I Level Up With In-app Purchases

EP.108 Enhancement is Gambling (5)

Ariane isn't hurting for money, so it doesn't matter how much she spends on enhancement.

The problem is that Shine succeeded at +12.

How could anyone stand that?

She absolutely must get to +12.

Not being able to sleep at night over this would be wrong.

"It's fascinating that this enhancement thing can make my magic wand stronger. I'm curious how my wand will change. Do you think I could get to +12 like Ariane?"

When Ariane mentions +12, Vine also expresses interest in trying for it.

It might look easy since Shine is walking around with a +12.

'Surely she won't change like Ariane did?'

The kids' reactions to enhancement are more intense than expected.

Feeling anxious, Ariane asked Vine to let her go first.

"Can I try for +12 first?"

"Sure. Actually, I wanted to see how it's done anyway."

Vine didn't refuse Ariane's desperate request.

Ariane's eyes sparkled as she held out her weapon to me.

"Please do it."

"Won't you regret it?"

"I'm not doing much today. I just came to try for +12 once. Here's the enhancement fee!"

"You still have plenty left from what you gave me last time?"

"Since I paid a lot, couldn't you make it succeed?"

"Success or failure isn't up to me. If it were, I would have gotten all of you to +12 already."

Enhancement is a battle with oneself.

It's impossible for someone else to do anything about it, and that's how it should be.

The love-hate relationship with an enhanced weapon is what qualifies you to truly own one.

"Are you doing it here?"

"No!"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I'm going to enhance it at a lucky spot."

"Lucky spot?"

"I'll tell you something very important. Location is super super important!!! I couldn't get to +12 because of that zelkova tree."

A manic gleam appears in Ariane's eyes.

Come to think of it, she looks a bit like Fran...?

My gaze unconsciously drifted to Fran.

The original maniac was wearing a subtle smile as if she knew nothing.

"Mister! Let's go to the park. Where you enhanced Shine's weapon."

Having tasted the thrill of enhancement, Ariane knew well the importance of a lucky spot.

What makes a spot lucky?

It's when others succeed at enhancement there.

"Alright, let's go."

The kids all followed Ariane in a crowd toward the park.

It seemed the park would become the lucky spot for enhancement.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

"Wait, stop right there! What are you doing here?"

I knew this would happen.

"Waaaaaah!!!! Why me!!! Why am I the only one who can't do it!!"

Ariane collapsed to the ground, wailing as if she'd lost everything.

"I-I think this is as far as I should go. +10 is good enough. Yeah. I don't want to torment this thing anymore."

Vine, who had learned her lesson after tasting the bitter experience of enhancement, wisely stopped at +10.

"Hmm... is that all?"

Shine watched her friends' enhancement show with composure, secretly snickering to herself.

And finally Fran, who ended up enhancing her sacred artifact, a unique equipment, to +11 due to her friends' encouragement.

"I wasn't planning to enhance anything...."

The situation had become completely chaotic, and these strange, suspicious behaviors caught the eye of a knight.

He was looking at us with suspicious eyes, particularly regarding me as absolute trash.

After all, wouldn't it look incredibly suspicious for several young girls to be doing something with an older man?

"pantpant!! J-just one more time. Just once. Just one more time!!!"

At that moment, Ariane, failing to read the situation, shouted "one more time."

"Ah, Ariane!"

Fran hurriedly tried to stop Ariane, but the knight had already witnessed an even more suspicious scene.

While Ariane's "one more time" meant trying for +12 after reaching +11, how could the knight possibly know that?

"What are you trying to do more of? Explain properly or I'll arrest you."

The knight placed his hand on his hip.

I spoke calmly to the knight.

"I know this looks extremely suspicious, but we're not doing anything wrong."

Perhaps my excuse was too weak, as the knight didn't seem to believe me.

"I'll need to search you first. Raise your hands and stand up."

Realizing something was wrong, the children belatedly tried to make excuses for me.

"We're not suspicious people! We're students. Students."

"That's right, we're academy students."

"All of you, step away from that man. Take three steps back."

"Eh?"

Ariane was the last to grasp the situation, looking bewildered.

The children dragged the still-dazed Ariane along and did as they were told.

It was a monthly occurrence for people to get X'd after mouthing off to knights about being wrongly accused.

The knight patted down my body while I held my hands up, checking if I was carrying anything.

"Are you really not hiding anything?"

"No, I'm not."

"Then what were you doing here with these students? What did she mean by 'one more time'?"

"Uh...."

The children rolled their eyes, knowing that I hadn't reported my status as an awakened one.

If I told the truth, they'd check my identity, and if I denied being an awakened one, I'd be considered an illegal awakened.

"We were just having a conversation."

"The student's condition suggests otherwise."

