Chapter 137
Chapter 137
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 137
Chapter Title: Lockdown (1)
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“Exactly why not?! Open up!”
“What do you two think you’re going to do? Get out of the way right now!”
While we’d been talking, the atmosphere had turned hostile in an instant.
It seemed like a commotion had broken out just after Izmel passed by, by the skin of our teeth.
“In the end, it’s come to this.”
Even so, the underclassmen seemed to be following Izmel’s instructions, entering the classrooms and locking the doors. The problem was the upperclassmen.
Pushing them back a step wasn’t enough to calm the excited bunch.
“The mood’s pretty bad.”
“Yeah? How bad?”
“A few are even considering casting spells.”
“Like you were a moment ago.”
“...”
Theodore didn’t respond to my words.
But if Theodore was stepping up to say this much, it meant the situation was truly urgent.
‘Time for the forbidden question again?’
Theodore… if you fought those guys, who’d win?
Just as I was about to reflexively ask an escape question, one of the highly agitated students turned around.
I sensed something off in the fleeting, awestruck look in his eyes, but it was already too late.
“Executor!”
“Haah...”
In Thorn Crown House, most reactions to me were indifferent, so I hadn’t expected to get dragged into something annoying like this again.
I should’ve asked Theodore who’d win in a fight with them before everyone’s attention focused on me.
Cursing inwardly, I opened my mouth.
“Didn’t you hear Cadet Izmel Carroll? How can you act so recklessly?”
Even as they listened to our conversation, the employees stood with their hands behind their backs, making no move.
If even one of them had stepped forward, it might have escalated into a big fight.
I couldn’t know the outcome, but at least everyone was safe now, which was a relief.
‘Among these, the <Executor> is probably the weakest.’
I’d stumbled into this half-heartedly, but I knew better than anyone how much worse things could get here.
“Everyone, calm down. Don’t you hear it? Who would be the happiest to see us turning on each other like this?”
“H-Heretics… the heretics.”
Someone answered my question as if they’d been waiting.
I nodded, but inwardly, I thought differently.
‘The one happy about this mess wouldn’t be the heretics—it’d be Sir Reynolds.’
He’d always despised Aegis Academy cadets with unwavering consistency.
If I’d realized this sooner, would things have turned out differently?
After a pause that felt meaningfully loaded, I spoke.
“…Having…… hesitation in your heart means you’re wavering.”
The false reputation I’d built wasn’t helping—it was devouring me.
On top of that, I was realizing the unpleasant fact that I had a talent for this kind of thing.
Circumstances shape people.
The situation Aegis Academy was in right now was turning me into something that proved I wasn’t human, but a god.
‘Can’t be helped right now.’
At any rate, we couldn’t let bloodshed happen like this.
“Think about it. The only certain fact we have right now is that the alarm went off. Do you think they want to block us? Every cadet here is a blade of the Creator God Aegis.”
I didn’t want to, but once I started, the words flowed smoothly.
Feeling Theodore’s gaze fixed on my profile, I continued.
“Don’t waste the Goddess’s blades on something foolish. That’s all I wanted to say.”
“Who does he think he is—”
“Shut up.”
Positive and negative reactions erupted simultaneously the moment I finished.
Honestly, I’d thought it wouldn’t land at all, but my fabricated status seemed to lend my words credibility.
‘Still, it wasn’t quite enough.’
It would’ve been better if this had come after some dramatic event, like the chimera wolf attack.
Looking at the few cadets who hadn’t budged, I pondered what else I could say to sway them.
That’s when it happened.
“How can you act like that toward the Executor?”
The cadet who’d first made eye contact with me flung off his hood excitedly and spoke.
The face revealed wasn’t one I’d seen before.
A pale-skinned, golden-curled cadet with a nervous demeanor swung his arms dramatically.
“Don’t you remember the Full Moon Festival?”
Full Moon Festival…
Was he talking about that day, during the finale where we climbed the burning tower, when my robes caught fire and I jumped off the cliff?
‘That’s a bad move.’
There were cadets here favorable to me, but far more who weren’t.
In that situation, bragging about my bizarre behavior back then wouldn’t gain much.
Unless there were others supporting that guy.
“That day, the burning saint fought an evil spirit. Did you all think, like Sir Reynolds said, that it was just an accident?”
But then, from the dark corridor leading underground, someone spoke.
It was a voice beautiful and clear enough to seize the confused crowd.
“Camilla Summer.”
“Hello, Executor.”
Emerging from the darkness was Camilla Summer, class rep of Thorn Crown House.
Camilla had sharp, cat-like eyes that were strikingly vivid, with red pupils that contracted intensely in the light.
