Awakening (2)

A thunderous blast erupted from the academy's outer grounds. The crowd touring the exhibition screamed on reflex. Every last scrap of cheer vanished from the Academy Exhibition, and chaos rushed in to take its place.

In the middle of it all, Iris's eyes found mine. The look of stunned devastation on her face laid her heart bare.

"Th-that's not true, right? Cassell?"

"I'm sorry, Iris."

"W-why...?!"

She reached toward me, slow. I watched her with a vacant, inorganic expression and stepped back. The ashen crystal orb in my pocket flared with light.

Whoosh!

A black shadow burst into being in an instant.

"Ugh!"

The shadow bound Iris's limbs and swallowed her whole. Even as she was being taken, her mind was still sold entirely to me.

"Ca-Cassell..."

It was a voice close to a plea. I gave her wavering eyes no further glance and turned away, cold.

I drew the communication orb from my pocket. It blinked with blue light, relaying the situation in real time.

A welcome voice from the orb. Clara, Chief of the 1st Division of the Imperial Guard — we'd met during the last train attack.

Her skill was already proven; Thierre had clearly sent her with care. The Guard heading for the blast site would arrest the terrorists faster than anyone.

The academy faculty would deal with the infiltrators already on campus. I'd already sent them every identity through Rina and Gashir. Those fools would get scooped up without even knowing their own boss had sold them out.

I smiled faintly at Isabelle's report. So she meant to look after the guests' safety first, as promised. Grateful she was a woman of her word, I issued orders to Rina.

"Rina. Let's go."

"Copy. Hide my identity and just go wild, right?"

"Just stall for as long as you can. Don't even think about winning against the Trio. Understood?"

"I'm already going to have my hands full facing those monsters alone. Don't worry."

The order I'd given her was simple: hold out.

By any means necessary, fight the Cheat Key Trio and buy at least an hour. With combat power close to mine — and Point Striking on top of that — Rina ought to manage.

Even if she got broken through faster than expected, it was fine. The club members would already ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have been caught in the traps I'd set. I focused aura into my eyes and sharpened my vision.

"W-what is this?! Shadows, all of a sudden—!"

"Damn it, magic-head! What kind of spell is this?!"

"You think I know every magic there is?!"

"G-guys!"

Everyone except the club president was seized by the shadows and sucked in. Yuri even tried using magic to save the others, but it wasn't enough.

The makeshift barrier born from combining Dark Arts wasn't something aura or ordinary magic could easily pierce.

With that, all personnel were secured.

I slowly unfolded a scrap of old drawing paper. The doodle, sketched like a child's scribble, grew murky — then drowned in black ink.

It meant I'd succeeded in locking away every selected person. The plan had gone off without a hitch.

Estimated time until the attack was suppressed: one hour.

In that window, the heroine would awaken Iris.

I ran through the script I'd prepared for this day alone.

There's a reason I went with the Margrave's bastard concept, you know.

Mysterious, cool-chic, tsundere second male lead: Cassell Cross.

Time to deploy.

I didn't forget the concealment magic as I recited the password and stepped into the dungeon.

The clamor around me fell silent. As I plunged into a deep mire, a familiar mechanical chime reached me, faint.

And when I opened my eyes—

"What is wrong with all of you?! Get out of the way! I need to talk to Cassell right now!"

"Y-young lady...!"

"Why are you taking on all the beasts by yourself..."

Iris filled my vision, terrified and still hacking away at the magical beasts with everything she had.

What the hell is that.

The spike in her combat power was way too explosive.

It was surprising enough to be completely off-script.

What I was after in this raid was two things.

One: check the male leads' combat power and situational judgment. To evaluate how they'd handle being thrown into an extreme environment.

Given the developments still to come, I needed a proper read on their actual strength.

The other: make the heroine awaken inside my grasp. It would be a problem if she awakened in some ridiculous way the moment I looked away.

So I had drastically adjusted this dungeon's difficulty.

I'd properly threatened Gashir into implementing the dungeon itself like an RPG — something to be cleared. Beasts placed easy at the entrance, designed to get stronger as you went.

Like catering to a complete newbie picking up a game for the first time, I'd overhauled the previous nightmarish difficulty from the ground up.

So there shouldn't have been any major problems.

