I Possessed a Character in an Academy Without a Protagonist – Chapter 21

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“The Day of Magic. We have obtained information that Roman von Byrne will be attending the event on this day.”

Hertlocker unfolded the file Eric handed him.

Roman von Byrne.

It was the profile of a 3-star general in the Imperial Army.

“Is the information reliable?”

“It’s certain. I obtained the event schedule, and Roman’s speech was included in it.”

As Hertlocker flipped through the papers, his expression gradually grew grim.

Roman was notorious for treating human lives worse than flies.

He looted and massacred every civilian village on his march route and never spared any prisoners.

But more than his cruelty, his tactical and strategic abilities had plagued the Kingdom’s army throughout the war.

His competence was such that he was the only one who predicted the Kingdom’s army’s winter offensive.

From both a moral and national interest standpoint, Roman was someone who had to be eliminated by any means necessary.

“Shall I kill him?”

“No. You will play a supporting role.”

“What do you mean by that? Is there a more certain method than me doing it? Who on earth is doing it then?”

Hertlocker asked, feeling a bit irritated.

Although his name was not known due to his activities in the shadows, he was the undisputed strongest force in the Kingdom’s army.

In a one-on-one battle, he was confident he could win regardless of whether the opponent was a magician or a knight, so he couldn’t accept another agent being in charge of the assassination.

“I will do it.”

“……”

Hertlocker was at a loss for words out of absurdity.

Eric was indeed called the strongest agent in the Intelligence Agency. Until 20 years ago.

“What do you mean by that? How will you, Director-”

“I’ll blow up the entire event venue. With an explosion spell.”

“……”

Hertlocker’s mouth fell open. This time, he was at a loss for words for a different reason.

The Day of Magic event wasn’t some small festival held in a rural village.

It was a massive event treated like a holiday, held once a year in the Empire.

At its peak, there would be over 10,000 people gathered at the event venue……

“Are you in your right mind?”

“It’s an order from above. Don’t argue with me.”

“Are they in their right mind? Let me ask them once.”

“Hertlocker.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t overstep your bounds.”

“……”

Eric’s expression had completely stiffened.

The usual playful and joking Eric was gone.

Only Hertlocker’s superior and the director of the Intelligence Agency remained.

“…… I apologize.”

“I understand how you feel. I’m not particularly fond of this operation either. But even if I were the decision-maker, I probably would have given the same order.”

“……”

“Roman is, well, Roman. Not some other scum. We almost lost the war because of that guy alone.”

Roman had been relieved of his post for insubordination when he argued with the headquarters that they needed to prepare for the Kingdom’s army’s winter offensive and conserve war supplies.

In his absence, the Kingdom’s army turned the tide of the war and managed to bring the front lines to a stalemate.

If Roman had remained in his position throughout, the Kingdom would have likely perished long ago.

Hertlocker wasn’t unaware of what it meant to kill Roman.

“I know. But……”

“This is the first time in 10 years that Roman has made a public appearance. It might be our last chance. So isn’t it right to go with the most certain method?”

“…… I will follow orders.”

Hertlocker grit his teeth and bowed his head.

Seeing that, Eric sighed.

It was a reaction that implied he understood but couldn’t agree.

In the end, as a soldier, he would simply obey when told to.

There was no way a good person who would pick up a child during wartime and make them his sibling would like this kind of operation.

But the Intelligence Agency had no room to spare for such a good person.

And Hertlocker wasn’t so weak-hearted that he couldn’t endure this.

“I will handle the deployment of the formula. The other agents will focus their efforts on concealing and encrypting the formula, as well as supplying mana.”

“What will I do?”

“Your role is to guard me.”

Only then did Hertlocker realize why he wasn’t assigned to the magic execution.

The one who would guarantee the safety of the magic caster, who would determine the success or failure of the operation, had to be stronger than anyone else.

Eric had decided to trust Hertlocker and entrust his back to him.

The only way to repay that trust was to make the operation succeed.

