I Became the Academy’s Female Delinquent Chapter 69. Nóatún

“So… all of this was done by students?”

Reginleif nodded at the question from Hans, the captain of the city guard.

“…”

The captain, looking flustered, couldn’t find the words to reply.

He simply turned his head slowly, surveying the surroundings.

A portion of the vast plains stretching alongside the road to Nóatún was charred black.

In fact, the captain and many of his guards had witnessed a massive beam of light sweeping across the plains from the moment they arrived on the scene.

However, it was so unbelievable that they had to ask to confirm.

‘I heard the Main Academy would be visiting the city for extracurricular activities, but…’

To think they would appear on the very first day, wiping out an entire band of thieves.

The guards quickly began arresting the group of thieves bound by strange chains and those scattered across the plains.

The captain watched this, then turned back to Reginleif with trembling eyes.

‘I can’t read her thoughts.’

She was smiling faintly, but she had been keeping her eyes closed, so he couldn’t tell what she was thinking, or even if she was looking at him.

“Ahem! Well, what exactly was that beam weapon you used at the end?”

“Beam weapon?”

The captain’s eyes narrowed.

Even if it was the Main Academy, filled with Midgard’s elites, bringing such a dangerous weapon into the city was not something to be overlooked.

‘That incredible power that swept across the plains… It was more powerful than most siege weapons…!’

He glanced at the blackened plains and swallowed hard.

It wouldn’t be good to provoke the Main Academy, which had close ties with Njǫrðr, the city lord.

But even so, the guard needed to manage that beam weapon he had seen earlier, perhaps by asking for cooperation and keeping it in their custody temporarily.

“…Isn’t it a bit rude to treat our student as a weapon?”

Reginleif’s demeanor changed instantly.

She opened her eyes, her fiercely glowing purple pupils looking up at the captain.

“H-huh…!”

The startled captain gasped and took a step back.

‘Wait…’

“A student? What do you mean, a student?”

Captain Hans, looking incredulous, carefully watched Reginleif with a nervous expression.

“…You seem to have misunderstood from a distance. The one who dealt with the thieves with the beam wasn’t some kind of weapon, but an academy student.”

Reginleif turned, glancing at Hans with half-opened eyes as she replied.

She sighed and called for Thrud.

Hans could see a tall female student striding towards them.

The student, with her distinctive tied-up pink hair, was carrying another student on her shoulder with a blank expression, munching on something that looked like jerky.

‘What’s that behind her?’

A small, silver figure was closely following behind the tall student.

Soon, Hans realized it was another female student.

She was a dazzlingly beautiful student who inspired pure admiration.

As their figures became clearer in front of Reginleif and Hans, Hans’s eyes narrowed.

He focused on Elsie, who was peeking out timidly from behind Thrud.

‘Fine silver hair and blue eyes… Wait…’

She was an extraordinary beauty.

But those physical features that reminded him of someone else made Hans tilt his head.

However, it was just that her hair and eye color were the same.

The difference between this student, who seemed noble from birth and exuded elegance even when still, and the person he was thinking of was stark.

It was hard to believe that she was related to that old man who, despite being the Chief of Public Safety, wandered around like a loafer every other day and came to the guardhouse to nag.

No, wouldn’t that be rude?

*

Elsie peeked out timidly like a frightened little animal, glancing at Reginleif and the captain.

There was no doubt about it. She had made too big a deal out of subduing the thieves.

‘I’m not going to get arrested for burning the plains, am I…?’

She was anxiously watching the situation when she felt the captain’s persistent gaze and froze.

“Well, um… Never mind.”

The captain, who seemed to want to ask something, scratched his head and trailed off.

Elsie tilted her head, sending a questioning look to Reginleif.

Reginleif, sensing Elsie’s gaze, smiled gently and said.

“The captain of the city guard misunderstood. He mistook you three’s ingenious ideas for dangerous weapons.”

At her words, Thrud proudly puffed out her chest and raised her head, Elsie’s eyes narrowed, and Randgrid continued to munch on her food with a blank expression.

“Hmph…!”

Elsie grabbed Thrud’s arm and shook it at her boastful attitude.

