Healing at the Academy convenience store

“Nephti.”

“… Yes, Wolfram.”

“You’ve worked hard.”

“…Really, you’ve worked very hard too.”

We survived in that hellish battle.

To be honest, I knew we were going to sell out.

Because Valely manju was so powerful, majestic, and beautiful.

The donuts and shakes we created produced an unbelievable synergy.

After selling everything and scrapping together the last bits to somehow fry and sell under the name of mixed donuts, we really had no ingredients left.

If you take into account the total sales and various quotes, our profit… was overflowing.

“Here. This is 20% of the net profit left after deducting the cost of ingredients and your hourly wage.”

“…How much is it?”

“Roughly around 800,000 Rin.”

After giving Nephti her 20% and adding her hourly wage, it left me with a profit of over 3 million Rin.

Of course, it’s not a lot of money.

If you roam around the money-making dungeon, you could earn this in a couple of hours.

The problem is that this dungeon opens up in the mid-stages of Act 7.

Regardless, at a point where a single late-stage weapon easily exceeds ten million, three million was a small sum for me.

“…Oh, wow.”

Nephti accepted the money, sat down and let out an admiring sound.

“Is it that much?”

“Of course. 800,000 Rin is the money I have to work for three months with my studies.”

“If you calculate the minimum wage in Jephryn at 8,720 Rin, 800,000 isn’t a difficult amount to achieve, is it?”

Isn’t it achievable in three months even if you only work three hours a day?

As I looked at Nephti as if to ask what she was talking about, she smiled faintly at me.

“Did you know, prince? The minimum wage set by the Royal family this year is 3,540 Rin.”

“…What? Wasn’t it 8,720 Rin? They said so at the Knight’s Academy, and you said it was the minimum wage when I first hired you to go to the Eastern Forest, didn’t you?”

“That’s correct. Exactly 3,540 Rin is what I get.”

“Wait, then what about the remaining 5,180 Rin?”

“It goes as a commission to the Knight’s Academy.”

“Those crooks!”

They didn’t even rip off this much when I was in the modern world!

…Probably.

“But since you personally gave me this special work today, there’s no commission deducted. No need to give it to the Knight’s Academy.”

“So, in other words…”

“Yes. I get an additional 5,180 Rin. I will take all of the 8,720 Rin. As a knight should.”

“······.”

As I looked at Nephti in shock, she finished her remaining donut and nodded.

“It’s delicious. Please call me again if you have work. If you can connect directly without going through the Knight’s Academy, I will serve you with all my heart.”

“······.”

The hard-working female knight left with her share and disappeared into the red sunset.

“So, that’s how it is… You had a plan all along.”

She may have turned her back thinking she had won, but it doesn’t matter.

Either way.

‘30%.’

‘Here. This is 20% of the net profit left after deducting the cost of ingredients and your hourly wage.’

Did she forget that I originally planned to give her 30% but only gave her 20%?

Nephterian.

Nephti.

She may be kind, obedient and wise, but she could be more stupid than I thought.

***

We may have thought we tricked each other, but I was thinking of hiring Nephti more if the opportunity arises.

Nephti is from a commoner family and her mother took care of her siblings, so she tries her best to not rely on her family and instead earn money to send back home.

Once a person starts saving money, they begin by reducing their expenditure on food, clothes, and fun. The reason Nephti ate grass pollen salad was to send money home. I’m sure she will use that money for her siblings.

In the original story, if you pointed this out, Nephti’s loyalty wouldn’t change from the bond stage. The bond stage meant that even if I were to kill her, she wouldn’t point a sword at me. Such is the faith and loyalty of this girl.

Of course, Nephti is not a heroine and there’s no individual ending for her, but she was popular and I, who trusted her as a comrade and watched the ending together, don’t regret the expense.

She will return loyalty for benevolence. Nephti is such a girl.

But from now on, the place I’m going to is a pit of fire, where there are characters like her, but also those who aren’t.

It’s Magic Department, third year.

Surprisingly, there are many students with psycho tendencies in the third year of the Magic Department. To what extent? Our rebellious Black Gem, Aila Tristar, is a ‘normal’ character.

There is someone born as the ace of an assassin family whose goal is to certainly kill, another who believes all magic should be wide-area and keeps firing wide-area magic, and another crazy person who masters physical strengthening magic to be better at close combat than the Knight Academy.

