Field Trip (10)
“Ah. Damn it. Footsteps again.”
“Hold position and stay alert. Let's see what we're dealing with first.”
Jacob swallowed hard as the sound of footsteps echoed from somewhere far off.
It was the morning of the third day since the field trip had begun, and the forest had turned into hell itself.
Students desperate to avoid failing grades had been ambushing other parties, and the ambushed parties, in turn, were attacking parties weaker than themselves to claw back their scores.
Trapped in a living hell where the law of the jungle could be learned with the whole body, Jacob's party had been cast in the role of the prey.
And it made sense—they had never built this party with any of this in mind.
They had no intention of earning high marks on this field trip. They'd gathered with old friends and acquaintances, planning to collect just enough loot to squeak past a failing grade, then spend the rest of the time leisurely camping in the forest.
Naturally, then, the party was far from combat-capable. If they'd been thrown into one of the Academy's dungeons, they would have struggled against a tenth-floor boss and lost.
Which meant that ever since the night Lucy Aln began her pillaging, they'd had no choice but to be hunted by one party after another.
The loot they'd bled for and gathered with everything they had—stolen away.
Then, weeping tears of blood as they hunted monsters to rebuild their haul—ambushed by yet another party, robbed of every last kill.
And then, scraping their spoils back together piece by piece through one hardship after another—ambushed again.
To Jacob's party, this field trip wasn't learning at all. It was bullying. Bullying inflicted for the unforgivably enormous crime of being weak.
This was not the field trip Jacob had dreamed of.
The one where he'd join forces with his friends to hunt monsters, and late at night, under the starry sky, bask in the warmth of a campfire while chattering away with them.
How had a trip that was supposed to be fun turned into this? Jacob gritted his teeth as the footsteps drew nearer.
I'm not going to just keep getting robbed. Not me. Not us. We've been through hell after hell, and we've grown from it. This time, we're going to strike back for real.
Yeah. We'll do some stealing of our own! Having made up his mind, Jacob gripped his sword firmly—but the moment he confirmed the face of the person emerging from beyond the brush, his fighting spirit evaporated.
“Good to see you.”
Arthur Soladin. Third Prince of the Soladin Kingdom, and one of the ten most fearsome fighters at the current Soul Academy.
The people behind him were every bit as capable—strong enough that any of them could have been Arthur's party members.
No matter how desperately Jacob's party thrashed, this was an opponent they simply could not beat.
Damn it. Of all people! Jacob bit his lip as he took in their faces. Resisting in this situation was pointless. They'd just get obliterated by that raw strength.
Better to beg for mercy instead. We don't have anything worth taking anyway, so please, just leave us alone.
“Ah—worry not. We didn't come to take your loot.”
“...Really?”
“I am. If we intended to rob you, would we be having this conversation?”
He had a point. If Arthur had planned to pillage them, no conversation would have been necessary. One word—hand it over—and Jacob's party would have dropped to their knees.
“Then why are you here?”
“I am currently drafting a certain plan. For it to work, the students of our Academy will need to unite as one.”
“Pardon? What do you—”
“Do you think it acceptable that the ones who dragged this field trip into ruin get to stroll around giggling and having the time of their lives?”
There was no need to spell out who the culprits behind this ruined field trip were. Everyone roaming this forest knew the name.
Lucy Aln.
The apostle wielding the finest combat power on the continent.
The possessor of the most brilliant knowledge in the Academy.
And at the same time, the once-in-a-century genius who kept shattering record after record at Soul Academy.
The person who had saved Jacob's life during the entrance exam.
“I intend to teach her what her original sin truly is. In my heart, I would love to make her pay with my party alone—but Lucy Aln is simply too strong for that.”
“So you're gathering everyone at the Academy to mount a combined assault.”
“Precisely. I refuse to leave even the smallest variable for Lucy Aln to exploit.”
There was an obsession in Arthur's voice as he declared that if the preparations were half-baked, Lucy would surely smash everything to pieces instead—so they would prepare thoroughly and bring her down completely.
It made clear just how deeply he had thrown himself into this whole affair.
“It goes without saying, of course, that those who join this endeavor will be compensated fairly. I intend to divide up the loot Lucy Aln possesses equally among everyone.”
An equal split of Lucy's loot.
Since day one, Lucy had been raiding party after party at the Academy, hoarding spoils. No one knew exactly how much she carried, but the quantity was surely considerable.
If they took it from her and split it evenly among everyone, Jacob's party might just escape a failing grade after all.
“Is that... really true?”
When one of Jacob's friends voiced the thought that had occurred to them all, Arthur nodded.
“I swear it on a prince's honor.”
The weight of a promise made by a prince of a nation, staking his own station, was by no means a light one.
Just as Jacob's party members began to murmur among themselves at this glimmer of hope, Jacob—the one who had assembled this party in the first place—took a step forward.
“I'm sorry, Prince Arthur.”
“You mean to refuse my invitation?”
“Yes. Lady Aln saved my life. I cannot betray her.”
Lucy had probably wiped Jacob's existence from her memory long ago. To a star busy writing a new history, a creature like Jacob meant nothing.
