Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: The Cat's Failed Charm
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ In response to the desperate plea for help, Philip shot back in disbelief.
"Do I look like a fucking idiot to you?"
"Pardon? What do you... Kyaaaooong!"
Philip tightened the bandage around her wound as hard as he could.
"If you're gonna pull some shit, at least do it smart. Think about it logically. If there was a traitor in your tribe from the start, do you really think the Black Cat Tribe could've stayed hidden this long? Crescent would've sniffed you out ages ago and turned you into their bitches."
"Wait, please! I can explain everything!"
Lana cried out urgently, but Philip shook his head.
"You shouldn't be able to explain. If you can explain, that means you could've prepared countermeasures, right? Then it doesn't make sense that you'd come crawling to some guy you met once."
"Haaak!"
Lana hissed, her fur bristling as she backed away and shifted into her human form.
The woman with her black hair tied back tightly—Lana's eyes gleamed with eerie light. Seeing those split pupils, Philip thought to himself.
'A Demonic Eye.'
Demonic Eye.
An eye that inflicted negative effects on the soul or body of anyone who met its gaze.
It was a power one either had to be born with or receive from a high-ranking demon.
'But shouldn't it have worked the moment I looked at it?'
As Philip stood there pondering, Lana, regaining her composure in an instant, smirked and slowly approached him.
The name of her Demonic Eye was the Eye of Enchantment, a gift from her master, the incubus Nephen.
"...You're pretty sharp, but you didn't see this coming, did you?"
She reached out and stroked his cheek.
"You're handsome, too. I bet we could have some real fun. I'll ask Master to spare your life, so don't worry. I'll keep you around until I get bored."
Philip grinned at her words, brimming with overconfident victory.
"Thanks."
"...What?"
Realizing at last that Philip hadn't fallen under her Demonic Eye, Lana tried to retreat in a panic—but his fist slammed into her solar plexus first.
"Heok!"
She crumpled to the ground, and Philip let out a sigh of relief.
"No wonder it felt so sloppy. She had something to rely on after all."
With a cheat ability like a Demonic Eye, she could afford to pull off such a half-assed scheme.
—Exactly. Neria thought it was fishy too. Who does she think she's fooling!
Neria, who had been keeping quiet, finally spoke up. Watching her reaction, Philip thought.
'Looks like she fooled one person.'
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ After fully subduing the unconscious Lana, Philip headed back to the faculty building, lost in thought.
'Why didn't the Demonic Eye work on me?'
He mulled it over alone, but no answers came.
There were too many possibilities to jump to conclusions.
'I can ask Previa later.'
After the academy schedule wrapped up, he planned to take Lana to the dragon. She could rummage through that arrogant cat's memories and uncover the whole truth.
The moment he returned to the faculty building, he ran into a staff member.
"Instructor? Professor Oswald is urgently looking for you. She said to come straight to her as soon as you got back."
"Already?"
He had caused a scene, but classes should still be ongoing, so word shouldn't have spread that fast. Something felt off about her summoning him already.
Arriving at Felicia's lab soon after, he overheard Professor Haslan's voice from outside the door.
"...In conclusion, I won't let this slide. Professor Oswald, you've been a model and genius student since your academy days. That's why you've risen to professor at such a young age."
Philip grasped the situation instantly.
'He's so pissed he ditched class to come bitch to Felicia. How the hell is this guy a professor?'
He could've understood if it was just an instructor, but a full professor lacking that much sense was beyond imagination.
'Well, this might work out better.'
"Sigh, Professor Haslan. I told you I'd hear Instructor Oswald's side before deciding."
Thanks to the groundwork he'd laid, Felicia didn't seem particularly angry. Philip pushed open the door and walked in.
Inside the lab were Professor Haslan, face flushed red, and Felicia, looking troubled.
The professor spotted Philip and opened his mouth to yell, but Felicia spoke first.
"What the hell is this, Instructor? You stormed out in the middle of the professor's class?"
"Didn't say why?"
"Why? He didn't specify. I was gonna ask you when you got here."
Felicia glanced at Professor Haslan as she replied. She'd only heard Philip's side of the fault, not the full context.
"It's true I had to leave early for an emergency, but I didn't expect you'd abandon your class of thirty students to come here."
Philip addressed Professor Haslan directly, ignoring Felicia.
"Putting on airs now that family's here? Go on, mouth off like before. What was wrong with my teaching?"
