Ch.402402 – What Awaits Beyond Prejudice

<402 – What Awaits Beyond Prejudice>

The Zigoku Pirates were originally the weakest among the 981st batch’s lower class.

“Wow, how can you possibly have 0 points? Do you guys even eat?”

“Well… we get free meals for doing dishwashing part-time in the kitchen…”

“I-I don’t have enough time to study, so instead of dishwashing, I buy 10-day bundles of 1-point black bread from the store when they’re 10% off…”

Even Sadistic Pirate Zigoku thought it would be inhumane to prey on such pitiful fellows!

“You all, become pirates!”

Zigoku took in these ragtag misfits as members.

At first, they were completely useless.

Zigoku did everything alone while they barely managed to follow behind.

There was no reason for Zigoku, a member of the advanced class, to invest time and effort in nurturing such novices.

However, Zigoku’s perspective differed from others.

‘All Gift Academy entrants have overcome competition with talented individuals from around the world. Even if they lag in rankings, their potential isn’t rock bottom.’

In other words, even the weakest rookies available at the academy possessed far superior qualities compared to pirates found outside.

Moreover, potential doesn’t bloom at the same rate for everyone under identical training and testing.

Those whose direction aligns with their training develop faster than anyone, while those whose talents point in a different direction from educational policies require longer trial and error.

-Little pirate. If you want to survive at sea, there’s something more important than becoming strong. It’s not giving up on survival.

Back when she was still a weak little pirate.

When she was weaker than the current Oknodie.

She started as a menial worker doing hard labor for pirates and stole every bit of pirate knowledge by watching from the sidelines.

If she had settled for that and given up on further growth, she would have spent her life as an insignificant pirate and died as a lowly grunt.

But she persisted tenaciously.

And finally, she encountered an opportunity to become a combatant.

When the gunner handling the weapon in her place fell to enemy fire.

The moment she grabbed the gun, aimed at the enemy, and hit them with a bullet, she realized.

This was her talent.

She had finally found the “right direction for growth.”

“My knowledgeable minions. Today is not the day your true value will bloom. But if it’s just firing cannons, even your meager talents are sufficient!”

For pirates who could handle magic—which required more precise aiming and hitting targets within tighter timeframes than cannons—observing and targeting enemies was simple.

“Port side, fire three cannons at 3-second intervals!”

Enduring the eardrum-splitting roar with mana cultivation techniques rather than earplugs, they began firing according to precise instructions.

The battery seized by the Zigoku Pirates hit the enemy vessel with surprising speed, and continued to pound it into tatters.

“The gun barrel is overheating!”

“Then pour mana on it to extract the heat!”

“You need to extract only the heat from the barrel without detonating the surrounding shells. If you make a mistake, everyone around the battery will be immediately disqualified!”

Despite being a sufficiently tense situation, the Zigoku Pirates weren’t afraid.

“Ha, that’s as easy as eating cold porridge!”

“It’s not like we’re fighting those monstrous foundation executives from the cruise ship.”

“Even if we mess up, just getting disqualified is a sweet deal. A test where only our grades are at stake is nothing to us who’ve faced real life-or-death situations!”

The other students who had casually joined the weekend lecture hoping to earn points while avoiding academic competition were completely overwhelmed by the Zigoku Pirates’ spirit.

“A-are they crazy?”

“If we fail the test, we can’t earn any points!”

“Using heat magic to extract heat instead of cooling the barrel with ice magic? Are they trying to fail the test with such reckless behavior!?”

But nothing exploded.

When one student was on the verge of failing the operation, Zigoku placed a hand on their back.

“Don’t chicken out. Think about the distance to the ammunition box. Even if heat leaks out from a failed heat manipulation, just blast it away before it reaches the shells!”

<Heat Manipulation>

<Fireball>

She channeled the uncontrollable energy into magic and forcibly discharged it into the sea.

The Zigoku Pirates’ cannons, with their reload speed significantly accelerated, resumed firing much faster than the enemy fleet’s batteries.

BOOM! BOOM!

“We did it.”

“We’ve blown up their battery.”

“The points we earn before engaging in close combat will be our overwhelming victory.”

“Yahoo!”

“Long live the Zigoku Pirates!”

“Hurrah!”

These rookies with insufficient talent gained the peace of mind to persevere until they could develop their abilities through experience.

It was fine to flee when at a disadvantage and to act cowardly while aiming only for achievements.

Because on the path guided by Zigoku, there were definite rewards and results, and the belief that they wouldn’t be abandoned.

