I Became a Retired War Hero the Heroines Are Obsessed With – Chapter 3

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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“Rest assured, we are all the Apostates who were present in this Academy.”

The woman with dull, ash-gray hair smiled sweetly.

This was Alba, who had been masquerading as a man earlier.

Now that she had revealed her true colors, her malevolent aura was even stronger than I had anticipated.

“Are you an Archbishop?”

“Oh my, you can tell that too?”

As if grateful for my recognition, Alba bowed her head.

Then, holding her robe like a skirt with both hands, she lightly bent her knees.

It was a formal aristocratic greeting, commonly known as a lady’s curtsy.

“I am Lucero del Alba, Archbishop of Pride.”

“And you really are a professor at the Academy?”

“Yes indeed~ I’ve been here for quite some time. It’s truly a shame~ The students’ midterm exams are just around the corner… and I’ve been chased out like this.”

Alba’s expression, feigning concern for her students, was sickening.

A being that deceives as easily as it breathes, that was a Heretic of Pride.

“But it can’t be helped~ It’s none other than you, the ‘Barbarian Slayer,’ who has come, so we have no choice but to withdraw~”

“Oh, you’re going to retreat quietly?”

“That’s right~ I just wanted to see your face briefly~”

Alba spoke in a gentle voice and offered a harmless smile.

Looking at that deceptively harmless smile, I circulated my aura.

If they were planning to retreat quietly, they wouldn’t have brought me all the way here.

“But since we’ve met, wouldn’t it be common courtesy to exchange a simple greeting~?”

“Wouldn’t it be too much to attack someone unarmed?”

“We’re~ not foolish enough to underestimate a Master~?”

“You’re fools alright. If you were smart, you wouldn’t have become Heretics…!”

Striking down a snake lunging from behind, I rummaged through my pockets.

I pulled out three short rods.

Quickly assembling them and twisting the end, a sharp blade popped out, completing the spear.

It was a makeshift weapon I had devised for situations where I couldn’t equip my main weapon on the battlefield.

I didn’t remember giving it a name, but somewhere along the line, everyone started calling it “Bloodwind.”

Whenever I drew it, blood always flew like the wind.

“Die!”

I swung the aura-infused spear, sending one of the charging Heretics flying.

Perhaps startled by the brutal display, the others stopped their advance.

“What’s wrong? Are you waiting for reinforcements or something?”

“Aren’t you curious why I lured you here?”

“Nope. Not curious. So, won’t you just die quietly?”

I focused aura in my legs and sprang towards Alba.

It was best to kill her before she could do anything unnecessary.

“The preparations are already complete. It’s a shame we’re short on ‘sacrifices’~ but someday, I’ll hear beautiful screams from your lips~”

Malevolent energy clung to her like slime.

With a sense of foreboding, I quickly thrust my spear, piercing her heart.

Yet, the malevolent energy only intensified.

“I’ll be waiting for the day we meet again. Until then, have a pleasant time…”

At her chilling smile, I quickly threw myself back.

The malevolent energy erupting from Alba’s pierced chest completely engulfed her. Suicide?

Impossible.

This was a ritual the Heretics often used.

A summoning ritual that sacrificed their own bodies to manifest beings from the demon realm.

The malevolent energy that had swallowed Alba then shot slimy tentacles at the surrounding Heretics.

Skewered like kebabs, they quickly melted into the malevolent energy.

Even witnessing this, they didn’t flee.

Instead, they bowed towards the growing mass of malevolent energy and prayed.

“…Disgusting.”

Having consumed all the Heretics, the malevolent energy swelled and transformed into a beast.

Looking at the creature, with its slimy, mud-like malevolent energy dripping off, I felt a sense of relief.

The fact that it wasn’t humanoid meant it was a demonic beast, a step below a demon.

Furthermore, its inability to maintain a distinct form and the leaking malevolent energy indicated an unstable summoning.

“Looks like you were in a hurry.”

However, even so, it was a being far superior to most barbarians. Anyone below Master level would struggle against it.

-ROAR!!!

Looking at the roaring demonic beast, I grinned. Killing was much easier than teaching.

“Let’s play!”

