Ch.3232. Late Return

When Reina saw the Lich Knight appear, she pretended to be somewhat flustered.

Yes, pretended. Neither her expression nor her tone belonged to someone who was actually flustered.

“Something must have gone wrong with the adjustment. This is really serious.”

“You don’t sound serious at all.”

“Well… even if things went a bit sideways, it’s still within acceptable parameters.”

Your parameters seem quite broad.

“Then, Ludion. I’ll prepare to capture it, so I’m counting on you until then. I don’t mind if you get hurt, but do be careful!”

Well, since she’s preparing, I need to draw its aggro.

I ran toward the Lich Knight, poking its side with my sword to get its attention, then sprinted in the opposite direction from where Reina was.

“GRAAAWRR!!”

My provocation worked perfectly as the Lich Knight quickly chased after me. Perhaps because its entire body was covered in armor, it made clanking sounds with each step.

Lich Knight. As the name suggests, it’s a mix between a Lich and a Death Knight.

Even in the original work, this was something you couldn’t encounter through normal means, yet here I am seeing it.

Its appearance wasn’t much different from a Death Knight that only swings a sword, but the Lich Knight had the added ability to use magic.

Moreover, while it was extremely resistant to physical attacks thanks to the Death Knight’s armor, it also had exceptional magic defense due to its Lich characteristics.

It was like a case of complementing the weaknesses and maximizing the strengths of both mage and warrior. A monster that truly deserved to be called invincible.

Whoosh!

CRASH!

The creature’s greatsword swung toward me.

It didn’t seem that fast, so I dodged by simply moving my body without needing to use evasion skills. But thinking about it now, I might have reacted too casually to an attack that could take me out in one hit if I got hit wrong.

But honestly, it didn’t feel that dangerous.

Maybe the training with Lilith has affected me too.

Anyway, the Lich Knight was making all kinds of desperate attempts to hit me—swinging its sword, firing off magic—but unfortunately, for someone like me who had faced Celia’s serious magical bombardment, this felt like child’s play.

“Professor, how much longer?”

“Almost done.”

I was getting tired of stalling for time so I asked, and that was her answer.

I thought it would be over soon, but suddenly someone barged in between me and the Lich Knight.

“Wait a miiinute!!”

I’d seen someone rushing over frantically for a while, and it turned out to be the Necromancer villain of this episode.

The whiny voice. The unkempt, frizzy hair. Thick horn-rimmed glasses. Short and plump build. Fashion so filthy it looked like he was covered in rags.

That repulsive appearance was unmistakable.

Wow, he’s really ugly… Maybe it’s because I’ve only been seeing handsome men and beautiful women at the academy lately. Seeing something below average is kind of amazing. How can someone be uniquely ugly like that?

The ugly guy started yelling at me about something.

“I, I did all this! So this one is mine too!”

He seemed to be claiming that since he was the one who contaminated this land, he had ownership rights over the Lich Knight that appeared here.

Judging by the way his eyes kept darting toward the Lich Knight with a gleam, he seemed to be genuinely imagining controlling it and going on a rampage… but unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen.

If he had the specs to control something like that, he wouldn’t have been written off as an early villain.

At that moment, the Lich Knight roared.

“GRAAAWRR!!!”

I don’t know if the creature, after being toyed with through my dodges and parries, felt something like anger.

I can’t even tell if a skull + armor combination can feel emotions in the first place.

But one thing was certain… the Necromancer who blocked its path was a perfect chunk of meat ready to be sliced, unlike me who had been dodging all attacks.

“W-wait! Stop! Obey my command!”

“GRAAAWRR!!”

He tried to cast some useless spell to control the Lich Knight, but the result was predictable.

Slash-

The Lich Knight’s sword cleanly separated the Necromancer’s left arm from his body.

“Huh…?”

I could have helped, but I didn’t particularly want to risk my body to save a villain.

Maybe it’s because I don’t have any attachment to him unlike the main characters? I didn’t feel any particular emotion.

It might also be because Reina was nearby and could heal him, but I couldn’t feel any sympathy for his suffering.

“KYAAAAH!!! MY ARM!! MY ARM!!”

Though the loud screaming and gushing blood were certainly disgusting.

When I saw mangled limbs before, I was too out of it to care, but seeing this with a clear mind definitely turned my stomach.

Still, he wasn’t going to die. Once the capture was complete, Reina could heal him adequately.

