I was accidentally injured by God and I just want to be an ordinary person

Oak's face suddenly turned pale. He had heard the news that the Demon Queen appeared among the second-year students before, but at that time he was studying summoning magic with his companions, so he didn't pay much attention to it. Although he later heard about the consequences of those who wanted to pursue the Demon Queen, this high-ranking flower - most of them were sent to the temple, or taken home by their families to recuperate - but Oak also thought that it had little to do with him. After all, he had no interest in this aspect, so it led to the current embarrassing situation.

He kicked the Demon Queen.

If these demon students knew about this, they would definitely not be able to leave the Holy Academy intact. No, it is estimated that it has already been known by the instructors watching the game in the arena. If they don't take any action to make up for it, the end will be miserable.

Feeling a little dry in his throat, Oak swallowed subconsciously and looked at his companions. He found that their faces had turned ashen and they were looking at him with pleading eyes, as if asking him to think of a solution quickly.

After a brief hesitation, Oak spoke slowly.

"I……"

"Phew, it's finally out."

"It's okay if you don't put it out, Miss Ella really loves to cause trouble."

"It would be troublesome if it all burned up... I don't want to use the Demon Clan's money for personal use if the academy demands compensation for this reason. By the way, Lotte, how much money do you have left?"

"51 gold coins, 4 silver coins, 9 copper coins. Now that Nina has returned to the mansion, if we count it for nine people, we should be able to survive for about three months. Normally, it should last for five to six months, but Miss Ella always likes to buy those high-end ingredients, so..."

"Ah, I get it, I get it. Anyway, I have to make money from now on!"

When Oak was about to speak, a slightly childish and very pleasant female voice came from the side.

These must be the Demon Queen and the magician. Thinking of this, Oak suddenly became tense all over and tried to turn around to catch a glimpse of the Demon Queen.

"Angelina, did they escape?"

"No, but seeing how pale their faces are, they must be thirsty. Perhaps Ella-chan should offer them some water?"

"Of course. It's not like they're torturing prisoners."

"Ah...if we treat prisoners like that, we should make them slaves, right?"

As she said this, Angelique looked at Oak with a thoughtful look, and Oak couldn't help but feel a chill all over his body.

"Stop talking so much and get down to business."

Chapter 60 Allies

Looking at the magic caster in front of her whose face was ashen due to thirst, Ella quickly asked Lotte to take out the water stone from her backpack and hand it to them.

Although I am a little curious why thirst would turn my face this color, since this is a different world, maybe this reaction is normal. Even if the other party is a prisoner-like character, I can't treat him too much. This kind of thing would be the same in the original world.

Because they had lost their staffs, these magic casters posed no threat even if they escaped. Ella asked Angeline to untie them. Perhaps because they were extremely thirsty, the hands of these people holding the containers made of leaves were a little unsteady.

"Thank you, thank you."

"You're welcome. Let me introduce myself first. I'm the demon healer, Eleraya Nott Mistytin. These are my companions, Lotte Nott and Angeline Malbrune. Who are you?"

"Oak."

The man in front of him, who should be the leader of the team, answered him at an extremely fast speed.

Oak... If you only have a first name and no last name, you should not be a noble. Maybe it will be easier to talk to you this way. After all, most nobles are arrogant guys.

But the current situation is a bit strange...

What surprised Ella was that the short-haired man named Oak didn't react at all after hearing the names "Nott" and "Misttin". Normally, except for herself, most people would think of the Demon King when they heard the names. In this way, she could judge her next move based on the other person's reaction to the Demon King's name.

Is it because I didn't think about the meaning of this name that I didn't react?

Switching the Pestle of Heavenly Punishment from her right hand to her left, Ella coughed dryly twice.

"Ahem, the current Demon Queen."

"..."

Oak and his companions who were sitting on the ground still didn't react, and all looked at him with strange eyes.

At this time, Angelica, who was assigned by Ella to be responsible for re-setting up the tent, interrupted the conversation.

"Um, I've already told them about this."

"Well……"

Not knowing what to say for a moment, Ella fell into deep thought.

If you want to increase your bargaining chips, you must put the other party under a certain amount of pressure, and come up with corresponding countermeasures based on the other party's response to this pressure. Demonstrating strength as before is one of the manifestations, but now Angelica has informed the other party of her identity in advance, resulting in her not knowing whether Oak is holding a contemptuous attitude or a respectful attitude. If you can't grasp this point well, the subsequent conversation is likely to step into a minefield.

