Even the Dogs and Cats Go to the Academy
The teacups on the table shattered against the floor with a tremendous crash. Shards flew in every direction. Beyond the wreckage, the man’s face twisted in shock.
“What the hell were you thinking!”
“A mere commoner. And of all people, you let that loudmouthed bastard use the Marcello ducal family’s magic circle? That’s already absurd enough. But what? You went out alone with that lowly creature?”
“We just went out for some fresh air.”
“Do you even understand what that implies?!”
Duke Marcello roared, his voice rising with fury. This world operated on a rigid class system. Noble blood and lowly blood were decided from birth. And the daughter of a ducal house had gone out alone with a commoner?
‘All sorts of filthy rumors will spread like wildfire!’
He had tried to contain it somehow, but it was already too late. The rumors had begun circulating through the imperial social circles. The Marcello ducal lady had gotten involved with a commoner.
They said the two of them had gone all the way to the border together. Perhaps it was a lovers’ elopement against the duke’s wishes. They must have that kind of relationship. They had probably seen everything there was to see.
“Our Marcello family is the empire’s greatest noble house! Every noble’s eyes and ears are fixed on us! You, the young lady of Marcello, how could you not realize what kind of impact it would have that you were seen with a mere commoner?!”
“The demons that were wiped out by that ‘mere commoner’ would probably laugh if they heard you. And the knights who died to those demons must have been complete idiots, right?”
“Kiara!”
When she was young, she had been a bright and warm child. Was it because she lost her mother at such an early age? At some point she had changed completely, earning everyone’s resentment. Even though he tried to look after her as her father, his daughter kept going further astray.
“Kiara. That’s enough. Stop it now.”
“Is that what you did, Father?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Mother. You forced a woman who didn’t want it and made her your wife, didn’t you?”
“You…!”
To a woman from a lower noble family, the ducal household had been hell. She had been misunderstood as someone who seduced the duke. Her body and mind deteriorated while her husband did nothing but neglect her. It was only natural that her health collapsed rapidly after giving birth.
“You’re still doing this because of your belated guilt toward Mother, aren’t you?”
“Kiara.”
“Then just leave me alone. Why do you keep interfering? You forced me to attend the academy, so what right do you have to act like this now?”
“This girl really—!!”
Duke Marcello’s hand shot upward. He seemed about to slap her across the cheek. His large hand hovered in the air for a moment. But the duke’s arm fell limply back to his side.
“…I will handle the rumors. You just focus on preparing for your academy admission.”
“They say there are lower nobles and commoners there too. Should I try seducing a few of them while I’m at it? People would love that. They’d say the Marcello blood really runs true. That I have a real talent for wrapping lesser people around my finger.”
The duke gave up on continuing the conversation. Begging her to just stay quiet, he left Kiara’s room.
“…”
Left alone, Kiara stood there in a daze. The villainess who could only feel satisfied after hurting someone. The worst of the worst, rotten from birth. Kiara knew exactly what people said about her.
Even so, the reason she made no effort to change was simple.
‘Don’t come near me. You’ll all get hurt.’
She instinctively knew something was wrong. The feeling that she would end up hurting everyone around her. The sense that she would become something that wasn’t herself. This was better. This reality where no one stayed by her side.
Kiara crouched down and hugged her knees tightly. It was hard. Lonely. Cold. She simply hated everything.
Then a thought suddenly occurred to her.
What was Cain doing right now?
‘What else? He’s probably thinking about how to hunt more demons.’
A smile slipped out before she could stop it. It was strange. Why did thinking of that man bring her such comfort? Was it because he was an overwhelmingly powerful man without equal?
Well… killing that high demon had been genuinely impressive.
Could someone like you erase the misfortune that follows me?
With that thought, Kiara closed her eyes for just a moment. Strangely enough, it was the first truly peaceful sleep she had enjoyed in a very long time.
“I’m going to the academy.”
Clatter—
Wilhelm dropped his fork. Oh god. In the end, you’re giving me this kind of trial! No. That guy can’t go to the academy!
“I thought you said you weren’t going.”
“I’m not going.”
“Then?”
“I’m not going, but right now I have to go.”
What kind of nonsense is that! Speak properly! Don’t cut everything off halfway!
He screamed internally.
“Can’t you explain it in a way that’s easy to understand?”
Right now he was being extremely careful not to step on the mad dog’s tail.
“I need to check a few things at the academy.”
“Check?”
“How wide the grounds are. How the security perimeter is set up. The building layout, what routes can be used for infiltration and escape. Things like that.”
Enrolling as a student or whatever—Cain had zero intention of doing any of that. He no longer cared about the original story’s flow. He didn’t know how to get home either. Only one thing remained.
Killing demons.
The ones who went first were waiting for him in the afterlife. They were begging for more demons to come out and fight. So he would kill them. He would kill as many as the number of people they had killed. Until not even a single fragment of the last demon in this world remained.
Completely eradicating them was his only purpose in life.
“…The Continental Academy was built not far from the capital.”
“A perfect location for the darkness under the lamp.”
“When you say it like that, the place that already made me anxious feels even more dangerous.”
The attack on the party hall had happened because they let their guard down. It was especially unfortunate that Cain had been absent and the Special Task Force had withdrawn. A perfect storm of coincidences. Perhaps that was why almost everyone believed the academy would be safe.
“Wait a moment.”
Wilhelm quickly scribbled something down. It was a handwritten order personally signed by the empire’s second prince.
“Take this. It grants you authority to enter and investigate anywhere in the academy.”
“I don’t need something like this.”
“You’ll just break through with force if you don’t have it. So shut up and take it. Even if you cause an incident, it’s better if it happens under my name. If it happens under yours, I won’t be able to handle the fallout.”
