I Possessed a Character in an Academy Without a Protagonist – Chapter 96

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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At the suppression force headquarters in front of the 4th castle in the southern colony, the Imperial Knight Commander was extremely busy handling his duties.

“Commander… I mean, Supreme Commander. The Schultzenburg family has sent a letter asking if we need support,” reported an adjutant.

“No need. Politely decline. We can’t ask for help from mercenary families,” the Commander replied.

“Understood. Also, the Holy Knights have arrived and are requesting to join the suppression force.”

“The Holy Knights?”

The adjutant handed over a paper he had been holding.

It was a detailed report on the Holy Knights’ forces.

“12 knights… more like armored infantry in hastily assembled armor,” the Commander scoffed after examining the report.

12 self-proclaimed knights.

No mage mercenaries hired on their own.

No merchants recruited independently, so they would rely on the suppression force’s contracted merchants for supplies.

“Tsk…”

The Commander tapped his fingers on the desk, deep in thought.

It seemed that taking in such a ragtag group would likely cause more harm than good.

His eyes eventually moved from the Holy Knight Commander’s name to the Order’s leader.

“Is the de facto leader of the Order Schlus Hainkel? Could it be-”

“Yes, it’s Schlus Hainkel from the Imperial University.”

“Hmm…”

A faint smile spread across the Commander’s face.

So it was an order owned by Schlus Hainkel.

It seemed he had scraped together his scholarship money and pension from medals to establish this order.

While their equipment and training were likely all a mess, there would certainly be merit in accepting them.

Even if he couldn’t give them opportunities to be active, he could at least provide them with practical experience.

This was an opportunity to put Schlus Hainkel in his debt.

Although Schlus constantly badmouthed nobles as unpleasant and ill-mannered, it was obvious he would occupy a key position in the Empire’s future.

After the scandal with the Imperial Princess, direct pressure on Schlus Hainkel had almost disappeared.

“Where are the Holy Knights now?” the Commander asked.

“They’re waiting outside. Shall I call them in?”

“Do so.”

The adjutant left and returned about a minute later with clanking footsteps.

A soldier in full plate armor entered the office.

They had indeed managed to put together some semblance of equipment.

It seemed Schlus Hainkel had really squeezed out every penny.

The man soon removed his helmet, set it aside, and knelt on one knee before the Commander.

“I am Taylor Schwartz, Vice Commander of the Holy Knights.”

“Vice Commander?”

“Yes. As our Commander has not yet arrived, I am in charge of command.”

“…”

A Knight Commander who was late.

The Imperial Knight Commander’s brow furrowed.

He felt like immediately sending them away and demanding the Commander come in person.

“I hereby wish to transfer command of the Holy Knights to you, the Imperial Knight Commander in charge of the suppression force.”

“I accept. The Holy Knights are now part of the suppression force gathered to bring down these rebels.”

“Thank you.”

However, as he had already made his decision, he decided not to engage in any pushing and pulling.

With all the headaches of dealing with command authority and rank issues among forces gathered from across the country, he wanted to handle this small matter without complication.

Soon, the man who called himself Vice Commander of the Holy Knights paid his respects and left.

“Supreme Commander, I have a report. Reinforcements have arrived at the 4th castle,” the adjutant urgently reported.

The 4th castle.

It was the northernmost of the four castles in the south that had been taken by the rebels.

In other words, it was the front line.

It was also a bridgehead that had to be recaptured to solve supply issues and retake the other three castles.

“What type and how many?” the Commander asked.

“About 100 heavy cavalry, sir.”

“Species?”

“Pardon?”

“Were they human or beastkin?”

“They were beastkin, sir.”

The Commander tapped the desk again, lost in thought once more.

Reinforcements at the enemy’s frontline stronghold.

It was certainly not good news.

At least, if they had been human soldiers.

“Prepare to attack. Spread the word to all forces.”

“Sir? You mean attack the castle directly?”