But it would be inappropriate to keep dragging it on like this, so she could only bring out her idea of ​​forming an alliance early. As if she understood Ella's thoughts, Lotte, who had been helping Angelica set up camp, walked up to Ella and spoke.

"Oak, you guys are a team composed of a single summoning magic caster, right?"

"Yes, are you the magic caster who sniped us with the third-tier magic 'Spear of Magic' earlier?"

Oak asked with a somewhat anxious expression, but Luty responded with a calm smile.

"'Spear of Magic'? It's not that kind of high-level magic, just the power of a magic device."

"So, it really is a magic device..."

"You, what on earth do you want to do!?"

Compared to Oak's calm attitude, his companion seemed more excited, but even so, he did not make any drastic movements like standing up from the ground.

Oak frowned at his companion's behavior, and was stopped by Ella when he was about to scold him.

——This question hits the nail on the head about what I wanted to say.

After saying "Good job" to Oak's companions in her heart, Ella pretended to be calm and said expressionlessly.

"I just want to negotiate."

"negotiation?"

Oak was a little confused. Generally speaking, negotiations only happen when the strength of both parties is not much different, or when the other party needs something. But now it seems that his side is not stronger than the other party in terms of strength or mission props, so the condition suddenly proposed by Ella made Oak a little confused.

Although there was bright moonlight, the brightness in the jungle was still insufficient. Ella snapped her fingers lightly, and magic appeared in the air as a light source.

"Using light magic in the middle of the night... aren't you afraid of being seen by other magical beasts—"

Oak shut up halfway through his words. With the strength of these three people, they don't have to be afraid of most of the monsters in the outer circle.

"I hope you can help me defeat Iris Charlotte Farialuci."

"What?! You're actually planning on targeting Lady Fariaruchi—wait, Lady Fariaruchi is the princess of the God-man tribe, and you, Lady Mistin, are the princess of the Demon tribe... I see."

Oak showed an expression of sudden realization and nodded to himself.

"No, no, that's not what you think, Oak. Iris and I are friends. We want to defeat her not because of any racial conflict, but because she set an ambush at the exit to capture—to test our team. The three of us aren't strong enough to defeat her, so we need an alliance with other teams."

Ella almost said that Iris was actually teasing her, so she quickly changed her words.

Iris's S-shaped personality is only exposed in private. If she says it casually, it will sound malicious. Besides, it is not certain whether the other party will believe it after she says it. After all, the impression Iris leaves on the students is the same as what Angeline sees, that of a gentle yet elegant big sister.

When they heard Ella needed help, the livid color on Oak and his companions' faces instantly faded, and they opened their mouths as if they wanted to say something.

He probably wanted to refuse - after all, his opponent was Iris, so there was nothing he could do about it. But fortunately, he had a backup plan.

Ella nodded as she thought about this.

"I won't ask for your help for nothing. If you help me defeat Iris, we can split the quest items equally. How about that?"

Oak's eyes lit up instantly when he was interrupted by Ella's words.

This wolf-sighting gaze... must have taken the bait, right? But he didn't agree straight away. Could it be that he thought the 50/50 split was too little? But a 60/40 split would make it look like I desperately need them, which would cause unnecessary trouble in our cooperation...

Lost in thought, Ella groaned unconsciously.

As if reminded by Ella's low moan, Oak let out an "ahh" sound and agreed to Ella's conditions without hesitation.

"I agree!"

"Hmm? Why don't you discuss this with your teammates?"

"I have no objection!"

"The captain's decision is my decision."

The rest of the people nodded in agreement with Oak's statement, and some of them even murmured in a low voice with the expression of survivors who had survived a disaster, "This way we won't be threatened by the demons outside..." and "It would be great if there were remedial measures."

She couldn't quite understand the meaning of these words, but since they weren't objections, there was no point in delving into it. Ella breathed a sigh of relief.

——I didn't expect him to be such a good talker.

"I'd love to try to coordinate right now, but if we don't know each other's strength beforehand, it'll be terrible. Let's set up camp and rest, and get to know each other's abilities."

"No objection."

Hearing Oak's words of agreement, Ella finally felt relieved. Pretending to be an adult was indeed a bit tiring, but it was also a gain.

With an expressionless face, they picked up Okla who was sitting on the ground, and the two teams began to prepare a plan to counterattack Iris.

