I Realized It Was an Academy Game After 10 Years – Chapter 87

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Here’s a towel!”

“Thanks.”

I wiped my face and hands with the towel Millia handed me.

I wasn’t a construction worker at a labor site, and I didn’t want to eat food while being dirty.

After thoroughly wiping the dirt off my hands and face, I used my skill.

“Crafting.”

Instantly, a table and chairs of appropriate size were created.

I placed a lamp in the center of the table to create suitable lighting.

Indeed, my ability was the best skill for maintaining work-life balance.

The problem was that it wasn’t very useful in combat unless I really forced it.

As usual, I complained about my skill while untying the cloth that wrapped the lunchboxes.

Today it was a 5-tier lunchbox.

It seemed they had prepared more generously than yesterday, perhaps listening to my request to increase the quantity.

“Hehe, it’s food time~”

“Ah, finally… food…”

“Good work.”

“Ugh… my back hurts…”

“Lunch, lunch, lunch~ Today we have salad with sweet apple dressing, steak cut into bite-sized pieces, soft bread, and beef soup!”

What a protein-rich menu.

I started separating the lunchboxes and setting them down one by one.

Even Sif, who had collapsed in exhaustion, raised her head at the appetizing smell and got up, sniffing.

“It smells delicious…”

“Johann! Sif! Here are forks and spoons!”

“Thanks.”

“Thank… you…”

We took the utensils Millia produced from her bosom and began eating aggressively.

The lunchboxes that filled the table were emptied in an instant.

We cleaned up the empty lunchboxes and sprawled out on our chairs.

To let our bodies, abused by hard labor, rest.

“I’m so full~”

“Ugh… I feel sorry for my siblings…”

There was no need to feel guilty about eating.

I patted Sif’s shoulder to comfort her.

“You can just buy some for your siblings, can’t you?”

“That’s right… I’ve earned… a lot of money… hehehehehe…”

She’s completely lost it.

I turned my eyes away from Sif, who was laughing while wobbling like a slime, and spread the map on the table.

After three days, our progress was about 30%.

The work was going very smoothly.

I leisurely marked the completed sections with X’s.

“Johann! What are you looking at?”

“I’m checking our progress.”

“Hmm, I can’t understand any of it.”

Of course you can’t.

To others, it would just look like lines roughly drawn all over.

I finished checking and neatly rolled up the map, stuffing it into a pouch.

Now it was time for a break, so I needed to get some sleep.

But first, let’s change the atmosphere a bit.

“Sif, stand up for a moment. Dismantle. Crafting.”

I got rid of the table and created a suitable brazier in its place.

It was a necessary measure, as sleeping in this cool and damp space would be perfect for catching a cold.

I took firewood and a magic ignition tool from the cart and lit a fire in the brazier.

Magic tools really were the best.

A warm light was born in the cool tunnel.

“The fire feels so good…”

She might end up becoming a roasted cat at this rate.

I used my skill to create a reasonably long bench and had Sif lie down on it.

True to her cat nature, Sif curled up on the bench and fell asleep.

Her waist was bent at what seemed like an impossible angle, but she slept soundly.

Were all cat beastkin like this?

“Thanks…”

Well then, I should get some sleep too.

I sat comfortably in a chair and closed my eyes.

“Johann, are you going to sleep?”

“I’m thinking of taking a quick nap.”

“Then what should I do?”

I opened my eyes at Millia’s question and looked at her.

She had a sulky face.

I wondered why she was sulking.

I couldn’t guess.

Since it was Millia, she was probably upset over something trivial.

Like being upset that I was sleeping instead of playing with her.

With my half-asleep brain, I managed to come up with a suitable answer.

“Why don’t you go ride your kick scooter? You need to deliver the lunchboxes back to Yeomyeong-gwan anyway.”

At my words, Millia made a disgruntled face.

It seemed I had chosen the wrong answer.

The dullahan who loved to act spoiled approached me with a more exaggerated walk than usual, demanding.

“I want to sleep too! Let me use your lap as a pillow!”

“Wouldn’t it be better to sleep in a bed?”

She was not a child anymore.

…Though her behavior was exactly like a child’s.

“I want to rest here too.”

“…If you insist. Crafting.”

I extended the chair to create a bench.

As soon as the bench was complete, Millia spread a cloth over it and laid down, using my lap as a pillow.

Because she was a dullahan whose head moved independently, the band connecting her neck stretched out in a precarious manner, but since Sif was also sleeping, it shouldn’t matter.

I surrendered to the sleepiness that was overtaking me.

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“Is Johann… asleep?”

In the silence where only the sound of crackling firewood could be heard, Millia blankly looked up at Johann.

Johann, exhausted from the morning’s hard labor, had fallen into a deep sleep instantly.

She had no intention of closing her eyes.

To begin with, she wasn’t sleepy at all.

“…Hehe.”

She spent what she considered a fulfilling time, nuzzling her face against Johann’s thigh.

Though his muscular thigh was hard rather than soft, feeling like she was resting her head on a rock, she didn’t mind.

Such things weren’t important at all.

“Hm~hm~hm~”

A small melody echoed in the quiet tunnel.

One of the few songs remaining in her memory.

Though the memory was now faint, the tune of about two bars still remained in her head.

“…I’m bored.”

She could just sleep, but she didn’t want to.

