I got into school for nothing - 192
I got into school for nothing (192)
Lesson 38. Ban Yuwon's Words Come True - 2
Ban Yuwon instinctively linked the two, but immediately shook his head in a reflexive gesture.
"No, it can't be."
The Prominence Family, or their patron Constellation, searching for a specific unique Authority, was one thing.
The "enemy" Ketra mentioned referred to those who were colluding with the Crimson Spear to orchestrate dimension-wide schemes...
Logically speaking, the only commonality between them was that they were one of the Ten Great Families.
However, that single commonality deeply troubled Ban Yuwon.
"Lilyth, what do you think?"
"That's true too."
Those who could truly be called 'heirs' were, apart from Lusein Rown-Palomer Aquinas Ortima, the first-year student, only the second-year student from the Prominence Family.
Moreover, while it might sound ridiculous to say, Ban Yuwon trusted his intuition, and it rarely led him astray.
[Should I investigate further?]
Lilyth, by now, was wearing a perfectly tailored suit on her small body, had even conjured a plausible pair of glasses, and was mimicking an efficient secretary.
Ban Yuwon let out a low sigh, muttering inwardly, "She'd get along well with the Chancellor," before taking off the toy glasses Lilyth was wearing and picking them up.
[Ah!]
"I'm not fond of glasses."
[Aha, I'll remember that!]
"And I think there's a limit to the information we can obtain from Earth. At the very least, delving deeply into the Prominence Family would definitely be difficult. So..."
Was the Follower of Ten Thousand Kalpas conducting a search across all dimensions, or specifically looking for his sister's Authority only on Earth?
If it was the latter, how did they pinpoint Earth?
Was their feeling towards his sister merely simple interest, or an emotion leaning towards goodwill or hatred?
He asked her to at least confirm these points.
"—And regarding the important matter of the Prominence Family."
Holding his mirror, he pondered for a moment.
Who might be able to help him with information?
Mira immediately came to mind, but she would likely be busy coordinating numerous fairies from various dimensions and forging alliances throughout the entire break, so he skipped her.
Yumina... given that an heir of the Prominence Family was attending the Academy as a student, she likely possessed information, but he was hesitant to contact her, fearing unnecessary misunderstandings might come along with it.
'In times like these, a mercenary with no strings attached is the best bet.'
A dimension mercenary would likely know more about the Ten Great Families, who were renowned throughout the universe, than ordinary people. Especially since the Prominence Family was, circumstantially, presumed to be connected to the dimension pirate group Crimson Spear, they might be able to delve into that and uncover something.
[Anneri — Perfect timing!]
Anneri Dedota, having received his message, replied in just five seconds.
While the performance of the Union Net, connecting across dimensions so quickly, was impressive, Anneri's response speed was also unusual.
[Anneri — The new recruit I recently took in is a former pirate! From the Crimson Spear!]
[Me — Really?]
[Anneri — They even changed their face and laundered their identity so perfectly that I almost missed it... but no one could have predicted that our last active locations as Crimson Spear members would overlap, right? Now that I've got a good weakness on them, I'm putting them to good use as my minion.]
A pirate from Crimson Spear whose active location overlapped with Anneri's, could it be Ketra's former comrade?
As an informant, they were beyond reproach!
[Anneri — But I never would have imagined that the Ten Great Family connected to Crimson Spear would be the Prominence Family.]
[Me — For now, I'm just making that assumption on my own, though.]
[Anneri — If Yuwon-nim is making that assumption, then it's correct. Even if it's wrong, I'll make it right!]
Perhaps he had chosen the wrong person for the request.
[Me — Could you talk to the new recruit and confirm that, as well as hear what they have to say?]
[Anneri — There's probably a restriction on them.]
Indeed, if there hadn't been a restriction, Ketra wouldn't have bothered to omit any explanation about the Prominence Family and only explained the project.
[Anneri — But it's my job as an intelligence agent to somehow resolve that and dig up the information, isn't it? Could you give me exactly one week?]
[Me — It's not urgent, so that's fine. I'll pay you handsomely for the information.]
[Anneri — It's thanks to Yuwon-nim that I can exploit the new recruit's weakness, so I'll give you a discount.]
Whether it was a special discount or anything else, her professionalism was evident in how she handled payments.
