Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Entrance Exam (1)
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Ricardo was a professor at Ramos School of Magic.
As the professor of Demon Ecology, he possessed vast knowledge on demon culture, habits, history, and more.
He was renowned for his deeper insights into various aspects compared to his fellow professors.
His lectures were also extremely popular among students.
Easy-to-understand explanations, textbook-based exams, and even note quizzes that replaced group assignments.
His cold appearance combined with his high-level teaching skills had earned him the top spot as the most popular professor among students for three straight years—not just among female students.
It was only natural that his classes always filled to capacity, enjoying popularity from both faculty and students.
"Then, that will conclude today's lecture."
He set the book he was holding on the podium, and the female students who had been listening rushed toward him eagerly.
Though each had their own motives, they were all students buttering him up to secure high grades from their professor.
"See you next time, Professor!"
"Yes, goodbye."
He appropriately engaged with the chattering students nonstop until the last one finally left the classroom. Only then did Ricardo remove his glasses and let out a sigh.
"...This isn't easy."
He adjusted his gloves and naturally cleaned his glasses. Soon after, he exited the classroom and headed to his research lab.
"Oh, Professor Ricardo."
"Professor Sandra."
"Come on! You can call me Sasha!"
Ricardo had a refined appearance and a cool demeanor that garnered many fans, but even he found the woman before him, Professor Sandra, to be quite uncomfortable.
Grab—!
"...!"
"Perfect timing. If you have time, why don't we grab a meal together?"
"That's...!"
She was the type who constantly initiated physical contact whenever she got the chance, endlessly testing Ricardo's patience.
He nearly snapped in anger at the hand gripping his through the glove but held back with superhuman restraint and immediately put on a cold, expressionless face.
"I have prior commitments today, so it won't be possible. I'm sorry you went out of your way to invite me."
"Hmm... If you have plans, no helping it. But next time, we must eat together!"
He gave a slight bow to her retreating figure with light steps. As soon as she was out of sight, he hurried into his research lab.
He flung the door open violently, immediately removed his gloves, summoned mana, and incinerated them in an instant.
"Insolent pest who doesn't know her place."
He muttered under his breath with a deeply furrowed brow, then headed to the bathroom to wash his hands.
He scrubbed furiously, as if trying to peel off his skin, clearly disgusted by the mere fact that he had held hands with her—even through the glove.
"How dare a lowly human touch this body—!"
After washing his hands in a frenzy of agitation, he dried them off and walked to the crystal orb in the corner of the lab.
He manipulated various devices in front of the orb, glanced around cautiously, then began casting spells with a serious expression.
"Alteration, mutation, distortion, concealment, obscurity, interference, illusion, phantasm..."
Numerous spells activated, causing the space around him to flicker repeatedly.
How much time passed?
After a good ten minutes of spellcasting, Ricardo finally infused mana into the crystal orb.
Crackle—crackle—
He fine-tuned the mana intensity to match the frequency until a large screen appeared in the air, at which point he hurriedly prostrated himself.
[Oh! It's Ricardo!]
"I pay respects to Terror."
[Kehuhu, it's been a while.]
The man on the other side of the screen nodded as if it were natural, seeing Ricardo prostrated to the extreme.
The man with black hair and a monocle over one squinted eye spoke to the deeply bowed Ricardo.
[So, how's the plan progressing?]
"...That's..."
Ricardo hesitated to answer the casually tossed question.
The man on the screen looked puzzled at Ricardo's reaction.
[Hmm? What's wrong? Did something happen?]
"Actually..."
After a moment of anguish, Ricardo decided there was no point hiding the truth—it would be discovered soon enough—and confessed the plan's failure.
[Hmmm.]
"I'm sorry! Please forgive me...!"
[...Failure, you say.]
The man murmured the word "failure" quietly, then opened his squinted eyes to gaze down at Ricardo.
[I have no need for useless dogs.]
"...!"
Ricardo's instincts rang alarm bells at the coldly uttered words.
"Next time! I won't disappoint you next time! Please...!"
The man stared at him with black eyes, then abruptly shifted his demeanor to a jovial one.
[Hahat! Just kidding. There's no way I'd 'dispose' of an executive like you over something so trivial.]
"Th-thank you!"
Despite the playful tone, his eyes revealed the previous words had been sincere, so Ricardo swallowed hard but forced a smile.
[Still, what a formidable man.]
"..."
[What do you think, Ricardo? You witnessed him yourself this time, didn't you?]
At the man's words, Ricardo recalled that scene.
The carefully prepared sacrifices fell to mere applicants.
The Black Sun, prepared over so long, shattered under a single blow from the Chairman.
His ambitious plan, disguised through his professorial role unfit for his status, crumbled in an instant. Even the Black Sun, which would have devastated the area if detonated, was quelled by the Chairman's hand—
"He is a monster."
Ricardo declared firmly.
Mana accumulated over years.
Mana he, a Four Heavenly Kings executive, had poured in with full power—wiped away with a mere flick of the hand.
Ricardo's eyes clenched shut as he recalled the past.
It was meant to be the harbinger of terror for Academy City.
'How could a human body do that...'
As Ricardo trembled in humiliation thinking of the futilely vanished sun, the watching man burst into loud laughter.
[Hahaha! A monster! Spot on!]
"He's not human. How could a human so easily handle rampaging mana..."
[Oh dear. You still don't understand him well.]
The man clicked his tongue at Ricardo's mutter.
[Don't see him as an ordinary human. As you said, he is a monster. Remember that his very existence rivals us Four Heavenly Kings.]
"No way! That's overestimating him too much!"
Ricardo vehemently objected to the man's words.
What were the Four Heavenly Kings?
The highest-ranking demons directly under the Demon King, embodiments of phenomena themselves.
