“Bow your head before me! Offer me everything you possess!”
Spewing black smoke everywhere, Maw pointed directly at the Emotion Potions.
“Give them to me! Offer them to me!”
The small meeting room quickly filled with smoke and descended into chaos. Maw stretched his long arm toward the potions.
“We have tolerated this deranged monster long enough!”
Seir and Vasago gritted their teeth and blocked his path.
“Hah. You may be Lord Moloch’s contractor, but you are still only a human. Do you not think you have become far too insolent?”
“Pahahahaha! Demons! You worthless scraps of demons!”
Maw laughed loudly, expelling a foul stench and black smoke.
“What are demons who cannot even use their Authorities going to do with those? Give them to me! I will use them to squeeze even more tears out of those professors!”
“Today, I will finally tear that split mouth of yours in two!”
“Do you truly believe you can? Very well. It is long past time we taught you a lesson. I will tolerate you no longer!”
As the Demon Lord’s contractor and the Legion Commander-class Demons clashed, black smoke spread in every direction. Through the suffocating stench, the Lesser Demons serving the Legion Commanders rushed into the fray.
“Whaaa?!”
“Hey, move!”
The masked people scattered in alarm. Ronia remained tied to her chair, unable to move, while tears and blood streamed down her face.
It was fine.
A useless coward like her was better off dying this way.
The moment she closed her eyes with that thought—
GRAB.
Someone lifted her together with the chair.
“What?”
Before she could even open her eyes properly, the chair took off at a sprint.
“Aaaah!”
The speed was terrifying.
‘Save me!’
She screamed inwardly and tensed her hands behind the chair. She felt like a cat perched atop a flying broom.
Thanks to the chaos Maw had caused, both the bank and the corridor were empty. The chair-racer burst out of the meeting room and charged down the second-floor corridor.
‘M-My shoulders are going to be dislocated!’
Just as Ronia turned pale from this new terror, the chair-racer slowed down.
“This location should suffice.”
He set Ronia down in an empty corridor near the first-floor Student Cafeteria.
“Please remain calm. I will untie your arms as well.”
The masked chair-racer spoke politely. His manner of speech did not suit his speed in the slightest.
‘Nothing about this is reassuring.’
While she hiccupped nervously, someone else came running after them, panting heavily.
“When I told you to save her, did you have to grab only the student and charge away?”
“I adjusted my speed while ensuring that you were following.”
“You adjusted your speed? That was incredibly fast.”
Without realizing it, Ronia nodded vigorously.
“See? This student agrees that you were too fast. She probably thought she was being abducted.”
“Do I truly look that untrustworthy?”
“……You have not forgotten that you are wearing a mask, have you?”
Whew. The masked man who had arrived later shook his head and looked at Ronia’s face. After frowning at the blood around her mouth for a moment, he lightly touched her cheek.
POP.
A refreshing warmth spread from the point of contact. Startled, Ronia touched her cheek and lips.
“What?”
The blood flowing from her mouth had stopped. The tongue she had bitten so severely no longer hurt at all.
She staggered to her feet from the chair. In the meantime, the suspicious masked pair had disappeared.
Ronia murmured.
“Healing Power……?”
***
SPLASH, SPLASH.
Julian and Theodore hurried through the underground waterway. The hatchling directed them from inside the bundle.
“Turn right, rawr.”
“Go straight, rawr.”
“Rrrawr! Move more carefully, rawr! You are going to hit me against a pillar, rawr!”
A short while earlier—
Amid the chaos caused by Maw’s sudden intrusion, Julian had thought,
‘This is our chance!’
He had initially infiltrated the Welfare Building to resolve their food shortage. However, thanks to encountering the masked trio, going so far as to pretend to be their junior, and following them into the bank, they had obtained far more valuable information.
First, they had confirmed the existence and practical use of the Transportation Magic Circle.
Second, they had assessed Seir’s and Vasago’s ranks.
‘The existence of the Emotion Potions was outside my expectations.’
