So I'm a Snake, Who Cares?

"Ah, Third Prince Your Highness. What are you doing alone in such a secluded place?"

"You, are you after my gold coins?"

"You're quite perceptive. That's right."

"How many have you collected?"

"Is there any need for you to know?"

Third-years mocking a prince.

Phili finally couldn't hold back his laughter and said.

"Well, I can just check directly."

"What? Uurgh!"

The third-years fell into a pit.

It was a trap that Amain had dug beforehand using earth magic.

As they scrambled to climb out of the pit in panic, Amain started pouring earth on top of them.

"Ugh, ugh!"

Realizing they could drown even outside water, the third-years quickly threw their pouches.

Rania caught them with a snap.

I let out a cheer.

"Ssaaah!"

"Aah, s-snake!"

The third-years made a fuss after hearing my voice.

I quickly shut my mouth and searched through the pouches they threw.

For the first time, we found coins marked with 2.

As expected, leaving Amain alone seems to make more people underestimate him.

Adding up the scores of the coins they had, the total was 7.

After giving one coin each to Amain and Phili, Rania took coins worth 5 points.

5 points might sound small, but considering the value of the gold coins, it would be worth about 5 million won (about $3,500 in United States money). In Korean money, that is.

The hunting continued.

If you use the same strategy repeatedly, prey won't get caught.

We tried several variations.

Amain and Phili started fighting wildly in the middle of the forest.

"You filthy commoner, hand over the coins!"

"Tyrannical prince, taste a commoner's fist!"

And commoner punch! Amain hit Phili's stomach.

That must have been stronger than expected.

Phili's face showed betrayal as he coughed out his breath.

And sure enough, third-years jumped out.

"Attack!"

Continue your adventure at empire

The ones who appeared this time were a bit smarter.

Instead of saying "huhuhu, hand over your coins, Prince," they attacked right away.

However, Rania was much faster.

She ran like a tiger and kicked the third-year's back.

"Kuugh!"

We collect the coins from the third-year who spat out what was in his stomach.

'Next!'

Hide again and move Amain and Phili.

We encountered another student again.

"Got you!"

This time since there was only one opponent, all three just pounced at once.

"Ah, I'm not with the Second Prince, I'm a second-year!"

"Hand over the coins!"

In the cruel world of competition, the distinction between predator and prey is meaningless.

The second-year we accidentally encountered had no choice but to surrender their coins.

These activities continued from early morning.

Before we knew it, the sun had passed its peak and started to descend.

It was past noon.

Since we were hungry, we caught and roasted wild birds.

"Among the birds we caught, there might be professors' familiars."

"Then so be it."

The kids chatted casually.

Occasionally, there were birds that seemed to be watching us.

Among them, there were probably professors' familiars with high probability.

They must be observing the students through them.

For now, we ignored that and ate the roasted birds.

Though I did the bird hunting, I learned how to clean and roast them from Oliver.

Human cooking methods are indeed excellent.

Even though I'm a snake, this properly roasted meat tastes better than swallowing something whole without cleaning the feathers.

'Let's calculate the coins we've collected so far.'

More than half of the given time must have passed.

During that time, we've collected an enormous amount of coins.

But it would be unreasonable to expect the same hourly revenue going forward.

First, many of the coins hidden here and there must have been recovered by now.

Our reputation must have spread too, as the terrifying first-years who hunt third-years in reverse.

We couldn't completely eliminate the third-years we hunted so far, so it couldn't be helped.

'Still, because of that, now we can solidify our ranking.'

We effectively worked as a team of three.

Though Rania, who had the highest combat power, contributed the most. First, we gathered all the coins in one place.

We didn't just hunt, we also found coins hidden in various places.

On top of large rocks.

At the top of particularly tall trees.

Inside knotholes of dead, twisted trees that might have once been home to centipede couples.

Coins were typically hidden in such places.

To think they'd use this much just for a festival game. How rich must Emerald School be?

Five 2-point coins found in relatively difficult places.

Eight 1-point coins found easily.

Total score 18 points

That's about what we found through treasure hunting activities.

And through 'human hunting' we obtained:

Thirty-five 1-point coins.

Twelve 2-point coins.

Total score 59 points.

So, total collected coins score 77.

Lucky 77 points!

We're rich now!

We divided the coins again.

Amain and Phili got 15 points each, Rania got 47 points.

Rania felt a bit sorry.

"Is this really okay...?"

"It's fine. You said you wanted to see the Mirror of Essence, right?"

The other two agreed to this distribution.

Among the three, only Rania wanted to get first place to see the mirror.

Originally, Phili as a prince couldn't see the mirror even if he got first place, and Amain didn't care much.

"But there's not a single 3-point coin?"

"Yeah, just how difficult places did they hide them in?"

Hmm, that's right.

They must be in extremely difficult places to find, should we explore such places?

Actually, human hunting had been much more efficient than finding 3-point coins so far.

This much should secure a ranking position.

We might even be able to aim for first place.

"Ah, ah, test, test."

Just then, the Principal's voice rang out from the sky.

It sounds booming like he's using amplification magic, but.

Even so, coming from the sky?

Phili pointed his finger up at the sky.

"It's a hot air balloon!"

Something that looks like a bright red balloon floating in the sky.

It was definitely a hot air balloon.

To think they'd even use something like that.

Like speaking through a megaphone, the voice boomed.

"We've been watching your splendid activities. Some students have been using quite ingenious strategies."

As expected, they were watching.

Good thing I didn't come out to the front. From now on, we should watch the wild birds carefully.

"We're being praised, right?"

"Seems like it."

The kids giggled and chattered.

"With less than half the time remaining, I'll broadcast the interim results."

Oh, to think they'd show such kindness.

We waited for the Principal's words with beating hearts.

"There have been 31 withdrawals. My my, how unfortunate."

Fewer than I expected.

Those who hadn't lost their pouches must have tried hard again.

"And currently, 24th place's coin score is."

This is the most important point.

Since the preliminaries aren't basically a ranking competition but just need to be in the top 24.

We can compare the level of others.

"It's 8, oh my, everyone needs to work harder. Looks like the higher ranks took all the lower ranks' coins. Hahaha!"

Exclamations burst out.

If 24th place has secured only 8 points worth of coins, then Amain and Phili have secured almost twice that.

Passing is almost certain.

"We must be first place too!"

"Shh! Don't you know the law of jinxing?"

"What's the law of jinxing...?"

"Premature celebration leads to failure. I learned it from Zarein."

Zarein taught Rania something good.

"And the honorable first place... Wow! Amazing, there's a big gap with second place!"

'Huhu, feels good.'

I made a mistake.

I ended up jinxing it without realizing.

I thought we were obviously first place but.

"Second Prince is in first place with 55 points. No, 60, oh, 68, 72, an overwhelming first place!"

What is this, what just happened?

55 to 72. The score rose instantly.

"Leadership is indeed an important value. Having many loyal subordinates leads to this. Amazing. Second place has 47 points, but this gap will be difficult to close."

I, no, Rania is in second place.

It's obvious what happened here.

And it seems they track coin scores through the pouches, not through the birds.

Even without the Principal's hint, the situation is clear.

"Well then, work hard during the remaining time!"

That Second Prince must have dominated almost all the third-years and some of the second-years.

And received voluntary tributes of coins from those lackeys.