Season 1 Side Story Chapter 2. Ran (2)

"Baa~?"

Almond backed away in embarrassment.

"Am I… a sheep?"

‘I'm a sheep.’

Is this the condition to clear the story mode?

— Kekekeke Was it a sheep?

— Wow, it's been a while

— Almond’s confusion is cute keke

— Sheep-mond kekeke it's funny keke

No matter how he looked at it, he was a sheep.

"Baa~"

Even if he tried to say something else, only the sound of a sheep came out. Even if he turned off the chat, he obviously knew what they would say.

"What’s this scratchy thing?"

Only now did he feel something scratchy inside his mouth, as if he was chewing a heap of sponges. Was it a sheep’s tongue?

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Thud.

Something hit the vicinity of his buttocks.

"What's this>"

The voice sounded irritated.

Almond turned back and saw a human much taller than the students.

He wore white clothes that featured much longer and bigger patterns.

‘A clergyman.’

Almond instinctively guessed that this person was most likely a monk or clergyman.

— It’s out, Pseudo Roman

— This bastard kekeke

— &@**!

— Uh, even looking at this situation is annoying.

The man grimaced and started reprimanding, "Hey, you two!"

He pointed at two children leading the way. The children looked back with faces as white as their clothes.

Almond could easily guess that those children feared this man.

‘This clergyman seems like a teacher.’

In this school-like facility, this clergyman seemed to assume the role of a teacher.

Almond wanted to see whether all the teachers here were clergymen or just this person.

"Did you bring this sheep here, huh?"

"Ah, no! We were just going to the classroom…"

“What nonsense? Then did this sheep run here by itself? Sheep can't get off the grass!”

The clergyman thought they had trained the sheep. He was confident that the sheep wouldn’t leave the grass by itself.

"You two are cleaning the worship hall today! Got it? Look at the mess this sheep made!"

"But, that’s not it… really…"

The children ultimately received their punishment.

Almond felt a bit guilty seeing their crying faces.

"Ah. Brother Beret."

Another teacher came from the opposite corridor. He looked relatively younger with round glasses and a gentle appearance, holding a big book, and seemed somewhat timid.

“Have you seen trainee Lete? He’s been absent from lecture since this morning… um?"

He saw Beret with an angry face and two students with pale faces. He tilted his head at them.

“What happened?”

"Ah… Brother Dalia. It's nothing. I was just punishing these two for bringing a sheep into the school as a prank."

“Ah… No! We didn’t bring it! We didn’t even know the sheep was behind us!"

“What nonsense again? Do you want to clean the bathroom too?! Should I put you in the punishment room!”

“No, definitely not! Father!”

The atmosphere between the two students and Beret grew tense.

“Um?”

Dalia, the timid-looking teacher, alternately looked at them while adjusting his round glasses.

“What um? Brother Dalia, are you saying you don’t believe me!?”

The irritable Beret now started to shout at Dalia.

Almond decided to do something here.

“Um Baa~!”

He ran to Beret and bumped into him repeatedly.

— LOL, what a judgment

— Why to Beret…

— LOL

"Ah, no. Why is this suddenly…!"

Almond also spat out what was uncomfortably lodged in his mouth from earlier onto Beret’s clothes.

"Hmm… Brother Beret. In my opinion, it seems like it followed you."

"…What? No, now this crazy sheep is suddenly doing this!"

"…"

Dalia just stared and said nothing.

Then Beret became even more angry and shouted, "Are you saying I’m lying!?"

"Now now, nobody here is lying."

"…?"

Dalia slowly walked to the place he had been staring at and brushed off the rough hay stuck on his robe.

"It followed this."

"…?!"

Beret’s expression became quite a sight.

It was justifiable. He didn’t know how the hay got on him. The sheep had been following him.

— The world’s saddest face

— Beret, the most frustrated guy

— Hahaha, I, too, would feel very upset

“This…this cannot be…”

“Even we can unknowingly get hay on our clothes. Isn’t this the fun logic of this world governed by the seven goddesses? We humans have not mastered it like them…”

Dalia gestured for the two students to go. They ran to the classroom as fast as they could.

Dalia faintly smiled at Beret.

"Mistakes should always be treated generously."

He most frequently served one of the maxims of Seteia, the goddess of forgiveness and deception.

Finally, he turned toward the classroom.

"This… this crazy sheep bastard!"

— Crazy sheep bastard, hahaha

—Suddenly, a Westerner appears.

— Beret's reaction is so funny, hahaha

— You're the sheep bastard, Beret.

As Dalia disappeared, Beret searched for the sheep to vent his anger. However, he only spotted the sheep's backside, already running far away.

“What… What!?”

As if the sheep was intentionally mocking him, Beret gritted his teeth in disbelief.

The lecture would soon start. He couldn’t run after the sheep and leave the school.

“Damn it…”

***

“Baa~~ Baa~~”

Panting and running, Almond looked back and felt relieved.

Beret had given up chasing him and went his own way.

It felt incredibly satisfying.

However…

“Baa…”

The satisfaction only lasted briefly.

