Ch.63Chapter 63. The Wrong Path (5)

“Was that pretty good?”

“… Yeah, I guess.”

Though I couldn’t see her eyes to tell what expression she was making, Erika nodded.

The sting operation to connect the Vice Chancellor Landgar to the crime had ended quite successfully.

Everything went according to plan.

I intervened at the exact moment when Cynthia and the man in the white robe were exchanging candy.

Then I took the culprit to a place I had prepared in advance and detained him as naturally as possible.

From there, the acting began.

At first, I accidentally spoke as if I knew Cynthia too well, but I realized it and immediately changed my attitude.

Judging by Cynthia’s confused reaction until the end, she seemed to have fallen for it completely.

My acting skills have definitely been improving dramatically since attending the Academy.

“Now we just need to get a confession that the guy from earlier is connected to the Vice Chancellor, right?”

“Yeah. And I need to analyze the ingredients in this candy too.”

I fingered the pouch inside my pocket.

“We’ll have to ask that person for both things, huh?”

“Yeah. That’s the plan.”

The person Erika was referring to was Yuria.

If we left it to Yuria, both getting the confession and analyzing the components would probably be done within days.

Plus, Yuria was the one who had been digging into suspicious activities within the Academy.

“I should go right away.”

“So… I’m out?”

“You’re not coming this time either?”

“I already did my part.”

“That’s true.”

In reality, all Erika had done was keep watch from a distance in case the culprit tried to escape.

Still, spotting Cynthia and discovering the scene was the most important part.

“Are you going?”

“Yeah.”

Erika waved her hand and disappeared in an instant.

She probably didn’t teleport like me, just became invisible.

No matter how many times I see it, it’s impressive.

‘That was easier than expected.’

I’ve felt this since before, but sub-quests are definitely much easier than main quests.

Winning the duel against Cain was a piece of cake, and even getting first place in the entrance exam might have been only slightly challenging.

‘Or was it?’

Looking back now, even getting first in the entrance exam wasn’t that difficult.

<Sub-Quest (2-1) ‘Wrong Direction’ Complete!>

<Quest clear reward will be given.>

Just as I was thinking about it, a message appeared notifying me of the quest completion.

I thought I might need to take further action with Cynthia, but apparently not.

To think I could “save” Cynthia with just this much.

“This means…”

I invested the newly earned stat points into Luck without hesitation.

The reward was a bit disappointing considering how easy the quest was, but it was basically free, so whatever.

Now I should go to Yuria and hand over the guy I caught earlier.

Woong-

“Huh?”

Just as I was about to teleport to Yuria’s mansion.

Something caught my eye—it was a system message.

A translucent UI appeared again, even though the quest completion message had just shown up.

<Main Quest (3) ‘Approaching Ominous Energy’>

Objective: Hold the Crescen Academy Festival

Description: Take measures to ensure that the Academy festival, which should be full of laughter, doesn’t become a festival full of blood.

Reward: 5 Stat Points, Title Acquisition (Academy Dark Knight)

Penalty: Game Over and Reset

‘W-what…?’

A new main quest at such an unexpected timing.

And quite a large-scale one at that.

This time, the quest content caught my attention more than the reward.

**

“Hehehe.”

Nigel licked his lips with a sinister smile.

Though there was nothing actually on his lips, he somehow felt the taste of blood.

That made sense.

The strongest sensation in this space right now was the smell of blood.

Whoosh-

‘This is better than those Green Flame Knights.’

Nigel didn’t care when the strong wind blew off the hood of the robe he was wearing.

It didn’t look that big from the outside, but once it spread its wings, it was surprisingly large.

A wyvern made of bones like most undead, with a Death Knight riding on top.

An undead wyvern rider.

Nigel looked down coldly at his fallen subordinates bleeding beneath the wyvern.

Seeing his fallen subordinates, he felt a brief moment of regret.

How much time and effort had he spent secretly raising them?

They were seven disciples whom Nigel had acknowledged.

But that feeling lasted only for a moment.

Who would have thought a wyvern rider would be summoned?

He had thought that sacrificing seven black mages of a certain level would summon an undead equivalent to a Green Flame Knight, but the result exceeded his expectations.

“Very good.”

Grin-

Nigel took his eyes off his subordinate’s corpse and looked at the skeleton wyvern flapping its wings.

The Death Knight riding the wyvern also looked extraordinary.

“Very good indeed.”

Nigel’s muttering soon turned into laughter.

From a light smile to a chuckle, from a chuckle to a roar of laughter.

