Chapter 133

Chapter 133

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 133“Can I put this here?”

“Yes. Thank you very much. Brother, thanks to you, we were able to finish quickly.”

The priest held out his hand while wiping the sweat from his forehead with a pure white handkerchief.

I took his hand and returned his smile.

“It's only natural, isn't it? Please don't concern yourself too much.”

“Haha! To think your heart is so beautiful as well. This too must be the guidance of Calione and God.”

The priest holding out his hand to me was named Johann.

He was one of the priests of Halla Cathedral on Jeju Island, and also the person in overall charge of the relief supplies.

“Now that all the busy work is finished, how about resting inside? It will take quite some time to reach Jeju Island, so please rest well.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Father.”

The Francesco was a wide vessel commonly called a barge, the perfect size for carrying cargo.

However, its downside was that there was very little space for people to stay, so everyone had to spread blankets or mattresses in the common area to rest.

Of course, they could remodel it and create rooms... but this was, after all, a ship used by religious people.

Expecting luxury would be absurd.

“Ah, you're the brother we met earlier. Welcome.”

“““Welcome!!”””

The moment I entered the place where everyone was resting, the other priests and sisters greeted me with bright smiles.

“Thank you sincerely for your hospitality.”

After accepting their greetings with a smile, I sat in an empty spot and looked around.

It was a peaceful sight, with everyone smiling as they talked or prayed.

But I knew.

That they weren't ordinary priests and nuns either.

They were the blades of Catholicism, tempering themselves in the hell known as Jeju Island.

Of course, that didn't apply to all of them.

“Mister! Are you a priest too?”

“Mister, are you going to Jeju Island too? Do you have a house there?”

“Mister, does water wriggle around in your hands too?”

Before I knew it, tiny children dressed in nun habits and priestly robes toddled over and began bombarding me with questions.

I'd heard that there were children who had lost their parents on Jeju Island and ended up living at Halla Cathedral, so these must have been those children.

“Mister? Me?”

“Yes! Mister!”

“Mister! Hehe!”

Apparently, because my face had been changed into that of a middle-aged man with the skill 【Clown Makeup】, they thought I was an uncle.

I'd changed my face because of the danger that could arise if word spread that Calione's successor had come to Jeju Island alone, but in the children's eyes, I apparently just looked like an ordinary middle-aged man.

Still, I had put some effort into the customization...

As I scratched my face, unsure how to explain.

“Everyone. You shouldn't bother our guest, okay?”

“““Okaaay~”””

Fortunately, thanks to the quick-witted sister, I escaped the awkward situation.

“I'm sorry. The children are very curious.”

“It's all right. They're children, so I think it's only natural.”

At that, the sister smiled.

“Thank you for saying that. Perhaps because they've lived on Jeju Island since they were young, they're very curious about the outside world. Of course, they stay in Busan on weekdays now because of school.”

“Ah...”

“You know about the orphans from Jeju Island, right?”

“Yes, I've heard about them several times, so I remember.”

It was already a well-known story around Busan and the southern coast, a malicious rumor bordering on superstition that people who had lived on Jeju Island brought bad luck.

And it didn't remain merely a rumor, even contributing to increasing the rate at which villains emerged from Jeju Island...

In this world, Jeju Islanders were already treated as practically synonymous with misfortune.

“Because of that, the children can barely sleep at the Busan Diocese. They have to return on weekends. Truly, I think it's a harsh trial for the children.”

Listening to her story, I looked at the children laughing and chatting with each other up ahead.

“...

Still, aren't they growing up with bright smiles? That must mean the people of the Jeju Diocese have worked that hard.”

“Ah... I didn't expect you to say something like that. Thank you. Oh dear, I said I'd help you rest, yet I've ended up disturbing you instead.”

“Not at all. It was an enjoyable conversation.”

The sister smiled at my words and rose from her seat.

“It will probably take about thirteen hours to reach Jeju Island once we depart. Please rest comfortably until then.”

The sister bowed deeply and disappeared somewhere.

Accepting her consideration, I lay down to recover from the fatigue of flying from Incheon to Busan and slowly fell asleep.

______________

Tap.

Tap. Tap.

The repeated impact continued. Even so, there was only one reason I kept my eyes closed.

“Mister? Mister, are you asleep?”

Because the little nun who had come to me during the day was tapping my body.

I tried to keep pretending to sleep and somehow wait until she left, but perhaps a nun really was a nun.

Her patience was impressive, and she kept tapping my leg endlessly.

“...

What.”

Eventually, I gave up holding out and spoke first.

“Ahh! I knew you weren't asleep!”

“...

How could I sleep when you keep tapping me like that?”

“Hehe. Sorry. But you've been sleeping for a long time, haven't you? Sister Maria said sleeping too long isn't good for your body.”

“I slept for a long time?”

When I checked the time, it was already 5 PM... exactly nine hours since I'd fallen asleep.

