I Possessed a Character in an Academy Without a Protagonist – Chapter 14

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Deep in the night. Faint moonlight illuminated the narrow alley.

A man quietly walked through the alley and entered a small store at the end. Unlike the shabby exterior, the inside revealed a neat bar interior.

The man sitting in front of the well-dressed bartender opened his mouth.

“A glass of milk.”

“Sir. We don’t operate as a cafe at night.”

“I know.”

“……”

The two men, who had exchanged a brief password, made eye contact.

“Hahaha! You’re still the same. It’s just us here, so why are you still stiffly giving the password?”

“I was just following protocol.”

Eric couldn’t hold back his laughter.

Hertlocker looked at him with an expression of displeasure, crossing his arms. There was no one else in the bar besides the two of them.

Moreover, it was a space protected by a high-output barrier. No matter what they said, there was no concern of it leaking outside.

“Is the work going well?”

“What work are you referring to?”

“What other work is there? I’m talking about the Crow infiltration.”

“It’s not going smoothly.”

Hertlocker sighed. There were errand runners throughout the empire who carried out all sorts of requests, and they were called Crows.

Crows would perform any request without question as long as they were paid. Naturally, since those tasks couldn’t be legal, Crows hid their identities and lived in the shadows.

And currently, Hertlocker was attempting to approach them to become a member of the Crows.

“Their information network is no joke, so it seems I need to be extremely cautious.”

“Is that so? Ah, right. Emilia came by today.”

“Emilia? Isn’t she on a mission right now? Why?”

As soon as Emilia’s name was mentioned, Hertlocker’s tone of voice changed. As if to prove he was a siscon.

Eric shook his head.

“She came as part of her mission.”

“Then that means-”

“Yeah. With Schlus Hainkel.”

“……”

Hertlocker’s expression soured.

“It seems this cafe caught Schlus’ attention. We were originally planning to withdraw from here, but we’ll have to observe a bit longer. There’s no reason to refuse when the surveillance target is voluntarily coming regularly, right?”

“That aside…… What about Emilia?”

“Huh? What about her?”

“Is she, is she not having a hard time? Is that bastard Schlus doing anything bad to her?”

“Oh please. Worry about yourself, kid. If Emilia was being mistreated, do you think she would stay still? She would pay them back twice over, at the very least.”

“Still……. Huh?”

Just then, a sheet of paper started to be printed from the artifact placed on the bar. The paper had a code printed on it, consisting of dots and lines.

“It’s Emilia’s regular report.”

“Emilia’s? What does it say?”

“Well…… Hmm……”

Eric, who had decoded the code while holding the long sheet of paper, made a difficult expression. The content seemed like something he shouldn’t tell Hertlocker.

“Director?”

“Schlus Hainkel seems like a good person. That’s what it says.”

“……?”

Hertlocker’s expression twisted bizarrely. A good person? What does that even mean?

For an Intelligence Agency agent, the criterion for judging a person was only whether they were helpful or harmful to the mission. There was no concept of good or evil.

Emilia, who knew this, deliberately used the expression ‘good person’? Then could this be some kind of code?

Perhaps Schlus was actually a tyrant who laid hands on his attendant…… And Emilia, in order to request help from me without being caught by other agents……

“Hey. Stop. Calm down for now, you fool.”

“What?”

“You were having another absurd delusion, weren’t you? Stop it, I said.”

“……”

He hit the nail on the head. Hertlocker had a habit of always thinking negatively when it came to Emilia.

“Just interpret it as it is. It says he’s a good person. He’s probably a young man with good character.”

“That, that can’t be. I’ve never seen Emilia praise any other man besides me…… What on earth happened……?”

“Sheesh. You’re a severe case.”

Eric sighed but also fell into thought. Hertlocker’s approach had some validity to it as well.

The usual Emilia would never discuss the personality of a surveillance target. And yet, she conveyed this information during the regular reporting time when she couldn’t send more than a few words……

It seemed as if she was appealing something. As if she was asking not to kill Schlus.

