—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Oh my! Look who it is!”
“Ugh…”
I had just stepped out to run a quick errand…
And I ran into a face that wasn’t welcome even after a long time.
Professor Relic.
He always looked cunning, no matter when you saw him.
“Oh my, I heard! We almost lost our school’s treasure!”
“Please lower your voice…”
Was this guy crazy?
He was going to spread rumors all over the neighborhood.
By the way, I couldn’t understand why this guy was suddenly flattering me so much today.
At the time of admission, he had been desperate to get rid of me.
Did he have another favor to ask?
“What do you want?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you come looking for me because you needed something?”
“Eh? No. I just saw you passing by. I couldn’t just ignore you! Hahaha!”
“I don’t have time. State your business quickly. Unless you want to be rejected before even asking.”
“Why are you being so cold! Do I look like such an ill-mannered person that I would only speak to my cute student if I needed something?”
“…”
To be honest, that was exactly how he looked.
But was he really just saying hello without any ulterior motive…?
Relic, to a commoner?
Had some earth-shattering change occurred?
It was scary how much his character had diverged from the original work.
“Oh my, you said you don’t have time. Sorry for holding you up. Well then, keep up the good work! And if you become famous later, it would be even better if you could mention Professor Relic’s name occasionally!”
“Yes…”
With a slightly awkward smile, Professor Relic left.
Was the world really about to end?
It felt like my skin was crawling.
Perhaps it was because Ainz had awakened and vacated the position of mindless admirer.
It seemed Relic was trying to fill that role.
‘Isn’t he attending the meeting?’
Sergei, Ludwig, and even Alexia had disappeared for some urgent meeting.
Why wasn’t this guy called?
Thinking about it carefully, I could understand.
If it were me, I would also conduct important meetings without Relic.
“Schlus!”
“…”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear.
When I turned around, Ainz was running towards me, panting.
“I heard you left the house! Where are you trying to go again? What kind of trouble has occurred this time?!”
“I’m just going to the post office to mail a letter…”
“Don’t lie! You must be plotting something strange behind our backs again!”
“…”
I had nothing to say since this wasn’t entirely untrue.
I was indeed plotting quite a few strange things.
“Schlus! As of today, I withdraw my support for you!”
“…?”
What nonsense was he suddenly spouting?
“From today, we’re no longer in a supporter-supported relationship! We’re brothers! Though we may have been born on different days, we shall die on the same day!”
The state of his lines was strange.
I couldn’t tell how many different things he had mixed together.
“Wait a moment. Calm down first. I don’t understand what you’re suddenly talking about.”
“You really don’t know! I heard everything, Schlus! They said that even after Team 1 had escaped, when you heard I was still inside, you rushed in without hesitation!”
“No, that’s…”
“And I saw it all! You shooting up that white light! Just to save me! Damn it, Schlus! The debt I owe you is so great that I couldn’t repay it even if I became your servant for life!”
“…”
Ainz was making a big fuss, with tears and snot running down his face.
I doubted for a moment if this guy had really awakened.
“I didn’t save you. You saved yourself.”
“What?”
“If Team 1 hadn’t managed to come out of the forest until the end, I would have given up on you all. But it was your spirit of sacrifice, your determination to stay behind alone and endure to save your team members, that called me. You can be proud. It was none other than you, Ainz, who saved Team 1 and yourself from that predicament.”
“Schlus…!”
Good grief.
As Ainz tried to hug me, I lightly dodged, causing him to fall to the ground.
“Puhehehehe…”
“…?”
Worried that he might have hit his head, I crouched down to find Ainz laughing with his face buried in the ground.
I thought he had gone crazy.
Soon he flipped over and laughed up at the sky, looking as if Sergei had possessed him.
Watching this, I couldn’t help but laugh too.
I didn’t know why.
You know, in sports manga, there’s always a scene where teammates put their arms around each other’s shoulders and laugh like idiots after finishing a match.
It was kind of like that.
“Hahaha… It feels like it’s been a while since I laughed this much.”
“It’s the first time I’ve seen you laugh.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. You’re too much like a machine. You don’t laugh, your way of speaking is stiff, and your expression is always blank. There are still some kids who are afraid of you.”
“Who at the Imperial Academy would be afraid of a commoner?”
“A commoner who kills crows and grinds up magical beasts.”
“…”
“Anyway, Schlus. You need to work on your image more. I feel like I shouldn’t be the one saying this, but…”
He had good self-awareness.
A guy notorious for being unpleasant was talking to me about image-making.
Something he couldn’t do himself.
“I might need your help soon, Ainz.”
“Call me anytime. I owe you my life, Schlus. When you die, I’ll follow you in death.”
“No, don’t follow me in death…”
It felt like he had become more stupid rather than awakened.
This was too burdensome.
“That was a joke. You have some kind of plan, don’t you?”
“…”
Ainz grabbed my hand and helped me up, speaking with a confident tone.
My mouth itched to speak, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
That at this rate, this world was destined for destruction, and that I was trying to prevent it…
“If you don’t want to say it, that’s fine. None of your plans are ever normal anyway. I’m sure if I heard it, I’d just end up asking if you’re crazy.”
“…”
Somehow, this guy seemed to have maxed out his understanding of me in such a short time.
How did he know me so well?
“And I’m in that plan, right?”
“…”
I nodded silently.
