Chapter 78
Chapter 78
As I subtly let my true feelings slip out, Professor Iris narrowed her eyes.
"So that public opinion will form to ensure Lily's abuse case gets a truly severe punishment?"
"That's right."
I stretched the corners of my mouth into a long grin.
"The more they keep bringing armed troops here and going overboard,"
"...."
"the more the presumption of guilt becomes a foregone conclusion,"
"...."
"the more they're caught red-handed in our own yard, the more they'll turn into excellent golden goblins, spewing out EXP and loot like crazy."
At my game-friendly analogy, Professor Iris let out a small sigh.
"It's full of things I can't make heads or tails of,"
"but I can at least sort of get what you mean."
"Right? Anyway, you want to make sure they're branded as the irredeemable embodiment of evil, correct?"
"Exactly."
I nodded in admiration.
Why is it that when I say it, I sound like some jobless loser fighting on a shady forum, but when the professor says it, it turns into the lofty discourse of a philosopher?
'It's been almost twenty years since I last touched an online forum.'
Tsk.
Human nature doesn't change easily, I guess.
Murmur, murmur.
By the way, even while I was acting like this beside Professor Iris, my facial muscles were working hard.
Let's keep the expression as obnoxious, smug, and punchable as possible.
By now, Cardinal Barneo at the front gate was clearly getting irritated.
'He's probably shooting holy death beams at me with his eyes.'
Even while he was facing the principal and having a dignified conversation, he kept shooting murderous glances my way.
'At this point, I should deliver the finishing blow.'
I politely asked the professor beside me for permission, thinking I should snap Cardinal Barneo's patience in half for good.
"Professor. Mind if I pull some aggro?"
Professor Iris answered without hesitation.
"Go ahead."
"You're letting me?"
"Surprisingly, right now you're simply using whatever means necessary in the process of carrying out justice."
She gave me a gentle smile.
"I'll respect even that rather blunt approach of yours."
"....Thank you."
It was hard to tell whether that was praise or an insult, but since I had permission, there was no reason to hesitate.
I casually lifted one hand a bit, making it look somewhat cocky.
'That's right, that's right.'
More than anyone else, Cardinal Barneo—whose attention was wholly fixed on me right now—caught my gesture perfectly.
His sharp gaze stabbed straight into my face.
I met his gaze head-on.
Grin.
I exaggeratedly mouthed the words.
I wasn't making a sound, but so he couldn't misunderstand and could read it clearly, I carefully formed each syllable one by one.
F. a. k. e. c. h. i. l. d. a. b. u. s. e. r.
At that moment.
"....!"
Cardinal Barneo's face, which had been trying to look benevolent, began to twist.
His jaw joint was visibly trembling all the way from here.
The veins in his neck began to stand out, ready to burst.
'Ah.'
I got to you, old man.
Totally rattled.
'Heh-heh-heh!'
I cheered inwardly and raised a toast to my triumph.
Even from that far away, I had slammed his rage button with nothing but the shape of my mouth.
"You're old, but your eyesight is still excellent."
"What on earth did you do to that man?"
Just.
What.
"I just stated the facts of your own wrongdoing."
Getting hit with the facts is critical damage, after all.
But unfortunately, the cardinal whose face had been grotesquely distorted by my perfect provocation quickly recovered his expression.
His facial muscles twitched, then I could see him forcibly painting on a benevolent smile.
As expected of an old fox who's been through the wringer, his poker-face recovery speed was amazing.
"Heh."
The cardinal let out a benevolent chuckle and turned toward the principal.
"Principal. It seems there is someone rather irreverent and distracting in this holy place of learning."
"Pardon? An irreverent person?"
"May I give that young student a lesson?"
Cardinal Barneo didn't even wait for the principal's answer and fixed his gaze on me.
His eyes gleamed like a snake's.
He was undoubtedly planning to use all the plausible doctrine and logic in his head to beat me down.
'He's probably planning to paint me as some uneducated, rude idiot and use that to scold Professor Iris too, since she's been talking to me.'
"In a place where an important conversation is going on, why can't you focus and behave yourself?"
Cardinal Barneo spoke in a composed, polite tone, pretending to be an adult with magnanimity.
Nothing special—just the same stale political games old fogeys always play.
And unfortunately, that trick doesn't work on me at all.
I'm the very embodiment of uneducated—I'd thrown this world's aristocratic etiquette to the dogs long ago.
With both hands shoved deep into my trouser pockets, I stood there cockily, leaning on one leg.
"You think I wasn't focused?"
"Exactly. While adults are talking, you dare make rude gestures and mouth off."
"No."
I snorted and shrugged.
"I was trying to save your face by speaking silently with just my lips, you know—did you deliberately bring me up so I'd say it out loud?"
"....What?"
Cardinal Barneo's brow furrowed deeply.
The saintly mask he'd been forcibly wearing until just a moment ago shattered to pieces, revealing his true face dripping with anger.
But so what?