“Think about what would’ve happened if the saint hadn’t jumped off the cliff. It was劫火 that pierced even the spells of renowned warlocks. Could we have beaten the demon that manifested in those flames?”
It was masterful flattery.
Camilla winked at me with one eye, signaling ‘leave it to me,’ then continued.
“What would you do? If you couldn’t use magic, wrapped in flames that beat magic. Coward Benson would’ve just rolled on the floor screaming, right? Like when the jellyfish reagent exploded.”
The freckled, long-faced cadet dubbed ‘Coward Benson’ clenched his fists tight.
Laughter burst out at Camilla’s words, suggesting it was a real past incident she was referencing.
“And what would you have done, Cadet Summer?”
Benson ground his teeth in frustration as he shot back.
Camilla strode into the entrance lobby where we were gathered, then approached the statue of Creator God Aegis at the corner of the raised stairs.
“Me? I would’ve—”
Camilla raised both arms high, then pulled them in around the statue as if dancing with it.
It was the promenade position, one of the social dance poses.
“—hugged someone like this? Unconsciously, I mean.”
It was an extremely irreverent pose toward a statue. Yet Camilla dominated the room.
Sometimes, people are persuaded more by atmosphere and attitude than words themselves.
‘It’s over.’
Timing and circumstance were talents too.
Camilla naturally returned the statue to its place, then playfully extended her hand toward me.
I responded to the dance-inviting pose with a casual arm-pull greeting, then whispered to her.
“Thank you.”
“No problem. These idiots here couldn’t beat those employees anyway.”
It seemed like the same situation as at graduation.
Like a puppy that doesn’t fear a tiger, they hadn’t recognized the stronger foes and had tried to chant spells first.
‘But Theodore knew.’
Theodore, one of the six who might leave their mark on history—or in other words, one of the academy’s strongest six—had still been ready to charge the employees if needed.
Regretting inwardly slapping Theodore around in my mind, I gave a slight bow to the employees standing rigidly, watching us.
“Many cadets were startled by the sudden situation. Please forgive us.”
“...”
They didn’t reply.
But fortunately, thanks to Camilla and me successively breaking the momentum, there was no sign of things heating up further.
“The underclassmen are obediently waiting as Izmel said, but us upperclassmen are just making a fool of ourselves. For now, return to your classrooms and stand by until things calm down.”
Camilla ignored the complaints erupting here and there.
No, she even shrugged as if to say, ‘So what?’
Then, the first to leave the lobby was ‘Coward Benson.’
“B-Brazenly lording it over us with the noble Executor’s authority.”
It was overtly mocking me.
But hearing it didn’t anger me—it plunged me into a maze of thoughts.
‘My authority…… what was it again?’
Framed as a murderer, hit by a rock to the head, shot in the stomach (twice, no less), jumping into the winter sea in burning robes…
Which of those was ‘authority’?
If I could, I’d give it all to Coward Benson—I don’t need this crap.
“Ah, damn it. Locking us in like this, what a mess.”
The cadets muttered their own gripes and trickled out of the lobby one by one.
The lobby, thick with invisible tension moments ago, emptied in an instant.
“I just heard from Izmel. Things have calmed for now, so let’s move.”
“Understood.”
As I started walking, Theodore naturally fell in step right beside me.
Camilla watched us both for a moment, then took the lead.
“I just received Sir Reynolds’ official notice through another employee.”
“Huh? An official notice?”
“Yes. The employees must have gotten it too, but it’s odd they didn’t mention it.”
Camilla, walking ahead, pulled a paper from her robe and handed it to me.
The employees hadn’t brought up the notice either, but neither had Camilla.
‘What the hell does it say…’
It felt uncomfortable, like peeking at something I shouldn’t, but since Camilla had received it and was offering, it should be fine.
*-Flutter.*
“……This is…”
The paper bore Sir Reynolds’ characteristically sloppy scrawl:
〔Academy Lockdown Order. Currently pursuing escapees who violated confidentiality clauses.
If not secured promptly, will assemble cadet units for response.
Until then, all cadets stand by in their halls.
If no further crystal instructions arrive in two hours, execute.
Chief Officer William Reynolds.〕
“This is…”
“My take is it’s a kind of kill order, but what do you think, Executor?”
Did this note need any other interpretation?
Mulling over the surreal contents, I belatedly answered Camilla.
“They’re leaving the pursuit of escaped professors to us, their students? What are they thinking?”
“Who knows. At any rate, it’s not just Thorn Crown House—Silver Chalice, Black Lily, and Wooden Cross halls can’t take a single step outside either.”