Chapter 57
Chapter 57
57th Episode
EP18 - Christmas Bells Ring Over the Snow-Covered Ruins (2)
The Ghoul Lord, having lost its core, was destroyed.
“H-He’s dead!!”
“It’s dead, ahhhh-!!”
The Discipline Department members jumped in shock.
That’s right. It was a boss kill. Then, explosive [Growth Mana] flew in according to my contribution and seeped into me.
< [Strength]+10.3 >
< [Agility]+7.4 >
< [Stamina]+5.5 >
< [Mana]+19.5 >
< [Willpower]+7.5 >
They say reading nourishes the soul? I don't know about that, but it was certain that this sensation nourished the soul.
I was now enjoying the sensation of my soul filling my entire body.
< Overall Combat Power: 157,530 → 159,036 (▲1,506) >
In addition, the numbers were good. As a player, it was an impressive increase in combat power.
This was why I bothered to bring the Titan's Blade among the national treasures. At this point, the only national treasure that could allow my physical abilities to kill a boss alone was this weapon.
Anyway. After this incident, at least a thousand Ghouls began to disintegrate and fall to the ground.
If there was one fraudulent damage system in this game, it was the <Fall Damage Judgment>.
“D-Dodge!”
“Fall back!”
I also distanced myself.
Kukukukukung!!!
The Ghouls that poured down like a landslide began to be smashed to death, and the ones at the bottom began to be crushed to death by the ones above.
“The Warrior Studies and Discipline Department members are coming!”
Just in time, reinforcements arrived, and the situation came to an end.
“Thank you, Professor!”
“If it weren’t for you, Professor, the medical building would have been destroyed. There are hundreds of patients there…”
I nodded to accept their thanks.
If there was a miracle in this situation, it was that there were no deaths. Not even one of the seriously injured was in critical condition.
However, there was one guy who still couldn’t come to his senses even after the situation was over.
“What are you doing!”
“Just stay still, you bastard!”
Discipline Department members flocked to stop someone.
“Let me go! I’m going to fight too!”
It was Balmung.
“Your job is done! The warriors are here!”
“Yeah! Take care of yourself! Can’t you see what your leg looks like?”
As the Discipline Department members said, Balmung’s leg was bleeding profusely, with the leather armor torn, as if it had been scraped by rebar when he fell.
“I’m fine! I can still move!”
“Hey! Stop talking nonsense and go to the medical bay!”
“No, but why is this guy acting like this since the other day? You look like you’re possessed. Calm down. Can’t you see there are many people working hard here besides you?”
Then, Balmung glared and grabbed the collar of a Discipline Department member who was probably ten years older than him.
“If you just sit and wait like that? Do you think the Discipline Department will save everyone in the world?”
“What?! This bastard…. Are you from the Black Path?”
“Whether I’m from the Black Path or not, if I sit and wait, will the Discipline Department save all one hundred victims?”
“Is the Discipline Department your friend, you son of a bitch!”
“Yes! And we can save all one hundred people!”
“Then what about the one hundred and first victim!!”
Balmung burst out.
“Who will save the one hundred and first then! If one person survives as much as I move, shouldn’t I move!?”
At this point, I felt the need to intervene.
As a Professor of Assassination Studies.
“Don’t interfere, Balmung.”
Balmung, with the tendons in his jaw bulging, turned to me, released the member’s collar, and bowed sharply.
“…Yes.”
【Huh, this bastard?】, 【Just like that?】 It was no wonder that bewilderment bloomed in the members’ Script at that moment.
“You must show respect to the Discipline Department.”
“…Yes. …That’s right. I’m sorry, members. I was too emotional.”
Balmung bowed at a right angle in front of the Discipline Department members.
They reluctantly accepted it.
“Can I see you for a moment?”
“I’m sorry for causing a disturbance, Professor. And thank you for helping… Ah, it was an honor. What you showed earlier, Professor, was really, really…”
“Stop and come here.”
I took Balmung to a corner, sat him down, and performed [First Aid]. Just like I did for Rebecca.
“Professor, d-don’t do this… I can just go to the medical bay…”
“You should shut your mouth.”
“Yes.”
In fact, it was a trick to act like a cool Professor and raise his [Relationship Stat].