“What are you so proud of!”

Thrud ignored Elsie’s whispered shout and quickly picked her up, slinging her over her shoulder.

“Keheung-!”

Elsie, making a deflated sound, sighed in resignation as she was once again hoisted onto Thrud’s shoulder.

“Um… So, you’re really saying that these female students were responsible for that massive beam attack?”

“Of course! It’s rude to treat them like weapons!”

Reginleif nodded proudly at Captain Hans’s still incredulous question.

“Shall we show you again?”

Thrud grinned and squeezed the waists of the two people on her shoulder, causing Elsie and Randgrid to reflexively focus the surrounding light in their eyes.

_Zhiiiiing-_

The area darkened due to the concentrated light, and as the two students’ eyes began to glow as if they were about to emit beams, Hans frantically waved his hands.

“No, no, no! Stop! You don’t need to show me!”

Thrud, seemingly disappointed by Hans’s vehement refusal, put Elsie and Randgrid down.

She seemed to have really liked the combined attack.

*

Having cleared up the minor misunderstanding with the guard, the group headed back towards Nóatún.

Before long, the terrain gradually sloped downwards, and Elsie began to see the vast city of Nóatún, towering over the wide sea.

The endless horizon, the sea sparkling in the sunlight.

The white walls of the massive city of Nóatún, built in front of it, shone beautifully.

“Wow…”

Perhaps it was because they were on the final high ground leading to Nóatún.

The vast landscape, more than worthy of the word “vast,” was truly spectacular.

Elsie, her face flushed with emotion, gasped in admiration as she felt the cool sea breeze blowing in.

Elsie swept back her dazzling silver hair, which was fluttering in the wind.

She once again realized how vast and new this world was, and as she got back into the carriage, she headed towards the gates of Nóatún.

From the top of the endlessly spreading clear sky, the massive branches of Yggdrasil stretched out as if guiding her.

*

Nóatún, famous as a tourist city, began to be crowded with people visiting for vacation at this time of year.

Rigar, the Eastern Gate Supervisor of Nóatún, was a corrupt man.

The diligence and passion of his past were nowhere to be found, replaced only by a vile mind focused on filling his own pockets and a body bloated with fat.

His eyes, wiping away the flowing sweat, were fixed on the carriage approaching from afar.

It was a transport carriage for carrying many people.

However, its craftsmanship was so excellent that it was impossible to think of it as an ordinary transport carriage.

Rigar’s lips curled up unpleasantly as he smelled money.

“I will personally handle the inspection process.”

He would occasionally take command of the inspections himself, citing the trivial reason of setting an example as a supervisor.

“Yes…?”

The gate guard captain, who was preparing for the inspection, looked troubled at Rigar’s words.

The command of inspections for travelers passing through the gate was originally the responsibility of the gate guard captain, as directly instructed by Njǫrðr, the city lord.

However, Rigar would abuse his position in this way to carry out inspections as he pleased.

Every time he saw seemingly wealthy travelers, he would make such unreasonable demands.

His goal was to extort tolls by citing ridiculous reasons that didn’t even exist in the regulations, filling his own belly.

Knowing his behavior, the guard captain often had to face difficult situations.

But he couldn’t go against Rigar, the supervisor.

Every guard captain who had resisted Rigar’s tyranny had been demoted without exception.

That was five already.

At the Eastern Gate, no one could defy his power as supervisor.

The guard captain hesitated for a moment, then glanced back at the approaching carriage.

‘That emblem is unmistakable.’

The golden symbol with three interlocking triangles.

It was clearly the emblem of the Main Academy, for which an entry announcement had been issued in advance.

Could it be that the supervisor, of all people, hadn’t even confirmed this important fact?

The guard captain, gritting his teeth, had no choice but to argue with Rigar.

If a conflict with the Main Academy arose, the problem would become even more serious.

“But, Rigar-nim… that carriage is-”

“I said I’ll do it! You’re being unnecessarily argumentative today!”

Rigar, annoyed that the guard captain, who usually backed down easily, was being troublesome today, pushed him aside and stepped forward.

His expression, waddling forward, was distorted with greed for money.