I Possessed a Character in an Academy Without a Protagonist – Chapter 23

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Jingle……

A burly man entered the dimly lit cafe.

He immediately approached the bar and sat down, then parted his lips.

“A glass of milk.”

“There’s no one else here. You don’t need to recite the password.”

“Is this okay, Director? What if I were actually an Imperial Police officer in disguise?”

“Hehe. No way.”

“Your security awareness is a mess……”

Hertlocker closed his eyes tightly.

It seemed like a miracle that this base hadn’t been discovered by the Empire yet.

“Youngsuk. There’s a huge operation coming up soon, do you think I would be that careless?”

[T/N: I believe it’s a nickname]

“Yes.”

“Damn. I can tell it’s you just by your gait. I won’t be fooled that easily.”

“……”

Although he was dissatisfied with not being given the password, Hertlocker had no doubt about Eric’s words.

He knew that although Eric seemed to live carelessly, his loyalty to the Kingdom was sincere.

Moreover, it wouldn’t be strange for Eric’s memory to memorize everyone’s individual gaits.

“Are the preparations going well?”

“You mean the formula?”

“Yes.”

“I used to be called a genius caster back in the day, didn’t I?”

“This is the first I’m hearing of it.”

“You’re too young to know, Youngsuk. Everyone my age knows. Anyway, I finished designing the formula long ago.”

Eric took out a scroll from a drawer and unfolded it.

Countless circles and lines were drawn inside.

“This is too……”

Too complicated. With this, the mana efficiency would be terrible, and it would only spew out mana energy, killing the caster.

Just as Hertlocker was about to say that, his eyes widened.

Only then did he properly grasp the formula.

“It’s not just one formula.”

“That’s right. I knew you would realize it instantly.”

At first glance, it looked like a single huge formula, but that wasn’t the case.

The explosive formula and the detonation formula were designed separately, catching two birds with one stone: mana efficiency and stability.

However, it wasn’t entirely problem-free.

“With this, the burden on the caster will be too great. They have to manipulate two formulas at once…… Wouldn’t it be better to have one more caster?”

“That won’t do. The two formulas need to be manipulated simultaneously, at the exact same timing. It has to be done by one person. And don’t you trust me?”

“……”

Hertlocker briefly recalled Eric’s image.

A meticulous and cold-hearted spy.

But when bragging about his daughter, his intelligence plummeted, becoming a doting father.

“I don’t trust you.”

“Ugh, tsk. You’re probably the only one in the Intelligence Agency who looks down on me.”

“Isn’t it the same for you, Director? Treating me like a child.”

“You are a child.”

“I’m not a child.”

“You are, Youngsuk.”

“……”

Eric smiled and roughly ruffled Hertlocker’s hair, then put the scroll back.

Hertlocker glared at Eric while fixing his disheveled hair.

Eric was probably the only one who dared to look down on the strongest force in the Kingdom’s army like this.

“Hertlocker. But did you see that?”

“What are you referring to?”

“Schlus Hainkel. Headquarters found out about that commoner top student’s past.”

“Was there anything special?”

“Apparently he lived in Iceburg during the war.”

“You don’t mean during the winter offensive?”

“That’s right.”

Iceburg.

It was the Empire’s fortress city that the Kingdom’s army had advanced into after crossing the border during the winter offensive.

At that time, the Kingdom’s army thought they had suppressed the few security forces and taken control of the castle, but……

The unit was later found to have been annihilated. The reason was unknown.

It was one of the mysteries of the war that remained unsolved to this day.

If Schlus was a resident of Iceburg at that time, he might know something.

Just as he was thinking that-

Jingle……

“Welcome.”

Someone entered the cafe.

Not many people would come to this secluded cafe with no signboard.

The person who came most often was……

“……”

“……”

Schlus Hainkel.

Hertlocker turned around and made eye contact with him.

Schlus also stood still, and silence flowed for a moment.

The one who turned his gaze first and moved his steps was Schlus.

He sat down far away from Hertlocker.

“Owner. A glass of milk.”

Hertlocker felt like his breath was caught in his throat.

How on earth did this man know the Kingdom Intelligence Agency’s password?

“You mean milk?”

“Yes. My mouth feels sticky, so I’m craving smooth milk rather than tea or coffee.”

“I understand.”

It must have been a coincidence.

Hertlocker tried not to glance at Schlus, thinking so.

If he kept peeking and got caught, it would be a big blunder.

“The Day of Magic is coming up soon.”

“Yes. I heard the event will be held grandly this year as well.”

“Will you be attending the event too, Owner?”

“I’ll have to close the store and go on that day. It’s a once-a-year occasion.”

“Will that gentleman over there be going too?”

“Pardon? Me?”

Hertlocker was startled and looked to the side.

Schlus was waiting for his answer with a relaxed smile on his face.

“Yes. I will be going as well.”

“Haha. Maybe we’ll all meet again on the Day of Magic.”

“Your milk is ready.”

“I’m looking forward to it. Really looking forward to it.”

Schlus slowly drank the milk.

