64. Getting a Job Is Hard Here Too (1)
64. Getting a Job Is Hard Here Too (1)
"...You didn't knock over some nobles' treasury, did you?"
Reni opened the heavy coin purse on the desk and gave me a suspicious look. Being suspected stung a little, but I understood. The purse held enough money to pay the tuition twice over with some left.
"I looted it from dungeons."
"How many dungeons did you loot to gather enough money for two tuition payments?"
"About five dungeons' worth."
"Dungeons? Five of them? You're joking, right?"
"I mean it."
"Whoa... that's basically ripping the dungeons out by the roots."
Reni took a gold coin from the purse and held it up to the window. Was she checking for counterfeits? After studying it for a long moment, she bit it.
"...It's real."
"Your teeth okay?"
"Not really? Anyway, they're real gold coins."
Had she bitten a chocolate coin instead of gold? I stared at the half-broken coin, which bore clear tooth marks. It was one brutal testing method. Perhaps that was what it took to be called a true final boss. Apparently conscious of my stare, Reni set the broken piece on the desk and spoke.
"How long are you gonna keep staring?"
"It's a pretty rare sight."
"...What a strange thing to say. Millia's waiting for you, so why don't you go see her? I have to go see the Saintess."
"How is Karina's condition?"
"You'd better get into the habit of calling her the Saintess. I don't care, but quite a few people will take offense."
"Thanks for the friendly advice."
"Well, I mean..."
Reni averted her gaze and scratched her cheek, apparently embarrassed. Was that really embarrassing? Maybe she just wasn't used to gratitude. Come to think of it, even in the original game, she'd always been weak to praise, probably because of her rough past. It never raised her affection points, though... she wasn't a romanceable NPC.
"Anyway, the curse in the Saintess's body is being removed little by little. She should wake soon."
"That's a relief."
That was welcome news. If something happened to Karina, I wouldn't survive in this world as it raced toward destruction, no matter how hard I struggled. I could abandon everything and run, but that wouldn't be living. I'd be better off killing myself.
...Or perhaps I should still struggle to the end.
I thought of Millia, Reni, and Karina.
People I'd grown close to—close enough to call friends, at least. How cowardly would it be to abandon people like that and run alone? If I was going, I had to see it through to the end. Even if that end was ruin.
I turned and walked to the door. As I gripped the handle and turned it, Reni spoke up offhandedly, as if she'd just remembered.
"Millia's waiting in the parlor, so go check on her. Seems she has something she wants to show you."
"Got it."
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"Yohan! Look at this!"
Millia spread her arms and spun before me, a movement straight out of a comic. Then again, this was a game world, so perhaps it wasn't so strange. She smiled playfully, planted her hands on her hips, and thrust out her chest. Her generous chest shifted beneath the jacket, and the uniform emphasized her loveliness.
"It suits you well."
"Right? Right? Reni got it fitted for me!"
"...It looks expensive."
Befitting the most prestigious academy in the world, Millia's uniform was made from exceptionally fine materials: gold embroidery, a navy jacket of obviously expensive fabric, a black skirt ending above the knee, and a crisp white dress shirt beneath the jacket.
It seemed she'd had the uniform tailored before I arrived. Had she believed I could scrape together the money for tuition? Or had she been planning to dig into her own emergency stash to cover it? Either way, she was remarkably meddlesome for someone who carried the image of a Mad Dog.
Or had Millia's heartbreaking past simply stirred her sympathy?
Either way, it didn't matter as long as it helped.
"Yohan? Yohan! Are you listening to me?"
"Ah, sorry. What were you saying?"
"I was talking about transferring in starting second semester—don't tell me you didn't hear a single word?"
There was no need to make that sulky face. People occasionally lost track of a conversation. I stroked Millia's head and sat on the parlor sofa. Leaning against the backrest felt wonderful. I wouldn't clear five dungeons in two days again.
It had been insane. The last dungeon had held a company-sized force of heavily armed orcs in the boss room. The sight alone made me swear. I spent half a day carpeting the area outside with traps, releasing every poison I'd brought, and using my Skill to whittle down their numbers.
Toward the end, even the orc who looked to be the leader was staring at me with a fed-up expression.
"...Tired?"
"Yeah."
Millia looked at me with worried eyes. I wasn't tired enough to warrant being looked at like that, though. I tapped my fingers against the armrest and spoke to Millia.
"Let's keep talking. What about second semester?"
"I'm transferring in! It's already mid-first semester, so that's tough—I'll take the transfer exam and start from second semester!"
"Which department did you pick?"
"I'm going into General Studies!"
General Studies. The neutral department among Kalon Academy's divisions. It essentially filled the role of a university as we understood one, offering a broad but shallow education across many subjects.
The system required students to become graduate students for advanced study, but simply graduating from General Studies meant they didn't have to worry about finding work. I vaguely remembered reading that in a loading-screen tooltip.
...Why had I remembered things like this so well while forgetting the detailed story?
"Are you confident you can handle the academics?"
"That's why I'm going to study at the library!"
"It'll be tough to keep up without a teacher—"
The kid before me was, unbelievably, from hundreds of years ago—or rather, that was her backstory. Her common sense and general education in this world were therefore on the level of a newborn's. She had to learn everything from scratch. Could she manage it before the second semester began? We had no one to teach her.
The only person we knew was Reni, and Reni was hardly educated enough to teach Millia.
...Did I need to earn enough to hire a private tutor too? How much would one cost?
I felt dizzy at the unexpected private-education expense. Why was I voluntarily taking on responsibility with no pleasure in it? Escaping a deserted island only to end up playing the parent I was never meant to be! Was I fated to spend my whole life playing parent and then die an old bachelor!
"...I do want to date, though."
"Date?"
"...Slip of the tongue. Don't mind it."
Apparently I'd blurted out my thoughts again. It was time to break that habit, but I could not exactly clamp my mouth shut with a clothespin. At this rate, I might even reveal important information about the future that no one else should hear.
"Yohan, you want to date?"
When I looked at Millia, she was watching me with intense interest. Had I said it to the one person I shouldn't have? The thought drew a sigh from me.
"...Saying I don't want to would be a lie."
Wasn't dating during the prime of your life something everyone did at least once? I didn't know whether my life would ever have such a prime, either before the transmigration or now.
"With who?"
"...I haven't lived a life leisurely enough to think about that."
I gave her a vague answer. It was also true that I had no clear romantic feelings for anyone. The women I was close to were Millia, Karina, Reni, and Sif, but every one of those relationships had complications that made romance difficult. I didn't think we were close enough for me to want to date any of them.
Though I did think we'd built up something akin to camaraderie.
"I see... now that you mention it, I've never thought about it either!"
"The never-dated club, then."
"Guess so?"
Millia and I started chuckling at the same time. I didn't know why it was funny, but I couldn't stop. After laughing for a while, Millia finally settled down and spoke.
"If it's you, Yohan, you could definitely find someone!"
"What about you?"
"I'd like to try it, but going to school is more important than that!"
"...Is that so."
So she intended to pursue her own dream. It was a good attitude.
"Since you're going anyway, give it your best."
"Of course! Once I graduate and make it big, I'll repay you for everything you've done so far, plus interest!"
"Then I'd better rack up plenty of debt in the meantime."
"Heehee, rack up as much as you want! I'll pay it all back later!"
...I doubted I could expect her to be able to repay me, though.
I smiled at Millia's confidence. It was admirable that she was already thinking about repayment. In that case, I'd earn enough money for her to graduate.
...By finding a respectable job that would give me some social standing.