Chapter 157: Drug Incident at the Academy (End)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 157: Drug Incident at the Academy (End)
To be honest.
This situation wasn’t a betrayal or anything of the sort.
From their perspective, I was just a villain who had spouted some cryptic nonsense before running away.
No matter how much I had suddenly appeared to help, they couldn’t exactly say, “Thank you for your cooperation! Good work!” and just let me go.
The reason their current attitude was so hesitant was likely because I had no prior criminal record, and I had just stepped in to assist them.
“…Since there is no confirmed record of you committing a crime, you will be able to claim your full rights if you comply with the investigation.”
Perhaps having heard that most of the students I extracted demonic energy from had survived, the Chairperson’s attitude toward me had softened considerably.
“Even if there are crimes, as long as they aren’t heinous, I will seek as much leniency as possible. I’ll also ensure you can claim credit for the help you provided today…”
Now, that would be a bit problematic.
[Help?]
It would be trouble if the Masked Villain ‘fell’ to the side of justice just yet.
Isn’t it a universal rule in hero stories that an enemy becomes weaker the moment they join the good guys?
Well, even if that’s just a joke, I’m planning to carry out more terror attacks and fight these kids in the future. It would be awkward, wouldn’t it?
[I have no idea what you are talking about. Did you not hear what I said at the beginning?]
That was why I had laid the groundwork in advance.
[It was an eyesore. Therefore, I suppressed it. I would appreciate it if you didn’t misunderstand.]
Foreshadowing to draw a clear line.
I was here strictly to resolve a sense of unpleasantness, not out of a sense of justice. I was a villain who had meted out private punishment for purely personal reasons.
“…So you have no intention of complying with the investigation?”
[Of course not, Chairperson. I bow to no one other than my great master. Furthermore, I have even less reason to bow to those weaker than myself.]
The Chairperson’s expression soured slightly.
“…May I ask one thing?”
[I don’t see why not.]
“Fine. Then why did you interfere? If it was merely an eyesore, we would have handled it ourselves even without your intervention.”
She was asking a question.
She wondered if there was some underlying reason why I had gone through the trouble of saving their lives.
[Hmm.]
I stroked the chin of my mask as if I had heard an interesting question, then slowly raised my hand in an exaggerated motion to point at the spot where the demon had died.
[Don’t you think it was hideous?]
“…Hideous?”
[Indeed. I speak of incomplete malice. Imperfect malice is a hideous thing. And the same goes for those children.]
This time, I pointed toward the cadets being carried away on stretchers.
[They are half-baked. Their malice is far too soft to be called villainy. True, upright malice is not like that. The wrath one harbors must be entirely one’s own, and one must personally shoulder the responsibility that arises from wielding it.]
The eyes of everyone around me converged.
The sensation of being the lead actor under a spotlight while everyone else became the audience was strangely pleasant.
[They abandon responsibility, share a wrath that belongs to no one knows who, and repeat low-level misdeeds. And yet, I found it grating that they deluded themselves into thinking they were villains, believing there was no turning back.]
The atmosphere was perfect. I sounded incredibly charismatic.
[Therefore, I have executed Evil.]
Nailed it.
— Your acting gets better by the day, doesn’t it? Even I was almost fooled.
“…I see. I think I understand what kind of person you are now. Fine. Then I assume you are prepared to take responsibility for your own words?”
At her signal, the professors surrounded me, and the cadets retreated to the rear.
[Hmm, aren’t you all going to attack at once? You’ll find yourselves lacking.]
For the record, I was already prepared to activate my teleportation bracelet.
I was going to talk big and then make my escape. I’d already said I had no intention of fighting today.
“You are overconfident.”
[None of you can reach me.]
Because I’m going to teleport away!
“Is that so?”
Turning my gaze toward the source of the voice, I saw a professor taking a stance.
“I’ve improved a bit since the last time we met. Would you like to test me yourself?”
[That doesn’t sound bad, but I shall politely decline.]
“Really? That’s a shame. Because I really feel the need to test you.”
Hmm, I should play along for a bit and then bail.
Just as I thought that, something caught my eye.
Among the fallen cadets, there was one staggering to his feet.
Has no one noticed yet? Then again, if I hadn’t seen something bothering my Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils, I wouldn’t have noticed this quickly either.
It wasn’t demonic energy.
The boy’s body was undoubtedly still human.
However, the soul residing within that body was entirely different from the original, creating a dissonance as the two failed to mesh.
A demon. It was undoubtedly the same demon that Leilan had just finished off.
Had it managed to eject its spirit just before being destroyed? Or perhaps it had hidden a seed among the cadets from the start so it could resurrect upon death.
Quite resourceful. No, perhaps this was the demon’s specific talent.
Is its target Chairperson Leilan?
Thinking I might take a hostage, she was protecting the fallen cadets alone. Thanks to that, even without demonic energy, the creature could easily approach her.
It seemed to want to hijack her body. I don’t know how it did it, but because not a shred of malice could be felt from it, no one but me had noticed yet.
Not even the Chairperson herself.
Saving her was the obvious choice. So, what was the right move here?
The heroes rushed toward me.
I didn’t hesitate for long.
The teleportation bracelet, which I had originally prepared for my escape, activated, and I moved right next to the Chairperson.
Thinking I was suddenly targeting her, the startled Chairperson fired a blade of wind. I deliberately didn’t dodge and took the hit.
Since Ruyi would block it anyway, a basic move like this didn’t really hurt, and it was important to show everyone that I had been hit.
[How amusing.]
To any observer, it looked like I had grabbed the arm of a cadet who had swung a blade to ambush the Chairperson.
[A soul transplantation? I didn’t expect you to cling to life in such a manner, but it is quite hideous. Don’t you think this woman is a vessel far too grand for the likes of you?]
