Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Desperate Situation
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"Yes!"
Eliya clenched her fists tightly and let out a cheer upon spotting her own name on the publicly posted "exchange student roster."
Luca, Grid, Falco, Trisha too.
She ran her eyes down the list, confirming all her friends' names were there, and broke into a radiant smile.
Looks like those hellish training sessions with her friends over the past few days hadn't been for nothing.
"Now we can go together, Trisha!"
"Eliya, ugh, can't... breathe!"
Eliya squealed with delight and hugged Trisha tightly from behind, drawing a cry of protest.
But Eliya paid no mind and kept her arms wrapped around her friend.
"And thanks to you, I won't have to be separated from Teacher!"
Hadn't Trisha just shoved her forward, insisting Dawood Campbell was bound to make the list? If she slacked off, other women would swarm him without her there. If she didn't want to fall behind, she'd better work hard.
Good thing she'd listened!
"Hang on, Eliya. Before that, we need to plan our strategy."
The list right in front of them had way too many unwelcome names sprinkled in.
"...Student Council President, that Yuria you mentioned, the Saintess, and even that mad dog...? Wow, this is gonna be a tough one."
Eliya's expression clouded slightly as Trisha rattled off the lineup.
Exchange students were typically selected from top performers across all academic districts, regardless of year. Even accounting for that, it felt oddly skewed toward freshmen—almost bizarrely so.
Wasn't an academy's "academic district" the most basic measure of ability?
And yet, this lineup looked like it had been curated with freshmen at the center—specifically, those around Dawood Campbell.
"That's why you need to stay sharp, Eliya."
Trisha spoke calmly.
"To tame that stud of a man, you need your own weapon!"
"...Trisha. Aren't you supposed to be a priestess or something?"
Even so, that word choice?
Calling a perfectly normal guy a stud?
"He's not exactly normal, honestly."
"..."
"Ask anyone in the academy about him. See if that reputation holds up."
"..."
Even Eliya couldn't muster a rebuttal.
"...More importantly, what do you mean by 'my own weapon'?"
"I mean, don't you have some unique trait no other girl can offer?"
Did she?
Hadn't she been utterly depressed just recently because she didn't? Because she couldn't offer Dawood anything useful.
"You don't have to do something for him. If you know something about him that others don't, start there."
"..."
She did have one thing like that.
Back when Grand Duke Tristan had been overtaken by that unidentified entity and gone berserk.
Dawood facing off against that unrecognizable "abomination."
She still clearly remembered him conversing with it as if he knew it intimately, while time itself stood frozen. He'd resolved to sacrifice something of himself to save everyone there from death.
'...I never asked outright.'
It clearly wasn't something he'd share easily.
No doubt others were clueless about it.
"...Hey, Trisha."
"Yeah?"
"About Teacher."
Eliya mulled it over and suddenly voiced a key realization.
"He kinda gives off this vibe like he's buddies with something really horrific, you know?"
"..."
"Think we could work something out with that?"
"...Let's think it through together, slowly. What your unique weapon could be."
Trisha was a kind soul at heart.
She just couldn't bring herself to yell at her closest friend to stop talking ghost-story nonsense.
"...Huh?"
That's when Eliya noticed how unnaturally quiet it had gotten around them.
She whipped her head around.
Everyone's attention was fixed in one direction.
And the person at the edge of that collective gaze?
Eliya instantly understood why.
'...She's insanely pretty.'
The thought slipped into Eliya's mind unbidden.
The girl was short enough to call a kid.
But.
Even in a crowd like this, her beauty commanded the space, dense and captivating.
As if.
She wasn't quite the "same" as everyone else.
It felt strongly like some non-human "other" had been woven into her very being.
"..."
The student silently raised her wand and scanned the names on the poster.
Eliya instinctively read the name where the wand tip paused.
-1st District, Peynol Lifek.
She'd heard the name before.
One of the top first-year powerhouses—a candidate for hero, but not the undisputed strongest.
A once-in-history genius with magic, whom Headmaster Atalante had declared might surpass even her in that field. A monster.
"..."
So that's what she looks like.
That was Eliya's only impression.
She stood out like a sore thumb, sure, but with no connection, what could she do?
That's what Eliya thought.
Until Peynol, having confirmed her own name, frowned with a "hmph," scanning for someone else.
-...
Peynol slid her wand smoothly across to the other side of the list.
Her eyes relaxed. She'd found who she was looking for.
Eliya followed her gaze and read the name.
-2nd District, Dawood Campbell.
"..."
Wait.
What.
Her too?
"...There you are."
Peynol murmured and smiled.
A decadent, seductive expression oozing from her face, she turned and walked off with brisk steps.
As if that was all she cared about—everyone else wasn't worth her time.
"..."
Eliya stared blankly after her, then gaped.
Why?
Just why?
What the hell was that guy doing to attract women like her left and right?
"..."
As Eliya reeled with those thoughts.
Trisha spoke in a voice stiff with tension.
"...Hey, Eliya."
"Yeah?"
"Let's steer clear of her if we can."
Eliya blinked.
"...What?"
"Promise me."
"..."
Seeing Trisha's unusually firm tone, Eliya nodded reluctantly.
She'd never regretted following Trisha's advice so far.
Of course, Trisha had her reasons.
'...Nothing. No color at all.'
She couldn't detect any "emotional hue" from Peynol.
No one could be utterly devoid of feelings. In Trisha's experience, this only happened in one case.
The already dead.
"..."
Trisha stared silently at Peynol's retreating back.
But that woman.
Was undeniably alive and moving.
'...What is she?'
Definitely not a normal "human."