Maybe because it was my first time resting deeply with a different face like this, I'd slept soundly. Considering how much I usually slept, it certainly was a long time.

But.

“You woke me up because of that?”

“N-no way! It's just... um... I was wondering what Seoul is like.”

“What?”

“Actually, we... we've never been anywhere except Busan. There's no TV on Jeju Island, and the cathedral where we stay on weekdays doesn't have a TV either. The children at school say there are heroes who protect us too, but we don't know very much.”

The little sister raised her head and looked at me with bright, sparkling eyes.

“Could you... tell us stories about outside?”

“Haa...”

When she asked me to tell stories with a reason like that, who could possibly refuse?

I really had slept deeply, because my body felt more refreshed than usual, and I could also see preparations for dinner happening on one side of the ship, so I sat up and spoke.

“Let's go. Where are the other kids?”

“Outside! Everyone's waiting for you, Mister!”

“Outside?”

Led by her tiny hand, I followed her onto the outer deck, which was packed with cargo.

“Over there. Over there!”

The little sister pointed toward a pile of food boxes, where the children were crouched together, giggling and chatting.

“Huh? Jeanne really brought Mister!”

“Jeanne is amazing!”

“Jeanne is brave!”

The little sister, or rather the child called Jeanne, was being praised by the other children simply for bringing me.

Embarrassed by the flood of compliments, she scratched her head.

“Hehe, everyone, you're embarrassing me. Now, now, Mister Guest is here too, so shall we all be quiet?”

Saying that, Sister Jeanne sat among the children and stared blankly at me.

“Ah.”

She'd asked me to tell stories about the outside world.

Looking at them, the other children were all staring at me with expectant eyes too.

“There's nothing particularly amazing...”

Still, I couldn't disappoint the children.

All right, I'll tell you a story!

But not about the Academy.

A story probably no one else knew.

I decided to tell them stories by weaving together things I'd experienced while using this face, Saber Cloud.

“It happened while I was playing a game── I mean, traveling.”

Still, should I stick mostly to things they could plausibly believe?

______________

“No way, how do you kill a dragon with chopsticks?”

“Mister's a liar!”

“Liar!”

“You don't believe me. If you look at a dragon's chest, there's a place called the reverse scale. If you stab through there into its heart...”

Of course, you'd need to max out every thrust-related skill and stat, but it wasn't a lie.

“Even a dragon will die. I'd like to show you myself, but there aren't any dragons nearby... what a shame.”

And it wasn't like my current stats were enough to demonstrate it with chopsticks right now.

So just as I was about to show them something else instead.

“Everyone, gather up! We're almost there!”

“““Okaaay~!”””

At the sister's voice, the children answered at the same time, shouted “Heave-ho!” and began getting up one by one.

“It was still fun, Mister!”

“I want to see a dragon!”

“Tell us more stories at the cathedral too!”

Promising there would be a next time, the children ran toward the sister.

“Ah, were you with the children again?”

And at the end, the sister wore an awkward, apologetic smile when she saw me walking with the children.

“Not at all. The children were the ones who played with me. But did you say we're almost there?”

“Yes, sea fog should start rolling in soon. You should prepare too, Guest.”

“Prepare...?”

After confirming that the children had completely gone inside the ship, the sister nodded and pulled something from beneath the skirt of her nun habit.

It was a small handgun with a cross engraved on it.

“Docking at the harbor is always the busiest time.”

“Ah, I've heard about that.”

The reason I was accompanying them this time was officially because circumstances on Jeju Island required it.

Namely, dealing with demons, villains, and monsters that rushed in to target the ship's cargo and the children.

“You said they come rushing in like a wave the moment we dock at the harbor, right?”

“Yes. After all, it's their only chance to obtain proper daily necessities entering Jeju Island, and that only happens once a week. For some reason, it's been worse lately... we've always barely scraped by, to the point that it's a miracle no one has been injured until now.”

The sister made the sign of the cross and calmed herself, seemingly unable to understand why.

I gave a small nod as I watched her.

After all, considering the incident that happened around this time, her reaction was only natural.

“I'll do my best to help.”

“It's reassuring to know a Calione Hitman is helping us. Then we'll prepare to unload the cargo.”

The sister bowed and disappeared.

Looking around, the other sisters and priests were also preparing to unload the cargo or keeping watch over the surroundings.

“Looks like we're definitely getting close to Jeju Island.”

The sea fog gradually thickened, narrowing visibility around us, and even the signal on the phone in my pocket stopped working.───────BwooooooooomA heavy and majestic ship horn carried through the fog and made the entire vessel vibrate.

A signal announcing that another ship was nearby.

“Do other ships use this harbor besides us?”

Thinking it was probably nothing, I was about to help move the cargo too.

Clunk!!

The ship shook violently, followed by a huge roar.

And up ahead.

“Ah. Ahh...”

I saw Sister Maria's face turn deathly pale.

“Sister Maria?”

“Pirates. They're pirates!”

Pirates?