Avoid Former Co-Workers

26 – 26. Tailing (1)

There is always a temple wherever people live on the continent of Kempreton.

It is literally a place to worship the gods, and if it had not been for their interference in the continent’s critical affairs, mankind would have perished long ago.

Enforcer, mediator, guide.

Humans gave appropriate names to the gods who played different roles.

And now.

The god with the highest rank gave an oracle.

Starlight fell from the direction of the two constellations into the temple and engraved a clock-shaped gin, and soon the only hand turned to the left.

Absolutely, it wasn’t like a picture or a magic circle.

“A clock made of starlight…?”

“That can’t be… An oracle…!”

“Hurry up and let everyone know! The Constellation has given an oracle!!”

What does this clock hand mean?

What is the reason for going backwards instead of the right direction?

From regular intervals to the meaning of a non-moving needle.

Everyone in the temple gathered together and began to interpret the important story of the constellation oracle.

***

After the 5-day winter break, as the grade level went up, Levant Academy welcomed a new semester.

A year passed and I went up one grade after another over the winter.

The campus is even busier with current students welcoming prospective juniors entering the school after the entrance ceremony, freshmen and parents looking forward to the academy.

The same goes for faculty and workers.

Time to accept people from the empire and doubly busy for those who are engaged in administrative work.

Here, I needed to prepare for the counterattack of monsters that would happen in the early semester evaluation.

“Thank you. We didn’t have enough manpower because every day was a day.”

“What? I’m glad I can help.”

When everyone at the academy is busy like this, I often entrust requests to students.

Anyway, it’s all part-time work or carrying something like daily labor, but this is the only time when you can earn money as a student.

Yes. I was in need of money right now.

“You worked hard. Thanks to the students, today’s work is finished. Would you like a drink of this?”

My lady handed me a glass of cool drink as I was sweating from moving the food ingredients that came in today.

“You can speak comfortably. I’m a very young student.”

“Is that so? Oh, look at my sanity. I’m done, so I’m going to give you an allowance!”

The woman went straight into the dining room and held out her bag containing several ten-alte bills tied with a string and dozens of coins.

However, I didn’t intend to take all of this, so I returned all but four bills.

“This is enough.”

“No, student. If I work like this and only take that, I’m sorry, what should I do?”

“It’s okay. I eat the dishes that the lady cooks every day with fresh ingredients, and this is enough.”

“Oh, how come you talk so well… I want to take care of my son more because he is the same age as me. I can’t do it! Take everything!”

The lady stubbornly refused until I finished my drink, and she put all of my allowance into my hands.

‘I don’t need this much money.’

Although it is true that he sweated a lot to move a lot of food materials, this amount of money far exceeded a week’s worth of food.

There is only one reason you need money. It is to be used to deter monsters that will ambush during the initial evaluation of the semester in a polluted underground waterway.

But… The price the lady gave me was so generous that it was enough to buy the bag of herbs I wanted to buy.

‘Should I put it in for now?’

If you leave it there, it will have something to write about.

If you simply release two or three bags of herbs sold in bags into the waterway, they will become noticeably weaker.

It would be difficult to conclude that there was no damage at all, but at least based on my memory, I am certain that this measure was correct.

Putting the money she gave me into her pocket, I went to buy a bag of herbs.

There were footsteps moving away from the direction of the restaurant, and there were also footsteps approaching.

“Hello. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Another girl with an auburn ponytail was also looking for work at this time.

***

‘Wrong.’

I went looking for work, but there was no sense of work that Michelle could do.

I wish I had a job using magic, but unfortunately, elemental magic called fire is in low demand.

At most, it is an axis that contributes talent to the place where objects are made, but objects require a complex study called magic engineering.

Similarly, even if you craft an artifact, it requires similar learning, and you didn’t even listen to alchemy lectures, so you received an answer that it was impossible.

But since they haven’t trained their bodies like the avant-gardes, jumping into the workbench is virtually impossible.

There is literally nothing I can do, so I wipe my face with both hands like now.

‘If only I could pay for the maintenance of the freezing unit until early graduation passes this semester…’

It is very lamentable that there is nothing you can do helplessly when you have to collect even a small amount of money.

‘But let’s not give up.’

If you look for other things until the end, there might be something worth doing.

It’s a busy time, isn’t it?

With a positive mindset, Michelle gets up from the bench and brushes her butt off, and her eyes are directed at one person.

─Can you take it all with you? Would you like to borrow a cart?

─It’s okay. I’ll take one by one.

How can you not see that black hair in the bright daylight and not dark on the street?

Michelle recognized that he was Junon only by the distinctive hair color Senia told him about.

