episode_0117

That evening in the student council room.

“First of all, congratulations on working as a detective and collecting 20 clues.”

I looked around at the attendees who were here.

Kyowoonguk came as a representative of the underground guardian camp.

Mina came as a representative of the Romelo village militia.

Is it just these two?

“So, who is the one in the dark?”

“As you may have guessed, the underworld is a group of youth phantom thieves.”

The two people nodded as if it was obvious.

“You may announce this fact, or only players of the same faction may know about it.

Next week, the second phase of the mayhem will begin, and the phantom thief Ombre will reveal his identity.”

“Hmm. Is this the end?”

Mina looks a little disappointed.

“Of course not. You’ve collected at most 20 clues.

The Underground Guardians and the militia found the culprit who incited the students’ fight, tracked him down, and cornered him in an alley… ”

As soon as I snapped my fingers, the lights in the student council room turned off.

“What… What is it?”

“Yes, yes. You pushed me all the way to this point.”

White smoke slowly spreading and soft lights.

From there, Cleo wearing an ombre cape and mask walks out.

I thought it was a waste of direction to show it to just two people, but…

To put it conversely, since it is a limited production shown only to two people, rumors and sagas will circulate in the future, raising expectations for the next big commotion.

“… Cleo?”

“Who is Cleo? I am the phantom thief Ombre.”

Mina strikes the candle without notice.

Fortunately, Gyo Woon-guk said, “Hmm, hmm,” adjusted his neck, and acted appropriately.

“Phantom thief Mr. Ombre. You are done now. There is nowhere to run.

So, please explain one last time.

Why did you steal students’ secret letters and create strife among the dormitories?”

“That’s a good question. It is-”

Ombre, who was coolly extending his arms, stopped.

“… Is it?”

“Uh… Mr. Coleman?”

Cleo took off her mask.

She took out the script attached to the hem of her cloak and showed it to me.

“… Is this correct?”

“Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? I told you everything.”

“No, I heard it vaguely, but I can’t say it with my own mouth… ”

“This is a script written by Marquis Rong himself.”

“Hmm. Um.”

At Mina’s cough, Cleo sighed and put her mask back on.

“It’s because of love.”

“?”

“?”

“There is someone I like in your dormitory and student council.

The news that that person is sending a love letter to someone other than me!

I collected everyone’s love letters to see if the rumors were true.”

“… ”

“… ”

The three people looked at me.

“Is this really a story?”

“No. Look at the rule name. It’s a big commotion, a big commotion.

Then, did you think that a secret human sacrifice society hidden among the faculty would appear?

Or it could suddenly lead to a confrontation with the imperial government… ”

“Mr. Coleman. From what I can see, this isn’t quite right.

Instead of a big commotion, it became a cute little commotion.”

“Oh please.”

I said with a sigh.

“I pity those of you who don’t know the power of love.”

“… ”

“If you’ve ever been in a relationship, you’ll understand… ”

“Now, now, now!”

Marquis Rong, who was listening behind the door, came out like lightning and calmed me down.

“Coleman. Don’t talk so harshly.

Cleo, Mina. Don’t you guys have similar experiences?”

“What kind of experience is it?”

“It may seem trivial to others, but it is really important to me.”

“Hmm… ”

The two people are still tilting their heads.

Surprisingly, it was the Catholic Church that came to our rescue.

“The story of a certain Salsu who lived in Bakdal-guk comes to mind.

While he was washing his hands, someone killed his dog.

However, since the puppy was a precious dog raised by his deceased wife, Salsu is said to have grabbed a knife and slaughtered all of his enemy’s relatives.”

Uh, um. It’s a very similar story.

But okay.

“Yes. Although it is expressed a bit briefly here… ”

“The story of why the phantom thief Ombre is so obsessed with love letters will soon be revealed!”

“A novel worth just 2 gold!”

“When you say that… ”

Mina nods her head in agreement.

“I understand.”

“Good. Well then, let’s go back to the story.

Your reward for picking up 20 clues is that you can decide whether to side with Ombre or not.”

“So, is stage 2 a direct confrontation between the Phantom Thieves and the Academy?”

