I Became the Must-Have Character of the Academy City

44 – Sudden Quest -1-

“Until you find what you want to do. Will you stay with me?”

“!”

Clara’s body stiffened at the unexpected suggestion. But her mind was busy working.

Rohan’s words seemed to have various meanings.

Clatter!

Rohan disposed of the plastic cup that only had ice left and gave a hollow laugh as he looked at Clara.

Wasn’t it quite ridiculous how anxious he was about this girl leaving?

“Ah, I need to fix this habit of always getting ahead of myself.”

“…?”

“Since it’s an important matter, Clara deserves a proper explanation, right?”

The girl nodded slightly with a bewildered face.

Rohan, who had stopped, took slow steps and spoke.

“After graduating from Orion Academy, if you settle in the academy city of Elysium, aiming for a job at the Public Security Bureau would be stable and good, but I’ve been leaning towards freelancing.”

“What do you mean by freelancing, oppa…?”

“It could be a hunter who catches monsters and sells materials like hides and fangs. Or, if necessary, a butcher who hunts beasts pretending to be human.”

A detailed explanation is better than a vague one.

As soon as Rohan finished speaking, he added another thought that came to mind.

“I have legitimate authority to enter the South without any troublesome procedures. That will also act as a big advantage.”

Isn’t it a land teeming with monsters spewed out by the Void Whale, without needing to go far?

Moreover, the location of the academy city Elysium is a golden spot nestled between powerful nations.

It’s an excellent place to sell valuable materials.

“If we set up an office, we could find a nest in a slightly cheaper spot outside the central area.”

Rohan sent a look asking if she was interested after finishing his words.

Clara took her lips off the straw and shared her thoughts.

“I was surprised that your plan was more detailed than I thought…”

“I thought it was just a rough outline, but I’m grateful if you see it positively.”

“I, I don’t know anything about that kind of stuff…”

Clara listened and thought. Even if it was a rough job, it seemed like it would be fun if she spent time with Rohan like that.

For a girl focused on living in the present, such an imagination felt like a light being added to a pitch-black future with no promises.

And Rohan felt the same.

He was relieved to recognize the part he was concerned about while speaking.

As expected, Clara wasn’t surprised at all by the sentence about dealing with monsters and humans.

“But, aren’t there many people at Orion Academy who are better than me…?”

Why recommend me when I’ve never shown anything properly? Such a question hung at the end of her trailing words.

Rohan shook his head at that.

“Not everyone at Orion Academy is at an abnormal level like Noah. You can tell just by looking at me and the cadets you see on the street, right?”

“.”

“And more important than skill is that our bodies and minds must be in sync.”

Clara’s heart pounded suspiciously at those words.

So she asked a question, more nervous than ever.

“Rohan oppa… do you think… we match well…?”

“Of course.”

The unreserved answer made the girl’s heart bloom with joy.

It bloomed very brightly.

“There’s still quite some time left. If Clara finds something she wants to do in the meantime, it’s okay to go that way.”

“Uh-huh…”

Even though she knew it was a good thing to say he would let her go if she wanted, it strangely approached the girl with a sense of disappointment.

‘Only in front of oppa… why am I like this, really?’

Clara couldn’t understand why her emotions were swaying like reeds and fluctuating like flames.

To the point where she suspected there might be something wrong with her mind.

“Receiving a steady salary is comfortable, but earning as much as you run isn’t bad either.”

It was a line that didn’t fit a cadet who had just entered the academy, as if it came from experience.

But Clara didn’t feel any sense of incongruity from Rohan’s atmosphere.

So the girl answered. Even if it felt hasty, she wanted to give an answer quickly.

Because she was afraid that Rohan, who looked at her kindly without malice, might leave.

“I, I’m interested in what you’re doing with oppa. I want to do it too…”

“!”

The girl liked the look of excitement on Rohan’s face at her words.

The realization that Rohan needed her made her body slightly warm.

“Oppa.”

“Yeah. I’m listening.”

“So… what exactly do I have to do…?”

At Clara’s positive response, Rohan continued speaking with a smile and a slightly raised voice.

Clara could feel that Rohan’s words had sped up a bit, making the older man seem cute to her.

“We’re doing it in two years, but we won’t just be playing around until then. We need to gain various experiences and earn some funds.”

The girl nodded as she listened attentively.

“Anyway, for now… a car is coming. It’s dangerous, so come inside.”

“…!”

Rohan grabbed Clara’s wrist and pulled her inside.

