Chapter 218: Why is the Academy Being Breached? (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 218: Why is the Academy Being Breached? (2)
Joan - What on earth is this…?
For a split second, Joan wondered if the standards of their Academy had truly plummeted to this level.
Fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case.
"Wait..."
Actually, it wasn't fortunate at all!
Why was there an Orc reinforced by a Dark Mage’s sorcery standing right in front of her?!
This was a temporary dungeon designed by the Academy, where every single nook and cranny had been meticulously planned!
"Sigh..."
Joan let out a short sigh.
With just that, her magic circle was already complete.
Thanks to her intervention, the Orc’s follow-up attack was blocked before it could hit the Swordsmanship Department student who had been sent flying.
"……What?"
Joan couldn't help but widen her eyes.
The amount of mana consumed by her barrier was absurd for a mere Orc’s strike.
She quickly turned her head.
No matter how well he might have parried with his sword, for a student to withstand that kind of power…!
"Man, why is an Orc this strong…?"
"Dumbass. Now you’re getting swatted away by an Orc? You’ve really hit rock bottom."
"You try taking a hit from that thing!"
"……?"
Had the Academy’s standards actually risen this much?
Seeing the student stand up perfectly fine, Joan immediately shifted her stance and looked forward.
'I thought it was just a Black Orc...'
Now, she could finally see the writhing patterns etched into its dark skin.
Because Black Orcs were naturally more ferocious than their common counterparts, they were often brought in when regular Orcs failed to challenge the students. Their dark skin had hidden the patterns carved by the Dark Mage.
'Orcs... No, should we make sure all monsters brought to the Academy are easily identifiable? Wait, wouldn't the Dark Mages just use a different color for their engravings then?'
She worried for a moment if she’d get a formal complaint for discriminating against a specific skin color.
Even while lost in thought, Joan kept a close eye on the situation.
The students were more capable than she expected, and more importantly, this was a chance to see the rumored Daisy in action.
"Ugh...!"
Magic instantly formed at the fingertips of the rushing Daisy.
It was impressive... no, for a student, her speed and precision were beyond expectations.
However, magic wasn't her true forte.
"Magic... and Divine Power...!"
With a small grunt of effort, a holy light began to flicker within the magic gathered at her fingertips.
The harmony of magic and Divine Power.
It was a completely different method of application from standard Holy Magic.
It was the result of Violet training Daisy in a technique she was destined to use in the distant future.
However...
"If only I had my sword!"
Compared to her overwhelming Magic Sword, this technique felt underwhelming to her. Daisy fired the spell with a tearful expression.
"Graaaaaagh!"
Contrary to Daisy’s reaction, the Orc pierced by the ice spear reacted violently.
Being skewered by a massive spear of ice would obviously hurt.
But the Orc’s expression and its scream were different from the dying monsters Joan had seen in her youth.
How should she describe it?
It was as if a giant parasite was crawling through its very veins.
Rather than the fear of death, it looked like it was experiencing an indescribable sense of revulsion.
Of course, Joan wasn't a monster expert, so she couldn't be entirely sure of an Orc’s facial expressions, but...
"Hey, that thing! Why is it suddenly getting bigger?!"
"...Run!"
Even if she didn't understand its expression, there was no missing the way the Orc’s body was swelling up.
And she knew exactly who the cause was.
"Wh-why is it doing that?"
Though it seemed the culprit herself had no idea.
"The Academy has been breached again."
Day 2 of the Academy Director’s disappearance.
Uncle Aeryun, who hadn't found a single trace of her yet, looked like he had a massive headache as he announced the breach.
"That happens all the time."
Literally. It happened so often it wasn't even surprising news anymore.
"In the dungeon, the Saintess Daisy and her party were attacked by an Orc reinforced with sorcery."
Well, that’s par for the course too. More importantly...
"They’ve reached the point where they’re using sorcery naturally now..."
Since their dark magic doesn't work, our local Dark Mages have gone and learned sorcery.
...I have no idea why they’re putting that much effort into being Dark Mages.
"Well, it wasn't that strong. It was stopped at the student level... but a problem has arisen."
"You mean everything I've heard so far wasn't the problem?"
"It seems the Dark Mages have created something that reacts violently to Divine Power."
Originally, the primary characteristic of Divine Power was purifying and erasing evil forces.
It could literally delete a Dark Mage’s curse and was powerful enough to annihilate beings like the Demon Tribe, whose very existence was made of mana.
But apparently, they had reverse-engineered that to create a self-destruction technique.
"How?"
"According to the report, it explodes when it mixes with Divine Power."
"Why is something like that showing up at the Academy?"
"How should I know...?"
The Empire was already in a frenzy because of the Director’s disappearance, and now that the Dark Mages had debuted a new piece of tech, they were likely nursing a collective migraine.
"So, about that."
"You want me to handle the investigation?"
"...How did you know?"
"It’s obvious."
I was curious about it myself, so I decided to go investigate Daisy since I was a familiar face.
However...
"……?"
Among the students being questioned, I saw a very familiar face.
It wasn't Daisy or Boradori.
"……"
Why on earth was that person there?
And wearing a school uniform at that age, no less.
More importantly, why couldn't the investigators recognize her when she was standing right there in the open?
