NOVEL NEXT Chapter 17
<17 - Their Sense of Mission>
“Hurry up and run!” urged Jessie.
Outside the window, doctors were glancing over here while using magical communication devices to contact someone.
“Come on!”
Jonna and Reap aren’t bad people.
“I know a place to hide!”
But the word ‘hide’ flipped a switch inside me.
Skill Crafting.
Hiding Skill.
A non-fair flight that isn’t easy to find in normal times.
Isn’t this a chance to boost my skill level?
“Hmm… Okay. Since we don’t want Reap worrying too much, just for one hour?”
As soon as I tried to compromise, Jessie’s expression turned grim.
She looked like a tough mom ready to smack her daughter for saying something foolish.
Startled by that expression, just then, the emergency room door swung open and two nurses approached.
“Alright, while your guardian is on their way, let’s eat some candy with the aunties.”
“What flavor is it?”
“It’s strawberry~”
“Oknodie! What kind of foolish things are you saying!”
“Now, now, your friend over there shouldn’t be playing late at night. It’ll worry your guardian, right?”
I can’t trust that guardian.
Just as Jessie glared at the nurses with a fierce look, she suddenly pressed a button on her wristwatch.
Beep beep.
With a cute sound, a small sleeping curse shot out.
The surprised nurses slumped down, leaning against the hospital bed and dozing off.
“Come here, quickly!”
Jessie pulled me towards the back door, leading the way.
Even the ex-player Oknodie was shocked by her bold action.
“Are you a playable character?”
“Stop with the strange talk! Get in here!”
With Jessie pushing me in, we slipped into a laundry cart as doctors and nurses rushed past us.
“What was that before?” I asked.
“That was a sleeping curse-infused bed. My dad bought it because even the least noble daughters can be kidnapped by weird people.”
“Oh, so it’s a self-defense item.”
“It’s super expensive.”
“Will it work on monsters?”
“I don’t think so. Monsters tend to be larger than animals, and drugs often don’t affect them.”
“Tch. Then I don’t want it.”
If it doesn’t work on monsters, it won’t work on people who can easily overpower monsters anyway.
[You successfully hid with your friend in the laundry cart and evaded pursuit.]
[Hiding Experience Points +3]
[For one minute, you moved through the laundry cart to deceive the guards.]
[Hiding Experience Points +3]
[Stealth Experience Points +1]
[Sneaking Experience Points +1]
[For one minute, you hid with your friend in a promotional mascot costume and evaded the guards.]
[Hiding Experience Points +3]
[Trick Experience Points +1]
[While wearing the mascot costume, you boldly walked past the guards.]
[Trick Experience Points +3]
[Bravery Experience Points +1]
The skill proficiency skyrocketed as if I had bought a growth booster cash item.
“Jessie, you’ve got some serious guts.”
“Oknodie, you’re super strong too! I wouldn’t be able to walk while carrying someone in a mascot costume like you.”
“Hehe. It’s not a big deal.”
I had just grumbled about how inefficient it was to have high physical stats for someone so small, but now, being able to help like this felt rewarding.
Regardless of efficiency, high stats are what matter in the end. My diligent training is paying off.
“Alright, if we activate the emergency escape port, we can get outside the non-fair flight.”
While deceiving the guards, Jessie and I really were on the brink of escaping.
However, just as we reached the escape port, someone appeared from the shadows as if they had been waiting.
“Have you had enough fun, young lady?”
“Jonna.”
A versatile butler exuding a mafia vibe stood in front of us, blocking our exit.
Jonna Wahyhiemhai, who I’d been distant from for some time, stood there.
—
Jessie saw it.
Oknodie’s expression darkening.
“Now, please come this way, young lady. It was just a little commotion, but if you hold my hand, it will end as a simple mishap.”
“I’m sorry, Jessie. I don’t want to cause any trouble for my butler.”
“No, Oknodie! If you give in to bad people like that, your future will be even more unfortunate!”
For kids over five years old, even commoners can voluntarily register and have their names changed to take the entrance exam once more; it’s an incredibly popular international identity registration magic.
Children in orphanages who aren’t allowed the magic are often those with malicious intentions, looking to hide their identity from the world.
Children are used by criminal organizations for nefarious purposes, discarded after use.
Parents from impoverished backgrounds deliberately don’t register their children to avoid taxes, pretending they aren’t raising them.
Some parents even try to eliminate children’s rights to their legally allowed protections, selling unprotected kids into slavery.
Even nobles buy children to train them as secret weapons.
“Oknodie must be a child of such a noble family!”
Even if she’s the daughter of a measly baron, Jessie knows she’s still part of the noble class. She’s heard rumors about the filthy scandals of nobles before.
There’s no way she’s being raised to be a mere plaything or for some vice.
There’s no reason to train a mere plaything to make them stronger and more agile.
It’s not like they would send someone like that into the entrance exam of the world’s best academy to be molded into an excellent talent for their family’s purposes.