Darkness, Death, Terror, War.
These four demons were idols to all demons and the continent's archenemies.
Each one equal to the Seven Great Powers—how could a mere human usurp such a position!
But the man before him seemed to think differently.
[Ricardo, you know how Famine and Pestilence died, right?]
"..."
The former Four Heavenly Kings, Famine and Pestilence, had both been subjugated by the Allied Forces.
Famine died in a duel with the Hero of Light during the previous Demon King's era, while Pestilence fell years ago in the Allied Forces' Holy Land reclamation battle.
Death and War had taken their places. Excluding Darkness, the sole survivor from the Hero of Light besides the fallen previous Demon King, and Terror who joined after, the Four Heavenly Kings saw relatively frequent turnover.
Then the man spoke, drawing attention.
[Even lowly humans occasionally produce the strong ones.]
"I acknowledge the Hero of Light who defeated Famine. The previous Demon King perished because of him. But Pestilence's situation was different, wasn't it?"
Ricardo had participated in that reclamation battle and remembered clearly.
Pestilence had fallen into the Allied Forces' vile trap, forced to face numerous powerhouses!
"Pestilence faced powerhouse after powerhouse without rest! The Chairman was among them, but that's hardly enough to call him Pestilence's equal...!"
Ricardo argued passionately but halted at the man's following words and stared at him.
[Ricardo, it seems you didn't properly witness that battle.]
"..."
He fell silent without a word.
He had been fighting himself, so he couldn't directly observe Pestilence's situation.
[As you said, Pestilence did fall into the Allied Forces' trap. I can assure you, as I watched through the Mirror of Terror. However, that alone didn't put Pestilence at a great disadvantage.]
"What do you...?"
He couldn't comprehend.
Not disadvantaged despite all those powerhouses gathered before him?
[Of course. None of them could properly wield their power against Pestilence.]
"...!"
[The battle actually favored Pestilence. He claimed the lives of many powerhouses and injured even more.]
"Then why did Pestilence...?"
Ricardo muttered weakly, then a thought flashed through his mind, widening his eyes in shock.
"No way!"
[Exactly. Yeon Je-seong. That loathsome Martial Apex joined forces with the Shadow King to bury him.]
"..."
Ricardo was too stunned to speak.
[And from what I saw, the guy still had strength left even while facing Pestilence.]
"...Hah."
[I'd say he possessed power equal to Pestilence at the time.]
Ricardo's head drooped at the man's heavy words.
Profound despair filled his chest, but he finally understood why his Black Sun had been dispelled so easily.
'So that's why the Black Sun vanished so simply.'
His brief resignation and following thoughts were cut off by the man's words.
[Anyway, be cautious of the Chairman. He's no ordinary human. Remember, he's no different from those who call themselves 'gods.']
With that, the man shifted to a cheerful tone to continue the conversation.
[Well, I said that, but since our prepared plan failed, we need revenge, right?]
Ricardo was flustered by the voice that sounded almost delighted, contrasting his previous words.
"Pardon? But you just said to be careful of the Chairman..."
[Of course he needs caution. But we can't just leave Academy City alone, can we?]
Personally, it'd be hilarious to see Academy City gripped by terror!
[His intervention is inevitable. So let's use it to our advantage.]
"What do you...?"
[Think oppositely. If he's going to intervene anyway, make it so he has no choice but to dive in deep!]
Make it grand and flashy.
So grand he can't look away.
Yeah, distract him so thoroughly he can't spare a thought for the front lines.
.
.
.
>—The demon spy would think something like that.
"Is that true?"
"Yeah, it's about what I expected."
I allowed infiltration partly for that reason.
'It's ridiculous that mere demons could infiltrate a cutting-edge tech hub like Academy City anyway.'
Of course, in the previous work, it was a game convenience with the city's control AI 'Highho' being incompetent.
With the Total Student Council in place, unidentified individuals can't approach the city's interior.
I didn't take over entry management for nothing.
Entry control was originally handled by a private firm under the Board of Directors' influence, but I half-forced it under the Student Council.
'Proper entry control blocks most events.'
I can't stop large-scale raids, but small-time spies like this can be lured in for experience points.
Of course, the Patrol Division screamed when they got stuck with entry management, but it was an unavoidable sacrifice.
Lost in such thoughts, Se-hee's voice suddenly reached my ear.
"So the demons are plotting something suspicious again?"
"Pretty much."
If my guess is right, it'll be the entrance ceremony event.
Demon infiltration or beast raids.
Entrance ceremonies always had major events generation after generation, so I just hope it gives the protagonist good experience points.
"Then shouldn't we prepare too? We don't know what tricks they'll pull. No, why did you let the spy live in the first place?!"
"Hey, calm down."
It'd be a natural reaction for an ordinary person.
Letting demons in voluntarily sounds like treason.
If she didn't know the circumstances, she'd have no defense against being branded a traitor.
"We're using them."
"Using them?"
"Yeah, using the spy to extract info in reverse. Highho's already yielding results."
From his perspective, he's stealing our info, but actually, we're the ones milking theirs.
"Appointing him as Demon Ecology professor was for that reason too."
"Wait, teaching demons about demons...?"
"Who knows demons better than demons?"
This is what they call the right person in the right place.
"No, I don't think that's right..."
Anyway, I'm looking forward to the entrance ceremony.
I called in the vice president from outside for it, invited graduated classmates, so security for contingencies is perfect.
Of course, someone needs to hold the front lines, so I didn't invite Frey, but he wouldn't care anyway.
"This'll be fun."
With the city's defenses, other demons can't enter easily. Probably magical beasts via gates?
'Experience point event!'
Great, time to level up the protagonist!
Too bad there's no shop in reality.
I could've bought experience coupons if there was.