Chapter 1122 – 1122. Magic School Shutra (7)
The third day of the trip has begun.
And as soon as we gathered in one place early in the morning…
“Senior… “Are you awake?”
“… Well, I thought you couldn’t wake up because of the hangover.”
Hanelone and Milena began to look at Edgar Horwitz with humble eyes.
“Ahm… Yesterday… I was drunk… “I’m sorry.”
Although Edgar Horwitz did not usually say an apology, he apologized as if he had crouched down in response to the women’s anger.
And thanks to his apology, Ariel seemed to feel better and smiled at him, albeit awkwardly.
“I understand that it was fun to be together, but I still think it’s better to be careful when drinking alcohol.”
“Ah… Okay…”
Edgar Horwitz shakes his shoulders and nods his head at Ariel’s advice.
I predicted the future by watching Edgar Horwitz.
‘If I have any thoughts, I will refrain from doing so today.’
You probably won’t see Edgar Horwitz at the bar today.
No, even if you see it, it will only be for a moment.
At the gathering of five people, one person appeared.
“… Sorry for being late.”
Lewis appeared with everyone watching.
But I knew who his eyes were focused on.
‘My heart will be pounding.’
As soon as he confessed to Ariel, Louis was rejected and even admonished.
It would not be easy for anyone in the world to face such humiliation.
However, Ariel smiled and welcomed Luis as if she had truly forgotten what happened yesterday.
“What’s late… It came just in time. “Let’s go now.”
“Yes…”
And so the third day of the trip began.
.
.
The destination of the third day’s trip was the South.
Unlike the eastern part, the southern part took the form of a downtown similar to the central part.
However, the difference from the central region was that the southern region was so large that it went beyond imagination.
Northern, central, eastern, western.
It was the largest area, barely comparable in size to the southern part of the area.
And with such a large space, the southern part had unique facilities that could not be built in other areas.
A large museum, a large park, and just…
As soon as…
“And… All of this…”
“It’s a maze… ?”
It was a large maze.
The place we arrived at following Ariel’s guidance was the entrance to the maze, a place where you could see the entire area of the maze.
A maze so wide that you can’t take it all in at a glance.
In addition, we could only see the size of the maze with our eyes, but it was difficult to distinguish the exact shape of the maze from where we were standing.
In terms of scale and complexity… It was a maze that would easily take 2–3 hours no matter how fast you went.
Hanelone and Milena looked at the maze and voiced their concerns.
“Sir, it looks like fun… Is it okay?”
“I’m worried too. If something happens in a place like this…”
What Hanelone and Milena were worried about wasn’t just fun and wasting time.
Accident.
If an accident occurs in such a large area, it will be difficult to notice, but it will also not be easy to respond.
Hearing Hanelone and Milena’s worried voices, the Miro employee next to them smiled and waved their hands.
“Don’t worry about that. “Do you have the jewel you received earlier?”
“Yes.”
As soon as I arrived at the maze, I received a cubic-shaped gem from the staff.
“If you knock on the wall like this…”
The employee knocked on the wall the same jewelry he handed to us.
Then, the jewel began to emit a strong red light.
“Ugh…”
“Ahh! My eyes… !”
The employee gave us an eye-terror and then explained with a humble smile.
“In an emergency, you can knock the jewel on the wall like this. If you turned it on by mistake…”
When I knocked again, it turned off.
“If you tap it again like this, it will turn off. Please take two more as spares.”
“But even if you turn on the emergency lights…”
Hanello continued her words, looking at the vast maze with worried eyes.
“How do the employees get there? And going back…”
“Don’t worry about that either.”
When the staff placed the jewel on the falcon-shaped statue at the entrance…
“Although the maze is built like an iron wall…”
Slam! Rumbling!
As the staff placed the gem on top of the statue, the walls of the maze began to tremble and sink into the ground.
Everyone was shocked to see the huge maze transformed into an empty plain.
The employee explained with satisfaction at our shocked appearance.
“In case of emergency, the entire maze is designed to be lowered like this.”
He explained that you can get off this way not only in emergencies, but also when you want to give up.
Hanelone and Milena, relieved by the employee’s words, whispered as if they were impressed.
“Hey… No matter how large the southern part of the country is, installing a maze this wide…”
“Now that I think about it… This is my first time hearing that there is a maze in the South. “There were no kids around me who said they went to the South.”
“Yes… If I want to play, I’ll go to the central part, and if I want to rest, I’ll go to the western part…”
“And among second-year students, we’re probably the only ones who visited the eastern historical site, right?”
Hanelone smiled and answered Milena’s words.
“Pfft… Where would kid who can stay out in the first place go to play? “I will only study when I have time to play.”
“But… I also stayed out… “Last time was my first time.”
“…”
“…”
The two people turned their heads and began to look away with awkward expressions, probably remembering a previous incident (Hanelone’s budget embezzlement).
As everyone was puzzled by the two people, I quickly started to lead the mood.
“Okay, then let’s form a team first.”
“Oh yeah. Let’s decide on a team.”
