I Possessed a Character in an Academy Without a Protagonist – Chapter 75

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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It was probably Hertlocker’s doing that disguised me as a corpse.

It could only have been him.

The only person who could have known I was going to Whist Forest in advance, followed me, and revived me without anyone knowing.

And the only person who would pull such a petty act of revenge.

At this point, it was certain.

The Intelligence Agency had made the final decision to keep me alive.

Perhaps there was some benefit to continually sparing Hertlocker’s life even after beating him up so much.

However, that didn’t mean the Intelligence Agency considered me an ally.

It would be better to approach cautiously for now.

In fact, they might be keeping me alive just to use me later.

“Your attention is scattered!”

“Huh?!”

In an instant, a blade flew in and grazed my sword as it thrust forward.

The sword stopped abruptly right in front of my eyes.

My face was reflected in that gleaming blade.

I had nearly been struck and had my face smashed in.

“You’re really not concentrating. Is there a lot on your mind after coming back from the dead?”

“Stop teasing me…”

“Hehe.”

Trie lowered her sword and snickered.

But just looking at her swollen eyes, I could tell she had been crying her eyes out.

Trie crying.

I had only heard the sound of it in Whist Forest, but had never actually seen it.

I felt somewhat regretful that I had missed such a rare sight.

“But it was really ingenious. Slowing down your blood flow to slow the absorption of mana energy. I can’t believe you survived like that.”

“…”

Somehow, my disguise as a corpse had become my own survival strategy.

I couldn’t reveal anything about Hertlocker, so I decided to go along with it for now.

Fortunately, this incident wasn’t expected to cause much of a stir.

The Imperial Academy had already started covering up the incident by silencing the first-year Battle Magic students.

It would inevitably reach the Emperor’s ears, but at least there wouldn’t be stories circulating in the media about me dying and coming back to life.

It seemed that spreading stories related to resurrection would cause major religious issues.

“Phew… Haa…”

“Let’s stop here for today. You already seem tired.”

“Yeah. I’m not in great shape today.”

Maybe it was because my metabolism had only recently returned to normal, but my condition was terrible.

I was already out of breath after just a few rounds of sparring.

I smiled wryly and took Trie’s hand to stand up.

“Oh?”

“Ah.”

No, I tried to stand up.

Trie suddenly hesitated, and then fell backwards still holding my hand.

I tried to wrap my arm around Trie’s waist to lift her up, but it was too much for my current strength.

In the end, I ended up in a position that looked like I was pinning down Trie, who had fallen flat on her back.

“Sorry. It’s because I don’t have much strength right now…”

“Ah, no! I stepped on my own foot. It’s not your fault at all, Teacher.”

“Teacher… You’re still using that title?”

“Of course. You’re the teacher who guided me on the path of magic.”

“…”

I felt a little, no, very embarrassed.

Who would have dared to predict that just a few pieces of advice could awaken Trie’s talent for magic?

Her expectations for my magic lessons must have skyrocketed now…

I was already worried that she might end up being very disappointed later.

“Um, could you get off me first?”

“Right.”

The position was too awkward for conversation.

Trie must have been quite uncomfortable too, judging by how she was blushing and averting her gaze.

I used all my strength to stand up and offered my hand to Trie.

When Trie pulled on my hand, I almost fell again, nearly creating another embarrassing scene.

Once was enough.

“And this longsword. Thank you so much. I’ll use it well.”

I raised the sword in my right hand.

It was far from what you’d call a flashy sword.

However, its stable form and fierce blade exuded the dignity of a weapon made for killing.

This was definitely a good sword.

I had fully realized that while slicing through magical beasts with it.

“Yeah, that. Actually, it’s the one I’ve been using since I was little. Father ordered it as a top-quality sword, saying even a training sword should be good for your first sword…”

“…”

The mood sank a bit.

Gawayn von Schulzenburg.

Come to think of it, it had only been three days since Trie had accepted her father’s death.

Even if she was forcing herself to smile on the outside, she probably hadn’t fully come to terms with it inside.

Those swollen eyes might actually have been because of Gawayn, not because of me.

“I’ve been using it continuously since I was 6 years old.”

“I’m honored. To receive my master’s cherished sword as a gift.”

“Master…?!”

Trie’s eyes widened in surprise, as if flustered by my playful words.

By the way, she used this since she was 6 years old…?

Even now, after the blade had been sharpened considerably, it was by no means a light sword.

To think she had been swinging such a heavy sword since she was 6…

I couldn’t imagine what Trie must have been like as a child.

“Hehe… Master. I’m a master, huh.”