With this, the chances of his plan succeeding had increased even more.

**

“The festival, you say?”

“Yeah. Do you know when they usually hold the festival?”

“The exact date varies each year, but I believe it’s around mid-May.”

“Mid-May, huh.”

It’s the end of April now, so it’s not far off.

“Are you interested in the festival?”

“Yeah. I guess I am.”

Elaine looked at me with a surprised expression.

Why is it surprising for an Academy student to be interested in the festival?

“I just didn’t think you’d be interested.”

“Why not? Festivals are fun.”

‘And perfect for incidents to happen.’

Of course, my interest in the festival wasn’t purely out of curiosity about the festival itself.

It was because of the quest.

‘So I don’t have much time.’

“By the way, Miss Cynthia is absent again today.”

“… Yeah.”

“And Miss Emily said she’s sick too.”

“Yeah.”

Cynthia hadn’t been coming to the Academy since that quiet but impactful incident in the Training Forest that night.

I asked Professor Amillion, and she said Cynthia suddenly fell ill.

I was worried, but decided to wait a bit.

After all, it had only been three days.

She might need some time to think after getting scolded by me.

But Emily being sick was unexpected.

“…It looks like it’s just the two of us again today.”

“Yeah.”

“I hope I’m not bothering you?”

“Huh? No, not at all.”

“…That’s good to hear.”

I almost said something wrong because I was mechanically answering “yeah” to everything while lost in thought.

Elaine was staring at me with a slightly displeased expression.

Seeing Elaine’s expression, I paused my thoughts.

The new main quest that started right after clearing Cynthia’s sub-quest.

It was definitely heavier content than something like “get first place in the inter-year competition,” so it kept coming to mind.

Because of that, I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days.

“Then, could I ask you for a favor?”

“A favor?”

Elaine continued speaking while subtly avoiding my gaze.

“After class today…”

Before Elaine could finish, I thought I knew what she was going to say.

It was a request I’d received countless times from Elaine.

Either to be her sparring partner after class or to go to her house together.

At the beginning of the semester, I accepted a few times to prepare for the competition together, but I hardly ever did after the competition.

I was busy with my own magic training—how could I help someone else?

I needed to fill my experience bar to the top and level up quickly.

‘Come to think of it, it has been a while since we crossed swords.’

“Okay. Let’s have a match for old times’ sake.”

“…Pardon?”

“It seems like we haven’t sparred in a while. I should pick up a sword again too.”

“Ah.”

Elaine’s face lit up as expected.

She looked at me with a faint smile.

Yes, I should put my thoughts aside for a while and cross swords with Elaine.

**

‘This isn’t so bad.’

Elaine thought as she followed behind Ryu, who was heading to the training ground with an oddly excited stride.

Indeed, sparring with Ryu was something to welcome with open arms.

He had skills that matched those of a third-year senior.

He even had the skills to cross swords with her father.

‘This actually worked out well.’

Elaine thought, trying to convince herself.

Originally, she had wanted to have dinner together and ask him various questions while they were alone, but sparring was good too.

Just a tiny bit disappointing, though.

‘Maybe I’ve been asking for too many sparring sessions.’

When she started to mention having a favor earlier, Ryu predicted what she was going to ask without even letting her finish.

In the moment she hesitated out of embarrassment about asking him to have dinner together, Ryu spoke first.

In that situation, Elaine couldn’t honestly say that wasn’t what she meant.

“It really has been a while. I’ve been too much of a mage lately.”

Ryu was muttering to himself while swinging a wooden sword as he walked ahead.

Seeing Ryu’s excited reaction, Elaine felt a bit annoyed.

To be more precise, it was closer to feeling resentful than annoyed.

“Then I’ll do my best.”

“Huh?”

“This might be my chance to beat you.”

“Oh? Good, good. Should I just use my sword and no magic?”

Elaine felt even more provoked by Ryu’s excited response to her slightly resentful comment.

“I’m really going to give it my all.”

“That’s scary.”

Elaine gripped the handle of her sword at her waist as she spoke.

Since things had come to this, she thought she might as well land a solid hit on Ryu during their sparring session.

But she shouldn’t be emotional like this.

‘Haaah.’

Elaine tried to calm herself down with a deep breath.

Of course, trying to calm down didn’t mean she immediately became calm.

Determined to somehow land a hit on Ryu today, Elaine began warming up.

Starting with tying back her flowing golden hair.

“Wow, you’re even tying your hair? You must be serious!”

“…”

She really wanted to land that hit on him.