Sleeping just enough feels refreshing.
But if you sleep too much and wake up, the pain of catching up on overdue homework can be felt in your body.
“Ugh! So stiff!”
I stretched my arms and rolled left and right until my eyes popped open with a sparkle.
Yes, if I’m going to grow up strong one day, I need to stretch beforehand!
While imagining a towering height of 230cm, I felt an inexplicable strange sensation.
Paaaan!
It felt like someone was watching me nearby.
I know the identity of this phenomenon I feel in bed.
“Sleep paralysis? Lin, it’s you again!”
As I infused my ring with mana, Lin, who had been messing with screws on the carriage floor, crawled up in a disheveled manner.
“…”
Lin didn’t quite understand, but she had a sulky expression, making it clear that if I didn’t apologize for bothering her right now, she’d throw a fit.
Having spent so much time in the form of a little girl, this shabby ghost had naturally succumbed to the girlhood degeneration of her mind.
“Were you staring, Lin? Hmph. Usually, you just stare at me like a stalker while I sleep, so I mistook it for something else. So, you were the one in the wrong!”
With a squirm, a purple evil energy blossomed from Lin’s fingertips, and a beam shot out.
[Fake Lin – Curse Arts]
[The curse that comes after eating fruit’s sourness]
[The curse that burdens the veins after eating cheese potato pizza]
[The curse that requires pricking your thumb with a needle to feel better]
The cute little girl revealed the true nature of her ghostly group.
Combining her
[Cursed Resistance]
Hehe. But I’ve already cast a curse on you!
Desperate harassment led to an increase in curse resistance!
As I was engulfed in the purple beam, just when I felt the resistance-boosting effect fading, I sprang up.
“Take that!”
[You have deflected Fake Lin’s curse back at her with Dark Mana Control. Unfortunately, Fake Lin is a ghost and cannot be affected by curses.]
[Cursed Resistance Experience +1]
After putting in some morning resistance work, I was preparing to head out for a running function I did every dawn with Dolphin Pants sisters when a question struck me.
There’s no wardrobe here.
What’s this?
Ah-ha.
This isn’t the Academy!
After blinking a few times and looking around the room, I realized.
This place is an area enchanted with expansion magic.
It was the interior of a treasure carriage used by the emperor to secretly collect special materials throughout the empire.
“Huh. It was the emperor who saw me, not Fake Lin!”
“Looks like you’re making quite the racket.”
The emperor’s voice echoed throughout the room without any intention of hiding it.
I picked up the room phone, which was the trigger to exit the expanded space, and pressed the number.
Drrr.
Beyond the open door was a long hallway filled with doors leading to similar rooms. When I flipped over a picture hanging on the wall, a way to the hidden room opened.
Entering the control room that monitored all the rooms, I saw numerous magical panels displaying different areas of the treasure carriage, along with the relaxed-faced emperor sitting in front of them, and for some reason, a rather disassembled Jiang.
“Hi, Jiang!”
“Oknodie… we’re best friends, right?”
“Hmm? We are best friends!”
“Then why haven’t you consulted me? You’ve been suffering daily from your ghost friend’s unending woes, experiencing the painful curses.”
“It’s not really that painful! If your curse resistance is high enough, the damage taken from curses decreases!”
“Wait, are you saying you’ve endured it long enough to build your resistance… that you’ve experienced it so long you don’t even feel it anymore… you fool.”
“Hey! I’m not a fool!”
It felt like I was venting to Jiang for the first time in ages.
“Oh right. I passed out for a bit, didn’t I? How long have I been status-impaired?”
“A week.”
“Wh-What?! That’s impossible! The blackout should have only lasted about an hour!”
“Whatever it means, I understood you’re giving a ridiculous excuse that Oknodie’s calculations were wrong.”
“Grr. I’m angry but can’t refute that!”
As I worried if Jiang would tease me like Masugaki, I was surprised by the warmth covering my body.
“If you understand, don’t ever do that again.”
Colorless and odorless.
It felt as if a formless, chilly veil was swaying softly in the breeze in Jiang’s embrace.
Even as I dazedly nodded, Jiang didn’t let go.
“Jiang?”
“…Ugh.”
“Ow! That hurts! Owow!”
The assassin’s close-range
“Just making sure it hurts.”
I could have easily endured it by using the technique of pain nullification, but there was an inexplicable feeling that I shouldn’t.
After suffering to the point of tearing up, Jiang finally ceased her torment.
[Your understanding of [Jiang] has increased.]
━━━
Jiang’s Understanding
No Betrayal (Understanding 20) – Anyone who betrays her must be ready for death.
Possessiveness (Understanding 40) – After training to lose many weaknesses, including senses and emotions, a craving to not let go of what she holds has developed.
If I can’t have it, I’ll destroy it (Understanding 60) – Jiang will destroy whatever she cannot acquire. Whether it’s items, grades, or perhaps even friends.
Prove it (Understanding 80) – The lonely child sometimes wants to prove their relationship with one another. If she doesn’t feel the necessary stimulation she desires…
━━━
[Your understanding of [Jiang] has surpassed 20.]
[You already possess the first special privilege [Assassin’s Friend].]
[Jiang’s favorability increase rate has risen.]
[Your understanding of [Jiang] has surpassed 40.]
[You already possess the second special privilege [Best Friend – Jiang].]
[Becoming Jiang’s best friend opens up special night activities (stealth, assassination) with her.]
[Your understanding of [Jiang] has surpassed 60.]
[You sense the third special privilege [Sensory Destruction].]