He had no clue what to do with this sheep body. He checked the game’s clear conditions again to regain his senses.

[Clear Conditions]

★: Secret

★★: Girl

★★★: Revenge

How was he supposed to find out the secret, meet a girl, and take revenge as a sheep? He would be lucky if he didn’t end up as grilled ribs the next day.

‘Let’s try anyway.’

He approached the other sheep in the meadow peacefully grazing and baaing.

“Baa~”

Almond tried talking to one of them.

“Baa~?”

The sheep looked at Almond and laughed.

“Baa~~ Baaa~~”

Almond thought this was the moment and said whatever he could, but…

“Baa~”

The sheep started grazing again.

Angry, Almond pushed him with his front hoof and turned back.

“… Baa.”

‘It’s not working.’

— Is he trying to talk to the sheep now? LOL

— Look at his imagination, haha

— This is a newbie~~ Kya~

— Is he a druid?LOL

He thought he could establish some animal network by communicating with the sheep to uncover some secret, but it didn’t work.

Later, he searched through the hay stacks and the other sheep’s wool.

“Baa…”

‘Again, it didn’t work.’

He didn’t find any particular gains.

Almond helplessly lay in the meadow. Without realizing it, he was chewing on grass and contemplating.

Looking back since the start…

‘Was it a coincidence that I met Beret earlier?’

When he first played Raina’s story mode, he immediately recognized the necessary characters right away.

Maybe it was the same this time too?

Beret, Dalia, and the two students could be the key characters in this story mode. He just didn’t notice it.

‘But Ran isn’t here.’

No matter how young Ran was, Almond would’ve immediately recognized him like Raina. Those students from earlier weren’t Ran. He couldn’t find the most important person.

“Baa…”

A sigh came out.

‘This can’t be.’

No matter how much he thought about it, proceeding as a sheep seemed impossible.

Almond aimlessly looked toward the school.

At that moment…

“Baa!”

A thought swiftly came to mind.

‘Dalia said that Lete was absent.’

Earlier, Dalia said that a student named Lete hadn’t come to lecture. Could that student be related to the story somehow?

Almond headed back to the school without any particular plan. Since everyone was in class, no one would notice a single sheep entering.

***

A white, fluffy sheep entered the school. Unlike a normal sheep, it carefully walked through the school hallways. He carefully walked right by the wall to muffle the sound and stay undetected through the windows.

“… If you continue to control the pure white mana…”

“The most ferocious of the seven goddesses…”

A jumble of undiscernable words went through the sheep's ear.

‘Pure white mana.’

However, one word sounded familiar to him. Pure white mana was the energy that Ran used.

It seemed like the school taught such things. Ran probably also went to this school. He could even be a teacher. Unlike Raina’s story, Ran could’ve already matured.

“You have to keep your body and mind content to receive the blessing of the goddesses…”

“… As you know, color stains the pure white. Pure white is the plaque we received as a condition to eternally serve the goddesses.”

He continued to eavesdrop while walking cautiously around the hallway. This place seemed like a school of religion. All the classes were about some goddesses. The only thing they kept repeating as if to brainwash the students was to distance themselves from women.

It probably had something to do with this religion’s gods being women. They could only attain the pure white mana by giving the goddesses their innocence.

“Colors are not elements you can control, so you must always avoid them. Even Ran, who has been so exemplary…”

“Baa!”

He screamed out subconsciously from the joy of hearing a familiar name. Was it because he was an animal? He couldn’t properly control himself. Almond quickly ran somewhere.

Clippity! Clap!

His footsteps echoed.

‘Damn. Curtain?’

Between luxurious-looking arches was a small door. He hid behind some curtains that didn’t have a door behind it.

Creak.

He could hear a classroom door open.

“… What the? Wasn’t there a sheep noise?”

The voice sounded like it came from a teacher. Their footsteps grew closer.

Was it Almond’s imagination? It felt like the man was coming straight over to him. How did they know?

‘The footprints…!’

The sheep's black footprints were all over the hallway.

“What tomfoolery…”

He could hear the voice just beyond the curtain.

‘What am I even supposed to do here if I’m caught? Do I have to start again?’

It wouldn’t help to get caught.

Chak!

The curtain opened.

‘…Ah.’

The teacher’s silhouette came into view.

“Sigh. I knew it. It was you!”

It was Beret. How was it him out of all the teachers?

“I swear, I’m going to cut you up today—”

As Almond thought to himself how he should play differently when the game reset…

“Thor-mutto!”

A loud voice came from behind the teacher.

Bzzt!

The shining light struck Beret.

“Arrrrgh!”

— Fuck yeah!

— They’re here!

— Finally!

— @&*!

A white light consumed his vision as he stood still, trembling.

“Baa!?”

‘What the?’

Almond stood frozen and felt shocked as well.

“Lete, what are you doing?! Hurry up and come out!”

A mischievous-looking boy came out from behind the teacher’s robe. He was talking to Almond, the sheep.

“Lete! Are you back from the basement jail? Never mind, hurry up and come out! Hurry! If we get caught, we’re going to end up like Ran!”