Chapter 74
Chapter 74
The butler nodded as if he understood.
“I hear Professor Ban is preparing something unusual again for the Interclass Competition. Please don’t give His Grace any more reason to be disappointed in you, Baron.”
The butler left with a cold expression, and Aiden sank onto the sofa with a thud.
‘Damn it. What could I possibly do that’s so impressive at the Interclass Competition? Wouldn’t it be better to wait for the official exams? No. Duke Bolman, that small-minded man, won’t wait for me until then. I can’t. I can’t go back to how things were before.’
Aiden had originally been an insignificant professor.
Then he received a ‘Blessing’ from a certain being and became an A-fessor. After catching the eye of the Duke of Rapalt, he had risen through the ranks like this.
‘…Should I ask for that ‘Blessing’ one more time?’
Aiden swallowed hard.
The Blessing that had turned him from a nobody into a successful A-fessor.
With that Blessing, he might be able to find a way out of this crisis.
He could take hold of it again as many times as he wanted.
It wasn’t difficult.
All he had to do was ‘wish’ for it in his heart.
And just as Aiden steeled his resolve—
“Do you need help again?”
A voice came, raising goosebumps all over his body.
A chilling voice, like metal scraping against metal.
Just hearing it made it feel as though his soul were plummeting to the depths.
As if groaning, Aiden murmured the identity of the voice.
“…A demon.”
That was right.
The one who had given Aiden the Blessing was a demon.
When he had been crawling along at rock bottom, just before the Academy expelled him, he had called out to a demon in desperation.
“Heh heh. A demon? That hurts. Aren’t I your benefactor?”
“Y-Yes, you are.”
“Good. Do you want to receive my favor once again?”
“Yes! Please grant me the power to work a miracle and overwhelm the other professor at the Interclass Competition!”
Demons.
Many people confused them, but they were completely different from the Demon race of the Demon Realm.
The Demon race were terrestrial beings of another race whose power originated in darkness.
Demons, on the other hand, were based in Gehenna, Hell, another dimension, and were metaphysical beings in whom the world’s evil had taken physical form.
Thus, high-ranking demons could work miracles that defied all common sense.
“That won’t be easy.”
“…What do you mean? He’s just an incompetent fool suffering from Mana Insensitivity!”
“Hahahaha! You call an existence outside the bounds, restrained by causality, an incompetent fool? The one who may even be the true ‘protagonist,’ beyond the Sixteen Stars decreed by the fate of the world?”
Restrained by causality? An existence outside the bounds? The Sixteen Stars? A protagonist?
As Aiden stared in confusion, the demon whispered to him.
“Still, it’s not as if there’s no way. That is, if you entrust everything to me completely.”
“T-That’s a little…”
The other party was a demon.
He had no idea what might happen if he entrusted everything to it.
But—
“Do you think you have a choice?”
“…What?”
“You still haven’t paid the price for the Blessing you received last time, have you? I’ll collect it now.”
“!!”
Aiden’s eyes flew wide open.
He hurriedly tried to sever his connection to the demon, but it was no use.
“N-No! This can’t be happening! Aaaaaaaah!!!!”
Sssshh. Aaaaargh!
With a hideous sound, Aiden’s soul was sucked into Gehenna.
At the same time, something else took possession of Aiden’s body.
“Ban Ecclesia. Not one of the Sixteen Stars, but the deepest, most secret true star of the world.”
The ‘demon’ wore a chilling smile.
“I wonder what kind of miracle you’ll show me. This should be entertaining.”
The day of the Interclass Competition arrived.
A crowd had gathered in the Great Hall—not a vast throng, exactly, but still a fairly large number of people.
‘Thankfully, the bait worked.’
Besides the Gossip Daily reporter I’d invited, I could also see reporters from other magical news outlets.
And that wasn’t all.
Director Karak himself had come!
‘Keep your eyes wide open and watch carefully. I’ll show you that I’m talent you absolutely mustn’t let slip away. Stop sitting on the fence.’
A heavyweight from the Rapalt faction had attended, too.
Count Werner.
Duke Bolman’s younger brother, who served as the academy’s director of the board.
The two most powerful people at Rubiness Academy had come to watch a mere First-Year Student competition.
‘The problem is the other one.’
Former President Randolf was sitting in a corner, glaring at me with terrifying eyes.
A cold sweat ran down my spine, but I pretended not to notice and looked away.
‘But what has Baron Aiden been preparing? I heard he taught a few students in the Magic Faculty a special spell in private.’
A sense of unease suddenly came over me.
Not the fear that I would lose the competition. It was a different kind of foreboding.
Something like the intuition I’d had just before the various disasters that happened before.
‘…Why?’
Just then, Baron Aiden stepped up onto the podium.
Since Class One was first in the order, the competition would begin with them.
But—
“I’d like to thank everyone for attending. I’ll now present the competition I’ve specially prepared.”
The word ‘specially’ grated on my ears.
‘In the original scenario, too, an overambitious competition was what caused the disaster.’
In the original scenario, the Karak faction, which had fallen behind in the competition, invited none other than an S-fessor to the event.
But the students at Rubiness Academy weren’t up to the task of following the S-fessor’s instruction, and an unexpected accident occurred. That was the Catastrophe.
‘Even if the same accident happens this time, I can handle it perfectly. There are all sorts of remarkable professors here today.’
I’d drawn attention to myself not only to get noticed, but also to prevent a possible disaster.
Even just former President Randolf, sitting over there in the corner, and Professor Bernstein would be enough to resolve the Catastrophe from the original scenario.