Just then, Reina shouted in our direction.

“Ludion! I’m ready, so keep it from moving!”

Since the preparations seemed complete, I lightly swung my short sword.

CLANG!

The Lich Knight’s attack, which had somehow reached me, was deflected, and the momentum sent its heavy armored body tumbling backward.

Simultaneously, Reina threw the magic stone she had been fiddling with toward the fallen Lich Knight.

The magic stone absorbed the Lich Knight completely and began emitting energy as if it might burst at any moment, but when Reina picked it up and infused it with mana, it gradually calmed down.

“ARM!! MY ARM!! KYAAAAH!!”

Seemingly unbothered by the screaming nearby, Reina focused on the magic stone, and only after it had completely stabilized did she turn her attention to the Necromancer.

She kicked the severed arm toward the Necromancer’s side and then proceeded with the healing.

It looked incredibly half-hearted, but the effect was not.

The severed arm reattached.

“AAAAH!!! AAAAH!!!”

But he kept screaming as if he didn’t realize he was healed… suddenly Reina executed a roundhouse kick to the back of his neck.

“Ugh.”

Thud.

With the screaming cut off, the surroundings became quiet in an instant.

“…Wow, that was intense, Professor.”

“Don’t mock me. I was going to knock him out anyway, even if he had calmed down.”

Reina said this as if it were nothing and put the magic stone containing the Lich Knight into her pocket.

A monster in a pocket… reminds me of that cartoon, but I’d better not mention the name.

After successfully capturing the Lich Knight, Reina and I returned to the Empire on horseback.

I agreed to carry the unconscious Necromancer, which meant the weight of my load, which had lightened after using up magic stones, returned to about the same level.

“Shall we return to the academy?”

“No. Please take us to the Knights’ Order.”

Upon returning to the Empire, Reina said this to the coachman.

It couldn’t be helped. We couldn’t bring the Necromancer to the academy.

Even though the nearest Knights’ Order was quite a distance away, and it took considerable time to process everything needed to hand over the Necromancer… this should prevent any future incidents.

Somehow I unintentionally resolved one issue.

Although we returned to the academy as quickly as possible afterward, it was already past midnight and into the early morning.

“Good work. It’s late, so hurry back and rest.”

“You worked hard too, Professor.”

I parted ways with Reina near the entrance and headed alone toward the men’s dormitory.

The messenger in my bag rang.

Who could it be at this hour?

I took out the messenger to check, and it was the same person who always sent messages.

[Celia: Ludion.]

…Celia? Why is she still awake when she usually goes to bed at 10?

Celia’s messages continued.

[Celia: I see you’re back.]

[Celia: I was worried because you were late.]

[Celia: What happened that made you return only now?]

[Celia: No, never mind. I’ll hear it directly, so you don’t need to reply.]

[Celia: For now, please come back to the dormitory.]

Come back? Is she waiting outside?

With that thought, I quickened my pace, and on the way, I ran into Celia walking toward me.

Celia approached me with a tired face and smiled.

“…Ludion. Welcome back.”

“Why are you still up at this hour?”

“I kept waiting but you never sent a message… I thought maybe you forgot again, so I sent you a message.”

Celia said this while taking out her messenger and showing it to me.

And there, all the messages she had tried to send me were listed.

[Celia: Ludion? Did you get back safely? (Failed to send)]

[Celia: Are you still not back? (Failed to send)]

[Celia: It’s already past 10. (Failed to send)]

[Celia: Still not here? (Failed to send)]

[Celia: Still? (Failed to send)]

[Celia: Ludion. (Failed to send)]

[Celia: Ludion. (Failed to send)]

[Celia: Ludion. (Failed to send)]

[Celia: Ludion. (Failed to send)]

[Celia: Ludion. (Failed to send)]

…What is this? It’s creepy.

Maybe it was because the failed message notifications were displayed in bright red. Seeing my name repeatedly written like that gave me chills.

Regardless, Celia continued what she wanted to say.

“So… I was waiting until you returned.”

“What would you have done if I hadn’t come back today?”

“…Good question. But you did come back, so it’s fine, right?”

She really has no plan. I appreciate her waiting though.

I couldn’t just send Celia away after she had been waiting for me, so I decided to escort her to the women’s dormitory.

Going near a dormitory of the opposite gender was against school rules, but… who would see us at this hour?

It didn’t take long to realize how naive that thought was.