Ch.87The NPC Who Went to School (2)

-Rip! Slash!!

“Aaaaargh!!!”

“Quiet, please. There are children here, so stop exaggerating.”

-Crack!!!

“Huk?!!”

The blonde woman casually swings her sword, severing the tendons in the man’s arms and legs, then kicks him in the face as he screams, knocking him unconscious.

“That’s two more here. The places Jack assigned me are done. Everyone, you can relax now!”

“Um, who are you, miss?”

“I’m Ray Sol, a Gold-rank adventurer. I heard there were bad people in the academy, so I came to clean up.”

Ray smiles gently at the children wearing necklaces like Ragni’s, then swings her sword toward them without hesitation.

A soft spring breeze like cotton candy flows momentarily through the dim underground, and only the [Collars of Subjugation] that had been fastened around the children’s necks fall with a cold metallic sound.

Some children, freed from the commands they were under when their collars disappeared, begin to collapse backward. But she, as if having anticipated this, moves lightly to catch two of them and carries them to a clean spot on the floor to lay them down.

“You’ve been through so much. Rest easy now.”

“Um, miss. Thank you so much.”

“Thank you.”

Two children lie limp and exhausted. Two others can still move. Four in total.

She gives potions to the collapsed children, then water, and lets them rest.

Jack had said to leave the rescued children where they were and completely deal with the enemies before liberating them, but considering there might be more enemies besides those men, she feels uneasy about leaving the children here.

“Can you two walk?”

“Yes.”

“I can walk.”

The sight of these children, who appear to be about Ira’s age, nodding with their disheveled appearance is truly pitiful.

‘I’m sorry, Jack. But at least gathering the children in one place…’

“When these two wake up, we’ll move immediately. There are others in similar situations to yours. I’ll gather everyone together and protect you. I’m sorry. I know you want to go home right away, but we can’t let the bad people know we’re moving.”

“That’s okay!”

“You saved us! We can endure a little longer.”

Such mature and kind children. She thought they might cry and insist on going home, which would be understandable, but they’re being so cooperative.

‘I hope these children can all become friends with Ira.’

But she didn’t know the real reason why the children weren’t crying and were following her so well.

‘Wow. She’s really kind and pretty.’

‘Such a beautiful lady! And so strong too! I wonder if she’d adopt me as her little sibling?!’

‘Maybe I should collapse too. If I collapse now, would she hold me?’

Children are honest about their desires.

*

[This is the end, but how will Master and Ray protect the children?]

Opening the entrance wasn’t difficult. And as soon as they entered, subduing and neutralizing the enemies inside wasn’t hard either.

Even protecting the children and getting them to follow wasn’t difficult for him. Rather, his only concern was whether Master or Ray might be struggling to find a way to protect the children.

“A-a golem?!”

“Idiot! This isn’t a golem, it’s a spirit! A highest-rank! A highest-rank spirit!”

“That’s right! The spirit came because it knew the Spirit Department people were doing bad things to spirits and to us!!”

“But, is it an earth spirit? Or a water spirit?”

“Huh? No, isn’t it a slime spirit? That looks like slime liquid?”

“Eh?! There are spirits other than the five elemental spirits?!”

“S-slime spirit? It looks so soft and squishy…!!”

[That’s right. I am a highest-rank spirit. So please follow my instructions. You all need to stay here for now.]

[There are still bad people left. When everything is cleared up, I’ll send you all home.]

When he sprays slime on the wall to write messages, the children cheer and rejoice. It seems all the children captured by the Spirit Department know a lot about spirits.

But unfortunately, he is just a boss monster. However, there was no need to explicitly state that. The children were misunderstanding and following him anyway, so he simply used that. Besides.

[I asked those who were here before, but if you want revenge on them, ask me. I can’t kill them now, but I’ll help you vent your frustrations as much as possible.]

“Huh?!”

“Really?! You will, Spirit?!!”

“A spirit understands our feelings!! Is this the intelligence of a highest-rank spirit?!”

“Beautiful and kind!! Please, Spirit!! We’ve been exploited here for three months! We want them to suffer just like we did!!!”

Children about Ira’s age. They all seem well-educated, speaking articulately and knowing exactly what they want.

They show some violent tendencies, but compared to how they were treated, it’s actually rather mild than appropriate.

Still just children who don’t know true cruelty…

“Let’s ask to tear off their limbs!!”

“No! First, let’s drain all their magic power so they have to live without it for over ten years!!”

“You fools! Let’s just ask to crush their limbs, make them unable to speak, pull out all their teeth, and take all their magic power! Then they’ll live in pain forever!!”

“Oh! You’re smart!”

“Sorry! I was thinking short because I’m hungry!”

Correction. They’re cruel because they’re young.

Gore sincerely thought that making these children friends with Ira would be disastrous, but he granted all their requests as much as he could.

*

The sound of knocking on the thick iron door echoed, followed by a middle-aged man’s voice.

