Outside In (3)
“Eek, Jurchen! What’s that in your hand?!”
“…Oho. You’ve done a splendid job.”
“Hey, you…”
I stared in horror at the bloodied Jaber clutched in his grip. Even for someone as shameless as him, there had to be lines one simply did not cross. Fights broke out constantly among the hot-blooded students inside Sigmund, and the academy had clear, codified punishments for them. But this was something else entirely—an act of violence against outsiders, a violation of the highest order. The proud future leaders of the nation were never to lay hands on those from beyond the academy walls. If no one had been watching, maybe it could have been overlooked. But here, with so many eyes present, Jurchen was bound to be caught and reported.
“Those guys were soldiers, not civilians. So it shouldn’t matter, right, Yohan?”
“Still, this won’t end well.”
“Like I care.”
With that flimsy excuse, he hurled the battered Jaber aside. Whoosh—!
“I was just doing some rehab exercises when I overheard them grumbling about you lot. That’s how I figured out you’d come here…!”
No. That wasn’t the point.
“Where’s the part about you turning them into pulp in the middle of all that…?”
“That’s obvious just by looking.”
Anyway, he flashed his usual unpleasant grin and continued.
“By the way… Yohan, you bastard…”
“…Hey, wait a second.”
Then he burst into uncontrollable laughter, clutching his stomach.
“Kahahaha! Hey, survivor…!”
“Huh?”
“You told Cryan every detail of your fun little plan, but nothing to me? Does that make any sense?!”
He seemed so thoroughly satisfied with the chain of events I had set in motion that he approached me still wearing the blood-spattered patient gown, looking positively menacing.
“Ah, this dopamine-addicted bastard…”
“What’s that?”
“Someone who loves the stuff that makes you happy.”
“I see. I don’t really get it. But if that’s what you want to call me, then I suppose it’s correct.”
Truthfully, I had planned to exclude Jurchen from this operation entirely. No need to ask why. Just look at him—fresh from brawling with outsiders at the hospital. Despite trusting his competence and tanking ability, I had judged him ill-suited to face someone as cautious as Vankite. A man who acted without thinking was dangerous.
Yet, honestly, I had to reconsider. In this incident, he had undeniably earned merit. When Karalin faced an assault that Cryan and Eclipse together could not repel, he appeared out of nowhere to protect them. With quick thinking, he deceived Vankite and shielded everyone at the Western estate in the end. I still didn’t know what had driven the usually composed young lady to take such a reckless risk… but without Jurchen, she would have been gravely injured. So I couldn’t bring myself to hate him. Maybe he just knew too well how to win me over.
Then Jurchen spoke.
“I knew it. I knew you wouldn’t die. Everyone else thought you were gone, but I thought differently. How about that—my faith? Resonance between kindred spirits.”
He was completely drunk on his own ego now, saying whatever he pleased. Trying to rein him in would be pointless. Talking to someone like this any further would only lead to the same circular nonsense: “Jurchen, you’re great. I’m your friend. What I did was good. I don’t do wrong things. No, I can’t.”
No matter how I racked my brain, I couldn’t find a way to shield him from the mess he had created. Besides, why should I? Even if he had acted out of friendship, this had never been discussed. There was no reason for the rest of us to shoulder the consequences. Though it pained me, the only option seemed to be muzzling this mad dog and cutting him loose.
So I said to him,
“…Yeah, you’re amazing.”
“Of course.”
“You had your fun while failing to look after your own woman. Lucky you.”
At that, our dragon-kin, the devoted lover of pure romance, widened his eyes in shock.
“……Eh?”
His eyes blinked rapidly. Who could have imagined such a reaction from Jurchen? Everyone seemed to watch the scene with keen interest. I simply explained further, since he clearly didn’t understand.
“I’m talking about Lumein Kelo, that elf girl. Did you know she nearly died during the field training?”
Jurchen’s voice shot up as he lunged toward me.
“Y-Yohan—! You son of a—! Where the hell did you hear that nonsense?!”
“Nonsense or not, there’s a report that you skipped class just to spy on her from afar—”
“Big brother. Shut up, please.”
“Why? What’s the problem?”
“Things like that are better off not spreading as rumors! I don’t know where you heard it, but…!!”
I shrugged at his desperate plea.
“Ah, but more importantly, she almost died? How did you know that? Damn it, I heard you helped a lot of other kids instead of watching my heroic deeds. Don’t tell me you helped her directly, big brother?”
“Want to know?”
“…Yes.”
“Then go clean up the mess you made and take responsibility.”
I pointed at Jaber’s body, the result of Jurchen’s rampage.
“U-Urgh. Damn it— Fine… I got it. If I clean all this up, you’ll tell me, right?”
“Nothing I can’t do.”
With the hospital visit taking an unexpectedly chaotic turn, Eclipse—who had been quietly munching on the conch bread Karalin offered—watched in awe.
“O-Ooh… Yohan…!”
She clapped her hands together.
“So Jurchen can be controlled. As expected, someone who returned from death is on a different level…!”
“It wasn’t something I wanted to do.”
Anyway, that strange fellow had barged in and completely derailed my focus. There had been complications, but I somehow managed to get him out of the way. I approached Cryan’s bedside where Karalin sat. This wasn’t the main topic of our discussion. Jurchen suddenly appearing and beating those guys down had been secretly satisfying, like a ninja wiping everyone out. But if we left Cryan here, more of that same foolish ilk would keep coming. We had to do something.
“Cryan, do you know what faction those people who came for you belong to?”
