Chapter 275: Chapter 238: Head-On Confrontation (3)

“Ahahaha—!”

Marquis Bogut let out a hearty laugh while holding his belly.

Well, the sight unfolding before his eyes warranted such a reaction coming from him.

“Oh my God! The Sword Saint himself! Is being buried under this pile of paperwork! I can’t believe this! I wonder how the Spear Saint of the Holy Land and the Fist Saint of the Tribal Alliance would react if they were to see such a sight? I bet on my money that the look in their faces would at least be priceless!”

“...Are you here just to mock me, Lionheart?”

Radu replied, looking haggard.

Not long ago, the Empress disappeared after dumping all her official duties on him, saying that she also wanted to be a student or whatever.

“I’m worried about her going without an escort…”

“Well, Atalante the ‘Immortal’ is there, so you don’t need to worry. Even in the worst possible scenario, she is strong enough to buy time for you to get there.”

“...That’s true.”

Their implication was clear. In the worst possible scenario, the immensely powerful Immortal would only be strong enough to buy time until the Sword Saint could get there.

If someone were to hear this, they could easily get criticized for this extremely arrogant remark, but neither Marquis Bogut nor Radu found that remark to be strange.

After all, Radu was none other than the Sword Saint himself. He was quite literally the most powerful warrior in the Empire. Which meant, he had all the right to say something like that without any hesitation.

“By the way, have you seen this?”

However, even the most powerful warrior of the Empire was helpless in front of the tremendous amount of administrative work he had to handle.

Especially the ones that were related to the leaders of the Empire who kept causing all kinds of troubles without thinking of the consequences.

The document that Marquis Bogut handed him proved it better than anything else.

“Elfante School Festival is coming up soon.”

“...Right, there is something like that, huh?”

Seeing Marquis Bogut handing the document to him without hesitation, Radu could only reply reluctantly.

Considering the relationship between the Upper Nobles Association and the Empress, he shouldn’t have done something like this so casually, but then again, everything that this man did always went against common sense.

But, what was written in that document was even more absurd than what Bogut did.

“...”

As he read the document, Radu’s face went pale.

“...Is this real?”

“What? Do you think it’s fake?”

Marquis Bogut answered while smiling, his tone was still cheerful, but that only got the Sword Saint’s frown to grow deeper.

“...People of their stature are gathering in the Academy just to see the School Festival?”

Radu said with a groan. His reaction was completely understandable though, as the names that were listed there were big names that could easily shake the continent.

From the Holy Land side…

Archbishop Luminol and his daughter Lana Rei Delvium.

From the Tribal Alliance’s side...

A total of two War Chiefs.

After seeing those names, it wouldn’t be strange if one were to think that they came for a summit meeting or something, but the thing was this wasn’t the end of it. The Empire’s side had an even more ridiculous lineup than that.

Margrave Kendride, Duke Tristan, Chancellor Sullivan…

And on top of that,

“I’ll also go to Elfante!”

“...Please don’t do that, Marquis.”

Radu dissuaded him with a groan.

This lineup clearly listed all the people who were considered as the pillars of the country. Considering that the Empress herself was currently enrolled in Elfante, one could even say that all the country’s leaders were there.

On top of that…

“A ‘scholar’ from the Magic Tower is also going to attend? Even though they usually had no interest in the outside world? This is too much—”

Radu was about to continue his words before his body froze.

The reason for this was because he saw Bogut’s expression when he heard the words he mentioned.

To put it simply…

Hostility, tension, vigilance, hatred, repulsion.

Any of those words was appropriate to describe his emotion.

But the root of all those emotions was…

…Fear?

Yes, fear.

Though, it was very unusual for this man to be afraid of someone else.

It was as if he once had his possession being ‘taken away’ there.

“There’s no way I’ll miss this opportunity, Sword Saint!”

However, when he said his next words, his expression returned to normal.

It happened so quickly, as if what Radu had just seen was merely an illusion.

“Dowd Campbell’s club will be doing a presentation there! There are a lot of people who are interested in that aside from me, so even if I go, it won’t make much difference!”

“...Do you think that could pass as an excuse?”

Radu let out another groan, but Bogut only replied to him in his usual playful voice.

“It’s not an excuse, Sword Saint!”

No…

Nevermind...

He had a playful expression and frivolous tone as usual.

But then Radu noticed something, a difference between how he looked right now and how he usually did. That realization sent a shiver down his spine.

“I need you to be prepared.”

Besides, in the first place…

The reason why this man came here was to ‘warn’ him.

To be exact…

This man was trying to convey his words to the Empress through him, her representative.

“That man will create a change with his own fingertips. A change that could affect the entire continent.”

“...”

“So you should prepare yourself so that you wouldn’t be swept away by that change!”

Only after he finished saying his piece did he go back to normal.

But, the ominous feelings still lingered in the air.

“...May I ask you to give more details on—”

“What I’m trying to say is, we need to pray so that man can successfully go out with multiple women at the same time!”

“...”

What the hell are you talking about?

●

Since my announcement that I was going to accommodate everyone in the club, my school life suddenly became peaceful.

On the surface, at least...

Usually, the Vessels would come every other day to make a fuss about something, but now…

Riru, who used to camp in front of my door at the break of dawn to ask me to work out together… Seras, who used to follow me around while watching my every move, even though she pretended like she didn’t… Yuria, who used to come to me and ask me to ‘walk’ her hesitantly… All of them were nowhere to be seen.

[...Wait, go back. What the fuck was that last part? I thought that lady is still ridden with guilt over what she did to you?]