“Yes. We’ll take it in one fell swoop.”

He immediately scrapped the existing plan of engaging in a pitched battle to wear down their forces before laying siege.

His intuition, built up over years of experience, told him that the reinforcements were nothing but poorly trained scarecrows.

That they needed to attack right now.

“Yes, sir. I’ll summon the commanders and strategists.”

Buuuuuu…

The sound of horns echoed through the camp, signaling an emergency.

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“You really are playing with me.”

“Fufu. I’m doing this to make you comfortable.”

“It’s uncomfortable, so put me down.”

“No.”

“…”

I was lying down with my head resting on Iris’s thighs as she knelt demurely.

The problem was that even if I disliked it, there was no way for me to escape from here.

My body wouldn’t listen to me due to magical power exhaustion.

Of course, saying it was uncomfortable wasn’t just for show.

It really was uncomfortable.

Iris’s thighs were so large that my head was positioned too high when lying on them.

Or was it due to the size of her buttocks rather than her thighs?

Well, I wasn’t sure about that.

“Uwaaah… What are you two doing?”

“Nursing a patient.”

“…”

Even as Erica looked on in horror from the side, Iris remained utterly shameless.

I wondered if it was really okay for someone calling herself a saintess to have this much skinship with an unrelated man.

It seemed about time for the Papal State to revoke Iris’s sainthood.

“What really happened?”

“…”

Erica touched my blood-soaked sleeve and asked in a worried voice.

I had originally intended to just let it slide, but it seemed she would keep pressing until I answered, so I decided to tell her.

“I killed several people.”

“…”

Both Erica and Iris were at a loss for words.

It was a natural result, since I had deliberately chosen words that were difficult to respond to easily.

Although it was a world where people died left and right, it must have come as a shock to Iris and Erica, who had likely never killed anyone before.

Of course, I was fine.

I had only killed combinations of letters, not people.

Yes, they weren’t people.

They weren’t human.

“I-I see…”

“Heh. I’m relieved.”

“About what? Why?”

“Seeing you flustered, it seems they weren’t hired by the Lichtenburgs.”

“Of course not! What are you saying?!”

Erica definitely wasn’t involved.

I hadn’t ruled out suspecting Lady Lichtenburg, but I decided to exclude that possibility.

If she were to strike at me, it would be when she was certain she could kill me.

She wouldn’t do something as reckless as interfering with me just to ruin my midterm grades.

“It wasn’t Flechette either,” Iris added.

“…”

As for Flechette… to be honest, it was difficult to say for certain.

While the possibility of Iris leading an attack on me was close to zero, there was still a chance that the elders there had acted on their own.

Of course, if that were discovered by Iris, Flechette’s council of elders would be completely overhauled.

If there was ever any discord within Flechette, that would confirm it.

The rest would be the Wiegensteins or other minor noble families.

As for the Wiegensteins, there had been almost no description of them in the original work, so I lacked information to make any judgments.

In the end, the mastermind behind this incident remained a mystery.

“…”

“…”

Feeling uncomfortable under Iris’s smile, I ended up turning my head away.

I had barely recovered enough strength to move a little now.

By the way, Iris’s gaze was strange.

It seemed like she was trying to interrogate me about something.

Damn it.

I thought I knew what it was about.

“Erica.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Would it be alright if I went to meet Julia sometime?”

“What? No. Absolutely not.”

“Erica. Wouldn’t it be better to hear his reasons?” Iris interjected.

“Well, I suppose reasons are… What are they?”

Erica clicked her tongue and asked, prompted by Iris’s smile.

“You mentioned that Julia was having nightmares and calling out my name in her sleep, right?”

“Oh, yes. That’s right. I mean, it seemed serious when we talked about it then… But no, it’s fine. You don’t need to worry about it. It seems to be a psychological issue, so you don’t have to feel guilty…”

“I think I might be able to solve it.”

“What?”

I slightly raised my trembling left hand.

