I Became a Genius by Running Away From the Academy

70 – Encounter on the Journey (4)

I rolled my head and tried to figure out how the situation had come to be like this.

But no matter what, in the end, ‘Ninja! A ninja has appeared!’ At the end.

‘I should have read some normal books beforehand in my previous life.’

Because I didn’t read those things and just wandered around the internet bulletin board, the summary in my head became strange.

With so much regret, I ate the food in front of me with my chopsticks.

“Oh! Contrary to how you look, the amount you eat is quite exciting!”

“Yes? Ah…… “

I couldn’t pay attention because my head was complicated, but it seemed that my hands were moving as usual and eating the food in front of me.

“Sorry. The food was so delicious that my hands moved without realizing it.”

“Ha ha ha! Are you okay! If you’re a guy who says he eats a lot, you shouldn’t have invited guests in the first place.”

“Sure! Then!”

“The leader is right!”

People around me tilted their glasses and shouted loudly at my lip service.

The father of Shigure, a muscular ninja who appeared in front of me and Erio, fortunately chose to invite us to the village instead of annihilating us.

After that, they kindly gave us a separate building so that we could stay comfortably for the night.

Thanks to that, I was able to solve various things more comfortably than I thought, but on the contrary, my head and heart were very uncomfortable.

‘Daughter…… ‘

I didn’t know much about the story of the character because it wasn’t my field of interest.

However, since I had time to watch the video in my own way, I knew several pieces of information about many characters.

And among them, the keyword to enter Fuma Shigure’s story was to notice that she was in her circle dressed as a man.

‘So I tried not to talk to him or even make eye contact with him…… I never thought I’d find out who I am in this stupid way.’

Ehh-

I sighed inwardly and looked to the other side of the banquet hall.

There, Fuma Shigure, disguised as a man and hiding her true identity, was seen sitting and messing with her food, throwing off the mask she always wore.

The appearance of Shigure talking about various things with her family while eating is very different from the Shigure of Circle, who distanced herself from the other freshmen.

Sway-

In many ways.

‘How the hell did he hide that?’

That’s when I was puzzled.

Sug-

Since he sensed my gaze, Shigure’s eyes moved slightly in our direction.

When she saw him, I sent her an unspoken message towards her. Shigure, who saw her message at mine, nodded her head once and slightly raised her hand.

“Father.”

“Uh huh, what did I tell you to call me when you were at home?”

Recognize-!

At those words, Shigure rolled his eyes and then opened his mouth.

“…… Dad.”

Shigure barely uttered a single word, and his face flushed red with embarrassment.

“Yes, my daughter. Is there anything you want to say to this father?”

“Is it okay if I talk to my friends for a while?”

“Oh, sure.”

With her father’s permission, Shigure stood up from her seat while giving us a light glance, and we followed her.

As we went a little further from the banquet hall, Shigure, who had regained her sharp light in her circle, looked at the two of us and lowered her head.

“First of all, thank you for helping me.”

It was a word that didn’t have a subject, but fortunately there was enough awareness to figure out what that word meant.

“Okay, I don’t know the details, but pretending to be friends, we got a lodging and a meal just by talking to each other, so there’s no need to say too much.”

At my words, Shigure glanced at Erio, who was next to her, and then lifted her bowed head.

‘As expected, I seem to think of Erio as a side branch.’

Not bad.

“I know it’s not polite to meddle in someone else’s family affairs, but now that you’re entangled like this, it’s okay to ask a little bit about your situation, right?”

That meant that I could solve my curiosity with Erio on my back.

“Yeah, but I can’t tell you about things you can’t answer.”

I expected that much, so I nodded my head obediently.

“Then, I’d like to hear something about this town first.”

“My village is simply a ninja village belonging to the underworld.”

I nodded at the appearance of the word I was thinking of.

“You can think of it as a village made by people with the surname Huma, like me.”

“Looking at the village, it seems that it has been around for quite some time, right?”

“Yes, as far as I know, it has been around since the middle of the Meiji period, that is, the 1850s.”

I was lost in thought at Shigure’s words.

‘It doesn’t look like you’re lying…… Then why didn’t these guys appear in the game?’

I was able to move on thinking that Shigure was here.

