It’s an Academic Fact That Rankers Are Model Students – Chapter 178

Chapter 178: It’s Frustrating to Hide the Obvious Villain (2)

[Holy Cross made by Philip the Dwarf]

It was a special cigarette machine made by the dwarves.

It could only be operated with the 『Magic Stones』 of the Fairy-Elven Alliance and 『Holy Cigarettes』 grown with holy water instead of water.

Naturally, not everyone could obtain such precious machines and materials, so only high-ranking members of the Cross Church could smoke Holy Cross cigarettes.

The important thing here is not just the high-ranking people, but the ‘high-ranking people of the Cross Church’.

For example, Bishop Girolamo could smoke Holy Cross as much as he wanted, but the king of the Aegis Protectorate here could not.

Why? Because the Church wouldn’t allow it?

No, the reason is a little more fundamental than that.

“This is all due to the lack of faith in the world these days. I need to replenish my faith. Brother?”

Clink, clink~

“Yes! Bishop!”

As Bishop Girolamo shook the Holy Cross, a priest who had been waiting next to him scurried over.

“Please, brother.”

“Yes!”

The priest first inserted the Magic Stone into Girolamo’s Holy Cross, followed immediately by the Holy Cigarette.

“Hmm.”

Bishop Girolamo recited a gospel after confirming that the cigarette was properly inserted.

“SINDE NIZU MIDNA?”

The priest answered his gospel.

“NAI.”

And so their short question and answer ended.

Wooong!

A golden energy escaped from the priest’s body and poured into the Holy Cross.

Something unknown, completely different from mana.

It was faith, that is, the embodiment of 『divine power』.

Thud……!

“Gasp…… Gasp……. “

The priest was out of breath, kneeling with his legs weakened.

“Brother, I offer you even my humble blessing.”

Bishop Girolamo thanked him in the way of the Cross Church.

It was a statement that didn’t feel very sincere, as if he wasn’t really grateful.

But it was different for the kneeling priest.

“Yes……! It’s truly an honor!”

A pale face with cold sweat dripping down, as if his energy had been sucked out.

Nevertheless, the priest smiled brightly with joy and expressed his sincere gratitude to Girolamo.

There was not a hint of falsehood in the expression on his face.

The priest really thought it was an honor to have just 『offered』 his divine power.

[Holy Cross made by Philip Dwarf]

[Divine Power Fully Charged!]

The fresh, warm divine power extracted from the priest.

Girolamo brought the Holy Cross to his mouth and took a long drag.

TL: Not sure if its translate ‘Cross’ or ‘Course’ (신성코스)

“Suuuuuuuup~”

[5 Divine Power is accumulated.]

[4 Divine Power is accumulated.]

Then, little by little, divine power began to accumulate in Bishop Girolamo’s body.

Unlike mana, divine power does not recover naturally, so it was necessary to periodically receive faith and accumulate it like this.

Puhwa~!

Girolamo exhales the divine power smoke he had inhaled.

He shouts like a madman.

“Aah~! This feeling~! This sensation~! This is it…… This is it……! Ahh, God……! I can feel you now……!!”

Then his eyes roll back, his pupils disappear.

“I am ready to hear your word! Oh Elia! Give me a direct revelation too! Ah…… Ahh!!”

Soon, his body floated a few centimeters above the ground and was enveloped in divine smoke, as if ascending to heaven along a window where light was pouring in.

However.

Thud!

“Cough?!”

As the smoke subsided, Girolamo quickly fell back to the ground.

He failed to ascend after all.

“Aah…… It seems that it is something I cannot reach yet with my humble self…… HANAIN SINDE NAZU MIDNDA.”

Girolamo knelt down on the spot where he fell and prayed.

“GUZU DEDANDA.”

Then the priests lined up on either side also began to kneel and pray.

‘……These crazy b@stards.’

A sight truly driven mad by madness.

Broki clenched his fists even tighter to collect himself, so that he wouldn’t be swept away by it later.

