Chapter 140
140th Chapter: Calm Before the Storm (1)
There’s not much time left until the election.
Despite such a significant event looming ahead, the atmosphere at the Academy seemed far from calmness.
The reason? The cherry blossoms had begun to bloom in full swing.
Recently, a pink breeze had started to blow. People were drawn to the enchanting scenery, casting aside the determination they had struggled to muster.
While an out-of-place scene for the circumstances, it wasn’t all bad. The tension that weighed heavily on the students naturally eased.
However, it couldn’t be good for everyone. This was because that spring, the image that came to mind first, had finally started to unfold.
“My appetite is already fading.”
Student cafeteria.
The cadets sitting at the table seemed more focused on other antics than eating.
Most sat in pairs, one boy and one girl, engaging in affectionate shenanigans like feeding each other or dabbing their lips with napkins.
“Why come to the cafeteria if you’re not going to eat? Is everyone out of their minds?”
I was dumbfounded. Ignoring them, I decided to just eat.
Fortunately, my seat was far more lavish than theirs. A spacious table with a golden rim.
This was a high-end table reserved for Class A, and the menu was exceptional.
– Croquettes fried with mozzarella cheese that can only be found in the western continent.
– Golden fried rice dressed with goose eggs prepared by top-notch artisans.
– Lastly, a drink made by combining the peach juice from a cliffside tree with carbonation.
The overwhelming array of dishes on display was unmistakably a feast for the Academy’s top students.
No need to steal a glance at the cringe-inducing antics going on at the commonplace tables across.
The girls sitting at my table had the same reaction.
“This always happens around this time. All my classmates gathered around me last year drifted away because of this.”
Jenny propped her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her hand, speaking with boredom.
It was hard to overlook the cause behind the disappearance of so many of her classmates.
“It’s already April. Typically, most animals enter their breeding season around this time. I suppose humans share the same trait. Yum yum…”
Luska calmly remarked while taking a bite of her food.
Thinking about what breeding season means gave me the shivers—a rather risky comparison.
“Ahaha! Love! Romance! Oh, pink hue, devour the world!~”
Mary was as energetic as ever.
She’d probably be just as giddy even if the world were coming to an end.
I hadn’t seen these girls in five days.
They had gone off into the woods for training, led by the Royal Guard’s instigation, and to replenish their dwindling strength.
With the protagonist Lyman accompanying them, they had become stronger than before.
I could tell this even now through my magical perception.
“Who would dare call them mere side characters?”
The speed of their growth was inevitable.
After all, wasn’t it strange not to get stronger after having gained the favor of a 300-year-old expert?
And Lyman didn’t just teach them; he sometimes left a clone behind and came down from the mountain himself.
His purpose? To dig into the dubious Jason Baikel and the Royal Guard’s activities.
No matter how well they hid their secrets, once Lyman started investigating, they were doomed.
– On election day, he would expose the cancers built up by Jason and the Royal Guard in front of the whole student body.
“Truly, the munchkin protagonist is on a different level. I can just sit back and enjoy the show.”
On top of that, they planned to have a rematch against the Royal Guard that day.
There, they would unleash their training-enhanced abilities without holding back.
“Radon, did Instructor Jason bully you guys while we were gone?”
Jenny set down her food and asked. Knowing most of his true feelings, I couldn’t help but worry about my fellow students.
“Don’t worry. That never happened.”
“Really? He’s the type to drag you in even on your day off and train you harshly.”
Only a madman could pull that off.
But if it were Jason, it’d be a piece of cake. In the main story, he conscripted all the second-year Combat Department students for training during the holidays.
It was just cruel labor, and the training provided was useless. He merely relished the sight of others’ distress.
Anyone who didn’t show up was considered to have disobeyed orders, and their reputation from spending time in the woods would plummet.
Even if I wanted to report it to the Academy’s higher-ups, Jason was acting under the Emperor’s orders. Messing with him would be defying the Emperor.
In a pinch, he could easily silence the students too.
But at that moment, he had no spare energy to deal with the students.
“Radon’s right. He was absent from the Academy all through the break.”
Angela, sitting next to me, said while twitching her beast ears.
I almost forgot she was there.
“Why?”
“I don’t know the exact reason, but they say he went to gather flowers at Purgatory Mountain.”
She obtained that information through the clerics following at her side.
This information left those present dumbfounded.
“Flowers? Is that guy intoxicated by the spring breeze too?”
Luska said while glancing at the lovey-dovey students across the way.
Was he someone who mingled with flowers? No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t add up.
“And it seems he frequently visited the infirmary since his last visit.”
