Chapter 217 : Chapter 217
Chapter 217
We agreed to Blue Light's negotiation.
With conditions.
"You requested protection, so we'll protect you to the best of our ability."
"......Tch. This isn't protection, it's probation. No, it's straight-up quarantine, isn't it? You're locking me up and putting me under surveillance."
"We don't have the means to procure that god-awful tobacco of yours. It'll cost money continuously, too. Isn't this better? You'll be healthier than any herbal remedy could make you."
Blue Light surveyed his surroundings with an expression of utter disgust.
He was currently confined in a room barely four pyeong in size.
The four walls were obsessively white, and the room was furnished with a desk, chair, bed, wardrobe, and washbasin.
The restroom for relieving himself and washing was separated by a single door beyond our view, but everything else was visible through specially treated glass.
"Feels like a zoo."
"Three clerics are supplying Holy Power around the clock. And various medicinal compounds refined by a 6th-circle Alchemist are gently diffusing through the room."
"That thing?"
Blue Light pointed with half-lidded eyes at a spot high on the wall.
A small white device periodically hissed, spraying an extremely fine mist.
"Pretty crude."
"Focus on the functionality. How's your body?"
Beside me, Sihan called into the room.
He was dressed in a white lab coat with glasses—full-blown researcher mode, unlike his usual self.
"Body's fine. No, better than fine—it's leagues beyond what my cigarettes could do. Damn. That's what makes it worse."
"For the next year, your food will be prepared with holy water as well. You'll be living in luxury."
"......Please just kill that Doppelgänger before then. Please. I'm begging you."
"Don't forget you agreed to provide information commensurate with that protection."
"Hah. Fine. I'll start giving you what you need."
Blue Light moved to the desk and picked up a metal plate.
It was the Magitech Pad we'd created for our educational system.
"Whatever you write there will transfer here."
"Ha. Truly extravagant technology for a place like this. A 6th-circle Alchemist can make something like this? The Empire's mages must all be imbeciles."
Blue Light turned the pad over in his hands, genuinely impressed.
He must have had information about the regressors but none about the transmigrator.
After examining the pad for a while, he seemed to have figured out how it worked and began tapping at the screen.
And shortly after.
On our own pads, information began slowly trickling in—details about Imperial nobles, intelligence units, internal affairs, and more.
The eyes of everyone watching moved rapidly.
'The secrets of viscounts, barons, and marquis houses. Most of them attend the Imperial Royal Academy.'
Some of it was straightforward—tax evasion, affairs—but there were also plots of treason and cases of pedophilia.
There was even a noble who indulged in thrill killings. People like that couldn't be allowed inside Akarind Academy.
'Terrifying.'
To think those nobles had continued operating normally despite intelligence like this existing.
It meant the intelligence units had been squeezing every last drop out of the nobles before planning to discard them.
'Stories about the students, the surrounding political landscape, the intelligence units. And then......'
Right around the time we expected information about high-ranking Imperial nobles, the Emperor, or the Imperial household to appear—
The writing stopped.
Everyone looked up.
Blue Light had already set down his pen, arms folded, watching us.
"There. That should cover one day's worth of protection fees."
One day's worth.
If information like this came for 365 days.
"That's damn good."
Rozalin let out a dry laugh.
***
"Some of the information matches things I already know."
"You already knew some of it?"
"There are people who were bound to cross paths with me eventually. The filthy ones on that list? I killed them all with my own hands. Or, if their personality was useful despite being garbage, I kept them alive and sucked them dry."
We couldn't vouch that everything was true, but there was clearly a degree of truth in it.
That alone was reason enough to negotiate with Blue Light.
Now it came down to a choice.
"Do we go kill the demon? Or do we leave it alive and extend the negotiations indefinitely?"
"Honestly, keeping that demon alive works in our favor."
Hati wasn't wrong.
This demon was continuously creating chaos inside the Empire.
For us, who wanted the Empire fractured, the Doppelgänger was practically an ally.
"And the ones it targets are people with weaknesses—people with something to hide."
Rozalin seemed to be thinking along the same lines.
"If it acts as a self-purifying mechanism inside the Empire and weeds them out for us, that's great for us."
She trailed off and turned to look at me.
That smile of hers seemed to read my mind.
"You're going to go hunt that demon, aren't you, Teacher?"
"Yeah."
A demon was a demon.
Eventually it would seize another body and make the world murkier.
Information's value changed depending on how it was used.
For instance, the creature could manipulate information to deepen the world's chaos, or corrupt capable individuals.
As long as it held the title of head of Dark Moon, we couldn't leave it be.
"And I don't feel right leaving Blue Light to suffer like that, either."
Whether he was a good person or a bad one, keeping him locked up in what amounted to a zoo didn't sit well with me.
If he was a bad person, a clean resolution would've been better.
As for the information, well.
'I can just look for myself.'
A little tedious, maybe, but I could just observe everyone who came through and check their behavior and mannerisms. It's only about twenty or thirty thousand people.
"......You can call that 'only'?"
Rozalin clicked her tongue in disbelief.
