The Only Male Student in the Academy

163. Defense District – Battle of Gyeolgyesa Temple (1)

Dinner is a meat party.

Light the iron plate obtained from the auction house and put the meat on it.

-Chi Ik

A pleasant smell whets up the appetite.

In one pot, Marie’s special sauce made with various spices and ingredients is boiling.

If you dip a piece of meat into your mouth and skip the process of cooling the sauce, the juicy texture and soft texture of the meat burst out.

A pleasant meal time.

Nina had a heavy expression on her face.

“…Isn’t that stealing?”

“Be quiet, Nina.”

Claire immediately reprimands me.

“What are you saying that I don’t like? If taking unclaimed items is a crime, are all adventurers who take treasures from dungeons criminals?”

“…Even if it lost its owner, strictly speaking, it is an item kept in the County of Findelnerca.”

“Then you don’t mind if I tell Benit Findelnerca later? What do you think he can say to us?”

The honor of the Count Findelnerca family fell to the ground. It is difficult to say a word to not only me and Claire, who are high-ranking nobles, but also Marie.

So there’s no way they’ll say anything if we take some stuff.

“I don’t think we did anything particularly bad. We have to spend about 2 to 3 weeks here. We just prepared for the supply of supplies.”

You can make a meal with the ingredients Marie gathered, and the consumables I found can be useful in battle.

… Claire secretly took luxury goods, but she will take responsibility for that.

“In one way or another, we are hoping to normalize the County of Findelnerca. So, we plan to provide some help in resolving this situation and help you join Benit. Think of it as supplies for that purpose.”

“……I understand. If you say yes, I won’t say anything more.”

“So~, what is the next schedule for sending Nina to her senior’s side?”

Claire, trying to change the subject, asks that question. Since she stole luxury items for herself alone, is he doing this because he was stabbed?

Nina nodded her head as if she didn’t really care.

“Yes. As I explained before, Mr. Benit will be in the Eastern District using the warp gate on Marbella Coast.”

“Then I guess I have to go to the eastern district. Is the shortest route to the east through the central district?”

“That’s true, but it will probably be late by the time we arrive at the Eastern District. Benit will probably acquire the spark of the Holy Flame in the Eastern District and move to another district.”

Nina picks up her twigs and draws on her ground.

Rhombus.

She draws a circle at each corner and a square in the center.

The four circles at the vertices are the eastern district, western district, southern district, and northern district.

The square in the middle is the central district.

“The places Benit can go to from the Eastern District are the Northern District, Central District, and Southern District. At least among these, it is not the Southern District, which is an industrial district.”

Nina drew an X in the circle below her.

“Then what remains is the northern district or the central district.”

“Then shouldn’t we just go to the central district? There’s a count’s mansion in the central district, right? If it were me, I think you’d want to go to the mansion, right?”

“My opinion is different. If Master Benit is thinking of resolving the situation in the county, he will most likely head to the northern district.”

Tuktuk.

Nina said, touching her upper circle.

Claire saw that and nodded as if she realized something.

“Was it the Willot family? That’s where Joshua was briefly imprisoned before, right?”

“Yes. The northern district is where the private soldiers of Count Findelnerca’s family are gathered. The northern district, which has previously been called the defense district, has a training facility to train private soldiers.”

“It means that Count Findel Nerca’s power is at its peak. I don’t know if this situation can be solved by moving his private soldiers.”

Still, Benit would like to at least secure his troops.

Claire seemed to be thinking.

“Among these, Nina is the one who knows Benit the best. If that’s the case, then there’s no reason to oppose that opinion.”

I said so.

Marie and Claire also nodded in agreement.

So, our next destination was decided to be the northern region.

Let me tell you from the beginning. Even if you go to the northern district, you won’t be able to meet Benit.

Benit did not go to the northern district, nor did he go to the central district. We went to the southern district that Nina excluded from the beginning.

Nina’s rationale was very logical, but that doesn’t mean she can figure out all the variables.

After solving the case in the Eastern District, Benit receives some news.

[Kugel] “…Ah, can you hear me? This is an industrial district.”

