Chapter 43
-BAM!
“Damn it!”
In the Round Table Chamber, ‘Loyalty’ slammed his fist on the table and shouted.
“Why! Why the hell did she reveal her identity right there?!”
‘Loyalty’s’ original plan had been this:
Plia was hiding her identity as ‘El,’ so he would expose her.
Of course, simply revealing it wouldn’t be enough. He’d planned to frame her as much as possible and put her in a difficult position, but...
“Damn it!”
Instead, Plia had revealed her identity herself.
“Heh heh, ‘Loyalty.’ Looks like you failed spectacularly, huh?”
“Shut up, ‘Mercy’!”
Everyone but ‘Glory’ had gathered around the Round Table.
After ‘Mercy’ had spent some time teasing ‘Loyalty,’ ‘Loyalty’ spoke up.
“Teasing me is all well and good, but now’s the time to think about our next plan, ‘Mercy.’”
“That’s true. Except you said the exact same thing last time. Anything to say, ‘Loyalty’?”
“Damn it... ‘Silence,’ how are the spies we planted in the academy?”
“...We have several spies who’ve risen to fairly high positions. But using them already...”
“We’ll use them.”
They had planted spies in the academy years ago.
When ‘Silence’ was told to get them all ready for use, ‘Silence’ frowned and said,
“If we fail again, it’ll be a serious blow. Why should I trust you after you’ve failed so many times?”
“Hah, then do you have a better plan?”
“Let’s just attack the whole place!”
‘Purity’ shouted, her face twisted with madness.
She claimed to be of the purest bloodline and despised everyone whose blood wasn’t part of the Baekcheon Church as impure. She wanted to rampage right away.
“But, ‘Purity,’ if you go alone, you’ll be defeated in no time.”
“That’s right. There are three Swordmasters there. You can’t possibly handle them alone.”
Imperial Knight Commander Luke Jegen Daishin.
The youngest Swordmaster, Plia Jegen Whitewolf.
And Ian Jegen Gailleys, who recently awakened as a Swordmaster.
“‘Purity,’ you’re certainly strong. But you’re not strong enough to take on three Masters.”
“Tch!”
“However...”
‘Loyalty’ said, turning to look at ‘Mercy.’
“If one more person goes, it should be possible.”
“Hah, ‘Loyalty.’ Are you telling me to go?”
“Yes. You and ‘Purity’ should be more than enough to defeat three Masters.”
“You’re dumping the annoying job on me.”
‘Mercy’ didn’t bother hiding his displeasure, but didn’t refuse the order, either.
No matter how many times ‘Loyalty’ had failed, ‘Loyalty’ was unmistakably the number one figure in the Baekcheon Church.
Though ‘Loyalty’ couldn’t act personally because of his restrictions, his strength was on a completely different level from that of the other leaders.
“Sigh... When should we leave? No, wouldn’t it be better to give up on the academy in the first place?”
The reason they were targeting the academy was simple: there were a lot of promising talents there.
And that meant they could cause chaos.
If that was the goal, then ‘Mercy’ thought it would be better to target the Imperial Palace, where there were no Master-class fighters, and cause even greater chaos.
That judgment wasn’t wrong. Not if ‘Loyalty’ hadn’t uttered that one simple phrase.
“A divine oracle has been delivered.”
---!!!
A divine oracle.
It was an order from God.
Every believer had to obey a divine oracle without question.
“...If ‘Loyalty’ says so, it must be true. No one is more devout.”
“What exactly did the oracle say?”
“Destroy the academy. More precisely, eliminate Plia Jegen Whitewolf, who’s currently at the academy.”
“...Why?”
It was true that Plia was a troublesome enemy.
Many of their plans had failed because of her, and as a Swordmaster, she was a formidable opponent even in a straightforward fight.
But was she really worth eliminating by divine oracle?
At least, the other leaders didn’t think so.
However...
“We insignificant beings have no reason to doubt the words of God. We can only follow and believe.”
“...Understood. Our top priority will be eliminating Plia Jegen Whitewolf.”
“Haha! Even God wants to get rid of filthy blood! I’ll kill them all!”
‘Mercy’ quietly disappeared, while ‘Purity’ vanished with a maniacal laugh.
Only nine people, including ‘Loyalty,’ remained at the Round Table.
“Let’s adjourn for today. Let’s pray they bring back good results.”
At ‘Loyalty’s’ words, the others disappeared from the Round Table Chamber, leaving ‘Loyalty’ alone.
“This time... we have to succeed.”
Everything for God.
...
“Plia.”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“Ugh...”
Ever since Ian announced that he would confess to her, he’d kept whispering words of love to Plia.
