Ch.98Damon’s Choice (4)

“Living life to the fullest.”

Ruide’s steps returning to the Academy were exceptionally light.

It felt like he had done something incredibly productive for the first time since his possession.

‘I’ve grown.’

It was the feeling of an unemployed person getting their first job.

He felt like he was making a tremendous contribution to society.

“Ruide!”

He ran into Hersy at the Academy’s main gate. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead.

The fox sitting on Hersy’s head raised and waved its adorable paw. It seemed Miho had sensed his arrival and brought Hersy along.

“Hello, Hersy.”

“W-where on earth have you been?”

Ruide tilted his head.

“I got the imperial order withdrawn.”

“I know that. An official document arrived, and the Academy is in quite an uproar because of it. What I mean is…”

It had been seven days since the document arrived.

That was when Ruide returned to the Academy.

“Amelia Windsor was worried about you.”

‘It’s already come to that.’

In truth, Ruide hadn’t returned right away.

After all, the imperial palace was vast.

He had to rely solely on his legs to walk, and there was no way Ruide could endure that.

So after parting with the Emperor, he sat down on the floor and took a short nap.

When he woke up, he walked a few steps, but once you start resting, you naturally want to keep resting.

…And that’s how it took a week to get from the imperial palace to the Academy.

“…I expected as much, but you’re too lazy.”

“But I did what needed to be done properly. The official document arrived correctly, didn’t it?”

“About that…”

Hersy spoke with a troubled expression.

“There’s a problem.”

“A problem?”

Hersy smiled awkwardly.

“You’d better see for yourself.”

**

“Wake up! Wake up!”

“Academy, wake up!”

“Stop oppressing commoners!”

“This is not justice!”

‘What is this?’

Ruide rubbed his eyes with Hersy’s robe.

An unbelievable scene was unfolding before his eyes.

“As soon as the imperial order was withdrawn, Vice Chancellor Fenicia lifted Damon’s disciplinary action. According to the rules, he should have received demerit points, but she just ignored that, so the commoners have risen up.”

Ruide asked out of genuine curiosity.

“Are commoners allowed to do that?”

“Among the First Emperor’s last wishes was ‘freedom of assembly.'”

‘How far did you go, First Emperor!’

Ruide was appalled.

“Is the imperial family being cautious about this?”

“Academy—expel Damon Kairos!”

“We can’t live like this anymore!”

Incidentally, Justin was at the forefront of the assembly.

It had been a while since Ruide had seen him, but he wasn’t happy about it at all.

“We’ve tried various methods, but they won’t calm down easily. The commoners are quite desperate.”

Damon really hates commoners.

He doesn’t like it when they don’t know their place and cause trouble.

Ruide couldn’t help but sympathize with that sentiment. But on the other hand, he also felt pity for them—Damon must have tormented them terribly for them to go this far.

“Actually, the commoners aren’t the main problem.”

“…That isn’t?”

“There’s something more terrible.”

Hersy whimpered.

“It’s harder to stop Prince Damon.”

“R-really?”

Hersy, who was always calm.

But now she was more emotional than ever.

“Every chance he gets, he tries to use large-scale magic, saying he needs to teach them a lesson! His head is about to fly off!”

Feeling Hersy’s pain throughout this ordeal, Ruide patted her shoulder.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

Hersy blushed and answered modestly.

“Thank you.”

“…So where is Damon now? I thought he’d be going wild without you around.”

“I sent him back to the villa. I told him to stay there until things calm down a bit.”

“Damon accepted that willingly?”

“He said, ‘I wasn’t interested in the Academy without my friend anyway, so that’s a good suggestion, woman.'”

Hersy mimicked Damon’s voice as she spoke. Even without the imitation, it automatically played in his head.

“So you managed to stop Damon after all. That’s amazing, Hersy. I couldn’t have done it.”

“…I didn’t stop him completely.”

“Huh?”

“The feather thief, do you remember?”

‘Of course. He’s the protagonist of this novel.’

When Ruide nodded, Hersy spoke as if she’d been waiting for this.

“We ran into him on the way to the villa, and Damon punched him in the jaw for looking at him for more than three seconds.”

“…!”

“There was some other violence too. Thanks to that, it added fuel to the commoners’ protest. That’s the current situation.”

“Can’t we just ignore it?”

“We’re trying to, but if this continues, it’ll be problematic. We can’t hold classes.”

Ruide opened his eyes drowsily.

That was definitely a problem.

‘It’ll definitely disturb my naps.’

Moreover, if they left things as they were, they couldn’t say they had completely prevented Damon’s expulsion.

Ruide stepped forward. More precisely, he approached Justin, the commoner leader.

“Huh?”

“It’s Lord Ruide.”

“Could it be he’s coming to negotiate?”

It was natural for the commoners to focus their attention on Ruide.

