Pull Him Down (3)
This was how it should be. From the very beginning, this was the right outcome.
Among the professors who should have taken responsibility, Professor Siar—who had been the senior instructor on site—had struck a small deal with me. In exchange for fabricating evidence that would draw aggro, he had only been suspended. Even though the academy was in shambles after the top student, Yohan, had died a violent death, he had still forced the field training to proceed.
And after everything was over, Chairman Montgomery—who had openly defended the Crown Prince, a man whose crimes were obvious to anyone with eyes—should have at least stepped down. But since he had no intention of doing so, he was being dragged down like this.
However.
Once the student council’s impeachment document was officially issued, Montgomery’s reaction was surprisingly calm. Perhaps it was because all the students had withdrawn from the dormitory thanks to the impeachment notice. Or maybe it was because he possessed boundless confidence that he would never be removed, no matter what.
“Foolish creatures. Mere students acting like they own this city…”
But listening to him assess the situation from inside the chairman’s residence, it seemed far more likely to be the latter. He had something to rely on.
“Clapping requires two hands. Even if the student council submits something like that and the Magic Tower approves it, there’s no reason for the professors to obediently go along with it. Secretary?”
“You’re absolutely right, Chairman!”
“The successor they proposed is some common thug warlord called Nonedon Naigerse or whatever… How could any self-respecting scholar accept that?”
To put his argument simply, it boiled down to: Intellectuals would never accept a thug.
Well, from a certain perspective, the logic wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
“The students were simply short-sighted. It can’t be helped. They still lack real-world experience.”
“Good grief. What a disgrace to Sigmund. I have no idea what they were thinking when they submitted this.”
And that wasn’t the only reason he believed the attempt would be blocked. Who did they think was sponsoring the money that filled the professors’ wallets? Who did they think that sponsorship ultimately came from?
That slush fund belonged to none other than Queen Mother Sabrina, who currently held the reins of power… and the enormous sum he himself was lending.
The professors could never abandon him—the man who would remain in the chairman’s seat until the day his body gave out, filling their pockets—over students who would leave this place in just two years or so. Even if Montgomery himself might discard the professors.
“…So. Since this impeachment document is destined to become nothing but scrap paper anyway, there’s no need for me to do anything. Still, it might be good to put on a little show at this point, don’t you think? Hey, Secretary.”
Montgomery swept back what little hair he had left and spoke down to his secretary in a familiar tone.
“Yes, Chairman Montgomery!”
“Professor Siar, who led the recent forest training, was only suspended because of the matter involving His Highness the Crown Prince. At this point, we could simply dismiss him outright, couldn’t we? Make it look like we’re holding someone accountable.”
“That’s brilliant! A wonderful idea, sir. Any backlash against you remaining in your position can be smothered by visibly punishing the person responsible.”
“Right. Then let’s just do it. Ugh, this job really is exhausting.”
In short, it was a classic case of cutting off the tail to save the head.
But.
At this moment, how could the chairman possibly know?
That someone had already secured the votes of the entire faculty by receiving support from the ‘only being’ capable of breaking this structural absurdity.
Montgomery may have had money, but he lacked the charisma to control people. If there was a fatal flaw in his strategy, it was precisely this.
Before the impeachment document was fully adopted, I had finished everything I needed to do. I stepped out into the night to bring this story to its conclusion.
To put an end to it.
The meaning behind those words was simple. It meant I could finally crush that incompetent octopus of a chairman—who was still alive only because it wasn’t yet his time to die, and who continued to create nothing but frustratingly stupid situations straight out of the original story.
It also meant rewarding our dear Yongyong, who had unintentionally provided the spark.
Well, at the time I had considered washing my hands of the matter since it wasn’t something I had done myself. I had no intention of completely shielding him… but honestly.
The more time passed, the less I wanted to push away that guy who kept clinging to me because he liked me. At the very least, wasn’t it rather pitiful that he had been confined after doing something for our sake?
