EP.124 The General Store Owner is a Treasure Goblin (3)
I decided to stay focused so I wouldn't feel guilty if I failed due to a moment of distraction.
And when Rebecca opened her eyes after finishing her prayer.
I pressed the enhancement button firmly while holding her hand.
Kaang~!!
Flash!!!
[Success]
"!!!!!!!"
"How did it go???"
This actually worked?
Surprisingly, it succeeded.
It was my first time reaching +11.
I wonder if it recognized its owner had arrived too?
"It succeeded."
"Oh! So it worked out well?"
No way.
"No, we need to do it one more time."
And this was what you could truly call the wall of tears.
"Then, should I pray again?"
Rebecca asked with sparkling eyes, seemingly happy that it had succeeded, even though she didn't know what it was.
Her purple eyes, which she had lost and regained after being treated by Fran, were twinkling like they had stars embedded in them.
After staring at her eyes as if enchanted for a moment, I said.
"In this case, you should be the one to choose rather than me. If we fail this time, it'll go down one level, but if we succeed, it'll become ultimate equipment."
"Ultimate equipment?"
As expected, Rebecca showed interest at the mention of ultimate equipment.
It seems she didn't even register what I said about going down one level.
"Instead of thinking about success, we need to think about what happens if we fail. I'm telling you the performance will decrease if we fail."
"The ultimate equipment is right in front of us and you want to stop here? No way. Keep going!"
"Won't you regret it?"
"Even if we fail now, we can try again, right? You said we can keep trying until we succeed. If we fail today, I'll save up money again."
Rebecca spoke naively, not knowing exactly how much money it costs to enhance this thing.
"This already cost a lot of money."
"Huh?"
"It cost more than what you gave me."
"....."
Rebecca's expression turned serious.
"How much more did it cost?"
"Much more than you can imagine."
"Tell me the details. Then I can give you more."
"That's not necessary, just know that it cost several times more than what you're thinking. Still want to continue?"
"...Yes."
Rebecca made a bold decision.
"We can always earn more money."
Rebecca's words snapped me back to reality.
"You're right."
If money is lacking, we can just earn more and pour it in.
Afraid of not getting to +12?
Then we just need to bring more money.
That must be the fundamental reason why Ariane can stubbornly keep calling for enhancement.
+11 isn't bad, +10 is perfectly usable, you don't seem to understand cost-effectiveness, and so on.
I felt ashamed of having such thoughts in the past.
Instead, I should have pushed the kids more strongly toward enhancement and encouraged them to go for +12.
"Let's do it. If we fail, we can just try again."
"Yes!"
Steeling my resolve, I held Rebecca's hand once more and pressed the enhancement button.
And there was no next time.
⁂ ⁂ ⁂
"Teacher, what's that?"
"Your legs look especially pretty today. Your shoes seem to be glowing golden..."
"Hmm? Hehe, yes. It's custom equipment."
"Wow~ Custom equipment? It looks really expensive."
"It did cost quite a bit."
Smile!
While the female students showed interest in the high heels.
"Wow~"
"You look especially pretty today."
Gulp-!
The male students gaped at her displaying an extraordinary appearance today.
Actually, the male students' gazes directed at her weren't anything new.
She knew that her appearance and figure were stimulating to these teenagers going through puberty.
Maybe because she was from the desert, her body temperature ran high, so she usually wore revealing clothes, which often drew people's attention.
Usually, she wouldn't pay much attention to their gazes, but...
'Our baby is quite pretty.'
Today, she couldn't ignore it.
Especially the girls' gazes made her happier than the boys' stares.
The girls immediately recognized what was special about me today and sent envious glances.
"Teacher!!!!!!!"
And the one who showed the most extreme reaction to her change was Ariane.
"This... this is it, right? This sparkle, this golden glow!!! This is +12!!! It can't be anything else. Right??"
...Though it's a bit overwhelming that she's more excited than I expected.
"Yes, that's right. +12."
"Ahhh!!! The next +12 will be mine!"
"Hmm?"
"No way. sniff"
Ariane looked at her high heels with lingering attachment.
"You mean yours isn't +12 yet?"
"...Teacher, that's too harsh."
Ariane clutched her chest and staggered as if shocked.
"Hmm?! Was that harsh?"
"Of course it was!!!!!!! I've been wanting to get +12 too but haven't been able to."
"Oh... really?"
It seems there's something Suhan didn't tell me.
'+12 was... difficult?'
It just went click... that's all?
'Well, I couldn't do it for two days until I prayed and was really happy when it worked.'