Anyway, the new semester starts tomorrow among these classmates.

Different from the seasonal semester, it’s the regular class.

Will I be able to survive in there?

“I’m really starting to get excited. This excitement… Is it the cry of my heart that wants to survive?”

Wolfram, a third year in the Magic Department.

Now.

The thrilling start of a new semester is here.

***

The class was quite fun.

However, separate from that, I wasn’t able to fully enjoy the fun.

“Look at that, it’s Wolfram.”

“He came to school?”

“Weren’t he supposed to return to the royal family?”

“What the hell? Why did he come to class?”

Even the monkeys in the zoo wouldn’t stare as much as these guys are.

But all I could do was to focus on my class.

How would it be if Wolfram, with his strength level of 2, gets angry and tears apart? I cannot accept such a terrifying future.

Anyway. That’s how I finished the first class. It was about the advancement of magic and keywords. It was quite an interesting class.

Practicals might be a disaster, but I am confident I can handle theory.

If I can earn good grades in my major, getting a diploma wouldn’t be a dream.

“Wolfram, you’re here?”

“…Yeah.”

“Let’s go eat.”

Why does she get to decide that?

If I say that out loud, I might get hit with a black obsidian spear’s maximum power attack.

I reluctantly stood up from my seat, and Aila led the way with a smile.

“Today’s meal is rebellious too!”

“……….”

What the hell is that?

***

Let’s have lunch at the cafeteria. That’s what I said, and Aila’s reaction was strange.

“Oh my, didn’t you pack a lunch?”

“I did. It’s a milkshake and donuts.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to eat that in the garden?”

“There are times when you should eat school meals.”

“When on earth is that?”

There is a reason for everything.

The thing I had to pay the most attention to while running a convenience store was the school meal.

To put it simply, on the day when the class president is elected and they treat everyone to hamburgers and cola, do you think the students of that class will buy the convenience store’s hamburgers? No way. The convenience store’s hamburger becomes a consolation prize, a sad fate it can’t even overcome a fast food hamburger.

So I need to gauge the average level of academy meals and prepare to compete.

“There are many menu options.”

“It’s A la carte.”

“That must be quite bothersome.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

Usually, a construction site restaurant would serve a base dish of meat like stir-fried pork or bulgogi, and it would be like a Korean buffet, or even if it was a large factory, they would divide it into set A, B, C and you would choose one with a meal ticket, but here you could choose your menu like a regular restaurant.

“Salad black bread. Oil pasta. Cheeseburger. …Hm, it’s simple.”

“Would you rather have your lunchbox?”

Everything was the lowest tier recovery items in the game, which was quite sad, but I shook my head. I should at least try the taste.

“What will you have? I have tried most of them once, so I can recommend something.”

“Is that so? Then…”

Let’s see. I’ve been eating too much sweet stuff lately, and considering my soul is Korean, and I’m quite stressed…

“Aila.”

“Yes?”

“What’s the spiciest thing here?”

“…Excuse me?”

***

What Aila pointed at with a flustered face was the Red Hot Chili Spice Soup. Just the name gets me excited…

If you’re Korean, you must love spicy food. A Cheongyang chili pepper in your ramen. Or if it’s as spicy as Samyang hot chicken stir-fried noodles, you’ll be satisfied.

Even before entering the game, I really enjoyed eating spicy food.

As soon as I started filling my stomach with food from the convenience store waste, I ended up eating spicy and stimulating food. It’s a disaster when I eat Samyang hot chicken stir-fried noodles with my money after eating dead-end spicy hot bar or something.

But since I became Wolfram, I haven’t had much spicy food. Oh, how I miss Scoville.

When I went to the counter and talked about the meal ticket, the cashier stared at me.

“You’re going to have this?”

“Yep. One, please.”

“Yes, yes. One Red Hot Chili Spice Soup.”

And when he received the meal ticket and handed it to the kitchen staff, he also looked at me blankly.

“You’re going to eat this? It’s going to be very spicy.”

“Ha. Very is not enough.”

“What?”

“Make it spicier.”

“…Understood. I will accept your determination.”

“Hm.”

Saying so, he turned around.

I was worried at first about what to do if it was extremely spicy, but now I’m in the mood to eat something that’s so spicy and fiery that it makes the back of my head ache. So, I can’t help it.

“The Red Hot Chili Spice Soup you ordered is ready!”