“Infirmary?”
When they heard Angela’s words, the girls thought, ‘Could it be…’
If it truly were “that professor,” someone would blow their top.
“Surely not?”
“Couldn’t be.”
“Ahaha! A love contest! From now on, everyone, kill each other!”
Mary, please be quiet.
Just then, a mysterious shadow loomed over our table.
“….”
As the green-haired figure swept across our table, they froze collectively.
She was known to be the one manipulating the notorious Jason.
“Excuse me.”
Nebia Chromag awkwardly said, trying to pass by.
The instant she tried to slip away…
“Don’t you have something to say to us?”
Luska shot back, halting her footsteps.
An unsettling atmosphere began to settle in, even without them looking directly at each other.
It was Luska who broke the silence.
“Do you remember when we first met?”
“….”
It was when she stopped by Kreuz during an external mission.
Even with Angela’s warning, the level of communication wasn’t entirely non-existent.
Yet, the warning wasn’t for nothing—her temper was no joke.
“I felt a sense of unease, wondering if you were truly a saint back then. Unlike Angela, you’re a saint born among pure humans.”
“….”
“But that doesn’t mean I can’t understand you. I had times when I was just as naive about the world.”
There was a reason for turning sour. Luska knew it well when she said these words.
“What’s the point?”
At Nebia’s low query… Luska shot back even sharper.
“It’d be wise not to pull any tricks from now on. The Royal Guard you trust will soon come to an end as well.”
Dropping the honorifics and issuing a warning, Luska spoke.
At that moment, an image flashed in my mind.
In that similar threatening scene, I could see Nebia’s comical smile. “Go ahead, do as you please,” was the arrogant reply that came with it.
“Go ahead.”
It was a response that didn’t seem much different from the main storyline.
But the glaring difference was the completely jaded demeanor in her response, not one that looked down on others.
This was a stark contrast to the ambition she had of wanting to dominate it all in the main events.
“You’re really planning to act that way to the end.”
Luska took her words as provocation.
The others felt the same, but Angela seemed to study Nebia with suspicion, seeing something odd.
Unlike her sisters, she appeared to know another side of Nebia.
*
During this holiday, there were hardly any professors stationed at the Academy.
The only one regularly present was Professor Stella, who spent most of her time in the infirmary.
Besides her, many professors stayed for personal reasons or ambitions. Jason Baikel was one such example.
“What brings you all the way out here, Professor Radian?”
Jason had been summoned to the middle of the forest at the behest of Professor Radian.
Not far off, roars of laughter could be heard faintly. In that quiet location, a man overflowing with human evil spoke.
“Surely you aren’t trying to interfere with my affairs again?”
“What kind of work could you possibly be doing? Trying to spin some nonsense to my student Adela?”
“Haha! It seems you’ve developed delusions in the time we haven’t met.”
He had been about to have a chat with Adela when Radian had interrupted him.
At that moment, he was recounting a story from the past to her.
“I had told you not to fill Adela’s ears with nonsense.”
“I hardly did such a thing. You think I’m foolish enough to carelessly divulge matters from Black Squad?”
No matter how much he wished to share the past, secrets were secrets.
He was adorned with the Emperor’s decree, and he couldn’t afford to make a foolish mistake.
“I would love to share a drink with that student and reminisce about the past, but what a pity it is.”
“What is that supposed to mean…?”
Radian felt fury rise within him at Jason’s brazen dismissal, given he was the one who killed her parents.
He was even saying it with a smile.
Even now, I question whether he is truly human.
“Honestly, the one who is hard to understand is you, Professor. Don’t you think it’s a joke that a heartless person like you is playing the role of a professor in a place like this?”
Just as Radian recalled Jason, Jason also remembered Radian.
His image—ever stained with blood—was etched in his mind for good reason.
Radian stood out profoundly.
“You’re the one who’s killed more than me, aren’t you, Professor… No, it’s Captain now, isn’t it?”
That was the reason he once respected Radian.
How could someone be so skilled at exterminating those vermin (humans)?
A walking pesticide, he was truly fascinating. That was before he knew of his genuine inner self.
“Especially back then, you killed so many. Do you remember the time you got rid of the bandits that were stationed in that slum?”
“…!”
The moment he heard those words, Radian’s gaze trembled greatly.
“Since they were known as bandits to the public, they were naturally targets for extermination. At first, even you didn’t have major doubts, did you?”
“Stop it.”
“But once you killed them all, they were not bandits at all. They were merely a citizens’ organization created in anger against the Empire’s tyranny.”
