Chapter 15
Chapter 15
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Devour
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Whenever I stepped into the dean's office, I'd always leave in a foul mood, but I was a little curious how it'd go this time.
Wondering if there was any other student who had to visit the dean's office as often as I did—and for equally rotten reasons—I walked in to find May and the Dean waiting for me.
'May too?'
I wondered if it was okay for them to be gathered so openly like this, but they were both wearing smug, triumphant smiles.
"Daniel, you must know why I called you here, right?"
Her fake smile rubbed me the wrong way, so I grinned back as I replied.
"To give me a reward? For beating down those fourth-years who were threatening a third-year?"
"You lunatic!"
May snapped at me from the side, but I just laughed it off. The Dean, however, scowled deeply at me.
"Are you serious? Do you even know who you messed with? Penil Leiros. The second son of the Leiros family. A mere commoner like you laid hands on nobility among nobility."
"Then tell the nobles to act like nobles."
"You're still too young to grasp the situation, I see. And it's not just Penil Leiros. Among the students you beat..."
What followed was a long rundown of noble families and how impressive they all were. Honestly, I tuned most of it out, so nothing really stuck.
"Word has already spread to their families that a commoner like you dared lay hands on nobles. We can't just let this slide anymore."
"Hmm, so expulsion, then?"
"Exactly! You should've known better than to strut around like that."
The Dean raised a hand to silence May, who was laughing like she'd won the lottery, then gave me a look of pity.
"Daniel, I know it's tough, but that's the world we live in. Our academy puts students first, but we can't run the school on that alone."
"......"
"What parent would stand by after their kids got beaten? Especially noble bloodlines, humiliated by a lowly commoner."
"Shouldn't they be the ones embarrassed?"
I let out a hollow laugh, and the Dean gave a sly smile in return.
"Sure, ganging up and still losing isn't a good look. But you did the beating, the kids got hurt, and you're unscathed. That alone makes you the aggressor."
"What kind of twisted logic is that?"
"Want to know why?"
"......"
"Because you're a commoner."
I hadn't expected her to be so brazen about it.
She was admitting that Penil's gang was in the wrong, yet insisting I still had to be expelled.
In other words...
She was telling me it was pointless to prove my innocence.
This was confirmation that she already knew I was in the right, yet had decided on expulsion anyway.
"From the academy's perspective, we need you to understand this is necessary to avoid upsetting the nobles. It might even be better for you to get expelled here."
"So I don't get on the nobles' bad side?"
"Precisely."
She smiled, thinking I'd finally gotten it.
"So, even when it's unfair and humiliating, you just have to back down. That's life, huh."
"In a way, Aios Academy might have taught you something more valuable than knowledge."
She was trying to hold back a laugh, but her lips twitched anyway—a truly memorable sight. I nodded and pulled something from my pocket.
A thick sheet of paper.
Oddly enough, it was infused with mana, designed to absorb incoming sounds and store them.
I channeled a bit of mana into it, and a recorded voice echoed through the office.
"......"
"......"
Both of them gaped, staring at each other in disbelief at how this conversation had been recorded.
"Pretty neat, huh? The Dean herself ordering a student to beat up another. Think you can handle this getting out?"
I flashed a grin, and the Dean slammed her desk, shouting.
"What kind of trickery is this?!"
"Sigh, really. You have no sense of the mood."
I slowly approached the door and locked it.
Click.
With that sound, the atmosphere in the office flipped. I wasn't just the eighteen-year-old Daniel McClain anymore.
I was the only sherpa who could guide people through the Demon Realm Forest—a hell where no human could survive.
Visitors who'd sought my guidance sometimes said things like:
'People can live in the Demon Realm Forest?'
'Wow, even decorating a house like this doesn't draw monster attacks?'
I never bothered correcting them, but the truth was that no humans lived in the Demon Realm Forest.
I'd shed my human guise there, becoming a monster myself—winning territorial battles and claiming a spot at the top of the food chain. That's why no beasts approached or challenged my lair.
In the end...
It meant your presence alone had to instill fear in your enemies.
I turned slowly, and their faces paled as their eyes locked onto me, unable to look away. They'd sensed something was wrong.
When a monster thrusts its maw right in your face, no one can tear their gaze away.
"Shall we try it? Go ahead and expel me. Want me to tell you where I'll take this?"
I could head straight to Aios Academy's rival, Palace Academy, and make great use of it. Or even better, send it to nobles who actually valued honor—not ones who just shielded their bratty kids like Penil's parents.
"Expulsion's fine by me. I'll just go back to the village and farm. But what about you two?"
"......"
"Nobles might cover for you if you crawl home after screwing over one student and losing everything. But at least hold onto that Dean position if you want any shot."
"Th-that..."
"Think you can pull it off?"
After locking the door, I'd planned to keep a straight face, but a faint smile crept onto my lips unbidden.
"When you fall from such heights, can you handle the drop?"
It wasn't just her or her family's problem.
Aios Academy's next Dean would have grounds for a lawsuit with how badly her image was about to be tarnished.
"Hmph."
I let out a hollow chuckle at the two of them, sweating bullets but still unable to look away.
"I can hear your brains spinning from here."
"May!"
At my words, the Dean shouted, and May charged at me with trembling hands, trying to snatch the paper. I sidestepped, tripping her with my leg.
But that wasn't the Dean's real intent.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The open windows slammed shut, plunging the office into shadow. It wasn't fully dark yet since it was still daytime, but that wasn't her aim.
"You dare pull this crap on me in here?!"
She'd closed the windows to muffle any noise from outside and cast a mana barrier.
No matter how much mana she threw around now, no one outside would know—and she must've thought that meant she'd won.
"You just made a huge mistake."
As she raised her staff, I flicked her chin like brushing away a fly. She staggered, dizzy.
To survive in the Demon Realm Forest, I'd devoured books on monster weak points and vital spots.
Funny thing was, the more I read, the more I found that humans had written far more about human vital spots than monsters.
"Humans are so easy to hit in the vitals."
And naturally, I'd read them all.
Even dazed, though, the Dean instinctively gathered mana.
"You damn bastard!"
The Demon Realm Forest had magic-wielding monsters aplenty, and since I was no mage myself, I'd always pondered how to fight spellcasters.
The simplest way: create a situation where they couldn't cast.
Even the most skilled mage needs calculations for basic spells.
Some were so practiced they did it unconsciously.
But even simple spells required a moment.
"I'm not giving you that moment at this range."
I snatched her staff and snapped it in half. As she leaned on the desk to launch a spell, I hooked her leg and toppled her.
Crash!
Maybe she hadn't bought the position with bribes, because even as she fell, she completed her spell and thrust out her hand.
But I'd already kicked her hand aside, deflecting the magic's path.
"Gaaah!"
Boom!
A scream tore from her lips as her spell ignited one side of the office.
May was just trembling, pounding on the door and begging to leave.
"Shh, calm down and stop thrashing. Nothing's over for you."
Pinning the teary-eyed Dean beneath me, I smiled.
"In fact, it's just getting started."
You need to stay Dean for a long, long time.
Until I graduate.