‘First, I need to check the capsules I saw while following Reysir around this morning!’
I set that goal and hurriedly moved, drawing the shortest route in my head.
Unfortunately, some of them were already missing—probably discovered by someone else first.
But among the remaining capsules, one actually had a treasure note.
Finally, for the first time.
The joy of discovering a treasure myself welled up for just a moment.
“If only Reysir hadn’t stolen my treasure note this morning… I could have avoided the penalty, right?”
“Yaong….”
A feeling of unfairness washed over me for no reason.
But…
“It’s already in the past, so let’s just forget about it.”
“Yaong yaong!”
Yor nodded in agreement at my words and gave me a thumbs up.
That must mean he thought it was a good idea.
‘Pret has probably secured at least one treasure by now, but the others might still be empty-handed time-wise?’
Still, I couldn’t challenge Pret to a battle with my only treasure on the line.
Even with Yor by my side, there was no guarantee I could beat him.
The risk was far too great.
So I decided it was better to look for more treasures and put that into action.
It seemed like most places had already been checked by people in the morning—hidden capsules were almost nonexistent.
For that reason, I moved deep into the mountains and to higher ground.
Thanks to that, I was able to find a few more capsules over the next hour, but…
“Haaa… Every single one is a dud.”
“Hyaong….”
Yor and I sighed in unison.
Maybe we were just unlucky, but it occurred to me that the number of remaining treasures might be pitifully low.
‘Could it be that Bjorn prepared multiple penalty headbands because he expected a lot of people to get penalized?’
Just as this anxiety struck me.
— KABOOM!
The sky roared violently.
A thunderclap from a clear sky is a rare natural phenomenon that can occur, albeit very rarely.
But this wasn’t a situation where a serious atmosphere had to be created before a dangerous battle.
The original author wouldn’t have described such a rare natural phenomenon while a bunch of kids were just training.
“It looks like Reysir is fighting someone…?”
For reference, Lightning Strike is the most powerful attack Reysir can use.
Lightning shot from a weapon or fingertip moves horizontally, so its trajectory is visible and can be dodged or blocked to some extent.
But Lightning Strike comes crashing down from above, making it hard to counter, and…
‘Its destructive power is simply higher too.’
That’s because the lightning attribute aether that rises into the sky borrows the power of nature, making it even stronger.
Even so, Reysir can control its power level.
Judging by the thunderclap I just heard, getting hit wouldn’t just leave a tingle—it would knock you out cold.
‘Against an average opponent, he could win easily with just spearmanship, and if ranged attacks were needed, shooting lightning directly would be enough…’
Yet Reysir dropped a Lightning Strike anyway.
There are three possible reasons.
He decided to fight seriously out of respect for his opponent, or he resolved to firmly imprint the difference in skill into his opponent’s mind.
‘…Or he thinks the opponent is hiding their true strength and intends to draw it out.’
Even though Reysir can use 【Jin-Ik-Nun】 to casually peek at other people’s status windows…
There are still areas you can’t know without actually fighting.
Given the way I just narrated, you readers have probably already figured it out.
I think the protagonist of another novel used Lightning Strike for the third reason.
We can rule out Hailga, Risi, and Svein since they’re inexperienced in combat.
And Vigdis and Liolikin trained countless times with Reysir while preparing for last year’s Bimu Tournament, so they know each other’s skills well.
‘That leaves Pret and Fjodra, right?’
Reysir was wary of these two.
Because Pret carries the suspicious title of ‘Heir of the Information Guild Leader,’ and Fjodra belongs to the Imperial Family.
And quite coincidentally…
Both have the potential to hide their true strength due to their positions, and they share the ability to escape alone in a crisis.
So I don’t know who Reysir is facing now, but…
If he used his strongest attack as a threat of sorts, the reason is naturally to draw out the opponent’s true skill.
As I reached this conclusion and ended the 【Character Analysis】 skill, another thunderclap rang out:
“BOOM!“
The thought of going to watch the fight crossed my mind, but…
If I did, I might lose my only precious treasure to Reysir again.
‘For now, let’s focus on treasure hunting. Being Yeppeuni is bad enough—I can’t end up as a Cute Headband or a Cutie…!!’
So I forced myself to ignore the sounds.
I rummaged through places where capsules might be hidden, moving in the opposite direction of where the Lightning Strike fell.
No, I intended to do that, but it fell through.
Because I bumped into someone before I could even take ten steps.
“Yeppeuni, have you found any treasure?”
From the tone alone, it was clear—the person I ran into was Fjodra.
That must mean Reysir is currently facing Pret.
‘I didn’t want to find out this way…’
I’d hoped my first opponent would be someone I could definitely beat.
That way, my treasure count would increase to two, and even if I lost one to a stronger opponent later, I could bounce back with the remaining one.
“Your Imperial Highness, are you thinking of fighting me?”
“If you have a treasure.”
I had hoped she was just curious whether I’d found any, but…
Fjodra answered like that, took a capsule from her bag, opened it, and showed me the treasure note inside.
‘Maybe Bjorn’s attention is on Reysir and Pret’s fight right now… I could lie and say I have no treasure to avoid battle, but the risk is too high.’
