Woof woof!

Woof woof!

Even if they are prisoners.

Since selling living humans is quite risky.

I decided to test the waters with corpses first, and received some bodies that had died from torture.

There was an unfortunate incident where the butler looked at me strangely when I received the corpses.

But since the people of the Lercier Family were known for doing many outrageous things.

In the end, he handed over the bodies without much comment, saying something like ‘As expected, even the youngest master…’

‘I’m not sure if it’s right to say I handled this well.’

Thinking it would be better than getting caught stealing corpses later, I decided to proceed like this for a while.

‘Later, I can just capture those Heaven God Cult guys.’

After all, what I need is just stories created based on the experiences stored in their heads.

Everything else is unnecessary, so I can just return them later, I thought.

I brought corpses that seemed to have many stories to the Illusion Museum, focusing on those.

“Hmm… this is 3 coins, this is 2 coins… Oh! This one is 13 coins.”

I didn’t get as much currency as I had expected.

I realized that repeating this would take a considerable amount of time to gather 10,000 coins, so I felt the need to find another method.

‘Is there a way to get a lot at once?’

Wondering if there might be a hint in the original novel, I recalled the missions the female lead had completed.

I realized that the more people a situation affected, the higher its value.

‘That means… after making those Heaven God Cult guys cause a big problem.’

If I catch one of them and sell all the related memories, I could earn a lot of coins.

Thinking it’s definitely worth trying, I decided to proceed while watching the situation.

‘Of course, until then, I’ll have to keep selling the memories of corpses.’

Thinking it was unavoidable until I grew to some extent, I decided to continue with this work.

* * * * *

From that day on, I repeated the process of selling the memories of corpses provided by the family, then returning them to the family.

At first, even though I returned the corpses, there were people who looked at me suspiciously, finding it strange that I was taking them in the first place.

But as I continuously showed them my dedication to magical research, at some point, the reason for taking the corpses itself changed to being ‘for magical research’.

‘So after that day, things went smoothly without any problems.’

The manager even pre-packaged them to encourage me, so a daily routine that would seem bizarre to a third party continued.

While I was diligently doing this, wondering if it was really the right thing to do.

A problem that had been postponed at the Academy finally erupted.

“You remember what you said back then? That you’d prove you solved the problem in 10 minutes.”

I clicked my tongue as I saw Delia speaking with a somewhat confident expression, though she looked exhausted.

I was greatly annoyed that I had to solve such a trivial problem when I was so busy.

‘It’s so annoying, should I just ignore it?’

I thought about pretending not to know since most things can be resolved by force anyway.

I decided to just endure and deal with it, as I had previously calculated that there were many benefits to be gained by roughly resolving this.

‘I’d rather be sleeping during this time.’

Thinking that there were too many people with nothing to do, I briefly replied.

“I remember.”

“That’s good. I happen to have brought a problem that can prove you cheated.”

She smiles brightly with a ‘heheng’ sound, as if the problem she brought is quite difficult.

Thinking that her bright smile doesn’t match well with the dark circles under her eyes, I continued speaking.

“Really? Then you must not have forgotten that either. That if it’s proven my words are true, you’ll do whatever it takes to keep your word.”

“… O-Of course. But honestly, you don’t need to worry about that, right? You won’t be able to solve this problem anyway.”

I’m not sure if she’s saying that because she wants to believe it, or if she’s saying it to show confidence to others.

Whatever the case, it was clear that further conversation was meaningless, so I looked at her with contempt and said.

“It’s noisy, so shut your mouth and bring out the problem.”

At those words, Delia seemed to get upset, narrowing her eyes and glaring at me.

Then she said, “Ah, fine,” and pointed behind her.

“Then let’s go to the auditorium. There are people there who can verify if the problem and your answer are correct.”

At those words, I nodded and headed towards the auditorium.

* * *

Originally, when there’s a suspicion that someone has cheated, the Academy should be the first to start investigating.

But since the Academy hasn’t even mentioned it, let alone investigate.

Rumors quickly spread that Deren really cheated, and the Academy was trying to turn a blind eye to it.

‘Of course, no one dares to say this openly out of fear of the Lercier Family.’

The recent incidents on the rooftop and in the principal’s office have been somewhat distorted.

Rumors have spread, starting with me being at the center of all sorts of collusion, to even claiming that I actually created the test itself.

‘Because of that, those who normally wouldn’t even dare to make eye contact with me.’

I notice them glaring at me discreetly, expressing their discontent.

They probably think it’s natural to give me these looks, considering themselves as victims.

‘Addressing each of these issues would only make things uglier.’

As I ignore them and pass by, they glare at me even more intensely, silently showing their dissatisfaction.

