154th Chapter. The Long-Awaited Notification Ceremony (2)

“Notification Ceremony?”

Nebia tilted her head in confusion. From what I heard, it seemed like a celebration party to commemorate becoming friends.

Well, it felt like a simple welcome party, but I had no idea how it would actually take shape.

Moreover, it looked like they wanted to attempt it right away, which made me think that popping fireworks in a place like this for a party was out of the question.

What exactly were they planning for this notification ceremony? They couldn’t possibly be up to something weird, could they?

“La la~ la la la~”

Mary hummed a tune, cheerfully digging up the forest floor with her hands. What type of ritual was it that made her so happy to be digging up the ground like that?

‘It doesn’t seem suspicious at all, though.’

Listening to Mary’s voice, I didn’t sense any issues. She was genuinely just preparing something for a friend.

‘Whoa, whoa, whoa….’

I started to get a headache from straining my hearing too much. While it was an easy ability to read others’ thoughts, it had the drawback of being overused.

Just then, as I was adjusting my hearing to a lower level—

Suddenly—

“Eh?”

Jenny and Luska grabbed her arms tightly.

Nebia stood perplexed, wondering, ‘What on earth are they doing all of a sudden?’ but they didn’t provide her with any answers.

“Hmm~ hee hee hee~”

They just kept humming a satisfied little tune and didn’t let go of her hands.

Since my hearing was dulled, I couldn’t hear their thoughts.

Still, I realized—

‘This is bad!’

Not just Nebia, but the Radon Crawler who was trying to escape was also caught.

Before I knew it, the spirits had surrounded us.

*

I had to escape from this place quickly! Making a decision on the spot, I turned and quickly made my way forward.

I left Nebia, who was still confused, behind and moved calmly but swiftly.

I couldn’t join in on that crazy behavior a second time.

『Hey, rookie. Where do you think you’re going?』

『Are you thinking of running away?』

At that moment, Mary’s spirits appeared and broke the tension.

These damned spirits were blocking my way like thugs trying to shake me down…!

Thanks to them, their gazes shifted towards me. The way they turned their heads looked almost like twisted puppet figures.

“Hey? Where are you going, friend?”

Damn it! But I was willing to do anything to get away.

“I’m going to the bathroom.”

[Degradation Rate Decreased: -4%]

[+400 Credits]

“So can you please step aside? My bladder’s on a countdown here.”

[Degradation Rate Decreased: -3%]

Good, with this, I was merging ‘acting’ to make it natural…

『Don’t be fooled! This bastard is lying!』

Suddenly, Muto appeared and shouted without restraint.

Have you ever seen such a damn snake…! Why spoil my carefully laid plans!

Suddenly—

“Radon Oppa, don’t run away.”

At that moment, Angela grabbed my waist with her tail and started pulling me along. I could see her smiling along the way.

‘You little fox! Just wait until I get my hands on the rice balls I offered you!’

Angela, who repaid kindness with malice, along with everyone else, was grinning. Except for Nebia, who was completely clueless.

“You all look like you’re having fun.”

Radian quietly watched the mischievous students, preparing to leave.

It seemed like a cliché where all the events concluded, and the protagonist’s mentor warmly looked on from a distance.

He made it seem like he was elegantly leaving the kids’ antics alone from afar. However…

“What’s so fun about this?!”

“Ugh!”

I pulled out Levitan and threw a fishing line. I used it to bind Radian’s upper body and yanked it!

Radian, dragged next to me, naturally became irritated.

“Radon, what are you doing?!”

“Professor…”

“What?!”

“Let’s die together.”

I gave a satisfied smirk. Upon seeing it, Radian looked baffled, thinking, ‘What on earth is he saying?’

However, Radian would soon discover its meaning.

“Now, open your mouth~”

A spider appeared in front of us. A grotesque spider that was horrifying just to touch was moving its legs weirdly.

Mary, holding it in her hand, was smiling.

“What, what is that? You can’t be…!”

“Mary! What are you planning to do with that!”

Caught Nebia and the ensnared Radian Professor both gasped at the sight of the spider. I too had a similar reaction upon seeing the spider’s visual.