If it had been another noble, they would have ignored him and continued chanting, but Ruide’s position was a bit different.

The mysterious fairy who only sleeps in the forest.

Sometimes he does bizarre things when he wakes up, but it always feels like a ‘natural disaster.’

Moreover, unlike other nobles, he hadn’t particularly harassed commoners, so Ruide didn’t have a bad image among them.

Ruide stopped in front of Justin.

‘Huh?’

Ruide blinked. He was a bit surprised.

There was no smell. It seems he’s been bathing regularly these days.

And he could feel that Justin’s abilities had improved somewhat.

‘…How did his skills improve? There shouldn’t have been any room for growth. Well… it doesn’t matter.’

The higher Justin’s abilities, the fewer troublesome things for Ruide, so he was fine with it.

Anyway, he got to the point.

“It’s noisy.”

“Sorry.”

Justin started to speak but hesitated. He remembered that Ruide’s position had changed to professor.

“I apologize, Professor.”

Justin said with a serious face.

“But do you know about the recent situation?”

“Yes. I just heard about it.”

“Then you must know. We cannot back down.”

“That’s right!”

Hersy glared intensely at the commoner who had just shouted.

The commoner immediately lowered his tail and looked down at the ground with a sullen expression.

“What’s your complaint? Tell me exactly.”

“Not receiving even one demerit point for this incident doesn’t make sense. Even if the commoners attacked first, the Academy has always punished both sides. This goes against fairness.”

“So your complaint is that it violates the rules?”

“…Yes.”

‘I must have said it well.’

Justin looked at Ruide with an uncertain expression.

The difficult words he had just used were those that Catherine had drilled into him. If someone asks, answer logically like this.

“Then if it doesn’t violate the rules, it’s fine?”

“Huh? Oh, yes. But…”

“Alright. I’ll make sure it doesn’t violate the rules. Now disperse.”

“What?”

Justin was bewildered.

‘This, this isn’t right?’

Something was off.

But he couldn’t refute Ruide’s words. They were correct.

“…Everyone. Professor Ruide says he’ll resolve this, so let’s withdraw for now.”

As Justin took off his headband and spoke, the commoners agreed.

They disappeared with disgruntled expressions.

After the commoners left, Hersy asked.

“I-I didn’t realize this problem could be solved so simply.”

“Of course. Hersy, you don’t have many authorities.”

On the other hand, Ruide was in a position where he could do anything at the Academy.

It was a position where he could make empty promises, so it would be troublesome if he couldn’t easily resolve something like this.

“But… may I ask what you meant by making sure it doesn’t violate the rules?”

“We’ll create an Academy where Damon can bully commoners.”

“Ah, I see.”

Hersy smiled brightly, but her expression gradually hardened.

“What?”

Ruide smiled somewhat wickedly.

‘Why didn’t I think of this earlier? I thought about making Damon the villain, but…’

Perhaps this was compensation for using Damon all this time.

“Hersy, have you heard of the Disciplinary Committee?”

He decided to give him an appropriate position.

**

Damon was sipping whiskey at the villa while looking at something with a serious expression.

A chess board made of high-quality solid wood.

Pieces were intricately arranged on it.

Damon moved the pieces. He was both the opponent and the ally.

Damon usually enjoys chess.

He often uses chess as a metaphor when comparing things.

Chess is life.

It is the measure of intellect.

A commander who cannot play chess well is a failed commander, and one cannot share insights with a noble who cannot play chess well.

The axis of the chess board seemed tilted to one side at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it was evenly balanced.

Black had lost all pawns and rooks, but the queen was still alive.

White had lost the queen, but the rest of the pieces were alive.

The bishops on both sides were excluded.

Who has the advantage in this situation?

Damon tapped the board with his finger and said quietly.

“Which side will you choose, brother?”

A chess novice would say black has the advantage in this situation. Because the most important piece in chess, the ‘queen,’ is still alive.

Someone who knows a bit about chess would say white has the advantage. Because the most important piece in chess is the ‘pawn,’ which represents ordinary soldiers.

A chess master would say: White has the advantage, but black also has a chance. It depends on skill.

Damon’s choice was simple.

White is stable, and black allows one to showcase their skills.

Damon preferred the latter.

What value is there in a stable life?

Endless challenges and conquests. That was the only mechanism that moved Damon.

Above all—

“What’s certain is that you chose white, brother. Then I have no choice but to choose black. What’s right—”

Damon knocked over the king.

It was the queen that toppled the king.

Once he chose black, in this board, no matter what, only the queen would win.

“We’ll know when we go all the way.”

Despite his words, Damon’s expression was confident of victory.

Damon smiled and placed the queen where the king had been.

“I’ll bet on Irene Windsor.”

Although he had never thought such a thing before.

Today, the queen taking the king’s place seemed very fitting.