Chapter 231
Chapter 231
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 231
Chapter Title: Announcement
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Walter, the dean of the Divinity Faculty, was someone I’d crossed paths with before, but he was a pretty upright guy.
No matter how extreme the methods I showed him, he’d just accept them without much fuss.
[...Only you would interpret it that way.]
“...”
[Showing something extreme in front of the dean again? Here, of all places?]
Well, whatever.
Honestly speaking, it felt way too late to start worrying about my reputation now.
And besides.
‘...It’s something I have to do eventually anyway.’
My ultimate goal is to make all the demon vessels around me happy.
To do that, I need to gradually improve how people perceive them first.
If I think of this as the first step toward that, it’s not impossible.
Sure, the scale might be small, but showing that image officially like this still holds some meaning.
“So.”
I continued in a calm voice to Lilu and Seras, who were staring at me with dead eyes.
“You’ve both memorized the plan, right?”
“...”
“...”
Two pairs of eyes turned my way, as if to say, *Is that what you call this?*
“Once we do it once, we won’t have to do it again, so don’t worry too much.”
“...Dawood sunbae-nim.”
Seras stammered it out, her body trembling.
From her expression, she seemed utterly humiliated—her flushed face was so red that even a tomato would feel pale by comparison.
“You’re really going to do this?”
“Of course.”
I grinned and tossed the answer back.
“There won’t be many people watching anyway, so no need to tense up like—”
My words cut off the moment we stepped into the auditorium for the ‘demonstration.’
“...”
In truth, the situation wasn’t much different from what I’d been told beforehand. Just Dean Walter and a small group of ‘observers’ making up the evaluation panel.
Except.
“...Your Majesty.”
I clutched my head against the pounding headache and muttered it, earning a reply from one of the ‘observers.’
“Is there a problem, my subject?”
Watching Cecilia XI smile so affably only made the headache worse.
*What the hell is she doing here?*
Is being the Imperial Emperor such a casual job that you can just ditch everything and wander around?
“Ah, I’m here purely as an ‘observer,’ so no need to worry. I won’t influence the evaluation at all.”
“Is it really okay for you to come here for something so trivial—”
“That’s not all. If I familiarize myself with places like this in advance, I’ll adapt faster later, no?”
“...Pardon?”
*What does she even need to adapt to at Elpante?*
“Time lost never returns. Eternity is a luxury not granted to mortals.”
As I tilted my head in confusion, Dean Walter cleared his throat pointedly.
Ah, right.
*Don’t mind her and just focus on the presentation.*
“...Fine.”
I scratched my head and turned to Seras and Lilu.
They both flinched when our eyes met, but I beckoned them with a friendly smile.
“Come on up here. We have to show them.”
“...”
At my words, the two trudged onto the stage with expressions like they were heading to their deaths.
“The research topic we’re presenting as our club founding requirement is.”
Standing in front of them, I declared it confidently to Dean Walter.
“How to ‘tame’ demons.”
“...”
“...”
The moment those words landed.
The Emperor’s and Dean Walter’s expressions turned subtly odd.
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An institution like Elpante naturally sees all sorts of transfer students trickling in outside of regular admissions, beyond just the freshmen.
These students often enter through special channels due to various circumstances, so there are plenty of eccentrics among them.
But even accounting for that.
This was a first for such a request.
“...Um—er...”
Ophelia Knight, the dorm supervisor for the freshman residence, scanned the girl up and down with a troubled look.
“So, your name is—?”
“Victoria Evatrice.”
The response came in a voice as clear and smooth as a glass bead rolling across a silver tray.
Snow-white hair covering her neck. Crimson eyes. Petite stature. That was the girl’s defining features.
No matter how you looked at her, she seemed far too young for Elpante admission, but probably no one would dare say it to her face after meeting those eyes.
Those eyes.
The sharpness condensed in that red gaze—well.
“...”
Ophelia Knight stared silently.
It was something most people would sense instinctively, but for her, with her extensive real-world experience, it was even clearer.
These were the eyes of a killer.
The aura only someone who’d ‘butchered’ people multiple times could possess.
Among the students, maybe only Student Council President Elnor had a similar vibe.
“So—”
Still, Ophelia Knight continued without much reaction.
It wasn’t her place to pry into the girl’s background. As long as she was an Elpante student, she was under Ophelia’s protection.
“...You want to room with a non-Imperial student—?”
“Yes.”
The reply came steady and unshaken.
For Ophelia Knight, it was the kind of request that drew an involuntary sigh.
Good lord, asking for a non-Imperial roommate at an Imperial academy? That was harsh.
‘...Hold on.’
A fragment of information flickered through her mind, making Ophelia Knight tilt her head.
