Chapter 45
Chapter 45
To be precise, she belonged to an assassin clan.
“Were you cursed by the Demon Realm?”
“I went to the Demon Realm on a discreet errand involving the demons, and an accident occurred. That was how I came to be cursed.”
I could bet my newly acquired dragon daughter that her “discreet errand” had been an assassination contract.
“Please! The law of my clan demands that we repay any kindness shown to us! Allow me to become your servant!”
Watching her as she knelt—looking ready to slam her head against the floor as well—I was horrified.
‘Make the strongest assassin clan my servants? Absolutely not….’
For a moment, I blinked.
‘…What’s stopping me?’
Amanda was doing this because of her clan’s law, so there was no risk of her betraying me.
On the contrary, I’d be gaining the most dependable subordinate imaginable.
‘…She’d be far more reliable than the likes of Hans or Linden.’
The problem was that it left me feeling uneasy.
‘If I’m not careful, I could end up entangled with the Sun-Moon Clan.’
The Sun-Moon Clan was one of the forces that played a part in the scenario, too.
One of the sixteen protagonists was even from the Sun-Moon Clan.
‘Right. It’s a shame, but I should give up. Hans and Linden are more than enough for me anyway… as if they are. Damn it.’
I fell silent for a moment.
Thinking of how pathetic the two of them were, I suddenly felt that giving up on Amanda would be an enormous waste.
In the end, I came up with a clever solution.
“I refuse. Someone like you would only get in my way if I made you my servant.”
“Ah…!”
Disappointment clouded Amanda’s eyes.
Of course, I wasn’t done speaking.
“But if you truly want to repay your debt, I can hardly force you not to. Since we happen to be colleagues on the faculty, you can help me whenever I need it.”
I’d pass on becoming closely entangled with her, but I’d gladly accept her help!
“Thank you, benefactor! Is there anything you need right now? Please, tell me. Anything at all!”
At the sight of Amanda’s fiercely loyal gaze, I paused to think.
As it happened, there was something I needed help with right now.
“…Could you get me a Monster’s corpse?”
“Of course. You want it for magical research materials, correct? Just say the word. I’ll bring you any high-level Monster you want—manticore, hydra, griffin, anything.”
“…I don’t need those. The meat needs to be tender. Easy to chew, I mean.”
“……??”
“And where do you live? Do you have a yard?”
“I have a house in the First District. It does have a yard. Why do you ask?”
As expected of a rich assassin clan.
They had a house in the First District, the most expensive part of the Free City.
‘I’m in the Fifth District, next to the Slum. And all I have is a single room.’
It’s a loss if you let yourself feel envious.
“The reason is…”
I hesitated, unsure how to explain, when a small face suddenly popped out from my arms.
“!!”
Watching Amanda’s eyes fly wide open, I let out a deep sigh.
“…Please look after this little one for a while. Just until I find a new house.”
The place where I lived now was so sensitive to noise between floors that it wasn’t a suitable environment for a baby dragon.
‘Fortunately, the Dragon Race is a solitary race. They grow up on their own, so they don’t particularly look for their mother or father.’
When dragons raise their young, they provide them with a nest and then leave them alone.
They only protect them from a distance where they can’t be seen, letting them grow up by themselves.
‘Apparently, they’re meant to learn and grow on their own in solitude? I can’t understand it by human standards, but…’
For me, it was a blessing.
But then—
When I started to leave, the baby dragon tilted its head and let out a cry.
“…I have to go.”
“…My place is too small for you to come with me.”
Its cry sounded strangely mournful.
“…The floorboards are all rotten, so they’ll creak loudly every time you walk. The mercenary living downstairs has a nasty temper. He won’t put up with it.”
Amazingly, the baby dragon seemed to understand me. The moment I said that, it hopped down and began walking quietly.
It cried as if to say it would be careful, so please don’t abandon it.
In the end, I said something I would regret.
“…I take back asking you to look after it.”
“Benefactor?”
“Instead, get me a soundproof Magic Tool.”
Amanda nodded.
“My benefactor truly is a kind person.”
“…I’m not.”
“As a descendant of the Sun-Moon Clan, I’ve had many opportunities to meet baby dragons, but this is the first time I’ve seen one look so happy.”
Just as Amanda said, the baby dragon was rubbing its face against me, beaming with delight. It looked less like a dragon and more like a puppy.
I looked conflicted.
‘Can’t be helped. It’d be a problem if I left it alone and it grew up twisted into the Dark Dragon of Ruin.’
So this was a choice made out of concern for the future of the world. It wasn’t because I’d been reminded of my own past, growing up neglected by my parents.
‘That said, the new school year is almost here.’
I turned my gaze away.
The Academy grounds were quiet, with no students around.
That would change in just a few days.
The new school year was about to begin.
Which meant the scenario was finally starting.
Now it was the protagonists’ time.
The protagonists’ time.
That wasn’t an incorrect way to put it.
More precisely, you could say it was the students’ time.
After all, no matter what anyone said, the students were the main figures at the Academy.
And indeed, as the new school year approached, it was the students who drew everyone’s attention.
“Every Academy has plenty of outstanding people among this year’s First-Year Students.”
“Right. Rubiness Academy has some formidable ones this year, too.”
“Not only the direct heirs of the Prestigious Magic Family and the Prestigious Swordsmanship Family, but who would have thought that the Mad Dragon’s disciple and the son of the North Sea Border Marquis would choose Rubiness Academy?”
“And that’s not all. It’s unofficial, of course, but even ‘His Highness’ from the Imperial Palace has decided to enroll at Rubiness Academy.”
“Oh! ‘His Highness’ from the Imperial Palace? Is that true? The Second Prince must be displeased.”
