Chapter 10
"Because I could beat the absolute shit out of you."
Rumble-.
An immense pressure crushed down on the spacious lecture hall.
The students couldn't even let out a single squeak.
-Is he that guy? The one who got all E-rank stats but still became the class top student?
-Seeing as his name is Victor, it seems so. He looks weak as hell just by glancing at him.
-Fuck, this is ridiculous... I got pushed down by something like that?
-If I threw a punch, he looks like he'd piss his pants in fear.
Even those who had been making such sarcastic remarks shut their mouths.
Frozen expressions, and trembling pupils.
The scene remained still, as if someone had pressed the pause button.
The children didn't dare think of moving.
""....""
Why was that?
A drop of cold sweat rolled down someone's jawline.
'I'm going to die.'
A sensation triggered in the brain, long before rational thought.
An alarm.
Instinct.
The fear of a living creature screaming that it wanted to live.
Their once natural breathing trembled violently.
"Ugh, haah...."
"Gasp, gasp...."
They began to pant, as if possessed by something.
It was definitely there.
Something with a physical form was strangling them.
Something like a tentacle was wrapping around their vocal cords.
As if just a little more force would crush their neck bones....
"Everyone?"
Crunch, crackle-.
I don't know how it actually was in reality.
However, at least the students themselves felt that way.
Before their eyes stood the boy they had mocked.
"Everyone."
A smiling mask.
Above the white board, the corners of the mouth were grotesquely torn.
Eyes curving in a smile, as if this entire situation was amusing.
Though the students were short of breath, they couldn't take their eyes off that mask.
"Everyone."
It was a kind of intuition.
It felt like something terrible would happen if they took their eyes off it for even a second.
"Eve"
"ry"
"one"
Their vision warped this way and that.
A voice scattering like glass fragments.
The world the students were staring at had been distorted for quite a while.
In the center of such chaos, the clown just kept repeating the same word.
"EveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneRUNEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneAWAYEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneIFEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneYOUEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneDON'TEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneWANTEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneTOEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneDIEEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryoneEveryone"
The mask smiled.
The corners of its mouth rose higher and higher, tearing to an unfathomable degree.
To the point where one had to wonder if it could even be considered a smile anymore.
""....""
Blinking eyes.
The moment they lifted their eyelids again, the mask was right in front of the students' noses.
The clown had somehow multiplied to match the number of students.
He stood in front of each and every student.
Staring at them from just a few centimeters away.
"Everyone."
The mask's mouth opened wide.
Beyond that deep abyss, tentacles squirmed inside like a swarm of cockroaches.
Just as those slithering things crossed the gap and were about to reach the students....
"Stop. That's enough."
A voice broke the flow.
At the same time, the killing intent suddenly snapped.
Their vision brightened.
"Gasp, gasp...!"
"Cough... Urgh, ugh...."
The students breathed heavily.
The pressure on the napes of their necks vanished, leaving only a throbbing pain.
No.
In truth, even that throbbing sensation was nothing but an illusion.
Because everything the children had witnessed was merely a hallucination.
When they raised their heads, all they saw was the scenery of a peaceful lecture hall.
The students couldn't help but be bewildered.
"...?"
The only thing that had changed in the midst of it all were the two people at the podium.
The clown standing calmly, and the blade resting against his neck.
Javert had her sword aimed at Victor's throat.
"Oh my."
"That was an excellent speech. Let's end it there."
The clown smiled as if he were in trouble, while the professor gave an impassive warning.
Emotionless eyes looked at the mask.
The cold sword touched his neck.
"Student Victor."
"Yes, Professor Javert."
The air was sharply divided in confrontation.
Despite the chilling cold that felt like it could cut him, the boy remained utterly unfazed.
He hadn't even spared Javert a single glance.
Even as the red-haired woman gripped her sword, she clicked her tongue inwardly.
'He didn't dodge.'
From the moment Javert drew her sword to when she aimed it at the clown's neck.
Victor had showed absolutely no reaction.
He neither dodged nor defended himself.
Instead, he merely held his neck stiffly, as if daring her to try.
And even then, he was confident, without a single hint of wavering.
'He has extraordinary guts.'
Was this proof that he wouldn't be an easy opponent after all?
He was far too composed for a freshman.
The woman's suspicions toward the boy deepened even further.
Of course, there was a completely different reason hidden behind the scenes....
'Fuck, that startled me. It was so fast I couldn't even see it.'
He simply hadn't been able to react because he couldn't see it.
His dynamic visual acuity failed to follow Javert's sword.
Victor broke out in a cold sweat.
Thanks to the mask, he was able to keep his expression from being discovered.
'Act natural. Act natural.'
Victor caught his breath for a moment.
If he simply remained quiet, the woman would throw her reprimand.
"What I requested was a greeting. I didn't tell you to threaten your alumni."
"I've committed a faux pas. I snapped without even realizing it."
"Withdraw your killing intent first."
"I already have. So, Professor, how about you withdraw your sword as well?"
"...."
Swish-.