"Even if I'm the youngest person here, I'm not so fragile that some neighborhood old geezer coughing and going, 'You brat!' would make me lose my mind."
"How dare you....!"
"Since you seem too stressed out from having to clean up the mess you made to see or hear anything, I'll say what I mouthed earlier a little louder for you."
I took a deep breath and unleashed a lion's roar so loud it rang through the Academy's front gate.
"You fake child-abusing old geezer—aren't you embarrassed?"
Sssshhh─.
The air around the front gate settled so still it was like a lie.
Even the wind seemed to hold its breath, and an eerie silence fell.
'Wow, their mouths are really hanging open.'
The cardinals and the holy knights weren't the only ones frozen stiff.
Even the old professors standing firmly behind me had all turned into statues.
Their eyes widened as if they might pop out, staring at me in shock.
'They probably never expected it.'
That some crazy bastard among the nobility would dare hurl that kind of gutter profanity right in the face of a cardinal, the church's second-in-command.
In this lofty fantasy world, such behavior would have been impossible to imagine.
But so what?
I'm going to keep doing it anyway.
"Principal."
It was Cardinal Barneo's iron voice, his face flushed red with rage, that broke the silence.
"Are you going to tolerate that blasphemer's conduct?"
"Uh, hm. Ahem!"
The old principal broke into a cold sweat, flustered.
No way, no way.
The refined, educated gentlemen here would instinctively try to rein in my wicked tongue, even if that cardinal was a stinking bastard.
'It'd be something like, "the more important the matter, the more elegantly we should resolve it while preserving noble dignity"—that kind of logic.'
So before the old professors could cover my mouth, I launched the second wave of aggro bombardment.
"Damn, this is ridiculous. Is that fake child-abusing bastard seriously whining about keeping his dignity right now?"
"You insolent heretic."
Hmm.
That old Cardinal Barneo, having been through everything, seems to still be keeping his head even while furious.
But after a quick scan, the silver tin cans standing back there were a different story.
"And he even brought along a whole mob of those cold-eyed swordsmen."
I clicked my tongue and pointed at the Holy Cross Knights with a jerk of my chin.
Wait, is that guy Saint Abel?
The guy with those slightly deranged eyes—the sort you'd expect from someone who schemed to torture a perfectly normal kid—looks exactly like the knight commander.
"Did the great God hand him a sword just so he could go bootlick some psychotic fake old man who abuses saintesses?"
"....!"
"How are guys who obediently follow trash commands like that even holy knights? They're just hired thugs."
That was when it happened.
Shing!
Shrring!
"How blasphemous!!"
"Repent to God with your death, you heretic bastard!!!"
A couple of holy knights, driven out of their minds by my provocation, couldn't hold back their rage and drew their swords.
They broke formation, roaring like beasts, and charged at us like madmen.
Cardinal Barneo reached out in a panic, but it was already too late.
And the moment they took a step.
Flash────!!!!
"....!"
A huge hole opened in the middle of the clouds covering the entire sky, and the world flashed white.
Along with a shrieking high-pitched sound that seemed to rip the eardrums apart, dozens of blue lightning bolts struck straight down.
In the instant my vision turned white.
The scene before and after that moment were so different it was almost another world.
Chiiiiiik.
The light faded there as if it had all been a lie.
The two holy knights who'd been charging with murderous intent just moments ago were now steaming, their silver armor burned black.
Thud.
Thump.
They collapsed weakly to the ground without even a single scream.
Black smoke was rising from the gaps in their armor, and the foul smell of burning flesh stung the nose.
"...."
A few seconds later, after everyone at the front gate had stood there with their mouths hanging open, blankly staring at the two KO'd corpses.
Rumble───!
The enormous thunder that arrived a beat late boomed and filled the entire sky.
It was an overwhelming roar strong enough to make the ground vibrate.
In this overwhelming silence and fear.
Step, step.
Professor Iris, who had been standing quietly beside me, took a few steps forward.
She brought the antique staff in her hand down toward the ground with a casual flick, as if tossing it.
Swoooosh─
From the tip of the staff, an invisible blade of wind sliced right past the faces of the two collapsed holy knights, drawing a deep, clear boundary line dead center between the faculty and the Holy Cross Knights.
"I seem to have forgotten to warn you in advance."
Professor Iris said coolly as she lightly pushed her glasses up.
"The moment you cross this line."
"...."
"If the target isn't a noble member of the imperial family, I'll crush whoever it is on the spot."
Professor Iris's eyes flicked coldly between Cardinal Barneo and Saint Abel.
"No exceptions, whether you're an apostle of God or a cardinal."
Wow. Holy shit. We're totally fucked?
I stood there with my mouth hanging open, staring blankly at Professor Iris's back.
Overwhelming force and insane charisma.
And that dazzling presence as she drew the line to protect me, too.
This is seriously driving me insane.
Suddenly, there was one more person whose toes I wanted to suck.
Damn, that's sexy as hell.