“Sasha, aim for the one on the left!”
“Okay.”
“This time, the right!”
“...Got it.”
With Anna's focused support, Lynn quickly turned into a statue-slaying machine.
Under his short and rapid instructions, every single lightning spell the girl cast was perfectly timed.
The battle quickly became one-sided, giving Lynn enough breathing room to let his mind wander.
Come to think of it, Anna hadn't said much since earlier, had she?
Every response of hers was short and quiet, even carrying a hint of...
meekness?
It was hard to imagine such a word ever being associated with that proud and aloof imperial princess, but at this moment, Lynn found it incredibly fitting.
In the brief lulls between clashing blades, he stole a glance at the somewhat downcast Anna out of the corner of his eye.
Her high ponytail had come undone at some point during the battle, and her thick, light-blue bangs almost completely obscured her eyes.
Her lips were slightly pursed, and she kept her head lowered, hiding her expression in the shadows of the secret chamber.
‘...She's not actually angry, is she?’
In stark contrast to the girl's silence—
【Emotion Points +3】【Emotion Points +2】【Emotion Points +4】...
The system's chiming notifications had been rolling in like crazy since moments ago, not stopping for even a single minute.
“Hiss—” Lynn inhaled sharply, nodding inwardly.
“Seems like she really is incredibly pissed off.”
...
“Boom—”
The final guardian statue dropped to one knee and crashed heavily to the ground under Lynn's sword, as if unwilling to accept its defeat.
The stones scattered all over the floor lost their glow. In the empty stone chamber, only the restless sound of grinding gears remained.
The “Queen” upon the high-backed stone chair slowly stood up.
From beneath her pitch-black gown, countless fine mechanical limbs unfurled, supporting her as she glided across the chessboard toward the two of them.
【All guardian units destroyed. Re-evaluating intruder threat level.】
Her blank face turned toward Lynn.
【Primary Threat: Blonde male swordsman.】
【Characteristics: Despicable, rude, unauthorized image recording.】
【Executing highest-level purge.】
“...Are we really never going to move past the photo thing?”
“Pfft...”
A soft chuckle came from behind him. Anna seemed to have finally regained some of her spirit, raising a hand to cover her mouth.
“It seems Her Majesty the Queen is very bothered by the fact that you sneakily took a photo of her, Student Lynn.”
“I was taking a photo of you.”
“...”
【Emotion Points +50】
The girl instantly lowered her head again and fell silent.
Watching the two of them “flirting,” the ignored “Queen” puppet flew into a towering rage!
“Presumptuous trespassers, how dare you—”
She spread her arms in anger. The stone fragments and metal debris scattered across the chessboard levitated simultaneously, assembling in midair into dozens of pitch-black blades that rained down on Lynn and Anna like a violent storm!
And then—
“And then there was no then~”
Lynn sat down with a thud on the warped, sparking, and broken remains of the “Queen” puppet, letting out a bored yawn.
She was just a minor boss from a seasonal event. Even if the game developers had stuffed her with obnoxious mechanics like shields and minions to annoy players and boost daily active user metrics...
How could she dare challenge Anna, the meta-defining gold card of this patch, and Master Lynn, the shining beacon of purple cards?
Still, this was a trial meant for upperclassmen, and Anna had to pretend to be “Sasha.” The battle had actually taken quite some time and gone through a few twists and turns. The general process went as follows:
Lynn falls into a bitter struggle → Lynn makes blunder after blunder → Lynn makes a desperate final struggle → Lynn's defeat is assured → Lynn delivers his victory speech.
“What a tedious battle, puppet. I'll probably forget you by tomorrow.”
“Tsk~” Lynn rubbed his boot against the debris on the ground with a look of disgust. “This kind of material is the hardest to wipe off when it gets stuck to the sole.”
Anna stood five meters away, silently watching this humanoid creature (?) make all sorts of baffling remarks.
Seeing the man turn around, she abruptly averted her gaze and began humming a little tune to cover her embarrassment.
What do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do?
Do something, quick!
Before Lynn could say anything, Anna finally found a topic. Controlling her lightning, she easily extracted the core buried deep within the wreckage.
A pitch-black, diamond-shaped core slowly rose from the puppet's remains.
【Number of purgers: 2. Core value in academy points: 500. Please proceed to the Star-Gazing Hall before 12:00 AM tonight to exchange this core for academy points. Late submissions will not be accepted.】
500?!
Lynn's eyes lit up as he cradled the core in his hands. “Oh my, it seems Master Kazer is clearly an outstanding educator who is adventurous and deeply cares for his juniors!”
He was rich! He was rich! Now he could go try out some of the memorable academy encounters from his past life's game.
The core spun lightly, projecting a blue panel.
【Please allocate the share of academy points for each participant prior to exchange.】
“Allocating the shares, huh...” Lynn tapped his chin, about to speak.
“How about a fifty-fifty split?” “How about an eighty-twenty split?”
At the exact same time, two voices—one clear and the other calm—rang out together.
“Eighty-twenty? ...Are you sure?” Lynn was somewhat surprised. He repeated, “500 points is no small amount, you know.”
“Yes, I'm sure.” After a brief reply, Anna cleared her throat and explained further.
“As for this core, I didn't contribute much.”
“You provided the location of the puppet, and you did most of the work in battle. Besides...”
In her mind, the image of him standing in front of her with his sword raised, scolding her with a mixture of anger and frustration, flashed once more.
No, no, no, Anna, what are you thinking?
She laughed it off, glossing over the subject before concluding, “All in all, I think an eighty-twenty split is very reasonable. If anything, I'm actually getting the better end of the deal.”
Facing the still-hesitant Lynn, Anna delivered a fatal critical blow: “Besides... Student Lynn, your savings of academy points... are a bit tight, aren't they?”
“In your upcoming academy life, whether it's renting equipment, purchasing materials, or even asking seniors for private tutoring... academy points are absolutely indispensable~”
“But as for me, thanks to my family's arrangements, I shouldn't have to worry about these things for the time being.”
He had almost forgotten!
This girl was a filthy rich tycoon.
The 500 academy points that a “poor kid” like him had worked so hard to earn might not even be worth a second glance to her!
Lynn glared indignantly at the “filthy rich tycoon.” He then cast politeness aside and pressed his academy badge against the core.
After entering the eighty-twenty split on the panel, Anna pressed her academy badge against it as well.
He stretched lazily. “Ah~~ It's finally all over~~”
“Come to think of it... quite a lot happened today~ I'm exhausted.”
“Great. Now we just need to head to the Star-Gazing Hall to redeem the academy points before 12:00...”
Wait?
Both Lynn and Anna froze at the same time.
“...What time is it right now?” The young man swallowed, his trembling voice slightly dry.
“The battle took up quite a lot of time. It... it seems to be a bit late, huh~”
“Don't panic, let me check...” Anna took a deep breath and miraculously pulled a magical pocket watch from her cleavage.
She stared at the time displayed on it, her unfinished words cutting off abruptly as her beautiful eyes widened slightly.
Lynn instantly had a bad premonition.
He quickly leaned in close to the girl.
【23:58】
The pocket watch, crafted from magic crystal, mercilessly displayed the time, ticking forward once more under Lynn's glaring, bloodshot eyes.
【23:59】
“There's absolutely no way we'll make it in time, is there?!” both cried out in unison.
Rate on N.U.
