Chapter 95: Second Year (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 95: Second Year (2)
The perennial third place of the Swordsmanship Department was already decided.
Minor Sword Emperor Asran.
To be honest, he only seemed easy to deal with to me.
As a candidate for the RoFan male lead and the official successor to the Sword Emperor, Asran was an insurmountable wall to the other students in the department.
To put it simply, the gap between the top student and the runner-up—that is, between Prince Ellen and me—was much smaller than the gap between the 3rd-place Minor Sword Emperor and whoever was in 4th.
Of course, as you climb higher, matches are decided by the smallest of margins.
The gap between Prince Ellen and me involved far more complex factors than the gap between the Minor Sword Emperor and 4th place.
Regardless, it was an immutable fact that Asran possessed skills incomparable to the other students.
In the first place, if I hadn't been here, Asran would be standing where I am now.
However, having faced him so often, I knew.
Even if I took it a bit easy, there was no way Asran would catch up to me.
Should I say I finally understood how the hare felt in the fable of The Tortoise and the Hare?
It was unfortunate for Asran, but that was the extent of the disparity between us.
That was why I could be certain.
Even if Asran received the protection of the scenario and broke through his limits...
At the very least, during the Academy arc, the most he could hope for was to barely catch up.
But Daisy was different.
We hadn't even fought yet, but I already felt my fighting spirit wilting.
I hadn't felt this kind of helplessness even against Prince Ellen...
"Aren't Saintesses supposed to be supporters?"
Even if she had awakened, this was a bit much.
-They say a true supporter is someone who eliminates the enemy before their allies can get hurt, right?
"..."
It was a famous piece of nonsense I’d heard in my past life, but since that was exactly what our agents did, I had nothing to say.
If we had to be classified, we were supporters too.
"Still... she only just started using a magic sword..."
Even if she was used to mana because she’d studied magic, swordsmanship and magic were completely different fields.
If anyone could do both, there wouldn't have been a distinction between the Swordsmanship and Magic Departments in the first place.
The fire and ice I could use were less like magic and more like a physical constitution change brought about by elixirs.
-Daisy is... a genius!
"Does that explain everything?"
-Then, a RoFan female lead?
"Shit."
That explained it.
Just how far did the limits of a RoFan female lead go?
-Anyway. Half the demons were sliced up like that, but some survived. Daisy stabbed them with her magic sword, sucked their power dry, and sent them to the room next to Bellon.
Saying they were in the "next room" meant they were tossed into the Holy Kingdom's basement to be tortured by the Heresy Inquisitors.
"Can you even torture demons?"
-Nope. Even if they want to talk, they can't because of the taboos placed on them.
They want to talk but can't.
The Heresy Inquisitors, unaware of this, would curse the demons for being stubborn.
The demons, unable to speak due to the taboo, would be treated as tough nuts to crack and subjected to even more intense torture.
-Well, it doesn't matter, does it?
"True."
If we revealed that fact, the torture might stop.
But we had no reason to show such loyalty to demons.
Unless there was a development where the demons actually had some tragic backstory we didn't know about.
For example, if the perception of demons being evil was actually a conspiracy by wicked humans.
Or if it was all a misunderstanding from the distant past.
At the very least, if there was a scenario that could serve as a redemption arc—like being bound by an evil god and forced to commit atrocities—it might be different.
But according to Violet, demons were irredeemable enemies of the world from birth.
-They're basically programmed killing machines meant to destroy the world, resurrect the evil god, and reset everything. How do you even give that a redemption arc?
"I heard there were plenty of readers who wanted to redeem the Demon King just because he was handsome."
-Shit...
...Apparently, it wasn't entirely impossible.
-A-anyway! We're currently pulling out the remaining roots of evil in the Holy Kingdom!
Violet—no, our agent, Codename Boradori—stiffened her expression and spoke to me with a very serious face.
-Please give me a salary advance!
"..."
This brat. As soon as she heard her salary went up, she tried to go into debt.
"Why? What? You going to buy luxury goods or something?"
-Yeah!
"...?"
She was even brazen about it.
"What is it?"
At this point, I was actually curious.
The girl acted like an idiot sometimes.
But fundamentally, she was someone who had read the original work and knew the future of this world.
I’d heard from the Captain that she’d already taken out a lot of advances, which was why he felt more comfortable overworking her.
But I knew those advances were investments to prepare for emergencies.
-There were some clergymen, including two Cardinals, who were in a gray area back in the summer, so we left them alone.
So many clergymen had been corrupted, and the void left by purging them all was so large that they had left the "ambiguous" ones alone under the pretext of letting them work to atone for their sins.
But as they say, old habits die hard.
Those who had rubbed shoulders with corrupt Cardinals and exploited others weren't likely to do their jobs properly.
Especially now, when the Holy Kingdom was in a state of extreme chaos.
While they were being buried under several times the usual workload, a former Cardinal appeared, claiming they should restore the Holy Kingdom to its former state.
And he even had a demon—the legendary adversary of the Goddess—backing him!
-They gathered under the cry of 'Holy Kingdom Restoration' and got caught red-handed.
They had been spared only because there was no evidence, essentially being given probation.
Now that they had openly committed treason, there was no reason to keep them alive.
-Since they joined hands with demons, the justification is entirely on our side!
"What does that have to do with your salary advance?"