“Stop it.”
There was no sin among those who were dead. They were labeled as criminals due to the fabricated rumors.
That wasn’t all. Under the pretense of eradicating the seeds of revenge, he issued orders to massacre that slum as well.
“Up until then, you were admirable, Captain. Most of all, before you made it your mission to stop the slum massacre.”
“….”
Radian’s expression darkened further. The events of the slum were a past he wished to forget.
The massacre brigade, Black Squad. The only reason Radian stayed there was from the belief that he could only kill villains.
He had once been wrongfully branded a criminal by an incident involving villains. He thought that if those sorts were eliminated, people like him wouldn’t appear.
With that single thought, he trusted the Empire. However, after the slum incident, that faith began to crack.
“What a pity. Captain. If only you had stopped me back then, I wouldn’t have been demoted to such a lowly status.”
Thanks to that, the slum remained safe. However, Radian almost faced execution for having to undress his rank due to his major contributions.
His accolades were so great that they could only demote him instead of execute him.
“There’s nothing to regret.”
“What?”
Finally, Radian spoke meaningfully.
“What do you think makes someone fit for the Black Squad?”
“To kill, of course. Or, let’s say, extermination of pests?”
Jason smirked slightly while Radian collected himself to respond.
“Right, that mindset of yours is indeed a qualification for the Black Squad. Then you must also be aware of the basics.”
Basics?
As Jason tilted his head in confusion, the answer came through.
“Those without qualification should absolutely not sit in positions of power. I do not match the qualities of the Black Squad. That’s why I left.”
“….”
“Life has become remarkably comfortable. I wouldn’t have expected a talentless person like you to be in the Captain’s seat.”
Radian’s mana began to erupt.
The once calm atmosphere turned icy in the presence of undeniable power.
“Determining that qualification isn’t up to me… it’s this world!”
Jason too responded by unleashing his own mana.
The sensation of something transparent colliding drowned out the sound of the waterfall.
And the first to click their tongue was Radian. While his aura was pure mana, Jason was being supported by something more.
“The Holy Sword, perhaps?”
Radian pieced together the reason.
It would be tough to deal with someone who not only had considerable talent but also wielded such a weapon.
“Oh, this isn’t the time for such.”
Suddenly, Jason halted the power struggle. He had almost forgotten what was truly important in their conversation.
“Perhaps I should take my leave now? There’s no benefit in us fighting right now.”
“….”
“Oh, and lastly, I’d like to make one suggestion…”
“What is it?”
Jason neatly extended his hand and stated.
“How about siding with me again, Captain.”
“You’re spouting nonsense again.”
“I may sound like that now, but soon you’ll regret it.”
The way he spoke hinted at some scheme in the works.
Radian decidedly rejected him outright.
“Do you still see me as the person I used to be?”
“Though changed, the past never truly disappears. Someone like you, covered in blood, will never know love from another.”
“….”
“Well, I’ll take my leave now. I have an important matter to attend to tonight.”
Jason set out, leaving lingering questions for the former superior.
Before he could fulfill his plans, he had a destiny to fulfill.
“What a coincidence. I too have an important appointment tonight.”
Radian said, watching as Jason’s back faded away.
The sounds of the waterfall began to return, tickling Radian’s ears.
As Jason distanced himself, he could no longer hear that delightful sound.
*
That night.
Jason was hiding against a wall, dressed in formal attire.
In his hands, a Demon Flower, which he had carefully placed in a pot, was cradled.
To anyone who saw this, it looked as if he was ready to propose; but sure enough…
“Finally, the moment of confrontation has come.”
The calmness he had shown when meeting Radian earlier this afternoon was replaced with a noticeable nervousness now.
In front of the infirmary building, which was empty at midnight, he awaited Professor Stella, who was his first love, fidgeting.
This time, he was neither a swordsman nor a knight.
With today, I will truly rebirth myself, gaining acknowledgment for my existence.
As he waited with those thoughts… finally, she emerged from the infirmary.
The time had come…
“Huh?”
It wasn’t only Professor Stella who came out of the infirmary.
The ever-agonizing Radian was also stepping out alongside her.
“Why is that guy there?” you might wonder, but he might simply be a patient.
But why would they emerge together in the dead of night?
Moreover, why were they both smiling at each other?
“What…? ”
Thus, Jason hid himself in the darkness, tailing them.
After having attempted assassinations countless times in the Black Squad, he was confident he wouldn’t be discovered.
No, even if he were to be caught, he still needed to follow them.
The instincts of a man told him so.
Survival as an Academy Scammer.
