Dormitory Scramble (4)
Sera and Iska shook with fear.
“What?”
“What…?”
Ethan ignored them and continued.
“As for how to handle the side-entrance trap…?”
They immediately stood and assumed battle stances.
“You—you aren’t Ethan, right?! I thought there was only one senior cadet!”
“I am Ethan.”
“It wasn’t Ethan. If it were properly conscious Ethan, he wouldn’t have said he could handle the trap… Sera, you, you give the mushroom—feed the mushroom to this guy quickly!”
“Clear away the mushrooms, Iska.”
Ethan barely opened his mouth while dodging the glowing, insane mushrooms that were being shoved right in front of his nose.
“This is the Arden Bridge operation, everyone.”
“What?”
Ethan’s eyes sparkled.
“The Arden Bridge operation.”
Sera and Iska exchanged glances and tilted their heads.
*
The so-called Arden Bridge operation.
It was the operation where a certain mustached army officer from the past cut through a forest no one had ever passed and struck the enemy’s blind spot during the two-week French conquest.
It was the homage to that ‘Arden Forest’ operation.
Fast mobility that pierced the vitals and snatched the flag in an instant!
This was the plan for this operation.
Ethan drew a medieval castle on the floor.
“Most freshman cadets will probably take the route where it’s hardest to lay traps.”
He dotted the other entrances except the west with twigs.
“And the upperclassmen will get hit and thrown into the prison.”
It was, in a way, obvious.
Completely disarming a trap or seeing through a detection ward was a level only advanced cadets in their third or fourth year of Thief School could barely manage.
It was almost unthinkable for first-year freshmen who hadn’t even finished their first semester of classes to even attempt it…
It was the realm of intelligence, not courage.
Even those orc or beastkin cadets with strong determination and challenge spirit had excluded trap-laden doors from the start.
“That’s how difficult it is to unlock locked doors and traps.”
Ethan was confident.
After all, no matter where he fell, he had always survived in places full of traps…
No matter what ability he possessed.
If he had entered ruins a hundred times and come out alive a hundred times,
‘Eh? Do I have talent in this area?’
This thought was bound to come to anyone at some point.
‘But no one has ever figured out the true nature of my ability.’
Anyway, Ethan had decided to make full use of every weapon he possessed.
Ethan unfolded a map he had never seen before.
“Refer to this map that Senior Chris voluntarily provided for the internal structure of the dormitory.”
Chris screamed.
“I never voluntarily gave it to you!”
“Yes, thank you, senior.”
Ethan explained the strategy and infiltration routes to his teammates and stood up from the spot.
“You wait here.”
“Where are you going?”
“Weren’t you going to analyze the traps from now on…?”
Ethan laughed softly and headed toward the swinging bridge.
“You’re not talking about swinging monkey legs, are you?”
The group members’ mouths fell open slightly.
“You’re not seriously going to—?!”
“Hang upside down and swing from the bottom of the bridge!?”
Ethan shook a safety clip used in rock climbing and hooked it onto one side of the swinging bridge.
Tap.
Then, as if he were a long-armed monkey, he grabbed the underside and began crossing.
Sera, who was watching the scene from behind the bushes, slowly raised her head in a daze.
“..Senior Chris.”
“What is it, junior?”
“Do all seniors or advanced cadets do something like that?”
“What an obvious statement.”
“As expected… Thief School is on an amazing level…”
“Of course not.”
“…”
“They would die if they fell, so why would they try something this crazy?”
At the edge of a thousand-li abyss.
Ethan was hanging from the bottom of the bridge and crossing.
Shh… click! Shh… click!
It felt as if he were attending a special forces promotion exam for the first time in a while, and his heart was racing with excitement.
‘Whoa.’
His heart pounded thump-thump,
‘This is insanely fun.’
Without realizing it, the talent of a thief was blossoming in Ethan.
“Ethan..!”
Sera and Iska spoke simultaneously.
“It really is a natural genius’ thief!”
“That… that looks like a bomb trap!”
Sera turned to Iska.
“What?”
“Ah. I just disarmed the trap.”