But the ominous feeling did not fade, and instinctively, I knew.
If something went wrong here, it would be nothing like the Catastrophe from the original scenario.
It would be far more horrifying and far more heinous.
I have to stop this…!
I tried to move in a hurry, but it was no use.
“Now then, I hope you enjoy yourselves to your hearts’ content. Heh heh. This is a contest prepared with his very soul by none other than the master of this body, Baron Aiden.”
And at that very moment—
POW!!
Baron Aiden’s head burst apart.
The hall froze.
It had happened so suddenly that nobody could even grasp what was going on.
But that lasted only a moment.
“Aaagh!!”
“W-What?! Why all of a sudden?”
“Look over there!! There’s black energy coming from Baron Aiden’s neck!”
It was demonic energy!
Baron Aiden was a demon contractor? What? That wasn’t in the scenario at all!
What happened next was even more horrifying.
His body bulged and swelled.
Baron Aiden’s body began swelling up like a bubble.
Self-destruct magic. If that thing goes off, it’s over!
Even normally, self-destruct magic produced a terrifying blast.
And now it was infused with the power of a high-ranking demon. It was hard to imagine just how devastating the explosion would be.
I have to stop it right now.
Just then, several people sprang into action.
“How dare you! You filthy demon! Do you think we’ll let you harm Rubiness Academy?!”
It was Former President Randolf!
Professor Bernstein and the other Magic Faculty professors who had come to observe the contest stepped forward with him.
But the situation was still grim.
If Former President Randolf were in his prime, maybe—but he can’t completely stop a self-destruct spell infused with a high-ranking demon’s power.
Even if they suppressed the explosion as much as possible, they couldn’t prevent the surrounding area from being caught up in it to some extent.
The problem was the First-Year Students gathered in this place.
They were little more than ordinary people—greenhorns.
Even if just a tenth of the explosion’s force leaked through, I had no idea how many casualties there would be.
There’s only one way. If we can’t avoid the explosion, we have to delay it as long as possible. Then we can evacuate the students in the meantime.
Perhaps he had the same thought, because a message spell came from Professor Bernstein.
-Former President Randolf and I will do everything we can to delay the explosion. In the meantime, Ban, you get the First-Year Students to somewhere safe.
I nodded.
But then we ran into an obstacle.
“W-Why won’t my body do what I want?!”
“S-Save me!!”
Clatter!
The students swept up in the demonic energy blocked the entrance to the hall.
They all screamed as though they weren’t doing it of their own accord.
They’re the students who received secret magic from Baron Aiden to prepare for the contest!
The secret magic was a deception.
It had been a demon’s scheme!
What do I do? We can’t get outside unless we move those students out of the way.
If there had only been one or two of them, I could have used my Grandmaster of Magic ability to break the demon’s control. But there were more than five.
It’s not impossible, but if I waste that much time, the explosion will go off before I can evacuate all the students.
I could see Former President Randolf pushing himself to draw out more of his power.
There was no time.
I had to find a way, somehow, and fast.
Just then, a low, subdued voice spoke.
“Oh ho ho. This is troublesome. So many students have sold their souls to demons.”
It was Director Karak.
Despite his peacock-like appearance, his gaze was cold.
Ching!
He manipulated the handle of the parasol he always carried and drew a sword.
The aura that symbolized a Sword Master gathered around it.
“It is a sad thing, but demon worship is a grave crime that cannot be tolerated. As the Director responsible for the Academy, I must execute them on the spot.”
“N-No! We didn’t worship demons?!”
“Aaagh! Please, save me!”
But Director Karak paid them no heed.
It wasn’t that he didn’t believe the students.
Director Karak knows they’re not guilty, either. There’s no time, so he’s going to condemn them as demon worshippers and execute them, then evacuate the other students.
It was an approach entirely typical of Director Karak.
From the start, he was the sort of man who wanted to seize control of the Academy for his own “purpose,” without a shred of “affection” for it.
Still, in the present situation, it was hard to criticize him.
Trying to save a few could lead to the deaths of dozens or more.
You could even call it a reasonable decision.
But—
This is the only way?
Just then, a prickling, eerie whisper reached my ears.
-How disappointing, Ban Ecclesia.
!!
It was the voice of the demon who had caused this whole disaster!
-I wanted to see just how extraordinary you really were, so I put on this show even while bound by the constraints of causality. And yet, I’m truly disappointed. You’re no fun.
I clenched my fist.
After causing all this, all you have to say is that it’s no fun?
Anger surged through me.
That was why my contrarian streak suddenly reared its head.
“Please stop, Director Karak.”
“Professor Ban?”
Director Karak tilted his head.
“You do understand that every second counts, don’t you? We need to hurry and deal with the criminal students who have fallen for the demon’s temptations…”
“Those children are students we must protect, too.”
“!!”
Director Karak’s face twisted into a deep frown.
Unlike his usual lighthearted manner, a prickling pressure bore down on me.
“Oh ho ho. I know Professor Ban is righteous, but this is no time for idealism. It’s impossible to save everyone.”
“That may be true for you, Director. It isn’t for me. My greatness is on a different level from yours.”
“!!”
Ah.
Even though this was hardly the time, the Black Flame Dragon had gotten irritable.
Or perhaps it was the disdain I had been holding inside for Director Karak finally boiling over.
“Since you always take that sort of attitude, you’re getting pushed around by the likes of the Raphalt faction.”
“P-Professor Ban?”
“Just stand there and watch.”
I turned my back on him.
“You’re going to witness Ban Ecclesia work a miracle.”