Convinced of that, Trisha watched Peynol go, hiding her sweat-slicked hands.
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I gulp dryly, staring down at the ring on my finger.
One hasty stopgap measure, at least.
I'd gone to a thrilled Elnor and begged her not to announce our "engagement" publicly.
We'd agreed to keep it from everyone until I graduated the academy.
If even a rumor got out, I'd be done for.
"...Certainly, with your current status, word getting out about your engagement to a ducal house member would only bring trouble."
Fortunately, she saw my point. I'd barely suppressed a landmine that was guaranteed to blow up later, tied to my vessel connections with other demons.
"..."
But the landmine right in front of me was still live.
I glare at the bloodshot timer ticking down relentlessly.
!!!!!!!!!!!Demon Alert!!!!!!!!!!!
[ ‘Demon-related’ emergency event triggered! ]
[ This is a critical event! ]
[ Fail to act correctly within the time limit, and you will die! ]
[ Event involves target ‘Yuria’! ]
[ Find a way to survive! ]
[ Time Remaining ]
[ 9: 22: 33 ]
No matter how hard I rack my brain, I can't figure out how to survive.
What the hell is the "correct action"?
With Elnor, both she and the Gray Devil were filled with pure goodwill toward me, so simply accepting it honestly worked. But this? No clue.
[But seriously, does that girl have any reason to be this anxious? Isn't that weird curse suppressed by the circlet?]
"...She's fine. It's what's inside her that's the problem."
As Caliban said, Yuria herself isn't the issue.
However.
Whenever a window like this pops up, it means high odds the White Devil's rampaging straight for me.
[What?]
"There's this psycho who goes berserk if I wear any 'new-to-her' accessory."
[...]
"If it's a gift infused with 'affection' from someone else, she loses it twice as bad."
Her epithet "Demon of Obsession" isn't for show.
The White Devil's info-gathering on obsession targets is straight-up broken.
Hiding and running without being seen might work, sure.
But problem is, Yuria's corruption level auto-climbs if she's away from me for over two days. She'll even charge at me headlong if it's been too long.
And from memory.
Thanks to the Lilu and Elnor mess, it's been at least three days since we've been together?
This timer? It's how long until Yuria steps into my room.
And the moment she does and sees this ring.
"..."
The system window spells it out.
I'm dead.
This time, I really have no escape...!
"...9 hours to figure something..."
I mutter and stand.
I can probably cobble a plan in my head.
Yuria's usual routine means she's probably with Lucien right now, working on curse relief. This timer signals her coming after that.
So what I need to do is.
Factor in the time left, people and resources around me, and craft optimal conditions—
[...But you know.]
Just as I start piecing it together.
Caliban's voice cut in.
[You're acting awfully casual right now, aren't you?]
"Pardon?"
[With that level of insane intel-gathering, couldn't she find out without even meeting you directly?]
"...What are you getting at?"
[I don't know why you're assuming she'll show up exactly in 9 hours.]
Caliban sounded incredulous as he continued.
[Someone's coming down the hall. A woman.]
Chills race up my spine.
I snap my gaze to the door. Footsteps approach for real.
Thanks to Ophelia Knight's temporary fix, I can't see across, but.
Frozen, staring, a knock comes.
"...Mr. Dawood."
It's Yuria.
Sweat pours down.
"Are you inside? I have something I'd like to ask."
"Y-Yeah, Yuria. Sorry, I'm kinda busy right now—"
"...Why?"
Her voice is the same soft tone as always.
But something's off.
Normally, she'd ask out of pure curiosity.
Now, though.
A chill creeps in. Something damp and sticky clings beneath her words, humid with malice.
"Why are you busy?"
"..."
"Tell me. Why are you busy?"
"Uh, well, you see."
"I saw the Student Council President earlier, in the hall by the student council room. Just happened to spot her while walking through Garrison Hall."
My heart drops.
Garrison Hall's where Yuria and Lucien are always holed up.
Student council room's miles away. Hard to even notice each other.
But.
"...She was wearing a ring on her finger."
Yuria says it, spot on.
"..."
At that distance, Elnor would've been a dot.
And she "precisely" spotted the ring on her finger?
Even for the White Devil's near-superpower intel on obsession targets, this is insane...!
"But the moment I saw it."
The chill in Yuria's voice thickens.
"For some reason, I just had to come straight to you."
I step back from the door instinctively.
Haven't even seen her yet.
"A voice keeps echoing in my head. Over and over, and over."
Then.
Crack.
The makeshift door warps entirely.
Yuria on the other side had punched it once.
"Mr. Dawood, Mr. Dawood, is leaving me. For another, for someone else, to swear eternal bonds."
Crack.
Splinters fly as it crumples further.
"No, right?"
Crack again.
The plywood shatters whole, creating a gap.
Through that widening slit.
Yuria's hands reach in.
Grinding— the gap yawns grotesquely.
Her face appears through the broken door.
Eyes unfocused. The face that always beamed only at me? Blank.
Not just her irises—her hair's dyed the white of the devil within.
White aura flakes off her body, freezing the air around her.
[No, right—....?]
Not a "voice," but "letters" spill out.
The meaning's crystal clear.
Even the special steel circlet can't hold back the "malevolent energy" surging in her anymore.
[System Message]
[ Target ‘Yuria’s corruption level is about to exceed 100%! ]
[ Progress update confirmed! ]
[ Time limit adjusted! ]
!!!!!!!!!!!Demon Alert!!!!!!!!!!!
[ Time Remaining ]
[ 9: 17: 19 ] → [ 0: 00: 30 ]
"..."
Fuck you, system.
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