Chapter 118
Chapter 118
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: 12. It Ain't Over Till It's Over (7)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Um… aren’t you one of the staff?”
I can feel cold sweat trickling down my back.
Oh no. It’s Lady Rea. Long time no see, Lady Rea.
Not the kind of friend you’re happy to run into~ but a former coworker you meet and everything goes to hell.
“Ah… staff… well, I am, but…….”
My voice trembles.
It’s the voice that comes out because I’ve run into Lady Rea.
Of course, this is all an act.
The other person is from the Arais Marquis Family, one of the Ten Great Families, and is evaluated as the continent’s strongest female swordmaster alongside the Sword Saint.
Acting calm would actually be more suspicious!
“You don’t need to be startled. I’m looking for someone here. Do you happen to know where Professor Niserwin is?”
“Ah, P-Professor Niserwin?”
I know where he is.
The guy grabbing the door handle and trembling right now is Professor Niserwin. In other words, me!
“P-Professor Niserwin is currently with the other professors, watching the students’ matches…….”
I was giving the most ordinary answer in the most ordinary, slightly trembling voice.
Then, a bombshell dropped.
“Oh, I’m getting married.”
“No way!”
“…….”
“…….”
The space fell into instant silence.
It’s quiet. So very quiet.
“Grit.”
And the sound that broke the silence was someone grinding their teeth.
I slightly raise my head to look toward the source of the sound.
“Why… no way… grit… would I… grit… think… grit…….”
There was Lady Rea, grinding her teeth and glaring at me.
-The world, Master got hooked!
The Steel Bat’s shock transmitted over, but there’s nothing to be done.
It’s Lady Rea, after all.
Hearing that Lady Rea is getting married, with no preparation whatsoever.
How could I not be shocked?
“Grit… really… Her Highness said if she said something like this, you’d fall for it… and you really did…….”
Finally, 10% joy at finding me and fulfilling the princess’s order, 40% anger that I fell for this trap.
And probably 50% self-loathing for the past self that was absolutely certain nothing like this would happen when the princess ordered this plan. With eyes like that, she stared at me.
“I’ll hear about this later. Seize him!”
The knights around Lady Rea charged without even responding.
“Damn it!”
At the same time, I pushed open the slightly ajar door, slipped inside, and used it to block the knights’ charge.
Bang!
“What?”
“Out of the way! I’ll cut you down!”
Clang!
“Sword aura?”
“Hahaha, you idiots! This is dwarf bulletproof glass!”
After blocking the knights’ charge, I locked the door.
Swords infused with sword aura struck it several times to break it, but this glass door wouldn’t shatter.
It looks like frosted glass, but it’s actually a special magic glass reforged from mithril on a black anvil.
You can’t make the students’ escape routes weak.
Among the various facilities, I’d put the most effort into the passages, doors, and windows the students used to move and escape.
“Out of the way! Some of you, breach through the windows!”
“Gotta bounce quick.”
Lady Rea’s voice was followed by the sound of explosions.
It didn’t slice through in one blow, but it couldn’t withstand a swordmaster’s attacks.
“Yap yap yap.”
I quickly moved to my office on the first floor.
From this place, one of the spots where I could control all the academy’s traps, I activated every single one.
“This should keep everyone except Lady Rea from breaking through easily…….”
These were traps that had held back over a thousand Yuglasia students.
No matter that they were Her Highness the princess’s knights, coming in easily would be impossible.
And in that time, I’d escape through the escape route! A perfect plan!
-But Master, no one’s left in the academy?
-Of course not. The entire staff is at the Imperial Tournament cheering for Yuglasia.
The only ones around are the guards at the main gate.
And even fewer than usual.
No one inside.
-Then what did I just see?
-See what?
-Turn your head.
I slightly turn my head to look at the classroom next door.
I’m on the third floor right now.
In other words, where the first-years’ classrooms are.
And in that classroom.
“Students?!”
Students in Yuglasia uniforms were sitting at their desks.
Enough to fill every seat!
“Attention!”
Suddenly, one person stands and looks at me.
I knew it the moment I saw them.
No matter how youthful their face, you couldn’t pass off those faces as students!
“You crazy princess!”
“Attack the professor!”
“Attack!”
Without even looking back as I ran, I heard a very violent greeting from the side.
“Uwaaak!”
As the classroom door opened and students—no, knights—poured out one by one, I dashed upward with all my strength.
Tenth floor. If I reach the tenth floor, I can escape.
-But there’ll be more of these guys up there too!
No sooner had the Steel Bat spoken than scary-looking uncles in Yuglasia uniforms burst out from above.
“Damn it, I’m a pacifist, but… this time, no choice!”
-Pacifist? Who?
Who else? Me, inheriting the spirit of the guy who turned corn into diamonds!
“Die!”
The Steel Bat returned to its original form.