As it is a large labyrinth, there were no major problems even with 6 people exploring it.
However, the employee said that proceeding in that way would only lead to boredom and suggested forming a team.
Ariel welcomed the employee’s suggestion and welcomed the formation of a team.
So what we decided was to form three teams of two people per team.
Ariel accepted the employee’s offer and offered a reward.
“But you have to get something to be motivated, right? For the first place team… “
Ariel trailed off her words and glanced somewhere with a humble expression.
Somewhere…
“Sigh…”
This was the place where Louis’ flinching face was located.
Ariel laughed at Louis’s flinching appearance and took something out of her uniform pocket.
“I’ll give you this.”
What Ariel took out and showed us were two wooden tablets.
A wooden plaque that is about the size of two finger joints and looks like polished, clean wood.
Hanelone read the engraved sentence on the wooden tablet.
“Carsten?”
Hanelone’s curious voice was also contagious to Milena who was next to her.
“Hmm? Is it a local name?”
“Oh, that’s…”
Ariel looks bitter at Hanelone and Milena’s reaction.
Even though they are said to be a buried family in a small country on the outskirts, the sight of the two people not knowing their own family itself seemed to be hurtful.
However, there was someone who saved Ariel’s side in this situation.
“Carsten… “I don’t remember where it’s from, but I’ve heard about it.”
“I’ve heard it too. Did you say it was a knightly family? ?”
It was Edgar Horwitz and Lewis.
Unlike Hanelone and Milena, the two were from noble families, and thanks to that, they had at least heard of Karsten’s name, even if they did not know it.
Ariel tried to smile brightly at the words of the two people…
“The Karsten family… I see… ?”
But Ariel’s smile…
“That’s all I heard when I was young. Today was the first time I heard that it was a knight family. Then it must have been ruined. What kind of knightly family is there in the world these days…”
“…”
It withered and withered before it even bloomed.
If I had stopped here, it would have withered and ended.
However, the two people, who revealed for the first time in a while that they were from noble families, continued their conversation with pride.
“No, I heard that the name is still maintained.”
“Maintaining the name? A knightly family? “You keep revealing your knightly background, which is embarrassing even if you hide it in the tomb?”
“Yes, the great knight family is as rare as the ruins we saw yesterday. Even in our Kingdom of Levin, such knightly families are left for decoration.”
“Ohh… You could use it like that. But isn’t it possible because it’s the size of the Levin Kingdom?”
“What… I don’t think any country other than Levin would have the capacity for such an idea. Haha.”
Lewis seemed to have a crush on Edgar Horwitz, who praised his country, and they talked to him non-stop.
“…”
The problem was Ariel’s face, which withered and rotted at the words of the two people.
But even as Ariel withered and rotted, she did not sprinkle compost on them.
This may be because Ariel couldn’t just refute what those two people said.
‘I need to save my energy.’
Until the night when she had to go to work, she kept her mouth shut to avoid receiving attention as much as possible, but Ariel looked too pitiful to just ignore it.
I hung my voice like a towel over the conversation between two people talking nonsense.
“If it’s the Karsten family, isn’t it the family of Oquil Karsten, who was active during the Continental War?”
“Oh!?”
Ariel’s withered expression instantly bloomed and turned to me.
“Ocul Karsten… “No, do you know that person?”
“Yes, I overheard him while passing through that area a while back. I was impressed by his activities at the time, so I learned quite a bit about his family.”
I accurately recited the heroic story of Oquil Karsten and the history of the Karsten family that I saw in Ariel’s dream, without missing a single word.
Ariel listened to me with such joy that her eyes sparkled.
And…
“Currently, the official successors are the eldest daughter and eldest son… Among them, the eldest daughter…”
“The eldest daughter… ?”
Ariel swallows her saliva as if her true identity has been discovered.
I shrugged my shoulders and answered with a shy smile.
“They say she’s such a beauty.”
“!?”
Ariel is shocked by my answer and pulls back.
But fortunately, the surrounding members didn’t seem to be interested in seeing Ariel like that.
The reason is…
“Ha, okay… “I think I know why Suho knows the Carsten family so well.”
“Whoa… That would be nice, the eldest daughter of the Karsten family… Because she is Suho’s favorite beauty…”
It was because I strangely misunderstood the word ‘beauty’ that came out of my mouth.
However, the reactions of the women and men were polar opposites.
If Hanelone and Milena felt like they were throwing a hook called jealousy at me…
“Joy… No matter how remote it may be, or even if it is a knightly family, the opponent is a nobleman. “It is not the place for a commoner like you with impure blood mixed in here and there to interfere.”
It felt like Edgar Horwitz was targeting this moment and throwing a harpoon at me.
I answered while effortlessly dodging the flying harpoon.
“Haha… Still, wouldn’t it be worth a try if I were a Shutra student?”
And Edgar Horwitz’s harpoon…
“Poout… Is it worth a try? Yes, try hard. If the daughter of a noble family is thoughtless enough to accept a commoner like you… In the first place, she would not have the dignity of an aristocrat, but rather a woman with the qualities of a prostitute.”