“Hoo. Hoo.”

Just when Girolamo seemed to have regained some composure after smoking the Holy Cross, Broki interrupted.

“Bishop. I was able to find something quite good.”

“Hmm? What do you mean by good, Brother Broki?”

What Broki handed to Bishop Girolamo was a black magic stone.

Compared to the previous one, there was no big difference in size and purity, but.

“Oh……! This is!”

Instead, the type was a little special.

[Corrupted Black Magic Stone of Wisdom: 3rd Tier]

▶A black magic stone that corrupts those who are consumed by desire. The more it is related to wisdom, the greater its effect.

▶Item Grade: Unique

“This is……! This is! This is! This is!”

Bishop Girolamo keeps exclaiming in admiration as he examines the black magic stone.

He feels as if he’s about to be swallowed by some kind of ‘desire’ just by holding it in his hand.

[Anti-Mana Resistance.]

[Resisted.]

Of course, Girolamo is a 『bishop-level』 figure in the Cross Church.

He did not cultivate his faith so poorly as to be consumed by this level of desire.

Broki continues, with an expression that seems to expect satisfaction.

“……Although it is still the 3rd tier like the previous one, it will tempt you more strongly with a more concrete desire and give you even greater power.”

The black magic stone stimulates desire and corrupts existence.

Anchovy no longer wanted a skinny body but a muscular orc.

The Black Leopard wanted to kill all the humans who had driven him to death.

The Arliv thought that it wanted to punish those who destroy the forest and nature, beyond harmony and coordination.

Although it wasn’t revealed thanks to Kyung-joon, Ceram wanted to inflict the same despair on those who discriminated against and ostracized him.

Like this, no matter what the desire is.

The more innocent, earnest, and desperate it is, the stronger the black magic stone responds.

In particular, this 『Corrupted Black Magic Stone of Wisdom』 specializes in desires related to wisdom.

“With this Black Magic Stone of Wisdom, we might be able to corrupt even elves and fairies, who are creatures of wisdom. Of course, since it’s a low tier, it will be limited to somewhat low-level ones.”

Not just simple ‘monsters’ like before.

Corrupting fairies and elves, civilized beings far stronger than humans.

At Broki’s words, Bishop Girolamo chuckled.

“Huhuhu…… Well done. Very good. The Fairy-Elven Alliance is a place where faith is almost at rock bottom anyway, so this is a good opportunity to remind them of their past beliefs. Uhuhuhuhu!”

Like the other seven cantons, the Fairy-Elven Alliance is a country with Cross Church as its national religion.

However, that’s just on the surface, and these days, it’s virtually non-religious.

The Fairy-Elven Alliance, a country with more advanced magic than any other.

Just as advanced science in modern Earth has significantly diminished the place of existing religions, advanced magic has pushed aside sublime faith and enthroned secular desires in its place.

Simply put,

Now that most citizens can create fire, spew water, and illuminate light, there is no need to have faith that makes life difficult.

Bishop Girolamo continued.

“Anyway, it’s a corrupted wisdom…… Good. Very good.”

The black magic stone that will cause this ‘mutant outbreak’ has emerged.

Then the next step is to choose the ‘altar’ to be sacrificed.

Exactly where in the Fairy-Elven Alliance should we target?

“The place in the Fairy-Elven Alliance where faith is particularly low is, annoyingly, the capital. However, the capital is teeming with those blessed with wisdom. It’s not a suitable place to inflict divine punishment.”

As the capital of a nation of magic and wisdom, the capital of the Fairy-Elven Alliance is home to all sorts of talented individuals from the alliance.

No matter how powerful the Black Stone of Wisdom is, it’s still only in the ‘third stage’ of waterway, so it’s not nearly enough.

“So, besides the capital, where would be appropriate? Do you have a place in mind, Brother Broki?”

Bishop Girolamo asked Broki.

