NOVEL NEXT Chapter 74
<74 - Stealthy Actions for a Lonely Child>
Every day at 2:22 AM, Oknodie was waiting for me on the second floor of the Main Building.
Unaware of this, Hestia felt an immense guilt today, having thought it was beyond her ability and planned to sleep peacefully.
Oknodie must have infiltrated the Main Building late at night through strict security, wanting to play with her, but she let that child be alone all night.
‘She must have felt so lonely.’
One cannot understand the loneliness of waiting for someone who does not come unless they’ve experienced it. The agony of guarding a home knowing a loved one isn’t returning is grievous; how much more painful must it be to know someone alive yet be unable to meet them?
Am I abandoned?
Am I boring?
Was it no fun?
With every thought, Hestia curled up in the dark room, waiting for the lonely Oknodie to return.
She simply could not imagine the feelings of Oknodie talking to the wall, answering as if nothing happened, as she waited.
“Hey, Jiang.”
“…Did you come to tease me?”
“Not like that.”
Hestia made a decision.
She wanted it to be a secret between just the two of them, but frankly, the Academy’s Night Security System was too strict.
There was no way she could manage it alone.
“Oknodie goes to a secret room somewhere in the Main Building at 2:22 AM every day.”
“Why is there such a secret room in the Academy? How did Oknodie find out about it? And how do you know to tell me?”
“Oknodie is in the next room. She always knew a lot… I think she told me because she really wants to play. But the security is too intense, making it hard to go.”
“Then figure it out on your own. It has nothing to do with me.”
“Aren’t you curious? What Oknodie does there. If you could breach the security she did.”
So, she sought a guide and a stealth assistant.
Jiang showed considerable curiosity.
“…Is she really Oknodie?”
“Probably?”
“Hmm. Though I don’t quite understand, it bothers me. I doubt that Oknodie is fake, but could she have been deceived by that ghost-like professor…?”
“Ghost-like professor?”
“Yeah. There is such a thing. Anyway, I feel uneasy about staying this way, so I’ll go with you. What’s the exact location?”
“I won’t tell you. It would be problematic if you leave me behind. Let’s go into the Main Building together at 2 AM, and then I’ll tell you.”
For someone who looked like a bear, she was surprisingly meticulous.
Jiang clicked her tongue inwardly.
*
-First, let’s meet at the pavilion outside the annex. If you can’t even make it there, there’s no point in continuing, so I’ll just go back.
Because of Jiang’s condition, Hestia sneaked out into the hallway with her heart racing.
‘I’ve been eavesdropping with my head against the wall all along. The patrol cycle on the first floor is one hour.’
Instructors patrol each floor, with one person every hour.
Even if she made it out of the hallway, it wouldn’t be over.
At the Central Stairs of the dormitory, one person was stationed in the lobby heading to the exit.
Two others were patrolling outside, and nearby, the Guard Post was shining its searchlight.
How many instructors and waiting personnel would be inside the post?
It’s truly an incredible amount of manpower.
Considering the value of the Academy, this level of personnel could never be seen as too much, but as someone who had to get through that enormous security, it felt frustrating.
‘Avoid the instructors and the light at all costs.’
The instructor had warned.
The Academy’s dawn is dangerous for first-year kids.
In actuality, the kids found it overprotective.
‘Could a ghost come out or something?’
Stealthily.
She crawled out the window and into the bushes.
It was a whopping 200 meters to the pavilion outside the dormitory.
At a pace of 3 meters per minute, it would take over an hour.
A degree of caution that seemed excessive, but thinking back to when she got caught helped Hestia remain careful.
Thanks to that, she noticed.
’The detection magic used to sense intruders at the thief’s den!’
When a person passes, it clearly detects at a height with a faint glow of mana.
If Oknodie saw it, she would light up eyes, shouting, “Laser beam security system!”
The reason she was caught last time after fearlessly crossing the window was undoubtedly because her body came into contact with that light.
‘I’m dying here.’
Honestly, it would be much easier to just smash through.
With her big frame, she had to pay extra attention not to get caught in the laser lights.
Just her luck, a detection light with an unusually low height appeared in her path.
Just thinking about how far she’d have to wander to turn back gave her chills.
This light is visible if you focus, but it’s so dim that it can’t even be picked up by the naked eye if you’re 10 meters away.
Thinking another light at the same height might come out elsewhere made her resolve to push through right there.
Creak.
With her butt and chest tightened, her pectorals and lats were all tense.
So, even making small movements slowly allowed her to pass somehow.
While struggling hard to get through, she suddenly heard a window creek open in the distance.
“!!”
