Chapter Index

    Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
    242

    Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
    242

    The Second Queen.

    As Serene Soladin entered the
    carriage, she carelessly threw off the elaborate decorations from her
    head and brushed back the long strands of hair on her forehead while
    furrowing her brows.

    Although it was somewhat
    fierce for a queen of a nation to look this way, Serene didn’t care
    about such things.

    Putting on a forced smile and
    acting sweet only needed to be done outside. Doing such bothersome
    things here, completely cut off from the outside by various magical
    procedures, would make her head explode.

    “He was supposed to be near
    death, yet he seemed fine. What’s going on?”

    The man sitting across from
    her pursed his lips into a thin line in response to the voice sharp
    enough to cut someone with words.

    As one of the Second Queen’s
    confidants and a vassal of the Bedfor Family, he had already
    anticipated this complaint. After serving by her side for years, he
    had naturally become accustomed to her temper.

    “I apologise. I should have
    investigated more thoroughly.”

    “Yes, you should have. This
    has been a complete waste of time.”

    Serene casually tossed the
    bottle she had in her hand, and the Second Queen’s confidant
    hastily caught it. The bottle contained a precious medicine known to
    be effective against numerous diseases, far too valuable to let it
    hit the carriage floor.

    “Instead of earning their
    gratitude, we were treated like bothersome guests.”

    She was determined to somehow
    make her foolishly idiotic son into a king and seize power.

    In an effort to gain some
    favour with the Burrow family, she had spent valuable time coming all
    the way here, but Serene had gained nothing.

    In fact, she had been treated
    as a nuisance and left as if she had been kicked out.

    “Nothing is going right,
    starting with that arrogant kid from the Allen family.”

    Before visiting the Burrow
    Duke’s estate today, Serene had tried to win favour with a young girl
    named Lucy Allen by engaging in conversation.

    While Lucy’s inherent value
    was significant, Serene believed that by winning her over, she could
    also bring Benedict Allen, who was backing Lucy, to her side.

    However, today’s conversation
    was a complete failure.

    The sudden invitation from the
    Burrow family, who had been reluctant to receive visitors,
    interrupted their conversation, but even before that, Lucy Allen’s
    attitude was far from good.

    “That girl. She didn’t
    open her mouth even once.”

    Since the conversation
    started, Lucy Allen had not only refrained from a light greeting but
    didn’t even offer a nod.

    She just stared at Serene as
    if scrutinising her without saying a word.

    She wasn’t just a simple,
    arrogant kid.

    Annoying.

    “Thanks to her, today has
    been a complete waste of time. Ugh, how irritating.”

    The man, flustered by the
    Second Queen’s furious hair-tousling, hurriedly tried to justify
    himself.

    “It wasn’t a complete
    waste. Don’t you think the atmosphere in the Burrow household was
    unusually quiet?”

    “What nonsense are you
    spewing? It’s always been like that ever since they lost their
    eldest son.”

    “I know, but today, the
    atmosphere seemed particularly…”

    “Shut up. Your blabbering is
    only making me more annoyed.”

    Seeing the confidant hurriedly
    clamp his mouth shut, Serene nodded in satisfaction just as someone
    knocked on the carriage door.

    “Your Majesty. It’s Nabil.”

    “Come in.”

    Nabil entered, barely reacting
    to the dishevelled state of the carriage and closed the door behind
    him.

    “Did you have a good talk
    with that kid?”

    “No.”

    “…What? What do you mean?”

    “That person was rather
    rude.”

    “Lady Allen?”

    Having decided to use Duke
    Partan, I immediately headed to the dormitory to meet Joy.

    Since she was the Duke’s
    daughter, I thought she might have a way to contact him.

    There was no thought given to
    manners or procedure. Why worry about such things when there’s a
    dungeon to be conquered as quickly as possible?

    Just go for it first, and if
    you hit a wall, then think of another way.

    “You want to contact my
    father?”

    ‘Yes. Is it possible?’

    “Sure. I need to ask a
    favour of the Careless Duke. Is it doable?”

    “It is possible, but I’m not
    sure if my father will respond. Well then, come inside… no, wait.
    Just a moment.”

    Joy abruptly closed the door
    and, after a short while, there were a series of clattering sounds
    from inside.

    If it’s just a mess, that’s
    fortunate.

    Despite her outward appearance
    as the perfect Villainous Lady, the Airhead Lady is truly careless
    inside.

    This trait extends to her room
    as well. Since Joy rarely has guests, her room constantly reaches new
    levels of disarray.

    Knowing it would take a long
    time for the place to be sorted out, I decided to head back to my
    dormitory and freshen up instead of just standing around.

    Despite taking my sweet time,
    when I returned, the clattering sounds from Joy’s room still hadn’t
    stopped.

    After waiting for another five
    minutes, Joy finally came out, breathing heavily.

    “Did you wait long? Please,
    come in…”

    Her room wasn’t much different
    from what I had seen in the game.

    It was a sophisticated room
    featuring a predominant red hue.

    A place where anyone would nod
    in agreement, thinking it perfectly suited Joy.

    However, if you looked
    closely, you could sense the disorder here and there.

    Trash peeking from under the
    bed. Ends of various clothes poking out from the wardrobe. The
    bookshelf, hastily filled, with topsy-turvy books.