[[Jiang] has used fearsome assassination techniques that numb the senses through the use of pain nullification.]
[However, Jiang faces the courage to confront her sensations rather than being intoxicated by the comfort of numbness, allowing her to use even more refined and lethal techniques.]
[Your understanding of [Jiang] has surpassed 80.]
[You sense the fourth special privilege [Yandere].]
[[Jiang] feels alive through the pain that transcends numbness, realizing the importance of someone.]
[If you fail to establish enough emotional connection with her, Jiang will inflict pain on herself or you to confirm her feelings.]
[Be careful. The more you try to distance yourself from her, the more pain Jiang will seek to confirm her feelings.]
Ah-ha.
I must have instinctively recalled Jiang’s yandere data stored in the veteran’s database.
Such an understanding tech tree exists!
In the [Restored Emotions] route, she isn’t this pesky and annoying, but lacks attack power.
So personally, I prefer the [Yandere] route.
There’s no way I wouldn’t love an assassin character whose attack power increases, especially since I named my character [One-Shot-Invested-Character-Loves-That-Exterminator].
“Still, it’s super annoying!”
“What’s annoying… Grr.”
I grabbed Jiang’s arm and bit it with my mouth.
Jiang, whose arm was bitten, asked me with a puzzled expression as she shook her arm.
“Oknodie, what are you doing?”
“I worked hard and then ended up being scolded, so I feel wronged. I’m going to scold you too!”
“Giggle. Biting is scolding?”
Scared, huh?
There will be a bite mark on your pale arm.
You won’t easily forget this humiliation, Jiang!
“Giggle. I really won’t forget this.”
For some reason, Jiang seemed to be in a much better mood.
As I tried to communicate amicably, the emperor snapped his fingers.
“Watching kids at this age is simply delightful. However, I can’t afford to waste any more precious time. Oknodie, child of the Foundation, it’s time for you to fulfill the
“Oh right. If you share some tips on making a +20 enhancement, the emperor promised to help too!”
“What help do you desire?”
If I was going to get help from the emperor, it would definitely be that.
“Please open the royal library door to find the [Confirm Enhancement Card] hidden in the Forbidden Research Institute!”
“Understood. However, spatial overlap may strain the carriage, so let’s step outside for a moment.”
When I opened the window of the corridor with engraved expansion magic and stepped out, a huge, old carriage creaked behind me.
From the outside, it looked like nothing more than a cargo carriage, indistinguishable in appearance.
It was probably the emperor’s carriage that one would awkwardly get on with a mere 0.1% chance while wandering the empire.
“Oknodie. Is the Forbidden Research Institute more dangerous than that library at the Academy?”
“That place is far more dangerous! The Academy’s professors and seniors at least tidy things up, but the empire’s forbidden library is a hellhole without a librarian!”
“…Are you really going to volunteer to go in there? What if you encounter something dangerous like the Book of Mental Suppression?”
With the mask removed, Jiang’s expression looked as cold as if she was still wearing it.
To comfort the now tense Jiang, I gently stroked the arm that bore the bite mark.
“!”
She truly flinched as if her stress had peaked.
I smiled slyly at her as she relaxed.
“So this time, I asked the emperor for help. This way, I can look around without any restriction on forbidden reading!”
Although the journey to the library might be a bit troublesome, I could endure it, having experienced the hassle during the Academy’s library expedition.
Even the Crown Prince wouldn’t bother with the Forbidden Research Institute since it’s all messed up!
“But aren’t we taking the carriage to the Forbidden Research Institute?”
“No need for that. We’ve already raided it.”
“Eh?”
The emperor fluttered his cape and pulled out a book.
━━━
[Forbidden Library Entrance Log]
Those who have written their names in the log may enter the Forbidden Library.
However, if the writing in the log fades, the one who wrote it will be devoured by the Forbidden Library.
Those unprepared without special ink.
Those who carelessly activated defensive spells that erased the ink out of curiosity.
Shall become part of the forbidden text…
Those unprepared should not enter recklessly.
━━━
It was the entrance log to the Forbidden Library!
The emperor really had the entrance log.
That only confused me further.
“Wasn’t the Forbidden Research Institute supposed to be stored in the royal treasury? Why did you bring this? Aren’t you the emperor who can enter the treasury anytime you want?”
“Ah. Did you lose consciousness and not know? I am no longer the Emperor of the Empire. I must be referred to as the former emperor, the late emperor.”
“Eh?”
“The current emperor is Massugaki, the second princess. Therefore, I am prohibited from entering the treasury. Thus, I took all the treasures necessary for great undertakings when leaving the palace. The magic tools that would rot in the treasury will surely be delighted to finally be in the hands of their true owner.”
“Eh?!”
What does this mean?
In my daze, Jiang began to narrate the recent events.
“You’re playing dumb. Anyway, it’s all flowing according to Oknodie’s plan that received the secret orders from the Foundation. It was all part of the plan for Son Ohchun to become the Revolutionary Army General, Jezel becoming the second revolutionary, the warrior becoming the emperor’s assassin, and Massugaki becoming the Empress.”
What a super fun event.
Why do I feel left out of an event that everyone else seems to know about!
Tears welled up in my eyes out of frustration.
“Oknodie. Are you crying because everyone is successful and relieved?”
Sniff… “That’s not it!”
“Giggle. Oknodie is surprisingly shy. Alright. I’ll take it as if that’s not the case.”
As I genuinely wept next to Jiang, who was radiating a warm vibe like a traveler who has heard heartwarming stories, she patted my shoulder.
