Chapter 47
Professor Glinbert.
One of the longest-serving faculty members at Grandia.
Whether judged by his experience or his skill, he was a man who deserved to be called a veteran.
Moreover, he was friendly toward players, and perhaps because of his kind appearance, he was quite popular.
Neugme.
(Meaning “Neugme.”)
Even in the original, he was a character with a rock-solid position.
However, as the story progressed, a shocking twist was revealed.
[Title:Fucking hell]
[Author:Be Grateful That We Exist]
What the hell is this???
I’m playing through the <The Insider’s Identity> story right now, but—
No fucking way, Professor Glinbert is the traitor?????
He was one of the few likable professors at Grandia??
The mentor who taught me magic, barrier arts, and ways to counter magic and curses, and supported me in every way throughout all three years, was secretly the insider???
This bastard was colluding with the cultists and trying to massacre the academy?
So this bastard was actually behind most of the incidents that happened at the academy?
He was the one who summoned those fucking Red and White Knights too?
You expect me to believe that kind of bullshit right now???
Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck
[It’s reality. If you don’t believe it, what can you do?]
-> What else can you do besides deny reality, you bastard? lol
[Have you deceived another student again... Glinbert]
-> The
-> world
-> is
-> just
-> how
-> things
-> are.
[Neubung! Wake up! Wake up from your kind and capable supervising professor! That isn’t reality! Your mentor isn’t real! There is no teacher’s grace or old professor’s mercy in this world! Wake up, Neubung! Wake up and live with us for the rest of your life, crossing seas of blood and mountains of corpses in this hopeless dark-fantasy world whose only otaku-game feature is its title, a world filled with calamity and betrayal! Wake up, Neubung!]
-> Be Grateful That We Exist) Fuck
The truth that Professor Glinbert was the insider had been revealed.
He was behind the major incidents that had erupted at the academy.
Naturally, the players’ reactions could only be explosive.
The mentor they had trusted enough to entrust their backs to had actually been a lackey of the enemy forces...
‘The boss stage was pretty damn difficult, too.’
By the latter half of the original story, Glinbert had long since crossed the line of what a teacher should be.
As the story progressed, he had grown steadily stronger as well.
The old professor’s quests that the player occasionally accepted.
Supplying him with various research materials had been strengthening Glinbert.
In the end, Glinbert completed an enhancement drug and became an existence that had truly transcended humanity.
‘Even the dean was outmatched by Glinbert...’
Even if he was only a mid-boss, there were levels to these things.
Since he appeared in the latter half of the original story, he was absurdly powerful.
Powerful enough that not only the students but even the faculty had to join the hunt.
[Title:This Glinbert bastard is fucking strong, seriously]
[Author:The Person Whose Neck Was Pulled Until Their Face Went White]
There’s no way you can clear this if you put together a half-assed party.
I don’t think you can beat him without bringing in the faculty.
This bastard was still fine even after taking Lanne’s full-powered attack.
Wouldn’t Lanne one-shot most mid-bosses at max level?
Glinbert kept dodging and landing critical hits in return.
In the end, we brought in several faculty members and barely managed to beat him.
[That’s because he has the Divine Power Immunity option]
-> Even at max level, Lanne couldn’t have hit the potential cap, right?
-> The Person Whose Neck Was Pulled Until Their Face Went White) Yeah, hitting the potential cap costs way too much money.
-> That’s normal. You have to raise your potential to the cap to pierce the Divine Power Immunity option.
[Glinbert is strong as hell]
-> In my experience, he was about as hard to beat as most calamities.
[I can’t even imagine Glinbert losing...]
-> The Person Whose Neck Was Pulled Until Their Face Went White) Still, he did go down once we brought in several faculty members, right?
-> Glinbert’s spiritual pressure... disappeared...?
He was an exceptionally troublesome opponent.
A boss that grew stronger.
On top of that, the field where he was permanently stationed, [Glinbert’s Research Lab], had no bugs I could exploit.
Like the Red Knight I encountered in ‘Chil-ya (漆夜)’ last time, he was an especially difficult opponent for me.
‘Well... that’s why I thought about it for a while.’
Then I realized I could simply cause total chaos.
If the situation was getting tangled, why not just turn the whole board over?
Come to think of it, there was no reason I had to follow the original story religiously.