So, you remember that I subdued the White Devil and made her stay inside her body back when we were at the Tristan Duchy, right?

[Yeah.]

Then, I put her on a leash and made her call me master or something like that…

[...Yeah...]

Somehow, that became a ‘very pleasant memory’ for her. It’s to the point that she’d feel a withdrawal symptom if she didn’t experience that feeling again…

[...]

Apparently, not even her guilt could suppress it. That’s why she keeps begging me to put her on a leash and take a walk with her…

[...]

But, while begging, she’d become depressed while calling herself trash, then she’d go on a rant about how she can’t believe herself for asking me to do something like this again after she made such a mistake. I tried my best to console her but…

That cycle just kept on repeating no matter how hard I tried.

At the very least, when I consoled her, she seemed to listen to my words properly, so some of her stress seemed to be relieved. But, the problem here was this whole thing wasn’t normal at all! She felt that way, yet she still came to me to ask me to ‘walk her outside’ like it was something that we normally did!

Still, thanks to her, the White Devil’s Demonic Aura in the Fallen’s Seal was regularly charged, so I could use that nor problem. It was just… The way she seemed to be welcoming another strange fetish genuinely scared me…

[...Welcoming? She already has it, doesn’t she?”

Please don’t say something scary like that…

[...]

Even Caliban couldn’t bring himself to say anything and remained silent at my words.

I couldn’t see him, but I could tell that he was holding his head, as if he was having a headache.

[...Seriously, what kind of monster have you created?]

…I’m reflecting on it.

Anyway, that was all I could say regarding Yuria’s recent condition.

“-That’s all for today’s class. Great job, everyone.”

While I was talking with Caliban, the Professor, who was standing on the pulpit, said so while closing their book.

At the same time, I could hear the students around me letting out a big yawn.

Well, this was a class of Theology School, it was famous for being boring, so this kind of reaction was normal.

Not for me, though.

[ Knowledge related to ‘basic operation of Divine Power’ is accumulated. ]

[ Enough knowledge is being accumulated. Soon, you will be able to unlock a skill related to ‘Miracles’! ]

“...Mhm.”

This was the benefit of attending the Academy’s classes—they enhanced my abilities.

And they mainly increased the abilities substantial to the ‘job characteristics’ that I had never used so far, not the basic stats that I could increase easily.

Prior to this, I barely gave any attention to my specs’ upgrade, since I believed that I could somehow solve all the problems by just using everything that I had been accumulating so far.

But, the current situation was different. Besides, I had more than enough reason to raise my specs.

…That punk’s words…

The Gray Devil advised me ‘clearly’ that I had to become stronger, so that I wouldn’t end up dying.

This punk always talked in a vague way, so there must have been a reason why she felt the need to drop her usual manner of speech.

[Is that why you made that crazy declaration? That you’d accommodate everyone in the club or whatnot?]

“What?”

[Everytime you run into the Devils, you’d get to charge their Aura inside your Seal. The more direct and intense your involvement with them are, the faster it gets to charge, right?]n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Caliban…

[So you figured that if you were to hold something like a match, it’d be the perfect opportunity to charge all the Devil’s Auras in your Seal quickly. That’s the best way to increase your strength.]

“Basically, yeah.”

That was my biggest goal.

If I could become powerful quickly, I might be able to hit the cut-off point.

At the School Festival, I’m sure…

If things went as expected, something would definitely happen.

I didn’t need the System Message to tell me something. Even in the original game, Elfante School Festival was an important event where all kinds of variables intertwined.

That was why I had to become strong enough to gain the upper hand in the Main Quest, which progression had been so awry due to all kinds of variables recently.

[Right, can I ask you one more thing?]

“Sure, what is it?”

[What did you talk about with Iliya behind my back?]

Hearing that, I stopped walking.

“That never happened.”

[You forced me to sleep that time. What did you want to talk about that made you do that?]

“I said, that never happened.”

[...You know, I actually tried to listen to what you guys were talking about. But Valkasus, the guy who usually never showed up, suddenly did and dragged me back in. He told me that it’d be better for me to not hear it if I wanted to stay sane. So, what did you guys—]

“Please, I beg you, just shut up…”

[...]

**

We’ll talk about that later, okay?

**

There’s something more important than that now.

**

Please…

“...Let’s worry about that later. I’m more concerned about the women who’d come to me in all sorts of ways to challenge me.”

[...Right. That’s more important now...]

So, the ‘match’ I announced the other day would start today.

The rule was simple.

Each of them would have one chance. They could choose the category that they wanted to challenge me in.

If they won, I’d obey them. And if they lost, they had to obey me unconditionally.

[...So that’s why they’ve been so quiet. They only have a single chance…]

Caliban said while snorting.

He finally understood why nobody pounced on me so far even though they had all the chances to do so.

[They’re aware about all the crazy things you’ve accomplished, so they knew that they wouldn’t be a match for you if they don’t prepare themselves properly, whatever the category is.]

“Yeah, more or less.”

I replied with a smirk.

This is the fruit of the active role I had been playing so far. Even such people took their time before they challenged me.

But…

“One of them still didn’t know me enough, though, which is good for me.”

[What?]

Yes. Among those women, there was one punk who hadn’t interacted much with me yet.

And this punk…

Would definitely try to ‘challenge’ me first.

“Do you have a moment, Senior Dowd?”

Hearing the voice coming from beside me, I immediately stopped walking.

After confirming who it was, a smile rose on my face.

Great, got you.

The perfect warming-up opponent.

“Of course.”

As I replied, Victoria, who was standing before my eyes, quietly nodded.