Shock washed over the boy’s face.
This must have been his trump card, and he looked incredibly indignant, but what could he do?
In your next life, try not to pick a fight with someone like me.
“Wa… Wait!”
That is, if demons even have a next life.
Having one’s soul swapped was different from being eroded by demonic energy.
I didn’t know the mechanics, but the original owner had to be considered dead.
In that case, it was better that I be the one to do it rather than the others.
A shadow pierced the boy’s heart.
I had intended to avoid killing anyone if possible, but in the end, one died.
I had prevented an accident that would have caused far more casualties at the cost of a single life.
It was a successful result in its own way, but for some reason, I wasn’t particularly happy.
Even though it was just one person, and one of the trashy ones at that.
I suppose the thought that being a hero who saves everyone doesn’t suit me after all.
Really.
I wasn’t happy at all.
* * *
Leilan Claudia was flustered.
She was shaken by the fact that the villain had gotten behind her in an instant, and by how easily he had blocked her subsequent attack.
But the biggest reason for her confusion was that the man in the ghost mask had blocked an ambush on her behalf—and that the one who had ambushed her was one of the fallen cadets.
He had dealt with the boy with clinical efficiency, claiming he was possessed by a demon, and no one had been able to react.
He stared at the corpse with a melancholy air for a brief moment before turning his gaze back to her.
His expression was hidden behind the pure white demon mask, but she could somehow tell he wasn’t in a good mood.
[Leilan Claudia. You were careless. You have a tendency to rely too much on your intuition to see through malice. You should know that there are plenty of ways to deceive the senses depending on the enemy.]
The man in the mask drew closer.
She reflexively took a step back.
He took another step forward.
[Keep this in mind. You are still a being the world needs. It would be quite troublesome for me if you were to die or get hurt recklessly.]
Needed by the world? From a villain’s perspective, it should be better if a hero like her didn’t exist. What was he talking about?
He reached out his hand. For some reason, she couldn’t resist.
[I am saying your life is not your own. Stay alive until the day all the heroes of the world kneel before my master and adapt to the new laws. If you are a hero, then act like one; be the wall that stands in our way and perish only to prove our strength.]
His gloved hand touched her neck.
[Until that day. No, even after that.]
Why didn’t the thought of running away or resisting this man occur to her? It was a sensation she had never felt before.
A strange, dazed, floating feeling. She should have run away immediately, but for some reason, the thought that he would harm her never crossed her mind.
[I will not tolerate you dying without my permission.]
Having said that, the moment he let go and stepped away, his arm flashed, and he vanished without a trace.
It was a first.
The first time she had been helped by a villain, the first time someone had rescued her from a crisis.
And the first time someone had ever come this close.
Her heart raced.
Was she that scared? That was possible.
The man in the ghost mask was skilled enough that it was strange he had remained nameless until now.
No matter how she looked at it, he was at least an A-rank—no, an S-rank villain. It wasn’t unreasonable for her heart to throb after such a villain had been within arm’s reach.
“…Chairperson? Did that villain do something to you?”
Her dear friend Cathy approached and checked her complexion.
“No, I’m fine. Why?”
“Your face is really red right now. Did the villain say something to make you angry?”
“…What?”
Her face was red? Why? No, wait. This had to be a joke. How old was she?
“Right, I must be mistaken. It’s just the shock.”
She tried to steady her heart, desperately ignoring the question that had popped into her mind.
…Bad boys? What ‘bad boys’? I only had a brief crush on that type when I was a kid. Of course. That’s all it is.
* * *
After finishing the teleportation, I pulled off the mask roughly.
“God, I feel like shit. It’s been a while.”
No, there was no reason to feel bad. It wasn’t the first time I’d killed someone since my regression.
It was just that the sensation of piercing someone’s heart was more vivid than expected, and the sensations of taking a life from my memories seemed to be resurfacing, making me a bit anxious.
I would eventually get used to this too.
“Ah, damn it. Ptu.”
Did I bite my lip? My mouth was bleeding.
“…I feel bad for the Chairperson. Dammit, I just took my frustration out on her.”
It wasn’t like she wanted to be ambushed, so why did I snap at her?
— The Will of the Saint applies Mental Fortitude. It asserts that you should not be too weighed down by the necessary karma of killing.
— …Are you alright?
“Yeah, I’m actually better than I thought. I’m not hurt, and originally, way more people were supposed to die, but it ended with just one guy. Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
Right, I’m fine. I was just a bit startled by the vivid sensation.
I was a bit bothered by the harsh words I said to the Chairperson at the end, but well, a warning not to die was necessary.
Telling her not to rely too much on her senses was also something she needed to hear.
Perhaps the reason I was more reluctant to kill than necessary was because I knew it would turn out like this.
I have to pull myself together.
Did I think I would never kill a single person going forward? I already made up my mind. I decided not to hesitate.
If only it had been an adult instead of a cadet, I might have felt less disgusted.
Those damn bastards. Why do they keep messing with the Academy?
Ah, right. It’s because this is an academy novel.
A laugh escaped me.
“I want to see them.”
The words slipped out suddenly.
I want to see them, huh?
Yeah, there are plenty of people I want to see.
That’s why I can’t afford to stumble here.
Let’s go back.
* * *
“I told you to wait a moment…!!!”
“Get lost…!!!”
…What the hell.
After swapping positions with my clone and dispelling the cloning technique, the clone’s memories flowed into me. Like magic, my melancholy was replaced by a different emotion.
Namely, annoyance and anger.
Ah, damn it, I should have just left.
“Please, I’m begging you, let go…!”
“I’m never letting go…!!!!!”
Aisha, you brat. What is your problem now?