‘This is such a nuisance.’

I sigh and open the auditorium door that Delia pointed to.

‘… Ah. This is a mess.’

As I opened the door and entered, what I saw was a crowd so large it seemed like the entire first-year class might be gathered.

The moment I entered, they all shut their mouths tightly and just stared silently, expressing their discontent.

‘They don’t have the courage to curse me openly, but they do have the courage to glare at me together, is that it?’

Feeling a deep disgust towards those who had already drawn conclusions without even verifying the truth, I slowly moved forward.

As I climbed onto the platform, Delia took a deep breath and said to me.

“Well… I’ll start the verification now.”

Hearing that, I nodded and replied.

“By all means.”

“… The first question is this.”

Here’s the translated text:

It seems that the problem was created with the help of an expert, as some rather complex elements are mixed into the formula that catches the eye.

As soon as I see the problem that’s clearly far beyond the first-year level, I can’t help but chuckle.

Delia speaks to me with a somewhat confident tone.

“Why can’t you solve it? Of course, you wouldn’t be able to since you passed the test through cheating…”

“I solved it.”

“… What?”

“It looks like a plausible formula, but it’s twisted overall. Especially the magic conjunction point is the most unstable, and I can’t understand why they unnecessarily included the formula created by Deren.”

I deliberately delved into each detail, explaining what was wrong and how to fix it.

Although it wasn’t in my nature to explain everything.

If I had given a vague explanation here, this situation would happen again, so I wanted to make it clear beyond any doubt.

After explaining in detail for about an hour, I notice Delia’s expression has turned pale.

I guess she didn’t expect me to answer more accurately.

Looking at her, I said.

“What’s next?”

“N-next is this problem…”

Since the most important thing in this situation was ‘How do I appear to others?’

I provided the answer to the problem as if solving a simple question that didn’t even require consideration.

Of course, it took quite some time as I had to explain numerous reasons for the answer.

As time passed, Delia seemed to sense her fate and looked around with a pale complexion.

Seeing Delia like this, I calmly opened my mouth.

“Is there anything else?”

“There is, but…”

She must have realized it was meaningless to try.

Nevertheless, I deliberately brought up the next question and explained it to her again.

Towards the end, Delia was sitting in a nearby chair with an almost defeated expression.

As the current situation ended more anticlimactically than expected, the students who had gathered to witness my downfall were quietly slipping away.

There was nothing to gain from being caught here anyway.

They seemed to have decided that there was no need to watch when the outcome was obvious.

I spoke to Delia while watching the gradually emptying auditorium.

“I told you clearly. That you’d become my dog.”

“… That, that was…”

“It’s too late to say it was a joke or a lie now. You’re already in a situation where you have to take responsibility for it.”

“… Ah.”

Delia seemed to be thinking of some excuse, fidgeting nervously, before covering her face and speaking to me.

“… At least keep it a secret from my family.”

“I’ll think about it.”

For now, I planned to make her write a slave contract and then sell all her stories to the Illusion Library.

‘And I intend to use her like a slave.’

It was a decision based on maximum efficiency rather than emotion.

As I made this decision and was about to leave.

I felt that after being provoked to this extent, I should at least get some light revenge, so I spoke briefly.

“Then, first, bark like a dog.”

“… W-What did you say?”

“Didn’t you say it yourself? That you’d be my dog, so bark like one.”

“……”

At those words, she tried to run away, seemingly unable to bear it.

“Can you take responsibility for that action?”

Frozen in place by my words, she started to stammer.

I inwardly sneered at her as I watched.

Thinking about it coldly, it was just a verbal argument between students, and there’s no way her family would intervene and hold her responsible.

It was laughable that she seemed to think the world might crumble if she didn’t obey my words.

Honestly, this was the kind of issue that even her family would avoid complaining about to prevent looking petty, and would just quietly let it pass.

But she didn’t seem to think that way.

Gritting her teeth, she muttered in a small voice.

“… Woof.”

“What was that?”

“Woof woof! Woof! I said woof!”

Her face, reddened and buried in shame, was quite pleasing to see.

I looked at her and said “Well done” before turning away.

‘I’ll deal with that one later.’

For now, I decided to handle the remaining research.

I can hear one of the remaining students mumbling something in a small voice.

“… I could do that well too.”

Wondering what nonsense this was, I checked and unexpectedly caught a glimpse of Rumi’s profile.

Wondering if it was Rumi who said that, I quickly approached to confirm.

However, Rumi left the auditorium before I could, so I couldn’t ask about it.

‘I must have heard wrong?’

Reminding myself that she’s not the type to say such things, I turned my attention away again.