Chapter 35
You crazy bastard.
Someone couldn't hold back and muttered.
But everyone could sympathize with the sentiment.
They weren't just uncomfortable with Gilliam.
To be honest.
They were a little afraid.
‘I thought he was just going to seduce women and live off them….’
‘He makes men do the labor for him…?’
He makes the men do the hard work.
He has the women ‘serve’ him.
A tyrant straight out of a painting.
So utterly conventional it almost felt fresh.
Until now, everyone had thought only the women who fell for Gilliam could become victims.
So men were automatically safe.
And women were safe as long as they didn't fall for him.
But.
Watching Magnum and Roy sweat as they worked like that…
They'd grown uneasy.
What if that safety had been an illusion all along?
‘N-no. Surely I'm just overreacting.’
‘Come on… This is going too far. Thinking that way about Lordrimur and Mr. Edgers is rude….’
Mm-hmm.
Surely that was going too far.
As the cadets tried to put their uneasy thoughts aside, Gilliam suddenly started handing something out.
“Here.”
“W-what is this?”
“Bassis herb. Keep one with you, each of you. Professors too. Everyone.”
Why was he handing these out all of a sudden??
A female cadet stepped forward.
“Everchess, what exactly is the meaning of this?”
Her name was Terry Marizia.
Roughly half of the cadets at today's practical exercise had been caught up in the previous dungeon exercise incident.
The other half hadn't, since their session had been on a different day.
Terry Marizia belonged to the latter group.
Gilliam hadn't helped her back then.
“It's highly effective against paralysis poison.”
“I know that. What I'm asking is why you're handing it out all of a sudden.”
“It's a little hard to explain….”
Gilliam really did find it hard to explain.
But Terry Marizia swallowed an insult.
‘What an irritating man. What on earth is he thinking?’
She hated Gilliam.
Whenever she looked at that handsome face, anger rose in her chest.
‘You think a handsome face and a nice voice are all it takes?’
A vile enemy of women.
This herb was surely meant either to win their favor or, conversely, to insult them.
Either way, she couldn't accept it.
“Hmph! I don't need it!”
Terry flung the plant Gilliam had given her to the ground.
“That's expensive.”
“My family can afford something like this, you know!?”
Ugh, he was so annoying!
He thought it was enough to have a handsome face, a nice voice, be the son of a duke, and come from a good family with plenty of money!?
“Miss Marizia is right!”
Another female cadet chimed in.
Her name was Shupi Vallier.
She was the very cadet who'd invited Gilliam to the freshman party on the first day, then smashed a few windows at his house when things didn't go her way, only to have several times as much damage done to her own house in return.
For the record, the repair costs differed by about twenty times. Gilliam only had to replace the windows, while Shupi had to repair the entire front of her house, too.
“Who'd accept something like this just because you gave it to them!?”
Shupi threw her Bassis herb onto the ground, then raised her foot.
“You'll regret that. You won't have any left.”
“Hmph, that's ridiculous!”
Shupi brought her foot down.
The herb was crushed underfoot, and a fresh, mint-like scent spread through the air.
“That's right!”
Terry stomped on hers beside her, too. The scent spread twice as strongly.
“Good grief….”
Gilliam sighed.
But the momentum had already swung in the two girls' favor.
The other cadets were clearly not actively rejecting Gilliam's ‘gift’... no, they weren't.
“W-why is everyone just standing there!?”
Everyone except Terry and Shupi held the herb in their hands.
Even those who usually badmouthed Gilliam openly.
“Uh….”
“Well… j-just in case….”
Terry flared up.
“Are you all serious!? What do you mean, ‘just in case,’ when you accept this stuff!? We've already taken care of all the Void Entities! What would we suddenly need an antidote for paralysis poison for!?”
Terry was now shouting whatever came to mind.
No, the situation was just too ridiculous!
“Do you expect some plant monster to suddenly burst through that wall? Ha! There's no way an enemy that convenient would show up—”
A tremendous rumble, Kuuuuuuung…!!!
“…Huh?”
A huge monster appeared, sending dust and pieces of rock flying.
It looked like a giant vine plant, grown enormous, made ferocious, then dipped in poisonous blackness.
The gigantic Void Entity let out a static-distorted shriek.
“!@#$%!!@%@”
The next moment.
A black mist billowed from the monster and filled the valley.
If they'd assembled an extermination force, there wouldn't have been nearly so many casualties.
But the cadets and professors alike were all caught off guard by the paralysis poison.
People collapsed one after another, unable to resist at all.
By the time the professors, whose resistance to poison was high, regained control of their bodies, seven cadets had already been sucked into the Void Entity's maw, full of teeth.
Blood sprayed. Their guts and bones were chewed and torn apart, sending fragments flying.
Unable to scream because of the paralysis, the cadets pleaded with their eyes for someone to see their terror and pain.
The monster's maw turned toward the next cadet.
Despair filled the cadet's eyes.
A tingling sensation spread from where the black mist touched, then all feeling disappeared.
“Aaaahhh!!”
“P-paraly—”
Amid the chaos, Gilliam shouted.