When Ban Yuwon assented, she seemed to hesitate for a moment before adding this message:
[Anneri — Still, the Ten Great Families are formidable foes. Their status hasn't changed for thousands of years, do you understand what that implies?]
[Me — I'm not planning to do anything drastic right now. ...Unless those guys attack first.]
[Anneri — If we really do end up clashing with them, we might need to form an alliance then. At the very least, picking one of the Ten Great Families whose interests don't conflict with ours.]
He wasn't sure when Anneri started associating herself with him using the word "we," but he ended their conversation with a promise to consider her suggestion.
...Surely not *all* members of the Rebellion fan club were like this, right?
* * *
The declaration made by the Ban Yuwon siblings upon clearing the G-rank dungeon was extremely effective. Applications flooded in to the point where the website nearly crashed, and even though they had firmly stated they would not negotiate through national governments, numerous organizations contacted them to an annoying degree.
"The US is still probably the top priority, right?"
The next day, during lunch with the Oculus Ruber executives, Ban Yumi said, prodding Rucell's japchae with her chopsticks as if it were her parents' mortal enemy.
However, she couldn't help but admit it was delicious, slurping it down with gusto. Besides, it was her mother, Kang Eunyoung, who had originally taught Rucell how to make japchae.
Anyway, at her words, Kang Miyeon, who was checking the website on her tablet and refreshing it in real-time, bit the tip of her stylus and shrugged.
"We still don't know about that. China sent us an offer with an advance payment of this much..."
"Ehh, I don't care how much money they offer, I hate China! Those Chinese athletes were the most annoying at the last Asian Games—"
Lee Hyunji complained, then checked the tablet screen Kang Miyeon held out, and her expression immediately changed.
"Let's go to China right now. Quick, before they ask for it back."
It seemed it was simply too much money to remain annoyed about.
"Hyunji unnie, you're so wonderfully pure."
"Uh, huh? Hehet, really?"
"So pure she doesn't even realize she's being mocked..."
Kang Miyeon shook her head, looking at her pitiable friend.
"This isn't an issue to be decided by money to begin with, unnie. We're using this opportunity to firmly establish the hierarchy and discipline between nations."
"Yu Jina, stop rambling and just look at this."
"So no matter how much money it is— H-huh?! Let's go to China first!"
Yu Jina, who constantly teased and insulted Lee Hyunji, was fundamentally quite similar to her.
But Ban Yumi alone, even after seeing the amount, still shook her head with an unyielding expression.
"Not China."
"Even with this much money?"
"No matter what, no. Just no!"
Ban Yuwon quietly watched them, perfectly capable of entertaining themselves, before suddenly remembering something that bothered him and asking,
"Our guild, and others, don't open promotional channels on the Union Net? I've never seen one."
"Ah, that's something anyone who's seen your channel has probably thought about at least once."
Kang Miyeon shrugged and explained.
"There are two problems. First, even if you earn money on the Union Net, there's no way to bring it to Earth. Which means, even if channel creation were possible, there'd be no benefit."
"What? If you just register an account, Ronica is settled and deposited every month— Aha."
Ban Yuwon realized mid-reply.
The account into which Ronica was deposited was one he had opened in Union Academy.
Since the Union Net required registration of an account for profit settlement, he had registered it without much thought, but on reflection, it made no sense that he could receive Ronica from just any dimension.
It seemed that simply having a large population capable of accessing the Union Net didn't mean they would deal in Ronica either.
"Then there's no need to even hear the second reason. No, actually, maybe this is the first reason."
"You're smart, as expected. That's right, channel creation wasn't even possible in the first place."
Indeed.
Ban Yuwon mused that this, too, might be a measure similar to how all of Earth's myths had vanished.
"Anyway, that's a relief."
"Because there are no competitors?"
"Huh? Oh, yes. That's right. Earthlings' aggro-potential is tremendous, after all."
Ban Yuwon, who had carelessly muttered his true thoughts, quickly made an excuse in response to Lee Hyunji's words and sighed.
Then he, too, picked up his chopsticks for the japchae—
"Yuwon, ah~."
Before he could even eat, Rucell, who had skillfully twirled japchae around her chopsticks as if it were pasta, happily smiled and brought it to his mouth.
Her smile allowed no room for argument, so Ban Yuwon, once again, meekly opened his mouth.
