Chapter 18
Chapter 18
“Y-you bastards!! What do you think you’re doing?! Put your swords away this instant!”
Hans shouted furiously.
But the tap dance he was doing backward didn’t seem to be helping much.
It’s fine. They’re only threatening me. They can’t kill me. …They really can’t kill me, right? Ugh.
My heart was pounding, but as always, the Black Flame Dragon upheld my dignity.
My voice rang out, perfectly composed, as though the swords pointed at me were beneath notice.
“I said put the swords away.”
“Answer me first. I asked how you know about the Watcher.”
“I said put the swords away.”
“!!”
The woman, Lairan, glared at me with murderous eyes.
But my Black Flame Dragon was no pushover, either.
When I brushed off her killing intent as if it were nothing, she bit down hard on her lip, then snapped her fingers.
Fwap!
It worked!
Her subordinates disappeared, and I secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Tell me how you know about the Watcher.”
I gazed at Lairan without a word.
I was on edge, worried she might try to cut off my head again at any moment, but I had been through the wars enough to know.
This was the moment to stand my ground.
“You’re still being insolent. Are you stupid?”
“…What?”
“I’d think you’d have considered, at least once, what it means that I—or rather, ‘Ban Ecclesia’—know about the Watcher.”
Lairan’s expression stiffened.
I gestured with my chin.
Deliberately, so I’d seem arrogant.
As though I were the one in charge here.
“My legs hurt. Let’s relocate first. This looks like it’s going to take a while, so serve me some tea. But my palate is particular, so you’d better serve something befitting my station.”
We followed Lairan farther into the Slum.
Buildings that looked ready to collapse stretched endlessly onward, like a wall.
It was the first rampart of the Four Dragon Fortress.
“Hans, wait here.”
“B-but!! I must protect you, young master, even if it costs me my life!”
“…You’re tap dancing backward while you say that. It’s not very convincing. Or are you really coming in with me?”
“Ah! I want nothing more than to go with you, but now that I think about it, we’ll need someone to call for help in an emergency!! Hngh, it pains me terribly!”
I shot Hans a sidelong glance.
His noisy flattery was all talk; he was the very picture of a sycophant.
Well, this is the Four Dragon Fortress, after all. It’s not hard to understand why he’s scared.
Normally, I wouldn’t have come here, either.
It’s fine. Lairan absolutely can’t hurt me.
I repeated it to myself once more.
I’m the one in charge here. I am.
“Here is the tea you requested, young master.”
Clack.
After we entered the building, Lairan brought out the tea.
Its rich aroma made it seem like the fine tea I’d asked for, but I was so tense that, honestly, I couldn’t taste a thing.
“Now, let’s continue our earlier conversation.”
“You’re making too much of this.”
I drew in a breath.
What came next was important.
I opened my mouth in as cool and nonchalant a tone as I could manage.
“What’s so secret about you being one of the Rebel Army’s leaders—the ‘Watcher’?”
“!!”
That was Lairan’s true identity.
She wasn’t merely a big shot in the Slum. She was one of the Rebel Army’s leaders!
“…Just how…”
Lairan’s gaze sank into a chill.
She seemed to be weighing whether to kill me here and silence me.
“Don’t entertain foolish thoughts. Do you still not understand what it means that I know your identity? I see the Rebel Army isn’t much to speak of, either.”
“!!”
Lairan clenched her fists tight.
But in the end, she let out a deep sigh.
“I’ve underestimated the Ecclesia Ducal House. I never imagined the Ecclesia Ducal House knew I was the Watcher—the Rebel Army’s eyes.”
Well, that was a misunderstanding.
The Ecclesia Ducal House had no idea she was the Watcher.
But I let her keep misunderstanding.
It was more advantageous that way.
I need to make Lairan into a useful fool I can put to work.
“Do you know why the Ecclesia Ducal House has left you alone, even though it knows your identity?”
“…Why?”
“Because you’re useful.”
Lairan’s face stiffened.
“What do you mean?”
“I know that your Rebel Army’s true purpose is to stop Ouroboros.”
“!!”
The shock that spread through her was incomparable to before.
It was only natural.
Ouroboros was the shadowy organization behind Hero Academy.
At this point in time, no one knew about it.
Technically, Ouroboros isn’t their real name. But Lairan won’t know that at this point, either.
Lairan stammered.
“H-how does the Ecclesia Ducal House know about Ouroboros? Don’t tell me the Ecclesia Ducal House is opposed to Ouroboros, too?”
The Ecclesia Ducal House didn’t even know Ouroboros existed, but I quietly let her hold on to her misunderstanding.
“Do you know why I’m trying to become a professor at Rubiness Academy?”
“…I thought it was just a whim of the trash young master, but could it be…?”
“That’s right. It’s to drive out the shadow of Ouroboros lurking within Rubiness Academy.”
“!!”
The lies came pouring out smoothly.
It was true that Ouroboros had extended its reach into Rubiness Academy.
But I had no intention of getting involved in the slightest.
The arduous task of confronting Ouroboros’s shadow belonged to the protagonists who would enroll at Rubiness Academy.
“Now you understand why you should help me, don’t you?”
Helping me would mean helping you with your fight against Ouroboros.
I was trying to persuade her that way, but Lairan brought up something I hadn’t expected.
“Could it be that you intend to oppose the Rapalt Ducal House because Ouroboros’s shadow has reached that house as well?”
“…No?”
Still, I gave her an ambiguous answer.
“Think what you will.”
I hadn’t said she was right, but my answer made it sound as if she was!
And, sure enough, Lairan fell for it completely.