Why? Because her reactions were cute.
Every time he told her he loved her, Plia blushed and turned away.
And then,
‘If you’re going to keep confessing like this, there’s no point in putting it off...!’
she tried to object meekly, but...
‘You weren’t going to accept me anyway, right? My confession only counts if you accept it.’
‘What kind of...’
That ridiculous logic left her speechless.
“...How long are you going to keep doing that?”
“Until you fall in love with me?”
“Ugh...”
Plia was suffering terribly.
No matter how firmly she’d resolved not to reject him just because he was a man, that didn’t mean it would come easily.
And with Ian constantly bombarding her with declarations of love, it was hard for Plia to withstand the wave of embarrassment.
‘Why is he the one confessing, but I’m the one who has to be embarrassed?!’
Plia’s silent scream went unheard by anyone.
...
“Waaah... What is this place?”
“...A dormitory?”
“What kind of dormitory is this?! It’s a noble’s villa!”
Well... she wasn’t wrong.
After giving the dormitory a quick look around, we invited Arin over to show it to her.
I thought Arin might like to see it, too... and I felt like I really couldn’t take it if I stayed beside Ian any longer.
“Come on in. I’ll show you around.”
“Wow! The inside is amazing, too!”
“Right?”
Arin’s reaction was dramatic.
She looked like a little kid visiting an amusement park for the first time.
Cute.
In any case, Ian was acting strange.
Just a moment ago, he’d been pursuing me so intensely, but the second Arin arrived, he clammed right up.
What was that about? Was he embarrassed because Arin was here?
But it didn’t seem like that, either.
If anything, it felt like he was waiting to land one big blow...
For now, I didn’t see any sign of it, so I ignored him.
“Ah! El! This is so soft!”
“Ah... That’s called a sofa.”
“What are you talking about? I know that!”
“Tsk.”
She wasn’t taking the bait.
“Ahem. Good, then. Shall we eat?”
“Eat?”
“Yeah. There’s a kitchen here, too.”
“Ah! Why does a student dormitory have a kitchen?!”
Tell me about it.
Even the ingredients in the kitchen were pretty high-quality.
Wasn’t this technically a dormitory?
“By the way, Plia, can you cook?”
“Of course.”
I used to live on my own, you know. Don’t underestimate my cooking!
Besides, this world has a surprising number of things similar to Earth, thanks to its convenient fantasy-world logic.
That means it has gas stoves, induction cooktops, ovens, and all that.
I was stunned the first time I saw them... but they’re convenient, so who cares?
“Ian, is there anything you want to eat?”
“Me? Anything you make would be fine.”
“Ugh...”
This guy. Flirting so naturally again...
“Ah! Ian! Why are you so brazenly trying to woo Plia?!”
“Not particularly. I’m just admitting how I feel. That I love Plia.”
“Brazen?!”
There it is?!
This guy! I thought he might hold back because Arin was here, but not at all!
“Hey, you?!”
“What’s wrong, Plia?”
“Ugh...”
-Flush
They say you can’t spit in the face of someone who’s smiling. This was exactly like that.
I’d been about to say something, but when I saw Ian smiling, the words wouldn’t come out.
Geez... You’re seriously annoying.
I ignored Ian and went into the kitchen.
Anything I wanted? Then I’d make something terrifying.
“You’re totally smitten...”
I pretended I hadn’t heard Arin’s voice behind me and started cooking.
Anyway, I’d make it as spicy and salty as possible.
I threw in plenty of something like chili powder, and something like gochujang... Wait, they had something like this?
In a fit of pique, I’d started throwing all kinds of things together to make Korean food, but there were more Korean ingredients than I’d expected.
...Though I’d never actually eaten anything made with gochujang before.
Anyway.
Since I had them, I might as well add plenty, along with rice cakes and fish cakes...
“...Plia, what is this? It looks like it’d kill me if I ate it.”
“Don’t worry. It’s food fit for human consumption.”
Tteokbokki complete!
Tteokbokki in a fantasy world. Good grief...
For the record, I also made cream tteokbokki for Arin. That was even easier.
“Here, Ian. Try it.”
“...This? Me?”
“Yeah! You said anything I made would be fine, right? Here, say ah~!”
I smiled brightly and offered the tteokbokki to Ian.
Hmph. I’ll give you back that same smile you gave me.
For the record, this tteokbokki was about as spicy as one of the levels at Yeopgi Tteokbokki, a place famous for its outrageously spicy food.
I was having a hard time with it myself. What would happen if a native fantasy-worlder who wasn’t used to spicy food ate it?
“...It’s spiiiiicy!!!!!”
That’s what would happen.
Mleh.