‘No way.’ Eric immediately denied it.

There was no way Emilia, known for her coldness, would do that.

***

The day of the semester start arrived. It didn’t feel like it had been long since the entrance ceremony, but it was already here……

The only magic I had learned so far were gravity magic and barrier magic. And even those two, I could only cast weakly.

If my magic skills were exposed, everything would be over. Literally, everything.

‘Is it mana today?’

Yesterday, I used ‘Selection and Concentration’ on vitality after sword training in the training room. Then the remaining stats until the store opens are two, mana and stamina.

But today, there’s no need to agonize over which stat to raise. Because something that requires an enormous amount of mana is bound to happen today.

“Phew……”

Can I do well? I started to worry.

People would think of me as a superhuman who endured the Barrier of Fear, but in reality, I’m nothing special.

Anyone who seriously comes at me could quickly expose my true colors.

“Mr. Hainkel.”

“Yes?”

“Your tie is crooked.”

“……”

Just as I was feeling gloomy, Emilia approached me and tidied up my outfit.

After fixing the collar and retying the tie, a smile appeared on Emilia’s face.

“There, it’s done now.”

“……”

“Mr. Hainkel. Do your best today.”

“Thank you.”

Emilia smiled and gave me words of encouragement. Even if this was also just an act and not her true feelings, it still gave me great strength.

I am the author who wrote this novel. In other words, I am the creator of this world.

Thinking that way, confidence began to surge within me.

“I’ll be going now.”

“Have a safe trip.”

Leaving behind Emilia, who bowed in farewell, I took a step forward. Towards the lecture hall that would soon become a chaotic mess.

*

Ignoring the murmuring crowd, I entered the lecture hall. A massive lecture hall three stories high.

This was where the Elemental Magic lectures would take place. And it was also where disaster would soon strike.

‘Is that it?’

I saw a cart piled with rocks on the podium. On the surface, they looked like magic stones to be used as teaching materials, but in fact, something foreign was hidden inside.

An explosive artifact. A bomb that absorbed all the mana from the surrounding magic stones and converted it into explosive power.

The explosive power was enough to reduce not only the lecture hall but the entire building to dust.

In the original work, the protagonist contained the explosion using his overwhelming mana capacity.

…… But there’s no Hertlocker here, so I have no choice but to do it.

[Quest: Prevent casualties from the explosion.]

[Difficulty: ★★★☆☆]

[Reward: 3 Store Coins]

A quest appeared just in time. Now I just had to wait for the explosive artifact to start stirring.

I sat still, clasping my sweaty hands together. Looking around, everyone was chattering. Some were pointing at me and whispering.

Naturally, no one but me knew there was a bomb in this lecture hall.

“Huh?”

…… Except for that woman. What the hell. Why is she here?

I stood up without realizing it.

“Hmm?”

“……”

The woman who was descending the stairs felt my gaze and turned around. A silver cross hanging on her chest. And a black nun’s habit and veil.

There was no doubt. Iris von dem Flechette. The Saintess of Flechette.

…… And a possessor of future sight was standing there.

“Why did you come?”

“Huh? Pardon?”

“……”

When I came to my senses, I was interrogating Iris, whom I had just met for the first time. Why she came here even after seeing the future.

Why she came even though she clearly knew the lecture hall would be engulfed in flames.

Only after seeing Iris’ dumbfounded reaction did I realize.

At some point, silence had fallen over the lecture hall. All eyes were on us from all directions.

I hadn’t intended to draw attention like this. How did I describe the reason for Iris coming to the lecture hall in the original work?

…… Come to think of it, I don’t think I gave any particular description. This was a setting error, wasn’t it?

Why weren’t there any comments pointing this out until now? Maybe it’s because the setting about Iris having future sight was revealed later.

“Why did I come, you ask?”

“…… No. I apologize for my rudeness.”

