I Possessed a Character in an Academy Without a Protagonist – Chapter 80

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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A flag was fluttering in the mist.

Hertlocker rubbed his eyes and looked up at the flag until his neck hurt.

On the familiar flag, it was written in the Trude language.

– 1st Company Siegfried

A company flag named after an old hero.

Recognizing this, Hertlocker immediately realized.

Ah. This was a dream.

“Hertlocker. Wait here, I’ll be back soon.”

Soldiers were departing for war.

As Hertlocker’s head was roughly patted, he realized what situation this was.

It was that day.

The weather, the layout, the scene – everything matched that day.

It was the day when the 1st Company was annihilated, all except for one person.

He had to say it.

Don’t go.

If you go, everyone will die.

“Uwaah…!”

But all that came out of his mouth were strange, unintelligible sounds.

No matter how desperately he moved his lips, the result was the same.

“Don’t worry. We’re the invincible heroes, aren’t we? We’ll definitely return.”

“Aah…!”

Even until the moment ‘that person’ turned away and left, Hertlocker couldn’t stop them.

Even his arms and legs were paralyzed and wouldn’t move.

He could only watch as hundreds of soldiers marched in ranks into the jaws of death.

The soldiers waved towards him.

They were making funny faces and trying to make him laugh, as if to reassure him…

When he was young, he didn’t know.

But seeing it again in this dream, he seemed to understand.

They knew they were going to their deaths.

“Ah… Aah…”

Only then did he understand.

Why those harsh people who always took him along for menial tasks during battles had left him behind on that day.

They had gone to die.

Following orders.

For the country.

For the people.

It was a sacrifice for the greater good.

Watching the procession grow distant, Hertlocker felt powerless for the first time in a long while.

The powerlessness of being unable to do anything.

With this young body, he couldn’t do anything…

“Huuh…!”

At that moment, Hertlocker woke up from the dream.

Cold sweat had formed on his forehead.

As if he had had a nightmare.

If he had seen ‘that person’ again, shouldn’t it have been a happy dream?

“Damn it.”

Hertlocker got up from his bed and washed his face while catching his breath.

It was strange.

To have such a vivid dream of the old days.

In the battle of that day, the Siegfried Company was annihilated.

All except for one person.

As the last Siegfried, Hertlocker inherited the company name as his surname.

After that, Hertlocker awakened at an astonishing speed and became active as an assassin, coming to be known as a one-man company.

That weak and powerless boy had become a tactical weapon sweeping across battlefields in just a few years.

“What a stupid dream.”

It was foolish to assign meaning to dreams.

Thinking this, Hertlocker erased thoughts of the dream.

He had a lot to do today.

Construction site labor in the morning, dishwashing at a restaurant in the afternoon…

Part-time jobs had piled up.

It was because the Intelligence Agency’s finances had been drained after buying protective suits and gas masks to enter Whist Forest last time.

They couldn’t even buy antidotes because there were no available stocks at the time.

In the end, they had to buy that expensive equipment reluctantly, but now it was just a nuisance with no use.

Because they had been thoroughly exposed to mana energy once, their durability had been greatly reduced, making them difficult to sell even as used items.

‘But still. We saved Schlus Hainkel.’

Even if they spent all that money, wasn’t it worth it to have saved Schlus Hainkel?

Emilia had begged so earnestly for them not to kill Schlus, so they absolutely had to save him.

‘Huh? I’m suddenly getting angry?’

Thinking about it that way, he wondered if he shouldn’t have saved him after all.

Why did Emilia protect that guy so much?

Was that bastard subtly seducing our Emilia?

As Hertlocker, feeling a surge of heat, opened the door-

“…?”

He came face to face with a veiled person standing in front of the door.

His first thought was whether they weren’t hot dressed like that.

“Kingheart. It’s a request.”

“What…?”

Hertlocker’s pupils dilated instantly.

Only the Crows knew the name Kingheart.

