Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: 25-3. Everyone Needs a Headache Remedy.
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The timing was way too early.
'Damn it, why did they storm the academy? Because I defeated Magic Hat?'
At the very least, according to the lore, Kainel and Ariel were supposed to graduate from the academy first—five years later, at the start of Knight Heart.
"Glory to the Four Heroes!!"
"Use the academy students to block the Ten Heroes!!"
A mob of Hero Cult followers, holding knives to the students' throats and hurling spells to intimidate them, doing everything they could to keep the Ten Heroes from reaching their target.
Watching them made me want to vomit. It had been the same with Servi—this guy was the epitome of hypocrisy.
A madman who believed that as long as he could save the majority, it was fine if others got shredded to pieces.
I dashed through, slicing down the Hero Cult thugs filling the hallway outside the classroom. Drawing Kiwoo to dodge attacks, I headed straight for the central hall.
Head Ayk. The Omniscient Demon King.
There was a reason I never suspected him whenever I thought about our saintess being left behind.
'Even a demon king's authority or powers aren't perfect.'
After seeing the Nameless Saintess, he showed his true colors by excluding her from the final battle, deeming her incapable of taking even a single life.
They acted like total strangers. At least, I thought it couldn't have been Head's doing. After all, 'nameless characters' weren't uncommon in other games.
Characters who lost their memories, had their names stolen, or were erased from history were a dime a dozen. It was a staple trope in famous games.
'Even if his authority erases memories, traces should remain somewhere.'
The Heavenly Demon engraved on the Ten Heroes' statues proved it, as did Dennis, who never forgot her. Even a demon king's power wasn't omnipotent.
Magic Hat could fabricate lies, but the truth—names and records written down—lingered in the world. That was its flaw.
Every power has strengths and weaknesses. Especially potent ones always come with countermeasures. Nothing in the world is perfect.
'In the original story... how did it go?'
The demon king who referenced save files. Overcoming that required a little trickery.
'I need to find Dennis, the original protagonist.'
Real-time updated save files couldn't be accessed. It relied on 'calculations' based on prior knowledge.
Exploiting information he didn't know was effective. That's why Dennis must have twisted Head's calculations in real time under the guise of a group project.
'With his 3D Magic Circles now mastered, Dennis is basically his natural counter.'
Just use the newest weapons or techniques available. Of course, Head's baseline specs were guaranteed, so it wouldn't be easy.
Unlike the ending of Knight Heart, I had no artifact-grade items or max-level companions right now. But I'd resolved to do it anyway.
"...The sea? How?"
I halted in front of the central hall. Staring at the building isolated in the middle of the ocean like some pocket dimension, I felt utterly dumbfounded.
'This is different from the original.'
Dennis's weakness had been anticipated ahead of time. I had no idea where my movements had been leaked from.
Dennis was taking a break as usual, watering the yellow flowers.
"...Hm? What's this?"
Suddenly, gunfire rang out, and darkness fell around him. A sound he'd heard before.
Instantly recognizing it as Head Ayk's attack, Dennis peered out the window.
"Damn it... Head, you bastard."
He opened the window, only to see fish swimming leisurely outside. He tried to escape through the door using a magic circle, but...
"...Water mixes with water. Rivers flow into the sea. Is that it?"
His water-attribute magic kept getting nullified. An assault using spirit arts.
Similarly, Asha Aureus's phoenix among the Ten Heroes incinerated everything else.
So, using a sea whale spirit could melt away all opposition like this.
On top of that, his magic revolved around alcohol—a 'concept' that dulled when diluted. Even Dennis, who twisted concepts to cast spells, had a weakness.
Just as the question arose in his mind—who in this era could wield this much water?—
"Professor Dennis!!"
"...Licht? How did you get in?"
That's when a man in a Black Knight helmet entered the clubroom. As if answering his question, Licht showed off a sword glowing with blue light.
"It rains in the sea too, you know."
"I see. But aren't we trapped like rats in a jar?"
Licht had used Kiwoo to slip in through the pouring rain, then apparently swum the rest of the way—water dripping from his entire body.
Dennis kept activating magic circles, trying to breach the water barrier.
"Professor, forget that. Let's use the 3D Magic Circle."
"Won't the spirit arts dispel it, Licht?"
"For normal magic, sure. But..."
Watching this, the Black Knight couldn't hold back and chimed in. The blue-haired man soon nodded in understanding.
"Teleport. Unlike before, I can use it now. Professor."
"...Right."
Dennis held out his palm. A bundle of magic circles rose from his right hand, forming a perfect sphere.
"Spatial coordinates are three-dimensional, just like the magic circle you taught me."
Orbits spun rapidly around the spherical magic circle, casting multiple spells at once.
