Ch.301301 – The Young Lady’s Growth

<301 – The Young Lady’s Growth>

If there’s no evidence, the crime cannot be acknowledged.

As a butler, I could turn a blind eye to the young lady’s crimes.

However, a supervisor who has lost their “fairness” will have their qualifications questioned.

If the higher-ups who receive reports later doubt Jona’s qualifications, another supervisor will be dispatched next time.

Not a butler who takes the young lady’s side, but someone neutral, perhaps even someone much more dangerous who might harbor malice.

The danger posed by other executives besides him is evident enough just by looking at the Apostle of Anrage running wild on that cruise ship.

“Then I’ll temporarily suspend the auction while initiating several inspections. Do the other participants agree to this?”

Leaf nodded slightly.

The slight wavering in her indifferent eyes showed that she shared the same concerns as Jona.

There will be no favoritism.

The inspection will be conducted sincerely.

If you’ve already committed it, please just don’t get caught.

That’s all I can hope for.

[Search Eye]

[Mana Appraisal]

Discernment, the higher function of insight.

Appraisal, the higher function of discernment.

The high-level detection function [Mana Appraisal], which can only be permitted when ascending even further beyond appraisal, thoroughly examined the boarding ticket.

The internal formula remains intact.

There’s no trace of security formula tampering.

That’s why it’s even harder to understand the traces of simultaneous deposits of large amounts of points.

[+1,000,000]

[+1,000,000]

[+1,000,000]

[…]

There aren’t this many tickets in the million-point range.

Tickets appearing 90 times in succession suggest fraud.

Yet strangely, there’s no signal of ticket forgery.

No illegal access was detected.

No injection of illegal points was detected.

This suggests several facts.

First, that the young lady has completely “discerned” all the anti-forgery functions contained in the boarding ticket.

It means she completely “understands” the formula structure of the boarding ticket, like a craftsman who sees through the entire structure of an artifact.

Like a professional appraiser who has observed a single artifact for a very long time.

Next, that the young lady has succeeded in such precise “imitation” that she can deceive forgery detection signals.

Even if one knows about security devices, clumsy handiwork or movements will trigger them.

The Foundation’s point card was a masterpiece that even skilled thieves and rogues wouldn’t dare challenge, yet the young lady broke through its security.

“Please explain this abnormal history.”

“Abnormal? I don’t know anything about that! I just got the points I could get!”

“Then may I request a recovery of the points that cannot be explained?”

“Eeh~ I don’t want to~!”

Is this a child’s tantrum?

But since she actually is a child, there’s nothing to say.

“I might have completely drained and squeezed out someone’s points. How could I admit something so embarrassing!”

“I see… That method was possible. I understand.”

“Really?”

“Since the source of the points has been explained, I will now resume the auction. Does the other participant agree with this explanation?”

“I agree. As an assassination maid, I find this reason quite convincing.”

“??”

The person who provided the explanation is feigning innocence and looking puzzled.

With acting skills like that, she could easily deceive even an inspector from the Foundation headquarters.

‘The young lady has grown. She’s learned to deflect by pinning the source of all points on a single crew member who was tortured to death, leaving no evidence.’

The Academy rewards greater risks with greater rewards.

It seems the young lady is properly attending Gift Academy and putting her learning to use.

‘Now that’s the young lady I taught.’

I don’t want to see the innocent young lady tainted by darkness.

But I also don’t want to see her freeze up in the face of an imminent crisis and get hurt while crying like a child.

Being able to harden one’s heart in the face of unavoidable crises is wisdom for survival.

‘No matter how pure a child is, if the environment doesn’t allow it, that purity cannot be fully preserved.’

When we return to the ship, I should check if there are any dead crew members.

And if possible, burn a few corpses to eliminate traces.

We can make any excuse—that we cast forced blood generation magic on the corpse and extracted dozens of liters of blood, or that we kept regenerating limbs and broke them thousands of times.

This method could explain the source of points that overwhelmingly exceeds those distributed on the cruise ship.

We just need to burn the bodies and get rid of them.

The dead don’t talk.

However, there is a concern.

What if there are no dead crew members because the students on the ship were too moderate in their rebellion game?

Then he too must harden his heart.

If there are no corpses, he must obtain false testimony.

There’s no guarantee that someone who has given false testimony once won’t betray by confessing the truth to an inspector.

