Chapter 148
Chapter 148
“Is this the café from the rumors?”
“That’s right, you found the place! Welcome!”
Karin greeted the customer with a bright expression.
A few customers waiting for their food were watching Lapin and the Sea Otter show off tricks.
It felt leisurely and peaceful.
No one knew what had happened in the kitchen.
Well, except for me and Rupina.
We were silently staring at the box.
Just when customers began arriving, the problem erupted.
‘Who did this?’
Inside the box Rupina had opened, sand and trash were stuffed inside.
Since contaminated ingredients couldn’t be washed and used, we had to discard the whole box.
That meant material loss of course, but also a loss of time and manpower.
And our booth was already short on staff.
It was a bothersome situation.
‘……Someone is deliberately trying to interfere with us.’
<Little Friends Café> wasn’t even successful enough to be considered a dark horse.
‘Then is there someone who holds a grudge against me?’
If it had been because of the karma Villed had accumulated, I could have understood…… but the application for this booth had been filled under Lapin’s name. Aside from the booth representative, the team members weren’t disclosed, and since I participated while wearing a mask, the fact that I belonged to this booth was kept a complete secret—no one should have been able to know.
No.
……To be precise, it wasn’t “no one.”
If someone really wanted to check, there was a way.
All they had to do was look at the booth application for this Winter Festival stored in the Student Council Office.
On the application, there would be the names Lapin, Karin, Rupina, and mine.
But the only ones who could see that were the festival-management faculty members, Student Council executives, professors, and the Chancellor.
‘Then is the culprit among them?’
But they had no reason to interfere with me.
Even in the game, there wasn’t any content about someone sabotaging a booth.
I felt like I was sinking deeper into a maze.
‘I don’t understand. What’s the purpose of this? Just a prank?’
Just when my head started getting tangled……
“What…….”
Rupina spoke first, her voice trembling.
A faint tension seeped into her fingertips, making them shake slightly.
Was she scared?
“Which bastard dared to mess with my money…….”
……Rupina clenched her trembling fist, her eyes bloodshot.
It was such a chilling scene that I didn’t even dare to correct her with a “I said I’d give you a portion of the sales, but it’s not all your money.”
“Young Master, should I call the knights? No, no, that’s not enough. I should order bear traps from Hephaistos and place them around the boxes. About five of them.”
“……Calm down a bit, Rupina.”
I sighed and set the sand-filled box down on the floor.
Then I shifted my gaze toward the customers watching the Sea Otter.
“Right now, the waiting customers come first.”
I pulled out one of the boxes stacked behind the booth and placed it on Rupina’s cooking counter.
There were no problems with the contents of this box.
Someone had only tampered with a few.
“I’ll take care of this issue myself. You just keep focusing on the cooking.”
“……Understood. If the Young Master says so, I’ll follow.”
Either way, solving the immediate problem came first.
Rupina nodded, seemingly resigned.
Yeah……
Even though customers were gradually increasing and we were already short-handed, someone dared to pull a prank?
Whoever it was, they had poked my nerves.
‘I’ll catch them before the day ends…….’
I made that vow as I stared at the sand-contaminated box.
Meanwhile, in the Main Building’s Grand Performance Hall.
The performance of McGrim, who had become the most popular singer of the year, was nearing its end.
All the spectators shouted for an encore in regret.
McGrim wiped away her sweat and showed a fresh smile.
After catching her breath, she slowly met eyes with the audience.
Then she brought her mouth to the microphone glowing with magic stone light.
“I prepared a special encore for all of you! But before that, I have one announcement to make!”
She took a deep breath and declared loudly:
“I, McGrim, will be submitting my application to enter Yggdrasil Academy today!”
“……!”
The audience was so shocked they couldn’t speak for a moment.
Then—
“Oooooh!”
“No way! Miss McGrim is entering the Academy?!”
“You must get accepted! Miss McGrim!”
A roaring response erupted.
McGrim turned her head toward her manager, who was hiding at the edge of the stage, and shouted.
“I’m sorry, Manager! And thank you! For raising me all this time!”
“Yes, Miss McGrim……!”
The old gentleman took out a handkerchief and answered loudly.
“You’ve worked so hard at such a young age. From now on, do everything you want……!”
All he could do was wipe away the tears streaming down his face.
The old manager suddenly recalled the past.
The day he had been walking down the street and happened to hear a young refugee orphan singing.
That child he picked up back then had grown this much already.
He couldn’t help but be proud that McGrim had reached the position of top singer.
If McGrim wanted to become a student of the Academy, he intended to help her.
Of course he would. The one who decided her life was McGrim herself.
He wasn’t her parent or anything like that.
He no longer wanted to force her to work. Now he wanted to support her in living the life she wanted……
“What’s that, Manager! You’re talking like my work is over?”
“Yes……?”
The manager blinked.
“I love singing! Even if I enter the Academy, I’m going to continue releasing albums, you know? So…… I still need my manager. You’ll help me next year too, right?”
“……!”
The manager closed his eyes quietly, tearing up, and bowed his head at a 90-degree angle.
Then he opened one eye slightly and glanced at McGrim’s face.
Today's MacGrim amount is…….
Ah.
The best of the best……!
“Until the day I’m in my coffin, I will serve you, Miss McGrim……!”
“Thanks, Manager!”
The audience burst into warm applause and tears.