The moment the big, beautiful silver club appeared in my hand, it clashed with one of the guys charging with his sword drawn.
“Kwaaaak!”
“Wh-what!”
Sword met Steel Bat, and the opponent screamed as he collapsed.
But he fell in a very bad spot.
On the stairs, stepping on the trap section. As the bald student was molested by tentacles, the others hesitated, and I stepped on the stair railing to climb upward.
“Grab him!”
“Kak! Trap!”
“Damn it, what academy has stairs like this!”
One wrong step, and even seasoned Yuglasia students get devoured. A staircase of terror.
Even imperial knights couldn’t climb en masse without casualties.
“Seize him!”
“Damn this cosplay legion!”
But as I reached the upper floor, more knights appeared, wearing uniforms despite faces you’d believe were mercenaries.
“Come quietly to Her Highness!”
“You’d go if you were me?”
I fed the first charger a Steel Bat to the face, then kicked away the ones following behind.
“Tch, no sense of camaraderie.”
As expected of the princess’s knights.
They don’t catch their ally I kicked; they just pass by and charge me.
“As long as they’re alive!”
“Aim for the legs!”
As two sword-wielding knights approached me, nearby knights shouted.
-As long as they’re alive…. Scary kids…. No, scary princess!
-Yeah, scary!
As long as they’re alive.
Meaning, losing a limb or two doesn’t matter.
For ordinary royalty, it’d mean mages or priests could heal them back.
But the princess knows magic doesn’t work on me, so it literally means she doesn’t care if I lose limbs.
How terrifying is this obsession?
Then, I just need to use this obsession.
“Crazy!”
These are the princess’s knights, treated as the imperial family’s top forces.
Naturally, they could use sword aura at minimum, and the two charging at me were no exception.
Unless you’re some head master like that disciple from the Nermia House said, a sword to the head kills you.
Especially a sword aura-infused one—instant death.
Why am I saying this?
Because my current action was bringing my head right to that sword.
“Urk!”
Just keep them alive.
Conversely, it means don’t bring me dead.
So if I put myself in mortal danger like this, they have to keep me alive somehow.
“Kwaaaak!”
“Kwaaaaak!”
So I exploit that gap.
As they recklessly twist to recover their swords, I slip a bat each into their sides amicably.
Ignoring the screaming, collapsing guys, I climb the stairs again.
Breaking through the fourth and fifth floors, using my body as hostage to breakthrough the sixth and seventh.
And even the ninth-floor guys in uniforms despite no classrooms there, I finally reached the tenth floor.
But…
“Why’s it empty?”
Did they not expect me to flee to the tenth floor?
They placed people up to the ninth?
“No higher to go!”
“Grab him!”
Very suspicious, but no choice.
Knights are already following behind, and Lady Rea’s outside the building.
I have to trust my preparations and pray everything goes as planned!
-Master, where you going!
-To the roof, obviously!
In movies, you escape on the helicopter waiting on the roof.
Of course, no helicopters in this world.
Instead, there are ways to tame wyverns or drakes or use summons, but I can’t do that.
So, reverse thinking—for the roof.
“I made a secret passage down to the basement!”
Normally, you’d make one from the first floor, but risk of discovery by escape-crazed students.
So I installed a pole in the roof pillar section, like firefighters use, to slide down to the basement.
-Why not stairs?
-The bigger, the easier to find.
Escape secret facilities must be known only to me.
Even the organization almost caught me because Sia knew my lifeline.
After 20+ years in an evil organization, no idiot falls for the same trick twice!
Because those guys are already caught, executed, or in imperial prisons!
-Yeah. If you get caught this time, you’ll really get nabbed by that obsessively clingy princess.
This guy’s saying unsettling crap.
Gloves on, Steel Bat in hand, I tap the pillar in the corner of the rooftop classroom where the student council kids once lived.
A steel pole emerges from the broken pillar.
This is my trump card to save my life!
“Alright, escape!”
-We didn’t even break even!
At the Steel Bat’s words, I nearly dropped the pole.
Damn.
Something I didn’t want to think about!
“Don’t tackle me out of nowhere. Mess up and I really die.”
Even with this, it’s a 12-13 story drop.
Safety measures and dwarf special gloves or not, one slip and I’m gone.
“Carefully, carefully.”
How long did it take, gripping tight and descending bit by bit?
Finally, faint light appeared, and I jumped toward it, landing perfectly!
Thwack!
“Guh?”
I felt something strike the back of my head.
“Huh? Didn’t work after all?”
A voice full of wonder.
The owner was once my boss, and now the person I absolutely must not meet.
“Why… that…….”
In her hand was something I once favored.
“Oh, this?”
The princess, holding a wooden bat utterly unfit for her position, smiled brightly at my question and gave an answer that didn’t match the smile at all.
“I took it.”
Rain, you bastard… it got stolen!