Seir’s and Vasago’s demonic abuse of power had infuriated him so thoroughly that he felt his blood pressure rising.
‘Demons are called demons for a reason. No matter how vile a human’s personality might be, true demonic cruelty exists on an entirely different level.’
Julian vowed that he would eventually drive every one of those demonic bastards out of his Academy.
‘In any case, we obtained all the information we needed.’
He had promptly issued an order.
-We are withdrawing.
-We are leaving just like this?
-Has your conscience as a Holy Knight died? We are rescuing the victim before we leave.
After rescuing the student who had been used in the experiment, the three headed toward the underground waterway.
The hatchling had secretly investigated the bank and determined that the Transportation Magic Circle was located there.
“Does that mean they descend all the way into the underground waterway whenever they use it?”
“There appeared to be a Magical Passage connected to the bank, rawr. However, some sort of spell has been placed over it from the bank’s side, rawr.”
“It would be better for us to move ourselves than to unravel it and risk being discovered.”
“Rrrawr! A great dragon would never be caught by humans while unraveling magic, rawr! However, the Divine Power possessed by you two is absurdly strong, rawr. Even concealing it is difficult, rawr.”
“Come to think of it, exactly how did you disguise us……?”
“Rrrawr! There! It is over there, rawr!”
The hatchling hurriedly interrupted him and shouted.
Julian and Theodore looked ahead. Between the stone pillars of the underground waterway, the blue reflection of a Magic Circle rippled across the water.
‘So it truly was here.’
A vast lake stood farther up the Academy valley between the Welfare Building and the Arts Building.
Julian had thought it strange that such a small stream flowed from a lake so deep and wide, but he had never known that such an extensive underground waterway existed beneath the Welfare Building.
‘If even I did not know about it, only a very small number of people could have known this place existed.’
Julian surveyed the underground waterway and gradually released his Divine Power.
The stale odor rising from the stagnant water weakened slightly.
“Rrrawr!”
The hatchling climbed out of the bundle and sneezed. Sniffling, he toddled toward the Transportation Magic Circle.
“This has been used and maintained regularly, rawr. It is in excellent condition, rawr.”
“Regularly? How frequently was it used?”
“It appears to have been used at least once or twice every week, rawr.”
Yet the students in the Welfare Building had still been starved until they were little more than skin and bones.
Julian touched his chin and said.
“Let us contact the last place connected to it.”
The hatchling nodded.
“Understood, rawr. The great dragon will alter your voice for you, rawr.”
“I appreciate that. Communicating by voice alone will be safer.”
Ahem.
Julian cleared his throat and nodded to indicate that he was ready.
“I am connecting it, rawr.”
The hatchling whispered quietly. The Magic Circle lit up, and communication with the previous recipient began.
<Goodness, I was waiting for you. I knew it was about time for you to contact me.>
‘Well, look at this.’
Julian’s brow furrowed.
The ingratiating voice coming through the connection was familiar.
It belonged to a former classmate who had constantly sought opportunities to torment him during his previous life.
He was now the Imperial Magic Bureau’s Administrative Officer in charge of Arpad Academy.
***
‘Have these bastards secretly been colluding with each other?’
Julian had a terrible feeling.
His intuition proved correct.
The Imperial Magic Bureau’s Administrative Officer assigned to the Academy laughed and said that, of course, they would provide whatever was required, even when Julian demanded large quantities of bread and other foodstuffs.
He also openly asked why the goods scheduled to arrive had not been delivered yet, claiming that many important people were waiting for them.
‘I knew something was strange.’
Julian recalled what he had told the Administrative Officer in the past.
-Is that not strange? I heard that families have received letters from students trapped inside the blockaded Academy.
That is not all. Imperial officials are convinced that survivors remain inside, and despite the Imperial Magic Bureau’s constant shortage of personnel, it has never abolished the Arpad Academy Affairs Office.
What does that signify? Does it not mean that someone in the Empire is communicating with and supporting people inside the Academy?
Then why did the person responsible never report any of this to me, the commander of the Liberation Army?