Manipulating someone’s life from childhood right through to adulthood is an incredibly sinister maneuver.
“Oknodie. Noble girls don’t have to train until their hands are sore. You don’t have to live hard for someone else’s goals!”
“Jessie. Thank you. I really mean it. I’ve never had a friend like this before.”
Tears welled up in Jessie’s eyes.
Why is she saying such weak things?
With all her strength and agility.
She could easily enter the capsule port if she wanted.
In that moment, Jessie realized.
The butler with scary eyes.
A trained watcher disguised as a butler.
That dangerous person was watching over them.
If Oknodie decided to escape, she wouldn’t be able to run away, but Jessie herself wouldn’t escape either.
To protect Jessie, Oknodie was willing to give up her escape.
Truth be told, it didn’t matter; she understood it that way.
“So, I’ll be honest.”
Instead of opening the capsule door, Oknodie gently stroked Jessie’s head.
“I will enter the academy. Jonna, Reap, everyone, they all tried their best to help me. I don’t want to waste that time by running away arbitrarily.”
“Are you okay with that, Oknodie? You can’t live like a child because of bad people like this, and sigh. Your hands are so rough from all that hard training…”
“All of this was what I wanted. If I don’t enroll in the academy, I will definitely end up unhappy. I won’t even be able to collect food freely, and my stats will be poor.”
“I just don’t understand… sniff. I really don’t get what Oknodie is trying to say…”
“As long as I graduate from the academy with good grades, everything will be okay.”
Oknodie let go of Jessie’s hand.
She walked up to the butler, who was looking down at her with a troubled expression, and took his hand.
“Let’s go, Jonna. Reap might be really worried.”
“You caused such a commotion, yet you know that.”
“I’m sorry. I was just playing hide and seek, but I didn’t expect the guards to be this incompetent.”
Oknodie didn’t ask anything.
Why she hadn’t registered her identity.
Why she was trying to enroll in the academy.
Jonna didn’t reveal anything.
The things she chose not to ask.
The reasons why she didn’t ask them.
Still, the two walked hand in hand.
Only letting the guards know it was merely a childish prank, and as a form of apology, presented a small reward to the sweating guards.
“Jessie! Your parents are really worried! What were you doing here all alone?”
In response to her peer Max rushing over and asking, Jessie wiped her eyes with her sleeve and replied.
“Max. I’ve made up my mind.”
“What? To become a runaway teen?”
“Oknodie. I’m going to help that poor kid.”
Jessie shared her story about Oknodie.
Max’s eyes sparked with the same determination that emerged in Jessie’s.
“Doesn’t your older sister attend the academy?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s talk when vacation comes. I’ll tell my brother too.”
An unfortunate child, with no one to lean on.
Returning once again into the shadows of the noble family without even having her identity registered, someone who doesn’t exist in the eyes of the law and cannot be protected.
When pitiful Oknodie enrolls, may they please lend her strength.
“I never heard her say a mean word, even when she pulled on my little brother’s hair. I can’t let such a nice kid suffer at the hands of bad adults!”
“Exactly. Well said, Max. We’ll find a way to save Oknodie ourselves. We might not have strength now, but somehow, someday, definitely!”
“This isn’t fair. Oknodie deserves a better life than this.”
“Such commendable kids.”
Jessie gasped in surprise and turned around. She was worried the fearsome butler had returned, but thankfully it was not him who appeared.
It was a handsome young man sporting a nice beard and a friendly smile.
“You’re not the only ones who want to help Oknodie. I feel the same way.”
“Who are you, sir?”
“I’m the leader of the Ticket Hunters. A merchant in the underground world, commonly known as you-all’s All-around Merchant Jezel.”
Children of the barons.
Max Montblanc from the Montblanc family.
Jessie Millefeuille from the Millefeuille family.
Individually, they might not seem like much, but thanks to their siblings, who were raised well by good parents, they boast extraordinary talents.
Already attending the world’s top educational institution, the Gift Academy, or seriously aiming to enroll.
This year, Jessie Millefeuille’s older sister, Jessica Millefeuille, will be in her second year of the academy.
This year, Max Montblanc’s older brother, Maximus Montblanc, is aiming to enroll.
Valuable enough to be used as a stepping stone to help Oknodie.
“It will be quite a long time until Jessica can come next vacation. I cannot guarantee that Maximus will enroll either.”
“That may be true, but…”
“Is there any other way to contact your sister?”
“I can help with that. I can also assist in Maximus’s enrollment. I’ll deliver your handwritten letters to Jessica.”
The children’s expressions brightened.
Jezel smiled sweetly.
Yet her eyes remained serious.
This is merely a small stepping stone in my plans. There’s no way a simple idea could save Oknodie.
Still, it’s undoubtedly one of the stepping stones that will help in the future.
Jezel thought,
This single step, this hole made by Jessie’s brave actions, and this link forged with others will not be wasted.
I won’t let it go to waste by any means necessary.