Cryan’s face twisted slightly.
“…Obviously. They were just trying to take advantage of the chaos to use me.”
Being the sharp-minded Cryan he was, he instantly pieced together the context from what Karalin and I had done moments ago. I relayed only the bare facts.
“We were lucky they were here when we arrived. But I can’t guarantee we’ll be able to help again if similar people show up next time.”
Karalin, who had been listening thoughtfully, added her own words.
“Yohan is right, Cryan. With the empire in turmoil, if someone captures you while you carry the emperor’s blood… it would be disastrous.”
“…But there’s nowhere safe for me. If my body were healthy, I’d want to act immediately, but I can’t until this pathetic body recovers.”
Beyond keeping his word, Cryan—who had cooperated with me in pursuit of power from the start—muttered as if he had his own thoughts.
“Yohan. Could you hide me somewhere?”
“…Hide you, huh.”
What he needed was a safe place. But with it difficult to identify who was targeting Cryan—whether from the knight order or elsewhere—finding a secure location inside Sigmund’s grounds didn’t seem feasible.
“Even your room would be fine. Please look after me until I recover. It’s shameless, but I’m asking for your help…!”
“No matter where we put you, anyone determined enough could locate you within Sigmund’s walls. I’m not in my room all day either… I can’t protect you constantly.”
“Damn it.”
This was tricky, really tricky…
Just then, Eclipse—who had been watching the situation unfold in real time—spoke up.
“U-Um…”
She raised her hand slightly, as she always did when making an announcement.
“If we keep Cryan here, those bad people will keep coming, right…?”
“That’s right.”
“In that case, I do know one place that might be safe…”
“………!!”
At those words, forgotten memories connected in my mind, and a clear solution began to form. Though reluctant, she was the original protagonist our young lady had insisted on bringing along as an extra. Right now, she knew of a secret location no one else could access. It wasn’t anything else—it was the protagonist’s special privilege! Having not played as the protagonist for so long, I hadn’t even thought of it until now.
“I-I call that place my hideout…”
The observatory. The Sun Observatory. No one would find us there.
“Yeah, that’s it!”
“Yohan. Do you know where that is?”
With the answer so clear, I acted without thinking about how strange I must have looked.
“…Well. Since there’s no other way, we should go check it out.”
I quickly tried to backtrack.
“Hmm, is that so. If you say so, then anything’s fine.”
Honestly, even as I said it, I was certain we wouldn’t be discovered there.
“Come on, let’s go, Cryan.”
“Then I’ll have to ask you to abduct a patient. I don’t feel great about turning you into the same level of lawbreaker as that dragon-kin, but…”
“Sorry, but he said we’re the same kind. So it can’t be helped.”
“You sound very sure.”
I hoisted the much lighter Cryan onto my back and led everyone out of the hospital. For now, that place would have to become his sanctuary. Perhaps it could become all of ours.
***
Professor Babalk had been watching the memory crystal cartridge delivered to Figaro by someone with red hair. As expected, he raided the director’s office after it was confiscated and secured the original. There was always someone above the one who ran. Moreover, as the original developer of the memory crystal cartridge, he even restored the parts they had magically edited and cut out. And there it was—Yohan striking down Yagnus.
“Yohan… He did it…!”
He had been so good at playing dead that everyone had been fooled. Whatever his true intentions, he had survived and led everyone to the best possible outcome. So Babalk didn’t give a damn why Yohan had done it. That guy had crushed the Six Swords. The Six Swords, Six Swords, Six Swords, Six Swords, Six Swords, Six Swords, Six Swords, Six Swords, Six Swords, Six Swords—!!
“Kahahaha, kahahahaha—!! Huek, huahaha—!!”
Even watching this footage hundreds of times filled him with satisfaction, washing away the hatred he had accumulated toward the demon army over the years. As expected, his eye for talent had not been wrong. The potential he had sensed during the entrance exam when Yohan shattered the steel had exploded magnificently. The body of the evil goddess, which could never be destroyed. If one used an underhanded method to destroy it… that strange phenomenon where the being became a new Six Sword. It was something even this aged professor of ruin, who had devoted decades to researching them, had never witnessed. Though the fact sent chills down his spine, Yohan—who had clawed his way back to life through that absurd coercion—had sent one of the Six Swords straight to hell.
Babalk chuckled as he read through the chart detailing Yohan’s physical condition.
“…I can’t hold back anymore. I need to meet him. And make the proposal I’ve been thinking about for so long.”
The reason he had protected Yohan like a sacred treasure, allowing no visitors and keeping him with the Grand Duke’s daughter, had all been orchestrated by Babalk himself—to reignite the plan to turn him into a supernova after it had seemed stalled by his death. In other words, it was to isolate him so that ignorant outsiders wouldn’t interfere. As the training instructor and head professor, Babalk had the duty to handle the tragic news from the field training where many students had been injured or killed… but at the same time, he bore the responsibility of leading the annihilation of the demon army as the only human capable of it. He looked at Gorgo, frozen like ice cream inside the magical scroll Yohan had used to trap her, and spoke.
“Before I die, I might get to see it. The Demon King, that bastard’s neck being ripped out. With Yohan, it’s possible. With Yohan alone—”
Imagining how Yohan would use the Gorgo sealed in ice, he laughed so maniacally that his research lab echoed with the sound.
“Become a Hero, Yohan!”
Since he never wanted to be influenced by anything from the outside, he was already planning a proposal that Yohan would absolutely refuse.