Ch.4040 – I’m Dying to Know

<40 – I’m Dying to Know>

“Isabelle unnie. If there’s someone I want to build rapport with but don’t know how to get closer to them, what should I do?”

While collecting ingredients together in the nearby forest, Isabelle unnie ran her face straight into a tree.

“Uh, unnie?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Your forehead is really red though?”

“More importantly, who do you want to get close to?”

“It’s a secret!”

Isabelle couldn’t hide her disappointment.

I guess I am being a bit harsh, considering she’s spending her precious day off gathering ingredients with me.

“Well… it’s a secret, but I’ll tell only you, Isabelle unnie. Don’t tell anyone else, okay?”

“Alright.”

“There’s this person who stays cooped up in one place and only has one friend besides me, but they’re so close with that friend that I can’t get any closer.”

Isabelle smiled as if she understood.

“I see, that type. Someone who’s so close to one person that it’s hard for others to get close to them.”

A soulmate.

A best friend.

It’s difficult to get close to someone who already has such a close friend.

That’s what Isabelle explained.

“In that case, you should become friends by talking about their best friend. That’s how the men in the adventure guild became friends.”

“Wow, really?”

“And they like talking about hiking.”

“What?”

“Fishing isn’t bad either.”

Social skills learned from the harsh social environment of the Esonia Adventure Guild: bringing up hiking and fishing topics!

‘The Responding Wall can’t go hiking or fishing though.’

It’s not helpful, but I’ll keep it in mind.

Anyway, I just need to spark interest by talking about their interests, right?

* *

Giselle declared with a serious expression.

“Miss Oknodie doesn’t have any friends with that kind of close relationship.”

“I thought so.”

“Unless she’s made a new friend without Isabelle knowing, it’s likely someone we already know.”

Isabelle is indebted to Oknodie.

Since Giselle, who shares her concern for Oknodie, even paid a separate fee to ask for help, Isabelle reports to him about Oknodie once a day for consultation.

As a black market dealer with different experiences than typical professions, Giselle’s perspective is surprisingly sharp, and Isabelle often seeks his advice.

“It’s most likely Miss Dorothy.”

“Dorothy?”

“She’s in the same A-group advanced class. Previously, she helped her when she was betrayed and abandoned by her teammates at Examiner Minerva’s gate.”

“That girl passed the advanced class…”

Honestly, I was surprised.

I admired her tenacity, but can the harsh realities of the world be overcome by determination alone?

I couldn’t find any special qualities in Dorothy that would guarantee success.

‘The difference in judgment.’

As an adventurer, I’m confident in appraising wild ingredients or excavated items, but my ability to judge people falls far short of Giselle the black market dealer.

Wasn’t I the one who failed to see how kind, upright, and pitiful Oknodie was when we first met?

‘I knew it, but to this extent…’

Even though she stays in the same women’s dormitory, even on the same first floor.

Unlike me who knew nothing because I wasn’t interested, it was somewhat shocking that Giselle, who lives in a different dormitory, had much more information about Dorothy.

“Don’t blame yourself too much. Gathering information about people connected to Oknodie is just an occupational habit as a black market dealer. It’s a gloomy hobby that takes a lot of time and can’t be casually shared with others.”

“That’s not true. I received help thanks to you. I think it’s a perfectly admirable hobby.”

“I’m glad you see it that way. By the way, that girl hasn’t used the automatic laundry magic circle even once these past few days, so she might smell a bit.”

“No matter what, that’s unpleasant.”

I hope it stays at the hobby level.

One step too far and it’s nothing but stalking.

* *

Finding information about Dorothy wasn’t difficult.

It was thanks to the help of another person who knows everything about the A-group female students.

“Dorothy? Ah, that girl who carries a bow. The B-group’s movements have become suspicious again, so I suggested that A-group members stick together, but she said she wants to be alone, perhaps due to the shock of being betrayed by her hometown friend.”

The sole female member of Seogwiyeon, Arcadia.

Unlike her first impression as a strict and difficult person, she showed responsibility befitting an advanced class student and noble by caring for the safety of A-group female students.

From the position of someone who occasionally receives help when losing track of Oknodie’s whereabouts, she was as helpful as Giselle.

“Could I know Dorothy’s room number?”

“It’s 120.”

On the way back to the dormitory, I saw the back of a male student at the entrance who looked familiar.

“What are you doing in front of the women’s dormitory?”

“Are you Oknodie’s colleague?”

Rockpell, the man who once betrayed Dorothy.

He was looking at a curtained window with a troubled expression.

“I’m waiting for Dorothy to accept my apology.”

“How rigid.”

“Because I did something wrong.”

“If you knew that, why did you do it in the first place?”

“At that time… I wasn’t in my right mind. I thought that rather than failing with Dorothy, at least I should pass for everyone back home.”

“I would never forgive you if I were her.”

