The Academy's Troublemaker Makes His Move (2)
By the way, that girl is quite peculiar too.
“Who?”
‘The one with the purple hair. On the surface she seems gentle, but inside she’s harboring some serious venom. You’d do well to be careful.’
While we were heading into the nearby forest to carry out the request, Sepiria offered her assessment of Elia as well.
Don’t tell me the Aventus family is actually some hidden assassin clan or something…
At least, there was nothing like that in the original story.
‘How should I put it? It feels like she has a habit of constantly watching her surroundings. She’s a rather unusual young lady.’
“She’s definitely a bit weird.”
Even in this romance fantasy world where everyone was abnormal, Elia Aventus stood out as exceptionally strange. That had been true in the original work as well. But what I liked most about her was that she never let herself be swayed by something like love.
The only reason she ended up as a mid-tier villain was because she had to protect her engagement with me for the sake of her family’s interests. It had never been about possessiveness or jealousy.
In fact, when she lost everything to Maria and became a nun, disappearing from the story, she had actually felt relieved. Because she was finally able to let go of her responsibilities as the duke’s daughter. To her, that had been liberation.
“This seems to be the place. We’ve arrived.”
While I was exchanging telepathic conversation with Sepiria, we reached the request area before I knew it.
The first request was to eliminate as many monsters as possible. There were no completion conditions—just the more you killed, the more money you received. For requests like this without a limit, the reward per monster was on the low side. However, if you could take down a large number at once, you actually ended up earning quite a bit more.
The second request was to subjugate the “Mountain Lord.”
From what I’d heard, it was a type of tiger-like monster. Since there was no detailed information available yet, I figured we’d just have to meet it to find out.
“By the way, where exactly are these monsters?”
“Wait a moment, Raphel. I’ll check.”
I spread my mana out around me.
‘Presence Detection.’
It was the third Black Magic I had learned through Shadow Magic.
Black mist-like energy spread out from me. The mist turned into thin threads that scanned a fairly wide area around us.
“There’s a group of seven goblins to the right. They’ve lit a campfire and are roasting a freshly hunted ear rat.”
“H-how did you find that out?”
“Is it that black magic you mentioned before?”
“Your fiancée has excellent senses. It is indeed black magic. It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen it used in actual combat.”
Elia had always been sharp like that.
Anyway, seven goblins posed no real threat, so Professor Raphel swept them away by himself.
“There are two mad hogs searching for prey straight ahead. I’ll take care of them.”
Slash—!
The two mad hogs were dealt with as well.
“Two lizardman warriors are hiding in the bushes to the left.”
Whoosh—!
I burned the lizardmen with fire magic, exploiting their weakness.
In that manner, we continued eliminating monsters at a rapid pace without encountering any real danger.
And then, finally…
“Hold on… I sense a tiger-type monster straight ahead in those bushes.”
I closed my eyes and focused on the senses of the shadows I had spread out.
I could feel the aura of a tiger. Given that it was white, it had to be a white tiger. But its appearance was slightly different. It wasn’t moving on all fours—it was bipedal. Its shape resembled a hairless monkey.
What was even more unusual was that all the surrounding monsters were fleeing from it.
The white tiger tried to chase after them but collapsed weakly onto the ground.
Mad hogs, goblins, lizardmen… even the monsters that survived by hunting others refused to approach anywhere near the white tiger.
“Something feels off.”
“Could it be… the Mountain Lord?”
Hestia’s face darkened, as if she were scared.
Even Elia seemed slightly tense this time. According to the subjugation request, the Mountain Lord was described as extremely dangerous.
Still, I wasn’t sure if this was the creature the rumors spoke of.
“It’s starving. And it looks like it’s on the verge of collapse.”
“So it’s weakened. This is our chance. We should subjugate it immediately.”
“I’ll go ahead first. Everyone stay here.”
“Just in case, I’ll go with you.”
“Alright. Raphel is fine. The rest of you wait here. Hestia, keep Elia safe.”
“I am not a child, Kael.”
“M-me?”
“It’s an order.”
Leaving behind the two who couldn’t contribute much to our combat strength right now, I slowly advanced forward with Raphel.
After pushing through the bushes and going deeper, a suitable clearing appeared between the trees.
And in the center of that clearing was…
“A beastman?”
“Incredible… a beastman.”