“Why are you acting so surprised all of a sudden?”

“It just feels different hearing it directly from your mouth.”

Trie kept smiling, as if she was in a good mood.

Yes.

It was good to see Trie smiling like this.

The sound of her crying back then had been truly painful to hear.

I vowed never to make Trie cry again.

“Thank you, Teacher.”

“What’s this all of a sudden?”

“No, I’m just so grateful for everything. I just thought about it. What would have happened to me if you weren’t here… I probably wouldn’t be holding a sword again like this. I might have lived my whole life not knowing what happened to my father. Really… thank you so much.”

“…It’s nothing.”

I turned away from Trie.

It wasn’t because I was embarrassed.

It was because I felt guilty.

The things Trie had just listed out.

They would have happened even if it wasn’t me.

They would have happened even if Hertlocker had enrolled instead of me.

‘It’s not because of me. You’re destined to reach the top eventually.’

One way or another, Trie was destined to reach the pinnacle of swordsmanship, surpassing the Empire’s greatest swordsman to become a sword saint.

Well, there were rare cases like Ainz who broke free from the shackles of fate, of the original work, but those were exceptions.

“You were already perfect before you met me.”

“No, but still…”

“Trust your teacher. You would have picked up the sword again even without me, and even if I suddenly disappeared, you would eventually reach the position of the Empire’s greatest swordsman.”

“Such flattery. You won’t get anything by saying that.”

“It’s not flattery. I was telling you to have more confidence in yourself.”

Maybe I was actually slowing down Trie’s growth.

By unnecessarily awakening her talent for magic…

It might turn out to be a mediocre talent with a low ceiling when we really got down to it.

But since things had already progressed this far, since I had already intervened, I intended to take responsibility to the end.

The current goal was to guide Trie to become a magic knight.

To aim beyond the Empire’s greatest swordsman, beyond sword saint, to reach her father Gawayn’s position.

That was my goal for now.

“When you can have confidence and believe in yourself, that’s when I’ll guide you on the path of magic.”

“But I’m always overflowing with confidence? Then I’ll be in your care, Teacher.”

“I’ll be in your care, Master. And comrade.”

“Hehe.”

We clasped hands and shook them while uttering truly cringe-worthy lines.

If anyone else had heard, I probably would have died of embarrassment.

After sending Trie off, I returned to the living room.

And I immediately became annoyed.

When I passed by earlier, I thought I had seen wrong.

But I couldn’t believe she was still here.

“So who are you?”

A girl with red hair tied back.

She was quietly sipping tea as if she were in her own living room.

It was so natural that I was truly surprised.

“Selene von Festia. I was in Team 1 during the practical training.”

“Ah…”

Ah my foot.

I had no memory of her other than passing by her.

Was there a character named Selene in the original work?

Or was she just one of the extras this world had forcibly created to fill out the numbers?

“So how did you get in here?”

“The attendant opened the door for me?”

I ended up glaring towards the hallway.

Just then, Emilia was coming into the living room carrying a teapot, startled – or pretending to be startled.

“She was crying and begging in front of the door, saying she had something to tell Mr. Hainkel…”

“Th-that was supposed to be a secret!”

“…”

Well.

I suppose if someone was whining in front of the door, you’d eventually let them in out of annoyance.

I couldn’t entirely blame Emilia for this.

“Sigh… What’s the matter? I’d appreciate it if you could just state your business briefly and leave.”

“It’s not like that. I just have something to say.”

To be honest, I was a little, no, very curious.

This was the first extra who had gotten entangled with me since Ms. Mary.

I wondered what brought her to seek me out.

As I sat down across from Selene, Emilia soon filled my cup with tea as well.

“I saw it. The mana energy antidote in your drawer.”

“Pffft…!”

I almost spit out my tea.

Damn it.

I had been wondering who saw it, and it was you?

“The high-concentration antidote that was suddenly found in large quantities after the antidote ran out. That was yours, right?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Mr. Hainkel. You did go into the practice room with Phelan flowers, didn’t you?”

“…”

Damn it.

Emilia suddenly interfered with an innocent face.

I didn’t expect her to troll me like this all of a sudden.

It was exactly like the saying about being stabbed in the foot by the axe you trusted.

“See? It’s true.”

“…”

“You were covered in blood but gave up the recovery potion for the assistant.”

This was a real misunderstanding.

That recovery potion wasn’t something I had saved up, but something I had purchased from the store.

In fact, the blood I was covered in at that time wasn’t even my blood, but the blood of magical beasts.

“What? He was covered in blood?”

