Chapter 110: Academy Romance Manipulation Team (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 110: Academy Romance Manipulation Team (5)
Princess Ruelle and I slunk away, taking advantage of the moment everyone’s attention was fixed on Daisy to make our escape.
“I-I’m telling you, it was definitely a room where we had to kill each other!”
Hearing Daisy’s voice, which was bordering on a scream, I shouted urgently.
“No, I thought you said the Fire Spammer and the Magic Spammer were the ones going in!”
“Wait, I’ve been meaning to ask this since last time. By ‘Fire Spammer,’ you mean Marie, right? And the ‘Magic Spammer’ is my damn brother? Can I take this as a declaration of war from Leon?!”
“I don’t care if you take it as a declaration of war or not! If we mess this up, the Prince of Leon and the Prince of Dale are going to end up having a ‘moment of harmony.’ What are you going to do about that?!”
“Aaaagh! Don’t make me imagine it! I asked the Goddess to strike my brother with divine punishment, but I didn’t mean like this!”
Princess Ruelle squeezed her eyes shut and screamed, as if she had accidentally visualized the two princes doing… something.
“F-first, we have to change the magic circle. S-slowly. If enough time passes, we can dispel it!”
She ran forward with her eyes still tightly shut, but then—
“Argh!”
She let out a groan of despair as she saw an Imperial agent being sent flying back.
“Now what?!”
“Probably just a common Dark Mage.”
“Dark Mages are not common! They aren’t the kind of thing you treat like a goblin infestation in a normal village!”
Usually, that’s true, but not in a RoFan novel.
Come to think of it, I’ve seen more Dark Mages since entering the Academy than I have goblins.
“You’ll have to get used to it if you want to keep attending the Academy…”
“Don’t say such ominous things!”
As we talked, a Dark Mage with a missing arm stumbled out from the area where the magic circle was located.
“Filthy Imperial bastards. How did they get all the way… Gack!”
“D-don’t they even get to talk?”
I stabbed him immediately. Behind me, Princess Ruelle shouted in shock, but I replied calmly.
“It’s the basics.”
It’s common sense to crush Dark Mages the moment you see them.
Is this what they call a ‘freshman mindset’?
If she were just a regular Magic Spammer, I wouldn’t care, but since she’s supposedly a pitiful girl learning the sword in a barren place like Dale, I decided to teach her like she was a total newbie.
“Dark Mages are often thought of as solo acts, but those are the ones who stay holed up in their rooms. If you see one out here, you must assume there are others nearby.”
“That… that sounds like the explanation for cockroa—”
“Just like this.”
“Gwaaargh!”
I stabbed another Dark Mage who had been hiding.
Blood sprayed everywhere. It was best to dodge it with the same intensity as Ma*ra dodging the Second Hokage’s spit, even if he’d normally tank a finishing move from anyone else.
“Since you’re fundamentally a mage, you probably know this, but blood has been used as a medium by mages since ancient times. A Dark Mage’s blood is like a curse, so…”
“I-I know that much!”
I was going to tell her that some of them even use their comrades’ corpses, but…
“…Are there no more?”
The Imperial agents hadn’t gone down without a fight; there were already two Dark Mage corpses on the ground.
“I guess that’s really all of them.”
Of course, even that could be a trap, so I checked thoroughly, but I couldn’t find any more traces of Dark Mages.
The problem was…
“The magic circle?!”
The active magic circle was covered in battle scars. Princess Ruelle clutched at the damaged parts of the circle and cried out with a tearful face.
“Are you just going to stand there and watch?! Help me!”
“I am helping.”
“You’re just standing still! How is that helping?!”
As expected of the Princess of Dale—she was still a greenhorn who hadn’t faced the real world.
First, she was shocked by Dark Mages, which are more common than mice at the Imperial Academy. Now, she couldn’t even understand this basic common sense.
“In my homeland, Leon…”
“……?”
“When it comes to magic-related matters, staying still is helping.”
I don’t know magic.
As I made my proud declaration, Princess Ruelle’s expression froze.
“You say that like it’s something to be proud of!”
This is why people from Leon are…
Watching Princess Ruelle click her tongue and struggle on her own, I quietly began to clean up.
I carefully moved the Dark Mages’ corpses, separated the injured Imperial agents from the dead, and administered first aid to the survivors using potions.
I spent quite a while creating a ledger to charge Aeryun 1.5 times the cost of the potions later.
“So the Dark Mages… all died here.”
Eventually, I got a summary of the situation from Uncle Aeryun, who, as usual, arrived after the fact.
“It was a diversion.”
“It seems so…”
Uncle Aeryun also let out a deep sigh after hearing our story.
“Then… the members of the Flower Arrangement Club, including the Prince…”
Unable to bring himself to say the words ‘Room You Can’t Leave Without Kissing,’ Uncle Aeryun just kept sighing.
#1 The Trapped.
—From now on, kill each other.
—Otherwise, you shall not leave.
The moment the space was severed, a force of will pierced through everyone’s minds, leaving the second-year members of the Flower Arrangement Club in a state of panic.
“This is…”
The moment Arwen mentioned that this was a type of magic passed down in Dale, silence fell over the room.
“How can we not leave?”
“From the inside, it’s nearly impossible unless the condition is met. Even Archmages find it difficult to dispel.”
However, since it was relatively easy to dispel from the outside…
“My friend Marie and my sister Ruelle are out there.”
So, let’s trust them and hold out.
Everyone nodded at Arwen’s words.
Except.
“This space has the effect of warping the flow of time to put pressure on those inside. Time inside and outside moves differently.”
