Mistaken for a Masked Munchkin

[Main Quest]

-Title: Endless Proof

-Details: Rank first in your year during the final practical exam. Overwhelm your opponent by an overwhelming margin.

[You have completed the task through an astonishing performance!]

-A special reward has been issued. Please check your inventory.

I lightly pressed the claim button.

A single ticket appeared before me, black on both sides.

[Special Reward]

-You have obtained the item, ‘???-Rank Reward Selection Ticket.’

I could feel the texture of the thin paper against my fingertips.

I’d expected it to some extent, but I still couldn’t help staring at it for a while.

‘So it really is this...’

This was probably the most valuable reward I could obtain from status window quests.

It might’ve been even rarer than SSS-rank items.

After all, this ticket could literally create Misunderstanding.

Phenomena that should’ve been impossible could be made real through this ticket’s power.

-Selection-

[Please select one of the options below!]

1. Obtain Merit Points (10,000p)

2. Damaged Item Repair Ticket ×1 [Sold Out]

3. Broken Item Restoration Ticket ×1

4. Item Rank Downgrade Ticket ×1

5. Space Leap Ticket ×1

6. Item Cooldown Reset Ticket ×1

7. ■ ■■(???)

.

.

.

28.■■■■■■(???)

29.■■■ ■■(???)

30.■■(???)

Every last one had a major use.

I calmly looked over the list.

One entry in particular caught my eye.

‘Damaged Item Repair Ticket.’

Lua had been born through that ticket.

When my exclusive weapon was repaired, it had been elevated into a growth-type Ego Weapon.

‘It’s been sold out for months already.’

I’d waited in case it came back in stock, but the sold-out label never disappeared.

That led me to one conclusion.

Each ticket on the list could only be selected once.

Since that had been true of the first repair ticket, the others were likely the same.

‘I’ll have to use them carefully.’

I currently had three tickets in total.

I was saving as many as possible for emergencies.

‘The more joker cards I have, the better.’

Something had been bothering me lately.

The main story seemed to be progressing a little faster.

Without me realizing it, things had begun happening months earlier than they did in the original story.

‘The butterfly effect.’

My advantage as a transmigrator was gradually fading.

I’d changed too much, making the future harder to predict.

Only a faint outline of my knowledge remained.

In other words, I needed to be even more alert from now on.

The New Kingdom and the Cult were both lunatics who could go off in any direction.

‘Blue Night.’

The fifth Calamity, Blue Night.

An event in which the Cult and the New Kingdom joined hands and tore through the entire continent.

It caused countless casualties before eventually bringing about the collapse of Grandia Academy.

It was also the point at which the Great War began.

In the story, the death toll had always reached the millions.

I had a duty to stand against that calamity and prevent the world’s tragedy.

‘I’ll prepare thoroughly.’

My advantage as a transmigrator had weakened, but it hadn’t vanished completely.

I intended to settle things quickly.

Quick and decisive. I’d crush the remaining events within a year at the latest.

The Cult, the New Kingdom, and the three uncleared Calamities among the Seven Calamities.

‘...And I should investigate whenever I can, too.’

Misunderstanding.

It would be good to gain a more detailed understanding of that authority.

It was a power I wielded, but there was still more I didn’t know about it than I did.

‘I need a deeper understanding than just knowing it’s the Evil God’s authority.’

I quietly turned the thought over in my mind.

Maybe I needed to visit the hundredth floor of Purgatory sooner than expected.

‘There should be some answers there.’

Throb.

I rubbed my stiff neck for no particular reason.

It had become a habit after the ninetieth floor of Purgatory.

“Whew...”

I let out a quiet breath.

After roughly sorting out the mess in my head, I shoved the black ticket into my robes, past the nagging thoughts still gnawing at me.

‘Right... Slowly, step by step, always with a smile.’

I murmured my magic spell.

The one thing I was best at, something my teacher had taught me.

-Don’t make a sad face. Always keep smiling!

-I believe our Muro will do well.

I pulled my hazy mind together.

Letting myself relax a little, I spent the entire night making plans in front of my status window.

* * *

A few days later.

I secretly visited Valteric’s laboratory.

“Excuse me.”

It was a sudden visit, without an appointment or even a knock.

Inside the spacious laboratory, only a blue-haired figure sat neatly at a desk.

He seemed to have been handling documents. The scratching of his pen stopped for a moment.

“The top student of Class E? I don’t recall having an appointment with you today.”

“That’s right. I just dropped by without warning. There was something I wanted to ask you, Professor.”

“I don’t receive visitors without appointments.”

“What do you want me to do about that? Am I supposed to take that into consideration?”

“...”

Rejecting his rejection, I sat on the sofa across from him.

Blue eyes watched me silently.

“...”

“Answer my question.”

I spoke without warning.

There had always been something about Valteric that puzzled me.

I’d barged into his laboratory today to clear up that question mark.

“Valteric Glacia.”

“Use an honorific.”

The handsome young man’s cheeks were still swollen.

I had no intention of mocking him. I merely observed his expressionless face.

A brief, awkward silence passed between us.

Then we spoke at the same time.

“Why did you come here?”

“Why did you hit her?”