‘At the time, I assumed that bastard was merely watching the Crown Prince Faction and making excuses.’
Julian had believed that letters and supplies were only being delivered to the children of high-ranking officials.
‘They were exploiting the situation far more extensively than I imagined.’
Were they smuggling objects out of the Academy while helping Seir and Vasago monopolize every shipment brought inside?
‘I need evidence before I can reach a proper conclusion.’
After ending the communication, Julian reached a decision and called out in a gentle voice.
“Arpad XIII, there is something I wish to ask you.”
“W-What is it, rawr? Why are you speaking like that? You are making me nervous, rawr.”
“What is there to be nervous about? I am merely calling a great being by his great name.”
The hatchling’s eyes trembled. Julian worked his tongue even more diligently.
“Are you not Ar. Pad. The Thirteenth, Chairman of Ar. Pad. Academy, the only magic school in the Empire to possess a dragon Chairman?”
The hatchling’s mouth fell open in delight.
He was a young dragon who had hatched less than a week ago.
Hearing Julian, one of the humans he had acknowledged, carefully emphasize his full name and lavish him with praise was an irresistible temptation.
“R-Rrrawr. Y-Your words are always far too polished, rawr.”
He tried to grumble, but his shoulders were already squared with pride.
Julian placed a hand upon one of those shoulders and asked.
“Is there anything within this Academy that lies beyond your reach?”
“Rrrawr. Of course not, rawr.”
“Precisely.”
Julian nodded as though he had expected no other answer.
“You can seize complete control of this Transportation Magic Circle as well, can you not?”
“That would not be difficult, rawr. However, it appears that some cleaning is necessary first, rawr.”
“Cleaning?”
The moment Julian questioned him, he heard it as well.
The sound of urgent footsteps splashing toward them.
“Who are you people?!”
Julian narrowed his eyes.
He could sense almost nothing through Divine Power and had heard the footsteps first. Their approaching opponent appeared to be an ordinary human rather than a demon or Demon Follower.
“Are you responsible for this place?”
“That is right! What did you do here?”
The person responsible spoke fiercely and drew a short wand from inside his clothing.
“Tell me immediately, or you will regret it!”
“How fortunate.”
Julian smiled.
“I was about to say the same thing.”
“Shall I seize him?”
“Do it.”
The instant Theodore finished speaking, he charged like a tiger. Julian added,
“And beat him until he starts talking.”
“Leave it to me.”
“Wh-Who are you people? Are you thugs? W-Who sent you?”
“The Empire sent us.”
The man’s face turned deathly pale at Julian’s words.
“Th-That cannot be true. The Empire abandoned the Academy……!”
“Who told you that?”
Julian asked,
“Who told you that the Empire had abandoned Arpad Academy?”
The man swallowed as Theodore held him by the back of his neck.
The anger and authority carried within Julian’s voice—
The man with gleaming eyes before him was even more terrifying than the one who had seized him in an instant.
SPLASH.
Julian stepped closer. The man instinctively tried to retreat, but Theodore’s body blocked him. A rough force pressed him downward.
Half-kneeling in the water of the underground waterway, the man looked up at Julian.
“You originally worked for the bank, did you not?”
SPLASH.
“Did someone from the Imperial Bank tell you that the Empire had abandoned Arpad Academy? Did they tell you to cooperate with the demons?”
SPLASH.
With every approaching step, the man’s mouth grew drier.
He could feel it instinctively.
This was not an ordinary interrogation.
A person with enough authority to overturn the entire arrangement once he learned the truth was pressuring him with an icy gaze.
The man was soon kneeling as though prostrating himself in the underground waterway, trembling violently. His clothing was soaked to the shoulders, and cold sweat sent chills through him. Even when the hand restraining him from behind released its grip, he could not imagine attempting to flee.
SPLASH.
Julian’s foot stopped before him.
“Choose. Confess everything now and leave the Imperial Bank behind……”
The man raised his head. Cold eyes stared down at him through the mask.
“Or be transported directly to the Inquisition Bureau.”