“Mm.”

As I confidently head towards the kitchen, I hear murmurs from those around me.

“Look there. That…”

“Yeah. That’s the special menu…”

“There’s someone else who eats that?”

…At this point, I’m actually getting a bit worried.

Just how spicy could it be that there’s all this fuss? The pot placed on the tray is covered, so I couldn’t check its contents.

When I returned to my seat and opened the lid, a puff of steam, along with a glimpse of the brightly red soup inside, was revealed.

This red color. It’s great. Vivid and clean. The color is a pass.

“Uh, are you really going to eat that?”

Aila looked horrified but, well… if it’s too spicy, I’ll just throw it away. That’s what I thought as I scooped up a big spoonful of the red soup and took a bite, and then, I was taken aback by the flavor that unfolded in my mouth.

“…No, this is.”

“Is, is it too spicy? Should I get you some water?”

“No, it’s not.”

“Do, do you want me to call a doctor? Are you okay, Wolfram?”

As I grimaced, Aila made a fuss beside me, and I glared at the soup in front of me.

This.

It’s excessively.

Not spicy.

I’d rather have the instant noodles with milk, cheese, and butter added which would probably be spicier.

I’m not an instant noodle maniac, but no matter what, this is… just not spicy at all. It’s incredibly bland. Annoying.

“The red color comes from tomatoes, not from grinding whole chili peppers. Is this what they call spiciness…? Is this supposed to be spicy?”

“What, what? Are you okay, Wolfram?”

“I’m just annoyed. It’s not spicy at all.”

As a Korean, it’s natural to look for kimchi, garlic, and cheongyang chili pepper while eating spicy pork stir-fry with cheongyang chili pepper. With this less than instant noodle level of spiciness, it couldn’t satisfy my Scoville heat scale.

At my deep sigh, Aila cocked her head.

“I…I haven’t even tried it and it’s not spicy?”

“…Do you want to try it?”

“What? Oh… Um. Yes. If it’s a rebellious spiciness, I’ll have a taste.”

As I scoop up some soup and hand it to Aila, she puts the spoon into her mouth with an oddly flushed face, and then.

“…!! Ah! Uh! Ah! Oh!!”

She let out a scream that didn’t sound human.

Oh, this is, well, the reaction one has when they eat something too spicy to handle.

I looked at the soup, and then at Aila, tilting my head.

“Aila, can you not eat it?”

“…!!”

Aila began to pummel me with her fist. Hey, seriously. It hurts. I mean it really hurts.

“…Uh, uh! Wa- waater.”

I passed her the shake I had brought separately as she nodded her head, and she guzzled it down, heaving a sigh mixed with a whimper, and wiped away a tear with a tissue.

“How can you eat something this spicy. Seriously.”

“It’s not spicy at all.”

I frowned as I put the Red Hot… no, just Chili Tomato Soup into my mouth.

“Look there, he’s just eating it.”

“They say if you act like a madman, you are a madman…”

“Isn’t he crazy? That’s why he did that thing with the student council last year…”

The surroundings buzzed, and I let out a deep breath.

I should just finish eating and clear out. There’s nothing good about attracting attention.

I am Wolfram, there are many who hold grudges against me, and there are really dangerous people in Jephryn.

There may always be hurdles to overcome in front of Kelters, but not for me.

“Anyway, it really tastes like garbage. This is spicy? This is not spiciness!”

“Rudika understand what you mean.”

Upon hearing the voice coming from right in front of me, my hand froze.

What?

When did she sit in front of me?

Did I hear the sound of a chair moving? No. The sound of footsteps? It didn’t make a sound.

Who on earth. Who is she?

Even Aila, who ranks at the top of the third grade in the magic department, seemed to notice her presence only after hearing her voice, and her eyes widened.

“When did you get there…”

“It’s not spicy at all. Rudika thinks the same.”

Who?

Who did she just say?

I lifted my head in surprise and met the girl’s eyes.

A slender body. A height shorter than me. Brown skin and ash-colored short hair that barely reaches her shoulders. Blue eyes that make it impossible to read her emotions.

I know this girl. I know her all too well, and it’s frightening.

Third grade of the magic department.

Rudika Hatsan Shadow.

Job.

Assassin.

“So, can Wolfram make that spicy taste for Rudika?”

It was the moment when the most dangerous death bringer in Jephryn showed interest in me.