[Kugel] “We are now trapped in the factory… There are monsters roaming around outside, and some of the personnel have defected…”

[Kugel] “There is almost no food left… We are trying to pass the time by holding a sit-in protest, but we cannot hold out for long…”

[Kugel] “If you are hearing this voice, I request that you send reinforcements urgently…”

His vassal Kugel, who manages the southern district, activates wide-area communication magic.

The message has been delivered to the east, west, north, and center, but no place has the capacity to send reinforcements.

The western district is trapped scattered here and there without being able to gather.

The northern district also cannot move, and the center has no response at all.

The Eastern District, which has put an end to the incident, does not have the resources to handle the matter.

In the end, only Lucius’ party can move.

[Benit] “…Let’s go to the southern district.”

[Benit] “I cannot ignore my people.”

It was inevitable that Benit, the next lord of the Count Findelnerca family, would make such a decision. So Lucius and his group head to the southern district.

Of course, it is completely different from what we are heading to the northern district.

‘It’s rather good.’

As expected, Nina will likely take the west-north-east-south-middle route, and Lucius will take the east-south-west-north-middle route. Nina and Lucius will only meet in the final central district.

In the central district, the game is decided in an instant, so Lucius practically does not have time to increase Nina’s favorability rating. If you hold on to Nina until then, you will almost certainly avoid the Yandere bad ending.

So, all I have to do is farm Nina’s items while pretending to guide her to Benit.

“Claire, pick up the lantern.”

The day dawns and we begin our journey again.

The first thing I did as soon as I cleared out the campsite was to hand Claire the lantern.

“…Can I hear it? Isn’t the person who has to give directions supposed to listen?”

“Yes, it’s just as you said. The person doing the directions needs to listen. So I’m leaving it up to you.”

“Hmm?”

I tilted my head as if I didn’t understand.

As mentioned before, ‘Embers of Sanctification’ is a quest item that gives various effects.

It greatly increases the path finding success rate, reduces the mental power stat consumption required for path finding, lowers the encounter rate with monsters, and even suppresses infection accumulation.

The important thing was to increase the success rate of long kicks.

In other words, as long as anyone is equipped with the spark of torch, they are guaranteed a certain degree of success in finding the way.

“That’s it. I’m not sure, but I’ll give it a try….Huh?”

Claire looked at the lantern in confusion.

“This is it. The spark seems to have gotten smaller. Is it because of my mood?”

“I don’t think it’s because of my mood. In fact, it probably got a little smaller.”

As mentioned earlier, the flame of the torch has overwhelming performance, but as such, it comes with its own set of conditions for use.

A gauge is set for the embers of the torch.

As time passes, the gauge gradually decreases and when the number reaches 0, the flame goes out.

It will probably turn off after 3 days.

“…Four or three days?”

Next to me, Mari blinked in surprise.

“Wow, isn’t that too tight…? Yes, it would probably take about a day by carriage….”

The County of Findelnerca is roughly the same size as Gyeonggi-do.

If you take a carriage and travel to the northern district as Marie said, it will take about a day. If you walk, it takes about 2 days.

However, these two days only refer to a time when the Territory Defense Technique was not activated.

As route finding consumes your mental power stat, there is a limit to the distance you can travel per day. If you think about it that way, three days is quite a short period of time.

If you are unlucky and do not arrive within 3 days, the flame of the torch will be extinguished along the way.

From there, you have to find your way in the dark again, so if you’re not careful, it could take more than a week.

“Oh my… I should have brought more sparks.”

“I’m sorry, Claire Entirus.”

“Don’t criticize me, Claire. From the beginning, the flame of the torch can only be maintained in a specific place.”

Even if you bring a larger lantern or more lanterns, it will be difficult to maintain it for more than 3 days anyway. Because it’s not a matter of fuel to burn the embers.

If a priest character had been in the party, the flame could have been delayed from going out.

“Let’s stop chatting and move quickly.”

It’s no use blaming something that isn’t there. There is no answer other than doing your best to move in a timely manner.

First, Claire tries to find her way. Because of the power of the sacred flame, he did it about 10 times.

And then Nina does the route finding. Nina said she had a high success rate in finding her way from the beginning, so she did it about 34 times.

Lastly, me.

I attempted navigation a total of 50 times.

“Whoa….”

Exhale and concentrate your consciousness. An indescribable sensation seeped deep into my body.

