Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Death Sentence
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- Click.
After being caught by Carnel, everything proceeded swiftly.
There was no chance to argue back, no room to escape.
I was transfered to the student council room.
Then confined in the disciplinary room.
Though they called it confinement, it was really just being tied to a chair with rope.
The decorative handcuffs were a bonus.
“Tie it tighter! Tighter! Harder!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
A student council member yanked the rope with ferocious zeal.
‘But you know…’
I snuck a glance to the side.
“Untie me! Untie meeeow!!”
Some cat was thrashing about, tied up just as tightly as me.
‘What are you doing here, Neru?’
I silently met the cat’s eyes.
Neru stopped struggling as she looked back at me.
“…You got caught too, nyaa?”
I nodded.
My hands were bound, so I couldn’t pull out the whiteboard.
“This is a conspiracy, nyaa! It’s those guys trying to get rid of me making their move!”
Mm. I see.
Too bad.
“Adel! And Neru!”
Oh, our puffed-up president had arrived.
Two or three student council members stood rigidly behind her.
“Do you know how grave the crime is of threatening students while armed?”
[No threats were made]
“…When did you untie that?!”
Just now.
The knot was surprisingly sloppy; a few twists of my wrists and it came loose.
“O… Adel, you’re amazing, nyaa.”
Neru admired from the side.
“Urgh…! You’re both guilty!! Guilty!”
“What…?!”
Neru jumped up in a frenzy.
“I’m innocent, nyaa! I just ate some food, that’s all, nyaa!!”
“Stealing food supplies is a serious crime!”
“It wasn’t stealing, it was sampling, nyaa! Sampling!”
“Sampling?”
[That’s a bit]
As expected of an Intelligence F cat.
Calling sneaking food a “sampling” was next-level denial.
“No helping it! Both of you are classified as potential threats to Yoram’s order!”
Potential threats? What does that even mean?
- Bang.
At that moment, the student council room door flew open.
“Hey~ Carnel, I’m here~”
Violet with her purple hair walked in.
“Huh? Little bro, you’re here?”
[Hello]
“Yeah, yeah, good to see you.”
“Violet, is the investigation done?”
“Yeah, all finished.”
Violet flipped through the papers in her hand and spoke.
“But our little bro seems innocent?”
“…What?”
Carnel’s eyes went wide.
“Uh-huh… I’ll explain later… but there’s really no crime to pin on her.”
“…”
“At most, we could get him for stealing snacks from Carnel’s desk just now.”
Gasp.
Don’t say it out loud.
Carnel glared at me suspiciously.
“…Tch.”
With a gesture from her, a student council member untied the ropes binding me.
“Wait! What about me!!”
Then Neru shot up from the side, yelling.
“You’re guilty!!”
Exactly, Neru.
If you commit a crime, you take the punishment.
If you don’t like that, live nicely like me.
“You’re sentenced to one hour of community service.”
“That’s ridiculous, nyaa!! MnyaAAaAaah!!”
Neru began bouncing and thrashing even more wildly while still tied.
“Hey, little bro.”
Violet slung an arm over my shoulder.
“Wanna grab lunch?”
***
“But little bro, it looks like Carnel likes you.”
It was while heading to lunch with Violet and some student council members.
That’s when I heard that chilling remark.
‘…Wh-what nonsense is that…’
How could she say something so terrifying so casually?
“Hm?”
Maybe my shocked face showed even through the mask, because Violet added,
“No, honestly, that situation just now… You could’ve been expelled and no one would’ve batted an eye, you know?”
…Mm.
Can’t really argue with that.
“And you… got released in less than five minutes?”
…I thought she let me go quick for lunch?
Ah… but no, Neru’s still locked up.
“Listen? Something similar happened last year.”
“Know what Carnel did right after becoming student council president?”
Violet twirled her finger as she continued explaining.
“She expelled over twenty nobles… all of them high-ranking, count or above.”
“Some were even from families directly sponsoring Yoram.”
I glanced back.
“Reason for expulsion? All bullying.”
I could see a few following student council members flinch.
“For students who could be reformed, she gave lighter punishments.”
Some pretended not to hear.
“But for those impossible to reform… ones who’d victimize others again, expulsion without mercy.”
The others hung their heads for no reason.
“No wonder the student council’s called the Carnel Fan Club.”
Fan club…
It was not wrong, really.
“That bullied kid? Carnel’s probably visiting them right now.”
“And those guys you threatened? They’ll probably get expelled soon.”
Grape or Gracy or whatever her name was.
“Expulsion isn’t that easy, normally. But… it’ll be sorted by next week.”
[I see]
“Yeah, so.”
Violet placed a hand on my head.