    The scene was so delicately
    balanced that just touching one thing would cause the elegance to
    crumble, and for a moment, I felt a mischievous urge to disturb it,
    but I suppressed it.

    Otherwise, talking with Duke
    Partan would take an entire day.

    “I found it. You can use
    this Crystal Sphere.”

    It seemed Joy had found the
    Crystal Sphere while tidying up, and she handed it to me, trying to
    appear composed.

    I couldn’t help but think that
    she could have just handed me the Crystal Sphere instead of making me
    come in, but I decided not to point that out.

    Receiving the Crystal Sphere
    from Joy, I infused it with magic, and it started flickering blue.

    Once the flickering stops, I
    should be able to contact the other side.

    Hmm.

    No response.

    Even though I waited for about
    a minute, the flickering of the Crystal Sphere showed no signs of
    stopping.

    Benedict usually responded
    before the flickering could even begin, not giving me a chance to see
    it.

    “Perhaps he is busy
    today?”

    ‘Seems like it.’

    “I can’t believe he’s
    ignoring a cute girl like me trying to contact him. Really, how
    rude.”

    Well, there’s nothing to be
    done if I can’t get through. Since I’ve already informed Joy, he’ll
    get in touch sooner or later.

    If push comes to shove, I can
    try contacting Alsatine or the Newman Family. Let’s not get
    impatient. There’s no benefit in rushing when tackling a new dungeon.

    “Um, Lady Allen. Since
    you’ve been waiting for a while, why don’t you have some tea and
    relax a bit…”

    At that moment, the flickering
    of the Crystal Sphere suddenly stopped, and a person’s face appeared
    above the sphere.

    A ferocious face that wouldn’t
    be out of place with an evil laugh. There was no mistaking it.

    “Sorry, Joy. I was held
    up with something urgent.”

    It was Duke Partan.

    With a smile that seemed
    fitting for a mob boss, he started to apologise, but when he saw my
    face, he raised one eyebrow.

    “Lady Allen? How unusual.
    Isn’t this Joy’s?”

    ‘That’s right…’

    “Careless Duke, can’t you
    tell? I asked the Airhead Lady to connect me with you.”

    “How strange. This room is
    too tidy, it could never be my daughter’s.”

    “Father?”

    “Oh, were you there? You
    should have told me in advance. Weren’t you surprised?”

    With his unique vocalisation,
    he let out a sinister laugh, then he interlaced his fingers under his
    chin and asked,

    “So, what’s the matter?”

    Duke Partan, unlike any noble
    would, skipped the pleasantries and got straight to the point.

    “Father.”

    Perhaps it didn’t come across
    well. Joy spoke up, but Duke Partan remained firm.

    “Lady Allen didn’t
    contact me just for small talk, did she? This approach is probably
    more suitable for the lady, so don’t say anything more.”

    As he guessed, I preferred
    getting to the point rather than small talk. In my position, small
    talk was akin to navigating a minefield.

    He managed to gauge me quite
    well with just a few words exchanged. Indeed, he’s a capable person,
    if not for his occasional blunders.

    “Then, let’s get straight
    to the point. So…”

    “Careless Duke, since you
    seem to have poor time management, I’ll get right to it. To put it
    bluntly, I want to visit the Burrow Family to check on their
    illness.”

    “Since it’s difficult to
    visit through normal channels, you want to use me?”

    Without needing further
    explanation, Duke Partan quickly grasped my intention and continued
    speaking.

    “It’s not a hard task.
    Although the Burrow Family is avoiding visitors, there are limits.
    Someone like me can easily force my way in.”

    As expected. Since the
    territories are close and Duke Partan holds an equal status, I
    believed he could indeed use some force.

    “It may be a waste to use
    Duke Partan’s name for such a matter.”

    He had a point. The sheer
    force that Duke Partan wields, regardless of the direction it heads,
    is immense. It seemed like a waste to use his influence on such an
    issue.

    However, during my countless
    hours playing RPG games, I learned that if you hold onto something
    because it’s too precious, you often end up not using it at all by
    the time the game ends.

    So, if I’m sure that I can
    utilise something efficiently, it’s better to just use it, unless
    it’s a one-of-a-kind item in the whole world.

    ‘Please help me.’

    “I’ll gauge the
    importance of the matter. Just help me, Duke Careless.”

    “Haha. Alright, I
    understand. I grant your wish.”

    With a laugh, Duke Partan
    accepted my request. He promised to arrange a visit to check on the
    illness within three weeks, but he didn’t ask why I wanted to visit
    or what I planned to do at the Burrow Family estate.

    Perhaps to him, accepting the
    request was enough.

    After the light of the crystal
    sphere faded, I stood up, stretched, and gathered my thoughts.

    With this, the first problem
    is solved.

    Now, what I need to do is
    organise the various anomalies that might be present in the Burrow
    Family estate and come up with ways to detect them.

    It’s almost time for
    midterms, so I’ll have to juggle both tasks.

    Looks like I won’t have a
    moment’s rest for a while.

    “Lady Allen.”

    Lost in thought, I turned my
    head at the sound of Joy’s voice.

    She was looking at me with a
    somewhat sorrowful expression in her eyes.

    What? Why are you looking at
    me like that? You look like a child who just lost their favourite
    doll…

    “Are you interested in Young
    Master Burrow?”

    ‘…What?’

    “…Excuse me?”

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