“…Oh-ho-ho. How astonishing. To think that the young lord once called Ban the Trash was concealing such a deep-seated scheme. Please forgive the disrespect I showed you today.”
Yes!
‘With Lairan’s help, carrying out my plan will be a piece of cake!’
Keeping my delight hidden, I explained my plan.
“I’ll tell you what you need to do. First, mobilize your people and…”
But Lairan’s reaction as she listened to my explanation was strange.
She looked a little troubled?
“What’s wrong? It should be simple enough if you use your subordinates.”
“That’s true, but there’s a problem. I’m in no position to move my people right now.”
I gave her a puzzled look.
‘Has something happened to the Rebel Army? It’s not supposed to be time for that yet.’
The proper scenario hadn’t even begun.
“Has something happened?”
Lairan hesitated, then opened her mouth.
“Do you know about Demonization?”
I flinched.
“…How do you know about Demonization?”
It was a disease.
A cursed demonic flower grew from within the body.
Under the influence of the demonic flower, the afflicted gradually turned into demons.
‘It wasn’t supposed to spread until the middle or later parts of the scenario. Why now?’
For an instant, my heart sank.
There was someone suffering from Demonization even at this point in time.
Someone very important to the scenario.
“Our Rebel Army’s saint has begun to develop Demonization in his body, so everyone in the organization is currently working to find a way to treat him.”
“!!”
My vision went dark.
The Rebel Army’s saint.
I knew him.
He was one of the sixteen playable protagonists, and one of the four most central characters.
‘The Demon Saint,’ Yohen.
‘Why is Yohen developing Demonization already?’
As I’d explained earlier, all sixteen protagonists belonged to different classes.
Yohen was a protagonist in the “Support Class,” specifically the “Healer” category.
‘He’s the saint character who shows up in every game.’
But there was a problem.
Yohen had been born with both the saint’s Blessing and a demon’s Curse.
‘As I recall, Demonization wasn’t supposed to first appear until around the latter half of the first year.’
I was troubled.
‘The Demonization growing in Yohen’s body is qualitatively different from the contagious Demonization that becomes widespread in the middle and later parts of the scenario. It’s far more vicious.’
I asked in a grave voice,
“How far has the Demonization progressed? Stems? Leaves?”
“It’s just about to form a flower bud.”
My expression turned dizzy.
‘If it blooms now, Yohen will die!’
Later, once his Sacred Power had grown a little more, he might be able to withstand a few blossoms, but at this point, Yohen’s Sacred Power would be at a childish level.
‘Absolutely not!!’
In fact, not all sixteen protagonists were necessary to clear Hero Academy.
Some of them even appeared as enemies as the scenario progressed.
But there were four who were absolutely necessary.
They were the four main characters, and the Demon Saint Yohen was one of them.
‘Without Yohen, I can’t stop the final destruction of the world.’
This wasn’t a situation where I could just sit back with my hands behind my back.
“What about the Medicine Immortal? The Medicine Immortal should be able to suppress the Demonization’s progress.”
Demonization wasn’t a magical Curse. It was a disease.
Medicine and treatment could suppress its progress.
The problem was that the difficulty was so extreme that only the Medicine Immortal could do it.
“The entire organization is already using all its power to search for the Medicine Immortal, but we can’t find any trace of them. They’ve probably gone to the North Sea.”
My vision went dark.
It would take half a year for them to return.
Just then, an unexpected message suddenly appeared.
<Before a pitiful patient, Gambler’s Judgment activates!>
‘…What’s this?’
I blinked.
‘How am I supposed to treat Demonization?! My ability is “Grandmaster of Magic,” not “Genius Healer”!
Then a thought suddenly occurred to me.
No, that wasn’t right.
I had another ability, too.
‘Could it be?’
-The “Thousand Changes Versatility” trait is unlocked!
-You can demonstrate competence regardless of the field!
I’d forgotten, but it was the trait that had appeared alongside Grandmaster of Magic when I first unlocked my latent traits.
‘…Even if I’m competent at anything, there has to be a limit. Could I really be on par with the Medicine Immortal?’
As if to answer my question, another message appeared.
-Regardless of the field, you possess “peerless talent”!
“……”
I fell silent for a moment.
It was something I’d wondered about for a while now, but…
‘…My goal is to live quietly, enjoying all the perks. Aren’t the traits I’ve been given way too excessive?’
In any case, this wasn’t the time to stand around dazed.
Eighty-three percent was a sufficient chance.
But there was one issue we needed to settle beforehand.
“I have a way to try to treat your saint.”
“Really?!”
“Yes, but there’s a condition. A very important condition. I’ll treat him only if you promise to do as I say.”
“…Please, tell me.”
My grave expression made Lairan’s face grow grave as well.
“Your saint will be going to an Academy soon, won’t he?”
“Yes. He was supposed to take the entrance exam this time.”
“Make absolutely sure he doesn’t go to Rubiness Academy.”
“…Pardon?”
“If possible, Peridot Academy, the one farthest from Rubiness Academy, would be best. Sapphire Academy would be fine, too. In any case, make sure your saint doesn’t go anywhere near Rubiness Academy.”
“……”
Lairan’s expression turned complicated.
Her eyes seemed to ask, Why? But I was serious.
I’d already drawn the genuine protagonist, Katrinne, into my orbit. I couldn’t do the same to the Demon Saint, too.
“And the fact that I treated him must remain an absolute secret from your saint. Don’t even bring it up.”
“……”
“Under no circumstances. I mean it.”
The Demon Saint’s obsession was something I absolutely, without fail, had to avoid.