I am this selfish.
While doing the dressing, I asked what I was wondering.
“Why are you so impatient?”
Balmung was a smart Doberman.
He immediately understood the point of my question.
“I don’t know either. Until a few days ago, I was just in the Hidden Dragon Hall. But I gradually felt like I was going crazy…”
“In detail.”
“I just couldn’t sit still. I had to do something. But I didn’t know what to do…”
He raised both hands to cover his eyes and face. The guy who used to decorate himself so stylishly was now almost like a butcher, staggering around.
“Something, something is wrong…? But I don’t know what to do. The Hiaka Academy is going to ruin, but what should I do…?”
Judging from this, it was compulsive behavior.
To make an analogy, it was a similar psychology to a child who suddenly smiles sweetly and acts cute in the face of their parents’ divorce crisis.
“So I decided to come out and do something like saving people. When I asked Kaiser, he said that doing that would make me feel better…”
“How was it when you did it?”
“Moving around was much more comfortable than sitting still……. But, after doing that. I couldn’t stop. I was anxious when I sat still…. I kept feeling dizzy…. I, damn it, ah, I’m sorry…. What should I do here…? The Hiaka Academy is already ruined??”
The tips of his fingers trembled.
If I pause to think about it, this must also be related to Balmung’s family situation.
To tell you one secret that is not well known to the world, only women can traditionally become the boss as the Great Mother in the Nibelung Family. (The Black Star⚉ likes women)
Since the sex chromosome is only present in men, the man who transmitted the seed of a boy is considered to have defiled the Great Mother’s body and is killed.
In other words, from the moment Balmung was born as a boy, Balmung’s father would have been the target of the Nibelung Family’s assassination. As far as I know, he managed to escape well until Balmung was nine years old, and then disappeared. It was not difficult to guess that he had been assassinated.
Perhaps after that, Balmung would have been unbearably distressed whenever he saw his surroundings being swept away by the waves while he was helpless. As he grew older, he would have had the experience of changing something with his own power, so he must have had a compulsive feeling that he should do that now as well.
I thought for a moment and then opened my mouth.
“First of all, what I want to tell you is that it’s okay.”
Balmung blankly raised his head.
“…It’s okay?”
“Yes. It’s not as bad as you think.”
“But, Professor…”
“The Assassination War is already over. And the Ghouls will soon disappear. Of course, it is also true that the Academy’s situation has worsened compared to before.”
“……”
“But it’s just that a man who held 10 million Hica has become a man who holds about 8 million Hica. Do you think a man who holds 8 million Hica is unhappy?”
“No. 8 million is not as bad as I thought…. He’s richer than me…”
“If you look at what he lost, he is an unhappy man. It’s strange. It’s the same situation, but he’s both unhappy and not, so what would make him an unhappy man?”
“…The person who judges…?”
“Then let me ask. Who was judging your world until just now?”
“……”
Balmung said in a subdued voice. ‘…It’s me.’
“Balmung Nibelung. Stop overthinking.”
“……”
“The human brain is trapped in a small room, and the thoughts inside cannot go out and echo. You are confirming and biasing the tolerance of attrition, being pushed back, sitting down, and tormenting yourself.”
“……”
“You don’t have to think that much.”
Balmung’s mouth slowly opens.
His head goes down.
“……”
When a problem arises from thoughts, people try to control it with more thoughts. However, there are things that are controlled just by stopping thinking.
“…Thank you.”
“Yes.”
I should stay a little longer and see how he is doing. I thought.
At that time. A Black Path Student was smoking a cigarette in the alley and started staring blankly at us.
And he made eye contact with Balmung.
“Hey, you son of a bitches! Hey!!”
Suddenly, Balmung jumped up and got angry like fire?
“Is there a spectacle? What are you staring at!”
“…Huh? What’s wrong?”
“Can’t you see the Professor is here? Aren’t you going to greet him!?”
What is this.
Then the Students were surprised, put out their cigarettes, came over, and bowed their heads.
“Ah…. Hello, Professor!”
“Hello! I’m sorry for the late greeting…!”
I accepted it and sent them away, but I was a little embarrassed.
“What are you doing?”
“…Yes?”