-------------

*Suddenly I remembered that I said I would update five times at the end of last month... After thinking about it carefully, I decided to update five times on the 14th of this month, Ella's birthday. Orz

Chapter 61: Labyrinth and Magic Potion

* December 16, 6186, 9:47 AM, west of the outer circle of the Holy Academy

The western area of ​​the Holy Academy's outer ring is usually busier than the rest of the area—it houses a man-made maze that yields a wealth of monster materials. For the Holy Academy's adventurers, this is the perfect hunting ground. Unlike completing quests in the jungle, where you might encounter monsters far superior to your level, the artificial maze offers no real danger. As long as you don't venture too deep into the maze, you're safe. Of course, this doesn't include the threat from other adventurers with malicious intentions.

Due to the ban of the Holy Academy, no adventurers went deep into the maze today. Only students of the Holy Academy could enter and exit here.

Standing in front of a giant stone gate about four meters high, large enough for a carriage to pass through, Ella glanced around.

The stone gate was located at the foot of a mountain that looked to be several thousand meters high. The road leading here was covered by dense forests, and the footprints of countless adventurers were imprinted in front of the gate.

"Hmm... this is an artificial maze, right?"

"Yes, Miss Elelaya."

When Oak was about to say the word "Sir", he suddenly remembered that Ella had said before that he was a senior and there was no need to address her with a honorific, so he quickly changed his words to "Miss", which sounded one level lower than "Sir".

His group came to the west from the north through the portal. They didn't get any quest items along the way. They just went to the artificial maze. Although he was anxious that the Demon Queen didn't want to collect the quest items, his most important task now was to let people outside see that he had made good amends after attacking the Demon Queen, so as to avoid the "unauthorized" revenge of those demon students. Oak didn't believe the "unauthorized" explanation given by the Demon Queen on the way. In his opinion, this was just an excuse for the nobles to create a positive image of themselves.

"Is this Ella's first time in the maze?"

Compared to Ella's hesitation, Angeline seemed very casual and stepped into the maze without any vigilance.

"I was still a first-year student before, so I didn't have the chance to train in the labyrinth."

"Miss Angelini, you're walking into the maze like this. Aren't you afraid of being ambushed?"

Lotte, who had experience in a maze battle, looked much more nervous.

"It's okay, it's okay. As long as you don't go deep into the fifth underground level of the artificial maze, you won't encounter enemies higher than level 10. The monsters on the first floor of the entrance are only low-level slimes."

After hearing what Angelica said, Ella held the Pestle of Heavenly Punishment horizontally at her waist, pressed her free hand against her lower lip and fell into deep thought. After a moment, she made a decision.

"Then let's choose the test battle after the fifth floor. If the opponent is too weak, we won't be able to see anything."

"Miss Elelaya, aren't you coming to the labyrinth to collect quest items?"

The female magic chanter among Oak's companions asked. In her opinion, the complex environment of the artificial maze must contain a huge number of mission props, so Ella chose to come here without any supplies. There are many monsters in the maze, and if you don't prepare various magic potions or ordinary potions in advance, it will be extremely dangerous to force your way through.

"Collecting quest items is just a side job. This time, we mainly want to see how well our two teams can cooperate. And if we meet other teams, we can also have them join us."

The more people who participated in the attack on Iris, the better. Honestly speaking, with the current manpower, Ella didn't think the chances of winning would increase much. This conclusion was also the result of her discussion with Ruthie last night.

As for the mission props, although I don't know why the academy did not announce the minimum number that each team must collect, but considering that my own terrain search capabilities can only reach eight magic cores a day, the number of magic cores required to pass this assessment may be unexpectedly small. Maybe on average, only one magic core per person is needed to pass.

Taking the dimensional backpack from Lotte, Ella took out several bottles of magic potion given by Dean from the storage through the dimensional backpack - there were still about a few thousand bottles in stock.

"This is a magic potion that can be used to restore mana. If you're injured, applying it directly to the wound will have a healing effect. If you run out of mana later, use it directly."

Handing Oak five dark blue vials containing magic potions, Ella handed the dimensional backpack back to Lotte.

However, Oak and his companions all looked at the dark blue bottle in Ella's hand with disbelief, and they did not dare to reach out. It was a long while before they spoke in a stuttering tone.

"Is this... the highest quality mana recovery potion?"

"Highest quality? Do magic potions also have different qualities?"

Because she had never used magic potions before, Ella had no idea about this. Angeline had never mentioned this when they were fighting the giant thornless thorn, so Ella always thought that magic potions had the same effect.

"Of course!"

Oak looked at Ella with a complicated look as if he was looking at a prodigal son, and his voice sounded unwilling as if squeezed out from between his teeth.