Somehow, Schlus’ words sounded ominous, and Hertlocker’s expression darkened.

***

I said too many unnecessary things at the cafe.

Seeing Hertlocker’s face made me so furious that I might have indirectly provoked him.

By the way, he was indeed damn good-looking.

They say appearance is plausibility. Now I understand why those proud heroines fell for him.

After leaving the cafe, I went to the Day of Magic event venue in advance.

It was to see where the Intelligence Agency bastards would execute the formula.

To cut to the conclusion, there wasn’t much to gain.

A hotel room near the event venue was the most likely candidate, but there were too many rooms, making it meaningless as a list of candidates.

Therefore, I decided to give up on the plan to subdue the caster and stop the formula.

The only option left was to remotely disable the formula, but……

‘Will that work?’

It was a formula that would blow up the entire event venue.

There would be at least 3 people involved in the formula.

A formula that could operate confidently even amidst the tight security at the event venue.

Was it really possible for me alone to detect and disable such a thing?

My mana sensitivity stat was 75, which was world-class in the early part of the novel, so detection might be sufficiently possible.

But the problem was disabling it. Even if I raised my calculation ability with ‘Selection and Concentration’, the 5-second time limit might be far from enough.

‘This is……’

It wasn’t just calculation ability that was involved in disabling formulas.

The higher the understanding of magic, the faster the disabling speed.

At least if I could immediately identify the type of formula, there would be no need to perform calculations on it.

‘I need to investigate.’

It seemed better to at least have a rough grasp of the types of formulas.

I should look for related books.

If it was something like that, there was a designated place to go.

The Imperial Academy Library.

A place that gathered all the books on the continent.

It wasn’t an exaggeration, it was actually true.

I had described it that way, so it was definitely correct.

I decided to head straight back to the Imperial Academy.

*

As soon as I entered the Imperial Academy Library, I immediately searched the section on formulas.

However, most of them were books or papers that delved into a single formula.

It seemed I would have to search dozens of bookshelves to identify the types.

Naturally, it would take more than a month to do that.

I pondered if there was a good solution while looking around the library a bit more.

‘Wow…… This is really amazing.’

With my lacking vocabulary, I could only come up with such an impression.

The library was in a completely straight line, so the bookshelves extended like an endless corridor. How many kilometers was this?

I had only described it as a ‘library where all the books of the continent were gathered’, but I never imagined it would take this form.

‘What’s this?’

As I walked slowly and looked around, I discovered a pile of books in one corner.

Were they books that had recently arrived and were not yet fully classified?

I approached the pile of books as if possessed and picked them up one by one to flip through.

“Latest medical techniques. Celestial studies. Reflections on the internal circuit……”

They were books on interesting topics.

But when I actually opened them, they didn’t flow smoothly and kept getting stuck.

Come to think of it, the ability ‘Translation’ was always active.

Perhaps the books here were written in languages other than the Imperial common language, so the translation wasn’t smooth.

“Classification of Formulas……”

I found a book with an ominous title.

I put down the other books and immediately sat in a chair, flipping through the book and skimming it.

‘Classification by element. Fire-type formulas. Cold-type formulas……’

It seemed I had found the book I wanted.

It was a book that roughly explained the criteria for classifying formulas, and it also had explanations of the common characteristics and core parts of formulas.

Although it was a rather thick book with 500 pages, if I could roughly grasp the types of formulas with just this one book, there would be nothing better.

I tried to suppress the corners of my mouth that kept wanting to rise, and I took the heavy book under my arm and headed to the counter to check it out.

‘No. Maybe I should just read it here.’

It was a quiet and pleasant space, perfect for reading.

Of course, it was comfortable to be alone in the training room, but if I got tired, I would surely get distracted.

I received a few sheets of memo paper at the counter to study in the library and sat down at a desk.

Then I saw a familiar face across from me.

“Ugh……”

Erica.

The silver-haired girl frowned upon seeing me.

No matter what, how can you go “ugh” when you see someone, dude?

Such an ill-mannered fellow.

I ignored Erica and opened the book to start studying.

I took as many notes as possible and absorbed the information into my head so that I could identify the type of formula just by looking at a part of it.

The content wasn’t too profound, so I quickly went through the 500 pages.

How many hours had passed?

By the time the window outside had become completely dark, only Erica and I were left in the library reading room.

It didn’t seem like she had come to read books until this time……

Considering Erica’s personality, she was probably enduring because she didn’t want to leave before me.

She had a setting of having a competitive spirit in unnecessary things.

Then I should let her go home soon.

I closed the book and stood up.

“Checkout, please.”

“Yes. I understand.”

I even checked it out with the intention of reading more at the mansion.

And now, as I was about to leave the library……

“What is she doing?”

Erica was looking around in front of the bookshelves like a meerkat.

Judging by the pile of books in her arms and her peeking here and there, it seemed she was trying to put back the books she had read……

It seemed she had forgotten where she had pulled out the books.

Then she could just hand them over to the librarian.

I sighed and slowly approached Erica.

Although my first impression of her was completely bad, she was someone who would eventually become a colleague later on.

