Ch.285285 – Meanwhile, on the Ship

# 285 – At That Time, On the Ship

While Arcadia was shocked by the stunning news, there was someone else on the cruise ship who was equally surprised.

“Hello! Did your friend turn into a statue?”

“Aaaagh! Put me down, put me down right now!”

Sandcooker screamed in terror.

“What if you hold a petrified person horizontally and the weight causes cracks in their waist?!”

“Eh? It should be fine, right? They said it was an Absolute Defense Petrification Scroll when they introduced it at the auction.”

“Absolute Defense Petrification Scroll?”

Sandcooker, a yellow mage, was deeply knowledgeable about petrification magic related to earth magic.

His scholarship was so exceptional that he could analyze and interpret magical structures just by looking at the patterns of formulas remaining on torn scrolls.

“Phew. No need to worry about a broken waist. The defense is so high that the term ‘absolute defense’ is no exaggeration. It won’t even get a scratch if hit directly by sword energy or magic.”

“Really?”

Ppoyi struck Rozini’s arm with her shield, making a clanging sound.

“Aaaah!! Stop that insanity!”

“You just said it was safe.”

“It’s a psychological issue! Even if I know intellectually it’s safe, it’s still terrifying to watch!”

How petty.

Ignoring Ppoyi who was pouting and complaining, Sandcooker continued analyzing the scroll.

Only after a long time, during which the room’s light had dimmed, did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

“Sunlight will allow movement again. Given the simple conditions for releasing the petrification, this scroll is meant to help survive on a deserted island for a few days. The petrification will wear off in as little as one day or at most 15 days.”

Ppoyi raised her hand and asked.

“What happens if someone uses it alone in a cave and nobody finds them?”

“I guess they’d stay there until sunlight reaches them…?”

Sandcooker felt fear.

The Academy also treats people harshly, but with the Foundation, there’s no visible bottom.

How cruelly they treat people.

How terrible the experiences can be.

It’s impossible to imagine the ‘worst case’ scenarios.

Now he understood, whether he wanted to or not, why the Academy was so wary of the Foundation.

Including why Oknodie, despite his bright and friendly demeanor, inspired fear in many people.

“I’ve decided to help.”

“Help who?”

“The Northern Grand Duchess. While you were on the deserted island, she made a proposal. To start a mutiny on the ship.”

Ppoyi’s eyes widened.

“A mutiny? Why?”

“I don’t know. She said starting a mutiny on a cruise ship was common sense, so I thought she was crazy. But after glimpsing the true nature of the Foundation, I understand her feelings.”

On this insane ship, anyone would be desperate enough to start a mutiny to get off as soon as possible.

“There are thousands of crew members. Is a mutiny even possible?”

“Don’t worry. Irene isn’t alone. She has a skilled person chosen by both Oknodie and Arcadia by her side.”

“Ah, I think I know! The man who uses a sword, right? The highly skilled eastern swordsman named Sing.”

Sandcooker retorted, wondering what nonsense she was talking about.

“It’s not a man, and they don’t use a sword. The skilled person chosen by both of them is obviously Titosoga, the Light Bearer. Sing isn’t even visible anywhere.”

“Ehhh~? Was that kid that strong? I thought he was just a cute, clumsy idiot!”

Ppoyi opened her drowsy eyes in disbelief.

She knew some rumors about Titosoga.

A lower-class student who was close to Oknodie, the top student of his year, and once a core member of Arcadia’s faction when it was the largest in the freshman year.

The idiot who always dragged around a suspiciously large spotlight on wheels, sighing heavily and struggling whenever he encountered stairs.

To think that such an idiot would be chosen by Irene to participate in a ship mutiny.

‘Was he actually not an idiot?’

Her skeptical thoughts changed to ‘Amazing!’ as they headed to the meeting place Sandcooker had told them about.

“How much longer until the backup lighting arrives?”

“There are no spare lights to distribute here because all the lights, even emergency ones, have been removed from the entire third floor!”

“Did some monster that lives in darkness infiltrate? Why are they taking all the lights indiscriminately? This is truly an ominous disturbance.”

Just by eavesdropping on the crew members hiding under the stairs, she could tell.

Titosoga was causing considerable fear on the ship.

While he had acted like a harmless small animal beside Oknodie and Lady Arcadia, it seemed Titosoga could display such terrifying skills when he wanted to!

‘Oknodie really is amazing!’

To have such an impressive friend with hidden abilities.

Surely she must be hiding a bikini-armor-worthy figure under that baggy uniform.

Eager to pass on the excellence of bikini armor to this hidden talent as soon as possible, Ppoyi searched the ship for traces of Irene and Titosoga.

When she arrived at the meeting place, she caught sight of the two people in the midst of their mutiny.

“Aaagh! I can’t see anything!”

