Ch.2828. Obsession Leads to Violence, and Violence Is Bad

# After leaving the giant wyvern’s corpse behind, I headed inward and finally reached the core of the Rift.

A magical stone sat alone in the middle of the empty space, radiating an unmistakable aura that marked it as the Rift’s core.

“President, would it be alright if I destroy that?”

“Hmm? Do as you please.”

Since Alkine had taken care of all the monster elimination, I was worried about my contribution rate and decided to land the final blow myself.

If I couldn’t exceed 40%, it wouldn’t be a complete waste of effort, but it would feel somewhat disappointing.

I approached casually and stabbed the center of the magical stone with my knife.

It was softer than expected and sank in easily, like stabbing frozen jelly.

The moment I pierced the core of the magical stone, the red aura instantly dispersed.

[Congratulations! You have successfully conquered the Rift!]

[Calculating contribution rate…]

[Your contribution rate is 57%.]

[This feature is currently locked.]

[Unlock condition: Conquer 5 Rifts with a contribution rate of 40% or higher (2/5)]

Well, I would have been in the safe zone even without landing the final blow.

But it seems just finding the path only gets me about half the contribution. I’ll need to pay more attention to my contribution rate next time.

While thinking this, I was also relieved.

We managed to finish before the Rift went berserk.

Honestly, I casually mentioned asking the Academy for help if we failed, but the aftermath of a Rift going berserk is no joke.

We encountered so many monsters even taking the shortest route—how many monsters must have been in the entire Rift?

If they all escaped outside, it wouldn’t just end with a simple mess.

So even if my contribution rate had been insufficient, preventing a berserk Rift would have been enough to ease my disappointment.

Now that I’ve met the contribution requirement too, my joy is doubled.

But then, instead of disappearing, the Rift suddenly began to vibrate.

Rumble—

Confused by this unprecedented anomaly, Alkine urgently asked:

“Ludion, are you sure that was the core we just destroyed?”

“Yes. This Rift has definitely been conquered.”

She might be uncertain since she can only distinguish cores through her sensing ability, but to me who could see it plainly, that magical stone was definitely the core.

So why hasn’t the Rift disappeared after the core was destroyed…?

Before I could finish my thought, a circular mark appeared on the ground where Alkine was standing.

The moment I saw it, my body moved before my mind could process.

I quickly grabbed Alkine’s arm and pulled her away as the spot where she had been standing exploded with a bang.

“…Huh?”

“Ah, seriously, can’t anything go right?”

I immediately understood the situation.

This is the final desperate pattern that occurs with an extremely low probability when conquering a Rift that’s trying to go berserk.

When there’s too much energy that needs to dissipate, it overloads and condenses before exploding to destroy the surroundings—something like that was the setting, right?

Whatever the setting, it was definitely dangerous.

Even the protagonist with all final techniques mastered would be left in critical condition if hit without defending.

At Alkine’s current level, she might die instantly.

But it’s fine. Though the range is quite large, if you think of it as a simple area attack pattern, it’s fairly avoidable.

Of course, I could dodge it myself, but this isn’t a situation where I can escape alone.

Madam President, you’re standing on a danger zone right now.

Rather than explaining verbally, it seemed faster to just move, so I picked her up and started running.

“Oh!”

Though she let out a surprised sound at being suddenly carried, she had already grasped the situation and silently leaned against me. She seemed quite accustomed to it, having experienced it once before.

Hmm… did she gain some weight in the past week? Still, you’re light, President.

I kept running while carrying Alkine.

Dodge, explosion, dodge, explosion—the continuous blasts gave me no time to pause.

Focusing solely on dodging without time to pay attention to anything else, I suddenly realized the Rift had disappeared.

When no more circles appeared on the ground, I looked around and found we were outside the Rift.

Catching my breath, I asked Alkine if she was okay, and she replied in an uncharacteristically small voice:

“…Everyone is watching, so put me down first before we talk.”

Ah. That’s right.

I now noticed that all the Student Council members were staring at us with shocked expressions.

So I quickly put her down… and at the same time, Diggers began striding toward us.

‘What’s wrong with him?’

But… something about his demeanor seemed off.

His footsteps were directed at me, not the president. And he looked like he was about to draw his weapon and stab me—oh, he’s actually drawing it!

Geez, this crazy guy—I know I openly carried Alkine princess-style, but isn’t this an overreaction?

Though he’s not really threatening since I can easily dodge, the fact that he’s acting this way is chilling.

I knew he was that kind of person, but I didn’t expect him to come at me so soon.

