NOVEL NEXT Chapter 281
281 – Obvious Talk
Yeah, Oknodie is the type that can hide anywhere, so he might be good at finding places to stash points.
Maybe he’s even getting intel from the butler who’s always lurking around, pretending to be fair on the outside.
No matter what, it’s just Oknodie who’s doing well.
The others must be different.
Ishtar, remembering how much damage his solo efforts did to his reputation during the midterms, felt that it actually turned out well.
The more luxurious Oknodie’s time is, the more his working-class friends will resent him!
“I’m going for the scholarship.”
“Me too.”
“I’ll take one too.”
In fact, some students are even getting scholarships and are freed as well.
There’s no way those who got caught in such traps and became scholarship students would willingly pledge loyalty to the foundation.
It just means the internal enemies have increased.
‘Why does everyone seem so lighthearted…?’
There are many students who show no signs of fear about becoming foundation scholarship students or who think, “What’s the big deal?” now.
‘Aren’t they afraid of those who would break fingers or pluck teeth and try to design others’ lives at will if things go wrong?’
The dangers of the foundation are much more blatant and come much faster than those of the academy.
The students’ nonchalance seems close to madness in the eyes of the Warrior, but then he remembered that they’re just lower-class students.
They must be in lower classes because they lack that kind of common sense from the start.
“Ishtar. Let’s push ahead with facility challenges with the guard. Oknodie might reach for that once he finishes collecting points.”
As Yufi said, she has many tasks at hand.
Other students besides Oknodie can also target facility challenges.
If they grab their opportunities first, the situation of other students will worsen, and the structure of them being forced to become foundation scholarship students and blaming the foundation will accelerate even more.
“Everyone hurry. We’re recovering so quickly that they won’t even notice we got the points.”
Second day of the cruise trip, afternoon.
The pace of the Warrior’s Guard began to accelerate in earnest.
*
Unlike the students rushing around, the maid, Reap, and April knew from the moment they boarded the ship that unreasonable luxury wasn’t permitted, so they exchanged information with the crew members.
And they realized they were classified as “friends” of a lady, not crew members of the ship.
“It’s the chairman’s test. What do you think?”
“I don’t think it’s something a mere subordinate like me can speculate about.”
“Well, let me tell you. This is what the chairman calls a to test the big shots.”
“…Has this happened before?”
“I was once drafted as a crew member.”
“What happened then?”
Reap’s expression darkened even more.
“Twenty followers of the god of corruption, Anrage, boarded the ship. They had heard rumors that the church’s treasure was hidden somewhere on the ship and wanted to gather boarding points to obtain it.”
“They were smarter than the students.”
“That became their poison. Boarding points can be taken by killing each other. This clause led to two opposing factions killing each other.”
“!!”
“These are academy students. They won’t cross the line. If they can’t kill every one of them, they shouldn’t kill even one.”
“They were ready to kill everyone. How many survived?”
“Only one remains. There can be only one owner of the holy artifact. The Apostle of Anrage is still part of the foundation now to pay back the debt he owed back then.”
April realized anew that she and Reap were of different ranks as maids.
Even the accessibility to information was on another level.
“Is there a product intended to lure students like the
“I have already checked. The bait this time is
“!!”
It’s a shocking product.
In a certain sense, it can be said to be more valuable than the church’s treasure.
Even the owner, who obtained the treasure after fierce competition, could be listed as one of the products.
“Isn’t it dangerous? Publicly disclosing the list of foundation executives to outsiders.”
“Of course, the list of executives won’t be provided. You either have to precisely name the executive you want or accept the one we assign to you.”
April suddenly became curious.
“How strong are the executives of the foundation?”
“The Apostle of Anrage has killed three apostles of the Holy God since entering the foundation. All of them were figures that obstructed the foundation’s operations.”
“…That’s terrifying. To defeat three apostles equivalent to the commander of knights or the head of the magic tower.”
“It’s such a glorious feat that those who know the name will surely recognize it. The Warrior may not know, but the Princess will definitely mention his name.”
“Do you think they could gather more points than Lord Oknodie?”
“Who knows?”
Somehow, she had a hunch about this.
“There are a lot of exceptionally talented students in this first year.”
The figure that April was watching closely was not the Warrior or the Princess, but an unexpected person.
*
Jezel smiled wryly while looking at the sparkling golden card.
“There’s no point in collecting these points. Upgrading to a gold ticket costs a hundred thousand points all at once.”