The butterfly effect or whatever didn’t matter. If I cared about that sort of thing, the story would have already been destroyed the moment I enrolled.
‘In the original, the fact that Glinbert was the insider is revealed in the latter half...’
More precisely, it happened after <Alice’s Nightmare> ended and just before the fourth calamity, ‘Red Night (赤夜),’ descended.
Was it the second semester of the third year?
In the original, Glinbert shamelessly kept up his act until then.
‘Why should I wait for that?’
I decided to beat the shit out of him.
First, I would set a trap in the nearest incident, then secure irrefutable evidence that he was the insider.
Afterward, I would use all the suspicions I had accumulated in Javer to draw her into the game as my joker.
That way, I would win without using even a bit of my own strength.
The plan worked perfectly from beginning to end.
“Ugh, nghhh...”
And that was where we were now.
Glinbert rolled across the floor, a complete wreck.
The red-haired woman stood impassively before his pitiful form.
“S-save, me... pl-please, s-s-s-save me...”
His broken jaw made his pronunciation come out a mangled mess.
Perhaps he had lost consciousness, because only his body twitched feebly.
Javer removed her blood-soaked gloves without a scratch on her.
‘That’s brutal.’
Javer was utterly overwhelming.
Even taking into account that Glinbert had not yet been enhanced, they were in completely different leagues.
Glinbert was also a veteran professor whose seniority and skill put him among the academy’s best.
He was powerful enough to massacre an entire mob of students with a single gesture.
‘To do that to an opponent like him in an instant...’
And yet, it had been completely one-sided.
Every time Javer threw a punch, the old professor’s limbs twisted.
Even then, perhaps because she intended to capture him alive, she never struck a vital point.
She merely folded his bones and muscles this way and that, rendering him helpless.
Crack, crunch-.
“Kheugh, guh-heugh...”
In the end, Glinbert foamed at the mouth and passed out.
His bones had been broken in every direction, leaving him folded into the shape of a cube.
Was this that thing called Transformers or whatever?
“Krrk, ngh...”
Even so, she had apparently kept him thoroughly alive, because groans of agony drifted through the long hallway.
Despite how violent the scene was, I couldn’t help but feel exhilarated.
After all, this bastard had tormented me countless times in the original.
I looked down at the old professor’s eyes, rolled back until only the whites showed.
Then I smiled regretfully and offered him a quiet farewell.
“Oh dear... I wanted us to part with smiles, but you won’t even grant me that.”
Sob, sob-.
I lightly pretended to cry.
After spending a moment teabagging him, I soon saw Javer approaching, dusting off her hands.
“Student Victor.”
“Ah... Professor Javer.”
“The subdual is complete.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
That characteristically impassive gaze.
Her green pupils were fixed on me.
Even though the woman had just turned a colleague she had worked with for years—someone she had been discussing work with only a few hours ago—into something barely resembling a corpse, there was not a trace of disturbance in her eyes.
“······Are you all right?”
“I am merely following procedure.”
I probed her lightly, but as always, all I received was a brief answer.
Javer spoke with her lifeless expression.
“We, the faculty, will take Professor Glinbert into custody as he is. After extracting information through several rounds of interrogation, we intend to deal with him so that there will be no future repercussions.”
“Please do. If it comes to torture, will you be doing it yourself, Professor?”
“It seems the dean will be handling it personally this time.”
“Aha...”
I expressed my joy inwardly.
The cultist-slayer, a figure said to be called a living legend in that field.
To be tortured by someone like that, simply biting his tongue and dying would probably count as a good death.
‘The quest completion hasn’t appeared yet.’
The status window remained silent.
It seemed it would appear once Glinbert was imprisoned.
‘It should be completed by the end of tonight.’
That was something I could simply wait for.
As I was sorting things out, Javer suddenly spoke to me.
“Student Victor, are you all right? Were you injured anywhere, or are you feeling dizzy?”
“I’m perfectly fine, without a scratch. Thanks to you appearing in time, Professor Javer.”
“Even so, you should get examined once, just in case.”
“Heh heh, isn’t that a little overprotective?”
“This is also merely what the manual dictates.”
That characteristically blunt way of speaking.
Even so, I knew her concern was genuine.
“Thanks to you, we were able to apprehend the insider. Grandia Academy owes Student Victor a great debt. The faculty will certainly repay you in due course.”
“I didn’t do it expecting any reward...”
