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EP.86 A Suspiciously Well-Stocked General Store (1)

“Ariane, listen to me for a moment. It’s unfair!!”

“What’s unfair?! Dad, you’re the one who brought shame to our family! I’m going to tell Mom everything!!”

“Oh no, you can’t. For the sake of family peace, please…! Ariane! Ariane!!”

The sense of betrayal towards her father was greater than she had imagined.

All the feelings she had held for her father were crumbling down.

“Dad, do you usually work with people like that?”

“People like what?”

“I mean, do you work with prostitutes?!”

“Gasp! Ariane!! You shouldn’t say such ugly things. That’s terrible language!”

“Who made me say these terrible things? It’s all because of you, Dad!! How could you embarrass me in front of Boss?!”

Now she couldn’t even go to Boss’s place when she was bored.

It was humiliating.

She had planned to go there with Franc, but now that was ruined.

How could she possibly go there now, feeling so ashamed?

“What on earth were you thinking?”

“I had my reasons, Ariane.”

“What reasons?! How long are you going to keep making excuses?! If you’re always going to say you had no choice, then don’t ever think about seeing my face again!”

“I heard that you were skipping classes at the Academy to chase after a boy!! How could I just sit still after hearing that? I had to at least find out what kind of bastard he was!!”

Flinch ㅡ!

When the lie she had fabricated as an excuse came up, her body involuntarily shrank for a moment.

But right now, I’m the one in charge!

Regaining her courage, she lifted her chin and put her hands on her hips.

“What were you going to do? You should have just accepted it. I told you I confessed and got rejected. And why are you bringing this up now? It has nothing to do with Boss.”

“I thought it did.”

Her father said something shocking with a very serious expression.

“You thought Boss was that man? Is that why you made such a ridiculous misunderstanding?”

“Yes.”

“Good heavens!”

How could he possibly link Boss with me?

Boss is much older than me…!!

‘Older, and what else?’

In fact, although he was older, he had a surprisingly youthful appearance and quite a charming aura.

He was calm, mature, and a good cook.

His duck confit had long been one of her favorite dishes.

If she were to date a man in the future, rather than someone her age, she’d prefer an older man like Boss….

‘Gasp! What am I thinking… But then again, is there any reason why Boss and I couldn’t…?’

Even as she thought she should come to her senses, a naughty idea suddenly popped into her head.

She’d be an adult soon, so wouldn’t she be free to date whoever she wanted?

It’s not like she had a fiancé or anything.

‘Ah! I have to enlist for 10 years, don’t I?’

The enormous barrier of enlistment.

But soon enough, a solution to this problem emerged.

‘Boss might also be an Awakened One, so he could enlist too.’

While boys her age were childish and always playing around, Boss had always taken care of her.

Plus, there was the debt of gratitude for saving her life.

How could Dad do such a terrible thing to such a wonderful shop owner?!

Once again, anger welled up inside her, and she raised her fist towards her father.

“You were awful!”

Thwack!

“Oof!”

Her fist connected with a solid impact.

There was a crisp sound as her fist collided with her father’s body.

Whump!

“Ugh, Ariane! That hurts!”

“Take more!”

“I-I’m sorry. Dad was wrong!”

“What are you going to do?! Apologize! I said apologize to Boss!!”

“No matter what, I can’t apologize to a commoner…”

“Aaaaargh!!! I’m going to tell Mom everything!!”

Whump!

“Oof! That’s not allowed, Ariane. Gah! You’ve, you’ve really grown. Your punches are ugh!”

When her father said it wasn’t allowed, she might have put a bit too much strength into her fist, as her father, hit hard in the solar plexus, gradually curled up like a shrimp.

But her anger didn’t subside easily, and she didn’t want to stop hitting her father until she had vented all of her rage.

Knowing that these small punches couldn’t even scratch her father’s monstrous muscles, she became even more furious.

‘This is all Dad’s fault!!’

She felt her face would burn with embarrassment when she saw Boss’s face.

===

**

===

Pong pong pong!

Splash! Splash! Splash!

“Eek!”

“You were a good target.”

“Vine, you!! I won’t let you get away with this!”

Munch munch munch ㅡ

“Nom nom nom.”

“Sola, are you eating again? Didn’t you just have a sandwich?”

“Nom nom nom nom?”

“…Alright, enjoy your meal.”

Swish ㅡ slash!!!

“Phew, I cut it.”

“Gabriel!!! What are you thinking, cutting the training equipment we all use?!”

The Class A representative, breaking out in a cold sweat, felt that managing the kids had become particularly difficult lately.

“Sigh… Why is this so hard? Was our class always this difficult?”

“Well, the kids all have such strong personalities.”

“That’s true. But it seems like things were a bit easier until last year. For some reason, it’s been tougher this year.”

Class A, filled with students who were standing out so much that people called them the golden generation.

Because the recent situation at the front lines hadn’t been good, many people were placing their hopes on the Class A students.

Some even said that the emergence of so many talented children might be God’s arrangement, foreseeing that the contaminated areas would become active again.

That’s how strong their personalities were, and how skilled these friends were.

It would be a lie to say there was no jealousy, but thinking about how these friends would work for the country made him feel proud.

‘After graduation, we’ll all be heading to the battlefield together.’

While they were competitors at the Academy, once they enlisted in the military, they would become comrades who could trust each other with their lives.

