The Senior's Secret Breeding Ground

Following the lecture that had been delicious only to me, the Headmaster's reputation took another plunge straight toward rock bottom.

—The next lecture will be a practicum! You will prepare a dish using the recipes taught today, so everyone practice your cooking diligently!

"Headmaster! Aren't Red Teeth Mushrooms far too dangerous for us to hunt?!"

—Who asked you to cook Giant King Crabs ahead of schedule, then?! Nothing is more pointless than teaching what you already know, so I adjusted the pace to match your level!

Fair was fair, but thanks to that, the Upper Class students were now forced to catch and cook Red Teeth Mushrooms, which were far more hazardous to handle even if they weren't quite as powerful as Giant King Crabs.

Of course, that was the other students' dilemma. I had my own troubles to deal with.

Giiii—

"Ugh, don't look at me like that!"

A Mother-grade Red Teeth Mushroom was giving me a silent, accusatory glare, and sharp pricks of guilt were hammering at my conscience!

"Look, I really tried, okay? I wanted to become a goodwill ambassador and find a way for us to coexist without wiping out the Red Teeth Mushrooms, but what am I supposed to do when the Headmaster is like that?"

The Mother-grade Red Teeth Mushroom glared back as if refusing to hear any excuses—a look promising never to forgive you humans for turning her kin into cooking ingredients, especially me.

Is it really my fault, though?

Outside the academy, those things eat humans too, so shouldn't we call it even?

As I indulged in such slightly wicked thoughts, Zhuang approached, poked me in the waist, and asked,

"How does it taste?"

"Like an exquisitely sliced, unbelievably refined meat dish bursting with deep flavor and tossed in rich sauce."

"Ooh?"

"...is what you have to imagine while chewing to make it bearable."

"Hmph. What kind of answer is that?"

"It's decent enough to choke down!"

"Fine. Guess I'll have to go hunt one down myself."

"Alone? Will you be all right?"

"You seem to be forgetting that I'm a full-fledged assassin."

Zhuang flashed a chilling smile. The eerie aura reflecting in her deceptively youthful eyes was unmistakably that of a killer.

"Look down on me too much, and my pride will get hurt."

"Mm... sorry!"

"Good, as long as you understand."

Zhuang trotted off primly and melted into the shadows.

"Orknodi. You're done with lectures for today, right?"

"Are you cooking dinner already? But I'm full."

"I called you because of cooking, yes, but I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠need some help."

"With what?"

"Hunting a Red Teeth Mushroom without getting hurt."

If anyone else had asked, I would have brushed them off out of pure laziness, but I couldn't ignore Isabelle, who had saved me from going hungry for so many meals.

I gave a cheerful nod.

"How can I help you?"

"We can handle the cooking somehow. Giselle has kitchen utensils that prevent spores from spreading."

"Ah, you don't need to worry about usage permits. I earned plenty of Points during the Flag Incident."

Just how many Points did he have to get permits for gear like that? Well, seeing as some Lower-Class students blew Points on lighting fixtures, it wasn't all that shocking.

"Is your problem catching it, or finding it?"

"Is there a difference?"

"With Red Teeth Mushrooms, both catching them and finding them are troublesome."

"Can't you help with both?"

"If I do everything myself, how will the three of you ever grow?"

Son Ocheon chimed in with a swagger.

"What's so hard about finding one? They said it's the second most common monster on campus. Just teach us how to catch it, pipsqueak."

Oh, you think it's that easy?

One hour after his bold declaration.

I had a bad feeling from the start.

After an hour of running in circles and catching absolutely nothing, Son Ocheon slumped, drenched from head to toe in rain, completely drained of strength.

"Did those crazy crab bastards eat every last mushroom?! How is there not a single one in sight?!"

"Hehe. Looks like someone has zero talent for hunting!"

"Quiet, you! Back where I come from, it never poured like this!"

Isabelle and Giselle threw up their hands as well.

"We really can't find any."

"Locating them is half the battle. Would you be willing to assist us?"

"Of course! Follow me."

As I strode forward to take the lead, the three of them looked at me in sheer disbelief.

"What? You knew all along?"

"Naturally."

"Then why didn't you tell us earlier?"

"To let you farm some Tracking skill EXP?"

Saying it out loud gave me a warm, fuzzy flutter in my chest.

Look at me, looking out for newbie progression. I'm so sweet!

"Has this little runt always been this infuriating?"

Son Ocheon's fists trembled with rage.

"Actually, finding them isn't much of a problem once you know the trick. Remember what the Headmaster said? The 2nd-year seniors have been illegally breeding them for their Mana Spore Sacs."

"Indeed. The little lady makes a sharp point. The sophomores would have needed a secluded space to breed them in secret."

Giselle let out an enlightened sigh.

"Are we going to interrogate someone, then?"

"Nope. I have a rough idea where it'd be."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Did your family teach you that too?"

Isabelle looked at me with deep concern behind eyes trying hard to feign nonchalance.

Isabelle, and everyone else for that matter, had such ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠strange habits. Why did they keep pitying others out of nowhere?

In my eyes, they were the pitiable ones—so weak I couldn't fathom how they planned to survive in this academy.

"Nah. Just happened upon it."

Chatting along the way, we arrived at the deserted art gallery inside the Arts Hall, which was set aside for fine arts lectures.

Wandering through the gallery filled with sheet-draped paintings, I tapped along a few pillars. Faint memories of frequenting this place long ago drifted back.

Right, bloodstains.

I used to hide near the bloodstained pillars all the time.

Skrrrrt.

Skrrrrrrrt.

With practiced ease, I rotated the pillar's ornament 270 degrees clockwise, 180 degrees counterclockwise, and another 270 degrees clockwise.

And what do you get? Ta-da!