“…”

“Don’t make such a face. I’m on my way to see Dorothy anyway.”

Rockpell urgently raised his arm to grab Isabelle’s shoulder but stopped mid-air.

Did he have the right to hold someone back? Could he make such a selfish request now?

Unable to shake off his hesitation, he withdrew his hand.

“What a wimp. How can a man be so timid?”

“…Are you going to help me?”

“If it’s just telling her that a creepy guy has been waiting outside the dormitory for days.”

“It’s shameless, but I’m asking for your help.”

Isabelle lightly knocked on the door of room 120, where Dorothy was staying.

“Who is it?”

“Isabelle. Oknodie’s colleague who helped you in the forest.”

“…Come in.”

Creak. The door opened just a crack, barely enough to fit a foot through, as if reflecting her anxious mind.

As Giselle had said about her not washing, there was a musty smell characteristic of someone who hadn’t washed their hair for days.

“You managed to pass.”

“When I touched the Black Hat examiner, I received an enormous amount of points. About 1800 points?”

“How is that possible?”

“Unlike the applicants who started the tag game after resting for a day, the examiner accumulated tag points from the moment the test began.”

“…So that’s what they meant when they said you might pass if you’re lucky?”

With such rules, the first person to touch the examiner could receive all the points accumulated from the start of the test in one lump sum.

If Oknodie had known this from the beginning, she could have touched the examiner alone, made a comeback, and easily passed through the magic circle.

“The points were reduced to one-hundredth, so I actually got 18 points, and I even got -50 points for not arriving on time. But thanks to that, I didn’t give up and kept going.”

What would Oknodie have done?

Couldn’t she have monopolized 1800 points instead of 18?

Considering that 1 point from the entrance exam was converted to 100 points, it was an opportunity to gain 180,000 points.

‘She knew but didn’t aim for it.’

I know the reason.

She was worried about her colleagues, us.

Wasn’t she the one who gave up immediate admission with the first gate’s top honors because she was worried about everyone who had come with her?

A girl so kind and pure it’s almost foolish.

At the same time, a child raised as an assassin in a suspiciously capable noble family.

The more I think about it, the more my heart aches.

“Did she ask you to do something?”

“Not exactly, but I came to make a request.”

“It’s not about that idiot outside, is it?”

“That’s just a side matter.”

“That fool Rockpell needs to suffer more. I’m still not over it. Do you think I’m being harsh?”

“I don’t care. I wouldn’t forgive him either. A man who betrays once has no reason not to do it twice. He’s not fit to be a colleague.”

For dating, I might keep a decently handsome Rockpell around, but he’s absolutely unsuitable as a colleague or marriage partner.

Rockpell, who betrayed at a critical moment, is the epitome of an irresponsible man.

I can’t trust him, and I don’t want to.

“If not about Rockpell, what did you want to ask?”

“Oknodie consulted me because she wants to get closer to you.”

“Huh? With me?”

A hint of life and surprise flickered in Dorothy’s eyes, which had been sunk in depression.

Snicker snicker.

Seeing her mischievous smile, I realized immediately.

Even Giselle’s information can be wrong sometimes.

“That’s not it?”

“Of course not. I haven’t seen her once since passing. Are you confusing her with someone else?”

“I’ve just wasted time then. Sorry about that.”

“Wait. I’m interested now. Tell me what this is about.”

“I’m not sure if telling you is a good idea.”

“Trust me. I’m an advanced class student who somehow passed the entrance exam on my own, even if I received some advice. A forest keeper’s tracking ability is quite reliable, right?”

She was so insistent that Isabelle decided to tell her the story, thinking she might as well be fooled once.

“That sounds like the friend next door.”

“Next door?”

“I’ve been observing my surroundings from inside my room, afraid there might be some dormitory test even after entering.”

“…If you’ve returned to civilization, try to adapt. Why put yourself through unnecessary stress when you have a comfortable single room?”

“Tch. You think I wanted to? I couldn’t help it because I was anxious.”

Getting back to the topic, Dorothy shared what she had witnessed.

“A few days ago, a strange maid visited those two rooms. I remember because she oddly only went in to change the bed sheets in rooms 111 and 112.”

“The bed sheets?”

“She also tried to eavesdrop by putting her ear against the wall from outside. A very suspicious maid.”

“…Eavesdrop?”

“Something seemed off. Could there be something special between the muscular woman living in 112 and Oknodie? Sorry, that’s all I know about people Oknodie might care about.”

“No, that’s plenty helpful.”

“Oh, and sometimes people from nearby rooms put their ears against that wall to eavesdrop. You might learn something if you ask them.”

Bed sheets exchanged in only two rooms.

A maid eavesdropping.

Nearby residents paying attention to sounds.

‘Ah, I was wrong. Now I’m curious too.’

I’m dying to know.

If I don’t uncover this secret, I won’t be able to sleep tonight.