Chapter 9 - I Became the Daughter of the Academy’s Villain

Episode 9 9 - Can't Resist Rare Delicacies <9 - Can't Resist Rare Delicacies> Senior Examiner Michael. A beautiful prince with long blonde hair. The handsome Michael, exuding androgynous charm, took his designated seat at the bar table, seemingly indifferent to the scrutinizing gazes of the exam candidates. "Is the honey wine still not ready?" "The honey stock hasn't arrived yet, I'm afraid. It's quite unfortunate. If you wait a couple more days, the beekeepers' supplies should arrive." "Didn't you say that two days ago? This backwater village really tries one's patience." He stays seated for ten minutes, nursing a suitable drink, before heading upstairs. After fifty minutes, he returns down to the first floor and sits at his designated spot again. "How long until the five-flavored shaved ice is ready?" "We haven't received the ice stock yet. It's unfortunate. If you wait between three days to a week, the ice vendors' supplies should arrive." "Didn't you say that three days ago? This backwater village really tries one's patience." It was as if they had a scripted dialogue where only the menu item names were swapped out—a dizzying conversation reminiscent of an NPC's repetitive lines from a game. In the game, it was nothing special, but it seems so bizarre in reality. "How is it, miss? It seems the examiner has already posed a challenge." As if putting the final nail in the coffin, the butler's comment brings to mind an event. <Michael's Ticket Exam Event> The ticket exam has already begun! Like a broken NPC, Michael and the innkeeper keep repeating the same dialogue about different menu items and the lack of stock every hour. Find the clue within their mysterious conversation and pass the ticket exam. As she listens to the melody plucked by the bard who toys with the strings of his instrument, Jonah asks again. "Is it alright to just stay put like this?" "Don't worry. I have a plan." If the strategies from the game apply here, passing the ticket exam should be no hardship. Jonah, trying to appear confident, seemed rather uneasy to the onlookers as someone from the next table chimed in unexpectedly. "Haha! It seems the young lady is in full mental gear." "...That's not exactly a compliment, you know?" "Eek. I seem to have upset the young lady." The man volunteered a hint. "Here's a little tip. This exam requires you to climb the mountain to collect the ingredients that the Examiner mentioned which are running low. It's a first-come-first-serve gathering test." "Hmm. Really?" "The innkeeper mentioned it will be a few days before the stock arrives, right? That refers to the layers where those ingredients can be found—within 1000m elevation, within 2000m, and so forth." Honey for the honey wine comes from the second layer, found within 2000m elevation. Ice for the five-flavored shaved ice comes from between the third and seventh layers, in ranges from 2000m up to 7000m elevation. All this information was already known. 'In the game, clicking the next button would automatically advance the time by one hour.' Just keep clicking the [Next] button until a doable request comes up in the random ticket exam. Without luck, only impossible requirements would appear given the current specs, leading to jokes about how many dishes Michael must want to eat. Images of Michael fattening up to 100kg after consuming all the food he requested come back to mind like a funny old meme. "The sap of the thorny vine monster from the fourth layer, eh? If I catch that creature, will I also get a plate of your cooking?" The simian demi-human, who had been seen outside earlier, poked his head down from above to look at Michael. Michael's bored face remained expressionless, his eyes following the creature. "As long as there's enough." "I'll be back in no time." Excited by the words of the innkeeper, the demi-human ran off outside. "Is he not forming a party?" "Stupid monkey." "The fourth layer, he must have a death wish." Most adventurers target items that grow at the entrance and midsection of the second layer. Only a handful stubbornly wait for those rare items, unmoved by anything else. Some adventurers, in groups of three or four, aim for the later parts of the second layer or the deep interior, or maybe the entrance and midsection of the third layer; but no one targets beyond the fourth layer. 