“Calm down, Ms. Emilia. This is about what happened during the practical training. Because of the magical beast hunt…”

“And then you lured the magical beasts alone for Ainz’s sake.”

“What?! He lured magical beasts?”

“…”

Emilia ended up dropping the teapot with a thud.

Selene also seemed startled by the sound and turned around abruptly.

Damn it.

Emilia didn’t know yet what had happened during the field training.

I was planning to tell her slowly, but I didn’t expect such an intense reaction.

No, I didn’t expect her to pretend to have such an intense reaction…

“Get to the point.”

How was I supposed to smooth this over?

I rubbed my throbbing temples and spoke irritably.

“I have a confession to make. Actually… I was monitoring you under Erica’s orders.”

“…?!”

An unexpected statement came out.

Selene was under Erica’s orders…?

Ah.

Now I vaguely remembered.

Selene was from a branch family of the Lichtenburg house, and had made a very brief appearance in the original work.

She was literally just a name that was mentioned.

That was why I couldn’t remember her.

“She said you were suspicious and told me to monitor your every move and report back. But I can’t do it anymore. I feel too guilty spying on someone so kind that he’d risk his life for a jerk like Ainz…”

“…”

No, you crazy person.

Stop talking already.

Emilia is looking at me like she wants to kill me.

By the way, I didn’t know Erica was using Selene like this.

If things diverged from the original work in places I didn’t know about, it could cause significant problems in predicting the future later.

It was fortunate that I found out about even small things like this in advance.

“I don’t know if this will make up for what I’ve done… but I thought I should at least tell you… I’m so sorry. For suspecting and secretly monitoring someone like you…”

“It’s fine. Anyone could do something like that.”

“R-really? So you forgive me?”

“…”

Selene looked up at me with sparkling eyes.

This was an odd type.

Was she the kind who needed forgiveness from the person she felt guilty towards to feel better?

I could certainly forgive her.

“No. I could forgive you if you do me one favor.”

“Wh-what is it? What do I need to do?”

“I’d like you to monitor Erica.”

“What?”

Selene’s expression, which had been joyful, went blank.

She looked like she thought she had misheard.

“M-monitor Erica? No. I can’t do that.”

“But it was okay to monitor me?”

“Th-that’s! Uh… I’m sorry… Really sorry…”

“Then let’s do this.”

“Huh?”

“Just collect and report on Erica’s orders or conversations about me. A period of about a month would be good.”

“Schlus, only about you?”

“Yes.”

In other words, I was asking her to be a double agent.

It would probably be difficult for her to accept an order to monitor Erica’s every move and report back.

But if I asked her to only report information about me, the psychological burden would be greatly reduced.

“It seems like quite generous treatment to compensate for the harm I received.”

“Oh, okay! I’ll do it! I’ll do it, so!”

“Then I’ll forgive you.”

“Really? Really?”

Selene was overjoyed, as if she might start jumping up and down.

It seemed getting rid of the guilt in her heart was the most urgent thing for her.

After that, I was able to send Selene away quickly.

‘I wonder what Erica is plotting.’

Come to think of it, Erica had been too quiet lately.

Despite being the main heroine in the original work and having the most points of contact with Hertlocker.

In reality, she wasn’t particularly close to me here.

It would be reasonable to think she was quietly plotting something somewhere I didn’t know about.

‘Let’s see what you can do.’

Even your mother had already become my subordinate.

With a bit, no, a lot of exaggeration, it was almost as if the entire Lichtenburg family was in the palm of my hand.

So what could Erica do on her own?

Go ahead and try.

I’ll take on whatever you throw at me.

I got up from my seat with a scornful smile.

“Mr. Hainkel.”

“Ms. Emilia?”

Just then, something rushed up and hugged me from behind.

Small but strong hands were wrapped around my waist.

A warm and soft sensation felt against my back.

It was Emilia.

“Just now, what was that story about? Being covered in blood and nearly dying… This is the first time I’m hearing about this?”

“Ms. Emilia. Please calm down a bit…”

“Answer me. Okay? As Mr. Hainkel’s attendant, I think I have the responsibility and right to know everything. So why… why didn’t you tell me? I thought you looked unwell, but… why…!”

“…”

No, why are you acting so well?

It seemed so real that I felt like I was suffocating.

“Tell me. Everything. What happened. Tell me everything. There’s no other reason. I need to know everything about you, Mr. Hainkel. That’s all there is to it. No matter how long it takes. Please tell me slowly, step by step. You will tell me, right? Right? Mr. Hainkel? Why are you staying silent? Please answer me, Mr. Hainkel.”

“…”

Could you please tone down the acting a little…?

This is too creepy…

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