The Interview
Quite a high-level bunch they were.
Most people would attribute the reason why demons avoid disguising themselves as humans to their pride or strength.
That's not entirely wrong. If they had a solid foundation of strength, there would be no need to disguise themselves as humans.
But there aren't many demons who possess such solid strength.
The most common reason is that they don't know human ecology well. A single small habit or preference gives away their demonic nature.
‘But these girls were really human.’
Since I was in a possessed state, I knew they were assassins, which was fortunate. Otherwise, things could have gone wrong from the very beginning.
If the academy's key personnel had been assassinated, it would have been a guaranteed bad ending. The thought alone made me shudder.
But I had successfully prevented it. That was enough.
And there was more to gain.
They had worked hard, so there were many useful items in their belongings, and I gathered all the helpful ones.
‘But originally, there should have been 14 assassins.’
I couldn't catch one. I couldn't afford to let my guard down.
“Number 82, please come in.”
Finally, it was my turn. From behind, Valery whispered with fighting spirit.
I entered the interview room following the guidance with steady steps.
“Haaam. Hello.”
The entire wall was made of glass. The woman sitting at the desk behind the large glass was half-yawning and half-greeting me.
She had the appearance of a young girl, light purple hair, and was wearing a witch hat and robe much larger than her body.
Violet Ruabrinse. This woman was the chancellor of Rahal Academy.
Despite the nickname of 'witch' due to the hat and robe, her skill was outstanding without any doubt. After all, only mages of 7th tier or higher could sit in the chancellor's position.
“82... Adrian, right?”
“Yes.”
The moment her pink eyes scanned my body from head to toe, I had to tense up.
But I couldn't show it. I stood straight and composed.
Infiltration
▶ The Lord's infiltration ability is several times superior.
▶ Identity is easily not detected.
I expected the vampire lord's unique trait to play its part once again.
“First, it's nice to meet you. But um... you're a commoner, right?”
“Yes.”
Time was running short.
To forge a noble identity, one would either have to create a new one or impersonate an existing one. Even with the help of underlings, two days was too tight a schedule.
“Let me see... Looking at the specs in the documents, it's not like you need to apply as just a professor, but why apply specifically as an F-class professor?”
It wasn't something I could say straight: “Because the protagonist is destined to go to the F-class, so I applied to the F-class too.”
“Out of a sense of duty.”
That should be sufficient.
It's not wrong. I do have a sense of duty to interact with the protagonist and the named NPCs to achieve a happy ending.
“A commoner and a sense of duty is not a good combination~ Hmm~”
Violet sent a sidelong glance and smiled with her eyes.
“The information in the documents is a bit suspicious too~ Saying you don't care about the school, that a mage would apply to an F-class professor just for a sense of duty~”
Violet wasn't someone with a big grudge against commoners. She wasn't muttering because I was a commoner.
This woman was simply suspicious of me.
She felt anger at the idea that a commoner would exaggerate their specs in the documents and try to snag a professor position at Rahal Academy somehow.
It wasn't surprising. Violet was like that originally. She just had overflowing love for Rahal Academy and pride in her teaching career.
This wouldn't be easy to brush off.
Just as that thought crossed my mind, Violet snapped her fingers.
“Shall I see your skills?”
Three incantations floated above her head. Red, blue, and yellow. Incantations of different schools.
“As you can see, all three are incomplete incantations. Will you complete them by drawing the remaining strokes? If you succeed with even one, I'll acknowledge it.... Huh?”
A look of surprise appeared on Violet's face.
Before her words ended, I had already started drawing the empty strokes of the incantation.
Lord's Red Eye
▶ Even in darkness, you gain twice the vision.
▶ Greatly consumes life force to analyze magic that enters your vision.
Magic is a form where you understand the principle, then based on that understanding, you take the next step.
But black magic is different; you just pay the price and get the 'result'. The result of identifying the target.
My heart pounded.