But it was hard to know why the others didn’t appear.

Of the videos I’ve seen, there are more than 10 of them just coming here and attacking that dungeon.

So it’s normal for guys to run into those muscle ninjas at least once, but I don’t recall ever hearing that information.

‘I don’t know what it is.’

That’s when I was confused.

“Then would it be all right if I ask one question?”

Shigure asked us a question.

“So you…… Sorry, what is your name?”

“Do Yoo-jin.”

“Ah, were you Korean? I thought you were Japanese because you were wearing a kimono.”

“That was a souvenir I bought to make sightseeing more fun.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

A small silence fell between the two of us.

“By the way, I am in the same class as you.”

“…… I see.”

“It’s okay, maybe you didn’t know.”

Shugure, who was still shy, lowered his head at my last words.

But, probably thinking that he couldn’t give us the initiative to talk like this, Shigure immediately shook his head and looked at me with a determined face and said.

“I want to ask, how did you guys get there?”

“What if that place?”

“The place where the Lake of Seals was.”

I had never heard of the lake of seals, but I could immediately tell what it was referring to from the name.

‘Yes, I was thinking you might ask.’

I don’t know what it is, but when I think about it when I first met it, it seemed to be a pretty important place to the people of this town.

‘What…… ‘

I shook my head for a moment and then said.

“The other day, I happened to find and read a very old-looking book, and there was a map in it.”

“A map?”

I nodded.

Once again, this world has been permeated with various mysteries since before, and in fact, martial arts, magic, and vampires existed.

So, of course, there was nothing strange about such a small surprise.

“Yes, I burned the book and only had the map, but recently I finally finished the interpretation of the map and visited it once.”

“Is that how you found the lake?”

“That’s how it is.”

“…… By the way, what is the contents of the book?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

No matter what, information about Giyeon is valuable.

Shigure didn’t say anything more, probably because he didn’t think I was willing to give him information.

Well, this story was just a story I made up, so even if I wanted to tell you, I had nothing to tell you.

‘But if I go on like this, I’ll just be suspicious.’

So I needed to give you some bait to make me believe what I said was the truth.

“The only thing I can say is that the book contained what could be called the biography of a certain evil yokai.”

“Okay, I understand the story.”

At my words, Shigure nodded slightly.

“But we cannot allow you to enter the lake again. Oh, I’ll tell you in advance, I’m not doing this because I want to get in your way. It’s just that it’s been guarded since our village settled on this mountain.”

Keep it……

“Is that why you spit out those ghostly voices?”

“Yes, there is a barrier that blocks entry to the lake, but sometimes there are people who come by accident without knowing anything about it, so this method was created to drive them away.”

I see, I nodded in agreement.

“By the way, isn’t it too flimsy for a seal to allow ordinary people to enter?”

“…… It’s a bit embarrassing to say since I said that a while ago, but in fact, protecting the lake is a kind of tradition. To be honest, no one in town believes that a great youkai is sealed inside.”

As expected, it seemed that the real youkai wasn’t sealed away, but that they were simply superstitious.

Then it wasn’t that I couldn’t understand such lax measures.

‘This is good news for me.’

I was worried about the unexpected appearance of a watchman, but it seemed like it wouldn’t matter if I just sneaked in and came out if my work was sloppy like this.

I came to that conclusion and carried the half-asleep Erio back to the banquet hall.

“Ha ha ha! My daughter, who said she was going to the Circle, even brought her friend!”

“Mmm! She was worried when a girl who grew up only in the village said she would go to such a faraway place, but I’m glad she’s adjusting better than I thought!”

“Yeki! This person! No wonder you fit in well! You are the daughter of that leader, no one else!”

“hahahaha! That’s right!”

Then, the banquet hall celebrating the arrival of guests has become a banquet hall for uncles to unwind.

“Haa, dad and uncles are really…… “

Listening to my words, Shigure, who was lost in thought, sighed when he saw the scene.

It was fortunate that the words I said seemed to have slipped out of my head.

‘But do I need to stay here? I don’t think they would notice if one of them slipped away.’

When I was looking around while thinking about that.

‘Huh?’

Something that gave off a strong sense of incongruity entered my eyes.