It was actually fortunate that Cain’s power was so overwhelming. If not, the nobles would have tried to poison or assassinate a mere commoner who had achieved great merit in the demon war.
“I’ll give you one more thing. An access pass under my name…”
“I don’t need that either.”
You don’t need it? But you have to get inside the academy?
“I need to try infiltrating directly to predict the routes.”
“Hey…! You’re not allowed to cause an incident, got it?!”
“I won’t be twisting anyone’s neck on the way in, so you don’t have to worry.”
If I hadn’t told you not to cause an incident, you were planning to twist necks? At Cain’s casual smile in response to Wilhelm’s question, the prince could only sigh.
It was a joke. He didn’t twist people’s necks often. Unless they were traitors who had joined hands with demons, that is.
After parting with Wilhelm, Cain headed for the magic circle. The managers despaired at the sight of him.
“Don’t worry. I’m only going to use it once today.”
“That’s what you said last time and you kept using it!”
“I’m serious this time. Don’t you trust me?”
“Absolutely not!”
“Yeah, that’s fair. Anyway, move.”
Once again, the managers failed to stop Cain. He leisurely finished using the magic circle.
A short while later, a massive building appeared before him. Ignoring all the usual descriptions of grandeur and majesty, Cain summed it up in his own way.
“It’s Hogwarts.”
The building was imposing, the grounds ridiculously vast, and the architectural style was elegantly antique. It gave off the feeling of a place reserved exclusively for the privileged. Muggles should crawl on the ground!
“This is the perfect place for demons to attack.”
Or for a traitor to commit terrorism. That was Cain’s honest impression after looking around.
It was wide, sure, but this was too wide. They talked about the empire this and the holy kingdom that, but the academy’s grounds were practically the size of a small city. At this scale, no one could properly defend it. Even Cain wasn’t confident he could.
‘It’s practically begging to be breached by the bad guys. What terrible plot convenience.’
Looking around, he quickly found the classic infiltration route. A waterway leading out from the academy. There was an iron grate, but it could easily be removed.
“They seem to have put up boundary magic…”
This kind of thing should trigger an alarm the moment the grate is disturbed. What kind of outdated contact sensor alarm is this?
After bypassing the magic, he approached the grate.
“Please don’t break anything!”
Wilhelm’s plea echoed in Cain’s head.
Clang—!
So he waited about one second.
“This is driving me crazy.”
The moment he snapped one bar off the grate, he was basically at his destination. Just a little further and the main academy building would appear. Even if guards were stationed constantly, it would still be a huge problem. If someone patrolled a set area, it would be breached without fail.
‘Well, the academy exists to get robbed anyway.’
You’ve really been through a lot, haven’t you, academy?
Thinking that, he strode in confidently when—
“Huh?”
A familiar face appeared in front of Cain.
“Why are you here…”
Arhen. The empire’s third prince. One of the original male leads. The reason he ran into Cain was very simple. He was the unlucky victim who happened to encounter an intruder. Cain had known he was here but deliberately hadn’t avoided him.
What could someone who had come this far possibly want? To kill or kidnap. There was no reason to hide.
“I never received any report that you had entered the academy?”
“There was no need to report it, Your Highness.”
He was currently testing an infiltration scenario. That was why he hadn’t reported it. At least, that was Cain’s meaning. But it seemed to sound different to Arhen.
“What an insolent bastard! Just because my brother is protecting you, you’ve become unbearably arrogant! Even I, a prince, must go through every single procedure to enter the Continental Academy!”
“As you should.”
“You clearly didn’t understand a word I said!”
It was strange. Arhen was far angrier than necessary. Cain tilted his head in confusion. From Arhen’s perspective, it looked like this:
The madman who had thrown the girl he secretly loved in front of a demon. The one who was determined to become crown prince for her sake. The greatest blade belonging to his current rival Wilhelm. Even he, a prince, had followed every procedure, yet this commoner had infiltrated without permission.
“This won’t do. I was going to tolerate you because of your past achievements, but…”
Oh. Is he finally calling for him?
“Uncle!”
At Arhen’s shout, a man approached. Cain had already known he was here.
“General.”
“Cain.”
They had seen each other several times on the battlefield. Comrades and rivals who had killed demons together.
“What are you doing here?”
“Work. And you, General?”
“Work.”
He had heard the general had been stationed at the academy. But he never imagined he would be dragged around like a subordinate. It seemed pitiful that he was suffering so much because of his nephew.
“Uncle, I’m asking for your help.”
“It might be difficult.”
“Other knights will arrive soon, so it’s fine! If we leave this arrogant bastard alone, he’ll become a problem later!”
This was strange too. He knows I’m the strongest. Cain tilted his head, then suddenly realized.
It’s because of Estelle. That’s why he’s so angry. If you’re a male lead, you always react like this when it involves the female lead. In romance fantasy standards, it wasn’t impossible. In fact, that was practically the standard behavior for a male lead.
“This won’t do.”
But what does the male lead matter to me? He called me a mad dog.
“Listen, Cain. Let’s talk first—”
The general felt something brush past him. Immediately afterward, the sounds of thud and crack reached his ears.
“…?”
Where Arhen had been standing, Arhen was no longer there. Where had his beloved nephew gone? He turned his head and looked further back.
“Arhen…?”
Far away, a strange shape was twitching. Arms and legs bent at grotesque angles, sprawled on the ground. The shock was so great that his mind went blank.
Right now… what the hell… is going on…?
“…Cain.”
“Yes, General.”
“That child. That child is an imperial prince.”
And the male lead of this romance fantasy world. Cain smiled and answered briefly.
“I know.”