their own abilities will have to do to survive?”

Zaku’s expression hardened.

Now he too could see it.

The future that Primer had realized.

“They’ll have no choice but to depend on Oknodie’s test papers and answers.”

“Exactly. Without even realizing it, we’re being conditioned by Oknodie. The more benefits we receive and the deeper our dependence, the more trapped we become in an inescapable quagmire.”

“…Oknodie is a good person.”

“Do you really think so? Do you sincerely believe that the foundation’s ‘top scholarship student’ is just a kind-hearted kid who likes to play around?”

“At least she helped me.”

“And thanks to that, the foundation’s tail, April, was exposed to Oknodie through you. Don’t think she didn’t know that much.”

“…!”

“There’s no such thing as unconditional charity, not even in orphanages. We’re more familiar with seasonal merchants who gather orphans, receive imperial subsidies, and sell them to the foundation. If Oknodie is from the foundation, she grew up seeing the same world as us.”

Was that really true?

Did Oknodie just use him as a starting point to condition the foundation’s scholarship students?

That can’t be right.

He doesn’t want to believe it.

…But Primer’s hypothesis is overwhelmingly realistic.

Zaku’s heart began to awaken to fear.

“We shouldn’t cooperate with Oknodie. The sooner the Secret Scholarship Society collapses, the more chances we’ll have to escape this trap.”

“Betrayal. Do you think such an act would be tolerated? That’s no different from committing suicide out of fear of the future.”

“I heard a rumor. That the foundation headquarters is sending a new tail.”

“…Is this reliable information?”

“I heard it from a second-year scholarship senior. It’s information from a higher level than ours, so it must be true.”

Primer may be trivial, but he thoroughly manages his connections to fulfill ambitions beyond his station.

His information is highly reliable.

Zaku gradually began to understand why he had been called out.

“When the foundation’s new tail arrives, they’ll dispose of the tail that became Oknodie’s. The Secret Scholarship Society can safely return to its previous form.”

“…”

“Don’t hesitate. If we become inferior students who can’t survive at the Academy without depending on Oknodie, we won’t be able to escape even if harsher orders come down than now. This is our only chance.”

Determination flashed in Zaku’s eyes.

“Fine. I’ll cooperate.”

“Good decision. When the tail arrives, we’ll need someone to lure April out. I’m already under suspicion for contacting seniors, but you’re different.”

“If it becomes known that you and I met today, I’ll be just as suspect.”

“I’ve already used other guys to confirm the locations of the dangerous individuals in Oknodie’s playgroup. Oknodie, Ddidda, and Irene went to catch the sand monster that swallowed the magnetic stone, and Zhang, Irene, and Hestia are in the training room. April is repairing the abandoned school building with other maids.”

Primer showed this level of preparation because he was serious about recruiting Zaku.

“I’ll trust you.”

“When the day comes, I’ll let you know the time and place. The lives of all us scholarship students depend on you. I’m counting on you.”

*Frightening Child*: Your every move makes people tremble in fear. It becomes nearly impossible to gain anyone’s favor.

Frightening Child.

A function that makes it almost impossible to build favor and easier to instill fear.

The function that intervenes with fate began to exert its influence on Oknodie.

* *

“Woof woof! Love brushing! Fun! Fun!”

“…Don’t sweep the floor with your tail. You’re spreading dust everywhere.”

Thinking it would be difficult to manage alone, April requested additional personnel from the Head Maid, resulting in the assignment of the most incompetent maid.

Happy, the dog beastkin.

An energetic troublemaker colleague who sees the world as bright and happy 24 hours a day.

To think they would send such a useless person.

It made her wonder if the Head Maid disliked her.

But she understood the frustration.

Staff had been diverted to help with the first-years’ personal area rather than regular duties.

From the Head Maid’s perspective, she might want to cause some trouble.

Though it seemed unfair that only she had to suffer.

“Woof?”

“Move away from the window when you sneeze. And don’t forget to cover your mouth with your hand.”

“Woof woof! Not sneezing!”

Unlike the light expression Happy usually showed, she stared out the window with an extremely tense face.

“Grrrr.”

“Happy…?”

April was quite surprised.

It had been a very long time since she’d heard this fool make an animal sound other than “woof.”

“I sense killing intent. Danger! Danger!”

“…Against us maids? Could it be second-years who heard rumors about supplies being stored in the silkworm forest and are after them? Or is the Hero’s Guard targeting Lady Oknodie?”

“Grrrrrr.”

“Calm down. We can use the faculty support request function on the magic watch to call the nearest instructor.”

“Not enough! Not enough! We’ll be defeated! Danger!”

In the deep night when sleep won’t come, there’s a child who sees monsters between the bed frames.

There’s an old shaman who causes commotion in the village, claiming that the occasional red moon is an omen of bloody disaster.

Happy’s frantic warning was no different.

April wanted to dismiss it, but a beastkin’s intuition has a higher accuracy rate than an ordinary human’s.

Their animal senses receive more information than humans and warn of dangers that human senses cannot perceive.

But this wasn’t the first time Happy had barked warnings.

With some doubt, April took out an insect from one of the collection containers that Oknodie carelessly gathered and forgot to release back into the wild.

<Majestic-horned Gregorius Beetle>

A black beetle as large as a human palm wiggled its horn on April’s hand.

“Woof woof! Danger! Danger! It bites! Tongue bleeds!”

“Sigh. I should have known.”

With those sensitive senses, she even felt the killing intent of a beetle.

Perhaps on this particularly gloomy day, she sensed the presence of insects hiding in the shadows and being vigilant.

“I’m going to bring in the laundry, so stay put.”

“Woof! Happy not coward! Real danger!”

“Sure, sure.”

April headed to the backyard with the laundry basket.

As she adjusted her posture due to an uncomfortable sensation in her backside, she suddenly recalled a recent memory.

The unusually kind Young Lord.

The unusually reliable Oknodie.

‘How strange.’

To think there would come a day when Academy life would feel this enjoyable.

I’m really a failure as a spy.

As she hurried her steps in the drizzling fox rain, the shadow of a student appeared around the corner of the corridor behind her.