The testimony of the living is dangerous.

Only the dead can guarantee the young lady’s safety.

‘I’ll have to kill someone.’

After all, the crew members on that ship are either blinded by the prospect of a windfall after decades of long service or are paying off debts for major crimes against the Foundation.

I won’t feel guilty about eliminating one of them if I harden my heart.

Jona sincerely thought so.

That very ruthlessness was why he was granted the surname “Wiheomhae” by the chairman of the Foundation.

* *

“It’s not good to learn low-grade mana cultivation methods directly. It interferes with training in higher cultivation methods.”

“It’s fine! These cultivation methods are perfect for Titosoga to learn!”

‘She’s not denying that they’re low-grade.’

The young lady, who had skimmed through the cultivation method she won at the auction, devalued the maid’s mana cultivation method in a few words.

Leaf found this somewhat interesting.

She knew about the young lady’s strength and talent.

However, neither Jona nor herself had taught the young lady mana cultivation methods.

Mana refinement and cultivation methods are meant to supplement insufficient physical or mana abilities.

Learning them too early often leads to the mistake of relying on the power of refinement and cultivation methods without mastering how to handle one’s innate physical and mana abilities.

Just as there’s no point in increasing the multiplier to 3 or 4 times if you’re so fixated on the 2x amplification that you neglect to improve your basic abilities and even regress.

‘And yet the young lady has grown stronger. Both in fundamentals and amplification abilities.’

Even at the Academy, they don’t teach useful cultivation or refinement methods to first-year students.

They teach much better basics compared to the mediocre manuals available on the market, but they’re still just basics.

One definitely cannot learn anything as impressive as what the young lady uses.

‘Ambition is something one can have as much as they want. And secrets are things one shares with no one.’

Since Leaf fully understood why Oknodie kept secrets from them, she never asked directly.

She only confirmed that the young lady didn’t obtain the cultivation method for her own use, but with the intention of creating a dedicated maid corps that would follow only her.

“That’s good. I was just thinking that April’s level as a cleaning maid was insufficient. If education is needed, I can help.”

“I’ll ask if necessary!”

“So… are you thinking of enduring one more day?”

After the 7th day’s prize <Catching a Thief>, they had already faced two prizes while being left alone.

8th day: <Unifying Academy Cafeteria Menu with Nutritious Lunch Sets for 1 Year>.

9th day: <Secret Book of Mana Cultivation Method for Maids>.

From the 10th day, the level of prizes changes.

The difficulty of enduring also increases accordingly.

It would be challenging even on a normal deserted island, but now the environment has become close to hell.

There’s absolutely nothing to eat, and the island can barely maintain its form.

“I’ll endure!”

“Aren’t you concerned that everyone waiting on the cruise ship will worry?”

“Hmm~ It’s fine! Since there’s a hero, it’ll work out somehow!”

“Even with other Foundation executives there?”

“The hero isn’t some mid-boss with a gimmick that makes him weaker when allies are around!”

Though the meaning is unclear, her trust in the hero is evident.

They’ve fought often, so she must have experienced his strength firsthand.

Is this the friendship that grows through fighting?

How youthful.

To Leaf, who was feeling somewhat pleased, Oknodie added with a bright face:

“Besides, the executives left on that ship have good compatibility~”

“Compatibility…?”

“The Apostle of Anrage can’t maintain their ego for more than three days, so no matter how hard they try, their inferior ego emerges after time passes. The hero can probably handle that much!”

The warm feeling in her heart froze like a lie.

“Where… exactly did you hear about the Apostle of Anrage?”

This is dangerous.

A Foundation executive whose soul is bound to the cruise ship.

The name of someone whose information is inaccessible unless you’re a high-ranking official just came out of Oknodie’s mouth.

This is strange.

This is definitely not something to be taken lightly.

Jona wouldn’t make the mistake of revealing something that shouldn’t be known.

I must identify this source.

“Hmm~ Secret!”

“If I really want to find out?”

“You’ll have to use force!”

…I apologize to the young lady.

But this decision is for her own safety.

Leaf drew a truth-seeking shuriken from the dagger belt on her thigh.

“This is what you wanted, young lady. From now on, I will subdue you with full force. If you confess the information, I will release you safely, but…”

“And if I don’t confess?”

“…I will forcibly knock you unconscious so you cannot continue with the auction.”