Since it was a name not yet revealed to the outside, there was no possibility of someone impersonating a Crow.

“What’s the content of the request?”

“Read the request form.”

A rolled-up paper was thrust at him.

Carefully unrolling it to check the contents, Hertlocker-

– Idiot.

“What?”

He was thoroughly confused.

When he quickly looked down, the veiled man was no longer there.

“This… What…”

That wasn’t all.

Suddenly, the surroundings began to crumble.

With a cracking sound, the world collapsed like puzzle pieces falling apart.

What remained after all the pieces fell away was only nothingness.

A world of pure white, with nothing in it.

Hertlocker, left alone in the middle of it all, squeezed his eyes shut.

It’s still a dream.

“Huk!”

The moment he realized this, Hertlocker returned to reality.

This time, it was definitely real.

The mana that he couldn’t feel at all earlier was now circulating through his body.

However, the problem was-

“Damn it…”

He had a sack over his head, and his arms and legs were tied.

No matter how hard he struggled, the restraints showed no signs of loosening.

Whatever trick had been used, even the mana inside his body wouldn’t obey his control.

How on earth did this happen?

Just as Hertlocker was carefully retracing his memories-

“Nice to see you, Kingheart. It’s been a while.”

“…!”

A familiar voice was heard.

A bastard he wanted to kill by drowning in a cesspool just from hearing his voice.

It was Schlus Hainkel.

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“Schlus! Untie this!!!”

“Sigh…”

I couldn’t help but sigh.

Because of that guy struggling with his arms and legs tied in front of me.

To explain how this situation came about, we needed to go back a few hours.

“Hello. Mail delivery~”

“…”

It was when I opened the door while resting in the mansion.

A pretty boy in uniform appeared.

I habitually used ‘Examine’ to check his identity.

Immediately, I frowned.

“Jin. What are you doing in that form?”

“Ah…”

It was the Crow Jin.

Had she disguised herself as a man this time?

Come to think of it, I suddenly realized Jin could experience both sides sexually.

Damn it.

What am I imagining?

“How do you always recognize me right away?”

“You have a scent. A unique scent.”

“What?!”

I had to hold back my laughter as I watched Jin lift her arm and sniff it.

She seemed to have thought I was serious.

“I don’t smell anything…”

“Just state your business briefly. Before my attendant comes.”

“Tsk. The request. I’ve completed it, so come with me.”

“What request?”

“Why are you pretending to forget? You asked me to find Kingheart.”

“…”

I had forgotten.

I had placed a request to meet Hertlocker alone someday.

I thought it would take a long time, so I had completely erased it from my mind.

But now, with midterms right around the corner, I was busy.

“I can’t today. Bring him next week.”

“No, what… Then the kid will die of dehydration.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve got him tied up in the basement right now. You want me to clean up his piss and shit and feed him food and water until next week? Ah, I can’t. That’s too much even with extra pay.”

“…”

I couldn’t help but get heated.

Damn it.

I asked her to arrange a meeting, and she went and kidnapped him and tied him up?

What kind of crazy woman does that?

As footsteps were gradually heard from behind, Jin handed me a note.

“It’s the address. Kill him or save him, do as you please. I’m never going back there.”

“…”

If Hertlocker was tied up, they would have suppressed his mana too.

Then he absolutely couldn’t escape on his own.

If I didn’t go, he would die of starvation, dehydration, or drowning in his own excrement.

Damn it…

Jin turned out to be a troublesome Crow who could slap Henderson two or three times.

I didn’t expect the description of her mischievous nature to boomerang back and hit me like this.

“So you can transform into a man too. You have unique tastes.”

Out of irritation, I spat out a comment to Jin’s back.

But the reply I got was outrageous.

“I’m a woman, you idiot.”

“…”

Jin stuck out her tongue and then turned around abruptly.

Wait, that’s a woman…?

Phew, that’s a relief.

I thought I had gotten a little excited looking at a man for a moment.