I quickly sat back down, trying to resolve the situation for now. Iris tilted her head and walked up the stairs again, standing next to me.

Damn it. I thought she would just leave.

“Schlus Hainkel. You’re the top student, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m Iris von dem Flechette. Nice to meet you.”

Iris smiled and extended her hand to me. At a glance, it was a smile that seemed only benevolent, but I knew the emotion hidden beneath it.

Pessimism towards all things. Iris had looked into the future countless times and confirmed that the continent’s future held only destruction.

Therefore, she was currently in a state of pessimism and despair towards the present world.

The person who would show her a hopeful future and heal that despair was none other than the protagonist, Hertlocker……

Let’s stop talking about someone who isn’t here. I stared at the hand Iris offered.

The back of her hand was facing upward, making her intention clear.

“Yes. Nice to meet you, Saintess.”

“…… Oh my.”

I grabbed that hand, turned it to the side, and shook it. She probably expected a hand kiss, but I just ignored it because I didn’t know how to do it properly.

If I did it clumsily, it would only make me a laughingstock. I should learn noble greeting etiquette from Emilia later.

“Such a rude act!”

“How dare he try to greet the Saintess as an equal!”

“……”

Judging from the shouts coming from around me, it seemed I had made a mistake. Is there a big difference in meaning between a handshake and a hand kiss?

I really need to study.

“Don’t mind it. I’m here as a student, so in this place, I’m neither a Saintess nor anything else.”

“Then let’s speak casually. Since we’re classmates.”

“…… Huh? Pardon?”

Iris’ expression turned dumbfounded again. I mean, if we’re classmates, we can speak casually, right?

No? Come to think of it, it seemed like everyone spoke to Iris in a respectful manner. I don’t remember the details well.

“He’s trying to put himself on the same level as the Saintess!”

“Saintess! Please get away from that bastard right now!”

It seemed this was also the wrong answer. At this rate, will I become enemies with Iris?

Then I’m really screwed.

“Mr. Hainkel. Between us, at least a minimum level of courtesy-”

Boom……!

Iris’ words were drowned out by a thunderous sound.

Everyone’s heads turned towards the podium. There, a spherical object was slowly rising from the pile of magic stones, floating into the air.

Has it already started?

“What is that?”

“No, it can’t be!”

“What? What is it?”

“Damn it! Everyone run! It’s an explosive artifact!”

It was the same flow as the original work. Someone recognized the identity of the artifact, and the lecture hall instantly turned into chaos.

As the artifact glowed red-hot, the screams of the students also grew louder. Students rushed in, and the entrance area was soon packed with people.

“Wh-what! Why won’t it open!”

But the door would be locked. Not only that.

Since it was also protected by magic, no matter what the 1st-year students did, they wouldn’t be able to open it.

“Aah! I don’t want to die!”

“Ah?!”

A panicked student’s shoulder strongly collided with Iris as they passed by. As a result, Iris lost her balance and was about to fall, but I caught her by the waist.

“Th-thank you.”

“…… It’s nothing.”

If I hadn’t stopped her while passing by, she wouldn’t have fallen like this in the first place. I felt uncomfortable receiving thanks for catching her when it was my fault she almost fell.

“Why did you really come here?”

“……”

I asked again out of curiosity, but Iris remained silent. Well. Since she had never told anyone about her ability to see the future, it would be difficult for her to answer.

“Nevermind. Just stay back.”

“Pardon? What are you trying to do now……”

I pushed Iris behind me and stared directly at the podium. The color of the explosive artifact was slowly turning yellow, as if it would explode at any moment.

Now it was time to use the gravity magic I had practiced all night. I would cast a spell that would suck in everything within a 10-meter radius, centered around the explosive artifact.

Then now, the ability ‘Selection and Concentration’ should be used on……

“Ahhh!”

“Damn that bit-”

Should be used, but. Why the hell is Erica climbing up on the platform?

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