A grinding sound echoed as the staircase beneath the pillar slid open, leading down into the basement. As I stepped onto the stairs, the gazes burning into my back were palpable.

"She's basically a professional expedition veteran at this point," Isabelle scoffed with a hollow laugh, and Giselle and Son Ocheon looked visibly convinced.

"Once I leave the academy, I swear I won't make eye contact with assassins ever again." Even the ticket scalper Giselle betrayed a subtle tinge of dread.

This really isn't a big deal, though. Everyone's being such drama queens!

Heading down into the basement, we could hear faint, plaintive whimpers from Red Teeth Mushrooms crammed so tightly into a one-pyeong breeding pen that they were practically bursting at the seams.

"Kieeeh..."

"Kiing, kiing..."

Faced with such an unexpectedly horrific spectacle, Isabelle furrowed her brow.

"Good grief... this is the first time in my life I've ever felt sorry for a monster."

"Agreed. What an efficient yet thoroughly inhumane breeding farm—feeding them just enough to harvest their Mana Spore Sacs."

"They're just monsters anyway, aren't they? No need to feel bad. Let them loose, and they'd do the exact same thing to humans." Son Ocheon, having lived in the wild as a monkey beastman, harbored no sympathy for the monsters' plight.

"What in the world is all this?"

"An illegal Red Teeth Mushroom farm built by 2nd-year seniors without Student Council authorization!"

How on earth do you know that? Isabelle shuddered, but knowing she would only get an evasive answer, she merely opened and closed her mouth before shutting it tight.

"Think about it. The seniors want Mana Spore Sacs from the Red Teeth Mushrooms. That means they have to supply them with plenty of nutrients until the spore sacs form, right?"

The three nodded hesitantly.

"An enraged Red Teeth Mushroom can't be allowed to attack the breeder. Even if it does, there must be countermeasures, and other 2nd-years shouldn't be able to raid the pen either!"

"I suppose...?"

"And this place satisfies every single one of those conditions! For the Red Teeth Mushrooms inside this pen, pulling the lever above the partition drops a blade straight through their heads!"

"Blegh."

"Pressing the button beside it cleanly purges the spores inside the partition, and you can pull out the corpse vacuum-sealed in plastic! The setup might look crude, but the senior who built this clearly knows how to process a corpse!"

Isabelle found Orknodi's cheerful explanation disturbing, but the room itself was starting to creep her out even more.

"Is this really a sophomore's breeding pen? It's not some potential serial killer's slaughterhouse, is it?"

"Er... well... even to my eyes, this place is quite... rare, something you'd seldom see even in the underworld."

"Pipsqueak. Are you sure you want to mess with mushrooms in a setup like this? One wrong move, and we might wake up inside that partition tomorrow morning."

Orknodi tilted her head.

"If you look closely, this was all built using skills taught right here at the academy. You can tell the partitions were made after taking the elective lecture Fundamentals and Understanding of Carpentry, and the corpse disposal mechanism comes straight from the mandatory course Hunter's Traps in the Adventuring Faculty's second semester!"

"So any 2nd-year could pull this off?!"

"Not quite. Given the secret location and unique locking mechanism, they probably built up contribution points in the Dark Cult club to expand the space with the Secret Altar spell and secured it with the Dial Keeping spell."

"The Dark Cult?!"

"Mhm! The Student Council's official registry only lists the bare minimum of five members for the Dark Cult, but by exploiting the loophole that 'probationary members' don't have to be listed, quite a few cultists are operating undercover!"

"Operating undercover?!"

The danger flags were flapping furiously in the wind. Isabelle decided this was bad news.

"Let's get out of here. Catching them somewhere else will be much better for our peace of mind."

"I agree, this really doesn't seem right."

"Hey, pipsqueak. Did you really have to drag us to a place like this?"

The three voiced their complaints, but Orknodi puffed her cheeks in protest.

"Aw, come on! If you complain about a setup this convenient, where else are you going to hunt? All you have to do is pull the pulley, press the button, and carry out a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pre-packaged vacuum-sealed corpse!"

"It's the aftermath that scares us!"

"Any other place would probably have 'guard monsters' or 'traps' set up to protect the Mana Spore Sacs, just like that monster warehouse I found. Are you really okay with that?"

Why on earth are 2nd-year seniors preparing stuff like that in an academy?!

Isabelle was beginning to fear not just the owner of this pen, but the entire 2nd-year class.

Bigstone, Lizna, and Moss, whom she had met in Discernment class—sure, they were petty when it came to their own grades, but compared to this, they were absolute saints!

"Put that way... maybe we're better off just getting it over with here. Let's do this fast and get out."

Isabelle decisively pulled the pulley and pressed the button.

The pitiful Red Teeth Mushroom let out a choked shriek, expired, and emerged through the chute neatly wrapped in plastic.

Giselle and Son Ocheon, still wearing skeptical expressions, each shouldered a Red Teeth Mushroom of their own.

"Son Ocheon, what are you doing lingering up front? Let's hurry up and leave."

"What are you on about, Isabelle? I'm behind you."

"...?"

Isabelle raised her head, the mushroom corpse still hoisted over her shoulder.

Standing before them was a towering figure large enough to be mistaken for Son Ocheon—yet clad in an overt, suspicious black robe that enveloped them completely, something Son Ocheon would never wear.

Beneath the wide sleeves of the robe, the backs of their hands were cracked like drought-stricken soil; their face had the cold, pale complexion of a viper, and their eyes were chillingly void of emotion.

"Oh dear."

Giselle, spotting the figure from behind Isabelle, let out a dismayed groan.

"The insignia on the collar... that's the mark of a Junior."

Of all things, they had stumbled into a 3rd-year's secret breeding ground—and were caught red-handed right before making their escape.