“Phew……”

Hertlocker’s hand was trembling.

It seemed he was destined to not go to heaven even if he died.

***

“Hmm……”

I sat in the training room and pondered.

A map of the capital was spread out on the floor.

“The event venue is this plaza. Roman’s speech is also scheduled to take place here……”

Roman von Byrne will attend the Day of Magic event.

And the Intelligence Agency will come to kill him.

With 100 percent probability.

I marked an X with a pen on the map where Roman would give his speech and then stepped back.

The Imperial Army wasn’t stupid.

Roman’s security would be distributed here and there.

Magicians would be stationed in various buildings, and knights would stand right next to him to shield him with their bodies if necessary.

Then where would Hertlocker attempt the assassination……

“Hmm. There’s no answer.”

No matter how I looked at it, there was no possibility of the assassination succeeding.

Even if Hertlocker shot fireballs, they would be immediately blocked by the magicians’ barriers.

Even if he rushed in like an arrow, dozens of knights waiting would appear and stop him.

The plaza was surrounded by buildings on all sides, making it a closed structure that allowed for ironclad defense.

The only way to break through this would be to overturn the entire event venue.

“Overturn……”

Wait a minute. Overturn?

The entire event venue……

“Crazy. It’s not an assassination, it’s terrorism.”

Now I had an idea of what the Intelligence Agency was thinking.

These bastards had no intention of quietly assassinating only Roman.

The most certain method. They were going to blow up the event venue and turn it to dust.

Considering that Roman was one of their top assassination targets, they would carry out such an extreme act without any hesitation.

They were that desperate.

“Fucking lunatics……”

No matter what, killing civilians en masse?

They weren’t in their right minds.

In any case, Roman was an indispensable character who would lead the Imperial Army with charisma in the latter part of the story.

“I have to save him. No matter what.”

I drew a large circle around the entire plaza on the map.

The range of the wide-area magic would be about this much.

The problem was how to stop these cockroaches……

Knock knock

“Hmm?”

A sound came from the direction of the door.

It was the sound of someone knocking on the barrier.

Was it Emilia?

I put the map in a box, closed it, and approached the door.

Creak-

“What is it?”

“You have a guest.”

“We meet again, Schlus.”

“……”

Iris suddenly appeared behind Emilia.

With a beaming smile on her face.

My mood instantly soured.

The most difficult person to deal with had appeared while I was comfortably enjoying my personal time.

“What brings you here?”

“I thought you might need my help. Do you have any difficulties or troubles?”

“……”

Iris gave a bright smile.

To others, it might seem like an ordinary benevolent smile, but to me, it was undoubtedly the smile of a little devil.

Did she see a future where I was struggling to prevent the terrorism?

‘No. There’s no way.’

It couldn’t be.

I wasn’t stupid. I wouldn’t move conspicuously enough for Iris to notice while trying to stop the terrorism.

Then Iris didn’t know exactly what I was doing.

She must have seen a future where I, who usually holed up in the training room, disappeared for a long time, and assumed I was in trouble.

Did she come to test me to confirm that assumption?

“No, I don’t.”

“What? Ah, wait a moment-”

I slammed the door shut.

Iris’ urgent voice was cut off midway, blocked by the barrier.

Knock knock knock knock knock-

Only the eerie sound of knocking on the barrier could be heard.

Go ahead and try opening it.

I might accidentally reveal information while talking to that serpent-like woman.

I still couldn’t trust Iris.

Until I was certain that Iris was on my side, I could never share information about the Kingdom’s Intelligence Agency or the Mana.

Knock knock

“Ah. This is driving me crazy.”

It had quieted down, but now she was knocking again.

Was she planning to do this until I opened the door?

“Can you stop?”

“Huh? What?”

When I opened the door, an unexpected person appeared.

It was Trie, hesitating with a startled expression.

“Sorry. I wasn’t talking to you. But what brings you here?”

“Uh. We were supposed to have sword lessons today, remember?”