‘Surname Evatrice—?’
It definitely rang a bell.
Ophelia Knight rummaged through the student records, searching for the name.
“Ah—here it is—”
“Pardon?”
At the girl’s blank head-tilt, Ophelia Knight smiled faintly.
“There’s a Seras Evatrice—same surname as you—”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed sharply at that.
“She’s from the Holy Kingdom, not the Empire, so how about rooming together—?”
“...”
She looked distinctly displeased.
“...I’m not sure.”
The flat response came anyway.
But what followed didn’t match the tone at all.
“It wouldn’t be a good decision for you, Ophelia Knight, or for me.”
“Hm—? What do you mean—?”
“If I shared a room with that girl, one of us would probably end up dead.”
“...”
Ophelia Knight froze at the unimaginable reply, and the flat voice continued.
“We’re family, but we don’t get along.”
“...You don’t, get along—?”
*How badly do family members have to get along for that to come out of her mouth?*
It could be a joke, but from a student with those eyes, it didn’t land that way.
“Well, maybe ‘don’t get along’ isn’t accurate. It’s been over ten years since I last saw her, so ‘no relation’ might be more fitting now.”
“...”
If she tossed out lines like that so casually, it only made it worse.
Ophelia Knight sighed and closed the student file.
“...Then wait a bit, okay? I’ll find a suitable roommate and let you know—”
“Understood.”
This time, Victoria nodded obediently, then spoke up as if it just occurred to her.
“By the way, could I ask one thing while I wait?”
“What is it—?”
“Where can I find a man named Dawood Campbell...?”
Victoria’s words cut off abruptly.
Probably because she saw Ophelia Knight’s previously warm face melt into exhaustion.
“Hm? Oh, sorry—lately I’ve gotten so many requests like that—”
“...Pardon?”
“There are at least five girls asking about him nonstop—now just hearing the name tires me out, so my face...”
“...”
Ophelia Knight waved it off casually, and Victoria’s eyes narrowed again.
Well. She’d heard roughly as much from her ‘employer,’ Marquis Bogart.
This guy really was a disastrously promiscuous playboy.
As that thought crossed her mind, Ophelia Knight sighed and continued.
“He’s an upperclassman now, so he’s out of the freshman dorms, but I think I heard where he is today. Something about club activities—”
“Club activities?”
“Yeah, the Exorcism Club, I believe—?”
“...”
Victoria’s eyebrow twitched faintly.
Then, she asked in a quiet voice.
“If it’s not too much trouble, could you tell me the location? I’d greatly appreciate it.”
Marquis Bogart’s orders for infiltrating Elpante were clear: report everything about that man’s actions regarding ‘demons.’
It perfectly fulfilled the conditions, and beyond that.
‘...Personally, I’m a bit intrigued.’
Victoria herself had some interest in this Dawood.
Partly because he was the mission target.
From what her employer had shared, Dawood Campbell held a key that could shake the entire continent regarding ‘demons.’
It wasn’t mere exaggeration—reports flooded in constantly that the Empire, tribal alliance, and Holy Kingdom’s leadership were all fixated on him.
As an assassin hypersensitive to such dynamics, she couldn’t ignore it.
So, what was this man plotting by founding a suspicious club called the Exorcism Club? She had to gather intel, if only out of curiosity.
With that in mind, Victoria cracked open the auditorium door Ophelia Knight had mentioned. Club activities were supposed to be here today.
“Excuse me—”
She greeted softly as she slipped inside, then froze mid-step.
In isolation, the scene wasn’t that strange.
Clearly mid-‘presentation.’ Auditorium present, presenter on stage, two audience members watching with interest.
Except.
If the person on stage weren’t her ‘family.’
‘...No.’
Of course, it wasn’t the sister she knew.
Wreathed head-to-toe in swirling purple aura, wearing a puppy-dog pleading expression—it was light-years from the cold-blooded killer in her memory.
And besides.
That state.
“...”
Lying sprawled on stage, belly exposed to the man in front, flailing arms and legs—that was her sister.
No matter how she thought about it.
It didn’t match a Grand Assassin, one of only two on the continent alongside herself.
She was even lolling her tongue out, panting happily. Her face beamed with genuine bliss, no hint of shame for what she was doing.
Victoria’s jaw dropped. Even as an assassin who suppressed emotions, she couldn’t hold it in.
“...Seras?”
The words slipped out in a daze.
Seras on stage whipped her head toward her.
“...Victoria?”
Suddenly.
Seras uttered it upon seeing her.
The purple aura around her vanished in an instant. The bizarre expression faded.
As if she’d snapped back to sanity the moment she spotted Victoria.
Then.
“...”
“...”
A catastrophic silence crashed into the auditorium.
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