Sera sprang out from the bushes to stop Ethan,
but
“Ethan!! It’s dangerous..! Mmm!”
“Wait! If I go out, Sera will also become dangerously exposed!”
Iska grabbed Sera.
Boom!
Soon a tremendous explosion echoed through the forest.
*
A few minutes earlier.
Two masked supervisors hid and watched the scene.
“Instructor, what did I just see?”
“…”
They could not hide the awkward expression on their faces.
“Even if the ward is thick enough to slightly obstruct the cadets’ vision… should we just let them hang and cross like that?”
“Well, but there’s no aura. No aura at all. How can you criticize someone with zero aura?”
“Umm…”
“Even the advanced cadets on guard duty at the bridge’s end didn’t notice.”
The young masked man pointed at the notebook held by the old masked man.
“What’s that monkey-like friend’s name?”
“Let me check… Ah, Ethan Cass. He’s the youngest son of the Cass family.”
“Oh, that’s why… But was the Cass family a thief family?”
The old masked man shook his head.
“Um, I don’t know this family. It might be a powerful thief family.”
“Isn’t there almost no thief family left in the empire these days?”
“If not, how could someone be so skilled in stealth?”
The young masked man nodded.
“That’s right. The probability of being a thief family is high.”
The old masked man flipped through the paper document and flinched.
“..Just a normal noble?”
“Noble?”
“Yeah. A provincial viscount with almost no territory.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
“…”
The young masked man scratched his head.
“But how well can a noble eat insects?”
“Insects? This guy must be the one who emptied the plate for the first time in the cadet cafeteria?”
“That’s right.”
They both fell silent.
Normally, noble cadets who entered as freshmen were under the rule that the first meal was not to be touched with their mouth.
After all, noble children who had been raised eating warm milk with butter, fluffy bread, soup, fresh fruit, and meat dishes lavishly every day.
If you forced them to eat grasshoppers, beetles, and locusts for breakfast, it would be a common reaction to panic, right?
The young masked man narrowed his eyes.
“Why does someone who isn’t a thief family have stealth so ingrained in their body?”
“…”
A brief silence passed.
“This is strange.”
“It is strange, right?”
“…”
The supervisors gave up thinking further.
Because they could not find any deduction factor in the mysterious freshman’s entrance test.
Ethan Cass.
Perfect score on the entrance exam.
On the notebook held by the two masked men, there was nothing but a circle.
“Let’s just watch for now.”
“Yes.”
The supervisors wrapped themselves in darkness.
*
The explosion had come from another team.
Iska and Sera looked at Ethan crossing safely and let out a sigh of relief.
“You scared me!”
“..I was scared too.”
Apparently, one of the teams near them had stepped on a bomb trap laid by a senior cadet.
Ethan had now reached the front of the Ruby Dormitory building.
At the end of the bridge, he jumped in place and drew a circle above his head.
- Disarmed the trap.
- Come across.
..That was the signal.
The group members crossed the swinging bridge according to Ethan’s signal.
“This is too high, it’s scary.”
“That’s right.”
“You can fly even if you fall!”
“I can’t fly even once a day.”
“Angels are so convenient.”
Sera and Iska crossed while chatting casually about nothing.
Ethan put his index finger to his lips.
“Quiet.”
He lowered his voice.
“From now on, this is the dormitory area. Upperclassmen are stationed inside waiting.”
Ethan led his group smoothly into the inside of the castle.
Chris, who had been watching the entire process from the side, opened his mouth wide.
“..Passing the aptitude test perfectly, immediate infiltration without emotional wavering? You’ve lost it… This is a place where advanced cadets who live off laying traps came and deliberately set it up.”
Ethan tilted his head.
“Eh? Was there a trap?”
Chris stuck out his tongue.
“It doesn’t matter, you seem to be some kind of… special guy.”
“Everyone is special.”
“Suddenly turning into a philanthropist?”
“Except for thieves… Mmm.”
“Be quiet, Ethan!”
Sera’s gag to stop Ethan from being biased against thieves flew in.
“Stop moving, Ethan!”
“Mmm.”