Looking at Ariane's behavior, it seemed he had hidden something for her sake.
"Wow~ Teacher, you got +12?"
While Ariane was admiring the ethereal golden glow of the high heels, Shine appeared and spoke cheerfully.
As soon as I saw Shine's attitude, I could tell she must be +12 too.
"Yes. Suhan did it for me."
"Hehe, I'm +12 too."
"I thought your skills had improved lately. Looks like it's working well?"
"Have you tried it, teacher? It feels completely different."
"Yeah. It is different."
I gave an awkward smile, as there were circumstances I couldn't tell others about.
The power of the +12 high heels was stronger than expected.
So much so that I needed time to readjust to them.
'It's all because of him!'
The problem was that Suhan discovered my weak point and I had to endure a torturous night.
'Who would have known feet could be a weak point.'
My feet, which had already been thoroughly tormented, became even more sensitive, and the moment I put on the +12 high heels, I had to go through another adjustment period.
Still, maybe because I'd been through it before, it took less time to readjust than before.
'Still... ugh... how embarrassing.'
I can't forget how Suhan watched me doing adaptation training with that mischievous face.
Just thinking about how much he'll tease me about it next time makes me dizzy.
"I'm going straight to the shopkeeper after we finish today."
"Going to try again?"
"Yeah."
While I was lost in thought for a moment.
Ariane was burning with enthusiasm for +12.
"Ariane, what about your exam preparation?"
I was worried whether she was studying properly for the exams, being so caught up in enhancement.
Even though the academy was in turmoil because of the kidnapped student, scheduled events still had to proceed as planned.
In that sense, I was worried whether Ariane, who was bouncing around so cheerfully, was properly preparing for her exams.
"Gasp."
And Ariane froze like a broken toy when she heard my words.
"You haven't studied, have you."
"Teacher..."
Ariane's wavering eyes met mine.
I couldn't just leave Ariane alone when she was focusing on the wrong things instead of studying for exams.
"You know getting a medal doesn't automatically mean you'll do well on the exam, right?"
"Ugh."
"Especially you, Ariane, you'll have to face the consequences if your written exam scores drop."
"Heeeng."
Honestly, these kids wouldn't show any weakness in the practical exam.
The problem is the written exam.
While many students put their all into practical skills, none of them are interested in written work, so teachers always have to push them like this.
Otherwise, they'd obviously fail the exam by fooling around without focusing.
"Teacher, you teach practical subjects, so why do you keep telling us to study for the written exam?"
"Honestly, you guys are beyond worrying about the practical exam. Your ranking depends on how much you study for the written part."
Of course I have to tell them to study for the written exam.
Their rankings affect the bonus points they get when enlisting.
It also subtly affects how quickly they get promoted after enlisting.
That's how elites advance quickly at their own pace to serve in roles that suit them.
"You know why you need to study without me nagging, right?"
"Yeees."
"Ugh... I hate studying."
Ariane and Shine sighed with gloomy expressions.
Actually, they weren't the only students with such expressions.
You could often see this in the corridors when exam period, the academy's biggest annual event, began.
You might say you could watch students turning into zombies in real time.
As exam period officially began, the academy was like the calm before a storm - quiet yet filled with an ominous energy.
⁂ ⁂ ⁂
These days, the general store's door doesn't open much.
Perhaps because of recent events, the academy has firmly closed its main gate during exam period, prohibiting entry of outside personnel.
The students inside must be busy taking exams right now.
'The overall atmosphere has definitely died down.'
With the students, who make up the main consumer base in the city, busy with exams, the city's atmosphere had generally become subdued.
But no merchant would dislike this situation.
'Because after the exams, stressed students flood into the city and spend money like crazy.'
That's the peak season for merchants living in the academy city.
If I were a normal merchant, I should be busy stocking up on goods right now.
But instead of thinking about stocking up, I was thinking about something else.
"Now is the perfect timing."
Character draws to make them 5-star.
It was time to proceed without any more delays.
I should have done this long ago, but various issues kept pushing it back, and now it was becoming a burden.
With nothing to interfere now.
I planned to quickly take care of it and lighten my load.
"I'm doing this for the orbs, but I should aim for SSR."
I'll take an SSR whenever it comes.
I spent quite a bit of money getting Rebecca's exclusive equipment to +12, but Ariane wasn't the only one who paid me.
Today's the day to spend all the money I've been carefully saving up.
'Spending money is always thrilling.'
The more money you have to spend, the more exciting it becomes, naturally.
Once again, it was time for my item inventory to be filled with orbs.