“Everyone put on blindfolds! If you look directly at the intense light reflecting off the ice walls, you might go blind!”

“Titosoga… our preliminary investigation described him as an unremarkable student on the verge of failing, but to think he was hiding such skills. The top scholarship student’s eye for talent is truly frightening.”

“This is no time for admiration! If we don’t stop them quickly, they’ll infiltrate the control room!”

The unexpected combination of Irene and Titosoga, just the two of them, making thousands of crew members struggle with the dazzling light they were spreading throughout the entire floor.

While the synergy between ice walls and lighting was unexpectedly effective, Ppoyi felt troubled.

“If you’re not going to be at the meeting place, why set one in the first place!”

At this rate, the two would succeed in their mutiny while she contributed nothing.

-Huh? Bikini armor? Stu~pid. There’s no way someone capable of ship mutiny would wear the clothes of a weakling who can’t even mutiny.

…She might be scorned like this!

Ppoyi closed her eyes tight and stepped into the corridor where the light made it difficult to see anything but the floor.

Late to the party.

Stubbornness.

It might be pointless.

But Ppoyi moved forward for the pride of the Bikini Armor Brigade.

Just as she gathered her courage, the situation changed dramatically.

“This is as far as your rampage goes.”

With a loud explosion, two people were roughly thrown out from the control room door.

Irene, with her flowing silver hair that clearly marked her as the Northern Grand Duchess, took a battle stance with her pale skin, alongside Titosoga, the Light Bearer, holding a spotlight so bright it hurt to look at.

…Honestly, the light was so intense that it was difficult to make out skin color or faces.

As she was about to greet them cheerfully and subtly join the mutiny to increase her contribution, her hand stopped involuntarily.

The exposed back of her bikini armor outfit tingled.

Dangerous.

Don’t go out.

From her hiding place at the corner, she heard footsteps leisurely walking out from the control room.

“A ship mutiny. I didn’t expect to see juniors committing the same act we did five years ago. How delightful. Don’t you agree, Kildum? Kekeke. You’re right, Uson. These youngsters show great potential.”

A man talking to himself while rolling his eyes at empty space, changing his tone, atmosphere, posture, and gait multiple times as if becoming a different person.

“Who are you?”

“You? That’s wrong. You should be asking who ‘we’ are.”

The man introduced himself, or rather, themselves.

“We are the apostle of Anrage. Reckless challengers who boarded to obtain the secret records of the Order hidden by the Foundation, and a corrupted collective spirit with body and soul forged as one.”

An entity as dangerous as Jona Wiheomhae, or perhaps even more dangerous—a Foundation executive had emerged from the control room.

‘Anyone can see that a villain who talks to himself with multiple personalities is dangerous!’

That was the thought of a terrorist who forcibly makes people wear bikini armor.

* *

Arcadia, who returned to the cruise ship with the mission to start a mutiny to stop the auction, felt a strong sense of dissonance.

The luxury cruise ship was still ridiculously large and magnificent, but many of the colorful lights that showcased its extravagance were gone.

‘Why is the ship so dark?’

To save electricity.

To reduce magic stone waste.

If they had been concerned about that, they wouldn’t have prepared such a large ship in the first place.

Something had happened.

The <Incident Detection> function, naturally honed through countless incidents at the Academy, was continuously sounding alarms within her.

Thud

A paper airplane touched her shoulder.

Though its trajectory was wobbly and poor, anyone who had experienced the Grand Sports Festival would know that the formula contained inside was more important than the airplane itself.

When she unfolded it, she noticed a basic cipher inscribed with magical formulas.

A basic cipher from formula cryptology that even nobles without magical talent learn as general knowledge.

Entering the cabin with the number written on it, she found statue-Rozini and Sandcooker, who had returned to the ship a day earlier.

“As expected, Lady Arcadia with her high noble sense could understand it!”

“Sandcooker. I assume a mage from the Magic Tower is looking for me to request help with Rozini’s condition. I’m sorry, but right now…”

“Ah, the statue is fine.”

“…Really?”

“If you put it in sunlight, the petrification will wear off naturally.”

She felt a strange gaze, and indeed, the petrified Rozini’s eyes were staring directly at her.

Out of idle curiosity, she placed her hand on Sandcooker’s chest, and Rozini’s eyes intensified.

A warning glare meaning don’t mess with my colleague!

‘…What can you do with just your eyes when your body is petrified.’

Arcadia, who had returned to the cruise ship on the day she purchased auction items for the mutiny, was stressed.

And now she was faced with the impudent glare of statue-Rozini, who couldn’t move a muscle due to petrification.

In short, Rozini was unlucky.

‘Should I take out some of my frustration?’

As Arcadia smiled meaningfully while looking back and forth between statue-Rozini and Sandcooker, Rozini’s eyeballs trembled violently.