Professor Haslan's vein throbbed in his neck as he shouted. Philip could guess why he was going this far.
But he didn't have time to bicker.
"Did I say anything wrong earlier? Your student attacked the instructor without even being able to control his own body during sparring, and you're blaming me? Is that right?"
"That's for me to handle later. Not your business."
"Then is this something that needs handling right now? Leaving thirty students alone in the training hall? What are they doing?"
Felicia, watching their argument, tried to piece together the context.
'...They both screwed up?'
Then she caught sight of Philip's expression.
'Huh?'
It was the first face she'd seen from him since reuniting as instructor and professor.
His irritation-twisted features radiated something chilling, even to her as his sister.
"Your arrogance knows no bounds. You think you'll get away with this unscathed? I'll report this to the Dean. I can't overlook it anymore."
That was the breaking point for Professor Haslan.
"Think before you flap your gums, Professor. If I get kicked out like you want, what do you think happens next? You think I'll let you off easy?"
"What?"
Professor Haslan blinked in stunned disbelief at Philip's smirking words.
"I'm only putting up with your bullshit right now because I'm just an instructor. If I get booted like this, you think I'll go quietly back to boozing it up? Sure, I can't touch a sitting academy professor directly, but what about your family? Your associates?"
"Are you threatening me...?"
"Yeah, that's exactly what this is. Fuck. What're you gonna do about it? Draw your sword and kill me? You won't. A knife fight with a delinquent like me would end your career here quick."
"Philip! What the hell are you saying?"
Felicia grabbed his shoulder in shock, but Philip shoved her hand away and yelled.
"Go ahead, tell them now. Get me fired. The second I walk out that door, I'll use everything I have to make your life hell. You think I've got more to lose than you?"
People tend to revert to their true nature when faced with the unexpected.
Professor Haslan was no exception. A man who'd clawed his way up from the bottom, terrified of falling back down.
It hit him like a bucket of ice water—clarity snapped in.
No matter how much of a delinquent Philip was, he was the son of a powerful count's family. Haslan was just an honorary professor from a fallen noble house.
Even if he couldn't strike now, Philip could ruin him in the near future.
'What was I thinking?'
Regaining his senses, Professor Haslan wondered. Messing with Philip gained him nothing.
Those eyes. Not rage or threat, but like staring at a tree root that tripped him—unsettling.
Not helpless anger, but the gaze of someone pondering a criminal's punishment.
Though it meant something slightly different to Philip, that's how Haslan felt.
He clamped his mouth shut and stared at Philip. The hostility and fury in his eyes had nearly vanished.
"If that's all, I'll be going."
"Wait, Philip. Hey! You punk!"
Ignoring Felicia's urgent call, Philip strode out of the lab.
Haslan didn't stop him, and Felicia stared blankly at the door long after he was gone.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Right after leaving Felicia's lab, Philip headed straight to the academy's back mountain.
He'd tied up Lana and hung her near the spot where he was supposed to meet Previa.
A small sack covered her face, and her limbs were bound with joints twisted to the brink, rendering her powerless.
Sensing his approach, she writhed desperately.
"Mmph! Mmmph! Mmmph!"
"What the hell's she saying?"
—Sounds like she's begging for her life?
Neria answered Philip's question.
"Huh. Wasn't planning to kill her anyway."
A portal ripped open in the empty air, and Previa stepped through from the other side.
"What's that?"
Philip hesitated briefly before answering her question.
"Came begging for help, claiming her Black Cat Tribe got ambushed. When I didn't buy it, she tried charming me with her Demonic Eye."
The wise dragon picked up on the implication.
"Sent by that Nephen bastard, no doubt."
Philip leaped up and sliced the rope holding Lana. Dropping several meters without use of her limbs, she took the full impact on her body.
"Hnnngh!"
Lana convulsed in agony as Philip yanked off the sack. Her gag stayed in, but she activated her Demonic Eye anyway—to no effect on Philip or the dragon.
"Step aside. I need to extract her memories."
At Previa's command, Philip backed off obediently.
"Extract memories?"
"A dragon of my caliber can manage it. There'll be some side effects, though."
"Side effects...?"
"Sometimes they turn into vegetables."
"Mmph!! Mmmph!"
Lana thrashed wildly at the word. Becoming a vegetable meant mental death, no different from physical in her line of work as an assassin.
She knew it all too well.
Philip eyed her pitifully before speaking up.
"Let's do it right now."