Then…
“Don’t go causing more trouble and behave, got it, little bro?”
She started ruffling my hair roughly.
“You were actually in danger back there too… Know who those guys are?”
Mm… Do I really need to know who they are?
“They’re kids from noble families connected to the imperial leadership.”
Gasp.
“Well, not super direct connections… just a tiny thread, but that thread’s pretty scary.”
I exaggerated a shocked pose.
“If you’d gone further, it would’ve been real bad… People already talk about why you’re top student anyway.”
…True.
“Seriously… I guarantee, if they used that… Ugh, it would’ve been such a headache.”
…was it that serious?
“So you should thank Carnel, little bro.”
“She used the discipline as an excuse…? Well, not exactly an excuse, but… anyway, she singled you out with the discipline pretext.”
It did feel half like an excuse, and half personal interest.
‘…But if she used discipline as cover, protecting Klaus too might’ve been tough.’
And then.
“Huh? Looks like something’s up over there! Sorry, little bro! Eat first~!”
With just that, Violet and the student council members vanished.
‘Tch.’
I grabbed a tray at random.
Now for a seat.
‘Oh, Lev.’
And as usual, spotting Lev again.
I silently slid into the seat across from her.
“…?”
Lev’s hand, holding her spoon, froze.
Her bright red eyes stared blankly at me.
[Hi]
“…How’d you know?”
[Know what?]
“…This.”
She lifted the small necklace around her neck.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
【Concealing Necklace】
Rank: Common
It’s cheap!
: Blurs the wearer’s presence.
Even though it's cheap… it works!
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
‘Concealing Necklace… what a lame name.’
It blurs the wearer’s presence to make them less noticeable…
But it doesn’t work against my 【Laplace’s Eye】.
[I spotted Lev because she’s Lev]
“…What’s that mean?”
[Lev’s Lev no matter where she is]
“…Yeah.”
As she lifted a spoonful of rice.
“….”
Lev stared straight at me.
[What?]
“…Aren’t you taking off the mask?”
[No need]
I silently scooped rice and brought it to my mouth.
Slurp.
The spoon passed right through the mask.
“…??”
Lev gaped at me, speechless.
“…How do you eat with that…?”
[Secret]
Lev still looked baffled as she picked up her spoon.
Whether to eat or chew, her face was full of confusion.
I was quietly eating my rice one bite at a time.
“My, my, who’s this?”
“Fancy seeing you, Mask Boy?”
I didn’t need to turn to know.
It was the group harassing Klaus earlier.
‘Peasants this, peasants that, but you eat here too?’
All high and mighty like they’d go to the palace, but eating in the same cafeteria as me.
Pathetic.
I ignored them completely and kept eating.
“…He dares ignore us?”
- Clang!
“Whoa!”
“What? What’s going on?”
A loud noise.
“….”
Then, was liquid trickling down my hair.
I felt my hair soaking through.
My white locks turned multicolored.
They’d dumped my entire tray over my head.
Laughter mixed with mockery followed belatedly.
“Whoops, my bad. Hand slipped? Heh.”
The cafeteria went silent.
Everyone knew what happened, but no one stepped up.
Heads down or looking away.
‘Oh, hand slipped?’
Sure.
That can happen.
It could.
If it was a mistake, I could laugh it off.
‘Yeah, it’s fine… if it was just me.’
Yeah? If it was just me, I might’ve endured.
They’re getting expelled soon anyway.
Rice on my head or the insult.
I could laugh it off.
Ignore and move on.
But.
“…Ah.”
Lev was looking down at her soaked uniform, head bowed.
Her uniform was a mess.
It was clear now—the tray wasn’t just for me.
‘…Endure it.’
And seeing her like that overlapped with something.
‘That… wasn’t reality.’
The moment 「Saintess」 Lev de Lumiere met her death.
‘Don’t think about it.’
Those eyes crumbling in despair.
‘Forget about it.’
The 「Saintess」 who let go of everything at the end of hopelessness.
‘For—’
Her silhouette weakly collapsing, was overlapping with how she looked now.
“My… uniform….”
Enough.
My mind was made up.
- Crackle…!
A menacing aura burst from my inventory.
Cold grip wrapping my fingers.
I seized 【Leviathan】’s hilt.
The abyss-shaped blade cleaved through light, revealing itself.
Their faces paled instantly.
Their smirks vanished.
Their legs backed away on instinct.
But it was too late.
‘You’re guilty.’
Natural mana stirred at my will.
- Thunk, thunk!
Mana woven into hooks pierced my body.
My sword hand moved in unison.
‘It was a death sentence.’
The verdict was given.
All that remained was the execution.