Enveloping my entire body in aura, I pierced what appeared to be the beast’s foreleg.

-…!!

Despite having a large hole blown through it, the creature, unfazed, spewed malevolent energy at me.

I lightly leaped and landed on its back.

“Oops, this is the problem with incomplete summons.”

Weak due to its incomplete form, yet almost impervious to physical attacks due to its lack of a true body.

Like trying to cut water with a knife.

Well, it wasn’t like there was no way to deal with it.

I could run around until it unsummoned itself, obliterate it with wide-area magic (which I couldn’t use), or slowly chip away at it with aura.

Of course, none of those were my style.

“That’s no fun, is it?”

Grinning, I drew upon my ‘energies.’

Magic power in my left hand, aura in my right.

A secret technique perhaps only I could perform.

“Chaos Crushing Pillar.”

The light emanating from my hands instantly engulfed the surroundings.

-……!!!!

It didn’t take long for the demonic beast to be consumed by the light.

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“Huh huh, it seems I’m a little late…?”

The old man who arrived belatedly laughed awkwardly and stroked his long beard.

I shook my head dismissively.

“Well, it was nothing much. You can be late when you’re dealing with important official duties.”

This old man with a mountain spirit-like aura was Heinz Campbell, the headmaster of Minerva Academy.

“It eases this old man’s heart to hear you say that.”

“Could I ask you to take care of the aftermath? It’s a bit awkward to meet the headmaster looking like this. Haha.”

Heinz nodded at my jest.

“Go and rest. The necessary procedures have already been completed, so please visit the headmaster’s office whenever you’re ready.”

“Then I’ll gratefully accept your consideration, Headmaster.”

Smiling, I bowed my head, and the bespectacled woman next to Heinz approached me.

“I, I’ll escort you to the dormitory.”

Judging by her pale complexion and her inability to meet my eyes, she was undoubtedly wary of me. Covered in slimy malevolent energy, I had to admit I was quite a mess.

“I’ll leave it to you.”

I tried to offer the kindest smile I could, but the woman flinched and hurried away from me with quick steps.

‘Sigh~ Such is my fate…’

Sighing inwardly, I followed the woman.

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Heinz watched ‘him’ walk away into the forest and then turned his gaze back.

“Haa… This will take some time to restore.”

Looking at the massive crater, as if a meteorite had struck, Heinz let out a sound that was somewhere between a sigh and a gasp of admiration.

Inside the crater, dark smoke swirled – undoubtedly traces of malevolent energy.

“Wow, is he really a soldier?”

The man with a sword at his hip, standing next to Heinz, crouched down in front of the crater. It was Cain Aldeon, the professor in charge of Applied Swordsmanship at the Academy.

“He is, unless the Imperial family gave us a false report.”

“It’s unlikely, but… I can’t believe he created this crater with a single spear.”

Cain recalled the spear held by Allen, who had been covered in malevolent energy.

It was slightly different in shape, but it was definitely the kind of spear supplied to the army.

To create such a crater with that unimpressive spear, which couldn’t be called a remarkable weapon even as a joke… it was impossible unless he was a Zodiac Knight.

Heinz, spreading his magic power and surveying the surroundings, spoke.

“This crater was likely caused by something that was summoned. Probably a demonic beast summoned incompletely.”

“Well, the fact that he’s unharmed after facing something that caused this… means he’s at least a peak Expert or a Master.”

Cain shook his head and stood up. Looking at him, Heinz asked with a playful smile,

“Do you think you could win against him?”

Cain exclaimed in disgust,

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”

“Why? It’s always been your hobby to discipline new professors.”

“Discipline? I just do that to warn them that Minerva has a lot of monsters disguised as students.”

Cain, looking slightly embarrassed, shook his head.

“That’s a complete monster. Unlike the students here, he’s a fully formed monster. I’m not stupid enough to challenge a monster. I want to live a long life.”

“I don’t quite agree with the term ‘monster.’ A snake, maybe.”

Heretics had been discovered in his own backyard, the Academy. It was a situation where he, as the headmaster, would have no excuse if accused of incompetence, and it could even raise suspicions about his own allegiance.