Is this that passive "face-blindness" trait from RoFans?
I’d already seen the Magic Spammers get smarter the moment they got dumped, so I was starting to seriously suspect the existence of a "Curse of RoFan."
But first things first.
I vigorously pressed the emergency pager Uncle Aeryun had given me.
"Why did you call me for an emergency?"
"Don't you see her over there?"
"What? Is there a Dark Mage among the students?"
As I watched Uncle Aeryun fail to notice her even while looking straight at her, my suspicion that the Curse of RoFan was real grew even stronger.
"Right there. Over that way."
"……?"
"It’s the Director."
"Don't be ridiculous. There’s no way someone her age would wear a school uniform and pretend to be a student among the—!"
Uncle Aeryun’s voice accidentally boomed.
I was the only one who saw the Director’s head slowly drop in shame.
"……"
"……"
In the interrogation room.
A bizarre silence filled the air.
"Director..."
"Please, don't say a word..."
"……"
Uncle Aeryun, who had brought the disguised Director in while still doubting me, was now forced into silence after realizing it really was her.
I tried to break the tension with a comment.
"Well, she has more 'narrative consistency' as a student than you do, Uncle, so isn't it fine?"
"……"
"……"
Seeing as they both remained silent, I guess my attempt failed.
"Sigh... fine. This was all part of my plan."
"Disguising yourself as a student?"
"...Yes!"
After a long silence, the Director seemed to have made up her mind and began shamelessly justifying her escape.
"The Academy gets breached every single time! It’s going to get breached again during the final exams!"
"For the Director to be the one saying that..."
"Exactly! That’s why I personally adopted a 'Dark Mage mindset' and infiltrated the Academy! And you guys couldn't find me, could you?!"
"……"
Uncle Aeryun remained silent, having failed to find a single trace for two days and failing to recognize her even when she was right in front of him.
Taking advantage of the momentum, the Director began to ramble about her escape route.
"As soon as I got out, I went on a dessert tour of the Academy cafes. You, the one in the After-School Dessert Club, couldn't even find me then."
"Wait, what does that have to do with the Dessert Club...?"
"You think that’s all? I spent the whole day just sleeping in the dorms, and you still couldn't find me."
"Who would have thought you'd run away just to sleep...?"
"And when I went in using the student ID I made in advance, nobody recognized me."
"I mean, if the Academy Director made it, it’s an officially authenticated ID... Wait, why did you even make something like that in the first place?!"
"I walked around like that, and all those expensive pieces of equipment were useless! And then an Orc modified by a Dark Mage showed up!"
Uncle Aeryun shut his mouth at the Director’s vivid eyewitness account.
"It kept swelling up and then it exploded! I blocked it, but it drained a massive chunk of my mana!"
The panicked Director shouted all this and then suddenly stopped.
And then...
"The Academy is doomed..."
"Hey, you can't say that! You're the Director!"
"I ran away. I should be punished. Pick the next Director. I can't do this anymore."
"Ah, regarding that, an order did come down from the Imperial Family."
"What? Am I actually fired?"
The contrast between the Director’s sparkling eyes and Uncle Aeryun’s reluctant expression as he pulled out the letter was striking.
"By the Emperor’s decree."
"Should I kneel?"
"It’s informal, so just listen. To Director Joan Helias, who abandoned her post and fled without authorization: as punishment, your term of office is extended by 20 years."
"……?"
His Majesty the Emperor had refused to accept Joan Helias’s resignation.
The Director froze at the words that sounded like they belonged in the legends of overworked officials.
"What...? Why...?"
"Because it’s a punishment."
"Wait, is the position of Imperial Academy Director a place of exile?! Why is this a punishment?!"
"Just looking at your face, Director, it certainly seems like a punishment."
"……"
The Director fell to her knees.
And then she begged desperately.
"Please, save me..."
"It is an Imperial Decree."
"N-no...!"
But the Emperor did not grant her mercy.
"So, that’s what happened."
"...That person was the Director?"
Watching Daisy’s jaw drop, I asked her about the details of the incident the Director had mentioned.
Daisy nodded vigorously.
"So, why did you go into the dungeon?"
"The exams are coming up soon..."
"It doesn't seem like you need the practice."
"Someone took my sword away, so I have to practice."
"Well, thanks to that, you were able to dump one of them."
"I'm grateful for that, and I hope to work harder to do the same to the rest... but for now, the exams come first!"
Come to think of it, not being able to use her Magic Sword is a pretty big deal.
"So I tried using a normal sword. But then the Orcs suddenly..."
Apparently, there wasn't just one Orc modified by sorcery.
There were five in total. Normal swords didn't work, and magic didn't do much damage either.
Following Violet’s advice, she had fired a spell infused with Divine Power.
"And it worked?"
"Yes."
As expected of a technique verified by Boradori from the future.
They took down the Orcs, but one of them managed to get away.
"Unfortunately, that Orc was the type that explodes in reaction to Divine Power..."
"I really didn't know..."
Was it intentional, or just a coincidence?
Regarding that, rather than Daisy, the one to ask was...
"An Exploding Enhanced Orc that reacts to Divine Power? I don't know anything about that."
"……"
Classic Boradori.
Completely useless.