“Everyone, put the herb in your mouths!!”
“!!”
They hurriedly put the herbs from their hands into their mouths.
The refreshing scent spread through their bodies, clashed with the creeping paralysis poison, and drove it back.
But two of them stood there trembling, not knowing what to do.
Terry and Shupi, who'd thrown the herbs they'd received on the ground and stomped on them.
“What are you doing! The effects are still active, so pick it up and eat it!”
“B-but—”
“Do you want to get chewed to death by those teeth!?”
Shupi knew this was a matter of life and death.
Even so, she couldn't help hesitating for a moment.
Surprisingly, habits instilled over many years were hard to shake even in extreme situations.
She was, after all, the daughter of Count Vallier.
How could she pick up grass that had fallen on the ground, covered in dirt, and put it in her mouth?
Even if she herself had dropped it!
Even if she herself had stepped on it!
But beside her, Terry Marizia immediately picked up the dirt-covered herb and put it in her mouth.
“Mmphgh!”
“Miss Terry!?”
“Mmph, I don't want to die!!”
B-but!
The pride of House Vallier! Its glory! The family and all that stuff…!!
“!@#!@$%%!#”
The Void Entity opened its ‘mouth.’
A cylinder lined with countless sharp things. Some sticky fluid dripped from inside.
Ah, okay. I get it.
“Aaaaaaah!!!”
Shupi tried to kneel beside Terry, but the paralysis made her body go limp before she could. She fell face-first into the dirt.
‘I don't want to die!! I don't want to get chewed to death by something like that!!’
She wriggled like an earthworm, inching her mouth toward it.
She scooped up the herb she'd stepped on, along with the dirt around it, with her tongue and swallowed it all.
A fresh scent spread. The paralysis poison receded. Overwhelming relief filled her body, and tears flowed on their own.
I'm so happy! I'm glad, but there's dirt in my mouth and it's gritty!! This is humiliating!!
‘I should've just kept my mouth shut instead of pulling that stunt!!’
As Shupi fought back tears, Gilliam sighed beside her.
“That's why I said you'd regret it….”
“I really do regret it, so please don't say that!!”
While Shupi and Terry were consumed by bitter regret,
Gilliam stepped forward and drew the sword he'd kept at his waist all this time.
The four-star greatsword <Waterfall Slash> appeared, gleaming brilliantly.
“Everchess!”
Magnum stepped forward with his great shield.
“I'll cover you! With only a sword in your hands, it'll be hard to land an effective hit!!”
“Right, Magnum is correct!”
Roy joined in, too.
“Thanks to the time you bought us and the way you freed us from the paralysis, now it's our duty as cadets to defeat that monster together…!”
A duty!
What a cool word.
“Ooooh!”
“As expected of the son of the illustrious House Edgers!”
Roy shouted again.
“Yes, this is our adventure and our achievement!! Just like the heroes of mythology!!”
“Uwooooh!!”
Any man would feel his blood stir at those words.
Even the women had sparkles in their eyes, thinking, ‘Ugh, th-that might actually be kind of nice…!’
“Thanks, everyone.”
Gilliam kept walking toward the monster without slowing down, alone.
“But you don't need to help.”
He rubbed the pure white stone he'd gotten from an alchemist Lucy knew along the surface of his sword.
〈Flame Crystal〉
Description: A crystal that can temporarily imbue a weapon with the fire attribute. Handle with extreme care.
White flames blossomed along the blade.
“!@%!%!%!!”
The Void Entity swung its vines. Attacks came at them from every direction, 360 degrees around.
“Gilliam!”
“You can't do this alone!!”
“We'll fight alongside you—”
Gilliam raised his sword high.
The three-star sword skill, Sword Cyclone.
〈Sword Cyclone〉
Description: A vortex of blades. In the hands of a master, it creates an absolute domain that no one can approach.
Whoosh! Whirrr, whirrr, whoooosh!!
He kept tracing circles with his sword, using his elbow as the pivot.
Crack!
Shunk!
The vines flying at him from all 360 degrees were all caught in the sword's arc.
The moment the fire-imbued blade touched them, it sliced through the vines and set them ablaze.
He crossed in an instant what should have been a difficult path, fighting through the vines one by one.
Then, standing before the Void Entity's main body, he raised his sword overhead.
“Hah!”
He brought it down and cleaved the whole thing in two.
Fwoooosh!!!
“!$%!!%!@$@”
The monster, neatly split in half, fell to either side.
Then it began to crumble away like black sand with a soft hiss.
“Phew.”
Gilliam rested the greatsword on his shoulder and turned to those who could only stare blankly.
“I'm glad that went well. Right?”
“….”
“….”
“….”
“….”
Those who could only stare blankly.
In other words.
The warrior who'd been about to charge with his shield, the swordsman who'd drawn his blade to join the fight, and the mage preparing to chant a spell.
Even the professors, who'd readied their own attacks in preparation for the worst.
They all thought as one.
No.
If you're going to hog all the cool moments for yourself, what are we supposed to do?
Roy in particular, who'd declared that they'd take on a task ‘just like the heroes of mythology,’ had to tremble with shame.