A Minor Revenge
"Uh... Are all these people... prisoners, by any chance?" the staff member inside the examination room asked. His expression was strangely ambiguous—a perfect mix of suspicion and shock.
"What else would they be? It's not like people are cooking ingredients," I answered curtly.
He had no choice but to accept it, but the staff member kept staring at me and Ines with open disbelief. In the end, simply looking wasn't enough for him to make a judgment, so he rose from his seat. He scanned the hero candidates lined up like sausages linked together.
"These aren't ordinary knights... they're hero candidates?" He'd realized it belatedly after noticing their uniforms. Naturally, the ransom value of hero candidates and regular knights was on completely different levels, so his face filled with even greater astonishment.
This time he turned and examined me and Ines up close. It seemed to stem from concern over whether we'd been badly hurt, but aside from the wolf fur, we were perfectly fine.
"You two caught all of them? Really?"
"How often would other people catch them just because they like us? Yes, the two of us caught them ourselves."
The possibility of it being a lie was practically nonexistent. Therefore, it was clear that Kang Sian and Ines had taken them alive.
"Insane..."
Of course, there was still the chance that the academy had squeezed money from its nonexistent budget to hire hunters who had done the catching. So the staff member decided to probe one last time.
"Exactly where did you capture them alive?"
"Between the northern orange zone and the red zone."
"Why did you go there?"
"We needed main ingredients for the survival cooking lecture. So... we simply went to where these guys live?"
"...What year are you in?"
"We're both first-years."
"Huh."
It came out so confidently. No matter how you looked at it, it felt genuine, and when he checked the records, it turned out to be true.
'The class midterm is scheduled, and we have to prepare grilled dishes then...'
The staff member glanced at the wolf Ines had dragged in. It was half torn to shreds, but the fate of the living creature was unmistakably clear.
"Understood. We'll proceed with the prisoner intake process and score allocation, so please wait a moment. Thank you."
With those words, he and the other staff began disarming the prisoners. Naturally, they didn't forget to bring chairs and food for me and Ines. It was a distinctly preferential treatment compared to previous visitors. Satisfied, the two of us watched blankly as the staff struggled to peel off the armor and steam engines.
They're really bad at getting it off.
This doesn't feel like it'll be just a moment—it looks like it'll take quite a while.
Unfortunately, the tightly secured steam engines were only devouring time. It got to the point where the two of us, deciding even the slightest mana drain was wasteful, pulled out the shield battery and pocketed it.
"I'll rip it apart, so hold that side steady."
"Hngh! It's tightened too much—it won't come off... Isn't there an easy-release mechanism?"
"There is, but it's broken so we can't use it!"
They were still suffering. I let out a sigh. Then, as if my patience had reached its limit, I stood up from my chair. I drew my sword and walked straight toward the staff.
"Eh? Hey?"
"Please step back for a moment. I'll cut it."
I infused the blade with mana and carefully sliced through the armor and steam engine. The sight of the armor being cut like tofu was enough to make anyone doubt their eyes. Once the locking mechanisms on all five sets of armor had been split open, the staff members' faces went slack with astonishment.
I stepped back a few paces as if it were nothing special.
"Is this fine now?"
"Yes? Yes, yes! Thank you!"
They bowed deeply and began disarming the prisoners far more smoothly. The hero candidates tried to resist with all their might, but this wasn't a problem endurance could solve. In the end, they were stripped piece by piece and forced to kneel on the floor. It was truly a pathetic sight.
"It looks like it will take a little more time. Is there anything else you need?"
One of the staff members asked me cautiously. I shook my head and stared directly at the hero candidates.
"By the way, what will happen to these people now?"
"What do you mean, what will happen?"
"I'm asking where they'll be taken. You're not just going to extract information and then lock them up in the academy, are you?"
Prisoners captured by hunters had to be moved somewhere, and the same applied to those from Shareltea. They needed to be sent to a place with strict security—somewhere that could handle any incidents that might arise.
It was only natural. A knight was not a being to be taken lightly, just like a hunter. If one escaped using magic, the resulting disaster would be catastrophic.
"Those whose information extraction is complete will be transferred to the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp."
"The Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp?"
In that sense, the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp was the perfect location. After all, it was only a short boat ride from Puerto Rico to Cuba.
"Yes. There, the prisoners will undergo Thoughts Purge processing. While doing so, they will learn the yearning for democracy and freedom."