‘Still, once everything is over, he should be released soon…’
Despite that thought, the only timing left to give him a special gift—while he sat trapped in the tower, hearing no news and twiddling his thumbs—was right now.
If I could comfort his empty heart and the heavy weight he felt on his scales at this very moment… he would probably lose his mind with joy.
So I had prepared the greatest gift I could give him.
Under the thick darkness of the late night.
“Um… Lord of Steel?”
“Ah, you’re here. Lumein.”
Everyone who had finished their tasks was resting in their respective places. I had sent a message to Lumein and called her out to an empty lot outside the academy grounds. I had done the same with Cryan.
“…Hey. Why did you call me, Yohan? I’ve been asking since earlier and you haven’t answered.”
“I needed an extra pair of hands. Couldn’t be helped.”
“Extra hands…? You know I’m not exactly the physical type, right?”
“Shut up. You’ll see when we get there.”
“Yessir.”
That was what I said, but the real reason I had called Cryan along with Lumein herself was because I was worried she might get scared. This was a thought that only someone like me—who had once received mirror therapy from a sword-wielding Nonedon—could have.
A hulking, dark-skinned man like me quietly calling a woman out at night… there was no guarantee a normal lady wouldn’t be frightened.
But even though that was part of it, the bigger reason was that Cryan was the man I trusted most in this entire academy. Among the people I was close with, there were a few women I could name… but when it came to a guy, didn’t it go without saying?
Since I was about to cause a bit of a scene, doing something like this with girls felt a little awkward. Of course Lumein was a woman too, but she was an exception because she had been the one who requested Jurchen’s rescue.
“Why… why did you call me here…? Is there any progress on rescuing that idiot?”
Lumein had bowed deeply to us but hadn’t received a detailed explanation of the situation. So it was only natural for her to ask such a question. The fact that she was even asking was understandable in its own way.
She had told me that if I had a method, she would do it herself, so please just tell her… but hadn’t I said I would handle it and asked her to wait a little?
So I explained simply.
“It’s all been taken care of. You don’t need to worry about Jurchen anymore. If things go well, his release won’t be a problem. A lot of things are going to happen starting tomorrow.”
“Really?! Thank you, thank you so much…! Jurchen really seems to cause trouble for so many people. I feel terribly sorry…”
“It’s fine. We all help each other out.”
At my words, Lumein lowered her head as if expressing her gratitude. It was truly hard to believe that such a proud elf could show this kind of humility. It must have been a kind of survival strategy she had chosen after being reasonably dragged into the imperial capital, much like Lady Gorgo.
It was almost as if she had become Jurchen’s guardian.
But she had no need to thank me. Saving Jurchen had been done at her request, but ultimately, removing the chairman was the most important thing for us, so it had been a matter of killing two birds with one stone.
“Anyway, you said you wanted me to bring something to give to Jurchen, Lord of Steel… so I brought it.”
“Good. Well done.”
“Is this what you wanted to deliver to him?”
With that, she handed me a wicker basket filled with items. Inside were various fruits—apples, grapes, and more—along with something rather crudely made. A necklace fashioned from tree branches.
‘…Ah, wait. Don’t tell me she’s trying to return this right now—?’
I couldn’t help but be surprised when I saw the necklace. Since I knew what had happened between the two of them, it would have been stranger if I hadn’t recognized it.
“Why, why are you looking at it like that, Sir Yohan? Is it because of the fruit?”
“Ah, no, it’s not that…”
“Jurchen looks like the type who would love meat, but he refuses to eat a meal without fruit. Since the moment he was locked in the tower, he probably hasn’t been able to eat any…”
However, Lumein seemed to think I was staring at the fruit and kindly explained. But the one who spoke up here was Cryan, who had been quietly watching the situation.
“No, Lady Lumein. I think Yohan was probably surprised by how incredibly crude that necklace is. He must be wondering why an elf—who can create such incredible crafts from natural materials—would give something like this as a gift.”
“Wait, you bastard, do you even know what that is?!”