“That’s enough. For now, that’s enough…”
Ainz muttered, looking up at the sky.
I grabbed Ainz’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
How should I put it?
It felt like I had met someone who truly understood me for the first time since Ms. Mary, since coming to this world.
Everyone else was of a different gender, for one thing.
And they all approached me with some hidden agenda.
But this guy was different.
Knowing the original work, I clearly knew that Ainz lived purely as he pleased.
And so, I formed a friendship with this guy who had the most excessive talent in this world, was unpleasant, and stupid…
“Brothers?”
“Who’s your brother?”
“Ugh. Then, fellow students?”
“That feels too distant.”
“…Friends?”
“Yes. That sounds good.”
We became friends.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Imperial Academy conference room.
The emergency meeting had been dragging on for nearly 8 hours.
“Then, regarding the civil war in the south…”
“Chairman, please call it a rebellion.”
“Ahem. The impact of the rebellion on the Imperial Academy’s operations is expected to be minimal. We have confirmed that there are no beastkin students enrolled, nor any students with beastkin family members. Therefore, in the worst case scenario, that is, if the Imperial Family formally requests support from the Imperial Academy, we will dispatch Professor Sergei alone.”
“Then let’s move on to the next agenda.”
At Ludwig’s signal, several sheets of paper were distributed to the chairman and professors.
It was an analysis of a certain spell performed in Whist Forest on the day of the Battle Magic practical training.
After working the assistants to the bone for two days and nights, they had barely managed to complete the analysis in time for the meeting.
“What is this? Could you please explain, Chief Professor?”
As if too lazy to read it herself, Alexia waved the papers and spoke.
Ludwig sighed and began to speak.
“First, we should hear Professor Sergei’s testimony.”
“Yes, yes. It was the second day of the practical. A large-scale mana energy overflow occurred, and the mana energy fog reached the village. I’ll skip the commotion that happened during that time for now. The important part started after Schlus Hainkel went deep into the forest.”
Schlus Hainkel again.
Sighs escaped from the professors’ mouths.
Soon after Sergei sat down, Ludwig stood up to continue.
“After that, magic emitting a white flash occurred in the forest. Analysis of the spectrum revealed that it contained high concentrations of mana energy inside.”
“Magical beasts that saw it lost their reason and swarmed towards the light.”
“Thank you for the additional explanation, Professor Sergei. Four minutes after the flash magic, another magical reaction was detected in the center of Whist Forest. The estimated amount of magical power mobilized was 500,000.”
“500,000?!”
The professors’ eyes widened.
Even Alexia sent an interested look.
But even this was an estimate from a very conservative perspective.
At maximum, it could soar up to 1.2 million.
“What kind of magic was it to use that much?!”
“We couldn’t determine the exact structure of the technique. However, there’s no doubt that it was a single-formula electric type, in the form of a discharge.”
“So what was the power like to use 500,000…”
“It covered the entirety of Whist Forest.”
“…!”
The conference room fell into silence for a moment.
Everyone was too shocked to speak properly.
“N-no… Professor Sergei. You were at the scene, right? Is this really true?”
“Yes. It’s true. One student who escaped late was almost barbecued.”
It was an unbelievable story no matter how you looked at it.
But with both Professor Sergei, a former Imperial Army Field Marshal, and the proud Professor Ludwig saying the same thing, it was impossible not to believe.
“The power at the edge of the forest was enough to burn black hound magical beasts.”
“Just the outside was burned and the inside was moist, cooked to perfection! Haha!”
“…”
“Hahaha…”
Despite Sergei’s joke, the atmosphere in the conference room remained chilly.
“In the center… not even the form of the magical beasts remained.”
“What do you mean by that, Chief Professor? Surely at least bones would have remained?”
“Even the bones were completely incinerated to white ash. There should be photos of the magical beast corpses according to distance from the casting point on page 5.”
“…”
The sound of flipping reports filled the conference room as silence fell once again.
The professors, even Alexia, couldn’t hide their serious expressions.
It was true.
The photo marked as the center of the magic showed a field of pure white.
No one immediately realized that it was ash left from incinerated magical beast corpses and vegetation.
“What do you think, Chairman?”
“I’m looking with my eyes?”
“No, Chairman… I meant what do you think about this situation?”
“Ah! Ahaha! I was just joking!”
“Yes. I’ll believe that. It was very funny.”
“Ahem! In my opinion!”
As Alexia blushed shyly and began to speak, all eyes focused on her.
“Even though Schlus Hainkel is no ordinary student! This has crossed a line! Don’t you all think so?”
“Yes. No matter how you look at it, this doesn’t make sense.”
“Even if we say he caught Henderson because he was careless or lucky, this is…”
“You all seem to think similarly to me! I think there was someone behind this incident!”
“Behind it? Who could…”
“Someone who could infiltrate Whist Forest! Without being detected by the Empire’s scholars! And use such an impossible magic! There aren’t many people like that, right?”
“Chairman, you don’t mean…”
“Yes! I suspect that a Majin might have been in Whist Forest that day!”
The professors’ mouths fell open.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Good thing they’re not concluding Schlus is the one who did this, probably decided by the trio who actually knows the truth but chose to divert attention instead, what nice teachers.
you say that but they might think he’s got a majin supporting him at this rate
Mahin again!
Even Alexia should know that’s not true, guess she is lying
Let them cook for now