“The captain is amazing as always.”

“I’m glad I joined the Zigoku Pirates!”

The Zigoku Pirates had clearly gained the upper hand.

“Huh? Why is the ship heading toward the enemy vessel?”

“Professor, please steer properly!”

Until a clear anomaly occurred on board.

Zigoku immediately picked out two subordinates and stepped forward.

“Nancy. Brodo. You two follow me. Without securing the right firing angle, we won’t have a chance to achieve merits no matter how excellent our gunnery skills are.”

It was a sudden anomaly.

The professor’s intention to create variables rather than allowing easy achievements was evident.

If they were so confident in their gunnery, the professor was likely giving students a chance to handle the steering as well.

Whoooosh…

White smoke continuously escaped from the bridge where the helmsman should be steering the ship.

Zigoku immediately took out a handkerchief and poured rum on it.

“An unknown gas has filled the interior. I hear groaning from inside, so it’s not an instantly lethal toxic substance. But there’s a risk of explosion, so cover your nose and mouth and enter without triggering any mana reactions.”

Upon entering the cabin, they saw one instructor leaning against the wall and another rolling on the floor.

“Ughh…”

“Urrrgh…”

The crew members quickly examined and observed the physical condition of the two groaning instructors.

“Impact confirmed! His jaw is dislocated!”

“Stabbed once in the side with a dagger. There are marks where the shelf was crushed after deploying a protective spell when his posture collapsed, but even that was destroyed in one blow, and there’s a palm strike mark over his heart.”

“What size?”

“Quite small. Like a child’s palm.”

“A child…?”

A child on a ship like this?

Zigoku felt a chill.

“Use the fallen instructors as shields immediately!”

There was only one child who came to mind who could do something like this.

No sooner had Zigoku’s warning dropped than a cabinet lid in the bridge flew off and struck one crew member.

“Kyak!”

The crew member was knocked down, unable to fully withstand the force carried by the lid even with an instructor as a shield.

Another crew member quickly threw a pouch full of powder and burst it.

<Paralysis Powder>

Paralysis powder with different properties from gas.

In an environment filled with gas, the paralysis powder would spread even faster.

While the crew member rejoiced at this brief thought, Zigoku ran toward them at full speed.

“Duck!”

“Huh!?”

A shadow charging forward as if completely unaffected by the paralysis powder.

Unlike the crew member who froze in momentary intimidation by the enormous figure easily exceeding 2m30cm, Zigoku wasn’t fooled by the illusion created with basic <Light> magic casting backlighting to create a large shadow and <Mirror> magic to confuse direction.

BOOM!

A powerful kick equivalent to the explosive force of a shell blasted through the bridge wall—which could withstand cannon fire—instantly venting the smoke outside.

In the now open interior, the identity of the surprise attacker was finally clearly revealed.

“Oknodie. Isn’t this prank going too far?”

“Prank? I’m serious too, you know?”

“What do you gain from doing this?”

“The flower of piracy is mutiny on deck! If I forcibly take over the officer positions from the instructors, I can get bonus challenge points!”

“Gahahah! You really have the makings of a fine pirate. But if you’re going to interfere with our pirate crew’s achievements, you won’t blame us for becoming enemies, right?”

“Hehe. But it’s already too late.”

Crack.

The crew members realized what Oknodie had broken and shouted in dismay.

“The paddle wheel is broken!”

“Ugh, our direction is… toward the enemy ship!”

This ship would forcibly collide with the enemy vessel.

“Why are you so desperately collecting points anyway?”

“Actually, I don’t really need points. I already have plenty!”

“Then why are you doing this?”

“Well, that’s, um…”

Oknodie made an expression as if finding it difficult to explain, then glossed it over with a laugh.

“For fun?”

“…!”

This child.

Was she saying that in an exam where everyone’s grades were at stake, she would send all the students’ grades to hell just for her own amusement?

Faced with this unimaginably cruel answer, Zigoku viewed the figure before her not as a child fitting her small stature, but as comparable to the most infamously cruel pirates of the high seas.

* * *

If I openly said I was infiltrating the area reserved for students on leave, I’d create grounds for the professor to misunderstand Zigoku as an accomplice and discipline her.

Considering the future consequences and being considerate of Zigoku, aren’t I just too kind and nice!

This should definitely raise my <Good Child> stat!

[Your purely evil nature has shocked the instructors, students, and Zigoku.]

[Fear Inducement Experience +3]

[Scary Child Experience +1]

That’s too harsh.

I really thought this would count toward Good Child!