Ch.140140. Evidence (3)

How far could they see? It’s impossible to know, and my tongue hangs out in amazement.

‘Wow… what an extraordinary person.’

Revealing Lumia’s existence at the perfect moment to bring the Sirens’ false accusations to the surface.

Providing solid evidence that the Lemtert Plague could be treated with Hipplisia.

And naturally creating a connection with the Sirens to resolve both sides’ issues.

There were many other things too—confronting Shanberesh, subtly correcting weaknesses in the battle lines of what would have been a decimated unit—but regardless, my overwhelming feeling remains one of admiration.

All these results began with one person: Junon.

“A banquet…”

The Principality decided to bestow generous rewards on those who fought valiantly against the Devourers, the source of the Lemtert Plague.

They held this banquet to commemorate the day and honor those who protected the Principality’s safety and humanity’s future.

That’s why Senia considered this banquet faded.

While it was good to celebrate, it was frustrating as an insider that his unknown achievements would remain secret.

In any case, she couldn’t voice her opinion on this matter either.

So what remained was to ensure that the loaches couldn’t interfere. That was her intention in taking a position at the banquet hall.

‘There they are.’

Found them.

Three loaches.

“Kain.”

“Yes. I just spotted them too.”

“Since there are three of them, let’s handle them in two rounds. Understood?”

“Understood.”

These loaches, who absolutely shouldn’t be acting so boldly, were about to enter this place.

Considering that the true hero of this banquet wouldn’t be revealed, these creatures certainly shouldn’t be occupying that position.

***

At the same time.

Junon headed to the hospital once again.

Although he was badly injured, he had been moving around to visit Lumia, so he hadn’t wanted to be hospitalized.

The reason he was visiting the hospital now was because those who had suffered the most couldn’t attend the banquet.

“Huh? Junon?”

“What? I was sure it would be Hena or her friends…”

“What kind of greeting is that for someone visiting the sick?”

Jon and Noel.

These two again.

“…”

“Why the long face? Looking so grim.”

“We’re not dead, are we? We’re perfectly alive, man.”

Junon had vaguely noticed that these two spearmen had been pushing themselves too hard.

They hadn’t died. But their mana circuits were severely damaged.

Among the Academy students positioned at the rear of the main force, these two were the only ones whose strength had been so diminished as they entered the late stages of the plague symptoms.

They had been forced to overexert themselves in an attempt to somehow delay the infection.

“I’m sorry.”

So Junon’s purpose wasn’t actually to visit the sick, but to apologize.

His inexperience had forced these two to push themselves too hard, so he had no choice but to come and bow his head.

A brief silence hung over the hospital room, and after pondering something, the two carefully spoke up.

“Maybe it’s not actually you who should be sorry. In fact, I think this might have happened because of our laziness.”

“Yeah, that’s right. We’re beyond lazy, practically slothful. It’s like being told what questions would be on the test but still getting them wrong. No, it’s more like being given both the questions and answers but still not writing them correctly.”

At the mention of test questions and answers, something clicked in Junon’s mind.

“Don’t tell me you…”

“It doesn’t seem right for you, who tried harder than anyone else, to be bowing your head like this.”

“I can see that you were trying to prepare for this situation. Whether it was teaching us that technique or showing us how to strike the cervical spine of the rat beasts. We were just too lazy.”

“The situation was pretty bad too. How could such a large number break through to the rear when we were so widely deployed? Does that make any sense?”

“Plus there were those who deserted. They’re the real problem!”

“Oh, that’s right! I’d forgotten about that!”

They were saying it was a case of one misfortune after another.

“Anyway, we survived again because of you. Even if things go wrong and we lose our mana circuits, even if we can’t handle mana anymore, we won’t regret it.”

“Noel’s going on and on, but I’ll cut to the chase. Thanks for saving our lives, you bastard!”

And once again, they were expressing gratitude for having their lives saved.

He thought there was no one left at the Academy who would take his side…

But it seems that wasn’t entirely true.

“So hurry back to the banquet hall. That’s where you should be.”

“Isn’t it getting late?! Go quickly, man!”

“Uh, what? No, I don’t really want to go…”

Junon didn’t particularly want to set foot there, knowing he would likely face criticism.

But it seemed he had to go there after all.