The Ring of Miracles on my ring finger was visible.

That must be the problem.

Or more accurately, the wish I had made on the ring.

I couldn’t help but feel guilty.

“How could you possibly solve it?”

“I’m not certain. I just want to check on Julia’s condition. I’m not pretending to be a doctor or anything grandiose like that, I just want to meet her. Dinner, tea time, counseling, anything would be fine. I’d like you to arrange a meeting for just the two of us.”

The solution was simple.

In fact, it was possible right now.

I just had to mutter a few words to the ring and it would be over, but I couldn’t do that.

There was still something I needed to confirm.

Whether what had possessed Julia’s body was really her.

Or if it was just a ghost imitating her.

I couldn’t just get rid of it without confirming.

No.

I’ll stop making excuses now.

I wanted to see her again.

I wanted to have a conversation with her once more.

Even if it was fake, it would be fine.

At the very least, I didn’t want to do something I would regret.

“Well, alright. But you better not say anything weird to Julia, okay?”

“I won’t. Don’t worry.”

“But Schlus.”

“What?”

“That… that thing.”

“What are you talking about?”

“No… that. That ring. I was wondering exactly when you started wearing it.”

Erica suddenly became hesitant and carefully asked.

The Ring of Miracles?

They should roughly know about it already.

I was puzzled as to why she was suddenly interested in my fashion accessory.

“Since after I returned from the Imperial Palace.”

“Ah. I see. As expected. Um, by any chance! Have you ever taken off the ring since then?”

Why was she really asking this?

For the first few days I took it off when I slept, but it became too bothersome so I ended up almost never taking it off.

I even wore it while washing my face, so that said it all.

“Not for a single moment,” I said, exaggerating a bit.

Erica’s expression changed to one of slight surprise.

What was it?

Did the Ring of Miracles have some function I didn’t know about?

Was there some kind of toxin that made it dangerous to wear for a long time?

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t remember inserting such a setting.

“Hmm. Hmmmm. I see… Then I guess the talk of an engagement was true?”

“…?!”

Wait, what?

How did she know about that?

For a moment, I was so surprised that I failed to control my expression.

Damn it.

This was as good as confessing.

Seeing my face, Erica seemed to have confirmed it and leaned in close to me.

There was no point in denying it further, I’d just look like an idiot.

“Yes. It’s true.”

“Unbelievable… Then when is the official announcement?”

“What?”

“All the nobles are waiting for just that. It’s already publicly known through the ring, but when exactly are you going to officially announce your engagement to Her Highness the Imperial Princess?”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

She was talking about something I knew nothing about.

My engagement to Aria?

When did that story, which had fallen through, become a thing again?

“Are you pretending not to know now? What happened to admitting it earlier?”

“I need you to explain what you’re talking about…”

Boom!

At that moment, the door was roughly thrown open.

Iris and Erica squinted at the flood of light pouring in.

But to me, who could see through mana, it was clearly visible.

Emilia, staggering in while sweating profusely.

Had she already recovered?

“Schlus op… Mr. Hainkel. Did you make it in time for the submission deadline…”

Emilia’s gaze, which had been scanning the classroom, suddenly fixed on us and stopped.

“Wh… at…”

“Yes. I submitted everything successfully.”

“That’s wonderful news. Congratulations.”

“Thank you…?”

Emilia’s voice had become dry, almost frigid.

Her eyes had also turned fierce.

No, why was she acting like this again?

Thinking carefully…

Ah.

She must be misunderstanding something.

“Ah, no, Emilia. Calm down. These two are helping me, not trying to kidnap or attack me.”

“I know that!”

“…?”

Now she seemed angry?

What was really wrong with her?

I looked up to check Iris’s reaction, and found her avoiding both my and Emilia’s gazes.

It was the first time I had seen Iris so flustered.

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[KEKW these misunderstandings are getting out of control at this rate iris will turn emilia into a yandere XD]