McGrim turned her gaze back to the crowd.
“Now, let me tell you about the encore I prepared! Do you remember the Victory Festival? I got caught up in that incident, and the performance was canceled.”
Yes, the performance everyone had looked forward to—but sadly never got to see.
Everyone remembered.
“I’m going to redo that canceled performance, right now!”
At her words, the audience responded with enthusiasm.
“The encore performance starts at 6 p.m.! At Havertz Park!”
Before I knew it, more than half the tables had filled.
‘I hope the weather stays warm.’
By some coincidence stacked atop another, even in midwinter the air was warm. Thanks to that, there were people out on the park lawn playing with their animals.
“I heard Miss McGrim’s encore concert tonight will be at this concert venue?”
I even overheard unexpected good fortune from customers’ conversations.
‘I don’t know why you helped me…… but thanks, McGrim.’
Just like during the Victory Festival, a lot of people would come here.
So…… before the concert started, I had to catch the saboteurs.
Of course, there was a way.
I had Ramji’s skill, Danger Sense.
Now that the ingredient boxes were clearly recognized as my personal property, if anyone damaged them, the skill would trigger.
……Some time later.
Ding-, ding-.
After a long wait, the Danger Sense skill activated.
‘There you are.’
I immediately walked behind the booth, to the place filled with ingredient boxes.
Buuuk-!
Crack, craaack-!
Two male students wearing masks were scratching up the boxes.
They had even prepared sand in advance to ruin the ingredients—thoroughly meticulous.
They seemed quite serious about sabotaging my booth.
Since I had approached quietly, they didn’t notice me getting close.
“What are you doing?”
I spoke from directly behind them, and the masked man turned and jumped in fright.
“W-what the—?! Damn it!”
“Run!”
They immediately took off.
Of course, I could chase and catch them anytime……
‘This is my chance to find the mastermind.’
I deliberately matched my pace to theirs and followed.
To put it simply, I ended up at the engineering department’s clubroom.
I chased the two, but then got surrounded by other Engineering Department students who had been hiding in the alley next to the building.
There were metal shavings on their clothes. I could smell oil and the metallic scent of iron.
……From these clues, I realized they were Engineering Department students.
I already knew they were in a desperate situation—Esdal, the department’s vice-leader, was wandering around personally trying to sell cameras.
Someone had taken advantage of the department’s situation, sponsored them, and ordered them to sabotage my booth, and they had accepted.
It wasn’t hard to figure out how this all flowed.
In the game, the Engineering Department obeyed any absurd request as long as they were sponsored.
To think they would actually use the Engineering Department to sabotage my booth.
The guys surrounded me, telling me to quietly follow them to the Engineering Department.
Obviously…… they were planning to kidnap me.
And so, that was how I arrived at the Engineering Department.
“A customer wearing a horse mask has arrived.”
A small bulb lit the dark room.
Sitting on a box inside was one person.
Titania.
The vice-leader of the Engineering Department.
As I looked at them, the thoughts in my head all organized at once.
‘I originally planned to put these guys in the hospital for the whole festival period.’
But a much better idea came to mind.
Holding back a grin, I opened my mouth.
“Let’s keep this clean. I won’t pursue the damage you caused to my property, or the fact that you accepted sponsorship given for malicious reasons.”
“What?”
Titania let out a disbelieving laugh at the unexpected reply.
I made an offer.
“I’ll pay you double the amount you received. In exchange, you take that money and help me out.”
Hearing that, Titania, who had been quiet for a while, responded with a composed smile.
“……Double? I wondered what nonsense you were saying, but it seems you don’t know anything.”
Still smirking, Titania glanced at a nearby club member.
“Give it to that idiot.”
At her instruction, one of the members held out a paper to me.
A sponsorship receipt.
The amount was a whopping 5,000 gold.
As expected, the sponsor’s name was listed as anonymous.
They also didn’t know who was behind the sabotage or for what purpose.
They had simply acted for money.
“You sure took a lot.”
When I replied, Titania puffed up confidently.
“Yeah. Surprised? You must’ve thought it was just a few hundred gold, judging by the offer you made—”
“I’ll pay it.”
“……What?”
Titania’s mouth was still smiling, but her brows rose in surprise.
“10,000 gold.”
I replied again.
“I’ll give you the money, so quietly become my underlings. You already know what’ll happen, right? If people find out you did this under the influence of a sponsor, you’ll get disciplined. There’s evidence all over the place.”
“…….”
Titania still acted relaxed, but she couldn’t deny it.
Matching her casual tone, I continued.
“At least I won’t make you do anything that would risk disciplinary action.”
“……Ha, you’re really going to pay? 10,000 gold?”
Titania finally let out a laugh, as if the situation was absurd.
“Don’t joke around. You think we’ll believe that nonsense?”
“I may not have the best reputation, but at least when it comes to money, there’s no issue.”
“You sound pretty confident. What, are you some rich noble heir or something?”
At that question, I slowly raised my hand.
Then I grabbed my horse mask and tossed it onto the floor.
……My face was revealed.
Even though there was only one dim bulb in the dark room, everyone would be able to recognize me.
“……No way.”
“That Dedenkman……?”
The Engineering Department members murmured.
Even Titania, who had been relaxed, was at a loss for words in shock.
I smirked and spoke.
“Will you believe me now?”