119. Unexpected
119. Unexpected
After I finished tidying up, I woke up early the next morning and headed to the lecture hall.
It was to help the Class 5 tea house prepare for its opening.
Today was the last day of the Hunting Festival. I wanted to wait and greet Amy and Liber when they came out, but the timing was too far off.
I had already done everything I could do.
Before the Hunting Festival started, I had already finished off all the bastards who were scheming, and yesterday I subdued the most dangerous magical beasts in the Black Forest.
But even so, there was still a lingering unease somewhere.
Because in matters like this, the attacker always has the advantage over the defender.
'I hope the preparations I made end up being helpful.'
I had gifted them mostly equipment that would help with survival, so as long as they were wearing it, they wouldn't die in a single hit unless they were struck by a Great Demon's attack or Hydra venom or something of that caliber.
For now, I wanted to enjoy the festival without worrying too much.
Unless a really massive incident occurred, there was no way for me to know the progress of the Hunting Festival from here anyway.
At the moment, they didn't broadcast the Hunting Festival's progress to the students outside.
In the past, they used to do a simple broadcast that let you view the situation, but one sunbae watched it while moving and got an incredibly good score, so broadcasting was banned from the following year.
Apparently, when the broadcast of the Hunting Festival—which had been the most interesting part—disappeared, the students who weren't participating in the festival got bored. So to let them have fun among themselves, they were allowed to open their own booths and play, which became the prototype for the current Hunting Festival.
"Alright, today is the last day. Let's do our best with no regrets!"
Woodville had been passionate since the morning.
In terms of sales alone, it was highly likely that Class 3's revenue far outstripped ours, but....
'Did she count that as sales?'
She sold the opportunity for a private audience with me, so the highest probability was that she simply pocketed it herself.
The crowd wasn't as large as yesterday, but there were still many people waiting in front of Class 5's tea house today.
It was a natural, predictable result.
After all, today was the day of the Hunting Festival itself, so many students would be inside the Black Forest.
"So you really didn't participate in the Hunting Festival. It was true after all."
A man dressed in a neat suit sat down in the front seat.
It was Earl Dunmore, the head of the academy's newspaper club, someone I'd had bad blood with before.
With his hair slicked back and wearing a suit, he was immaculate as ever.
Ah, damn it, I was in that exact same state right now too.
"Newspaper club president? What's the matter? Did you come to drink some tea?"
Since there was no need to be particularly polite with him, I spoke to him casually, and his escort—who stuck to Dunmore's side like a shadow—snapped at me in irritation.
"How dare...! What kind of manners are those toward an Earl..!!"
Before the escort even finished speaking, my fist drove into his abdomen.
-Ppak!!
"Keuheok?!!"
Struck hard in the side, the escort's body folded sharply into a V-shape, and he staggered, clutching his stomach.
"I'm not in a very good mood right now, so don't pick a fight."
"You already... hit me...!"
I was about to drag him outside if he said another word, but the newspaper club president raised his hand and stopped him.
"I told him not to react so sensitively, yet here we are... I apologize. Just speak comfortably, as you were."
"Keuk...."
"Don't cause pointless trouble. Eat your food and fuck off."
Even at my words, the newspaper club president didn't change his expression and spoke in a good-natured manner.
"There, there, sit down. I've never been to Ben's Bakery either, you see. I came with considerable anticipation.
Hoho, still, I came on a good day. My prediction that the crowd would be smaller than yesterday was spot-on."
As I ignored the newspaper club president who began chattering away beside me, my gaze suddenly wandered to the hallway.
"...Professor?"
"What are you staring at so intently?"
I didn't attend her lectures, but I knew who she was.
She was the professor in charge of Magical Engineering, researching golems.
After glancing around her surroundings, she was running somewhere in an extreme hurry.
The festival was in full swing, and her behavior was terribly out of place.
It looked as if some kind of incident had broken out.
I stood up as if in a trance and ran toward the professor who was bustling about frantically.
"Professor, is something the matter?"
"Huh?! Ah... It's nothing. Nothing at all, so go enjoy the Hunting Festival!"
No matter how I looked at it, several faculty members wearing expressions that clearly said they were hiding something were hurrying somewhere.
The atmosphere was deeply suspicious.
"...Woodville, I'll need to step away for a bit."
"Huh?? Right now?"
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Without even having changed properly, I dashed out of the lecture hall in my ridiculous state—hair slicked back, dress shoes on, wearing a tuxedo—and tailed the professor.
Looking around, about five faculty members were on the move.
They spread out and moved stealthily so the students wouldn't notice, but their movements were so distinctive that they were easy to pick out.
Once they exited the academy building where the students were, they began moving rapidly, each by their own means.
I quietly tailed them.
We moved away from the academy grounds, past the dormitory, and reached the cliffs on the opposite side by the coast.
At the cliff they reached, a student was trembling violently.
It wasn't a huge distance, but it also wasn't close enough for me to hear clearly, so I flattened myself against the ground and strained my ears to catch the conversation.
