Chapter 38: Dupe Bug (1)
fIr3s9Isabelle Kirmin, a 2nd year student of the Magic Department, had a very deep concern these days.VbJm2
RzPIt had been about two months since the vampire awakening incident of her best friend, Marie. Despite all the chaos it created, it actually didn’t take that long for Marie to fuse back into her peer group.hqjd4Y
4YVqU“Marie. Are you having lunch?”KEaMo
KTEsrU“Uuunn?”azDhu
r6vfDuring lunch time, Marie was sucking on a large pack of blood like it was juice.7fcz
xhfBU“Is it another blood pack today?”UKgK
tjUTwx“Un.”e9cbA
vxBpb2“Should I lend you my neck if you want some fresh blood?”L1h7X8
FycMsRo“Mhmm~. You’re too skinny Ruine, so no! I would prefer it if the person was a bit more buff!”mD45hR
YvN“Oh my, that’s so nice of you! Hohoho!”gPw0f2D
YbGMarie was now okay enough to joke around with her classmates about blood.iPv1
JZKzc“M, Marie!”q2DhXqR
3ESiQh“Nnn? Kane?”6sQ
55KIKane, a 2nd year student from the Knight Department, suddenly walked up to Marie and fidgeted his fingers. The innocent love of this boy with disheveled hair was so obvious and famous that everyone knew about it except for Marie.ju7
FkVfue“Umm… actually! I did a blood donation yesterday and took a pack of blood while I was at it!”HMlQNc
9qStHe resolutely tried to hand over his blood pack as if it was a love letter.Ii1uBG5
7zknm‘Ehew, that retard.’KBd
R27dDid he think it was a romantic gift or something?egea6HK
WpP4i“Umm…”QhGt
4Lv5o5XEven though she had become a vampire, Marie seemed to be finding it nonsensical to receive the blood of a peer, and shook her head with a troubled look on her face.8nbZ2a3
aptleE“I, it’s fine. I am receiving more than enough blood packs from Professor Josephine regularly.”76iVbh6
FXhRFjQ“R, really? Then should I give you my neck…!”6U7VdcQ
7TyP9‘Th, that retard! Freaking blockhead!’K99Kkg2
7TJnIKane had been reading a bunch of novels and books about vampires ever since Marie turned into one, and it seemed that a strange piece of knowledge had settled in his head. Did he think Marie would gladly accept it if he offered his neck?xP0OZ
ctW“I’m alright!”Y16
IP4bcqK“Huh?”JIITKV
ewwT“Sucking directly from a person is dangerous! And blood packs are enough to fill my stomach!”X2948K
r7uC42Saying that, Marie left the classroom while Kane became the target of a bunch of criticism for creating an awkward atmosphere.ZCn
427a52F“Hah… you idiot.”kGZ
O5yC“Do you not think about how Marie would feel?”iF51yy
7QFk“N, no. I…!”CHbSox
CmnbQVh“You need to be more thoughtful. Okay?”49DF
yepisLeaving behind the retarded Kane, Isabelle chased after Marie. As someone who had the experience of having her blood sucked out by Marie, Isabelle remembered how sad she was after sucking blood and the tears she shed.Ab6
oxsxGYShe was chasing after her friend to give her words of consolation while hoping that she wasn’t feeling depressed but…sXx
cYnB0“Korin?”51zo4w
FT7“Senior Marie? Are you done with your lesson?”f1FvMO
1kQ“Nn.”GVaLUmF
HrPTTSIn the corridor of the same floor, Isabelle noticed Marie encountering someone.WoLE1h1
SzRWiL‘That guy…!’zBl
ibwqi9Korin Lork.wob7
JnQdAdHe was the freshman who had been roaming around Marie these days that required the most caution.pG7DBtg
Gqd63Training room was the place she first met Korin. By showing a reckless attempt at defeating an elemental body as a weak Grade 5 freshman, he gathered the eyes of a lot of people.PLAMp
4OdEver since that, he started showing off his presence wherever he went and Isabelle noticed from the side that Marie had started being conscious of him.06lz
AKTaG1The opponent was a Grade 5 random knight, but after the interim assessment where he came out even against Sword Master Lunia Arden, he became a hot topic among her peers.dkuNY
ZubzOAHe was currently believed to be Grade 1 at the very least, and there were rumors that the professors of the Knight Department were preparing another grading test for Korin, who had shown an unprecedented level of skill.B7b
TueSAt this point, it was clear that he was a lot stronger than what others initially made him out to be, but there was something about Korin that Isabelle just didn’t like.Cz2X
99t8p“Senior Marie. Would you like some blood?”YVaFYS
U9g3oqK“U, umm…!”lE5X
LCe1BqTWow, so there’s another retard like Kane here! Did you think Marie would go ‘Of course!’ and bite your neck or something? Teenage boys are all idiots!nFf
2lA“O, okay…”aVeCfTX
99TBTIeIT WORKED?!UpNbtF