Ah… this was unnecessary talk.

Anyway, returning to the present-

“No matter how much you torture me, I won’t spill anything! Go ahead and violate me all you want! You won’t get anything out of me! Why don’t you try scrambling my brain with magic and turn me into a vegetable!”

Hertlocker kept shouting endlessly.

This room is soundproof, right?

It should be safe since Jin prepared the house, but I was a bit worried for a moment.

With this guy’s booming voice, it seemed like it could penetrate even soundproof walls.

“Hey, hey. My ears hurt. Stop it.”

“Don’t beat around the bush! Do it, Schlus Hainkel, you damned Imperial lapdog!”

“Aren’t you tired? Have some steamed dumplings.”

“…”

I yanked off the sack and offered him some steamed dumplings.

They were still warm since I bought them on the way.

He blinked for a moment, blinded by the sudden light, then focused on the dumplings before me.

“Are you trying to insult me! Do you think I’ll fall for mere dumplings?!”

“Shut up and eat.”

“Mmph! I get it! It’s food torture, isn’t it!”

“Geez. Then drink some water with it.”

“This is water torture… Gulp!”

I fed him dumplings.

I even put a water bottle to his mouth.

He sure had a lot to say.

I wondered if it was possible to have a conversation with a guy like this.

I was starting to feel uneasy that this might only lead to more misunderstandings.

“Do you feel a bit better now? Huh?”

“Don’t think you can win my favor with something like this! Schlus Hainkel!!!”

“Ow. My ears.”

Right.

This bastard was always full of energy.

I felt like I had just made his voice louder for no reason.

I shouldn’t have fed him the dumplings.

“Shall we have a talk?”

“There’s nothing to talk about. Ah! But that list! What did you do with our list that you obtained?!”

It was infuriating how he said there was nothing to talk about and then immediately asked a question.

Should I slap him around a bit before starting?

“I threw it in the sewer. Didn’t you hear that from the traitor?”

“Don’t lie!”

“I’m not lying.”

“Prove that it’s not a lie!”

“…”

Right.

I knew the conversation would go this way.

Because he had an absolute distrust of me deeply rooted in him.

The path ahead already seemed bleak.

And I had to somehow bring this guy in as an ally at the end.

“Were any of the Kingdom’s Intelligence Agency agents caught after that? If I had intended to keep that list, I would have handed it over to the Imperial Police and received a medal long ago. Don’t you think?”

“T-that… Are you keeping it to blackmail us?!”

“Sigh… Fine. Damn it. Let’s say that’s true. Then shouldn’t you listen to me even more carefully? The lives of dozens of your comrades are in my hands.”

“…”

Only then did Hertlocker’s mouth close.

Maybe I should have done this from the beginning.

“Now do you feel like talking?”

“…Fine.”

“Good. You know about the civil war that broke out in the southern colony, right? Make sure the Kingdom doesn’t support the rebels.”

“What? That’s not under the Intelligence Agency’s jurisdiction! We can’t do anything about it!”

“Your job is to make it happen somehow. Otherwise, Eric, Emilia, and everyone else will die. Just like Iskandal.”

“…!”

Hertlocker’s eyes widened.

At the same time, I could see the veins on his face becoming prominent.

“You bastard! So you did look at the list! You knew Emilia was our agent! Why do you keep Emilia close despite knowing that? What are you planning to do with Emilia?!”

“I plan to use her as a leash to wring your neck. If you don’t want to see Emilia lying dismembered on the main street, you’d better obey me quietly. Don’t tell anyone about today’s events. Of course, you shouldn’t report to Eric Faust, the Intelligence Agency director who runs a cafe-cum-bar. You understand?”

“…!”

Hertlocker’s pupils shook wildly, losing focus.

I should have done this from the start.

Why didn’t I think of using Emilia as a hostage earlier?

Had I become impatient after going through several near-death experiences?

It seemed I too had become someone who wouldn’t hesitate to use any means necessary.

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