"P-... Professor...??"
The male student looked as if he had seen something unspeakable, his complexion deathly pale, his breathing even ragged.
One of the faculty members who had arrived pulled out a blanket and draped it over the student's shoulders.
"First... could you explain the situation?"
"I-I'm an Expert, so for my basic physical training, I usually do a fairly large jogging loop...
Today was the festival, so I had time to spare in the morning, and I thought I'd loop around a bit further, so I came all the way here... and... a strange... smell hit me.
I thought it might be a magical beast corpse, but I didn't see anything around, so I looked down below the cliff and..."
After hearing the student's words, I focused my attention as well, checking if there was a strange smell.
'...This smell is...?'
It smelled of decaying organic matter.
"I see... First, it would be best for you to get some sleep and stabilize yourself."
The professor who had listened to the account stroked the male student's head.
"Sleep?"
"Sleep."
As a flash of light burst from her hand, the student collapsed limply. A faculty member supported him and laid him down quietly on the grass.
The faculty members left the student behind and stood together on the cliff, looking down below.
It seemed there was something down there after all.
"What should we do...?"
"... First, we'll have to report to the Headmaster."
"There's an intruder inside the academy. I believe stopping the Hunting Festival and rooting out the intruder should be the priority."
"That is the one thing we cannot do. The Hunting Festival must proceed successfully. If it becomes a mess this time as well... the academy will lose all face."
"But an attack from outside the academy isn't our fault, is it?"
"Other bastards don't think that way.
Especially the rabble who covet this academy's unique and unassailable position will swarm in like hyenas. That's what politics is.
First... we'll select a few tight-lipped faculty members, quickly secure the scene, recover the body, and investigate."
The professors said that, and then took the student and returned toward the academy to summon reinforcements.
After confirming that all of them had left, I stealthily stood up and headed toward the bottom of the cliff.
And I furrowed my brow.
"What the hell is this now..!"
Below the cliff, a single naked corpse was wedged between the rocks, buffeted by the waves.
It wasn't just an ordinary corpse.
The head had been severed and was missing.
'There's no head..?'
This wasn't a simple murder.
The absence of clothing and the missing head could be interpreted in several ways.
Either the purpose was to mutilate the corpse so it couldn't be identified immediately... or else.
"To become that person..."
In this world, there existed a horrifying technique where one would wear the clothes of a person they killed and affix the skin of their face and scalp onto themselves, perfectly transforming into that person.
When artifacts that let you perfectly copy someone's face existed, going that far meant... they were absolutely not someone with ordinary sensibilities.
By sheer coincidence, the Black Forest lay right next to the cliff.
"A place I never even imagined... it broke out there too, goddammit."
Someone had infiltrated the academy.
————————————————-
Just as Amy had predicted, as they approached the epicenter of the explosion, they spotted numerous magical beasts that had been startled by the blast and bolted out.
After defeating the panicked, chaotically charging magical beasts in sequence, they also encountered several other teams who were likewise targeting the beasts.
"We hunted over ten magical beasts and toppled about three teams, right?"
"It's a good performance."
Amy's team was showing an incredibly strong performance, just as she had been confident they would.
Most of the magical beasts could be dispatched in a single strike, regardless of which of the three took them on, and facing off against students wasn't much of a burden either.
That was because Amy and Liber, who took the vanguard, were powerhouses who ranked among the absolute top of the freshmen.
Thanks to Atlas training them every morning, the two of them had become overwhelmingly stronger compared to when they enrolled, and could now topple opponents at the entry-to-mid Expert level in an instant.
"Should we go further in? Or should we stop here and move somewhere else..?"
"... Let's first confirm what that explosion was, and then decide? If strong people were fighting each other, we might be able to snatch the fisherman's profit."
"Alright, there's not much time left anyway."
First, they decided to head further inside.
"Wait a moment..."
They had only walked a little when Amy suddenly signaled for them to stop.
Since Amy, who had the sharpest senses among them, was the one who said it, everyone halted.
Amy quietly perked up her ears.
"Someone is approaching."
"A person?"
"No, I think it's a magical beast...? Its speed... is way too fast."
Seeing Amy grow tense listening to the footsteps, Rio drew her wand.
"That direction, right? If it's charging at us, this much should do it."
In the direction Amy sensed the vibrations, Rio swung her wand, and rock spikes rose up like a barricade.
At this size, even if an ogre charged in, it would sustain quite serious injuries.
"Alright then, let's see what's coming..!"
From behind the barricade, each of them held their sword, tense and waiting for whatever magical beast would appear.
-Gugugugugugu...
The footsteps drew closer and closer. From deep within the dark Black Forest, the magical beast gradually revealed itself.
A massive dog with thick, blood-red fur and two heads was sprinting mindlessly, drool trailing from its mouths.
Amy could tell what kind of magical beast it was.
[Keong!!!]
"Orthos?!"
In that instant, bright crimson flames erupted from both of Orthos's mouths.