Chapter 217: Why is the Academy Being Breached? (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 217: Why is the Academy Being Breached? (1)
Lately, it’s been a real struggle to set foot in the club room.
It was all because a girl who had gone completely off her rocker spent her time alone there, laughing one moment and crying the next like a total lunatic.
“Isn’t this your fault?”
When I lamented the situation, Uncle Aeryun let out a deep sigh and spoke.
“Still, I helped him give the confession he never would’ve made in his life.”
“And he got dumped thanks to that.”
“The Magic Spammer got dumped too, didn’t he?”
“That’s the bigger problem… From what I can see, our Fire Spammer hasn’t given up hope yet.”
It was just as Uncle Aeryun said.
The Fire Spammer hadn't been like this from the start.
Right after being rejected, he used to frequently mutter that this rotten world deserved to burn to ashes.
And I had been fully prepared to just let him burn it.
Back then, his daily routine consisted of failing to do so and then sobbing in a corner by himself.
However, after the news that the Magic Spammer had also been rejected by Daisy swept through the Academy, the man changed.
Occasionally, he would wear a dark, brooding smile all by himself… and it was truly unsettling.
It was even worse because I felt like I knew exactly what that smile meant.
“At least the Magic Spammer showed some growth. The Fire Spammer isn’t growing at all…”
“…Are you one to talk?”
“Well, the Academy isn’t growing either. It seems like no one in our club is growing together.”
“Hey, you brat…”
It was just as we were exchanging these fatal blows disguised as greetings.
“E-Emergency! It’s an emergency!”
A professor came bursting into the club room.
Unless a professor, who should be busy preparing for exams, had lost his mind, he wouldn't come charging into the Dessert Club declaring an emergency.
He was likely an agent of the Empire.
“What is it now? Did a Dark Mage show up?”
As if confirming my suspicion, Uncle Aeryun also looked at the professor naturally and asked.
“N-No, it’s nothing like that!”
“Then what? Is it the Demon Tribe? If not that, then Rebels? The Liberation Front? Revolutionaries? What else was there? Oh, last time, some magical beasts and animals escaped from that circus troupe that came for an event.”
“Did that really happen?”
“It was no big deal.”
Magical beasts and predators being unleashed in the middle of the Academy was "no big deal." The real horror was that, considering everything that had happened so far, it actually wasn't that big of a deal.
However.
“The, the Academy Director has quit!”
What followed was far more terrifying than any of those stories.
“She says that every day, doesn't she?”
“No, she really quit! She left a single letter and ran away under the cover of night!”
“……?”
The Academy Director had bailed.
…Come to think of it, she did last quite a while.
She had reached her breaking point long ago, but I didn't think she’d actually run for it.
“What do we do?”
“What else… we have to go catch her.”
A sudden "Academy Director Hide-and-Seek" content had been unlocked.
Joan - The Empire Bastards Never Gave Me a Break.
“They seem busy.”
To find the Director who had deserted the Academy, not only the Imperial agents but the entire staff of the Academy had been mobilized.
Yet, the Academy Director, Joan, was surprisingly close by.
“…Well, I’m sure they are.”
At a dessert cafe near the Academy’s central district.
Sitting at a table there, leisurely putting a piece of cake into her mouth, Joan thought to herself.
‘But… what now?’
To be honest, Joan’s desertion was… extremely impulsive. It was completely unplanned.
After all, she had simply been writing a report on Arwen’s kidnapping incident when she muttered, “I wish I’d just get kidnapped too…”, threw her paperwork into the air, and stormed out.
It was, quite literally, an act triggered by her stress reaching its absolute limit.
After escaping her office, she had simply spotted a random student, snatched a uniform, used magic to slightly(?) alter her appearance, and disguised herself as a student.
Honestly, she had planned to go back quietly the moment she was caught.
She just wanted to rest for a few hours—or, if she was being greedy, maybe a single day.
‘This is all the Empire’s fault.’
Up until the year before last, they at least gave her quarterly vacations.
But starting last year, something went wrong, and far from getting a vacation, her workload increased exponentially.
Even a Grand Mage is human.
No matter how well a Grand Mage can control their mana to endure a week without sleep as if it were nothing.
As long as they were human, it was difficult to withstand the mental limits.
And it had been nearly two years of this.
She had managed to hold on because her subordinates shared the burden… but that was over now.
“They must be swearing like crazy. They grit their teeth to stop their own subordinates from running away, but here I am, having bailed…”
But what could they do?
If they didn't like it, they could be the Director.
Joan, who was more than willing to hand over her position at any moment, washed away the sweetness in her mouth with a sip of acidic coffee and thought.
“But really, what do I do now?”
Going outside the Academy… she’d be caught immediately.
No matter how perfect Joan’s disguise was, it was difficult to bypass the Academy’s checkpoints.
It hadn't always been that way, but because Dark Mages kept breaking in, the security was constantly reinforced. Now, it had developed to the point where it could see through even a Grand Mage’s magic… and yet, it was still being breached.
Why on earth was that?
Chewing on her straw, Joan tried her best to analyze the "Laws of RoFan."
But even as a Grand Mage, she couldn't understand the laws of a world that even God didn't know.
Therefore.
“Let’s just sleep.”
Having eaten her sweets and feeling her blood sugar rise pleasantly, Joan checked into a lodging and threw herself onto the bed.
‘What will I see when I open my eyes?’
Would the Imperial Army wake her up?
Or would they formally throw her into the underground dungeon?
Or would her subordinates be surrounding her with eyes full of resentment?