And yet, even so, a creature of the earth cannot forget the star in the sky. Arthur, gazing quietly at the back of Jacob's bowed head, suddenly burst out with a snort of laughter.
“And you don't care to ask what your friends think?”
“Ah! Well, that's—”
“No, Your Highness. We agree with him.”
“How could we possibly attack the person who saved our friend's life?”
Voices rang out from behind before Jacob had even finished raising his flustered head. Every single one of them said the same thing: their opinion matched Jacob's.
“You do realize I may have to classify you all as enemies?”
“We've got nothing worth taking anyway! Go dig dust out of an empty pocket!”
When Jacob's chronically chatty friend said it in a voice trembling like a leaf, Arthur finally couldn't hold back his laughter.
Chuckling for a good while amid everyone else's silence, he soon cleared his throat and continued with a gentle smile.
“Ah—yes, of course. I'll respect your wishes. In exchange, don't get in our way. Otherwise, even I will have no choice but to attack you.”
With those parting words, Arthur departed—and Jacob's legs gave out beneath him, dropping him to the ground.
That was genuinely terrifying. Is it because he carries the king's blood? That presence is no joke. I thought I was about to be eaten alive.
“Hey! You absolute lunatic! What kind of idiot turns that down without even consulting us?!”
“I seriously thought we were going to die to the prince, you piece of trash!”
“Drop dead! I'll hunt the monsters and gather the loot myself next time, you bastard!”
Jacob couldn't dwell on what had just happened for long. His friends' affectionate hands and feet came raining down on the back of his head first.
Perhaps because we'd pillaged so ruthlessly over the past two days, the other Academy students' wariness had shot way up.
Nowadays, even when Phoebe stepped out front, they wouldn't relax for a second—they were too busy shoving weapons toward us first.
Not that it changed anything. A centipede bugging its eyes out isn't going to stop my party's power, now is it?
After Phoebe's buffs, Joy slams them with an opening spell, and in that chaos I punch through and pull aggro, then Frey and I pick them off one by one—how exactly are they supposed to counter that structure?
Fools who can't land a single scratch on me even when four of them gang up.
Having stripped yet another party clean, I stowed the loot they'd so generously donated as my education fees into my Inventory and checked over everything I'd gathered so far.
Well, well. I really did rack up a lot. By game standards, this is a pretty solid haul.
Running around on my own two legs for it makes it extra satisfying, I guess. With this, first place in the field trip is basically in the bag.
I was smiling contentedly at the haul when I heard the bushes rustle—but I didn't turn my head. I already knew who it was.
“Lady Rina? What brings you here?”
“Thou knowest full well this lady has but one reason to come to this place.”
“Ah...”
The moment the face-con fox raised her voice, Joy's pitying gaze landed on me.
Phoebe was no different. During our raids on other students she'd thrown me the occasional sidelong look, but in this one moment, even she was feeling sorry for me.
Seriously, face-con fox, you're incredible. Just how disgusting are you that other people pity ME?
When I stared down at her without bothering to hide my disgust one bit, the tail of the fox-shaped face-con fox whipped back and forth in a frenzy.
“That gaze of thine is truly exquisite. Might thou glare a little harder?”
“Die.”
“Why are you still alive? You're disgusting. Die. Go kill yourself.”
“Mmm. A delicacy without compare. In my heart I would feast on more, but there is a tale I must deliver, so let us leave it at that.”
With that, the face-con fox took on her human form again.
She was considerably tall for a woman, while I was practically a shrimp—so the moment she became human, I naturally had to crane my neck up at her.
Watching her loom over me with those repulsive eyes made irritation boil up on its own. Weird. Hanging around you feels like my anger threshold keeps dropping.
“If you're livestock, then crawl on all fours like livestock should?♡ Why are you imitating a person?♡ Sit♡ You disgusting pervert fox♡”
“Woof!”
Watching the face-con fox bark like a dog without even being told anymore, my heart felt warm... like hell it did!
Ah, damn it. Being around this pervert makes me feel like I'm getting contaminated too.
“So. What did you come to say?♡”
“Woof!”
“You're the Lord of the Forest and you can't even read the situation?♡ Loser♡ Beneath your station♡ An idiot beast who's only good for perverted antics♡”
The face-con fox, apparently delighted by my words, grinned and panted with her tongue out—until Joy and Phoebe's withering glares finally landed on her, at which point she cleared her throat and got to the point.
Of course, even then, she remained crawling on all fours.
“It seems the students of the Academy intend to join forces and attack thee.”
“With Arthur at the center, right?”
“That dimwit Pitiful Prince is right in the thick of it, isn't he?”
“Thou knewest already?”
Obviously. After raising that much hell in this forest, there's no way all the hatred wouldn't pool toward me.
My reputation was already in the gutter. Becoming public enemy number one was only natural.
“I could hide thee and thy companions in my manor, if it please thee.”
“No thanks.”
“Hide in a beast's den? Ew. No. Everything would stink of animal.”
Why on earth would I need to hide? The monster loot is walking right up to me on its own, isn't it?
“And hast thou a plan to counter them?”
“Obviously.”
“Of course I do.”