“Are you saying you do not need one?”
“I’m saying I’ll gratefully accept one if you give it to me.”
I matched her pace and spoke to her in a gentle tone.
Before long, Javer hesitated over her words, uncharacteristically.
Her pale-red lips finally parted.
“······You knew. About the surveillance.”
“Yes.”
“How did you notice?”
“Who knows? It’s my secret.”
“When did you notice?”
“That too.”
“I see.”
Javer calmly nodded.
The woman soon bent deeply at the waist.
A bow at a perfect right angle.
“I apologize.”
She offered a formal apology.
“Until now, I have suspected that Student Victor was connected to the unauthorized conquest of Purgatory’s 70th floor. In addition, I thought this practical training might be connected to it as well. That was why I followed Student Victor. I apologize.”
“Oh, Professor.”
“If you wish to reprimand me, I will hear as much as you like.”
“I’m all right. Please raise your head.”
“This is not something to brush off. I clearly took an adversarial stance toward a student.”
“Didn’t everything work out thanks to you? I received your help as well, Professor.”
“That is merely the result.”
Despite my asking her to raise her head, Javer stubbornly kept it bowed.
I could only smile awkwardly.
Chief Investigator Javer.
The dean’s adopted daughter and sole heir.
In practice, she was no different from the academy’s second-in-command.
“This is starting to feel like a lot of pressure...”
“I also promise compensation for the surveillance. During your time at the academy, if there is anything you wish for, tell me one thing. I will do my best to grant it. This is compensation for the mental stress Student Victor must have suffered, so please do not refuse.”
“Oh?”
In other words, I had received a single wish voucher.
The reward from the academy, plus Javer’s wish voucher.
It was a pretty sweet haul.
I nodded.
“All right. I’ll tell you the next time we meet.”
“Understood. Once again, I apologize.”
Bow-.
Only after apologizing one more time did the woman straighten her back.
Maybe it was my imagination, but Javer’s expression seemed slightly more relaxed.
Of course, that impassive gaze remained unchanged.
“Then, as it is late, I will take my leave. If you have no other appointments, please report to the counseling room in the main building this afternoon. We need to take a brief statement regarding the apprehension of the insider.”
“Of course. I’ll cooperate fully.”
“Thank you. Then, until next time.”
Javer coolly turned her back.
While dragging Glinbert, who had become a cube, along behind her.
Perhaps because of the wind that brushed past the window, the woman’s uniform coat fluttered.
“Heh heh.”
I watched her back and smiled with satisfaction.
The plan had succeeded.
Not merely succeeded—it had been a perfect clear.
‘Everything’s going smoothly.’
Humming, I left the research wing.
As I walked, the front pocket of my uniform soon began to squirm.
The princess, who had been quietly watching the situation, poked her head out.
[Victor.]
“Princess.”
[You have worked hard. You went to such lengths to capture the insider at this late hour...]
“Professor Javer’s side handled subduing Glinbert anyway.”
[Even so. You have worked hard.]
“Heh heh, thank you.”
[Then... are you returning to the dormitory now?]
“No. There’s somewhere I need to stop by first.”
[Hmm? But did that professor not tell you to return straight to the dormitory?]
“Do you really think I planned to keep that promise?”
[Of course not, but.]
It was not time to rest yet.
Unfortunately for the professor, there was still something left to take care of.
If you decide to cut down a tree, you should pull it out by the roots as well.
Ding-!
[Chain Quest]
-Title : Finish It Properly?
-Content : Wipe out the cultist branch that colluded with Professor Glinbert. Rescue the civilians captured as research materials.
-Penalty on failure : None
-Reward : A clue about ■■■
[Time limit : 6 hours 29 minutes 47 seconds]
I had cut away the branches and felled the trunk. Now it was time to pull out the roots.
The quest that would put a period to the long, long epic of the practical training.
I intended to smash a cultist branch.
“Are we leaving right away?”
“We should.”
By then, the princess had returned to her true form.
She was wearing the red mask I had given her earlier.
I rummaged through my clothes as well and drew my soul mate, ‘Absolute Balloon Sword.’
Moonlight streamed in.
“Ahh, this light, soft, squishy sensation...”
Had it been a while?
“It’s time to return to Garuric, the Sword Saint.”
Garuric & Manur of Slayers.
This time, we were setting out as ‘ver. Cultist Slayer.’.”