“Hey! Don’t you know Lenias is waiting for you?!”

“…Lenias? Why me?”

“How would we know? Seems you’re the only one who hasn’t heard. Word is she’s coming all dressed up beautifully today.”

“Dressed up beautifully to meet me…? What does that mean…”

“You’ll have to find out for yourself. How would we know?”

“Anyway, just go. If you’re really sorry to us, just walk proudly into the banquet hall. Got it?”

“Go and apologize properly to Lenias. Okay?”

“O-Okay…”

As Junon left, almost as if pushed out, the two remaining in the hospital room gave each other a satisfied high-five.

“As expected, Noel. Lenias was a great excuse.”

“As expected, Jon. Nobody changes the subject better than you.”

“…But what about the Lenias story? He’ll find out it’s a lie pretty quickly.”

“Don’t know. We got him to leave, and that’s what matters. If it looks like we’re going to get scolded, we’ll just run away.”

***

Meanwhile, a group of three students headed toward the banquet hall. It wasn’t just imagination that their expressions looked uncomfortable.

“Ugh, we won’t run into him there, right…?”

“So what if we do? We need to act confident.”

“R-Really?”

“If we cower and run away, people will think something’s strange. So we need to show our faces even more brazenly.”

The three students arrived near Alios Hall where the banquet was being held.

They were all tense, each with their own concerns, but one of them was particularly fidgety.

“Let me tell you in advance, if you keep trembling like that when we go in… Huh?”

“Where did Miki go…?”

The one who had been trembling nervously just moments ago had suddenly disappeared.

“Don’t tell me he ran away?”

“This is so annoying, what is he doing?”

“We’re not too late yet. He must have gone toward the main road to reach Alios Hall.”

“Right, let’s look for him. If he’s trembling and running away, he should be easy to spot.”

They went to the main road, but there were too many people heading to the banquet hall to search for one person.

“Hah… did he really run away? That coward. Leon, at least don’t you run away too.”

But there was no response.

“What… where did Leon go now?”

It seemed like a prank, but how could someone disappear right after entering this busy main road?

Now his spine was starting to tingle. Something wasn’t right, was it?

It was strange how people who were just with him kept suddenly vanishing. Just as he was about to turn back—

He felt himself being pulled into the ornamental shrubbery.

“Mmph! Mmm!!”

With his mouth covered, he was dragged to an unknown blind spot.

The person who had cleanly captured the other two slammed him down, bringing all the culprits together.

After removing the gag from his mouth as if daring him to speak—

“Puha…! What are you doing?! Don’t you know this is kidnapping?!”

“You must be some noble troublemakers, but you’ve messed with the wrong people!”

“Th-That’s right! We have every right to enter the banquet hall!”

They displayed a brazen attitude as if they had nothing to be guilty about.

They didn’t know where the victory in that subjugation battle had begun.

They didn’t recall why this banquet could be held, nor did they remember who was responsible for them still being able to walk on two legs.

It was a nauseating situation, but for once, Senia took action first.

“Did it feel good to incite others? You deserters?”

The voices of those who had been shouting to be released suddenly stopped.

The word “deserter” caused their brains to buffer.

“What? Did you think we wouldn’t know you ran away from there? You’re so brainless that your thinking can’t go beyond that level. You idiots.”

“Idiots…! Who do you think you are, you crazy b… bi…”

His sentence trailed off incompletely as she removed her mask.

They had thought their tormentors were nobles, but that was a miscalculation.

Finding themselves face to face with a member of Tembris, known for subjugating Shanberesh in this battle, they were naturally frozen in place.

However, being truly cunning, the one who had successfully hidden his flaws through incitement once before tried to use his brain again.

“W-Wait. Listen. You’re the same, Senia!”

“The same? How?”

“Y-You heard it too, right? The Lemtert Plague symptoms vary depending on the level of infection. Staying and fighting there was insane!”

“That’s right. That guy Junon, he knew this all along and forced us into a strange battle formation.”

Foolishly, they tried to escape the situation with improvised excuses.

Since Senia seemed to be listening, they saw an exit and poured out exaggerations like MSG.

“Besides, I saw that guy before the cure spread, and he was fine…? Walking around on two legs without a single spot on him. How, how could only he be like that?”

