Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: People-Shaping Expert (3)
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In the prison corridor, Damas knelt on his knees.
In front of him sat Anje on the windowsill, looking down at him pitifully.
Myoran leaned against the wall, arms crossed by herself.
It felt like facing the strict, top-tier female students from his academy days who had been all the rage.
No, this was far more intense.
These women before him were disaster-class prisoners accustomed to slaughter.
He couldn't fathom how Derek, who used to get bullied and ostracized, managed to keep them in check.
"So. What can a guy like you even do?"
Anje tilted her head slightly as she asked.
But there was no hint of expectation in her voice.
Just from how he'd acted toward her and Myoran in the cafeteria earlier...
He came off as nothing more than a man obsessed with women who showed him no interest.
"B-Believe it or not, I had girlfriends throughout all five years at the academy."
The handsome man, who bore a striking resemblance to the Grand Elder, clenched his fist tightly.
And with his characteristic bright voice, he declared confidently.
"So, I'm basically a master at winning over someone you're interested in."
He first pointed to the saintess's red eyes, which held visions of a sea of blood.
The saintess resembled some beautiful, otherworldly being worshipped by heretics...
But since they were keeping him alive for now, he judged negotiation was possible.
"You're cold to anyone who talks to you, but you grudgingly listened to the warden's request, right?"
Next, Damas looked at Myoran, with her sharp, black-cat-like eyes.
"And you, even while making it blatantly clear you disliked me, immediately moved right next to the warden."
Ignoring whether she was a beauty or not, he spoke calmly, focusing solely on survival.
"He's the only one who even remotely acts like a decent human."
Anje maintained her indifferent gaze.
Still, it wasn't entirely wrong, so she glanced toward the warden's office.
"Yeah, definitely better than thoughtless types like you."
Myoran was the same.
She fiddled with her braided hair as she replied.
"It's obvious those prickly types like you feel that way, so he must be of interest."
As Damas nodded eagerly in agreement, goosebumps erupted across both his arms.
The two disaster-class prisoners unleashed overwhelming killing intent at his cheeky words.
"We're still just in a business relationship. Keep blabbering ignorantly, and I'll make you slit your own throat."
"Right. Why on earth would I show favor to that sappy guy?"
Terrified, as if needles pricked his skin, Damas broke out in cold sweat.
From their reactions, it was clear they were interested...!!
"Haha... y-yeah, yeah. So it's about getting close for business reasons."
Only then did the two women withdraw their killing intent.
And they perked up their ears again, pretending to be uninterested.
"Alright, first, let me tell you about the warden you two saw. Then I'll teach you how to get closer to him."
Damas spoke while tousling his messy hair.
Like a golden cub lion wedged between two beasts.
"The warden I saw... well, he's brimming with ambition. He has clear goals from the start."
"Yeah. Though his dream of changing the world is futile, his efforts toward it are kinda cute."
Anje smiled faintly, differently from usual, as if dreaming of a utopia just for the two of them.
Myoran let out a smirk from her cool expression.
"Right. He's weak as hell, but the way he musters courage to care for those under him is adorable."
The saintess recalled the day Holy See knights died and the princess came for interrogation.
Despite the circumstances making it almost certain she was the culprit.
Even so, the warden had shielded her by enduring the painful Confession Magic himself.
Witnessing that selflessness convinced her even more that he was a descendant of the prophet.
"He's not just weak, either. He broke through a black mage's trap on his own to come rescue me."
Myoran felt the same.
When he came to protect her instead of handing her over to Tutton Grand Duke, he overlapped with her father, whom she respected.
Watching the two honestly describe the warden they'd seen.
This filled Damas with even greater certainty.
Derek Minster.
He was the card that would keep him from dying here.
"But it's weird. The guy I knew back then wasn't like that at all..."
The warden's academy senior muttered softly.
Both women immediately showed interest.
"What? You've known the warden from before?"
Thinking about it, Derek's actions were unusually bold for someone just 21.
For those clueless about his past, it was quite intriguing.
"Yeah. I'm his senior by a year. You can see his picture in the graduation album."
The promise of seeing the warden from his childhood.
Anje finally showed interest for the first time.
"Bring it."
"Huh...? Of course I don't have it now. It's stored in the barracks from before my arrest."
"Where's that barracks?"
"At Northern Command. It's a two-hour carriage ride from here."
Anje lightly tapped the empty windowsill.
In that moment.
Soon, a massive shadow blanketed every window on the first floor.
What appeared was...
A corpse vulture as tall as a human.
Unlike others, it had pure white feathers and red eyes.
As if raised on special 'corpses' different from the rest.
"You. Let this child smell your scent."
"My scent...? It won't just bite me, right?"
"......"
"......"
Anje and Myoran simultaneously gave Damas pitiful looks.
Unfamiliar with wounds, he extended his hand with the world's most aggrieved expression.
The pure white corpse vulture sniffed him, then soared into the sky.
