Chapter 49: Ethical Robbing Strat, Gatekeeper
An hour passed quietly for Zeke and Andrei. The two of them wandered in the forest without any particular goal, encountering students from different classes frequently. But with Andrei’s presence, all of them ran away with their tails tucked behind their backs.
At present, the two of them were using the remaining time of the exam to relax, exploring the dungeon slowly as they hunted monsters for fun. Zeke was already satisfied with his accumulated treasure value, and believing in stability above all else, he had stopped looking for more treasures a while ago.
On the other hand, Andrei was on the same boat. To be exact, he didn’t seem to care about the class exam at all.
During their exploration, Zeke curiously asked about how much treasure value Andrei had accumulated so far, especially considering his lackadaisical attitude in the exam. But when Andrei shared his accumulation, he regretted asking.
Andrei’s total accumulation was 13,000 treasure value points.
Zeke’s treasure value before they met was only 3,600, and after taking all of Franz’s treasures, it became 11,000 points.
Even by combining his and Franz’s treasure values, Andrei’s was still higher by a thousand, roughly two Five Star Treasures.
When Zeke asked how, Andrei was more than happy to share his strategy.
Using his knowledge as an assassin, he had a way to sense if there were other people near his location. So ever since the start of the exam, he has taken fifty percent of the accumulated treasure value of every person he encountered. For those he didn’t like, he took all of their treasure value without batting an eye.
When Andrei had finished, Zeke couldn’t help but ask: Why just fifty percent? If he was going to rob people, why not do it all the way?
Andrei sighed dramatically.
"Robbing? That’s slander. I’m not that evil, Crimson. What do you take me for? I only did it to protect them. If they keep so many treasures to themselves, other people will inevitably go after them. Without the matching strength, they’ll lose all of their accumulated treasures to an evil robber. To prevent that, I reluctantly took the duty to keep half of their treasures so they won’t get robbed. You can’t call me a robber, that’s not right."
Zeke had no words for his amazing logic, simply nodding.
But after that, he swore to distance himself from Andrei after the exam, even just for a few days. Though the man thought of himself as a hero, Zeke was certain that the people he was ’protecting’ didn’t think of him the same way.
Besides that, nothing noteworthy happened during their exploration over the past hour.
It was only when the class exam was almost close to ending that something massive occurred between the other classes. While Zeke and Andrei were exploring randomly, they suddenly came across a group of students led by a frail man with heavy eyelids.
The man looked rather malnourished and restless. His eyes darted around cautiously like an alert cat, and when his gaze fell on the two of them, his expression immediately turned terrible, seemingly recognizing Andrei.
But coincidentally, the two of them also recognized him, their eyes widening slightly.
"Gilbert! It’s been a while."
Andrei greeted loudly, putting his hand over the man’s shoulders.
"...!"
Gilbert jumped like a startled cat, looking at Andrei with a confused and shocked stare. He wanted to push Andrei away, but recalling their disparity in strength, his expression turned complicated, letting out a resigned sigh.
’It’s really him.’
When Andrei mentioned the man’s name, Zeke’s thoughts stirred.
’Gilbert Augzven, the holder of the 10th position in the first-year leaderboard.’
Despite Gilbert’s unassuming appearance, he was famous in the academy. He was known as the class representative of Class E, but even more impressive than that, Gilbert was the gatekeeper of the Top 10.
If anyone wanted to enter the Top 10, they would first have to go through him.
Since the start of the classes, more than fifty students have tried, but most of them didn’t even last a minute against him. Those that did, well, didn’t last longer than five minutes.
Zeke wasn’t certain how true those claims were since he just found them on the forums, but still, Gilbert was someone he needed to pay attention to.
"How have you been?"
Andrei asked, chuckling.
"I... I’m doing well."
Gilbert forced a smile, nodding slightly. The students behind him looked at him with anxious stares, seemingly worried about him.
"Oh?"