Yet, Colonel Allen left without a word. It could be because he was exhausted… but somehow, Heinz couldn’t shake the feeling that he owed him a debt.

Cain pointed at the ground, corrupted and decaying from the malevolent energy.

“This crater indicates a fierce battle. Yet, there wasn’t a single scratch on him.”

He hadn’t even broken a sweat. He was simply covered in the demonic beast’s blood, infused with malevolent energy.

While the effects varied, malevolent energy was highly toxic to humans. It was also highly contagious, so dangerous that even a single drop required the affected area to be excised.

Yet, Allen seemed completely unaffected.

Cain, who had briefly experienced the battlefield, knew exactly what that meant.

“It means he intentionally covered himself in blood. He’s so accustomed to that kind of fighting that he doesn’t hesitate to be drenched in malevolent energy.”

“Intentionally…”

“I haven’t seen him fight on the battlefield myself, but I’ve heard many rumors. Nightmare of the Battlefield, Barbarian Slayer, Indomitable Vanguard… many nicknames describe him.”

Among them, the nickname that resonated the most until the end of the war was “Barbarian Slayer.”

The barbarians who harmed their allies were known for their cruelty, even going so far as to massacre entire villages.

Recalling the barbarian villages Allen’s unit had swept through, Cain involuntarily shuddered.

“…I think it would be much better to commit suicide than to become his enemy.”

Concluding his statement, Cain turned and headed towards the Academy. Or rather, he tried to, but was stopped by Heinz’s magic power.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Why… Headmaster? What can a mere swordsman like me do…”

“Do you want this old man to clean up all this mess? Start clearing those tree debris if you don’t want to see me die from overwork.”

“Shouldn’t we call other professors as well?”

“The other professors are in class. You’re the only one available.”

“Does it really have to be restored right now?”

“We have outdoor classes tomorrow.”

“Damn it…”

Thinking he had been caught, Cain drew upon his aura.

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The greatest nation on the continent, the glorious Sirius Empire.

Just as the old adage states that where there is light, there is also shadow, the Empire also had its shadows… a place where vagrants, criminals, and the impoverished, who refused to live in the sun, gathered.

People called this place the “gutter” with contempt.

Within this gutter, in a space permeated with deep, dense darkness, two people sat at a large table made of swirling darkness.

In this world, there were humans who followed the Demon King.

They called themselves “Apostates,” but the world called them “Heretics.”

And these two were “Archbishops,” the most notorious of the Heretics.

“My~ ‘Singularity’ is certainly strong~”

A woman with dull, ash-gray hair.

Lucero del Alba, the Archbishop of Pride.

Looking at her characteristically harmless smile, the other woman asked with an impassive face,

“Are you sure it’s alright to use your Avatar like that?”

“It’s a bit of a waste~ but I’ve at least grasped Singularity’s level~ so it’s a loss I have to accept~”

“Hmph. If you were going to do it, you should have performed a complete summoning.”

“I couldn’t help it~ I had to withdraw as soon as I heard the news, so there weren’t many followers~ That was the best I could do~ Why didn’t Diablo help me then~?”

At Alba’s complaint, the woman called Diablo’s pupils slitted vertically. Red flames flickered in her reptilian-like eyes.

“If I had intervened, the ‘Vessel’s’ boundary would have risen. With the Grand Design so close to completion, there’s no need to complicate things.”

“That’s true~”

Diablo stood up and looked down at Alba.

“Restore your Avatar. I’m going to the north.”

“Yes~ I’ll join you soon~”

Alba waved at Diablo as she disappeared into the darkness.

“Ah~ The day I hear your beautiful singing is not far off~”

The ‘Vessel’s’ growth was progressing smoothly. If all went as planned, the wait wouldn’t be long.

“Our King… please wait just a little longer… There are so many ‘Vessels’ for you.”

Alba recalled the black spear that had pierced her heart.

Jet-black hair, as dark as the shadows here. Fatal eyes, reflecting the joys and sorrows of life.

How ecstatic it would be to hear screams erupt from those lips that had so resolutely told her to die. And if the King were to be born from within that…

“I’m really… looking forward to it…”

Anticipating that day, Alba slowly sank into the darkness.

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