Seeing how much life force it consumes, the difficulty is considerable.
Not one, but three. Isn't it too harsh for an interview question?
The red incantation was completed.
“Elemental Reinforcement series, Leg Strength Reinforcement spell.”
The blue one was completed.
“Elemental Explosion series, Freezing spell.”
The yellow one was completed.
“Transmutation series, Squirrel spell.”
“Eh...”
Violet's gaze lingered in the air for a moment. She looked like she couldn't believe the incantations she herself had set were completed.
“U-um. Yes.”
Violet snapped her fingers again.
Then, a desk and a chair descended in front of me. Then several sheets of paper landed neatly.
“The contract for the F-class instructor is exactly as written there. Shall I look it over?”
I nodded and sat down to read the content.
Ordinary.
Appropriate salary, appropriate benefits. Neither excessive nor lacking.
“Shall I look at the back?”
She snapped her fingers, and the paper turned to the next page.
“We provide this much for ordinary contract professors.”
“Hmm.”
It was indeed an amazing condition.
It was only a page difference, but the content on the paper was on a different level from what I had just read.
“A monthly salary of ten million Canels.”
Canel is the currency of this game.
At the time I was playing this game, even until the moment I saw the ending, I had only saved 600,000 Canels with great effort.
In the original world, this is about 100 million. If given as monthly salary.
“Compared to that, the F-class professor's salary...”
Only 1 million Canels.
It's an amount that doesn't cause hardship in living, but in front of the grand number of 10 million Canels, it suddenly becomes shabby.
There was more.
“Bonus depending on the test... Bonus on holidays... Bonus after reputation survey...”
Well, there's nothing more to read. I understood that it's receiving much better treatment compared to F-class professor.
“Why are you showing this?”
“I'll give you a special offer.”
“Offer?”
“Yes. Offer.”
This time, a newspaper landed on the table. The same newspaper Valery had been holding earlier.
“Have you read this article?”
“Yes.”
“Among these, there were candidates I marked as facts, but unfortunately, they all met with accidents. How about Adrian joining as a contract professor?”
No need to think.
“I decline.”
It was impossible to abandon the sense of duty just because the conditions were better.
With a puzzled look, Violet tilted her head.
“Um... Did the conditions not appeal to you? Or did mentioning that you're a commoner make you feel bad?”
“No. If I can work as a contract professor at Rahal Academy, it would be the greatest honor.”
“However?”
“As I said, it's a sense of duty.”
A moment of silence passed between her and me.
“Sense of duty... sense of duty... um...”
Violet placed her index finger on her lips and pondered for a long time.
“Okay!”
She smiled brightly. This time, with a genuine smile.
After successfully passing the interview, I spent the time reasonably.
I eliminated things that could be threats in advance, prepared lesson materials, trained, and did various preparations, so a week passed in the blink of an eye.
“Today?”
Today is the day students start taking classes at Rahal Academy for the first time. This world has finally started the main scenario today.
I stood in front of the academy's lecture hall and watched the students entering one by one.
In other lecture halls, there would surely be students full of excitement on their faces. The freshness of the new students who weren't yet accustomed to the academy uniform would fill the lecture hall like a flower garden.
But the lecture hall I was standing in was different.
It had to be, because this was where only the failing students were gathered.
Although it was time to start seating, not even half the seats were filled. The students entering had gloomy expressions.
And finally—
“Here they come.”
The grief of losing parents to demons. One blinded eye.
A female student who had suppressed her twisted hatred and melancholy entered the lecture hall from the back.
In this watercolor-like scene, that girl who was painted only in black and white alone sat silently in the very back row.
“Charlotte Forte.”
The person who will become a 10th tier mage Leviathan upon reaching the happy ending.
The person who will directly destroy this world upon reaching the bad ending.
She arrived at the lecture hall.
“And according to the script, this guy today...”
Will die in a total of 21 ways. Pathetically.