"Get the hell out of my way! I swear I'll kill you for real!"

Why is she that strong?

The problem was that the heroine was abnormally powerful.

I knew Iris was something of a talent monster, but to this extent? I knew she was in the Knight Department, could handle a sword, and had a gift for magic — I never thought she'd beat down magical beasts this easily.

—Kieek!

—Keong...!

Sweeping kobolds with the essence of my Holy Flow Sword Style — faster curves than straight lines — was the baseline. She even used magic to casually suppress higher-tier gnolls.

"Whoa. Holy shit."

"Rsen, what can I even do?"

"Shut up and go fetch something we can chew on… I guess?"

Was this really a romance-fantasy heroine?

The male leads couldn't keep up at all; they just stood there looking dazed.

Ah — but only for a moment. While everyone else was hypnotized watching Iris's overpowered rampage, Javier the mage was coldly analyzing the situation.

"Painting magic that manifests pictures in reality? Then why does it have this high a level of magic resistance? Neither magic nor shamanism works."

"Damn it. Yoter, was it? Can holy arts do anything?"

"I'm sorry, but my sacred power doesn't work either. The moment I touch the wall with holy arts, it just… withers away."

Gathered around Javier, Serhan and Yoter were trying to figure a way out. Magic, shamanism, and holy arts wouldn't work. That's just how Dark Arts are.

"...Can't cut it with aura either. The moment I make contact with the wall, circulating aura suddenly gets hard."

"Damn it. Same here, Ranihan."

Brute-forcing it by hacking with aura wouldn't work either. Ranihan and Rsen looked grim as they stared at the maze walls, which their sword strikes had barely scratched.

I checked the roster and nodded. They probably couldn't see me under the concealment magic. Unless Rsen had learned Observation, maybe.

Still, not as bad as I expected.

Combat-wise, everyone except Rsen was underwhelming, but their mental fortitude — staying calm even when a sudden crisis hit — was worth praising.

Originally I was supposed to start running various tests now, to evaluate and raise their combat power.

"Hah—hahh! Th-that's all the beasts, right?"

"...Ohh, young lady. That was magnificent."

"Ah, thank you… Wait. Oliver. You just stood there watching? While everyone else was at least doing something?"

"...Well, at least I have money?"

The heroine had swept the beasts like a runaway eight-horse carriage with a snapped bridle, so evaluating anyone was… awkward. Though harvesting the fact that her combat power exceeded imagination was a plus.

This wasn't the picture I was drawing.

The middle stages I needed to stage a dramatic situation had been skipped, which was inconvenient. Maybe I should put together a training curriculum for Iris later.

I was thinking idle thoughts when a familiar male voice entered my head. Gashir, contacting me via transmission magic.

I replied at once.

He answered in a voice of sheer disbelief. If I told him it wasn't a group effort but a solo performance, he'd probably fall over backward.

I snapped at Gashir for talking nonsense. Chimeras were a handful even for academy professors. How were kids supposed to fight that.

So I guessed there was no choice.

I'd have to skip every plan and go straight to the main event.

I kept the concealment magic up and watched. Then — BOOM. A massive tremor rolled in from far away. Sensing something was off, the group all turned their heads on reflex.

Something was coming. Something was coming.

"What was that just now?"

Something of a completely different class was coming.

Unease made Iris's brow furrow. Then, radiating tremendous pressure, a figure appeared where the party stood. Behind the revealed ruffian, countless daggers and weapons hovered under his control, and he smiled, faintly sinister.

"That's...?"

A voice laced with bewilderment burst from Ranihan's mouth. Perfect atmosphere-setting, really. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Gashir's mutter came through the transmission.

As everyone's gazes concentrated—

Gashir began acting, exactly as he'd rehearsed dozens of times.

At that, Iris and the male leads all tilted their heads. It sounded an awful lot like he was saying there was a traitor among them. That suspicion was written all over their faces.

Ignoring their confusion, Gashir continued.

Gashir called my name.

For someone who called it childish, he sure could act.

I slowly released the concealment magic.

Everyone except Iris was too lost to follow what was happening. On the well-prepared stage, I kept my face expressionless and spoke.

Wasn't that what the status window said?

I'm a mysterious-concept second male lead.

Then I ought to use it like this.

That's what you wanted, status window.

Right?