Ch.357357 – Terror to Some, a Photocopier to Others

# 357 – Terror to Some, a Photocopier to Others

“Um, Ms. Giselle, you’re still in the advanced class, right?”

Someone well-versed in information, commanding many subordinates, and possessing an enormous amount of points. However, I’d heard rumors that her personal combat ability wasn’t particularly impressive.

Though it might be somewhat unconscionable, if I fought against Giselle, could I possibly win?

“Haha. If you’re looking for a monster like me, it would have to be a leader-class of a collective species with many subordinates. Beyond pack leaders of three or four or tribal chiefs of dozens, it would be a named monster capable of generating monster waves that would seriously threaten fortress invasions.”

How could anyone defeat something like that?

As he turned pale, Giselle drove the point home.

“Fortunately, you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Because… it’s not as strong as you, Ms. Giselle?”

“Because it’s expected to be a singular entity with monstrous strength comparable to such hordes.”

“!!!”

“Among the advanced class students, I’d say it’s on par with Hestia, the Divine Archer Skola, or Honer FriedChicken.”

Morb made his decision.

This was beyond his capabilities.

“Would Oknodie help if I asked for assistance?”

Though Giselle always maintained a neat appearance with a wealthy, gentle merchant-like aura and narrowed eyes, right now those same narrowed eyes suddenly exuded considerable pressure.

“The young lady is busy focusing on her studies. While your friends’ situation is unfortunate, I suggest you seek help elsewhere.”

Pushed back by the intimidation, Morb agreed.

Ms. Giselle…

She always seemed to yield to Oknodie, so I thought she would eagerly help with something like this, but surprisingly, she could draw a clear line when needed.

Morb changed his mind about resenting her.

He couldn’t blame her.

He was already indebted enough just for receiving free information.

Let’s find someone else who can help.

* * *

“What!? Why should I fight such a terrifying monster? Absolutely not!”

The martial artist Lotta frantically opened the door with a bang and fled.

She used so much force that the doorknob crumpled and the door fell off. Morb thought that with such strength, she could have accomplished anything if she had helped.

“Their origin?”

“They’re from the frontier.”

“Is one of them the eldest son who must inherit the family business?”

“One of them is.”

“Then I must decline. I don’t want to waste precious training time on students who won’t become assets for the North.”

The Northern Archduchess Irene showed no interest either.

She seemed to think that surely no one would die in an event organized by the principal.

Unlike Morb, who was anxious about even the slightest possibility, Irene could remain completely detached since it concerned students she had no connection with.

“Has anyone seen Zhang?”

“He’s an assassin, you know. Even if you try to find him, he won’t be visible. You’d have to leave the designated mark at the appointed place and wait a full day just to make contact. Unless you’re Oknodie or Titosoga, lower-class students like us won’t even get to see his face.”

Zhang wouldn’t even deal with lower-class students.

Even then, face-to-face meetings only happened when fulfilling requests from students for points.

Morb felt curious yet fearful imagining what kind of requests an assassin would accept at the Academy, but with time being of the essence, he couldn’t afford to wait for Zhang.

‘The golden time for a kidnapped person to return safely is 48 hours. I can’t hope for Zhang’s help when just making contact takes a day.’

If he reached out to Oknodie who was focused on her studies, Ms. Giselle wouldn’t stand idle.

Honestly, they weren’t even that close as classmates, so he had no intention of incurring Giselle’s wrath to help them.

-Morb, you’re strong.

Still, these students had acknowledged his strength.

He didn’t want to easily abandon their friends.

Because if you’re strong, you should be able to meet others’ expectations.

Lotta, Irene, and Zhang couldn’t do that, but he was different.

As a fellow lower-class student, he understood their frustrations.

They had nowhere to turn.

Without professors and instructors protecting them, they were abandoned.

The student council prioritized senior students.

Advanced class students each had their own reasons for refusing to rescue a lower-class student who offered no benefit.

“Zaku. So about this…”

“You idiot. You’re going to go yourself to save people you’re not even close with?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re even asking me to help?”

“Please.”

“Are you stupid? It’s true they have no one to rely on but you, but how long do you think their gratitude will last after you help them? You’re risking irreversible injury or becoming missing yourself, and what do you get in return? Nothing.”

It was as reckless as a civilian trying to protect a victim fleeing from a random serial killer!

“I still want to do it. Like you said, I’m stupid.”

Morb thumped his armor.

“Oknodie was the same. Helping me brought her no benefit, but think about everything that child did for someone as insignificant as me.”

Zaku’s expression changed subtly.