Ethan found the feeling of Sera’s cushion forming behind his neck quite to his liking.
‘It might actually be nice to be biased against thieves in front of Sera.’
Ethan seemed to have developed some bad habit.
They had safely infiltrated the Ruby Dormitory.
*
Ruby Dormitory.
The first building of Thief School’s dormitory series stretching from Topaz, Emerald, to Sapphire.
From the outside it looked like other dormitories, like a Disney castle, but upon closer look, it was different.
Hidden tunnels and ropes hung everywhere,
There were also hidden rooms or ceilings with rings for hanging upside down to rest.
Among them, the Ruby Dormitory was the dormitory where upperclassmen specializing in hand techniques gathered.
In addition to various traps and mechanisms that fired arrows or rolled logs when touched,
Even detection wards and protective magic that some priests or mages could use.
And even trap spirit traps that only high-level spirits could use…
And mimics brought back from dungeons.
It was a vicious and evil place to plunder in this empire, with every trap imaginable laid down.
A demon fortress where even freshman cadets could not approach the central hall.
“That’s why after the entrance exam, the Ruby Dormitory is closed for a while.”
“Why?”
In response to Sera’s question, Ethan answered instead.
“It takes time to remove traps that explode when touched, like that.”
“Oh, that’s right! As expected, Ethan is sharp.”
Anyone who stands guard near the frontline will know clearly.
Even though laying a mine is easier than lying down and eating,
Detecting and disarming it is a mission-impossible task that requires risking your life.
“So right now, the Ruby Dormitory students have no back-up.”
Because they had laid traps so crazily…
The group of Ethan walking along the dimly lit corridor attached to the stone wall.
Ethan had passed first, and when the group pressed the bricks,
poison arrows poured down from the ceiling.
“Now it’s safe.”
In this way, they had successfully reached near the central hall of the dormitory.
When they came, hadn’t there been any resistance from the senior cadets?
Of course, there wasn’t.
“Our junior.”
“Why are you calling?”
“I already told you about the patrol routes, so entering easily was natural, but how did you manage to enter so boldly…?”
Chris was curious.
They were ambushing and throwing wooden throwing knives to suppress from outside,
so what made them think they could walk openly inside the dormitory?
“That’s naturally what you have to do.”
“Naturally?”
“Normally such fortified units pile up defenses outside.”
Anyone who eats and trains military infiltration as a infiltrating team would know.
Even if you set up CCTV, sensors, guards, and all kinds of defense facilities outside the fence,
Once you come inside the barracks and say hello to the soldiers, they won’t even realize you’re an infiltration team.
Still remembered, it was in the barracks’ break room or somewhere.
During training, two sergeants who caught me secretly eating ramen there were sent to the disciplinary barracks.
Chris, carried on Ethan’s back, had sparkling eyes.
‘One difficult junior came in…’
Having judged there would be no guard troops on the most difficult route, a bold entry.
No matter how he did it, he successfully cleared all the senior traps and brought his teammates safely.
Moreover, he had even predicted the situation of the dormitory’s interior where the guards were lax and gone straight to the central hall on the shortest path.
‘Is he becoming a tactics officer of the Imperial War Ministry in his next life?’
Chris’s evaluation of Ethan was rising vertically.
“Junior. If you have a chance to take disguise art classes, come with me…”
“Stop!”
Suddenly the wall of the corner lit up.
“Guard! Everyone hide this way!”
Ethan pushed his group through the open door and slammed it shut.
Because the space inside the door was narrow, Ethan hid in the dark corner of the passage.
“Ah, I’m sleepy…”
“What’s going on?”
“What?”
“I feel like I heard a sound.”
“Yeah.”
A senior cadet with a lazy expression rushed into the passage in an instant.
“Of course, an advanced cadet wouldn’t hear this much noise.”
Click.
“I just did an internal patrol out of precaution, and there was a kid who came this far.”
Moonlight leaking through the window shone silver on the blade.
“Come out, you cute guy.”
Ethan was sweating profusely in the darkness.
The fog that had risen to the second floor of the dormitory was slowly creeping up from under his feet.