Contract Relationship
While Assistant Professor Varkio was reeling from the pain of heartbreak, Hania gave me a sudden shove. Our faces had been inches apart. If she had been in her original form, it might have been one thing, but right now, Hania was wearing Hanon's face. I scrambled backward instantly. I had absolutely no interest in getting cozy with another man's face.
"...I wondered why Princess Iris summoned me so suddenly. Talk about perfect timing," Hania sighed, rubbing her temples. It seemed Iris was the one who had sent her here. I felt a wave of gratitude toward Iris. We had come dangerously close to dealing with a corpse today.
"Hania, so Assistant Professor Varkio has been stalking you all this time?"
At my question, Hania glanced at me.
"Yes. And he was incredibly persistent about it, too."
Backed by his position as an assistant professor and an influential family, Varkio was a difficult opponent even for Hania to handle.
"I was waiting for him to give me a solid excuse to shut him down, but his timing is just atrocious." Hania shook her head, looking utterly disgusted.
"More importantly, now everyone thinks we're dating. What are we going to do about that?"
Recently, I'd been dumped before I could even confess. Now, I was in a relationship before any confession had even happened. My life was truly dynamic.
"...Assistant Professor Varkio has a useless amount of persistence, despite how he looks."
"Which means the moment he finds out we aren't actually dating, he'll go right back to stalking you."
"Yes, most likely."
I understood the situation. Having just been assaulted by Varkio's confession myself, I could deeply sympathize with how agonizing it must be to be stalked by a guy like that.
"How long do you think it'll take for Professor Varkio to accept it and give up?"
"...Probably a few months."
"Then let's just pretend to date for a few months."
Hania's eyes widened.
"The milk's already spilled anyway. Might as well make use of it."
"...Are you sure you don't just want to date me?"
I gave her a flat, deadpan look.
"I'm joking," she quickly added. It seemed she had genuinely made the joke to lighten the mood. "Even though things turned out this way, I'm sorry for dragging you into it."
Hania offered a surprisingly sincere apology. She had only been prickly before because of the team match with Iris; deep down, she wasn't a bad person.
"It's fine. It's not your fault."
It was entirely Varkio's fault, after all. There was no reason for Hania to apologize.
"Hanon Airey, you're a better person than I thought. Is it because you share a bit of Princess Iris's blood?"
"And just like that, the high opinion I had of you a second ago has plummeted."
"I wonder how far down it can go. But seriously, won't it be troublesome for you if rumors spread that we're dating?"
"Do you really think adding one more rumor to my reputation is going to make a difference?"
Hania pondered this for a moment, then nodded in understanding. I was the guy everyone called the 'lightning bastard.' If word got out that we were dating, people would only feel sorry for Hania. It wouldn't damage my reputation any more than it already was.
"Anyway, we've spent too much time here. Let's head back to our respective teams."
"Right." Hania turned to leave, then paused to look back at me. "Please take good care of Princess Iris."
The corners of my mouth curved upward. "Yeah, leave her to me."
"Ha, please. As if I'd actually leave Princess Iris in anyone else's hands."
What did she want from me, then? Hania let out a brief, amused chuckle and walked away toward her team. It seemed I had managed to leave a good impression on her through this incident.
Getting on the good side of the Martial Arts department's runner-up can't be a bad thing. Having a bad relationship with Isabel alone was more than enough.
As I stepped out of the forest, I spotted the members of Team Iris gathered together. Iris was standing with her arms crossed, but her eyes locked onto mine the moment I appeared.
"Hania."
"I'm back."
I took my place beside Iris. She glanced around to ensure no one was listening, then leaned in close.
"How did it go?"
"Hanon showed up and resolved everything smoothly."
Iris let out a brief sigh of relief. Then, her ruby-red eyes flashed with a chilling light.
"...I'll have to get rid of him soon."
...She meant firing him from his assistant professor position, right? A sudden shiver ran down my spine, and I instinctively recoiled.
"Hey, Hania."
Just then, a familiar voice called out. Recognizing the speaker, I turned my gaze. Short-cropped brown hair and fingers adorned with a ridiculous number of rings. The moment I saw him, an involuntary look of pathetic pity crossed my face.
The runner-up of the second-year Magic Engineering department: Dorara Korazin. As the rear guard of Team Iris, he was standing right there.
"I saw that bastard Hanon coming out of the forest earlier. Were you with him?"
"Yes, I was."
At my reply, Dorara's face contorted in rage. He ground his teeth with a sickening crunch.
"Hania, let me give you some advice: don't associate with that piece of trash. Nothing good comes from interacting with him."
Dorara had recently been thoroughly thrashed by me. Holding a massive grudge over that incident, he was practically gnashing his teeth to dust.
"Hahaha! It seems you really did get thrashed as badly as the rumors say, Brother Dorara!"
A massive man standing behind Dorara burst into laughter. He had dark skin, thick lips, and was clutching a holy scripture tightly in his meaty hands. The runner-up of the Holy Magic department: Yoachim. The bulging muscles visible beneath his clerical robes looked entirely out of place for someone in the Holy Magic department. But that was only natural—he was a battle priest.