“That’s right. After failing to gather clues, the rest of the detective camp is forced to join the group of phantom thieves.”

Are you going to track down the love letter with the Phantom Thieves?

Will we cooperate with the academy to protect students’ privacy?

At the crossroads of those two choices –

“I will join the youth phantom thieves.”

“Ohh.”

“After thinking about it, I can sympathize with Ombre’s feelings.”

Mina crackles and opens her fist.

“The year of the thief cat. I’ll show you what I’ve seen.”

“I will join the academy.”

“Why?”

“Hmm. just… I don’t think the Underwater Guardian will side with the Phantom Thieves in this matter.”

Kyowoonguk is immersed in the setting of the camp and makes exemplary judgments.

I recorded both people’s choices.

“Can I go now?”

“Yes. It’s all over. Bridgeport Bureau. You can go too.”

I showed signs that it was okay to leave, but Unguk just looked at me quietly.

“… Why?”

“You seem to like love stories.”

“What… ”

Are you in a relationship now?

That’s why I put my stamp on the story written by Marquis Rong.

I responded by shrugging my shoulders.

“It went well.”

“Why?”

“What will happen in the future also originates from a love story.”

hmm?

Kyowoonguk leaves behind such mysterious words.

Cleo and I exchanged puzzled looks, but we didn’t grab him.

————————————————– ———-

When the first stage of the 4-week commotion ended, Coleman explained the dark side of the commotion and its motivations to all participants.

“For the mysterious being called the phantom thief Ombre, such affectionate feelings were both surprising and frightening… ”

Additional backstory reinforced after seeing Mina’s shocked reaction.

Marquis Rong’s heart-rending love story, written in elegant prose, was enough to re-engage the students.

And the rules for phase 2 are announced.

Phase 2 will take up to a month, but may proceed faster depending on developments.

During this time, both factions clash as they search for the recipient and sender of the love letter.

The purpose of the Phantom Thieves is to find out who received the love letter sent by Ombre’s crush.

The Academy’s purpose is to find out who Ombre’s crush is.

Each time both factions win a battle against each other, they gain 1 information.

First, if one side achieves 100 information, proceed to step 3.

“If you reach 100 in the academy first, it will be an advantageous battle, right?”

“I think so. uh. There are more announcements.”

During Phase 2, the fight within the faction is-

It is allowed.

“What?”

When the mayhem enters stage 3, the faction that has gathered the most information from each faction becomes the faction leader.

If a faction wins the final battle, the faction leader’s faction receives additional rewards.

If the Academy faction converts to the Phantom Thieves faction, all battlefields they occupied will belong to the Student Council.

With that notice, the battle began again.

Of course, as the midterm exams approached and the schedule became tighter, the number of participants decreased, and the initial craze calmed down over the course of more than a month –

“Oh really! Why do I get dementia at times like this?”

“That’s heavenly punishment for messing around with another bitch!”

The players’ vitality remained.

“You lost this time.”

“Sorry.”

“There is nothing to apologize for.”

Carl Knizia, the third grade representative of Blue Dragon, looked closely at the map of the chaos.

Blue Dragon secured the widest river area at the end of stage 1.

But at this point, territory has become nothing more than an obstacle.

Other dormitories requesting rezoning for efficient defense.

If you refuse this, a civil war will begin in the name of excessive greed.

After Emily’s invincible crew was fatally wounded, there has been no crew with such a good combination of experience cards for a long time.

There are only three Blue Dragon realms left, and their former glory has been overshadowed.

“The one with the highest contribution right now is… Guardian of the underground water.”

Quern Underground Guardian, the only mercenary to join the Academy forces.

Because of its unique position, it can pour all its power into the battle against the Phantom Thieves’ forces without having to fight for land.

Of course, their victory was also thanks to the outstanding skills of Gyo Woon-guk, the new student leading the Underground Guardians.

How can I overcome this situation?

As Carl was thinking about such things, someone came running towards him in a huff.

“Grade representative! Did you hear the news?”

“Hmm?”

“Graven’s Black Swan has declared his conversion!

I will hand over the entire Black Swan area to the student council and join the Phantom Thieves faction!”