'Without the right level, it's usually foolish to even attempt gathering.' No one is held accountable for deaths during the exam. The price of greed is death itself. In a game world where monsters truly exist, climbing mountains is a dangerously high-risk activity. "Which ingredient are you aiming for, miss?" "Hmm? I'm not really aiming for anything in particular." "Are you giving up on the exam?" "Who says there's only one way to pass an exam?" The gentleman at the neighboring seat shone with enthusiasm. "My intuition was right. I thought the young lady from over there would have a different goal than the countless cowards in this inn." "Are you not a coward, sir?" "Haha. I'm not sure if it will please the young lady, but I have also prepared in my own way." Two days later. We could see the man's answer. "Wow, that's a tremendous caravan of wagons." "Did someone call a trade caravan?" When the man whistled sharply, the turbaned merchants presented their ledgers. "We've brought all the items you requested." "Hmm. You've traveled far; rest your legs while I check the goods. Have some tea in the meantime." As he spoke, more than half of the people who had been keeping watch at the first-floor tables stood up. Together, they checked the loaded goods on the wagons and verified the quality. The adventurers muttered in stunned disbelief. "Can you believe it? They were all in on it?" "There's more than twenty of them." "I remember that annoyingly handsome guy with the goatee. That's Gizelle, the jack-of-all-trades merchant who's been making quite a name for himself!" Gizelle participated in the exam in a very shrewd way. "Now, let us exchange the goods we brought for your tickets." The innkeeper looked at Michael in disbelief, unsure whether such an approach could even be deemed acceptable for passing. Senior Examiner Michael compared the menu with the ledger, a hint of his former boredom dissipating from his face. "Chocolate balls, sparkling pasta, honey wine and 29 other dishes have been achieved. You're the first participant to obtain 32 tickets at once in my five years as an Examiner." "Haha, if you're not smart, you'll just work hard for it. This is simply the reward of using brains over brawn." Jack-of-all-trades Gizelle. He had indeed acquired all 32 tickets in one fell swoop. "Wow, that's incredible." "How about it, young lady? You seem to have plenty of money, and I just happen to have plenty of tickets. Since you have the means, wouldn't you be interested in buying some?" "Are you a ticket hunter too, sir?" "Haha. As you can see, that's the case. It wasn't easy gathering every type of material item one can find, from monster parts to ones mined from the mountains, and while most of them turned out to be junk, it enabled me to amass a large number of tickets." "That's impressive. How much money did you spend?" "I invested about 40 gold coins. In return, I plan to sell bronze tickets for 10 gold coins each and silver tickets for 100 gold coins each—it's going to be a gigantic profit." Tickets selling for 10 and 100 gold coins. That unit was all too familiar to me. 'The ticket scalper from the game!' In the game, the scalper NPC was just a mechanism allowing players short on time to purchase tickets with money—a safety net of sorts. And now, Gizelle, the jack-of-all-trades, had become the real-life embodiment of that ticket scalper! If you wonder how I could have missed recognizing the scalper, I have an excuse. -Chuckle. If you want to become an academy freshman, come to me... -At our branch, kill one person and you get a 10% discount on the tickets... -Hey you, you've got the face of an academy freshman... Wouldn't you buy this ticket for 10 gold? In the game, ticket scalpers were fools who skulked around in dark back alleys late at night, spouting nonsense while shrouded in dark hoods. How could one expect to identify a scalper who walks around unhooded in broad daylight! "You're quite the shrewd merchant. What will you do, miss?" "I'll give you 10 gold coins." Upon the butler's remark, she readily pulled out 10 gold coins from her purse. Gizelle spoke with a disappointed look. "Are you only purchasing a bronze ticket? With all the money you have at your disposal, why not make a big purchase of 100 gold coins? Expensive items have their reasons for being costly." "It's alright. The thing is, I'm not really looking to buy that 'bronze ticket.'" The staggering accomplishment of passing a myriad of ticket exam tasks flashed before her. As soon as she saw the spectacle, it struck her. This was what she had to purchase. "What I want is the meal vouchers for the feasts that come with passing the tasks!" "Pardon? Meal vouchers? ... Are you saying you want to trade for the right to enjoy the meal that would've been ours?" Gizelle was dumbfounded by the unexpected request. It's no surprise that he was bewildered when he approached a wealthy young lady to sell tickets, only to hear such an odd proposal. But from a player's point of view, this was unquestionably a more valuable trade than any ticket. Author's Note (Author's Review) About the lady who absolutely cannot resist collecting and the teddy bear who cannot resist using a cheat tag. I've added the tags 'obsession' and 'apparent devastation'—please don't be too shocked! It's 'obsession' (with collecting cookbooks) and 'apparent devastation' (from the perspective of others).