Of course, since she had slept plenty before coming here.

She decided to play with Johann.

She fiddled with his hands, placed his hand on her head to make him pat her, and even detached her head to roll it around on Johann’s lap.

But what could be more boring than playing with someone who didn’t respond?

Quickly tiring of this, Millia put her head back in place and pulled up the band to secure it.

The dullahan instantly became human.

“I wonder when he’ll wake up…”

She sat up, adjusting her position.

Leaning her body against Johann, she hugged his arm and closed her eyes.

The smell of sweat mixed with dirt was unpleasant, but she didn’t mind.

She really liked Johann, after all.

A living sacrifice loved by no one.

A girl yearning for love.

The man who had reached out to her.

For these reasons alone, Johann’s existence was like a parent, a sibling, and a friend to Millia, and she was aiming for something more than that.

Because only then could she be loved forever.

“Hehe, together forever…”

A single phrase that no one heard burned like firewood in the bonfire.

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“I’m dying! I’m really dying!”

“We’re almost at the end, so hang in there a little longer.”

Just when it seemed like we were about to finish with the final work, she was collapsing again.

How tiring could it be to just pull a cart around?

I was the one digging hundreds of tons of dirt here.

“You know that’s the sixth time you’ve said that? I’m really going to die from overwork! We’ve been working for 14 hours straight!”

“Five gold coins.”

“No matter how much money you give me, it’s still not okay!”

“Six coins.”

“…Seven coins.”

See?

I glared at Sif, who was sprawled out on the neatly arranged stone floor.

To think she would try to negotiate even in this situation.

Was money that good?

It seems like she’s pocketed about 3% of the budget I received.

I had no intention of arguing with a worker who was trying to negotiate so shamelessly.

I met her eyes and immediately gave her an ultimatum.

“Do you want to take seven coins and get fired?”

“Th-that was just a joke!”

True to her nature of being lightning-fast with money calculations, Sif sprang up like a coiled spring and grabbed the cart handle.

Ah, so this is why everyone wants to be an employer.

The taste of tormenting subordinates was sweeter than I’d imagined.

From Sif’s perspective, I probably seemed like an evil employer, but considering the amount of money I’d given her, it was enough for an average family to live on for about 5 years, so I wasn’t that bad.

“Ugh, it’s so hard…”

“I’m telling you, we’re really almost done, so hang in there.”

“R-really?”

“Really.”

“Nyaa…”

Is she trying to emphasize that she’s a cat beastkin?

I turned my gaze away from Sif, who was sprawled out on the cart meowing, and looked at the last tunnel.

With the basic tunnel construction finished, this was the last tunnel I’d dug.

I touched the stone wall at the end of the tunnel I’d excavated and fell into thought.

‘As expected, there was a dungeon here.’

The dungeon beneath the Academy.

In the game, it was a place you couldn’t enter unless there was a special event.

Of course, that event was the final exam.

The protagonist and their companions were forced there by someone’s plot and had to struggle desperately to survive.

It was an event where humanity’s enemy forces first appeared in earnest, so there was a need to prepare.

With Karina weakened now, I couldn’t guarantee whether the protagonist’s party, whose existence was uncertain, could survive.

This wasn’t a world where drinking a potion would instantly heal severe injuries like in the game.

…I needed to confirm the existence of the protagonist, though.

“…The school closure order will be lifted soon, so I can look into it then.”

There was nothing I could do but wait for now, as asking around might raise unnecessary suspicion.

Anyway, the protagonist’s recognition would start to skyrocket around the time of the final exams.

I turned around and exited the small tunnel.

There was no need for additional work here.

I just needed to hide it for now.

It would be at least a month before this tunnel would be opened.

“Crafting.”

“…Why are you blocking it?”

“I dug it by mistake.”

I made up an excuse and looked at the seamlessly blocked wall.

Just in case, I had created a 5-meter thick wall to block it, so nobody except me would be able to find it.

“Nya?! Does that mean we have to do more work?!”

“No. This is it, I mean, we’re done here. The emergency passage work is finished.”

Why did I suddenly use military jargon?

Feeling a strange sensation, I led Sif out of the tunnel.

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“What? You’re saying you’ve finished? Is that true?”

“Yes… it is.”

“Are you joking? It’s only been ten days!”

Anticipating the principal’s reaction, I carefully spoke, trying not to let the corners of my mouth curl up.

“You can send someone to inspect it right away.”

“Well…”

The principal stared at my face for a long time, as if trying to determine if I was lying.

It was an uncomfortable experience being stared at by an old man for so long.

It was not an experience I particularly wanted to have.

“Alright. I’ll send inspectors right away, so you can go now.”

“Understood.”

If he says to go, I’ll go.

I left the principal’s office, dragging my tired body.

As soon as I opened the door and came out, a soft and plush sensation naturally wrapped around my arm.

“Hehe, is the work all done?”

“Yes.”

Perhaps because I hadn’t been able to play with her lately, Millia clung to my arm more tightly than usual, rubbing her cheek against it.

She might be called a dullahan, but she was just like a puppy.

I chuckled and hurried along the path to Yeomyeong-gwan.

Now that I’d dug the tunnels, it was time to start preparing in earnest.

I hurried towards Yeomyeong-gwan, thinking about the tools I could make in my workshop.

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[Is millia becoming a yandere? lets goo?!?]