That's because she's obsessed with enhancement...

'This is awkward. Maybe I should have gotten more details back then.'

I had asked the Duke to handle the awakening registration issue, and he did take care of it properly.

He told me not to worry since he'd handled it well.

The problem was that I didn't know exactly how he had handled it.

So I couldn't tell the knight that this happened while using my awakened abilities.

'Would that make him even more suspicious?'

The children tried their best to make excuses for me, but the knight wasn't buying it.

"I'll need to check everyone's identification."

"There's no need to bother the students whose identities are clear. Just investigate me. After all, I'm the suspicious one here, right?"

"...Then I'll just take the students' names."

The knight, seeming to accept that academy students weren't suspicious, took down their names and started moving toward the guard station with me.

"Mister..."

"Our mister isn't really a suspicious person!"

"If there's nothing wrong, he'll be released immediately. If no crime has been committed, there's nothing to worry about. Now, students, please return to the academy."

Seeing that the children looked ready to follow me, I added:

"I'll be fine, so go back to the dormitory."

"We're sorry, mister. This is all because of us..."

"We should have been more careful."

"I'll tell daddy to help you! Just wait a little bit, boss!"

Ariane was particularly restless and even said he would help save me.

Of course he was restless since he had caused trouble.

Since getting the Duke involved for such a minor matter would be overkill, I stopped Ariane.

"They just need to check my identity. Don't make this a bigger deal than it needs to be and go back."

Leaving the worried children behind, I moved along with the knight.

The knight watched me with a stern expression throughout our walk.

It felt like he was keeping a close eye on me in case I tried to run away.

Bang!

"Ahhh!"

What neither the knight nor I expected was that something suspicious would happen on our way to the guard station.

"???"

"!!!"

The knight tried to go toward where the scream came from, but he hesitated, probably concerned about me.

"Are you crazy? Run now!"

Was I, a mere suspect, more important right now?

The scream was clearly from a child.

I hoped I was wrong, but there was a high probability that a kidnapping was taking place.

When one situation was just suspicious and the other was certain, it was only natural to run toward the certain situation first.

The knight, finally coming to his senses, ran toward where the sound came from.

BOOM!!

An explosion sound could be heard not far away.

"...hey!"

"...said...!"

"Damn!...Ah! After them!"

Pitter-patter!

The fortunate thing was that we could hear the sound of commotion from that direction.

If the kidnapping had gone smoothly, there wouldn't have been such a disturbance.

It seemed the suspicious guys' plans had gone awry.

Which was a good thing for us.

"Over there!"

Light footsteps were urgently approaching in our direction.

At this rate, we would surely meet the owner of those footsteps soon.

Finally, after turning one corner, we saw a child frantically running away in the distance.

"There! Come this way!"

"Here! Come here."

The knight and I gestured simultaneously.

We naturally thought the child would run toward us.

When being chased by criminals and the police appear?

Wouldn't it be normal to go to them?

But suddenly, upon seeing us, the child turned pale and stopped in their tracks.

"What? Where are they going?"

"What is this...?"

And then they ran away in a different direction.

I wasn't certain, but it seemed they were running away from the knight.

When I looked at the knight suspiciously, he shook his head, seemingly feeling wronged.

"Oh no, this isn't good...!"

The knight was at a loss for what to do.

Since we couldn't just stand there dumbfounded, I spoke to the knight as I entered the alley where the child had disappeared.

"You take care of those bastards. I'll bring back the kid."

"Huh? Oh! Yes, thank you."

By 'those bastards,' I meant the criminals who were chasing the child.

As the child escaped into another alley to avoid us, we came face to face with the criminals who had been pursuing them.

"Huh?"

The kidnappers stopped running, apparently surprised to see the knight.

'How many of them were after one child?'

From what I could glimpse, there seemed to be 5 or 6 of them.

In this situation, the knight had to choose between two options.

Either subdue the criminals or follow the child to save them.

If he went to save the child, the criminals would notice and escape, but if he subdued the criminals, the child would remain in danger, so that wasn't acceptable either.

'They've already run that far?'

Having left the kidnappers to the knight, all that remained was chasing after the child.

I thought I had followed quickly enough, but they were so swift they were already far away.

'When did they get all the way over there? No wonder they were able to escape.'

They disappeared in the blink of an eye.

It seemed impossible to chase the child without using my abilities.

They might end up somewhere dangerous because of me.

'I'll catch them quickly and swiftly.'

First, I made my body lighter.

Then I used telekinesis to lift my body into the air.

Flying had become quite familiar now.

After getting thoroughly beaten when I went into the contaminated zone with Ariane, I had spent a lot of time practicing flying.

No matter how hard you run, you can't beat someone who flies.

The distance between the child and me closed instantly.