In response, Mary just showed an angelic smile.

“What do you mean? It’s an important procedure to open the door to become our friend!”

The door was about to open.

Once opened, it would be a hellish door that couldn’t close without a price.

However, Jenny had already opened the door before, so she nonchalantly swallowed a bug.

Only Luska among them gagged and went ‘Eww!’ but… with a resolve to eat us, she gulped it down.

I understood the feeling that she didn’t want to be the only one suffering, but I had no intention of emulating that.

“Radon, can’t you untie this!? And Mary, stop it already!”

Professor Radian was struggling, trying to express his grievance. He looked slightly pitiful, being caught up, but I had no intention of letting him go.

I felt wronged too.

“Ahhh! How is this a notification ceremony?!”

Nebia screamed, saying this was more like an execution ceremony. Yet, once the decision to become friends was made, there was no way to avoid it.

“Professor Radian, Saint Nebia. It’s an honor to go with you.”

“Don’t joke around!”

“Someone do something about this!”

Both sides were shouting at me, having been caught.

Before my eyes, an absurd dish made from spider was being created.

Even so, I didn’t feel the slightest bit regretful. As long as I could achieve my goal of ‘not being the only one suffering,’ I could do anything.

That is to say, anything…

“And everyone.”

“Huh?”

“…?”

As I seemed to announce something, all eyes turned toward me. At this perfect timing, I spoke.

“Enjoy your share!”

Boom!—

I vanished.

With a sound like something popping, my figure disappeared… or rather, precisely, I transformed into a long log.

Thanks to that, Angela, who was holding on to me with her tail, gasped.

– Switcheroo Lv7

I had only used a very light trick. Though I struggled to control my mana after a long time, it didn’t matter.

Originally, I had never even considered executing a water ghost strategy.

I simply wanted—

[Degradation Rate Decreased: -230%]

[+23000 Credits]

[Experience exceeded a certain amount! Acquired 1 Stat Point.]

…this.

So when I suggested we die together, the degradation rate had actually decreased.

“….”

“….”

An empty silence filled the space where I had just popped away.

Everyone seemed to be in shock, wearing blank expressions as if they had seen something they shouldn’t have. However, the bug dish continued to approach us.

A rough yet weak scream echoed through the forest at the academy.

The flowing stream rippled.

*

—Slick, slick, slick.

‘I’ve never tasted anything this horrendous before.’

Radian, caught in some kind of disaster, was rinsing his mouth at the drinking fountain in the student plaza.

The stench of the spider he had been forced to consume still lingered in his mouth. It was a miracle he hadn’t vomited from that cursed taste.

According to them, they had purified all harmful ingredients, but I began to doubt if that was true.

“That Radon guy, what a complete snake.”

Radian grumbled, still repulsed by the disgusting taste that hadn’t faded.

I had to acknowledge his audacity to catch the professor and sneak away by himself.

It was a sign that he had grown somewhat during his academy life.

“Just wait until the end of this election.”

But he would have to pay for it. Soon, I would impose a punishment of making him do all sorts of mundane tasks.

Planning out that future, he bought the sweetest juice from the store and took a sip.

As he thought about whether this would actually help with breath freshening, he suddenly heard—

“Whoops! Professor, it’s all done.”

“Good job.”

Teaching Assistant Adela approached, stretching her arms. Holding a cup of coffee, she sat down on the bench with Radian.

“The recovery was quicker than I thought.”

“Maybe because we defeated the enemies so swiftly. All thanks to those friends.”

Although danger almost arose, unexpectedly promising things unfolded.

Due to the altered barrier, faculty members couldn’t use their mana. As a result, the students had to bear the burden.

Ultimately, it was the students who took down the royal guard, and among those students, two were actually second-year combat department members.

As their professor, I couldn’t be prouder.

“Ah, you played a part in this too.”

“Me?”

“You forgot? You were the one who took down Jason.”

It was none other than Adela who fought against him. Considering he was also the head of the knight corps, it was a remarkable achievement.