-The assets of the executed criminals are scheduled to be seized.
Usually, after a revolution, new policies are introduced.
And new policies require massive amounts of funding.
Since it was for the sake of restoring the Holy Kingdom ruined by the former Cardinals, seizing their assets was only natural.
-I saw last time that the items are all put up for auction.
In short, she was planning to make a killing this time.
But.
"Wouldn't they just give it to you if you asked?"
I felt like if she just asked Daisy or the Pope for something she wanted instead of aiming for confiscated goods, they’d give it to her.
-...Then it’ll feel like I really have to become a Cardinal. I’d rather be a secular person in the Leon Kingdom than stay in the Church of Light.
Boradori let out a deep sigh and shook her head. Her logic made sense.
"Bring me a souvenir in return."
-Depends on the advance amount.
Without even reporting to the Captain, I handled Boradori's advance out of my own pocket.
After roughly wrapping things up in the Kingdom, I had no choice but to rush back to the Academy due to unexpected news.
There was still a month left before the Academy opened, but Uncle Aeryun's voice had been so urgent that I left Prince Ellen at the royal palace and returned alone.
"Uncle! This joke has gone too far!"
"..."
I arrived at the club room of the (tentatively named) After-School Dessert Club.
Seeing Uncle Aeryun sitting in the dark room without the lights on, trying to set a mood, I scowled deeply.
Normally, Taylor or the Fire Spammer would be here too, but they were currently undergoing punishment in the Holy Kingdom for failing to manage their master properly.
In other words, the fact that Uncle Aeryun was here alone meant it was an emergency.
Prince Esid had gone to the Holy Kingdom, and naturally, Uncle Aeryun had followed.
Yet Prince Esid hadn't returned from the Holy Kingdom, while Uncle Aeryun had returned alone and come to the Academy.
What did this mean?
It meant it was a crisis—an absolute emergency!
"It's... not a joke..."
With a voice full of despair, Uncle Aeryun handed me the documents in front of him.
"Ha."
As I looked through the list, I barely suppressed the urge to swear.
"Why the hell are these bastards coming to the Academy?"
The documents were applications for those wishing to enroll next year.
The problem was that the backgrounds of the people listed were bizarre.
"That's exactly how I felt this time last year."
Seeing my reaction, Uncle Aeryun clicked his tongue briefly.
I could roughly guess.
How must Uncle Aeryun have felt when he suddenly heard that the Prince of Leon and the Prince of Dale were enrolling?
Probably similar to how I felt right now.
What did this mean?
It meant that next year, princes and princesses from other kingdoms were enrolling.
Of course, I hadn't been entirely blindsided by this kind of development.
Hadn't Boradori told me that sub-male leads and villains would appear?
Since there were characters she had explained in detail—unlike her usual self—I had been somewhat mentally prepared for the new students.
However, I’d had something I was counting on.
"The Academy is getting trashed like this, and they still want to enroll?"
That’s right. What I’d been counting on was the fact that the Imperial Academy was as easy to breach as a revolving door.
A normal person wouldn't send their child to the Imperial Academy, which got raided every other day!
"Unfortunately, they want to come for three reasons."
"What are they?"
"First, there are those who don't know the Academy was raided."
The first invasion, the incident where the named Silence attacked, was known to quite a few people.
However, for other incidents, the Empire had hidden them as much as possible to avoid revealing their own weaknesses.
Thanks to that, parents who were ignorant of the situation were throwing their children into the living hell that was the Academy!
"And the second?"
"Those who know it was raided, but also know it was defended well, so they think it's fine."
True. The Academy was raided every time, but as a result, it had also been defended every time.
The opponents had included Silence, various terrorist groups, and to top it off, they had a record of facing demons—though that wasn't public knowledge...
The fact that it hadn't fallen despite such offensives was, in a way, a testament to the Academy's reliability.
The problem was...
"Finally, the most problematic ones... are the bastards who sent them hoping for that."
"Why?"
"The Leon and Dale royal families are the weird ones. Normally, throne succession requires blood to be shed."
"You mean they sent them here to die?"
"Exactly."
In short, they were being sent into exile under the guise of education.
"Has the Empire's reputation fallen so low that it's treated like this?"
"It's because it hasn't fallen that this is happening."
"What does that even mean?"
"Because it's the Empire! Because it's the best educational facility on the continent! Sending them here gives them a perfect justification!"
"..."
It made sense.
If you disposed of a sibling in a place where the struggle for the throne was fierce, you’d only gain infamy.
But if you sent them to the Imperial Academy, you could claim you worked hard for your siblings' education by sending them to the best academy on the continent!
"If it happens in your own country, you might be suspected of assassination, but if they die in the Empire, it's a perfect accidental death."
Even better, if they died in an incident like a terrorist attack, it became an unquestionable accident.
Unless they were insane, no one would think a kingdom sent assassins into the heart of the Empire to kill someone.
"So..."
I recalled the names Boradori had told me I needed to know among next year's freshmen.
They were there. Quite a few of them.
"Shit..."
However, the number of people on the list was far greater than the ones Boradori had mentioned.
And there were names on there that absolutely shouldn't be.
Of course, Boradori might have left them out again...
-...I have no idea about this?
Looking at Boradori's face, which seemed to say, 'Why the hell are those guys coming?' it seemed we were just well and truly screwed.