Ch.292292 – Landmine

# 292 – Landmine

Academy seniors are dangerous.

They are the ones who experience professors’ truly intense lectures, even though these same professors are so gentle with freshmen that one might say they’re “putting on an act.”

Countless cases exist where people become mentally and physically exhausted, turning into obsessive workaholics or even questioning their sanity as they try to keep up with high-intensity lectures.

These seniors have overcome such brutal lecture schedules and successfully graduated, so even if they commit forbidden enhancements that are taboo in the Empire, everyone accepts it with relief, saying, “Heh, that’s just like our seniors!”

However, if the person isn’t a graduate, that’s a different story.

“Would a real graduate have any reason to lie about their class?”

“No.”

“Isn’t it crazy for someone who’s not a graduate to impersonate an Academy student? Why would they do that?”

“They’re probably borrowing the Academy’s authority to intimidate us.”

“So that person isn’t from our Academy?”

The students fell into confusion.

Giselle regretted her actions.

She thought she was maintaining her composure, but by failing to speak privately to Zigoku and instead letting everyone hear, she had amplified the students’ fears.

“Everyone, please calm down. I ask that you keep this matter confidential and leave it to me.”

The lower-class students, not wanting to get involved in dangerous matters, tactfully kept quiet and backed away.

Only Zigoku bravely stood his ground and asked:

“What are you planning to do? If you provoke him by asking about his identity, he might suddenly reveal his true colors and destroy you with enhancement. You could die, you know?”

“…For now, let’s have him handle the enhancement and think about it later. We need the compression of our spoils too.”

Would he enhance items other than light stands?

That was her main concern, but Ferguson scolded her, asking what nonsense she was talking about.

“When doing enhancements, would you enhance more light stands or more precious metals? Obviously, you’d enhance precious metals much more often since they’re easier to hide and less noticeable.”

Ferguson was right.

It’s much more discreet to secretly enhance precious metals than to blow up conspicuous objects like light stands with enhancements.

Naturally, if a blacksmith ventured into the forbidden realm of enhancement for profit, they would undoubtedly focus more on enhancing precious metals than light stands.

Clang! Clang!

With hammer strikes and dazzling light effects wrapping around the materials, enhancement materials disappeared in chunks.

Even as mountains of sorted items evaporated, Giselle’s eyes were analyzing the principle behind it.

‘He’s extracting mana puzzles from the materials and combining them.’

The hammering was no different from mages chanting spells aloud or using Eastern hand techniques developed for casting magic silently.

While it appeared on the surface to be merely striking and breaking objects, in reality, far more complex and meticulous [disassembly][assembly][combination] was taking place beneath the hammer’s movements!

‘Even on second look, his speed is truly terrifying.’

Living as a black market merchant in the shadows of the Empire, one occasionally encounters enhancers.

But no one had ever processed enhancements at the incredible speed of this man before her.

His speed made it understandable why he fearlessly impersonated an Academy graduate.

‘And his accuracy is no joke either.’

After completing all the enhancements and compressions in just one hour, Ferguson returned his blacksmith’s hammer to his work belt.

“There! I’ve finished all the enhancements!”

“…Your skill is remarkable. I’m truly impressed. This is the first time I’ve seen an enhancer of your caliber.”

“Haha. You’re a funny one. A mere freshman talking as if you’ve seen enhancers before.”

Should she ask?

What he really does for a living?

Why he’s impersonating an Academy graduate?

Her half-opened mouth closed again.

The world is full of landmines that shouldn’t be triggered.

Illegal businesses backed by high officials.

Talented children taken by the Imperial Family.

The Wiheomhae Foundation, which benchmarked the Empire’s secret agent training program to produce their own scholarship students.

People with secrets respect others’ secrets.

Because they know how terrible the consequences can be when those secrets are exposed.

The danger Ferguson exuded was of that magnitude.

“If there’s anything you desire, I’d be happy to repay you.”

“That’s enough. I’m already satisfied with having done all the enhancements I wanted. Haha.”

‘Excursion,’ he says.

Giselle gritted her teeth and smiled, ignoring Ferguson who was casually dropping landmines as if begging to be stepped on.