“Uhaha! Still, this Son Ohchun cleared out all the points from the arcade first. Aren’t we ahead of the others?”
“We also sold ten recipes to the chef wanting recipes and earned plenty of points.”
Son Ohchun and Isabel handed half of the points they collected to Jezel.
They thought that the smartest Jezell would use the points most wisely.
The expectation was spot on.
“What are the benefits of the upgrade?”
“Free use of facilities below gold level. Obtaining conversation rights and mission openings with higher-level crew members. A 20% discount on product purchases, etc.”
“Oh, I heard that. They hang gold or diamond banners at the entrances of expensive facilities.”
Forest Guardian Dorothy had memorized distinctive features among the crowds and vast facilities and provided timely information that would be helpful.
The so-called [Jezel Team], classified based on their expanded authority, accessed high-level information the fastest.
“I hear there’s an
“As time passes on the uninhabited island, more valuable items are opened… The most valuable items you can buy with points will appear at auctions.”
“If it’s an uninhabited island, we need to prepare enough food and survival tools from the ship to endure even if we stay for a long time. Leave the preparations to me, the explorer.”
The foundation’s cruise ship had more entertainment than expected.
Not only amusement facilities but the thrill of accessing hidden information was quite satisfying.
Jezel felt her hobbies as a dark trader were being stimulated.
“How enviable. The wealth, planning, and organization to create such a giant playground.”
Indeed, such impressive people would not pale before the great Gift Academy.
Maybe this is a huge playground provided by the one Oknodie refers to as “Papa.”
“What are you admiring? If Oknodie’s friends get into trouble, Oknodie’s reputation will drop even more. He’s already feared as the Dark Princess, but if it spreads that kids got into debt playing with Oknodie, what’s he going to do in the second semester?”
“No matter how you put it, that would be troublesome.”
“Let’s quickly gather points to go rescue the idiots.”
There were quite a few students who participated in this trip from the Dark Trading Company as well.
Those without a place to lean on were mostly coming along to strengthen their ties with Oknodie rather than going back to their hometowns.
“Since we’ve gathered enough points, let’s start looking for students in trouble.”
Even so, the commoner students from the Dark Trading Company were well-mannered.
The students who were dragged out after indulging in luxury in the luxury room recorded an astronomical negative balance, but the commoners spent only a modest amount.
“What luxury did you indulge in? I only had one plate at the buffet!”
“You wasted half the drink, didn’t you?”
“I threw away the yogurt without licking it off the shell!”
Commoners can only spend at a level that’s trivial at most!
“From now on, let’s look for points but be careful not to go back into the negatives. We’ve experienced what a harsh fate it is to fall for the foundation’s temptations.”
“Thanks, Jezel…”
“But have you seen where Arcadia is?”
“The Countess? She was heading to the grand theater.”
“The… grand theater?”
Jezel was taken aback.
Arcadia had been hanging around with Titosso.
She had shown signs of staying clear of the ship’s traps relatively early on.
What reason would she have to use the ultra-luxurious facilities?
Arriving at the grand theater revealed the reason.
[Grand Theater: Operating Hours 9 AM ~ 6 PM]
[Free Viewing Hours: 11 AM ~ 1 PM]
Can’t resist free things.
Just as the free screening time was ending, crew audience members and a few student audience members mixed in and came out.
Surprisingly, Oknodie was among the students, looking unusually sulky, pouting.
“What’s wrong?”
“Arcadia got a head start.”
Behind Oknodie, Arcadia chuckled and waved a gold ticket.
“How did you get that?”
“During a part of the play where a detective was chosen, I matched the trick with the criminal and received a ticket as a reward. Hehe. It was a really fun play.”
What’s that?
Why are you the only one having fun?
Having recognized the existence of the gold ticket as a reward from the nail-biting wins at the midnight gambling den and upgrading, Jezel felt like she had made a loss for no reason.
“Oknodie. It’s good to collect points but you should think about helping other students too. If things go on like this, Oknodie’s reputation will be in danger.”
Quickly shaking off her ugly jealousy, Jezel didn’t waste the chance to give essential advice when she finally faced Oknodie, who was already hard to come across.
But Oknodie’s expression was so carefree as if she were saying, “What’s obvious about that?”
“You don’t have to worry about that!”
“…Are you planning to persuade everyone to become foundation scholarship students?”
“If we start a mutiny on the ship, we can all get off the boat without spending points!”
Isn’t it obvious that starting a mutiny on a cruise ship is common sense?
Jezel was left speechless by Oknodie’s bold assertion.