"Fine. So now we're going after Dark Moon. Conveniently, he did hand over that intel."
At the top of the information Blue Light had written was Dark Moon's recent movements.
The creature had followed Blue Light all the way down to our borders.
No matter how much knowledge, habits, and behavioral patterns of an intelligence operative it possessed, a demon was still a demon at its core.
Seizing a body seemed to be its top priority.
"I'll go take care of—"
"You can't."
Rozalin cut me off.
Pan, standing beside us, nodded. Sihan and Hati both did the same.
Huh?
"This opponent is a demon that takes a human as its host and copies all their memories and habits, right? Then you're the most dangerous one to send, Teacher."
"Am I......?"
"If any of us gets absorbed, you can just swoop in and slice through it. But if you get parasitized, none of us can beat you."
"I could beat him, you brat!"
"Gramps couldn't either. He's all talk."
The Spear God protested.
I protested too.
"How could I ever cut you all down?"
"Guh."
Rozalin squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose as if deeply moved.
What an overreaction.
"Anyway, we need to send someone else this time."
"Someone else?"
"Did you get the midterm results?"
I had.
They were as expected.
A total of five teams had passed the midterm exam.
One team beat Chamson.
Two teams beat Freizia. One beat Teaching Assistant Shasha, and one beat Teaching Assistant Jacy.
"Those teams are supposed to go hunt demons anyway, right?"
"You don't mean......"
"Yes! We send them!"
Rozalin's eyes sparkled.
"No."
We couldn't do that.
The final exam was indeed supposed to involve hunting demons.
But the condition was hunting relatively weak, simple demons—not sending students after a demon that might parasitize their bodies.
"That's exactly why we send students."
Rozalin looked at me.
"Because in a worst-case scenario, at least we can abandon someone weaker than us and run."
"Agreed."
"You're telling me to sacrifice students. That's a no."
No matter how powerful or dangerous this demon was, that was something I couldn't allow.
Students, of all people.
"If that's the intent, then absolutely not."
Rozalin had to know I'd object to this.
She was the disciple who understood me better than anyone.
Sure enough.
Rozalin smiled at me.
"What if all five of us go too?"
"Huh?"
"There are six teams anyway. So if six Experts—and Masters—are attached?"
She began counting off on her fingers, one by one.
"The teacher's one and only Master-level disciple, the breathtakingly beautiful lady swordsman, Rozalin. And Pan—whose good looks I'll concede, but whose swordsmanship falls a bit short."
Pan grumbled in annoyance at that.
"Then Duke Crownhardt, who's second to none when it comes to fighting monsters. And over there, the Spear God—gramps who's real good at killing people."
This time the Spear God snorted loudly.
"Hati, too—tons of mercenary experience, and he's slain a ridiculous number of demons. All of them joining forces."
Five fighters at Expert level or above.
And fifty people capable of Expert-level output.
On top of that, Zelta was among them.
"We're bringing a good strategist along too."
Rozalin wore a triumphant smile.
"Isn't this overkill?"
It was hard to argue.
With this kind of firepower, they might not be able to handle a World Eater, but anything a tier below that was well within reach.
Sacer, for instance.
Sacer had certainly been a powerful demon, but this force could hack it to pieces.
Could they even take on a General with this lineup?
"And it's not like we're leaving right away. She's coming soon, isn't she?"
I knew immediately who Rozalin meant.
Yuria.
The one nominated as the next Saintess—currently the most powerful wielder of divine power.
"When she gets here, she'll probably refuse to leave your side, Teacher...... but if you tell her it's a request from you, she'll go in a heartbeat."
With that level of powerful support, the odds climbed even higher.
"Besides, we have way more experience fighting demons than you do, Teacher."
That was true.
In your dream—in the future you lived through—you fought demons constantly.
"So please, trust us and let us handle this."
I looked at Rozalin, then at the eyes of everyone else.
Their gazes held certainty.
I could feel the confidence that they would absolutely eliminate the demon and return.
"All right."
That confidence was persuasive enough.
"I'll be waiting."
The next day.
An announcement regarding the final exam was issued to the students.
The teams that passed midterms would go on a demon hunt with their assigned mentors.
The hunt would begin in approximately one week.
Until then, students were to consult with their mentors and complete all expedition preparations.
"W-we're really going."
"This is insane."
"I'm kinda scared...... but it'll be fine, right?"
"We'll make it back alive."
The students spent the week in equal parts excitement and dread.
Since they were heading out on an expedition, everything from preparing travel jerky to spare boots, cloaks, armor, and countless other supplies had to be packed.
The mentors, without a single exception—even the Spear God—guided the students with the utmost care and sincerity.
And one week later.
"Teacher. I've arrived."
Yuria showed up.
"Then, Yuria. I'm counting on you."
"Pardon?"
The expedition departed.
"W-wait a moment. I rushed through every single course and came back specifically to be with you, Teacher, and thisiswhatIgetit'sblasphemyletgoofmeyouwickedminionsofdemonkind!"
"We're going to deal with a demon. Shut up and follow me."
Yuria was dragged off by the scruff of her neck, courtesy of Rozalin.