To think this guy is a year younger than me back when I was Vikaman. Yoachim's face looked no different from that of a veteran mercenary who had survived countless battlefields. Even the professors instinctively bowed their heads when they saw him, purely due to his naturally intimidating appearance.
"Uuuu... speaking ill of others will bring bad karma..."
A face peeked out from behind Yoachim's massive back. In stark contrast to the giant priest, this person was incredibly petite. She wore a robe pulled low over her head, and her ash-gray bangs completely obscured her eyes. Though she looked infinitely fragile, anyone who knew the truth would think otherwise.
The top student of the Special Department, a curse-user: Barentia Keiz. These were the members of Team Iris.
Looking at them again, she really did gather an incredibly formidable lineup. It was only because I had brought out cheat-like characters like Saint Sirmiel and Sharin that we stood a chance; otherwise, Iris had assembled the absolute best team possible. And at the center of this elite group stood Iris herself.
"You guys just don't know! If you knew what a complete psychopath that bastard is, you wouldn't be laughing!"
Just remembering that day seemed too much for Dorara to bear, and he began to throw a fit. He looked like he might start foaming at the mouth at any second.
"Until recently, you couldn't leave Sister Sharin alone, and now it's Hanon. Truly, Brother Dorara, you are consistent," Yoachim chuckled.
"That guy is way worse than that bitch Sharin!"
It was the first time I had ever been rated higher than Sharin. I felt like I could be a little proud of that.
"Ahem, cough."
Meanwhile, Iris turned her head away and covered her mouth. Watching Dorara curse me out right in front of my face, completely oblivious to the truth, she was clearly struggling to maintain her composure.
"Princess Iris, this is no time to laugh," I muttered, nudging her arm.
Iris offered a brief, apologetic smile. It was a mesmerizing, enchanting smile that could captivate anyone.
"Tsk. If I had fought him seriously, he would have been the one turned into a bloody pulp. I just let my guard down at the start."
Dorara began to grumble. It seemed he had completely wiped the memory of being beaten to a pulp and knocked unconscious by me from his mind.
Is that so? I'd have to jog his memory the next time an opportunity arose. I quietly clenched my fist where no one could see.
"Team Iris."
Just then, the third-years had finally finished entering, and Team Iris was called. Even though they had placed second in the team match, their overall academic performance put them ahead of everyone else. As Iris stepped forward at the call, Dorara's grumbling ceased instantly, and the other two fell silent as well. Instead, they fell into step beside her, walking with a dignified, commanding stride as if escorting their leader.
As Iris advanced, envious and admiring gazes swept through the crowd of students. Walking by her side, I felt a barrage of attention unlike anything I had ever experienced before. The weight of those stares was heavy. Envy, jealousy, admiration, resignation—a complex cocktail of emotions dripped from the students' eyes. Only now did I understand why Team Iris always walked with such absolute confidence. To shrug off the weight of those gazes, they had to be strong. And that strength was directly linked to their confidence—the supreme belief that they could accomplish anything.
So this is the current strongest team, Team Iris. The aura radiating from Iris at the front was something no one would dare to challenge.
"Team Iris."
Professor Beganor, looking utterly exhausted, swept her gaze over us.
"Return safely."
She didn't offer a long speech. What the strongest team needed wasn't advice, but trust. Shortly after, Team Iris entered the Demon Palace. The characteristically unpleasant sensation of the Demon Palace washed over me. A moment later, I slowly raised my head.
"It seems today is the Iron Dust Desert."
The first floor of the Demon Palace: the Iron Dust Desert. A desolate desert of iron dust stretched out before my eyes. When I smacked my lips, a faint, metallic taste lingered in my mouth. It meant the air itself was thick with iron dust. At that moment, a gust of wind whipped up around us. The iron dust that had been drifting through the air, threatening to seep into our clothes and lungs, was completely swept away by the breeze.
"First the Gray Forest, and now the Iron Dust Desert. I wish those seniors would clean up after themselves a bit," grumbled Dorara, staff in hand, having cast the wind magic.
"Uuuu... the seniors are in too much of a hurry to descend even a single floor," the curse-user, Barentia, murmured, clutching her bangs. And she was absolutely right.
Rumbleeeee!
Beneath the iron sands, a massive tremor began to shake the ground.
Thud!
A moment later, a colossal serpent burst through the iron dust. Bristling with steel blades all over its body, the creature looked lethal at a single glance. A demonic beast controlled by an Apostle: the Wyrm-That-Never-Was.
Clang!
Before I knew it, Iris had drawn her sword. The seniors had likely concluded that fighting the Wyrm-That-Never-Was would waste too much time and chosen to avoid it, but to the strongest member of the imperial family, such concerns were trivial.
"Team Iris."
At Iris's call, a crimson aura bloomed from her blade. The aura, reminiscent of a rose, was beautiful enough to steal anyone's breath away. Iris stepped forward into the swirling iron dust. Her majestic stride carried the weight of a giant's footsteps with every single pace.
"We hunt the giant beast."
The team leader gave her command.
"Understood."
And so, we had no choice but to follow.