“Haha, sorry. Actually, I was the one who was curious, not Yohan. As I said, there’s no way an elf made that, right? So for an elf to give something like this to Jurchen… I wondered if there was some complicated story behind it.”
At those words, Lumein looked rather embarrassed as she explained.
“…Ahaha, this. This is actually pretty funny.”
“……….”
“…This is a necklace Jurchen gave me when we were children.”
“As expected.”
I didn’t say anything, but Cryan rested his chin on his hand with clear interest as he listened to her story.
“When the young master of the Laghound Margrave family was still a little runt, he would always sneak into the elf forest and follow me around. No matter that we were from enemy nations, I couldn’t bring myself to get angry at someone so innocent and pure, so I played with him a few times…”
She reminisced about her childhood.
“That stupid idiot took the kindness I showed him and suddenly fell for me. He made a huge fuss about becoming an elf himself and gave me this as a gift.”
“Oh ho, so he was imitating the wooden crafts elves wear?”
“I suppose so. Mm, but as you said, the shape is so poor that I couldn’t exactly refuse it, and I couldn’t throw it away either—”
She looked at the necklace and smiled faintly.
“…So I’ve just kept it with me all this time.”
“Didn’t Jurchen pester you about why you weren’t wearing it? I may not know you as well as he does, but the Jurchen I know would definitely do that.”
“Of course he did! He asked why I wasn’t wearing it, if I had thrown it away, even cried and begged me not to trample on his sincerity…”
“Wow, that sounds exhausting.”
But Cryan seemed to understand immediately. That was just like Jurchen.
“Even so, I never threw it away. I don’t even know why I kept it. Anyway, by the time I realized it, I had been storing it carefully in one corner of my locker so it wouldn’t break…”
Then, with a slight tremble in her eyes, she said,
“I’ve kept it all this time. And now I want to return it.”
“Huh. Does Jurchen know you still have it?”
“No. He definitely doesn’t. At some point he stopped mentioning it, so he probably thinks I threw it away…”
“Then why return it now? He’ll be released from the tower soon anyway. You could just give it to him then.”
To be honest, that was something I was curious about too.
“…Mm.”
When Cryan asked, Lumein dragged out her words for a moment before clearly resolving the question.
“It has to be now, while he’s locked in the tower, for it to have meaning.”
“…Meaning?”
“Jurchen got suspended and locked in the tower again because he couldn’t control his temper and acted like an idiot. So I’ve been running around in a panic trying to fix it, asking others for help, and causing trouble for everyone around me…”
Lumein swept her hair back as she continued.
“And yet that idiot probably has no idea I’m doing all this. He probably thinks I don’t care about him at all.”
And only then did my thoughts connect.
Before Cryan could answer, I spoke to her first.
“…Ah, so what you’re saying is… by returning this necklace to him while he’s suffering in the tower, you want to tell him that even though you seem completely uninterested, you’ve actually been paying attention to him all along?”
“P-paying attention?! It’s not like that!”
“Haha, I understand what you mean.”
“Really, you shouldn’t tease people like that… Lord of Steel.”
She hurriedly handed me the basket completely.
“A-anyway! You said you’d deliver this, so I’ll gratefully accept your kindness! Please, give this to him—!”
“Oh. I’m sorry, Lady Lumein, but I never said a single word about delivering it myself.”
“…Eh?”
“Since you’ve come all the way here, why don’t you deliver it personally?”
At my words, Lumein was so flustered she couldn’t speak, her jaw hanging open. I simply glanced sideways at Cryan, who was staring at me.
“Cryan, this is why I called you. I’m going to use you as the worker who brings Lumein up to meet Jurchen, who’s locked at the top of the tower.”
“…Aha. Heh, heheheh— I see. So that’s why you didn’t say anything. Alright. This sounds fun.”
“Operation name: ‘Rapunzel.’”
Of course, even if I told him that, there was no such fairy tale here, so he wouldn’t understand.