Ch.3939 – The Difference Between Fake and Real

# 39 – The Difference Between Fake and Real

‘This is definitely a clear win for pantyhose.’

Imagine if people from our frontier faction wore pantyhose—what a beautiful future awaits.

Arcadia’s confident thighs in a side-slit cheongsam.

Isabelle’s healthy calves and leg lines toned from adventurer life.

The shy ankles of Northern Archduchess Irene hidden under thick pants.

All revealed beneath pantyhose under a thin skirt. For such a beautiful future, couldn’t I set aside loyalty to my comrades for a moment?

“Oknodie. You’re not coveting the imperial nobles’ snacks, are you?”

“No! I’ve never even thought about their wine collections or the spirit liquors from famous cocktail houses!”

“…If you want to drink that badly, you can take their side.”

“Really?”

“But then you won’t get to eat my cooking.”

“Hmph.”

“I’ll tell Arcadia too. You’ll never be invited to tea parties again.”

This is powerful.

My wavering heart tilted significantly.

‘But the frontier is really awesome though.’

From sexy 10 denier sheer stockings that reveal glimpses of skin beneath to 150 denier thick stockings that withstand the bitter cold of winter.

Pantyhose can make various appeals by changing thickness with the seasons.

Meanwhile, those who supported the frontier based only on dolphin pants feel betrayed when winter comes, coughing blood in frustration, and the mockery never ends.

-Where the hell did the dolphin pants go? Why are they wearing regular pants?

-Frontier folks all bundled up in thick fur clothes? Can’t compete with the principled pantyhose culture of winter? Barbarians always get betrayed when they believe, don’t they?

-Tsk tsk, this is the fate of fashion-illiterates who couldn’t grasp the empire’s grand vision

If that’s the reaction on gaming forums, imagine how painful it is for a veteran like me. Having to support dolphin pants knowing I’ll be betrayed in winter!

“Stop bullying our kids!”

“Oknodie!”

“The A-group advanced class valedictorian stood up against the imperial nobles!”

Yet I tearfully took the side of the frontier’s dolphin pants faction.

That’s because my comrades Giselle, Son Ocheon, and Isabelle are all from the frontier, and I want to keep eating Arcadia’s snacks at her tea parties.

I want to keep hanging out with people I like.

I want to fill my cooking journal day by day.

Humans can abandon pantyhose and skirts in the face of such desires.

The academy uniform is pantyhose with a skirt, but it’s not like I’m supporting casual clothes because I got embarrassed wearing it and wanted to go back to the basic adventurer outfit set!

“What’s wrong with wearing light clothes after finishing training at the academy? Unless you came in sweaty, you all showered before coming here.”

The B-group female students became intimidated by the suddenly confident A-group female students.

But their spirits were only dampened momentarily.

Thinking that losing momentum here would damage the imperial nobles’ dignity, they glared fiercely.

“Oh my, look at her. With those round eyes… Are you talking back to your seniors?”

“In the central region, women showing bare arms and legs during daytime is considered barbaric. It’s basic etiquette taught by parents to 5-year-olds.”

“Look at her. What if she’s not even 5 years old?”

“If she’s not 5 years old at that height, isn’t that even more disgusting?”

“Hahaha!”

“Hohoho!”

A female student from the dolphin pants faction who was confronting them alongside Isabelle stepped forward.

“You don’t need to talk to a child like that. If our attire bothered you, I apologize. Just don’t bully the child.”

This person stood up for me and then apologizes?

That’s really deflating.

“What are you apologizing for? Don’t apologize for something like this. If you train hard and live diligently, everyone will understand this much. Unless you’re lazy.”

“Kid, are you saying that for us to hear?”

“I’m saying it for those inconsiderate people who spray perfume instead of washing their hair and torture others with the smell. You’re not those kinds of people, are you?”

Other A-group freshmen who disliked the confrontation chimed in.

“The perfume smell is really gross.”

“Just take a shower.”

“Filthy.”

The B-group freshmen, receiving double the humiliation, turned red-faced and stormed out of the cafeteria.

[Group Competition (1) event has been achieved.]

[Favorability with students who feel affiliated with Group A has increased across the board.]

[Favorability with students who feel affiliated with Group B has decreased across the board.]

I’ve done it now.

“Haah…”

I can’t help but sigh.

Isabelle, Arcadia, and even Irene wearing pantyhose.

I really wanted to see that…

“You held back well, Oknodie.”