Fortunately, Broki seemed to have been waiting for those words and brought out what he had been holding back.

“There is one place where excellent wisdom is gathered, but it still lacks the strength to protect it.”

“Oh! Where is it? Tell me.”

“It is the cradle of young knowledge and wisdom, the Fairy-Elven Magic Academy.”

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

[『Chat window with TheWorld’sGreatestMerchant』]

▶TheWorld’sGreatestMerchant: So that’s what happened. I was skeptical when you suddenly asked me to send a letter to Ruski Komrade’s AngerManagementVodka, but I never thought everything that happened in the Whale Forest was planned and orchestrated by Kyung-joon-nim hahaha

Kyung-joon was chatting with TheWorld’sGreatestMerchant about business.

▶TheWorld’sGreatestMerchant: Anyway, I understand. I will let Wagon know in advance when the November carriage goes there. 500 Unique Breads, 5,000 Rare Breads, and the 100 Herbal Teas you mentioned. Is that correct?

▶Kyung-joon: Yes, that’s right. How much do you think the sales will be this November?

▶TheWorld’sGreatestMerchant: Ah, yes. I will organize it in an easy-to-understand way and send it to you.

▶TheWorld’sGreatestMerchant: ^오^

After a short wait, a neatly organized table appeared in the status window.

Looking through it, Kyung-joon’s estimated sales from TheWorld’sGreatestMerchant this November were as follows:

Unique Bread, at 1 million liyans each, totaling over 5 billion liyans.

Rare Bread, selling at 100,000 liyans each, which is about 10-20% of Unique Bread, totaling over 5 billion liyans.

This alone would generate over 10 billion liyans in sales from bread alone.

And if you add the sales of the newly added Ceram-style Contemplation Herbal Tea, at 10 million liyans each, a total of 10 billion liyans would be added to the sales.

At least over 20 billion liyans, on average close to 20-30 billion liyans in sales were expected for this November.

Of course, this is sales, not net profit.

About 3 billion liyans were scheduled to be paid out as salaries to the existing residents of the study village, and he planned to give them a much bigger bonus.

Also, the newly added workforce, AngerManagementVodka and his group.

They were far more numerous than the existing 100 or so residents, so in total, they would have to be paid a much larger amount in labor costs.

Therefore, the actual amount of money left in Kyung-joon’s hands would probably be a little less than 1 billion liyans.

But even that wouldn’t go directly to Kyung-joon.

He had to reinvest in the territory and business.

Now was not the time to ‘maintain’ but to ‘develop’ the situation.

Whether he earned 10 billion or 100 billion, Kyung-joon intended to reinvest all of his net profits into his territory and business.

‘Maybe World’s Best gave me the 10 billion liyan signing bonus in advance because they anticipated this.’

If TheWorld’sGreatestMerchant hadn’t given him the signing bonus, Kyung-joon would have had to put a certain percentage of the sales into his account.

Because Kyung-joon had to make a living too.

Even if he studied hard and went to a good university, it wasn’t like he would start making money right away, and with tuition and other expenses, he would end up spending more money than he earned.

Moreover, considering his family’s financial situation and his siblings, the thought weighed even heavier on his mind.

But thanks to the signing bonus from World’s Best, he was able to reinvest his profits directly into his territory and business without such worries.

▶TheWorld’sGreatestMerchant: By the way, I heard that the new bakery that moved out is gradually stabilizing and the supply will increase, but it doesn’t seem to be much different from last month? Did something go wrong?

▶TheWorld’sGreatestMerchant:  ^오^

Translator’s Blog

Blog

• Itachi Uchiha: The Ultimate Husbando?
• How to Not Die Like Jiraiya: A Guide to Staying Alive
• The One Thing I Gotta Do Before I Kick the Bucket: A Bucket List For The Rest of Us
• Should You Return To That Dropped Novel? The Light Novel Comeback Arc
• Sword Art Online: A Grown-Up’s Journey Through A Virtual World