“What?”

“I mean Lady Glacia. Didn’t you often slap her across the face?”

“Do I need a reason to handle a defective product? I only raised my hand to discipline her.”

“Properly.”

I cut him off.

The corners of my mask weren’t smiling. They remained expressionless.

“Not that kind of reason. Give me the real reason.”

“The real reason? Why should I?”

“Because I beat the shit out of you. Or do you need another hit before you come to your senses?”

“...”

I casually raised my gloved hand.

Valteric furrowed his brow.

He looked deeply offended and displeased.

“Answer me.”

Yet I knew.

That was an act.

More precisely, he was imitating emotions.

As far as I knew, Valteric was incapable of feeling emotions.

‘Valteric has no emotions.’

It wasn’t that his emotions were faint and hard to see, like Rin’s.

He literally had none. He was an emotionless human.

He only imitated a few emotions to appear natural.

He didn’t get angry or sad. You could say he was closer to a machine than a person.

‘All Valteric cares about is his family’s honor. He’s the kind of person who considers everything else irrelevant.’

That was the basis of my question.

No matter how much I thought about it, Valteric had no reason to abuse Rin.

‘Why the hell did he slap her?’

Hitting someone usually involved emotion.

It was especially out of character for Valteric, who normally valued dignity.

I could more or less understand him treating Rin as defective or condemning her as worthless.

But no matter how many times I thought about it, I couldn’t understand why he’d gone as far as striking her.

Of course, how could I understand what went on inside an emotionless doll...

‘It doesn’t match the setting, does it?’

It was different from the original story.

That was why I had no choice but to ask Valteric directly.

The young man remained expressionless.

Then those utterly emotionless lips parted.

“It’s difficult to explain. Perhaps it felt as though my heart was beating.”

“Excuse me?”

“Whenever I slapped that defective product, my heart stirred strangely. That’s why I did it. I was disciplining her while confirming it.”

“...You’re saying it felt like your heart was beating? So you slapped her once in a while because you wanted to feel that sensation again?”

“Precisely. But I still don’t know what it was.”

“...”

I closed my mouth.

Then I understood everything and rubbed at my masked face.

‘...Fuck.’

So that was it.

I barely suppressed the awful feeling rising from my core.

‘The Glacia Family subjugation battle... Maybe I need to hurry it along.’

I had my answer.

There was no reason to stay here any longer.

Bang!

I shot up from my seat.

I wanted to tear the place apart, but it wasn’t time yet, so I held it in.

“Whew...”

I let out a heated breath.

Then I sharply turned my head and kicked open the laboratory door as I left.

As I disappeared, that expressionless face continued watching my back.

‘Glacia Family.’

Just wait.

I’ll take all of you down before winter arrives, at the latest.

I muttered inwardly as I walked away.

* * *

After the final exams ended successfully, the Class E students practically worshipped me as a god.

-Father! My grades improved so much thanks to your teachings!

-Sob... I never thought a day like this would come.

-I defeated a Class C student!

-It’s all thanks to you, Boss! Because you took us in...!

The kids called me Father as they tossed me into the air.

For a while, the classroom was a complete mess.

Was it because their grades had risen so dramatically?

Class E’s atmosphere was as lively as a festival.

Even as they tossed me around, I sincerely congratulated them on their growth.

‘Teaching them was worth it.’

The quest progress kept rising.

I couldn’t help smiling in satisfaction.

On top of that, I received an enormous donation from an anonymous sponsor.

[Thanks to you, I made a great deal of money.]

[Please accept this small token of my gratitude.]

It was probably that person who’d made three hundred times their stake betting on the underdog.

When I checked my student vault, an absurd amount of money was waiting for me.

In terms of my previous life, it was the equivalent of a hundred million.

‘Fuck, just how much did they make betting on the underdog?’

According to the rumors, they’d made eight times the amount they sent me.

I carefully stored the excessive sum in my vault.

For a while, I should go out and buy Lua plenty of delicious food.

The final exams had ended well, and I was just starting to think life would return to normal.

“Um.”

It was an ordinary classroom, no different from usual.

Then Rin suddenly spoke.

“Professor.”

“Student Rin? What is it...?”

The girl walked over and stood in front of Javert.

Her eyes blinked with their usual sleepy look.

I could feel everyone’s attention.

It was only natural. Rin rarely spoke to anyone other than me.

Javert must’ve found that unexpected as well, because she closed the book she’d been reading as if to listen.

Two expressionless faces met.

“I have a request.”

“Go ahead.”

“Give Viktor to me.”

“...Pardon?”

Then Rin dropped a bomb.

My name had suddenly been called.

I could only stand there blankly, stunned.

The other students reacted the same way, and so did Javert.

“I heard you and Viktor are in a relationship. So, yes. I thought I should ask your permission.”

“Permission to...?”

“Permission to take Viktor.”

“...”

Unbothered by their reactions, the blue-haired girl continued.

Her voice almost sounded like a declaration.

Rin spoke without changing her expression.

“I need him more than you do.”

“...”

“So give him to me.”

“...Ha.”

A faint, humorless laugh escaped Javert.

Her gaze turned ice-cold.

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