“It wasn’t because of the food, I tell you…”

“Really? Since Oknodie worked so hard, I was thinking of borrowing ingredients from the cafeteria to make a special dish tonight.”

“I was lying. Of course it was for the food.”

Can’t be helped.

Having given up on seeing frontier girls in empire skins, I’ll have to overcome my mental hunger with food!

* * *

The next day, while wandering around the campus to pick up stat stones, I got a surprise.

“Hi, Oknodie!”

“Good morning, Oknodie!”

“Oknodie. Would you like some candy from big sis?”

Female students with bare legs doing morning jogs waved at me or approached whenever they spotted me.

The bare legs moving with each jump and the precarious lines of dolphin pants mesmerized my eyes.

Pretty seniors, dolphin pants, a parade of countless candies.

Am I happy right now?

* * *

Monk Myungho chuckled at the instructors’ reports.

“Virtue brings good fortune, and sincerity that moves the spirits drives away misfortune. Thanks to your kind heart, good relationships have multiplied.”

He had worried that the title of youngest advanced class valedictorian might bring jealousy and envy toward the child, but unexpectedly, support from A-group female students had surged.

Everyone admired the courage to stand against the central nobles without fear.

Some witnesses claimed she was bribed with food, but since the imperial nobles’ influence wasn’t so trivial as to be compared with food, these were dismissed as false rumors.

“I hope everything goes smoothly until the entrance ceremony.”

He would be even more relieved if she didn’t engage in eccentric behavior like climbing up to a bird’s nest in a tree to collect shining stones.

An adult’s heart secretly watching over a pitiful child was this anxious.

* * *

After quelling the urgent situation with the previous event, the atmosphere within the academy calmed considerably.

I hoped the group competition between A-group and B-group would remain quiet until the entrance ceremony, but Hestia’s expression was dark when I ran into her in the hallway.

There’s only one reason why Hestia, who belongs to the same A-group, would look so gloomy.

‘Looks like the 0.1% probability bad luck event triggered.’

Hestia is a chapter boss.

All chapter bosses have roughly predetermined times for causing trouble, and unless there’s a special anomaly, they adhere to that schedule.

In Hestia’s case, it’s during midterm exams.

But what if a “special anomaly” occurs?

That timing gets moved up to several weeks before midterms.

The so-called Hestia Early Awakening event.

B-group advanced class students pick a fight with Hestia, an A-group advanced class student, leading to a confrontation where casualties occur due to an unfortunate accident.

If it merely ends with serious injuries, the early awakening doesn’t happen, but if there’s a certain probability of causing death, Hestia’s reputation plummets.

She becomes a pitiful figure, rejected even by her own A-group.

‘And the only sanctuary left for such a Hestia is her next-door classmate, who is actually the <Responding Wall>.’

I can understand why someone would go insane and rampage as <Frenzied Hestia>.

It’s a tragedy created by the combination of an unfortunate accident, eerie gimmicks, and group bullying.

‘This should be the time she’s consulting about it.’

Someone picked a fight with her today and she’s upset.

What should she do?

She’s probably talking about something like that.

To prevent the tragedy, I need to intervene somehow.

So I spoke to the wall.

“Tell me about the conversation you had with Hestia.”

If I know what they talked about at night, I might be able to find Hestia during the day and comfort her.

If I do well, I might even become friends with her during daytime and prevent her from engaging in unnecessary confrontations.

Veteran’s Chapter Boss Corruption Prevention Project!

I was giggling at how clever I am when a curt reply came through my ear pressed against the wall.

“No.”

“No?!”

I didn’t expect this.

It answers, but there’s no guarantee the answer will be what the questioner wants.

Even my future plans to use it as my personal question bank and private tutor were shaken to the core.

This is a real emergency.

“Why?”

“Hestia talks to me more often.”

“……”

The <Responding Wall> has developed favorability ratings.

And compared to poor Hestia who mumbles to it every night, my favorability as someone who just treats it like a question bank is much lower.

I need to talk to it more frequently and desperately than a loner who talks to walls every night to get information.

But there’s a dilemma.

If I raise the <Responding Wall>’s favorability toward me and it stops responding properly to Hestia…

Wouldn’t I become the bad kid who stole Hestia’s precious only friend (not really)?

‘What should I do? What should I really do?!’

Who would have thought there’d be such a blind spot in a route I’ve never experienced before, having never been a female student?

I’m going to lose my mind…!