u8cThe two of them headed to a remote classroom and locked the door.by0O6JB
Jk9a…37mwD
IE1qTHEY LOCKED THE DOOR?!fzvkW9
PzIIsabelle hurriedly dashed to the door and brought her ear to the door as much as possible.JaPV8v7
NQVt7————99Ykh6c
qZHWf2Hearing the sensual voice of her best friend and the gulps behind the door was… a nerve-wracking experience.RSe6
9XpK“Oh right. Senior. Did you think about the thing I talked about last time?”Wq3My
C0IGh3x“N, nnn?”NRpwTRJ
ubMYThe somewhat dreamy voice of her best friend made it evident that she wasn’t in the right state of mind to make a rational judgment.f85g
A1cAi8Z“You know the land we bought when we were registering the dojo last time? The dojo has collapsed anyway, so I was thinking about building an inn there.”Dw9V
WqV8HH“An inn?”m0Iltyv
Os3oNp“Yes. How about you invest a bit? It’s always better to have more money, you see.”6mAQwl
HjiGTz“Maybe…?”F2rwqt
v4q“You should. I bet you the profit will be at least 3 times the investment. I am sure of it.”ZAUAA
JSYUX2nThat was obviously a scam! The profit being at least 3 times the investment? There was no way Marie would fall for such a ridiculous scam—-dB5n
euQMF“Okay… How much do you need?”JengcqP
2UPvSHE FELL FOR IT?!LTL
avyl70WStop Marie, stop! You are being scammed! You are like the typical image of a sugar mama who falls for a man and ruins the finances of the family!rVa
IKwtVIsabelle couldn’t help but be astonished by the innocence of her friend. However, after sensing that the two of them were about to leave the classroom, she quickly dashed off to the end of the corridor and hid herself behind a wall.HbU
A4TjIwu“Haa…”hsH
KushhmUThe two people soon left the class in a disordered state. Marie’s cheeks were conspicuously flushed and she had trouble collecting her breath.4XgUfuB
3Ym“You can write… as much as you need on the check and withdraw it…”6qJf
pV72uh“Very good. Huhaha.”jk5C
LOUMASBMy friend! She’s being deceived!1r2iKPa
mt3A freshman in his 1st year was playing around with Marie!Exr5
8K88DeVHowever, that wasn’t the end of the astonishing events.TOob
3DRIt was right when Isabelle left the training rooms after practicing magic.VLZ8
p8Z“Mr. Korin!”qxed
n9yUHwW“I’m telling you you can drop the formalities.”uv1e
qDOhQ9o“Ah, umm, it’s a bit… embarrassing.”U85zjkp
eMKlv93“Seriously.”ewn
VNJHqLG“Are you here to practice again?”w4z
P2Mn“Yep. Just some basic stamina.”EH3fRj
d2V27“That’s very diligent of you.”qTYN2A
anR5rSl“Whatever it is, the basics are the most important.”gz65I
BcZ“Shall we do it together?”PAR9k1g
Y16KzWhat, what? Who is it this time?zKHgk1W
MYZ3eJXIsabelle realized who that girl was immediately after seeing her face.Atwz
LkdbAlicia Arden – she was the famous granddaughter of Garrand Arden the Sword Emperor. She was the younger sister of Sword Master Lunia Arden, who had recently come as an invited instructor for the interim exam! And plus, there was news that she had recently killed the infamous criminal John Doe.XmPBh1v
lRaq“Why would such a bigshot…”CTiK
7nQUIsabelle was just like other people in that she didn’t know about the presence of Korin Lork and the other party members during the John Doe incident.1CC
O4UspJ“Huh, Isabelle? Are you here for practice?”CJB
mNEf1That was when a peer from the Knight Department called her while leaving the training room. She was sweating a bunch and it seemed that she was out for a quick rest.qXIO
Tvcnt3Q“Yeri. Do you know that freshman over there?”aoJ
SZk7“Freshman? Oh, you mean the lady from Arden?”mNkm
JO3GUEn“No. I mean the guy.”qDOX
RHcsf“Korin Lork? Of course I do.”CZiL
Qg6mKBj“You do?”wgc6h
JpRuWas he very famous? Well, it wasn’t strange because he did quite well against Sword Master Lunia but…VoJJorn
UMi“He’s famous for being crazy. There’s a rumor that he uses 16 hours out of 24 hours everyday on training.”joWSTM
pn42j“T, that much?”fuQSl
fv8or7P“It’ll be hard to find anyone that doesn’t know about Korin Lork in the Knight Department. You know Old Man Haman, right? He gives him meal tickets on a regular basis.”jlOMOiH
lf3WK3“That stubborn old man?”2O0
qQziAny student of the Academy knew about the infamous obstinacy of Old Man Haman. He was very strict when it came to rewards and punishment – he gave out rewards to diligent students and punishment to the lazy ones.hUii
vbuEQpMeal ticket was the best form of goodwill that he showed to his students, and there were only two students among the 2nd year students who received one from him.q5zax