“I-I saw it too! He was just trying to save himself by slandering others. So… yeah! We were being used!”

“Yeah! That’s right! We ran away because we noticed we were being used! That coward was the problem!”

“S-So… do you understand now? I hope we can clear up this misunderstanding?”

After silently listening to their rambling, Senia exhaled heavily and said one thing.

“Then why are you walking around on two healthy legs, unlike the main force soldiers who followed that strange battle method but lost their mana circuits or are still being treated?”

“Huh…?”

For a moment, everyone was struck dumb, and Senia continued.

“You just explained it yourselves. It’s because of the Devourer’s bodily fluids. The amount that touched your skin would determine the symptoms, and you only showed early symptoms—just blue spots. Why do you think that is?”

While no one who fought alongside him could understand Junon’s actions, Senia could precisely grasp his intentions.

“Junon probably instructed you to use as little mana as possible. Because you held weapons and activated your magic armor as late as possible, because you minimized magic use, you only showed early symptoms. That’s why you’re not showing signs of the disease.”

Foolishly, they didn’t understand this difference.

They had been making excuses to themselves, thinking that while the main force fighting at the front had solid organization, commanders, and appropriate experience, the Academy students fighting at the rear did not.

“Junon is what? A coward trying to save himself? That’s ridiculous. The cowards were you. You who deserted your comrades in the rear guard to save yourselves!!!”

“Urgh…!”

Unable to contain herself, Senia suddenly shoved her scabbard right into the second male student’s mouth.

The man who had been quietly standing beside Senia also removed his mask.

“K-Kain…”

The man beside Senia was indeed Kain. With a disgusted look, he stuffed the mask he had just removed into the instigator’s mouth and pushed his jaw against the wall.

The two of them looked ready to silence each person permanently.

“Ugh, uuugh…!”

Watching the two faces being horribly contorted right next to him, the one who had first led the incitement screamed in terror.

“What did we do wrong!! We just wanted to live!! Ordinary people like us and these guys had no choice but to run away, trusting that stuck-up bastard!!!”

At those words, Kain and Senia’s heads turned involuntarily.

“Talented bastards like you wouldn’t think that way! But we’re different! Compared to you or Junon, we’re just inferior, useless cowards!! What’s wrong with running away to save ourselves?!”

He was practically wailing, tears and snot flowing.

As he said, the three of them were very ordinary students whom most people didn’t even know by name, unlike Junon with his notorious reputation.

In this subjugation battle, even inexperienced students were gathered to help, so anyone might have felt this way.

Nevertheless, this was undoubtedly a misguided claim.

“Talent? That’s ridiculous. Did you just call Junon talented?”

“What else would you call it! You said he knew everything! Isn’t that talent in itself?!”

“You’re calling someone who’s worked hard since enrollment, using others’ contempt and insults as fertilizer… talented?”

That’s right. He was someone who had only received criticism from others.

He had lived with the shameful label of the weakest vanguard, E-class dunce.

Anyone else might deserve the word “talent,” but Junon was completely disconnected from that word.

He was judged as someone who could be a shield but could never fight with any other weapon—an inferior person.

Though he had his unique magic, the mana shield, he had no combat ability.

Being so far behind anyone he was compared to that he couldn’t even perform basic magic training, he must have had to learn everything except magic.

And…

Perhaps Junon was someone who had experienced death once before.

“If you truly think that way, you’re not even worth hitting. You idiot.”

Forcibly swallowing her rising anger, Senia left with Kain.

***

As a professor, Muniher was, at least nominally, a teacher.

Being in a position to guide Academy students, he also needed to check that Kain and Senia weren’t crossing any lines.

Therefore, he had been watching the fate of the three main culprits who had incited others to make Junon out to be a villain.

“They seem to have shown restraint.”

He had followed them in case they might cross the line, but that didn’t happen. As expected of Tembris.

No, perhaps in this case, it would be more correct to say that Junon’s influence had greatly affected those two.

“But I won’t just let this go.”

Muniher carefully observed the faces of the three people, then took out a notebook and pen and began to write something.

[Miki Dwalo. Leon Chedaka. Demian Tribel.]

[Reason for expulsion – Caused demoralization of allies by deserting the battlefield. Lacking the basic qualities required of Academy students, there is no reason for them to continue their studies.]