In just five minutes, it returned clutching a luggage bag stored in the corner of the barracks.
"What in the world is this."
Damas stared in bewilderment at Anje's ability, which shattered his common sense.
Why did such otherworldly beings stay here?
They could kill everyone and escape if they wanted...
Was Derek really in an implicit contract with them, plotting some massive ambition?
'If he's connected to my father, maybe he's grown into someone truly extraordinary.'
He swallowed hard and unpacked the bag.
But.
The bag had been ransacked—his precious perfume, fountain pen, and even academy gold medals stolen.
His subordinates, who once praised him, had taken everything valuable since his fall.
"Damn..."
The silver lining: the graduation album was intact.
Lucky it wasn't something they could sell.
"Well then, shall we take a look?"
Opening the album, the first page showed Damas proudly in the center.
As student council president, representing the students.
Surrounded by pretty girls and children of his father's influential friends.
Seeing that majestic photo lifted his mood.
"Not this crap. Find the warden."
Anje forcibly moved Damas's finger to flip the pages.
Then Myoran, with her exceptional dynamic vision, stopped abruptly.
"Found it."
Anje hopped down from the windowsill.
And like schoolgirls, she knelt neatly beside Myoran to browse the album.
"Pfft, this is the warden?"
"......"
The two soon found 15-year-old Derek.
A handsome silver-haired boy without a trace of dark circles, unlike now.
"What, he's like a baby viper."
"Cute."
"His eyes were all bright and sparkly back then. How'd he end up so venomous?"
"Well, he has a certain haggard charm now."
Damas sat pushed aside, looking forlorn, as the album was snatched by the two disaster-class prisoners.
"Yeah, as long as he's alive. Whatever..."
A massive corpse vulture pecked at his crown.
As if consoling him.
But the vulture startled and fled at the immense rage emanating from its master.
Even Damas, far away, flinched.
Anje and Myoran fell silent over one page of the graduation album.
Their expressions grew not just serious, but deeply unsettling.
"W-Why is everyone like this...?"
Gathering courage, Damas asked, and Anje spoke first.
"Hey. Why's Derek's face like this?"
In the page she showed, the silver-haired boy stood alone.
Bruises scattered across his face.
It wasn't just that one photo.
In drawings of school scenes, Derek occasionally appeared bandaged.
Forcing a smile, but with distant, weary eyes.
Now the women understood why he carried such decadence now.
"W-Well, his family has a bad reputation, so he got bullied among the nobles..."
"Why didn't you stop it? You, the student council president."
"There were royals among the ringleaders. If I'd intervened and caused trouble, it would've burdened my father!"
"That's why you're in this state. You ignored injustice because you feared minor personal loss."
Myoran struck with a sharp retort.
"If that's the case, you shouldn't have taken a position like student council president."
"......!!"
Damas suddenly recalled Derek's words to him.
Don't grab the vice captain position if you can't take responsibility.
Meanwhile, as warden now, Derek bore all responsibility.
That's how he'd earned the expensive favor of these two fierce women.
Only then did the Grand Elder's son realize what he'd forgotten.
"That's why you instinctively saw the warden as easy prey."
"Even in our Eastern Continent martial clans, we protect the weak."
Anje and Myoran glared at Damas colder than before.
"Sorry. Back then, I didn't grasp the weight of being student council president."
Considering it his karma, he swallowed his bitter regret.
"I want to help now, somehow. Please, tell me how."
Unlike before, he was trying to correct his mistakes.
Perhaps because of that, Anje decided to give the former bystander a chance.
"You were popular back then, so you must know most students' info."
"Of course. I'm confident in that."
Anje smiled faintly for the first time, having found Damas's value.
"Mark down the addresses of everyone who made the warden like this."
"A-Addresses...?"
Myoran placed her hand on the sword at her waist.
Exuding inner energy thick with killing intent.
"Yes, all of them. Not a single one left out."
Damas jotted down their addresses, leveraging his specialty in connections.
Myoran and Anje memorized every location perfectly.
The next day.
I yawned as I headed to the warden's office.
'Lately, the empire's been quiet. Perfect.'
The Holy See's half-crippled, and the pro-crown prince faction's busy reining in their idiot cronies.
Of course, their power's still massive, but the surviving princess will keep them in check.
"While Camillia's still kicking, it'd be nice to grow my forces more..."
Should I pull my connections from the previous round back to my side?
I pondered seriously as I sat in the warden's chair.
And the moment I opened the drawer.
Whoosh―――――.
A flood of letters poured onto my lap.
All from major nobles living in the capital.
"What the hell is this."
I widened my sharp eyes and skimmed the letters.
In that instant, blue system text appeared, the kind that only shows in critical situations.
Even school bullies and their parents I'd never met were swearing loyalty.
All big shots who'd graduated from the Imperial Academy.
I blinked blankly at the sight.
In just one night, the remote prison warden...
Had become a monster backed by the princess, dreaming of revenge from his school days.
"What the hell is that?"