HRS54xj“You know what? He even received a ticket for Holy Panda last time!”jt5
f7a0uQWas she talking about that place where fries were sold for a silver coin and a half?oiiIo
2Ix3Wasn’t that like that best dating place that every couple in the Academy dreamed of? Wait… wait!uQe
nFGL『Isabelle! Do you think this is better or this? It’s the dress I ordered during the winter banquet, but I think it’s a bit small now. I feel stuffy around my chest, but isn’t it still very pretty?』lHcuIi
4FYu『Didn’t you say you were going to give that to your sister? Why are you taking that out all of a sudden?』nalW
6FsAlK『Mhmm…! Actually, I have to go to a slightly formal restaurant!』wk7dmEG
cf3kJ『Wow~. Is it something related to your family?』hQfmp
WQ4lrtM『I, I guess? In a way?』ANx2R
Gtq『What restaurant is it? It depends on the restaurant if it’s fine-dining, right?』z4MZ2
BF5jN2K『Do you know Holy Panda?』C0UMn
ImxIsabelle couldn’t contain her hands from trembling.InuA
BZLEXThere’s no way… seriously?Tu89
L5N8In shock, Isabelle was thinking back on Marie’s weekend date which she glossed over by saying it was related to her household, but that was when an unignorable voice reached her ears.omO23S
vxGw“Oh right. Alicia. Do you have time this weekend?”e2sb
0bcFvk“Time?”VqgG8nC
8zDJ“Yeah. I got a meal ticket from Old Man Haman. It’s for a place called Tangerine Steak House or something.”7L7f3
P8x“Wow…! D, do you mean that legendary high-class steak franchise store?”dvB5
k3DApc“What do you mean legendary? It’s just a franchise, isn’t it?”du9
9XS“T, there weren’t any branches in my hometown so I’ve never been there before.”ay8GxJq
Qs8vp“Yeah. Well, you need more meat. Knights like us need meat to fight.”iwu7
Tne“I agree 100%!”f40j5O
EIR3a7“I’ll give you the tickets so go eat with your friend.”IaA
F3BGIf their conversation stopped there, Isabelle would have considered it a pure goodwill.QD7
kfI4Yt“Will that… be okay? What about you, Mr. Korin?”mHlp
54BXPzw“I’ve been there a lot so I’m okay.”Afbh
aB38Ld0“W, would you like to go together?!”Ux3
OjSWhatt?q1pn
6eGsBQIsabelle immediately turned her head towards Alicia and focused her eyes on her. Evident from how she was fidgeting her fingers in embarrassment after saying that, it seemed that she was aware that she had proposed a date of some sort.zSD9
SdNjDamn it! Korin Lork! How could he deceive two girls in just 2 months!?!ulVpY
6PhW4“That’s okay too.”ZWuEk91
Ia7“Really?”AAWOCp
e9CGHe had Marie so what was he doing?!bsp
3JVHEzq“Oh yeah. How much money do you have?”lbrRn
Q8wc5“Money? Umm… not much.”zOfFK
qMsz“You know the bounty we got? I’m telling you because we’re friends… Remember the investment I talked about last time—-”urks
j0wvMy gosh. Isabelle realized that this must be how it felt to have her heart stop for a moment.jlmflO
qjeThat freaking scammer was reaching out his fiendish arms at the second daughter of the Arden family even though he already had Marie!RB5Qb
NlKkPUBAlthough Korin had given the offer because he was worried about his peer who was leading a poor life, there was no way that Isabelle would be aware of Alicia’s impoverished life and the lack of support funds due to her family being in the top 10 percentile of the country.SQcC
EsRThat wasn’t the end of Isabelle’s astonishment. She was heading to the academy cafeteria for a meal and that was when she found Korin Lork chatting with another girl.jMumlYn
U09AQE“Meal.”SYxP7HI
fve“…Do I owe you money or something?”VFG
LXGIt was a freshman girl wearing nun clothes with chains. She was Hua Ran, who was also famous among the senior students because of her outfit.zsZU5
7mYIsabelle also remembered her well for being the freshman who injured Marie during the prac lesson at the hunting grounds.zufe1J
Uv0O“…Sushi.”Vcz
LSFB“The one we had last weekend was good, right?”ZZmGK
2uZi4A– Nod nod.edtU
FbmHow fearsome, Korin Lork! How many innocent ladies did he lure out with food!?XPqJv
sgJBEThere were talks about how food was the number one thing that lowered people’s vigilance the most – was he intentionally using that as bait to slowly approach them?Remy
oDNs“If you’re okay with fried ones, then you can come with me to the restaurant I’m going to in the central streets.”k9XbW
xUH9T“Okay.”bKvAA9
jUCHe nonchalantly carried on with Hua Ran as if he was used to taking her around.tFSj0
8G2Doesn’t he have Marie?yQ0xPuI
UQf9Doesn’t he have Alicia?nHBU