One could say she had completely redeemed herself from the mistake shown during the Lycanthrope incident. Initially, having fainted back then wasn’t due to being overwhelmed by skill but rather being caught in a trap.

“Adela, you’re definitely stronger now. You’re incomparable to how you were when we first met.”

“….”

Back then, she was still too young to even enroll. That child, gathered from the blood-stained grass, had grown up to be like this.

Yet, he was hiding an important fact from Adela.

“I didn’t expect you to defeat Jason in my place. I should have faced him myself….”

“No, it was better this way. Now I can avenge my parents.”

“Is that so… Huh? What did you just say?”

Radian, startled, twitched his eyebrows.

That was a secret he had planned to keep from Adela for a lifetime. He had been worried to the point of his whole body going numb whenever she fought Jason.

But she already…

“I don’t need to hide it anymore. I already know everything.”

Sipping her coffee, Adela tasted its bitterness. Then she smiled brightly and said,

“In fact, I remembered that incident very well. I saw the face of the person who cut off my parents’ lives.”

“So until now you were keeping it a secret…”

“When that guy was assigned as our instructor, I was overwhelmed with emotions. But I had to endure it for those kids.”

She had acted like nothing was wrong in front of her enemy. Radian couldn’t keep his mouth shut after realizing that fact.

Having always been free-spirited, there were many times he had worried Adela might lose her composure upon seeing Jason.

“What would have happened if you had not held back back then?”

“….”

If Adela hadn’t held back… if he hadn’t been there, various worst-case scenarios began to play out in his mind.

He, burdened with sins from the activities of the Black Squad, was someone who could die at any moment.

However, right now it seemed unlikely he would meet his end peacefully. Though he had entrusted his life to a saint, there wouldn’t be any reason to cause sorrow to those around him.

The students, Adela, and also…

“Oh my, you were here!”

Suddenly appearing from behind was Professor Stella. Both were startled by her sudden arrival.

“What brings you here, Professor Stella?”

“The heads of the department are calling for you. Adela, you should check the archive too.”

Upon checking the archive, everything seemed fine. Then there was a vibration, and the order to gather the faculty came through.

“Haha… I guess we should go.”

Thus, the three headed toward the Unique Hall, where the department heads were convening.

On the way, spring breezes carrying cherry blossom petals danced around them. The three walking side by side looked like a family out on a trip.

*

That night. The identity of the hero who resolved the incident was revealed.

While it was the royal guards they’d cleaned up, it was someone else who took down the final boss, Demora.

It was none other than our protagonist, Lyman, who defeated her. However, it turned out that the public believed it was another student.

[Nebia saved the academy?]

[Was there more behind this than the royal guard and Jason?]

[Was it Nebia who took down the perpetrator who manipulated the barrier, rendering the professors powerless like regular people?]

Official reports from the Newspaper Department floated around in the archive. Of course, some of them were also written by me.

Although Lyman achieved great feats, it was this unbelievable situation where all the credit went to Nebia. Still, this is what Lyman had hoped for.

At first, even the princess herself felt guilt, thinking ‘it doesn’t seem right to take someone else’s glory.’

However, this mischievous protagonist scolded her, saying, ‘Think a bit more flexibly! How would you ever become the student council president otherwise!’

Initially, Nebia aimed to become president to gain her father’s approval.

But now, she would strive to become the president to oppose the royal family led by her father.

Thanks to our protagonist’s mental conditioning, it was being effective.

『Being called a monster day in and day out… turns out she really is a monstrous princess.』

“Of course. She inherited all the good genes.”

Genes… now that I think about it, there was nobody in this world who shared genetic ties with me.

Of course, this body called ‘Radon’ must have family somewhere. Just like the picture on the shelf over there.

But for ‘me,’ it was just a little bit bittersweet to not have any.

“By the way, what to do with this thing.”

『Who?』

I pulled out the ‘Spirit Talisman’ and summoned the spirit I absorbed within it.

None other than the crow spirit I absorbed this time. A high-ranking spirit known as ‘Aisha’, called the Wings of Wrath.

As soon as she emerged from the talisman, black feathers scattered around.

‘After all that cleaning…’

Surviving as an academy scammer.

 

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