It seemed Rucell wasn't just doing this out of a desire to serve him, but perhaps also deliberately to flaunt their relationship to others?
"Ah~."
"H-how..."
"Wow."
"..."
Ban Yuwon, confirming the emotional concepts she displayed—'joy,' 'desire,' 'superiority'—succeeded in deciphering the principles behind her actions after profound contemplation. However, even with this understanding, there was no escaping the situation where the other women at the table were either aghast, staring intently, or glaring at them.
* * *
The burden imposed by the G-rank dungeon must have been far more terribly heavy than Ban Yuwon had imagined.
Without any of the intimidation or power struggles he had initially anticipated, most nations explicitly stated their unconditional acceptance of whatever Oculus Ruber—or more precisely, Ban Yuwon—desired, and requested their support.
This meant they had no choice but to decide based on what each country could offer and the order of their application. The result was that the chosen country was—the United Kingdom.
"Hey, Ban Yumi."
Ban Yuwon, who had left all decisions regarding the selection to his sister, only realized their destination was the United Kingdom upon arriving at the airport, and called out to her in a cold voice.
"What is it, Ban Yuwon?"
However, Ban Yumi, who answered Ban Yuwon's call, was inexplicably grinning.
Her grin was utterly vexing.
If it weren't for the fact that everyone in the airport was staring at them in real-time, he would have loved to pull those plump cheeks of hers.
"There must have been several other countries with the same conditions!"
"I chose based on my personal preference."
To say such a thing, knowing Ban Yuwon's trauma regarding the UK...
He trembled, but in contrast, Kang Miyeon was tilting her head in confusion.
"Yumi, you like the UK? Wasn't it the opposite?"
"Right, Yumi, you've hated the UK for years. Did you choose based on your least favorite countries, then? To smash the UK's ace party inside the dungeon?"
"My sister hates the UK?"
That was news to him.
But there was no opportunity to hear more.
Because Ban Yumi suppressed the members with the ferocity of an evil god.
"Everyone, stop chattering and just follow me."
"By the way, whose plane are we taking?"
"Ours."
He thought it was a joke, but indeed, a light aircraft with "Oculus Ruber" written in elegant, large script on its side was waiting for them at the airport.
"The guild's doing well."
"When the F-rank dungeon's initial capture in the US failed and it overflowed, they gave us this as a gift, asking us to come quickly."
"Isn't it you, unnie, not me, who lives life however she pleases?"
Ban Yuwon, displeased with his sister's strutting expression in front of the light aircraft, considered revealing Lilyth's true form—currently disguised as a beautiful doll—to utterly deflate her spirits. However, he decided against it, holding back, as it would become troublesome if she then asked to be taken to another dimension.
"We will do our utmost to ensure your flight is safe and comfortable."
"Captain! We're counting on you today too! And do you have any alcohol?"
"Of course, we've prepared some."
Lee Hyunji, greeting the captain warmly and immediately asking for alcohol, confirmed Ban Yuwon's suspicion: she must have flown this plane many times in the past.
So this is why this unnie, despite being pretty, isn't popular.
He turned his head, looking for other hope, but even Kang Miyeon, let alone Yu Jina who was expected to, had pulled out a glass.
"But why do you carry glasses around?"
"Ah, it's a rule in our guild that wherever we go, we eat with our own utensils after a poison check. When we first became popular, it was tough because all sorts of tricks were pulled on us from everywhere."
"That's also why the guild stopped accepting men altogether."
"Even in such circumstances, you didn't give up drinking..."
As Ban Yuwon sighed, Lee Hyunji, who had somehow pulled out a glass from her pocket, held it out to him and said,
"Have a drink, you'll take one, right?"
"That's right, take the glass and tell us why you two siblings hate the UK."
Ban Yumi quietly seethed.
But Ban Yuwon merely gave an empty laugh.
"It's really nothing much."
"So what is it?"
"Well, just."
The next moment, at Ban Yuwon's words,
"I went to the UK for a school trip."
"A school trip!"
For some reason, it was Rucell, of all people, who sprang to her feet!
"I can't lose, never!"
"What's wrong with Rucell now?!"
"...Surely she doesn't know too?"
She had remembered Ban Yuwon's previous words with uncanny accuracy!
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