Ch.418418 – Speechless

“Minga gomen!”

After escaping the barrier of the area reserved for students on leave, I bowed my head in front of everyone.

“Stop using some obscure minority language and speak properly in common tongue so we can understand you.”

Isabelle scolded me with a stern face.

Even when I made a pitiful expression, Isabelle crossed her arms and glared, making it clear she wouldn’t let me off the hook.

Looking around, everyone else either smirked or shook their heads, clearly not taking my side.

Hmph.

I have no choice.

“I’m sorry for causing you all to worry. From now on, I won’t cause trouble alone without telling anyone.”

“And?”

I was flustered by Isabelle’s prompting.

What else did I do wrong?

Thanks to Giselle who discreetly gestured toward Zigoku from behind, I realized why she was angry.

“I’ll also properly apologize to Zigoku and the Zigoku Pirates…”

The shabby pirates of the Zigoku Pirates who couldn’t enter the barrier put on slightly less angry faces and acted smug.

“Kid, just know we’re letting you off easy this time!”

“If it weren’t for the captain, we wouldn’t forgive you!”

“But what could we do if we didn’t forgive you anyway?”

“Someone shut this guy’s mouth.”

Zigoku sighed at the sight of his crew members bickering among themselves.

“Just know I’m letting you off easy this time.”

“Thank you, Zigoku!”

“This little—?”

When I stopped looking sad and quickly thanked him, he got even more upset, shaking his fist. Why is he like that?

“And?”

Isabelle’s scolding continues, there’s more?

If I try to think of what else I did wrong, umm…

“I’ll brush my teeth properly after eating late-night snacks before going to bed.”

“And?”

Again?

Hmph. It’s hard to think of anything else.

“I won’t stick blue cellophane on Titosoga’s lighting equipment so that no matter how much he presses buttons and makes sad faces, only blue light comes out.”

“And?”

Oh, come on.

Isabelle… please forgive me already.

Isabelle maintained her stern expression, determined to correct my behavior with this opportunity.

I had no choice but to continue confessing my wrongdoings like in a confessional.

“I’ll lick the yogurt stuck to the container clean and not throw it away, even though I know the collection log gets updated without licking it.”

“And.”

“I won’t secretly cut off the circuit for an hour and cause a blackout by taking the electric stones that Thunderbird brought to the dormitory’s mana power room without permission.”

“And.”

“I won’t secretly kill assassins who infiltrate the academy by myself and hog all the experience points…”

“And… what??”

Everyone’s faces, which had been giggling in a somehow warm atmosphere, suddenly froze.

“I gave the corpse to Professor Sadaco as teaching material, so that’s not wrong, right? I don’t need to apologize for that?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. She said she’ll use it for next week’s lecture. Shouldn’t Zhang and Tito be thanking me instead?”

They should praise me for reviving the corpse as undead and extracting delicious experience points!

“But Professor Sadaco’s lecture is <Adventurer’s Terrain Adaptation>…?”

“She said we’ll train to adapt to terrains where undead appear!”

Isabelle rushed in as if jealous of the cheerful conversation between Zhang and me.

“Who, when, where did this assassin come from!”

“Which assassin are you talking about? The one from last week? The one from the week before?”

Isabelle’s stream of “and” finally stopped as she was left speechless.

The awkward atmosphere arrived, and the time everyone gathered to scold Oknodie ended in a blur.

Thanks to that, I had the leisure to check my notification window on the way back to the dormitory.

[You successfully encountered <Charlotte>, the Foundation’s young lady, before she was killed by an unidentified assassin.]

[Swift Mobilization Experience +30]

[Swift Reconnaissance Experience +30]

[Search Experience +30]

[Successfully searched for and rescued Oknodie who was wandering in the area reserved for students on leave.]

[Swift Mobilization Experience +20]

[Swift Reconnaissance Experience +20]

[Search Experience +20]

[You calmed down your angry companions with sincere apologies and a repentant attitude.]

[Social Life Experience +30]

[Cute Act Experience +10]

[Protection Inducement Experience +10]

[Good Child Experience +10]

Thanks to this, I gained some insight.

If you do something wrong and apologize, your Good Child stat increases.

It’s just like prayer!

You can repent just by apologizing after doing something bad, right?

Now I understand the mechanism for increasing the Good Child function.

First, do something bad.

Then apologize and become a good child, right?

* * *

Oknodie had been suffering from assassination attempts.

Until it was revealed from her own mouth, no one knew about it.

“Even if we didn’t know, she probably knew about the existence of assassins.”