“!?”
It split into countless branches and began to penetrate the bodies of nearby members.
“Hawk… Prostitute…”
“Under… Haha…”
It wasn’t just Hanelone and Milena.
“…”
In fact, Karsten’s eldest daughter was also feeling pain from being hit by a harpoon.
Still, the three seemed to be able to endure to some extent.
Here, the biggest fatal blow from Edgar Horwitz’s words was…
“Under… Haha… Prostitute… Endowment… ?”
It was Lewis.
In Louise’s mind right now, the women she knew are passing by.
Luna, her childhood friend, her first love, and the woman she wanted to share her love with for the rest of her life.
Her sister Karin, whom she admits is just as attractive as Luna, although she criticizes her every time she encounters her.
Her mother, Anna, who gave birth to her and raised her with her love.
Other than that, several other women may be passing through her mind.
And all the women Lewis thought of…
“Ugh… Hawk… Prostitution… Wealth… ?”
These are the women who accepted me, as Edgar Horwitz said.
In other words, Edgar Horwitz’s remarks were in fact…
“Profit…”
Luna and Karin… It was a remark that even treated her mother, Anna, who gave birth to her, as a prostitute.
When the members except me showed their anger, Edgar Horwitz realized something was wrong and made a gibberish excuse.
“Hehe, you can at least play a prank on your junior. “Let’s build a team first!”
If it were the usual Edgar Horwitz, he would have taken the lead in this situation.
However, after being scolded by Ariel yesterday, his pride had already been crushed like a discarded aluminum can, so he seemed to fall sideways on his own.
‘Hey… This too is a talent.’
Edgar Horwitz, who did not harm the target with a single harpoon, but inflicted fatal blows on people around him.
In a way, I thought this could be called a talent.
I admired Edgar Horwitz’s talent and listened to him.
“Rather than choosing a team, I think we should first listen to what Ariel says. Please continue what you said earlier.”
“Oh, right…”
Ariel held out the wooden plaque again with a bitter smile.
“I guess you knew about the Karsten family because you heard Suho… This is the wooden tablet of the Karsten family.”
It is a wooden plaque specially produced by the Karsten family, and it is stated that it cannot be counterfeited.
And most importantly, he told me the purpose of this wooden tablet.
“Although I don’t know when it will happen, if the Karsten family needs help, please hand me this wooden plaque. Then the Karsten family will do their best to help.”
The wooden tablet that Ariel showed had a similar function to the tablet given to a benefactor, something that would appear in a martial arts world.
‘Is it because they come from a knightly family?’
Ariel did not stop here and went on to say more.
“Even if you don’t intend to use the wooden plaque, you will be treated as an honored guest just by stopping by and showing this wooden plaque, so feel free to stop by and bring it with you.”
Of course, being treated as a VIP means something to be used once or twice when you accidentally stop by during a trip.
Even a person with a broad mind will turn into a narrow-minded person if he sees someone who stays at home 365 days a year without paying attention.
And when he sees the man blocking his narrow ditch, he will raise his red-hot hoe.
However, after Ariel’s explanation was over, everyone had a puzzled look on their faces.
The reason was simple.
“That… Why does your senior have that wooden plaque?”
“I know… A very precious thing… Isn’t it?”
A wooden plaque that would only be given to a family benefactor.
And Ariel has two such wooden tablets.
“Tsk… No way…”
“Huh…”
Edgar Horwitz and Lewis also seemed to have finally grasped the situation.
But Ariel smiled awkwardly and shook her head.
Haha, don’t think strange. This wooden plaque was her father’s, and I inherited it when I entered Shutra School.”
Ariel began making excuses, dramatizing her past to avoid her suspicions.
However, none of the dramatized excuses were far from the truth.
First of all, the person who gave the wooden plaque was probably Ariel’s father, the head of the Carsten family.
“Anyway, I’m not from Karsten… Don’t get me wrong. And I don’t think I’ll ever use this wooden plaque anymore, so I gave it to you as a reward, so don’t feel pressured.”
“Ah… I see.”
Surprisingly, everyone was obediently agreeing.
As expected, Ariel has completely hidden her identity for three years.
Above all, from the members’ perspective, they probably thought there was no reason for Ariel to hide her noble status.
As Edgar Horwitz said, even if she comes from a knightly family, she is a noblewoman.
There is no reason for her to call herself a commoner while hiding her noble status.
There is another reason that is the biggest of all.
You enter Shutra School, which is considered the center of the world, but you forge your identity?
Even in a book that describes how one wants to die, such crazy behavior would not exist.
Ariel, who decided that she had fooled everyone well, put her wooden tablet back into her pocket and sighed with relief.
“Whoa… Now that the reward has been decided, let’s decide on the team. But how do you decide on a team? ?”
“Oh, we can help you with that.”
An employee who had been quiet until now suddenly came out and offered us something.
“The team selection system that will create a sense of tension for customers using our maze from the start is…”
What the employee presented…
“It’s a drawing of lots.”
It was six colored pieces of wood and a black cylinder.
