Chapter 64 | The Witch's Golden Trait? This Villain Farms It First!

...We're finally out.

Lynn rubbed his slightly sore shoulders. "What was even the point of setting up this tunnel? What a twisted old man..."

Beside him, Anna, who had deliberately backed away five meters from Lynn, nodded vigorously at his words.

This was the one thing she absolutely had to agree with.

At this moment, the sole son of the Grand Duke and the second princess reached a fierce consensus—that damn old bastard had way too much free time on his hands to design something like this!

Anna lightly bit her lip, the blush on her face only now starting to fade.

Should she pay Master Kazer a nice “visit” in the name of the Royal Inspection Team?

Don't get her wrong; she would just be dutifully checking if the master's usual magical research environment was “safe and compliant.”

As for accidentally suspending a few projects during the inspection, sealing off a couple of laboratories, and having the Ministry of Finance re-evaluate next year's research budget...

Those were all necessary procedures.

Absolutely not a personal vendetta.

“Sasha,” Lynn's voice snapped her out of her dangerous fantasy.

“What is it?”

“There's something ahead.”

Anna looked in the direction he was pointing.

After passing through the narrow secret passage, the two arrived at a circular stone chamber.

The stone chamber wasn't very spacious. Around them stood twelve damaged soldier statues. The alternating black and white floor tiles formed a giant chessboard.

And at the end of the chessboard, a figure sat quietly on a high-backed stone chair, facing away from them.

It was a female puppet.

A pitch-black gown spread across the floor like flower petals, and pale porcelain hands were folded over her lap. Atop her head sat a crown missing half a corner, but her face was completely blank, devoid of any features.

Only her chest was embedded with a dark red gem.

Anna narrowed her eyes. “Is that the special puppet you mentioned?”

“Looking at its design... it should be the ‘Queen,’ right?”

“Probably.”

In the game's hidden event, the special puppet named “Queen” had always been hidden in this abandoned corner of the academy. Players had to solve a series of clever puzzles to trigger the cutscene and enter the battle.

As for the exact difficulty... to be honest, Lynn didn't really remember.

After all, by the time this version of the event was released, he was already near max level. Facing a mere school event mob, he had just rushed over, auto-attacked a couple of times, and it was over. He hadn't even bothered to look at its skill descriptions.

“...If I had known, I would have thoroughly looked up a guide back then.”

“Don't go near it yet.”

Anna reached out to stop the eager Lynn, whispering a warning.

A barely perceptible purple light flashed through her eyes. In an instant, countless mana trajectories surfaced in her field of vision.

Fine, hair-like mana lines floated above the entire chessboard. Every single soldier statue was connected to the “Queen” on the high-backed chair, forming a complete spell formation.

Anna instinctively wanted to activate 【Blazing Slit Pupils】 further, but she forcibly suppressed the urge.

‘Tsk, I can't. That's a bloodline ability unique to the Bauhinia royal family.’

If she deployed it fully, the fluctuations of her mana characteristics would be too obvious, and her pupils would display highly visible lightning patterns.

It was hard to say whether Lynn would recognize it, but...

She glanced at the brilliant gem on the chest of the “Queen” puppet.

The mana pathways contained at least three different academy monitoring spells. Although their original purpose was likely to protect students from being harmed by the puppet, they would undoubtedly detect the mana fluctuations of her Blazing Slit Pupils at a glance.

For now, Anna had no intention of blowing her cover as “Sasha,” which was a rare disguise that allowed her to relax in the academy.

‘Calm down, Anna Via.’

‘Your current identity is a mage from an ordinary noble family who just passed the entrance exam and barely reached Tier 3.’

‘Your talent is decent, and you can use lightning magic, but you can't use it too well. Your physical techniques also need to be kept at an average level.’

“...How troublesome,” she clicked her tongue softly.

Simply restricting her strength to the category of an “excellent but not monstrous student” was already incredibly uncomfortable and awkward.

‘I really don't know... how the protagonists in those stories about hiding their strength to play weak manage to endure it...’

After her brief, random train of thought ended, Anna adjusted her glasses and paused on purpose, pretending she had just finished her observation.

“...That ‘main puppet’ is related to the chessboard on the ground. The soldier statues around her will probably move along with her once she awakens.”

“Is that all?”

“...That's all.”

Feeling a bit guilty, Anna looked up at Lynn, only for her smile to instantly freeze.

What was with that “this person is so useless” expression on his face?

I'll kill you~

【Emotion Points +50】

Showing a flawless, gentle smile as if nothing had happened, she sweetly repeated herself.

“Honestly, Student Lynn, you always have such unnecessary expectations of me~”

“I'm just an ordinary little noble, I don't have powerful strength like yours, Student Lynn~”

“So...” She trailed off, her watery, large eyes filled with admiration.

The aqua-haired girl suddenly leaned in close to him. She tilted her head up slightly, those doe-like eyes gazing gently at him, her longing tone carrying a cute tremor.

“I'm really looking forward to seeing Student Lynn show off his skills~”

Lynn swallowed hard. Looking at the lovely girl's coquettish appearance in front of him, even though he was frequently bombarded by the divine beauty of Lilian and Veronica, his heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

Then, he sucked in a breath of cold air and reacted purely out of instinct.

Click— Click—

The agile reflexes of a Tier 3 Warrior were fully displayed at this moment. Rejoice! In a flash, Lynn successfully whipped out a recording crystal and snapped ten close-up shots in rapid succession!

The girl in front of him didn't seem to have reacted yet, still maintaining her pitiful expression, her clear eyes holding a hint of foolishness.

Meanwhile, Lynn barely managed to hold back his laughter.

Dirt! This was absolute, certified blackmail material!

If nothing else, he just had to wave this recording crystal in front of Anna's loyal dog and friend, her guard Eleanor.

‘Oh my, so Her Highness Anna is so noble and cold in front of you? She's completely different with me~’

‘If you have the courage, go ahead and open this recording crystal~’

“W-What is it?” Anna in front of him didn't seem to understand his bizarre action yet, stammering slightly as she spoke.

“It's nothing~ I just like to record the beautiful moments in life.” After casually brushing Anna off, Lynn pocketed the crystal in an excellent mood.