Chapter 31
I absolutely could not understand the current situation.
Wasn't that guy supposed to be a genius professor at the Academy?
Someone so capable that everyone here worshipped him. I figured he wouldn't even be fazed by normal attacks, so I just gave him a light shove.
He collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
The professor's face turned deathly pale.
Blood trickled down from the corner of his mouth.
'W-what? I definitely didn't hit him that hard!'
This was the Imperial Academy, of all places.
It made no logical sense for someone who couldn't even maintain Magic Enhancement to work here as a professor.
Yet why did this happen? I even started to wonder if I was under some illusion magic, but there was no time to pinch my cheeks to check.
A chilling gaze from behind.
When I turned around, I saw the Primordial Dragon.
The wrapped cookies dropped from her hand with a thud.
Tears streamed down her cheeks. Even someone as socially unaware as her could tell this wasn't a good sign.
The Acting Director's mind raced frantically.
Her survival instinct kicked in, and her quick-thinking brain soon suggested how to navigate this situation.
'R-right! This has to be an act!'
The texture of the blood he spat seemed off somehow.
Plus, if even a fraction of the rumors about Ryan were true, he should be skilled enough to face down demons. Getting this badly injured from a light shove just didn't add up.
And the Primordial Dragon appearing right when he coughs up blood? All these clues point to one truth.
'To think he came up with this self-harm scheme in such a short time.'
He must have sensed the Primordial Dragon coming and started preparing. I can't help but be impressed by his thoroughness.
I wondered why he wouldn't accept such a favorable truce offer.
He was planning to use the Academy's principal to escalate things and take care of not just her but the Golden Duke too.
'But if that's how you want to play it, I have my own methods.'
The solution to this wicked scheme is quite simple.
Just tell the Primordial Dragon this is all Ryan's plot and that she's being manipulated by him. Problem solved.
Once decided, there's no need to hesitate.
She kicked Ryan hard as he lay there.
He's pretending to be unconscious now, but this should make him flinch and expose his act.
But contrary to expectations, Ryan didn't move an inch, as if truly unconscious, and she ended up looking like she was just provoking the Primordial Dragon, making the atmosphere even more murderous.
"...Huh?"
Dizziness washed over me.
I absolutely could not make sense of the current situation.
Whether he was seriously injured from the start, or passed out after taking my full-force kick during his act, or if even this response is all part of the performance.
It was impossible to predict anything, but in truth, whichever was correct didn't really change anything.
The vertically slitted eyes of the massive dragon.
The enraged Primordial Dragon was looking down at her.
Know that you have brought about your own end by your own hands.
Her legs trembled uncontrollably at the overwhelming presence.
The moment she took in its majesty, she realized.
The dragon before her was not something she could fight and win against.
A being far beyond normal scale. She was nothing but an ant that could be crushed underfoot at any time.
How foolish to have momentarily thought they were equals just because it took human form. There was no way persuasion would work.
She had disturbed the dragon's mood.
At that point, everything was already over.
The Primordial Dragon tenderly caressed the fallen Ryan.
While healing him, she whispered in his ear that she would surely repay the pain he received.
I will burn everything you love. I will burn every trace that you ever existed in this world.
A voice filled with unfathomable rage.
The dragon declared with clear hostility toward her.
But even when your heart is broken and shattered and you finally wish for everything to end, peace shall never come. That is the only ending permitted to you.
A threat that she wouldn't be granted a clean death. At the same time, the crushing pressure that had been weighing on her vanishes.
Of course, she knew this wasn't good fortune.
She understood it was to prevent her from letting go of hope, to deliver even greater despair. To more thoroughly break and torture her spirit.
'But it's not like I can just quietly wait to die either!'
Tears streamed endlessly down her cheeks.
Why do these things keep happening? The Acting Director cursed her misfortune as she ran like mad.
*****
She needed to ask someone for help.
But who on earth could she possibly ask?
No matter where she looked, all she saw were enemies.
Everyone at the Academy went berserk upon hearing Ryan had collapsed, and the massive dragon is still pursuing her relentlessly.
'Why haven't you contacted me yet!'
Her only hope, the Golden Duke.
Though he said he'd try to resolve the situation somehow when she reported it, nothing had changed.
No response since then.
There was no sign of things improving.
"Found her! That demon is hiding here!"
Such voices came from somewhere.
All her means of self-defense, every method at her disposal - even escaping was reaching its limit.
Even if by some miracle she managed to escape from the enraged students and professors here, she couldn't escape the Primordial Dragon's sight. All her struggles were meaningless.
Just delaying the horrific end that was already decided. There could be no hope.
Surely there could have been no hope.
Footsteps approached.
In the distance, armored knights drew near. The Empire's insignia engraved on their armor. Seeing that, color returned to her face once more.
"...What exactly is happening here?"
A white-haired girl commanding the knights asked.
What was happening now was obvious.
The Primordial Dragon was openly rampaging and spewing breath attacks everywhere. Of course the Imperial Family would have to come check what was going on.
In a situation where she was surrounded by enemies on all sides, reliable forces that might take her side had come of their own accord.
'I can't let this chance slip away.'
Her final lifeline.
There was no room for error here. The Acting Director put everything into her performance.
"...It's Ryan! That new professor showed his true colors and is deceiving the Primordial Dragon to destroy the Academy!"
The new professor turned out to be a Demonkin.
His unnaturally high reputation and devoted followers were all obtained through the power of demons he had contracted with.
This scenario seemed quite plausible.
If anything, gaining everyone's devotion in just a month without a demon contract made even less sense.
"Everyone except me has been brainwashed. His goal must be to destroy this place and steal the remains of the Demon King sleeping underground."
A secret of the Academy learned through her director authority.
This was a matter serious enough to threaten national security.
Whatever slept beneath seemed to be a being that defied common sense on par with the Primordial Dragon, with the possibility of revival at any time.
If the Imperial Family heard it might fall into demon hands, of course they would be outraged.
"Please lend me your aid! Let us join forces to stop the evil plans of Ryan, humanity's betrayer!"
The Acting Director put on a resolute expression.
She boldly extended her hand toward the white-haired girl, and.
With a thud, her right arm was severed.
A sword of light appearing from nowhere. The 5th Imperial Princess who instantly made the director one-armed smiled viciously.
"You certainly have a long-winded way of asking for death."
It was the moment when twenty Imperial Knight divisions were added to the procession meant to capture and torture her.
******
Where exactly did it all go wrong?
Surely I hadn't made any mistakes.
Since such opportunities wouldn't come again, I never let go of the justification I'd grasped and rushed toward termination.
After being suspended, there was just one step left.
The situation should have been closer to success than ever, and yet.
Why did it turn out like this again?
As I pondered this, I suddenly realized.
Something must have been wrong even before problems arose. Rather than feeling relieved when things went smoothly according to plan, I should have been worried.
Not that I was lucky to avoid bad luck this time, but that it was steadily accumulating to strike later.
"...What kind of mess is this, seriously."
A massive dragon burning the world.
War with the Golden Duke's faction within the Academy pushing for my disciplinary action. The Empire's knights not only failing to stop it but participating more enthusiastically than anyone in the riot.
Insane Mohican students laughing "ha ha" as they throw Molotov cocktails at the board room building.
This isn't some apocalypse story.
Looking at the Academy that had turned to chaos overnight, I let out a sigh heavy enough to sink into the ground.
...It seemed things had gotten a bit out of hand.