I didn’t understand everything, but I felt like I had at least a piece of it in my hands.

But even that feels like a castle built on sand. Since nothing was certain, I just moved in the direction I wanted to take. Every time you cross a border, the landscape changes.

The route finding success rate is determined by a total of three factors.

The first is the faith stat. But none of us have a high faith stat.

The second is the presence or absence of faith skills. This also applies to none of us.

The third is the presence or absence of detection skills. Nina has a lot of detection skills, and Claire also has a detection magic called .

None of the three apply to me.

However, his mental strength stat is higher than that of other party members.

Attempting to find a path consumes your mental strength stat. Since I have high mental power and have more magazines than other party members, I just compensate for the success rate with more attempts.

There may have been a few failures during the 50 route finding process.

In the end, we would have achieved more success and progressed.

I just believe.

Nina is a short slipper.

It has been like this both innately and acquired.

She was originally a sleeper, but the owner of the house who taught Nina encouraged her to sleep even less.

If she had time to sleep, she would sacrifice her life to protect her master.

Some people seemed to regard the teachings as abuse.

Nina never really found it painful.

I don’t really like sleeping.

Don’t you think that sleep is somehow related to death?

You even lose your sense of self and can’t even think straight. So while you are sleeping, can you say that you are yourself?

Even if you are a little tired, moving your body suits your temperament.

As a thief, it is uncomfortable to be trapped somewhere, even if it is a dream world.

So even if you sleep a lot, it’s only 4 hours.

When I sleep a little, I only sleep for about 2 hours.

Even with that, some of the fatigue is relieved.

That’s why Nina opened her eyes in the middle of the night.

“…….”

Killing and moving is a specialty.

No, it would be better to say that I don’t know how to do anything other than this. That’s the extent of your worth if you don’t know how to cook or do laundry.

She slipped out of the tent so quietly that no sound could be heard.

Ariel can be seen.

“……………….”

Ariel sitting by the bonfire. She is on watch.

That means the first trial wasn’t even over yet. It will be quite some time before her turn comes.

Nina nodded her head and climbed her wall.

This is the That Claire erected before going to sleep. She set up several walls to limit the possible entry points of monsters. Nina climbed up on one of them and she just sat down.

There is no special reason there.

Nominally, it is to stand watch on its own. To help Ariel if she dozes off or if a monster approaches her.

It was the same behavior that Marie and Claire would do when it was their turn to be on watch. When Ariel finds out about this, she will scold herself.

However, I think people would understand if I said that this is also a kind of rest.

Nina hated being stuffy, and surprisingly, she liked observing someone else.

“Eh, Ariel….”

A rustling sound was heard from the tent. Her voice trembled along with it.

Nina knew who she was right away. This is Marie Ruhelif.

“What’s going on? I guess there’s still time left until my shift change… Bathroom?”

“Well, that’s not it… I can’t sleep…”

Marie hesitantly sat down next to Ariel.

“It’s the second time, will you be okay?”

“Gwae, it’s okay… If I finish the second second, I can sleep all the way through….”

“Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Uh, yes….”

“…….”

“……………….”

With that, the conversation between the two people ended.

However, the atmosphere did not seem as awkward as expected. Should I just say that it feels natural for the two of them to be together?

Marie was a little nervous as she leaned her body against Ariel.

Ariel also smiled at Marie and held her hand.

Ah, I see.

Those two people eventually became lovers.

We have done some research into the relationship between Marie Ruheliffe and Ariel Beheritt. She knows that Ariel saved Marie’s life during the ‘Bamir terrorist incident’ at the end of her freshman year.

Since then, the two have been seen hanging out together, and during vacations, they conquered catacomb dungeons together.

I saw two people at the Count’s residence who seemed to be having a secret meeting at night. Did it ultimately lead to an affair?

‘…… Then what about Claire Entirus?’

Nina knows that Claire also frequently went in and out of the room Ariel was staying in. Considering the difference in her status, she thought she would be in love with him.

Isn’t human relationship a bit complicated? Or is that man crossing his legs?

“Marie, I have something to tell you.”

I’m so lost in thought.

Ariel spoke her words in a serious voice.

“I have memories of my past life.”