“……”

I had told her to come at 9.

Had it already been that long?

“You can come in.”

“Okay. Excuse me.”

I let Trie inside as she kept glancing back, conscious of her surroundings.

Through the slowly closing door gap, I caught sight of Iris with a venomous gaze.

Please leave already.

I’m really tired to death when I’m alone with you.

‘Huh?’

At that moment, I felt a strange sensation.

I felt a warm touch on my hand that should have been holding the door.

I immediately realized. This was Schlus’ memory.

The ability ‘Memory of True Self’ had activated.

But it was strange that only the tactile sensation was felt, without any hologram-like video appearing.

Perhaps the video no longer appeared after the ability was nerfed.

When I closed the door, the sensation of the soft hand holding mine disappeared.

The ability activation seemed to have stopped.

What kind of memory was that just now?

“Shall we start……”

“Sure.”

I handed Trie a wooden sword. I didn’t have a real sword.

My mind had been distracted by stray thoughts.

There was nothing better than moving the body to regain focus.

***

“She’s not here. Is she out?”

Joint Dormitory 2nd floor. Iris’ room.

Erica tilted her head in front of the door.

Even after knocking on the door, there was no response, so it seemed Iris had gone out.

“I came all this way to visit. Should I wait?”

Erica pondered for a moment, but-

“No.”

She soon shook her head and walked down the corridor.

There was nothing more foolish than waiting without knowing where Iris had gone or when she would return.

“I’m dying of curiosity, really……”

Erica recalled yesterday’s events.

Yesterday, in the lecture hall where the explosive artifact had detonated, Iris was definitely hugging Schlus.

There was little possibility that he had caught her when she was about to fall or that it was an accident.

The two had remained in that state for a while.

Then what kind of relationship did Schlus and Iris have?

No, were they acquainted with each other in the first place?

Was I misunderstanding?

She had come to find Iris to resolve all these questions.

“I must ask her when we meet in the next class.”

Erica was about to leave the dormitory, resolving to ask next time when she spotted a woman with green hair.

A strange woman with a silver sword at her waist.

“Huh?”

It wasn’t someone she knew.

In the first place, she had no acquaintances with green hair.

Erica hesitated because of where the woman’s steps were heading.

The unknown woman was headed towards the single dormitory room behind the dormitory, in other words, Schlus Hainkel’s mansion.

“Who is she? Why is she going to meet Schlus?”

Before she knew it, Erica was stealthily following the woman.

Most nobles were consumed by a sense of superiority and inferiority, so they wouldn’t even want to encounter Schlus.

What business could she possibly have with Schlus?

It felt a bit uncomfortable to be in the position of stalking Schlus, but she couldn’t hold back her curiosity and decided to keep following.

“Hmm……”

The green-haired woman, who had arrived at the front gate, soon entered inside, guided by the attendant who came out to greet her.

But what was strange was that she didn’t enter the mansion but went behind it.

If she remembered correctly, there was a warehouse-like place over there.

Was Schlus inside there right now too?

“Haah…… What am I doing?”

Suddenly hit by a moment of clarity, Erica sighed deeply.

No matter how curious she was, she could just ask directly. Why was she doing this?

“No…… I can’t ask……”

Erica’s cheeks reddened as she recalled the embarrassment she had felt when she went to see Schlus.

Back then, she had accidentally spoken to Schlus with honorifics and bowed her head.

Thinking about it again made her face feel hot and flushed.

She didn’t even want to talk to Schlus out of fear that he might bring up that incident.

So she should stop being interested in Schlus now.

Having reached that conclusion, Erica stood up from the bushes.

As she was removing the leaves stuck to her body, she saw someone walking out from the direction of the mansion.

Erica hurriedly hid back in the bushes, fearing she might be discovered.

“I-Iris?”

The one passing through the front gate of the mansion was none other than Iris.

Why on earth was Iris coming out from there……?

As the ominous premonition seemed to be becoming reality, Erica’s mind grew complicated.

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