‘That last one is a bit scary…’
But tomorrow’s me can deal with the consequences.
With that thought, today’s Joan closed her eyes.
And then.
“…What?”
Day 2 of her desertion.
The pursuit team had not come.
“……?”
Joan, whose period of deviance had unintentionally been extended, could only blink in confusion.
Joan - Field Experience.
On the morning of the second day, while eating a moderate meal at the student cafeteria, Joan thought to herself.
‘…Should I just go back?’
Honestly, she thought the pursuit team would have caught up within a few hours.
No, at the very least, she thought they would have dragged her away like a kidnapping victim while she was sleeping in a lodging inside the Academy.
But they hadn't.
She had clearly seen people walking around with "I’m screwed" expressions while she was getting her sugar fix at the cafe yesterday.
What the hell were those bastards doing? They still hadn't found her.
‘This is why the Academy gets breached every single time…’
Joan, who had realized a little bit why Dark Mages managed to break in every time despite the massive amounts of money and manpower poured into security, nibbled on her salad and pondered.
To be honest, rationally, she was a bit—no, a lot—nervous.
But since she was going to get scolded even if she went back now, being a day or two late wouldn't change the severity of the lecture.
In that case, why not?
“It’s an experiment. Yes. To see how competent the Academy is… or…”
How incompetent it is.
Joan closed her eyes and focused.
‘I am a Dark Mage… I am a Dark Mage…!’
I am now moving as a Dark Mage.
Joan recalled the characteristics of the Dark Mages she had received reports on.
Though they had failed to stop them, the personnel involved were the Empire’s top experts.
They had deconstructed and analyzed every single movement of the Dark Mages, and all of that had been reported to Joan, who managed the Academy.
Even so, they usually broke in using new methods… but among them, there were instances where they simply slightly modified a previously used method.
So, Joan decided to move through the Academy using those methods.
‘First, since I have a student record I made a while ago out of boredom…’
She pulled out a student ID she had prepared in advance.
If someone asked why she had such a thing, she’d have no excuse.
She really had just made it because she was bored.
“Hmm… this should do…”
Looking at the photo on the ID, Joan adjusted her appearance.
Since the photo on the ID was also based on Joan herself, the adjustment didn't take very long.
Disguised as a student, Joan first tried to participate in a student party.
‘I might get caught in a class, but autonomous parties mix different classes and even different grades.’
And her prediction was spot on.
“Looking for a mage for a dungeon party to prepare for finals.”
“Looking for someone who can use Area of Effect magic!”
Since the minimum requirement for a party was usually two melee fighters and one mage.
Most parties were looking for mages, so it was very easy for Joan to join one.
“Hello, I’m Joen, a first-year in the Magic Department!”
After joining the party with a bright smile, she naturally entered the training dungeon prepared by the Academy.
Since the only verification was tapping the student ID.
The identification card Joan had issued herself passed the Academy’s authentication system with ease.
‘There were even some Dark Mages who entered the Academy officially.’
Joan looked around with sharp eyes.
This was a location filled with expensive anti-Dark Mage systems… yet they were neutralized by a single student ID.
The problem was.
‘If they enter as actual students, how are we supposed to filter them out?’
There were all sorts of infiltration routes for Dark Mages, but the most standard one was through internal personnel.
Among them, external management staff underwent thorough inspections, so their level of infiltration was low.
On the contrary, the Dark Mages hiding among the students were of a high caliber.
After all, the Academy was a place that gathered only the most talented individuals under the pretext of accepting those with potential.
The problem was.
‘There are all sorts of crazy bastards.’
The types of people from Dark Mage factions who had infiltrated as students in the reports were truly diverse.
People whose families or loved ones were held hostage by Dark Mages.
Or those who were being deceived because even that loved one was actually a Dark Mage—that was the mildest level.
There were those who placed a brainwashing spell on themselves to truly believe they were ordinary Academy students, only to regain their memories when a specific trigger was activated.
There was even a guy who temporarily sealed his dark magic and learned the sword just to enroll in the Swordsmanship Department.
People whom she couldn't understand at all—why would they put in that much effort just to be a Dark Mage?
Thanks to them, the terrorist groups or those with dangerous ideologies entering the General Department looked like mere amateurs.
‘…If we can’t distinguish them from regular students, then we’re just throwing money away.’
She had installed the systems thinking they were better than nothing.
But experiencing it firsthand, they just looked like money-hungry hippos.
‘I’d rather use that money to hire more people… No, wait, that mercenary we hired last time turned out to be a Dark Mage stooge. This is a real headache.’
Should she talk to the Imperial Family and get more manpower?
Just as Joan was thinking that, a monster finally appeared in the middle of the dungeon.
“Just one Orc?”
“Even if they adjust it for safety, does it make sense to only encounter one Orc this far in?”
“Wasn't there another team ahead of us? Maybe they cleared them all out?”
An Orc.
Unlike Goblins, it was a monster that could become a symbol of despair if it appeared in an ordinary rural village.
However, for Academy students, even a student from a noble family in the General Department could handle one.
Furthermore, for students of the Swordsmanship or Magic Departments, it wasn't even enough to be a practice partner.
“……?”
That was why Joan tilted her head in confusion.
The vanguard, who had stepped forward with a deep sigh at the Orc’s club-swinging, was currently flying through the air.
And.
“Be careful!”
She tilted her head again at the familiar voice heard from afar.
“It’s an Orc reinforced by a Dark Mage’s curse!”
At the shout of the Saintess, Daisy, Joan decided to stop thinking.