As if to prove his words, two days passed inside the room, but no rescue came.
The only saving grace was…
“…Ellen. Do you always carry this much with you?”
“I heard knights eat several times more than normal people, but still…”
Thanks to the endless supply of food coming out of her bag, they at least didn't have to worry about starving.
“No. Adam told me to carry it because you never know when or where you might get trapped.”
“…He predicted this?”
“I did hear a rumor that he hunts Dark Mages as a hobby…”
“Wait, what kind of rumor is that?!”
Even in a space where they were supposed to kill each other, they spent their days without much trouble—until about five days had passed internally.
—You shall not leave unless you kiss each other.
The same force of will they felt when they first entered resonated again.
However.
“……?”
“……?”
“……?”
None of them understood the meaning of those words.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say they refused to understand.
—You shall not leave unless you kiss each other…
As if sensing their denial, the spatial will continued to repeat the exit condition, just in case they had misheard.
—You shall not leave unless you kiss each other.
—You shall not leave unless you kiss each other.
—You shall not leave unless you kiss each other.
“Fine, we get it!”
In this worst kind of magical space that refused even mental escapism, the RoFan Male Leads moved as far away from each other as possible.
“As I said before… time inside and outside flows differently. It might not even have been a few hours out there, so let’s just wait…”
Arwen appealed for calm, his back pressed against the far end of one wall.
“Y-yeah. We still have plenty of food.”
Ellen leaned against the opposite wall, shaking his subspace pouch full of supplies.
“Right. I mean, my first kiss…”
“…I didn’t need to know that.”
“Those wicked Dark Mages.”
“Trying to shake our resolve like this…”
Keeping as much distance as possible, they waited. They were finally liberated when a week had passed in internal time.
“I-it’s open!”
Feeling the space collapse, everyone stood up.
Seeing the door open, they all maintained a proper distance from one another as they stepped outside.
And then they realized.
The wicked Dark Mages had indeed devised a plan.
“……No.”
Esid, who was the first to step out, saw the crowd of people.
He could read something in the expression of Daisy, who stood at the very front.
Actually, it wasn't just Esid. All of them could sense various emotions from the gazes of those around them.
“Uh, um. Right. Guys. Don’t worry too much. It’s okay. I can understand.”
Understand, my foot!
You’re saying that with a face that clearly doesn’t understand!
“It’s a misunderstanding, Daisy!”
Esid tried desperately to clear the air, but…
“N-no. I-I heard that time inside is different from outside. What you guys need right now is rest! S-so, Professors!”
“Ahem. Indeed. Esid. We will hear the details later, so for now…”
Seeing the visibly flustered Daisy and the professors, Esid squeezed his eyes shut.
Since those wicked Dark Mages couldn't assassinate them through normal means…
‘To think they would attempt social assassination!’
Terrifying bastards.
How could they come up with such a cruel plan?!
Amidst the misunderstanding-filled gazes of the crowd, Esid and the other second-year Flower Arrangement Club members—the so-called RoFan Male Lead candidates—couldn't help but tremble in fear.
“I-I did it!”
Was it out of guilt for creating a BL Drift with her own hands?
Or was it a desire to protect at least the minimum amount of honor for her pathetic brother?
After a fierce struggle, Princess Ruelle succeeded in restoring the magic circle.
Furthermore, she managed to dismantle it entirely.
“Phew.”
“Good work.”
“Thank you.”
I couldn't help with the magic, but I could at least provide some cold water. Princess Ruelle, having finished a task more grueling than most manual labor, took the water I offered with a grateful expression and downed it in one go.
“Kaaah. The magic circle will be completely dispelled within ten minutes.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Yes. So Professor, don’t worry too much.”
“……I am not a professor, but a senior one year above you, Princess Ruelle.”
“…Ah. That kind of concept? You’re a professor disguised as a student to catch Dark Mages, right?”
“No. I am truly a senior who is just one year older.”
“One? Year?”
Princess Ruelle blinked and tilted her head repeatedly.
The girl who had single-handedly handled a magic circle created by Dale and modified by Dark Mages now looked like she had encountered an unsolvable paradox.
“……”
As she just stared at me, her mouth agape, I told her the truth.
“Yes. For now… let’s go with that concept.”
“Ah. It is a concept, right?”
“Officially, I am the same age as you.”
“……You picked a very difficult concept to pull off.”
At my words, Princess Ruelle looked back and forth between me and Uncle Aeryun before standing up.
“Well, anyway, it’ll be fastest to go and check if there are any problems.”
Brushing the dust off her skirt, we arrived at the place where the RoFan Male Leads were trapped.
And just then, we saw the group of male leads emerging as the door opened.
“…The atmosphere seems a bit strange.”
“Uh. Well. That is…”
Princess Ruelle looked around, and then, as if realizing something, she whispered in a small voice.
“Hey. I just had a thought.”
“Yes.”
“This wasn't just any normal magic. It’s hard to break from the inside, and while it can be broken from the outside, there’s almost nothing you can do unless you find the magic circle.”
“Right.”
“But… the fact that we found the magic circle and solved it is something only we know.”
“……Ah.”
I finally understood why Princess Ruelle was whispering.
Since we knew the whole process, we knew there was no problem.
But from the perspective of a third party who didn't know about us…
“It’s a misunderstanding, Daisy!”
It looked like a group of men trapped in a room they couldn't leave without kissing had managed to escape on their own, without any outside help.
“……”
“……”
My gaze met Princess Ruelle’s.
—Should we run?
—Let’s run.
It felt strangely familiar, but it was probably just my imagination.