“Why are you disciplining the kids?”
“Ah, I’m sorry…. Those bastards were blatantly ignoring the Professor…. Shouldn’t they naturally greet you?”
“……”
I decided to just go along with it for now.
But.
Why is that.
I shouldn’t leave him after calming him down like this.
“Would you like to walk with me?”
“Yes, Professor…”
I took Balmung somewhere for now.
The incident just now was because of the atmosphere of the Black Path and the Nibelung Family’s unique temperament, so I decided to just go along with it. Apart from that, it was clear that Balmung seemed quite unstable. He wasn’t usually that emotional.
Can I do something for him here? I had such a question. In fact, I am a Professor armed with lies, aren’t I?
“……”
However, what is peaceful in these worldly ways is that I have learned how to be peaceful while living. In that sense, I was someone who could say something.
* * *
Gray was having a dream.
A very strange dream.
It was a dream about a man.
The reason why this was a strange dream was that men rarely appeared in Gray’s dreams.
Outside, she would grab men’s hands without hesitation, and if someone stared at her, she would subtly show the tattoo in a suggestive place, which was her personality.
It was funny to see them not knowing what to do, and it was fun to play with others.
In fact.
Gray was not interested in men.
It’s not that she was only interested in women, but she was always thinking about Illusion Magic, so she thought it was a waste of time to spend time on men or anything like that. When she looked around, there were only idiots (Kendrake), patients (Kaiser), no fun (Balmung), and what is this guy (Quan), so there was no one she could possibly be interested in.
Gray couldn’t understand why so many girls liked chasing after those kinds of guys.
So, it was really unusual for a man to appear in her dream.
I don’t know who the man was.
I couldn’t see his face.
However, he seemed to have a unique taste?
He suddenly came up to her and started tying her up.
“Ugh, I don’t like it…. Why are you doing this…”
Gray resisted.
The man didn’t seem hostile to her. Even so, wasn’t the structure a bit strange? So, she desperately resisted for now.
Strangely, she couldn’t muster any strength.
“You can’t understand what I’m saying anyway. Move your arm. It’s getting in the way of putting on the Nakasama.”
What is Nakasama?
“Ah, don’t…. Don’t do it…. It hurts…”
Isn’t it strange, really…?
Maybe it’s because it’s a dream, but she couldn’t muster any strength.
Back when she fought with Elise and they were on very bad terms, she punched Elise in her dream. Strangely, it was a cotton fist.
Even now, Gray could only watch herself being tied up by something.
“No, why do you keep trying to touch me…? Are you curious about Gray’s tattoo…?”
Still, because he was a friendly person, she tried to have a calm conversation with him for now. But for some reason, the man pushed her against the Wall. When her body ‘thudded’ against it, she was completely crushed and unable to move…….
After that, the dream became blurry. Like a dream.
Who was the man…?
Well, it was just that kind of dream.
Gray just thought that way.
Because it was morning around that time.
“Gray, Gray!”
“…Huh?”
Lucy, the Hidden Dragon Hall’s Hall Maid, hurriedly came to find Gray.
“Wake up! What time is it and you’re still sleeping?”
“…Why? Why? What time is it?”
Gray waved her hand around in her sleep. Then, Lucy frowned and put her cold hand, filled with the cold of early winter, on Gray’s stomach.
“Kya!”
Gray jumped up.
“What the hell? Are you crazy? Did you soak your fingers in ice water!”
“Hey! That’s not important right now, so wake up! It’s a big issue?!”
“Big issue?”
“The Assassination Daily is coming to film an interview with you!”
“……??”
Gray opened her eyes wide and raised her head.
Then she snorted.
“…What, sister. You’re waking up a sick person with that kind of thing? Even Elise, the village idiot, knows that the Assassination Daily is a moron…”
“No, you idiot?”
Maid Lucy hit her chest. As if she was frustrated.
“It’s not that kind of thing! Haven’t you really heard anything?”
“What?”
“You’ve been scheduled to shoot for the monthly cover model!”
“Huh? Huh? …Why?”
“What do you mean why! It’s because of the Airship incident! They’re in a frenzy right now!”
Gray’s mouth hung open blankly.
With her snaggletooth sticking out.
“…Eh?”