Vrooom!

A black van sped through the dark alley.

The person in the passenger seat threw a cigarette butt through the slightly open window.

“Huh?”

It was clear that it wasn’t a scene to feel anything special about.

Unless the license plate Rohan saw was 4885.

“That car number… black van with 4885…?”

“Oppa?”

There was no time to answer Clara’s question in detail.

Because a notification window popped up in front of my eyes along with recognition.

[ A quest has occurred. ]

[ Yellow Toads ]

Quest Content: You have discovered a vehicle belonging to the human trafficking group Hwangseomdan (). Rescue the hostages and report to the Elysium Security Agency.

Classification: Sudden

Success Reward: 1,500P

Penalty for Failure: None

Sudden quests that occurred probabilistically while exploring the map of Abyss City.

It was something Rohan had been waiting for.

‘No need to erase combat traces this time? And report to the Security Agency after the rescue…’

After a brief moment of consideration, Rohan decided that this situation was also a good opportunity for Clara.

He concluded that there would be no problem getting involved with the Security Agency.

Because he had learned the laws of the academy city Elysium in class.

In the academy city, human trafficking comfortably falls under the categories that allow summary execution even for civilians.

In a world like this, the laws are refreshingly straightforward, unlike in his previous life. He could roughly guess the reason for the rescue order, as the hostages’ testimony would be solid.

“…Clara.”

“Oppa, are you okay?”

“Are you okay? We still have time, right?”

“Uh, yeah? Time is fine, but…”

Clara swallowed hard as she looked at her wrist, held by Rohan.

She couldn’t possibly shake it off.

“I’ll show you lightly what we’re going to do next.”

*

Crash!

aaah!!!

A scream and the sound of something shattering. The men who had been sleeping in the container hurriedly ran out and looked around.

They had toad tattoos on their hands or necks.

“What was that commotion just now?”

The group’s gaze turned to the building with the lights off.

One of the windows that had been intact before they went to bed was now broken.

“No way, we just moved locations and got caught on the first job?”

“Hey, maybe the boss is just hitting someone? He seemed really on edge after getting pushed out of the district.”

“Crazy b*stard… Don’t mention getting pushed out in front of the boss.”

“I have some sense, you know. I would never do that.”

What they were saying was merely wishful thinking.

They knew that guessing wouldn’t give them answers. They had to see the situation with their own eyes, so they steadily moved their steps.

Just as they were about to enter the building next door and head for the stairs.

He found a woman with twin-tails of purple hair blocking the stairs.

It stood out more than the seriousness of the basement door being open.

A beauty that could captivate anyone.

The men almost habitually spat out lewd comments but swallowed them back.

The presence of someone who didn’t belong there heightened their wariness to the extreme.

Perhaps because they were distracted, they hadn’t even sensed her presence until now, let alone her magical power.

“Who the hell is this girl? Did you call her?”

“Oh, no way, boss!”

“Could she be a constable? I heard the constables here have a nose for this kind of thing.”

“No matter how good their noses are, we just started, so how could they…”

They exchanged opinions while each drew their weapons.

The guns and blades in their hands were all equally menacing.

“Hey, you guys are the bad people trafficking humans, right…?”

“What the hell is she saying?”

“Maybe she’s just a crazy woman? Even if she’s crazy, if she’s that pretty, we could sell her for a high price…”

As the woman avoided eye contact and showed passive behavior, the group’s momentum rose.

In the underworld, half the battle is about momentum.

Showing such a cowering gesture was as good as admitting defeat.

“We’ve already checked inside…”

The girl kicked a pebble on the ground with the tip of her shoe, sending it rolling.

The men’s gazes were drawn to the rolling stone fragment.

“Please, don’t cross that stone…! You can’t go in there right now…”

As the words were spoken, the upstairs window shattered, and shards rained down with a scream.

Crash!

aaah!!!

The scream was unmistakably one of the organization’s members.

The gatekeeper protecting the goods, no less.

“Damn! This is ridiculous.”

“Brother, the boss isn’t supposed to be away… This is strange.”

One of them, feeling uneasy, tried to step back, but the man who had cursed pushed forward with a scowl.

And in an instant.

Thwip!

A sharp sound as the wind was pierced.

The man who ignored the line and crossed it had a hole drilled in his head and collapsed with a thud.

In the girl’s pale hand was a silenced pistol, which no one had noticed her draw.

“I told you, you shouldn’t cross it…”