“But do you think they’ll be able to adapt to the military?”

“…I just imagined it for a moment, and why does it feel so dizzying?”

“Right? I hope we don’t end up in the same training camp.”

In the military, you have to live communally, so you need to suppress your individuality as much as possible.

In that sense, it was obvious that kids with such strong personalities would have a hard time adapting to military life.

Crash!

“Ah… the window….”

Seeing that they had finally managed to break a window, the class representative put his hand to his forehead.

The classroom was turning into a disaster zone in real-time.

“By the way, the exam period is coming up soon. Is it okay for them to be playing around like this?”

“”!!!!!!””

The class representative’s casually spoken words, accompanied by a sigh, resonated through the suddenly silent classroom at that moment.

And upon hearing those words, all the children seemed shocked as the classroom instantly fell quiet.

“What, what’s this? Is this atmosphere because of me?”

The class representative was taken aback when the chaotic classroom suddenly became calm.

And belatedly, chaos erupted in the classroom that had been silent.

“The exam…!”

“I completely forgot about it.”

“I haven’t studied at all, what should I do?”

The reason the class kids stopped their rowdy behavior was indeed because of what the class representative had said.

Exam.

For the students still attending the academy, the biggest event of their lives was about to unfold.

The academy exam.

While the exam to raise one’s grade was important, the class exam was crucial too.

Right now, everyone was an equal academy student, but upon enlistment, they would be assigned to units based on their class performance and training camp results.

Promotions would depend on how much they distinguished themselves, and to get opportunities to stand out, it was necessary to be assigned to a good unit.

So for the students, the class exam was just as important as improving their skills.

“Notes!!! Can someone show me their notes!!”

“Is anyone selling exam papers?!”

They had been too excited since the start of the semester.

Who would have thought they’d forget about the exam!

“This is all because of Dad.”

“????”

“Why are you suddenly bringing that up?”

My friends wore puzzled expressions, not understanding the meaning behind my words.

An incident I couldn’t tell my friends about out of embarrassment.

That incident was still unresolved.

Especially to Fran, I felt so sorry that I didn’t know how to even begin explaining.

“Dad caused trouble, so I couldn’t focus on the exam.”

“I don’t know what kind of trouble he caused, but I hope it gets resolved well.”

I couldn’t help but make a sad face at Fran’s kind and gentle words of comfort.

What was I thinking, considering another man when such a kind person likes me?!

“By the way, did everyone really not study for the exam at all?”

“There might be some kids in our class who studied secretly? But I didn’t do any.”

“Same here. My skills have improved so much lately that I couldn’t pay any attention to the written part.”

In fact, all the students in Class A would agree with Shine’s words.

They were all talented in their own ways, so they were confident in the practical skills.

The problem was the written exam.

Most of the rankings were determined by the written exam, but since they hadn’t been studying at all, it was hard to focus now that they were trying to start.

“Why do we have to take these exams anyway? What good does it do? I think it would be better to train during this time…”

“To become an officer, you need to know the theory too.”

“Ugh.”

I told Dad to apologize properly and resolve the issue, but I’m not sure how much he’ll actually listen.

Knowing my Dad, he’ll probably avoid a proper apology, act vaguely, and then use his rank to shut it down.

He’ll say something like, “Isn’t it enough to just compensate properly?”

When a person makes a mistake, they should acknowledge it and know how to bow their head, but because his status is so high, his subordinates just bow down on their own.

As a result, he’s come to think that’s the natural order of things.

‘Boss might be a commoner, but he’s not just any commoner!’

If he were a noble, I’d be less worried, but because Boss is a commoner, I couldn’t just leave it to Dad and be at ease.

‘I need to step in and try to smooth things over somehow.’

If not, it’ll be awkward to face Boss and difficult to look Fran in the eye too.

With this incident complicating my thoughts and the exam approaching, it was natural that I couldn’t get my head straight.

“I can’t concentrate…”

“That’s how it always is when you open a book.”

The children who had been actively causing trouble in the classroom until just moments ago were now sitting at their desks with open books, looking deflated and wilting.

“Ah! Is anyone planning to go to the general store this weekend? I need to go because I have something to buy.”

“I was planning to go, are you going too?”

“I was thinking of going too. I have some things I need to buy.”

Fran and I answered Shine’s question simultaneously.

“Then shall we go together? It would be less boring and more fun.”

I felt a bit awkward because with Fran there, I didn’t think I’d be able to talk about the incident.

Should I go when the others aren’t around?

“Are you all going to the general store? I have some business there too.”

At that moment, Vine, who seemed to have overheard our conversation, suggested going together.

It’s not that I dislike Vine, but bringing a friend who isn’t acquainted with Boss was a different matter, so I felt awkward.

“Um… I don’t think that’ll work. The general store we’re going to isn’t the Ashe General Store you guys go to.”

“Is there another general store besides the Ashe General Store?”

“Yeah. There’s a general store that’s not well-known to people. We’re going there because we’re friends with the owner.”

Vine tilted his head at Shine’s words and then said,

“But it’s still a general store, right?”

“Well, yes, it is a general store.”

“Then it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s a general store, wherever it is.”

“Really…? Well, I guess it can’t be helped then.”

Unexpectedly, a new person was added to the group going to the general store on the weekend.

It seems I’ll have to hope that Dad wraps up the situation well.