And just as his drawn sword was about to point at me…

“…President.”

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Alkine’s mana sword appeared between Diggers and me.

Right. This is how it would play out.

With him so blatantly trying to attack, how could our merciful president just stand by?

She began questioning Diggers in a voice heavier than usual.

“I asked what you’re doing.”

“…”

Diggers seemed to realize he’d acted inappropriately and quietly put his sword away without answering.

He keeps glaring at me even though he knows he’s in the wrong—what does he expect me to do?

But… didn’t I say it before?

I’d stick by the president and get under people’s skin.

This was exactly that moment.

‘Take this!’

Every time Diggers glared at me, I made a mocking face and stuck my tongue out. His contorted expression was spectacular.

“President! Look at what he’s doing!”

Look at him tattling to the president right away. How shameful.

“Sigh… Ludion. Why are you acting like this too?”

“Ah.”

Busted.

I thought she wasn’t looking and wouldn’t notice.

Alkine looked back and forth between Diggers and me, then shook her head as if we were hopeless.

“Really, they say men remain children no matter how old they get, and it seems true.”

Academy students are at most high school age, so we’re at the peak of immaturity.

Of course, I’m an adult possessing a child’s body, but… whatever. Age follows the body.

The recent exchange had somewhat lightened the atmosphere, but it didn’t erase Diggers’ wrongdoing.

So when Alkine asked again… perhaps because her tone had lightened after calming down, Diggers instead became indignant.

“Diggers. Let me ask you. Why did you do that?”

“…That’s what I want to ask.”

“Huh?”

Instead of answering her question, he changed the subject and suddenly pointed at me while raising his voice.

“Why were you being carried by that guy? What possible reason could there be for the president to be carried by someone like him inside a Rift?!”

He keeps saying “carried” which makes it sound weird.

…Your Honor, there’s a misunderstanding. I was merely carrying her princess-style.

Well, never mind that… from his outburst and how everyone perked up their ears to listen, it seemed he wasn’t the only one with this question.

It’s starting to feel like we’re watching a morning drama… everyone, this is a serious situation. Have you forgotten that the vice president just tried to stab me?

Alkine hesitated at his question but, perhaps thinking there was no other option, revealed the truth.

“…Well, it was to save me.”

“Lies!! Don’t lie, President! You’re the one who saves others—what situation could possibly require you to be saved by someone else?!”

But he desperately denied it.

Why ask if you’re not going to believe the answer anyway?

Alkine sighed deeply at his reaction and called his name in a slightly angry tone.

“I really don’t understand you. Vice President. No, Diggers Zivchak.”

“…Yes.”

Using someone’s full name is scary here too.

Diggers, who had been so aggressive, immediately changed his attitude to a submissive one.

Alkine looked at him for a moment before speaking.

“I don’t know when you started thinking of Ludion as ‘someone like him’… but showing it outwardly is foolish. Haven’t I been telling you this all along?”

“…You have.”

“I won’t ask what you were thinking when you did this. Yes, I’ve also made some unilateral decisions and acted on my own recently, so I’m not in a position to criticize anyone.”

“No, President, you have priority authority over Student Council decisions, so…”

“Enough. I don’t want to hear it.”

Diggers, cut off mid-sentence, awkwardly looked to Alkine for guidance.

Alkine stared at him quietly before continuing in a very subdued voice.

“And I don’t know what misconception you have. I’m human too, so when I’m in danger, I want someone to help me. When did I become someone who only helps others?”

“No, President, that’s not what I meant to say…”

“Enough. The Rift conquest was successful, so let’s dismiss for today. Good work, everyone.”

Diggers tried to hastily recover from his statement when Alkine questioned him, but the situation had already concluded.

Right. Diggers did speak thoughtlessly.

To label Alkine, who despite her strength is just a student, as someone who only saves others.

She’s just a girl around that age. She only appears strong because she’s heavily committed to emulating her father’s concept.

Regardless of the outcome, since Alkine had declared dismissal, people began to leave one by one.

I naturally tried to blend in with the crowd and leave… but was stopped by Alkine.

“Where do you think you’re going? You need to help with the report writing, so come with me.”

“Of course.”

Bad atmosphere aside, work still needs to be done.

I obediently followed the president back to the Student Council room.

On the way back, I glanced behind and saw Diggers standing alone in a daze.

I was wary that he might suddenly stab me from behind in a fit of madness, but fortunately, nothing like that happened.

And after that day, Diggers disappeared from the Academy.

…He had declared he would overturn the Student Council, but I didn’t expect it to happen this way.