"If some circles mix with the spirit arts and fail, just increase the number of circles."
Licht and Dennis transformed into water droplets and teleported outside the central hall.
The academy was turning into total chaos. Laplace was blocking Hero Cultists with barrages of magic circles,
while the Sage used future sight to evacuate students to the safest spots possible.
"...No way."
A chill ran down my spine at the sight of a long black-haired woman controlling a sea whale spirit from outside. A figure tied to Nex from Black Heart.
I'd known Sharutineth's kidnapping was linked to Head from the start, but I hadn't expected it to be this shady.
'Now I know why Nex became a black sheep.'
It was all part of the Omniscient Demon King's scheme. But why? What was worth risking the kidnapping of the Second Saintess?
'Prophecy. He definitely said "prophecy" back then.'
As I recalled the words from my fight with Servi and sensed something off, Dennis spoke up.
"...Why is the lady of the remote Aqua County here? Don't tell me she's sided with the demon king?"
"That chalice-like thing in her arms. Could it be..."
In-game, it was a cursed item that boosted spirit skills but demanded a heavy toll from the user.
I charged straight at the orca beastkin.
"..."
"Something's wrong with her."
Her eyes were unfocused. Drool leaked from her mouth. I'd braced for an attack via the orca,
but she just kept flooding the central hall with seawater, ignoring me.
'She got played due to ignorance. Not like Head.'
A sense of wrongness hit me as I watched. If he'd wanted her here to trap Dennis,
she was just a discarded pawn now.
So what was Head really after?
What was this 'prophecy' that had the Omniscient Demon King acting so boldly? I paused, deep in thought.
In the original Knight Heart, once his HP dropped below a threshold, he'd blow his own brains out with his revolver and end it.
'He failed this time too. "See you at the time of prophecy," he said.'
A somewhat anticlimactic clear condition. In fact, he was an easier boss than Magic Hat.
But what now? Why was he so desperate over some prophecy?
He rarely took the field himself like this. In the original, he only appeared at the very end.
This fervor didn't fit his cold demeanor. If it was just me he was after, he wouldn't go this far.
'Think. What differs from what I know?'
Nex Aureus and Sharutineth's history rewrite, overcoming Kainel and Ariel's trauma by defeating Magic Hat, enrolling in the academy...
'Wait, enrolling in the academy?'
That spark hit me like lightning. The protagonist of Part 3 wasn't me, the player.
Unlike Lee Soo-hyun playing the game, I was just a character I'd raised: Black Knight Licht. So the protagonist of Grand Hearts Academy was
Mardol Granasia.
The cool yet warm Glass Knight. The empire's princess. Head might be targeting her. If Sharutineth's kidnapping was for that from the start.
'It adds up.'
Without me, recruiting Nex Aureus would've been easy too. With her known sister and brother as hostages,
she'd have fallen into the demon king's hands without a fight. She wavered at the sight of Empress Bellin, after all.
'That alone could've let him topple the empire.'
Emperor Locke truly cherished his family; he might've submitted if his daughter's life was at stake.
That's why Mardol never appeared in the original or sequels—Crown Prince Lupus covered for her, masking the inconsistency.
Bang.
That's when gunfire pierced my ears again. From the upper floors of the second-years' academy building—where Nex Aureus was.
"...Professor Dennis."
"What is it, Licht?"
No time to think. Protect Mardol again, or head to Nex? I had to decide.
"Send me to Nex Aureus first, and..."
As I agonized over who to save, I remembered the saintess's words: better a Black Knight who protects everyone than a hero who saves just one.
"Exactly five minutes from now, teleport me to Mardol."
Plus, to be honest, I was greedy.
I didn't want anyone falling into the demon king's trap.
If it was Dennis I knew, he could handle it. The white-robed cultists charged at us again,
"Come to think of it, unlike you who were summoned as a replacement, you really are a hero, Licht."
"...Nah, I'm just the Black Knight."
Gleaming with white eyes, he'd preemptively handled the students held hostage in the rear. He spoke briefly.
He wasn't wrong. A substitute picked to deal with fallen heroes—that was Dennis.
Neither he nor I had the holy sword marking us as chosen heroes. But sometimes, meaningful fakes outshine the real thing.
Strong everymen banding together to slay demon king-corrupted heroes. That was the Ten Heroes' purpose and essence.
"Professor, don't you think a world relying solely on heroes is too convenient?"
If only heroes could defeat demon kings, what was the point of that world? Especially propping up barely qualified ones.
True heroes earn their worth. In this post-legitimate-hero era, I admired such figures in my heart—like Kainel.
"Yeah, you're right. Leave this to me now, 'Black Knight' Licht."
Hearing my question, Dennis smiled with quiet trust and activated his 3D Magic Circle.