‘By the way, what are you taking with you?’

Something is wrapped in bags, and Junon seems to be carrying them somewhere, bag by bag.

Michelle decided to step on the back of Junon who quietly slung a gun over his shoulder.

“Wow, wow, this is heavier than I thought.”

The first battery was moved to an underground canal.

Since it is a herb that is not often used, I wonder if it is packed full.

Junon lamented that trying to bring the remaining two sacks seemed like he would be exhausted already.

“But what can I do?”

Junon is sitting on a flat stone in front of an underground canal, catching his breath.

The thing that made Michelle question is that bag.

‘What the hell is that bag…’

The only thing I bought with the money I worked hard for was three sacks with something in them. There are so many things to buy, but I mean to buy that.

Besides, the place I brought it to is also strange. It is a musty and dull waterway with water leaking from somewhere.

It gave me goosebumps as the days I cleaned properly were covered with a stench and thick residue that I couldn’t even fathom.

It seems that there is some connection between that battery and this place, and Junon knows that.

‘I went…!’

It looked like Junon, who had caught his breath, was about to come with the next gun.

At this time, Michelle ran to the turret and unwrapped it.

“What is this…?”

What is the meaning of the contents of the bag in this filthy waterway full of white powder and leaves?

Take out a handful of dust and smell it. It has a unique scent. Michelle knew right away what this was.

“Mystellis leaves…? So it’s a cleanser, right?”

The leaves and powder in the bag were ground and cut from herbs that have the power to purify something polluted.

I burned it with magic to see if any other ingredients were added, and the unique scent disappeared and it turned gray and became a hard lump.

I tried to touch the leaves, but they still show a similar reaction. It means that it is difficult to see that other ingredients have been added.

Where the hell are you going to use this?

Turb-Turb-

Footsteps are heard again. It seems that the battery was brought a little faster this time.

‘De, I’ll get caught!!’

Michelle had to quickly return the gun to its original position and hide.

One battery, two batteries, and finally three batteries.

The purifier bags piled up one by one came out as empty bags one by one with the sound of pouring from inside the underground waterway.

Carrying the remaining empty sacks, Junon silently slipped out of the canal.

‘Purifier…? Channel…? What is it about…’

According to Senia’s guess, it was Junon who left Silvia who had collapsed that day.

It must be something to be proud of, but even that was not announced and kept silent.

Junon, who was acting suspiciously in many ways, needed Michelle to keep an eye on her.

***

The three bags of purifier powder and leaves were all shaken off and scattered all over the waterways, so preparations were made.

What remains is whether or not something will happen during the evaluation at the beginning of the semester and joint practice.

As long as someone doesn’t go over there and touch it, it’s safe to say it won’t happen.

But I caught something strange in my eyes.

“Hmm?”

A handkerchief is missing. I couldn’t even carry a handkerchief in the first place… Why is this falling apart?

This isn’t the place to leave these clean handkerchiefs.

Because the road behind the road I walked into is the road to the underground waterway, so it’s a rare place.

Are you the one who came to clean this place? The underground aqueduct was too dirty for that?

Did some of the people walking down the street throw their handkerchiefs here saying they didn’t need them? Then why do you step into such a filthy place and throw it away?

Did the wind blow the handkerchief by chance? Absolutely not. No matter how light the handkerchief was, unless it was forcibly pushed with wind magic or a typhoon blew, there was no way an object with this much mass would be blown away easily.

Even if you make assumptions, none of them fit.

In other words, it means that someone has followed me.

‘This, for some reason, hurts my back.’

I’m in trouble if the person who tracks my actions gets in the way.

I had to make sure I didn’t miss anything in the canal.

I want to turn my body backwards and go back, so I go back to the corner.

Pak!

“Oh?”

I heard something hard hit my chest, and the object lightly touched the ground. Even the voice of a woman who is embarrassed at the same time.

Perhaps, the person who had just been knocked on the butt and raised his voice was definitely the one who followed me and pursued me.

But…

“Ouch…”

Why does the familiar auburn ponytail stand out?

I wondered if I had seen something wrong, so I closed my eyes a couple of times and opened them again.

…I absolutely did not see anything wrong. It couldn’t have been a dream since the contents of the bag were sprayed while smelling the rotten smell in the underground waterway.

Then…Why?

Why? Why are you here

“Mi-sorry. That’s…”

Why the hell did you follow me when I had no ties to you?

“If you ask for something you haven’t seen… That’s probably not going to work…? hahahaha…”

Michelle, why did you watch that scene?

I had to confirm that Michelle, who had assumed that she would never run into me, had followed me right in front of my eyes.