The academies held enormous importance in imperial society.
Countless connections were formed through the academies, and every kind of cultural and social activity was tied to them.
There was a reason they called the academies the flowers of the Empire.
Naturally, everyone was interested in which remarkable figures were entering as first-year students, and in who would distinguish themselves.
It could even be considered a form of “entertainment.”
There were plenty of media outlets that specialized exclusively in academy gossip, after all.
But first-year students were not the only ones people paid attention to.
“Didn’t I hear that Rubiness Academy also had an impressive new faculty this year?”
“That’s what I heard, but they don’t seem to amount to much, contrary to expectations. Who would’ve thought Young Master Ban the Wretch would take first place in the training course?”
“They’re worse than Young Master Ban? Makes you wonder if they were all just shiny on the outside.”
Even now, people’s opinion of Ban was abysmal.
Still, not everyone thought that way.
“Perhaps it really is true that Young Master Ban has changed.”
“Come on, surely not?”
“Of course, I can hardly believe it myself, but similar reports keep coming in.”
Naturally, this was only a minority reaction.
Most people reacted like this:
“Could the Ecclesia Ducal House have broken with tradition and manipulated the press?”
“Exactly. There’s a limit to what anyone will believe. From the rumors, you’d think Young Master Ban was some legendary genius.”
There was no helping it.
They had spent more than ten years thinking of Ban as trash. Prejudice had sunk its roots deep.
There were, however, those who looked at Ban from an entirely different perspective.
“…It does seem that Young Master Ban is the Mysterious Star mentioned in the Prophetic Celestial Ark after all.”
It was the Second Prince Lenius, an Apostle of Ouroboros!
“This is troublesome. What kind of variable might Young Master Ban become? We can’t leave him alone.”
“Will you take direct action?”
At his subordinate’s question, the Second Prince shook his head.
“That won’t do. Nor is it necessary. I intend to strike at Young Master Ban’s weakness.”
“His weakness?”
“His character.”
“!!”
The Second Prince Lenius twisted the corners of his mouth into a smile.
“Even if Young Master Ban really is a once-in-a-generation genius, he has a weakness he cannot overcome. His hopeless character is so rotten that no one can bear to deal with him.”
His subordinate nodded.
There was a reason they called him Ban Trash.
“Ban is a professor, not a student. What a professor needs is more than simply outstanding ability. There’s no way someone like Ban could perform the role of a professor properly. Please relay the following instructions to Marquis Maximum, the Minister of Education.”
After hearing the Second Prince’s orders, his subordinate nodded, his face full of admiration.
It was a scheme that Ban’s character would make absolutely impossible for him to overcome.
“This time, Ban will be removed from Rubiness Academy.”
As the Second Prince spoke with absolute confidence, a single official notice sent by the Ministry of Education made its way to Rubiness Academy.
At last, the day of the entrance ceremony arrived.
‘The protagonists are about to appear.’
Soon, the doors to the auditorium would open, and the students attending the entrance ceremony would come in.
With a heart full of both anticipation and anxiety, I waited eagerly for the students to show themselves.
‘What kind of protagonists enrolled, I wonder?’
Besides Katrinne and Libel, there should have been one protagonist each in the Knight Faculty, the Humanities Faculty, and the Support Faculty.
‘Please, let me avoid the Demon Blade.’
The Demon Blade was the Main Protagonist of the Humanities Faculty.
Just thinking about the Demon Blade sent a shiver of cold running through me.
‘I have to avoid the Villain-type Protagonists, too. Especially the “Massacre Maniac.” Absolutely not.’
For reference, the sixteen protagonists were divided as follows:
Four Main Protagonists.
Four Sub-main Protagonists.
Four Supporting Protagonists.
Four Villain-type Protagonists.
The ones I wanted were the four Supporting Protagonists.
The ones who had little prominence in the scenario and faced relatively mild ups and downs.
‘Or the Sub-main Protagonists would be all right, more or less.’
The worst would be the Main Protagonists and Villain-type Protagonists.
Especially the Villain-type Protagonists.
Just as the name suggested, their default role in the scenario was that of a villain.
Unless they were “reformed,” they would play the antagonist. And not just any antagonist, either—they would become horrifyingly prominent ones.
‘The “Massacre Maniac” in particular is the worst. Given her background, reforming her is almost impossible, and stopping her from committing evil deeds is extremely difficult, too.’
“Students, enter!”
At last, the students began to file in, and before long I spotted a familiar face.
A handsome young man, as perfectly formed as a sculpture.
‘Tern, of the Prestigious Swordsmanship Family.’
He was the Sub-main Protagonist of the Knight Faculty.
His character was so upright it seemed almost drawn that way, so he wasn’t exactly a protagonist I was particularly fond of. Still, I could say he was more or less all right.
Then the “notable students” came into view.
‘They’re the ones who play important roles in the Rubines Scenario.’
The problem was the other protagonists.
‘…Why can’t I see the other two?’
There should have been one each in the Humanities Faculty and the Support Faculty, but neither of them was anywhere to be seen.
‘There should definitely be one assigned to each faculty. Why?’
In an instant, an ominous chill swept down my spine.
‘…Could they have skipped the entrance ceremony? Both of the other protagonists?’
Skipping the entrance ceremony.
It was generally hard to imagine anyone doing such a thing, but for protagonists, it was entirely possible.
“There are plenty of protagonists with lazy personalities.”
Just off the top of my head, there were more than five protagonists who might skip the opening ceremony.
The problem was that most of those candidates were walking disasters I needed to avoid.
‘…The Demon Blade and the Massacre Maniac were both incredibly lazy, too.’