Hestia immediately went to the training ground.

“Mr. Leaf… I heard a cracking sound from my bones.”

“Don’t exaggerate, April. People don’t die from broken bones.”

“Woof woof! Happy is a beastkin! Beastkin aren’t humans so we die if our bones break! I want to end training!”

“This Leaf firmly believes that beastkin have human rights too. Your bones are like human bones, so you won’t die just because they break a little.”

…There was no need to look far for an assassin.

There’s a training assassin right here.

“Why are you breaking the maids’ bones?”

“The mana properties in the bones must be changed to enter the advanced stage of the maid mana cultivation method. Hestia, you should also prepare to enter the advanced stage in earnest when the second semester ends and vacation begins.”

“I’ve long been prepared to have my bones carved. However, I wanted to ask if you knew that Oknodie was attacked by assassins.”

“What difference does it make if I know that?”

“Supervisor Leaf. All of Oknodie’s classmates share the same concern and desire to care for her.”

Leaf’s eyes contained a murkiness that was frightening to face, like muddy water clouded by pouring rain.

But Hestia, hardened by mercenary activities, had crushed the skulls of enemies and sometimes even betrayers blinded by achievements and spoils among mercenaries with such eyes.

Without showing the slightest intimidation, she stood firm, and Leaf’s thin, leaf-like lips opened.

“As you suspect. The assassination attempts have been happening weekly.”

“Are they enemies of the Foundation?”

That was the extent of enemies Hestia could think of for Oknodie.

Officially acting as a scholarship student, if assassins were only appearing now, it was rather late considering how many enemies the Foundation had.

However, Leaf shook his head.

“The attackers targeting the young lady are elven assassins.”

“Elves…?”

“It’s because it became known that the Foundation attacked the World Tree for the young lady’s culinary pleasure.”

“!!”

Hestia could recall it.

The Wiheomhae Foundation Chairman’s mansion, the Tower of Training.

The feast of countless foods that came from there.

The food Oknodie ate was even more special among them.

The problem was that she didn’t know that specialness was significant enough to incur the hatred of another race.

“The enemy has a justifiable reason to hold a grudge. The attacks will continue for the rest of her life as long as elves live in this land.”

“So Oknodie should never enter the forest alone for the rest of her life?”

Elves show their true value in the forest.

Assassins who were easily repelled at the academy could take lives in the forest.

That’s because elves receive maximum functional corrections for all actions performed in the forest.

“That’s correct.”

“Why didn’t you warn Oknodie about this fact in advance?”

“The Chairman wishes for the young lady to rely more on the Foundation. I don’t have the power to prevent that. I simply provide as much teaching as possible so that the young lady can overcome the attacks.”

To both the young lady and the maids who will protect her.

Hestia realized.

The reason Leaf allowed her to learn the maid mana cultivation method.

It was premised on protecting Oknodie from the elven attacks that he had noticed early on.

At the same time, she could understand how pitiful the existence of the Foundation’s young lady was.

While teaching her to gain strength, they also make her incur hatred so that she cannot survive outside the Foundation’s embrace.

No matter how great the power the Foundation’s young lady had, she was merely a puppet that moved according to the Foundation’s will.

At least that’s what the Chairman intends to make her.

Even Oknodie.

“Vacation is too far away. Please start the advanced course today, right now.”

Leaf’s withered gaze, like a dried, twisted leaf, looked into Hestia’s determined eyes.

“Once you start, giving up halfway is not an option. Depending on the circumstances, you may have to sacrifice your grades to achieve the cultivation method. Are you still willing to take on the challenge?”

“Gladly.”

* * *

While Hestia went to find Leaf to begin the advanced course of the maid mana cultivation method, Zhang went to find Professor Sadaco, who had reportedly received the assassin’s corpse.

It was an act of great courage for someone like her.

Hadn’t she always walked with the super-cowardly Titosoga, forcing her reluctant feet to move, afraid even to attend lectures?

“Did you bring a corpse too?”

“I’d like to examine the assassin’s corpse that Oknodie handed over.”

An assassin can gather much information just by looking at a colleague’s corpse.

No matter how hard they try to hide their affiliation, the body cannot lie.

Where they trained, what they’re trying to hide, how the corpse responds to mana, and what mana circuits it suggests existed—all can be discovered if one is determined.

“There’s an <Introduction to Dark Necromancy> lecture in the second year.”

“Pardon?”

“If you register for the course, I might show you the corpse.”

Zhang thought carefully before making her decision.

“I think I’ll be fine without seeing the corpse.”