If I got caught now or later, I’d be stuck with the penalty with no way out.
After a moment of thought, I eventually showed her the only treasure I’d found, just as she had.
“Just one?”
“Unfortunately…”
“If I take that from you, it’ll be even more unfortunate.”
The scene of fighting Fjodra was already shown in Chapter 23, which was only a week ago in story time.
Neither Fjodra nor I had any noticeable change in skill.
So skipping the battle description entirely and cutting straight to the result…
“Yeppeuni, your concentration is immense when you enter combat, but it’s a shame you can’t maintain that state for long.”
—And that’s what happened.
I fought with all my might, but I couldn’t seize the momentum before hitting the time limit for maintaining the 【Character Analysis】 skill.
The result led straight to defeat.
“You pushed yourself so hard you even got a nosebleed… Is your stamina that weak? Or was last time not from tripping and hitting your nose, but from overexertion?”
Maintaining the 【Character Analysis】 skill requires mental energy, not physical stamina.
But since this is essentially a weakness, it was hard to tell the truth.
Even though it might look like I use it all the time, 【Character Analysis】 is a skill with many restrictions from activation to maintenance.
‘Fjodra herself is an absolute ally of the original protagonist, but there’s no guarantee she’ll keep my skill a secret…?’
Even if she doesn’t report it to the Emperor,
She might think the ones fighting alongside her should know, and spill it to the Awakened Special Class members.
And that would mean the traitor of the original work, Svein, would also find out.
I quickly covered my nose with a tissue Yor handed me, using that as an excuse to avoid answering.
“Anyway, a match is a match, so I’ll take the treasure. Instead, I’ll give you a potion. Drink it and recover quickly.”
Maybe because she once tried to hand me a potion in Chapter 221 but ended up getting her ribbon stolen.
Today, Fjodra only took out a potion from her inventory after accepting the capsule with the treasure note and held it out.
I had potions of my own, but…
Since I already accepted and drank it last time, it felt awkward to refuse now, so I just took it and drank it.
Thanks to that, the bleeding stopped and my head cleared, but the empty bag left me feeling hollow.
“Meow, meaow….”
***
After Fjodra left leisurely with my treasure,
As I dampened a handkerchief to wipe my face, Yor looked dejected and showed his apology.
The decisive reason for my loss in this battle was that I couldn’t maintain the 【Character Analysis】 skill, exposing a major weakness.
‘Besides, my baby dragon is far greater than an eagle familiar, so in the end, it was my weakness compared to Fjodra that was the problem, right?’
I think Yor managed to instill some sense of crisis in Fjodra by acting as a ranged damage dealer.
Yet Yor still apologized to me, feeling sorry.
I had blocked even the attacks aimed at Yor with my whip to let the baby dragon focus on attacking.
But he seemed to blame himself for not landing a decisive blow on the opponent.
“Don’t be sorry. Yor, you did your part well. Rather, I’m the one who should apologize. I should have held out longer to give you more attack opportunities…”
“Nyang, nyang!”
Just as I don’t want to shift blame to Yor, he doesn’t want to blame me either.
My heart tightened with emotion.
If I could, I’d hug Yor right now and shower him with kisses, praising him as the world’s best baby dragon.
But Bjorn might be watching us with an artifact, or someone could be nearby.
So I put off expressing my gratitude and decided to resume treasure hunting for now.
And time passed, and passed, until there were only 30 minutes left until the end of the class.
“How is this possible…?”
“Kyaooo?!”
My bag was still empty.
That meant I hadn’t found a single treasure all this time.
Because of that—
“Huh…! Y-yes, Yeppeuni sunbae…!”
—Even when I ran into Risi, who had a bulging bag, I couldn’t take her treasure.
“You can just pass by.”
“You’re not… going to challenge me…?”
“I can’t.”
“Oh, I see…….”
***
After showing my empty bag and having that exchange, I had to part ways under a gaze full of sympathy.
“At this rate, even if I find a treasure right now, there’s no way I can increase it to five within the remaining time, right?”
“Yaong….”
I guess I have to give up.
Thinking that, as I shuffled toward the mountain entrance, I still had lingering attachment and rummaged around a bit, eventually finding one treasure.
But I wasn’t happy at all.
Rather, I was just angry, feeling like I was being toyed with.
So when I spotted the protagonist of another novel standing by the entrance, I felt an urge to throw the treasure capsule at his face, which showed a hint of welcome.
I took the capsule out of my bag and fiddled with it, and he spoke first.
“You want to fight me for treasure?”
“No, I was just wondering if you’d let me hit you if I threw this at your face right now.”
“What made you think of that…?”
“Because you won’t let me land a hit during a fight. But in everyday situations, if I hit you, you just take it. Since I’m going to lose my treasure anyway, I figured it’d be more satisfying to land at least one punch.”
“Hahaha! You know, Yeppeuni, you have a weird side to you.”
“I’m not joking.”
“I’m serious too.”
I’d say I’m several levels above him when it comes to being serious right now.
As I posed to hurl the capsule with all my might to prove it—
“It seems you have one, so I just need to give you four, right?”
The protagonist of another novel…
No, an unbelievable statement came out of Reysir’s mouth.
How is he so unlucky!??