Right now, there was someone else occupying her thoughts.

“What’s this? You said you’d handle it if we left it to you. Are you chickening out?”

“Honestly, yes, I’m scared. Zigoku, you must have sensed it too, right? How dangerous that man is.”

“That’s what makes it good. Ah, if I only had my ship, I’d invite him to be our exclusive blacksmith. Someone who can compress spoils like this should definitely be recruited onto a pirate ship.”

“Please keep an eye on him while accommodating him as much as possible. We need to help him enjoy his ‘excursion.’ That way, at least he won’t become our enemy.”

“Your mind is elsewhere. Is it Oknodie?”

“Are you not worried about Oknodie at all? I remember you also owe our little lady a debt of gratitude.”

Zigoku stared at Giselle with an amused expression.

“‘Also’ implies that at least you owe Oknodie a debt. But I don’t recall any situation at the Academy where you would have become indebted to her?”

“Then it must have been a debt from outside.”

“Strange. From what our underlings told me, you first met Oknodie during the ticket exam. You even hired Son Ocheon as a bodyguard then. There shouldn’t have been any opportunity for you to become indebted to Oknodie?”

“Have you been investigating my background?”

“Don’t play dumb. You’re probably the person who’s been most diligently investigating others among the freshmen.”

It really is landmines everywhere.

Giselle ignored the topic and moved on.

“Why aren’t you worried about Oknodie?”

“Seems even an information merchant doesn’t know everything. Well, you probably didn’t have enough time to extract information from our people. And that person wouldn’t have been carelessly wandering around either.”

“That person…?”

“Why am I not worried about Oknodie? Because there’s no need to worry.”

“Is someone there? Someone protecting Oknodie? If you’re referring to the Foundation’s butler, that’s a miscalculation. He’s merely the Foundation’s representative, not reliable enough to be considered Oknodie’s loyal servant.”

“Who said anything about Foundation people? I’m saying there’s an Academy professor there.”

Despite navigating countless landmines with ease, this time Giselle couldn’t avoid stepping on one.

“Professor…?”

“You’re overestimating me too much. Even I would find it difficult to infiltrate a state-of-the-art cruise ship with these ragtag apprentice rookies by breaking through its barriers. We were only able to infiltrate because a professor helped us.”

“What kind of deranged professor would participate in smuggling while helping pirates with their piracy? And where are they now? What are they doing?”

She had thought the Academy wouldn’t simply stand by while numerous students got entangled with the Foundation.

But during this ongoing mutiny, where was this professor? What were they doing without showing their face?

“Don’t know. If they’re not here, they must be somewhere else.”

From Zigoku’s nonchalant response, it seemed the professor was not currently on the cruise ship.

If they had disappeared without being seen by the Foundation’s crew or the ship’s students after helping with the smuggling, there was only one place the professor could have gone.

“The professor is on the uninhabited island…?”

Despite the situation being serious enough to cause a mutiny, did they consider Oknodie’s condition more dangerous than their own?

Strange.

That’s an action no one would find reasonable.

The landmine detector in her head went off.

More violently and seriously than at any time since entering the Academy.

‘What’s the situation on the island?’

Giselle immediately took out the mirror connected to her doll, not caring that Zigoku was watching.

On the other side of the magical device, she saw Zaku and Princess Massgakki boarding a boat, escaping from thousands of Blue Metal Rats that were gnawing on everything in sight as if someone had triggered them.

‘So that’s where she was.’

The dwindling number of people at the uninhabited island’s auction house.

Oknodie, who was always surrounded by crowds or in unpredictable locations, was now trapped in a specific place—the uninhabited island.

She was confined to the auction house among fewer people than ever, her location exposed.

By Papa who invited her.

To the Foundation’s scholarship students who knew this fact.

“The professor’s name! Tell me the name right now!”

“Why are you making such a fuss?”

Despite grumbling, Zigoku answered readily.

“He said he was Professor Layve, who teaches Fundamentals and Understanding of Imperial Magic.”

It was the name of a professor who harbored clear murderous intent toward Oknodie.