This was a bit of a surprise.
The being we had assumed was the “Mountain Lord” was unmistakably a beastman.
A white tiger beastman with white hair and black stripes scattered throughout. It had collapsed from starvation and was clearly very weak, yet its mere presence was enough to drive away all the other monsters.
‘That beastman is stronger than it looks.’
“Can you tell?”
‘Obviously. It’s strong, but it doesn’t seem to have much talent for surviving. By the way, beastmen were common in my era, yet I haven’t seen any in this one.’
“There are several reasons for that. Mostly because the Holy Kingdom really doesn’t like them…”
In truth, there had been mentions of beastmen in the original story as well.
Beastmen were once a race beloved as slaves throughout the Empire and the Kingdom. But the Holy Kingdom declared them an evil race and launched a purge. With bounties placed on their heads, most beastmen were sold off to the Holy Kingdom.
The majority were sent to a remote island belonging to the Holy Kingdom, where they were herded together and then forgotten. That was why beastmen could no longer be seen across the continent.
Later on, there had been an episode where Maria and Avon discovered a young beastman child and hid them. While it was true that beastmen were rare on the continent, they did still exist.
“Actually, I’ve seen beastmen several times before. But a tiger beastman… and a white tiger at that… this is truly my first time.”
“What should we do?”
This was a situation I honestly hadn’t anticipated.
Of course, just because the opponent was a beastman didn’t mean the request would disappear. We could simply kill it and take its fangs.
But I didn’t actually need the quest reward. I had only created this pretext because I wanted a cheap way to get some dopamine.
“Killing it doesn’t sit right with me.”
“Hasn’t that island where the beastmen live become something like a protected sanctuary now?”
“It has. Logically speaking, if we find a beastman, we should send them to Beastman Island, but…”
Professor Raphel groaned in frustration.
The reason was obvious…
“You’re going to let this opportunity pass? A white tiger beastman? It’s an incredibly rare research sample. Shouldn’t we kidnap it, lock it in the basement, and study it for the rest of our lives?”
“You mad scientist.”
“So, what do you plan to do?”
“For now… should we capture it and think about it later?”
Honestly, I wasn’t sure either.
But if I captured it and handed it straight over to the adventurers’ guild, Raphel would be devastated. Just look at him right now. He had the same expression as a little girl begging her parents to buy her a kitten.
“I could raise it well…”
“You’re going to raise that?”
“Never mind. I’ll follow your decision.”
Professor Raphel kept smacking his lips.
It was honestly a little scary, but…
I made up my mind.
“Hey kid. You have some secret basement in the academy that only you know about, right? You’ll have to feed it properly and clean up after it, you know?”
“Do you think I’m a child? Why are you nagging me like this?”
“Anyway, you’re taking responsibility. I’ll catch it for you.”
Honestly, I didn’t have any proper restraints on hand right now.
But there was one thing. A way to make this beastman behave.
‘I saw a magic circle in the museum not long ago.’
I hadn’t tried to memorize it, but one spell had naturally stuck in my mind.
A spell that helped with sleep. Of course, it wasn’t some overpowered ability that could force an awake opponent to fall asleep. It simply made it easier to fall into a deeper, more comfortable slumber. But if I used it now, it should prevent this beastman girl from waking up easily.
I quietly approached the girl. Even though I was getting closer, she didn’t react at all. It seemed she had used up every last bit of her strength.
I cast the spell on her in that state. This should be enough.
“Here. You take her.”
“That should suffice.”
Professor Raphel chanted something and activated a spell I didn’t recognize.
A barrier of some kind floated in the air, and Raphel grunted as he lifted the beastman onto it.
It looked like a scene that could easily be misunderstood. It really seemed like we were kidnapping the beastman girl.
“Anyway, you all can handle the rest of the request. I’ll be going now. I need to hide this child immediately, so I must leave right away.”
“Yeah, take care.”
Professor Raphel disappeared somewhere, pulling the barrier along with him.
What a strange person. He had suddenly appeared, and now he was suddenly disappearing.
Anyway, I’d have to report one of the requests as a failure…
‘This much leisure should be enough. Time to start the main quest.’
It would soon be time for Haidel to confess to Maria.
Before that happened, maybe I should throw Avon into the mix?
Let’s sit back and enjoy the love triangle.