Certainly, Morb had been lucky.

Thanks to catching Oknodie’s eye, he had achieved tremendous growth.

Of course, while Oknodie designed the training course to accelerate his growth, it was Morb who diligently followed it, so his effort and passion deserved recognition too.

But if Oknodie hadn’t created that training course for him in the first place, such growth would never have been possible.

Unconditional kindness.

A donation expecting nothing in return.

Morb owed such a great debt to Oknodie.

Oknodie’s goodwill, both a debt and a light to Morb, had fostered feelings of admiration in his heart.

“Fine, I give up. Who can stop your stubbornness?”

“Thanks, Zaku! I knew you’d help!”

“Bring those idiots who lost their friend. They might be useful.”

True to his secretly intelligent nature, Zaku had already come up with a plan.

* * *

Zaku set up a trap using the haunted coins of the lower-class students as bait.

“That’s what Giselle said, right? The Hook Ghost places new cursed items near existing cursed items. We’re using the monster’s habits to lure it into a trap.”

“What about the cost of setting the trap?”

“Make them pay for it. It would be unconscionable for us to cover that too.”

The lower-class students who had come to ask Morb for help hesitated.

They came because they felt guilty about abandoning their friend and running away, but now they’re reluctant to open their wallets?

Zaku openly mocked them.

“How pitiful for the kidnapped one. He lost not only his life but his friendship too.”

“Watch what you say! We were just worried because we don’t have many points!”

“We’ll pay! We’ll pay, okay!”

For the trap, they directly invited a priest from a religious order.

“So which order is this priest from?”

“The God of Harmony, he says.”

“Then why does he look so displeased?”

Morb, who had already found a suitable location for the trap, was puzzled by Zaku’s unhappy expression as he arrived with their classmates and the priest.

“I found him during a meal and saw him pouring sweet and sour sauce on his rice.”

“Some people put sauce on sweet and sour pork. That’s how you eat freshly served sweet and sour pork at restaurants.”

“Not on the pork. On the rice.”

“……”

Cold sweat ran down Morb’s face.

“Why on earth? What’s the purpose of committing such a horrible act? Even in the Empire, families who play with food are branded as traitors.”

“The God of Harmony raises faith when you harmoniously mix things that don’t go together. The followers of that god are truly pitiful.”

The <All-Food Satiety Religion> that serves the God of Harmony.

Their methods of faith verification were so atrocious that one might wonder how they could be considered a benevolent deity’s order.

“Ho ho. Don’t worry. Priests of benevolent deities don’t force their doctrines on others. Except for the ghost that will step onto this sacred magic circle.”

The students forced smiles at the priest’s banter as his stomach protruded like a mountain.

They didn’t want to offend him, especially since he had expressed interest in watching first-year students exorcise a named ghost and offered to stand by.

“As first-years, you probably haven’t learned about curse studies yet, but since I’ve been invited to the Academy, I’ll teach you something. Ghosts usually remain in this world due to strong attachments from their living days, and those that harm people are filled with deep grudges.”

“Is it true that even dangerous ghosts can’t move before sacred power?”

“Ho ho ho. That’s right. It’s sacred-immobilization. When you immobilize them with sacred power, they can’t move at all.”

Everyone’s gaze toward the priest showing off his MZ generation-like neologisms grew more anxious, but the operation had already begun.

* * *

“That’s great then! You got help from the priest. Why did you come to me?”

In response to Oknodie’s question, Zaku grimaced while clutching his arm, which was soaked with blood.

“That thing threw a pile of cursed items from outside the sacred exorcism circle, and the circle’s power faded. I’m never associating with people who eat rice with sweet and sour sauce again.”

“What about Morb?”

“I don’t know. I barely escaped myself. I saw the two lower-class idiots get caught and the priest flee, but Morb probably got captured. That armor is heavy, you know.”

That armor, you made him wear it.

It was Zaku’s ploy to make Oknodie help Morb by stimulating her guilt, but honestly, he was half-skeptical.

Would Oknodie have that much conscience left?

What if she actually found this convenient, thinking he was a nuisance to raise and decided to abandon him?

Zaku’s imagination ran wild in negative directions.

Oknodie’s response exceeded his imagination.

“Then I’ll go in just one day!”

“You need time to prepare thoroughly?”

“If Morb was captured, the bound curse armor will be copied too, right? It would be perfect to collect them as enhancement materials, so I should give it time to copy the armor!”

“…”

Is it really okay for Morb to receive training from such a monster? Zaku began to genuinely worry about his friend’s future, though for entirely different reasons than before.