Finally, Andrei seemed to have noticed the students following Gilbert. He took back his hand and stepped back, smiling lightly. He apologized sincerely.
"My bad, I didn’t know you were with your classmates."
Gilbert seemed surprised, looking as though he wanted to say something. But seeing this, Andrei quickly changed the topic.
"Where are you guys going? Still looking for treasures? The exam is about to end in twenty minutes. I doubt there are still treasures lying around here."
One of the students following behind Gilbert, a pretty woman with long black hair, answered on their leader’s stead.
"We’re evacuating."
As she said that, Zeke and Andrei noticed as her expression turned complicated.
Zeke quietly stepped forward, his curiosity piqued.
"Evacuating?"
Andrei asked, confused.
This time, it was Gilbert who answered him, sounding hesitant.
"It’s Class A and Class B... they’re waging a class war with each other. We don’t want to be entangled with them, so we’re evacuating."
"Huh? What?"
Andrei’s eyes widened in shock. Recalling something, he quickly followed up with a question.
"Then, Diana and Enzo..."
"They’re probably fighting as we speak."
Gilbert replied, glancing back at where they came from.
"Really?! Just as I was thinking this class exam was boring, something explosive happens!"
Andrei’s eyes lit up, smiling excitedly. He looked at Zeke and quickly grabbed his arm, which Zeke promptly pushed away.
"Let’s go, Zeke. We can’t miss this! It’s Diana and Enzo! Your crush Seralune is also probably going to be there!"
"She’s not my crush."
Zeke’s expression turned strange, but Andrei didn’t want to delay anymore, so he just nodded.
"Right, right, I get it... let’s go!"
Zeke raised a brow.
"Aren’t you afraid we’ll get involved in their war with them?"
"Don’t worry about it, leave it to me. We’re just going to watch anyway, nothing wrong with that."
Gilbert and the rest finally noticed the other person besides Andrei, a tall, handsome man with dark red hair and red eyes. A student seemed to have recognized Zeke, muttering his name quietly.
"He’s Zeke Crimson..."
"... Oh, the transferee?"
"... Yeah, the one humiliated by Franz..."
Hearing that, Gilbert’s gaze turned icy. He looked back and glared at the students who were talking. Feeling his cold eyes stare down at them, they quickly shut their mouths. Zeke saw Gilbert’s actions and couldn’t help but be surprised.
"Sorry about that."
Gilbert looked at Zeke and bowed sincerely. Afterwards, he glanced at Andrei and excused their group.
"... We have to go now. Be careful, Andrei and Zeke."
"Oh, yeah, thanks."
Andrei seemed surprised, nodding slightly.
Zeke also gave a nod.
After bidding farewell, Gilbert and the rest of Class E left, vanishing from their view. As they left, the two of them could hear some of the students whispering under their breaths.
"... I didn’t know our leader was connected to Nurvech. Isn’t he afraid of Senior Gene?"
"Dummy, I don’t think they’re friends. Andrei is probably bullying our leader. He’s Top 6, and our leader is just Top 10."
"Isn’t that bad? Our class can’t get a break..."
Andrei stood awkwardly. Zeke gave him a side-eye, sighing in disappointment. When Andrei heard Zeke’s palpable disappointment, he gritted his teeth,’
"Those guys were lying! I’m definitely not bullying Gilbert! We’re friends, just uh, not very close friends!"
He spoke righteously, but Zeke couldn’t care less about what he thought.
Seeing that Zeke won’t believe him, Andrei muttered under his breath.
"It’s true, though. Someday I’m really going to kill Gene..."
"Hey, let’s go."
Zeke turned in a certain direction.
"Huh?"
Andrei was startled, looking at Zeke in surprise.
"You’re going to watch?"
"I am interested. Diana holds the 1st position in the leaderboard, while Enzo is just right below her. I want to confirm something."
Zeke explained, then paused. He looked at Andrei and shrugged.
"Besides, you’ll handle it if they get angry, right?"