Who the heck is opening the window so loudly?
Hestia froze, lying low, worried about drawing the instructors’ attention.
She heard students’ voices nearby.
“To gather more flags, we have to show our prowess tonight! Sister, hurry and come out!”
“The Thunderbolt Celestial Divine Church will not permit cunning actions in the cover of darkness.”
“Do you want to be looked down on because we gathered fewer flags than the Empire bastards? The Divine One of the Thunderbolt Celestial Divine Church would be angry at the incompetent devotees!”
Even in the darkness, the distinctive sounds echoed far off.
A member of Group A’s upper class.
The voice of the Cat Beastfolk, Xenia.
It’s no surprise that cats are nocturnal; her voice had an energetic vibe to it.
“…Being a sister of the Thunderbolt Celestial Divine Church, I cannot bring shame to Lord Mandeus of Light. Please forgive my wrongdoing for sneaking around like a rat!”
Sister Nise of the Thunderbolt Celestial Divine Church.
One of the upper-class students in the group gathering flags, alongside the beast fighter Xenia.
In Thursday’s third period, her effort to gather flags early in the morning before the principal’s class was commendable, but the timing was bad.
Nearing her already, she sensed the aura of an instructor yawned in boredom, killing time in the distance.
Flick! Flick!
The searchlight lit up the loudnight actors acting like they owned the place.
“You guys, just go back and sleep. I’m ending this with a warning since it’s your first time, but if you get caught again, you’ll pay a fine in points or be sent to the punishment room…”
“We’re running for it!”
“Lord Mandeus! Please grant me swifter feet than the instructor’s!”
Exhibiting her unique cat-like agility and the physical ability boost effect from Sacred Arts, the sister fled right away.
Just ridiculous that they had to escape from the instructors in front of upper-class students and the instructor blew the whistle.
“Catch those girls!”
“An escapee? If we catch her, there’s a free 100 points for the taking?”
“Get lost with those points!”
Night patrols and the instructors on duty poured out from the dormitory and guard post.
‘Damn that cat gal!’
Hestia felt unfair anger.
Her half an hour of crawling could go to waste because of that nuisance cat.
If I get caught because of her… there’s no way I’ll forgive her!
*
“Tighten the rope.”
“Meow! My tail hurts!”
“Shut up. If you got caught, just accept your fate. How dare you try to escape?”
“Hyahhh!”
Tied up in a rope, every time the instructor tugged on her tail, Jiang shook and got dragged.
With a noose around her neck, dragging along with the armor clanking was Sister Nise of the Thunderbolt Celestial Divine Church, trailing behind Jiang and the instructor.
“Can’t even lift your head, despite claiming to be a sister. You’re self-aware of your shameful acts, aren’t you?”
“You thieving cat! You should just get dragged as well. Ugh, ugh!”
“Whew!”
“By the way, this girl isn’t shivering too much?”
“Her expression… doesn’t it seem a bit lewd?”
Go get reported for sexual harassment.
While Hestia was cursing at the instructors inwardly, she suddenly realized that Nise, who had been looking down, turned to this side.
Anxiously.
It was evident her eyes trembled violently, betraying her fluttering heart.
Is she going to spill it?
“Instructor.”
“What is it, Sister?”
“Jiang’s tail is an erogenous zone. Tugging on it like that is the same as stimulating her genitalia.”
“What?!”
“Are you trying to use your authority to harass a student?”
“N-no! I only thought it was funny and that her expression was a bit lewd, but I had no such intention at all!”
The instructors all wore skeptical expressions.
Sister Nise quietly made an offer with a calm voice.
“If you pretend you didn’t see us and let us go, we won’t tell that several instructors harassed a Beastkin girl from the border.”
“Whoa, no, I mean, eh.”
“Geez. What a mess you’ve made.”
“It’s out now, isn’t it?”
Swinging their hair, the instructors finally let them go.
Nise took a quick glance back at Hestia and raised a single finger.
-You now owe me one.
The voice of the serene sister echoed loudly in her head.
Startled, Hestia nodded, and the two students bobbed their heads low as they returned to the dormitory’s main entrance.
‘Phew… I really thought I was getting caught.’
“Why are you so late?”
“There were other students that made the instructors loiter outside.”
“We still have further to go to the Main Building. Hurry up and follow me.”
Jiang, who joined at the pavilion.
How long will it take to reach the Main Building?
Hestia suddenly realized that in all this chaos, she hadn’t even seen Oknodie’s face.
‘As expected.’
An assassin raised in a noble family.
On another level from a clumsy stray cat.
Recalling the rumors, she nodded to herself.