Javert smoothly withdrew her sword, sheathing it back at her waist.
"I understand you're angry, but that too is a weight the Top Student must bear."
"I was short-sighted. I'll be more careful from now on."
"Please do. It will only cause trouble for you as well, Student Victor."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"I also apologize. Even if it was to subdue you, putting a sword to a Student's neck was...."
Javert bowed her head properly.
Even in this situation, she meticulously found her own fault and apologized.
She could have just glossed over it while giving a warning.
As expected of someone so inflexible, she was strict about the rules she set for herself.
"I'm fine, Professor."
"I will also be more careful from now on."
After a polite standing bow, the woman wrapped things up.
Javert spoke to the Students who were sitting blankly.
"Today's schedule has concluded. Your formal Academy life will begin tomorrow. Please follow along with a firm mindset."
The children belatedly came to their senses.
They hadn't grasped anything.
What exactly was done to them, what the hallucination right before was....
""...?""
However.
Even in the midst of such chaos, the schedule simply came to an end.
***
After finishing the first day's schedule,
On the way back to the Dormitory.
[Victor! My loyal Knight!]
"Ah... Yes, Princess."
Wiggle, wiggle-.
Carmilla, who had been hiding in the School Uniform pocket, peeked her head out.
For a normal Bat, she had a silver hue and a rather cute appearance.
She shook her head side to side and asked.
[Was that really okay? Earlier in the lecture hall, I mean.]
"Which part do you mean? The part where I provoked the Students? Or the part where I confronted Professor Javert?"
[Both! Didn't you draw too much attention?]
"Everything is going according to plan."
[That's a relief then, but....]
The Princess stumbled around in my pocket.
[Well... At least that Human called a Professor is polite. There aren't many superiors who would bow their head and apologize to a subordinate. Unlike her cold appearance, she seems to be a person of character, so I'm relieved.]
"You are absolutely right."
As long as you didn't cross the set line, Javert was a very good Educator.
Competent, reliable, strong, and strictly separating public and private matters....
Of course, the moment Cultists are involved, she turns into a slaughtering machine with no brakes.
'I just need to use her well.'
I realized it earlier.
Javert wasn't a threat to me, but a new card in my hand.
With just a little risk, she was a card that could perform even better than the Evil God sets.
I'll have to plan this out carefully.
[More than that, I'm more worried about those so-called Students!]
"Are you talking about my friends in Class E?"
[Right, the way they looked at Victor wasn't ordinary. Even after you scared them once, some of them only grew more hostile.]
"It must be hard for those guys to accept. They naturally think their ranks should be higher."
[How amusing. You are a skilled individual who withstood the God-Killing Bow and Stakes with your bare body, and faced five elite Assassins. Like frogs in a well, they fail to recognize the value of a jewel.]
"I appreciate the sentiment."
[From what this Princess can see, it seems you will clash with them in the near future....]
"Ah, you don't need to worry about that."
[Hmm?]
"They're waiting right over there, aren't they?"
On the way to the Tram station.
A group of about seven people stood blocking the path.
All of them were Students selected as the top rankers within Class E.
"Hey there, Top Student."
From their tone of voice to their fierce expressions.
It was obvious at a glance that they weren't going to be friendly.
I answered while standing in place.
Smiling even more leisurely on purpose.
"Oh...? It's my Classmates. What can I do for you?"
"Hah, look at this bastard playing dumb."
The guys let out hollow laughs.
The big guys surrounded me.
"You were running your mouth pretty well earlier, huh? Said you could beat the shit out of us?"
"But... why are you in such a hurry to head back? Are you scared?"
"We still have unfinished business."
"Earlier you pulled some cheap trick with a Hallucination or whatever...."
"There's none of that this time. Fuck, acting all tough for a mere E-ranker...."
Things were taking a rather violent turn.
Well, I kind of expected it to turn out like this from the start.
I guessed as much when they kept glaring at me in the lecture hall earlier.
'They certainly have good initiative.'
I said with a smile.
"So?"
"What?"
"So, I was asking what you want from me."
It looked like they came here for a fight anyway.
So I figured there was no need to back down.
"Shall I beat the shit out of you right here?"
"Y-You little bastard...!"
I should give them what they want.
Since I definitively decided to take the top of the hierarchy, shouldn't I teach them to lie flat on the ground?
They say trampling them a bit makes them learn faster.
"Since we're doing this, how about a bet? It'd be a shame to just end it."
"What kind of crazy bastard...."
The group of bullies had bewildered looks in their eyes.
I opened my hand wide and beckoned them to come at me whenever they were ready.
In my front pocket, the Princess was squirming.
[I'm going to get some shut-eye for a bit.]
[Don't treat them too harshly.]
[A Human is a living creature too, don't you pity them?]
You're wrong, Princess.
Humans are a species that actually get tougher the more you beat them.
I just need to beat them right up to the point of incontinence.
"The loser has to do whatever the winner wants for the next year."
You guys are dead.
I'll make every single one of you my Bread Shuttle.
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