“It’s Department Head Lo Jack. I’m here to check on the contract with the intermediate spirit.”

“Ah~ Please wait a moment~”

A somewhat flippant voice answered from behind the door.

Was there someone who would answer so disrespectfully to him, the head of the High School Spirit Department? Lo Jack waited for the door to open, feeling slightly perplexed.

After quite a long time passed without the door opening, Lo Jack knocked again.

“What are you doing? I have a department heads’ meeting after this, so I need to just check and go. Open the door quickly.”

“Ah~ I asked you to wait a moment~ I’m busy with something Department Head Gibson ordered~”

“……”

This was outrageous.

Even Gibson was a department head of equal rank to himself and had never disrespected him, yet this person, who must be just a researcher or academy assistant, was treating him so rudely. Beyond bewilderment, anger began to rise.

When this door opens, he would first use whoever answered as a magic battery for spirit summoning. He maintained his rising anger as he waited for the door to open. After 20 minutes…

“Open the door immediately!! I will punish you myself!!”

“Geez. You have no patience.”

“What?!! Who exactly are you?! Which department’s assistant are you?!!”

The door that had remained closed until now. Finally, a completely dismissive response came from behind it, and the iron door began to open with a scraping sound.

Lo Jack, with anger rising to the top of his head, impatiently pushed the slowly opening iron door and entered, ready to unleash his fury.

“Welcome. First time getting screwed over in life?”

The world flickered as a gray blur suddenly appeared before him.

*

[-Occupation: Spirit Department Head- Level: 152 Name: Lo Jack.]

I was prepared since I heard he was stronger than the mid-boss of ep. 3, but I never expected someone who handles intermediate spirits to be over level 100 before the story even progresses. Honestly, I was surprised.

This might mean that in this city, there could be people stronger than me without needing a deus ex machina.

When I heard his voice from beyond the iron door, the status window showed his level. I had hidden all the children in the prison area to keep them away from any potential battle.

Of course, I didn’t spend dozens of minutes just doing that. I was preparing a way to “perfectly” capture him.

“Kheuk?!!”

“You shouldn’t be in pain from just this!!”

What was here was an intermediate wind spirit being forcibly contracted using the children’s magic power.

Obviously, you don’t just form a contract by throwing magic power at it. This is a city of knowledge, and a research institution of the academy. It has appropriate research facilities and equipment.

And I decided to use them.

“Y-you bastard!! Who the hell are you?!! Puhek?!!”

“You’re curious about a lot of things while getting beaten, huh?! Only I get to ask questions, so shut your trap!!!”

As soon as he entered, I threw him into the space where the intermediate wind spirit was restrained.

I had used the children’s power to instruct the spirit, which had a “pseudo” contract with the kids, to form a “true” contract with the next person with magic power who touched it, and to drain their magic for that purpose.

In other words.

“D-damn it!! This crazy spirit?! Why is it draining all my magic…!! Puhek!!”

“Department heads seem to have good endurance? Gibson was fun to beat too, but you seem a bit more capable than him?”

He’s become just an ordinary middle-aged man as all his magic power, even what he’d use to summon other spirits, is being drained. Of course, if the wind spirit forms a contract with him, it might attack me on his orders, but am I an idiot who can’t take down one guy who can’t even move properly in that time?

“Kuhurk?!!”

My fist sinks into his solar plexus, and he finally starts spitting blood from his mouth.

His eyes widened slightly when he heard Gibson’s name, but now they’re bulging as if they might pop out from the impact to his abdomen.

Honestly, I want to kill him right now.

The children here were weaker than those in other places because they were supplying magic to the intermediate spirit, and they need immediate treatment.

My plan was to leave the kids here briefly and kill the headmaster within two or three days, but according to the kids… some have already been taken outside. Without waking up.

This means children about Ira’s age were consumed for these bastards’ selfish desires.

“I’m not some justice-obsessed hero, but you, all of you, are truly unforgivable. I wasn’t planning to forgive you anyway, but I’ll make you review your entire life and regret ever being born.”

“W-who… are y-you…!! *cough*”

-Grab!!

“Urgh?!!”

I grab what little hair he has left as if I’m going to pull it all out, yanking his head up to meet his eyes.

The man’s pupils seem to reflect dissatisfaction and fear at the sudden overwhelming violence and unreasonable situation.

“Are you that curious about who I am?”

“W-what grudge do you have against me, against us?! Is it money?! Or perhaps, could it be that your family was part of our research?!”

Looking at the man who speaks rapidly, spitting blood instead of saliva, I pull the corners of my mouth into a smile.

Idiot. If Ira had been captured in a place like this, you all would have died without even having a chance to talk to me, not even knowing how or why you died.

“No. I told you earlier. I’m the one screwing over your life. My name is Jack. Lo Jack. The Satan Unemployment Research Department Head Jack, who has a name similar to yours and has come to return the karma of your life.”

Seeing the man who couldn’t understand my words and was only sending fearful glances, I grabbed his jaw and ripped out all his hair.