It wouldn’t hurt to build up some favor.

“Can’t find where the books go?”

“Huh? Oh, hmph. No, that’s not it?”

“……”

Pretending it’s not.

“Just……”

Just hand them over to the librarian.

Just as I was about to say that, the title written on the book cover caught my eye.

‘Introduction to One-Handed Swordsmanship’

It was a book that clearly showed where it belonged just by looking at it.

“This ‘Introduction to One-Handed Swordsmanship’ goes in the martial arts swordsmanship section. ‘Internal Circuit Genetics’ goes in the magic science biology section-”

Did she not even look at the classification chart after coming to the library?

Even I, who was visiting for the first time, knew roughly which books were in which section.

Anyway, as I recited the locations where the books should be, Erica’s expression became dazed.

“And Eden’s huge…… Ahem. Huge. I didn’t know you read books like this too.”

“……?”

Shouldn’t this be designated as a banned book……?

I ended my sentence with a fake cough.

I told her the original locations of all the books except that one.

“I’ll accept your gratitude later.”

“……”

Since she remained silent, I just left the spot.

When will that girl’s manners improve?

In the original work, she seemed to show favor to the protagonist from the beginning, but why was she acting like this here?

Ah, right. Hertlocker was damn good-looking.

Now it makes sense.

I left the library with a hollow laugh.

***

‘Huh?’

Erica’s expression contorted as she sat in the library with a stack of books to read.

Across from her sat the most unpleasant person, Schlus Hainkel.

But as soon as she saw the cover of the book he had brought, she almost burst out laughing.

‘Pfft. What is he doing?’

It was a book written in an ancient language.

A language used thousands of years ago when the entire continent was a unified kingdom.

A forgotten language that hadn’t been fully deciphered yet.

But Schlus calmly opened the book and kept scribbling something on paper, didn’t he?

It was so funny to see him pretending to read without even knowing what it meant that Erica had to hold back her laughter from constantly bursting out.

‘What is he really doing……’

But there was a limit to pretending to read.

Schlus had been diligently turning page after page and taking notes for hours.

The memo papers filled with densely written text had already exceeded 10 pages.

It was incomprehensible why he was doing this.

‘Isn’t he leaving soon?’

No matter what, she didn’t want to leave earlier than this guy who was fake studying.

So she opened a dictionary next to her and diligently translated a book written in Elvish while waiting, and then-

‘He’s finally leaving.’

Schlus finally closed the book and stood up.

Erica sighed inwardly in relief and picked up all the books. Most of them were books she hadn’t even started reading yet.

It was already late at night.

If she went back now, her mother would make a fuss about how worried she had been.

‘Huh? Where did I get all these from again?’

Erica stopped abruptly.

Usually, even when she took out books, she remembered all their locations……

Perhaps because so much time had passed, she seemed to have forgotten everything.

It was also closing time now. She desperately tried to recall, not wanting to give more work to the librarian if possible, but-

“Can’t find where the books go?”

Schlus spoke from behind.

He had hit the nail on the head.

“This ‘Introduction to One-Handed Swordsmanship’ goes in the martial arts swordsmanship section. ‘Internal Circuit Genetics’ goes in the magic science biology section-”

As Schlus began to recite the locations one by one, Erica’s expression stiffened.

She thought he was spouting nonsense again.

These books were all written in different languages.

One was in Elvish. One was in Beastman language. One was in Gallian……

Surely Schlus couldn’t possibly know all those languages.

She was about to reprimand him for talking nonsense, but at that moment-

“And Eden’s huge…… Ahem. Huge. I didn’t know you read books like this too.”

“……?”

Schlus coughed and his ears turned slightly red.

It was the first time she had seen him outwardly display agitation like this.

He was someone who didn’t even bat an eye when Aintz shot a fire spell right in front of him.

“I’ll accept your gratitude later.”

“……”

After Schluse left, Erica immediately returned to the table and opened her dictionaries.

She felt the need to immediately confirm that Schluse’s words were nonsense.

“‘One-Handed Swordsmanship Primer.’ ‘Internal Circuit Genetics’… Huh?”

Erica’s jaw dropped as she saw the same titles that had come out of Schluse’s mouth.

He really could read Elvish, the beastmen’s language, and Gallian.

Even she, who had received language education since childhood, could barely read Gallian and Elvish with the help of a dictionary.

She wondered how a commoner like him could have learned so many languages.

Then, the thought crossed her mind that perhaps he had actually read the ancient text as well.

But Erica immediately shook her head in denial.

There was no way that could be true.

Come to think of it, the last book he’d started to read the title of… what was the title that made him react that way?

Erica looked through the dictionaries, translating the title of the book.

“It’s in the beastmen’s language. The title is… ‘Eiden’s… Massive… Pe… Pe…”

Erica’s eyes widened.

She checked the word in the dictionary against the word on the cover several times, and they were exactly the same.

Finally realizing what the book was, Erica’s cheeks flushed crimson.

The book was—

—I didn’t know you read books like this.

“Ah…! Ahh…!”

Erica’s scream echoed through the empty library.

It was erotica.

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