"And after that..."
"The captor decides how they will be treated. Whether they remain at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp or are transferred to a facility in their home country."
One of the captors—if it was my home country, that meant Korea. However, since I hadn't revealed my nationality, he studied me carefully.
"With that white hair and elven appearance, you seem Korean..."
But he didn't continue. It seemed he lacked sufficient data in his head to pull up more information.
"Aoji Camp, Cheongjin Camp, Yodeok Camp."
"Pardon?"
"They're three famous camps for general awakened prisoners in Korea. Since Aoji and Cheongjin serve other purposes, they'll be sent to Yodeok Camp."
"Hmm. Although I'm not very familiar with the situation in Korea, I suppose that's probably what will happen."
Since Ines held American nationality, two or three of them would be heading there. I offered my sincere condolences to the hero candidates who would become the subjects of that fate.
It was right around then that the future of the hero candidates grew even darker.
The kneeling female mage ground her teeth and glanced sideways.
"...Kuh."
She had moved past despair and into rage. This was because she roughly understood what her future held.
According to what she'd learned at the Hero Academy, prisoners of the Demon King's army faced nothing but death. Being locked in a hell too terrible to witness with open eyes and subjected to every horrific act imaginable was no different from dying. And then, as their minds gradually eroded, falling into corruption. There was nothing more terrifying than denying the World Tree, the great savior. That could not be allowed to happen.
Even if her life ended here, she had to kill at least one member of the Demon King's army.
So the female mage scraped together every last drop of her depleted mana. Then she fixed her gaze on the dark-skinned demon woman at the end of her line of sight. The male demon was highly capable, so there was a good chance he could dodge, but the woman likely wouldn't be able to. She needed no hesitation. She quietly prepared her magic. The moment her captors let their guard down, she thrust her palm toward the demon woman and fired.
It was sudden. Stone icicles formed from the magic circle on her palm and shot forward. Multiple ones at once!
From the staff to both students, everyone witnessed the scene. They immediately moved to stop it, but it was already too late.
The sharp stone icicles flew toward Ines. She should have dodged, but expecting her to possess outstanding athletic reflexes was asking too much. She could only watch. And watch. She had to face it helplessly.
This was something I could not tolerate.
I instantly heightened all my senses and leaped forward as if throwing my body into the path. Even with time slowed, there wasn't enough of it to deflect the stone icicles. There also wasn't enough time to take any other personal action. It left me defenseless, but there was no choice. It was inevitable.
I wrapped myself around Ines as if shielding her.
"Urgh!"
The stone icicles slammed into my back one after another. The seated Ines toppled from the impact, and the two of us collapsed to the floor together.
"You crazy bastard!"
The staff members rushed to subdue the mage. That ended the attack. However, the damage was only just beginning.
Although my protective gear had blocked most of it, it wasn't perfect, and several stone icicles remained embedded in my back.
"Hold his arms tight!"
"These bastards have seriously lost their minds!"
"Damn it! Are you okay?!"
In the midst of that chaos, Ines stared at the stone icicles lodged in my back—the back of the person who had tried to protect her. Strangely, the first thought that rose in her mind was Why?
"Huu..."
Her face flushed slightly.
Thankfully, the injury wasn't severe. Since it was magic cast in haste, the damage amounted to nothing more than a little blood trickling down my back. That it was somehow bearable was one thing, but being attacked inside the examination hall while unarmed was another matter entirely. Especially when a bloody incident caused by managerial negligence could easily lead to a lawsuit.
If it had been Cheon Mari, she would have immediately started talking about "suing their asses," but I had no intention of harassing the academy staff without reason.
"W-we're sorry! Please, just this once, forgive—"
Although their negligence had created this situation, they weren't the direct, malicious culprits. Rather, the ones who deserved to be tormented here weren't the staff, but the hero candidates themselves.
"Instead of sending them to the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, could you transfer them directly to Korea?"
Thus, I requested a small act of revenge. Strictly speaking, it was both revenge and special treatment. Nothing about it was ordinary.
"We're truly sorry...! As an apology for this incident, we'll provide additional compensation and extra academy points...!"
Acceptance of demands. Proposal of additional conditions. Damage control, and more damage control. Suddenly, the work that had been moving at a snail's pace accelerated dramatically. It advanced the timing of my visit to Ines's house considerably.
It might seem odd to head to Ines's house while injured, but there was a reason for it. And that reason was none other than...