16IhKHOAt this point, it was more frightening than anything. Korin Lork! How many girls did he catch with those fiendish arms of his?Td5VCYn
YcIT“Oh yeah. Do you have some cash?”caQ0vT
YPdU3B“??”RsHjt
BUQ“I know this amazing thing to invest in.”K148Qx5
t2exGV“…Do whatever you want.”tS7Wl
w00NJMyHow fearrrsommee! Korin Loorrrrkkk!!l1w
bshUXEAfter that, when Korin Lork was studying with a druid girl at the library, and also when he was furtively suggesting his peers and the boy that used to be famous as a mercenary for an investment…yPWKR
kkHKmZDue to a strange set of coincidences, Isabelle was near them during every one of those moments and became certain.DlML0V
IyIUNKorin Lork must be planning out a massively enormous scam!3om8C
sbCWFlY****tuGQo6c
ORvopouTwo weeks went by after Alicia and Lunia’s incident.wvSZoe
Z20oHQEarly May – a refreshing spring breeze was gently blowing across while I was out of the Academy and was at the outskirts of the city.bFRMe
PJcI was in the abandoned dojo which I bought after borrowing money from Marie to create a justification for issuing a challenge against Lunia and the Five Swords.acx
Jkya5 gold coins went into business registration. Adding that to the money that went into reconstructing the original gym into a dojo, hiring a mercenary to be a one-day instructor and taxes, we used up a total of 97 gold coins.D4x5
9z8It was close to 100,000 US dollars, and all of this had come from Marie’s pocket. I was still grateful for what she did.6KriH6
T4wBut seriously, I wasn’t expecting her to take out 100 gold coins in one go… It was to the point that I wondered, ‘Was it that easy for mages to earn money?’QXkZ
PfbmAnyway, due to the duel between Alicia and Lunia, the building was pretty much broken down so now, I was planning on using the 50 gold coins Lunia gave me for the reconstruction to invest in this plot of land.5e8dimi
h3iFirst off, the gold coins that were given to me and Alicia as compensation for defeating John Doe, the Murderer of the City of Fog, was 110 gold coins in total.A0GBDOO
bMVuTI changed the money I owed Marie straight into investment and also gained some cash from my peers.OqgGX
jBiBWhat surprised me was that Hua Ran and Yuel had more cash than I expected. Hua Ran had a fairly large amount of property that was being managed by the New Faith, and as for Yuel, there were a lot of things she brought from the forest and thus had a lot of assets under her name.JE2TzA
xUz3gr9Both Lark and Jaeger trusted my words and invested a large sum for a student, but the biggest shock was obviously Dorron. To think he was that loaded…pZaA
EmWIn total, I gained 550 gold coins and bought this entire piece of land.Fh76i
bqiQRoThis land had originally been bought by a construction company to build houses and became useless once the company went bankrupt in the middle of the construction.PeG5Z
BfGGSIt was in a slightly questionable location on top of that and was thus abandoned with no visitors, but I was planning on building something to use as an inn on this piece of land that I bought.gf7
o03The reason I was doing this was simple. It was obviously because I knew stuff from the future.0IH4MpG
gO2x2tThere would soon be a friendly exchange festival with the Purple Hawk Academy of the eastern continent in the 2nd semester. A bunch of tourists will gather from the entire continent to watch that massive event.1kMJxH
fp8MBecause of all the demand, even the normal houses would open up their empty rooms to accept guests – it was the peak season of the accommodation industry!701
KkDRiCnThe accommodation fees were obviously going to skyrocket as well.LGVfB8G
xcaBKCHundreds of gold coins? They would be gathered back in less than 2 weeks. Easy! That wasn’t the end – if we placed several stalls in the nearby streets, we would be sweeping in bucket loads of money.LLo
GpvJust buy a bunch of cheap beef and pork to make as skewers and that would lead to a fortune!UcVh988
H8t8H7PInvestment fees? The festival will pay it back for me!PM90
lFMBDemand? The festival will also take care of that.v6a18P
QgR8oYThis is broken!HWylaC2
01lTdP0Long live the festival!aE0xK
z9d“Huhahahaha…! Now this is a money dupe bug!!”0Bj
9mSxIn just a few days, it was time to harvest the mandrakes as well.Ajp
MiQrEverything was going according to plan.IpSWM53
What did you think of this chapter?
Report comment
Please select the reason for reporting this comment. False reports may result in account suspension.
0 Comments
There are no comments yet. Be the first!