Chapter 114 : Chapter 114
Volume 2
Chapter 38: The Instigator
“Drop dead, you damned homo!”
His massive fist, wrapped in a biting gust of cold wind, slammed into Koren’s disgusting face with a dull thud.
In the instant silence of the training ground, the sound rang out with startling clarity.
Everyone froze, including Teacher Cade.
For a moment, countless stunned eyes stared at the sudden turn of events in the center of the field, and not a single person could speak.
Only Muen, watching that nauseating gay bastard with his coy, affected manner have his face twist beneath his fist before flying backward and passing out without even having time to scream, felt an immense sense of satisfaction well up inside him.
“Hah... that felt good.”
He let out a long breath, his mood instantly clearing.
To put it in the words of a cultivation novel, his thoughts had become perfectly unobstructed.
What did noble decorum matter?
What did outward image matter?
None of it was as important as beating this disgusting dead homo half to death first.
If Teacher Cade had not been standing right there, and if he had not known there was no chance he would be allowed another strike, he would have run over and stabbed him again for good measure.
“Muen Campbell!”
But the thrill of punching someone lasted only for a moment. In the very next instant, a mountain-like pressure came crashing down, forcing Muen’s body to sink slightly.
Teacher Cade let out a thunderous roar of rage as powerful energy rose from his body.
What had he just seen?
Someone had actually attacked another teacher during his class, right in front of him?
This was Saint Maria Academy, the Empire’s highest seat of learning.
Even Her Highness the Princess was no more than an ordinary student here and had to obey the academy’s rules.
“Muen Campbell! Just what do you think you’re doing?”
Teacher Cade reached out with one great hand toward Muen.
No matter what, he had to subdue this lawless brat first.
But the moment his hand extended, he saw Muen throw both hands up, mimicking a salute from some country in his previous life.
“Wait, wait, wait, Teacher Cade. I’m afraid of pain. Don’t grab me. I’m not going to run.”
“You—”
Cade’s hand froze midair.
He had hit someone and not run, and on top of that he still dared to act this calm.
This was the first time Cade had ever seen anyone so outrageously arrogant.
“Muen Campbell, do you understand what you’ve done? Striking a teacher at Saint Maria Academy means that even with your special status, you must still face severe punishment!” Teacher Cade’s eyes darkened.
“Indeed, striking a teacher deserves punishment.”
Muen nodded, then spread his hands.
“But I didn’t hit a teacher.”
He paused, then said seriously:
“I hit a bandit. A disgusting bandit, at that. I merely saw that a bandit had infiltrated the academy and acted to rid the people of harm.”
“You are still spouting nonsense!”
Teacher Cade was so furious he was nearly dizzy.
“You have slandered an upright and excellent teacher again and again. What exactly are you trying to do?”
“I’m not slandering anyone. I’m telling the truth.”
“You—insolent brat!”
Teacher Cade was so enraged he nearly wanted to step in and beat Muen himself.
But this was still the academy.
As a teacher, he had no authority to punish a student privately.
Especially not someone of Muen’s status.
So instead, he was forced to think about how best to handle this matter.
And at that moment, after their brief shock, the students in the stands also began to recover their senses.
What had just happened?
Muen Campbell had actually attacked a teacher?
This was exciting.
Most of the students were nothing more than eager spectators hungry for gossip.
So upon seeing such a rare scene, they immediately erupted like a pot of boiling water, discussing it in excitement.
At this point, nearly everyone watching was still just caught up in the exhilaration and commotion of having such juicy drama to witness.
After all, no matter how favorable their impression of Koren had been before, they did not actually know him personally.
So not many had yet begun thinking in terms of who was right and who was wrong.
Until—
“Muen Campbell, how could you do something like this?”
The sudden accusation rang out with startling clarity amid the uproar.
The field instantly fell quiet again.
Muen’s gaze sharpened as his eyes swept swiftly across the stands.
He found nothing.
The voice had come from a clearly different place than before.
“That’s right, Muen Campbell, how could you hit a teacher?”
“Hitting a teacher is wrong!”
“Teacher Koren is such a good man...”
“Muen Campbell, even if you’re the Duke’s son, you still shouldn’t do something like this. The academy is not a place where you can do whatever you want...”
“Apologize.”
“That’s right, apologize!”
Now that someone had taken the lead, some of the students who had long been brimming with righteous indignation but had not dared speak because of Muen’s status suddenly no longer had any reservations.
The tallest tree catches the wind, but now that there was already someone standing out in front, what did they have left to fear?
And besides, even if you, Muen Campbell, were powerful and high-born, there was no shortage of students here from prominent noble families themselves. It was not as if you could retaliate against all of them.
So cries of righteous condemnation rose in waves.
Many of them even flushed red with excitement, immersed in the thrill of playing heroes slaying an evil dragon.
That was right. Muen Campbell, abusing the fact that he was the Duke’s son to do whatever he pleased, was the evil dragon.
And they were the brave heroes, unafraid of power, armed with justice and righteousness.
Ordinarily, they could only cower and say nothing to him.
But now that they stood upon the moral high ground, could they not at least point fingers at him?
At this moment, what Muen had actually done had already ceased to matter.
“You people...”
Teacher Cade frowned.
He had finally noticed that the students’ emotions were beginning to turn in an unhealthy direction, and he was just about to speak up to stop them—
“You know, if you hadn’t said that, I almost would have forgotten.”
A clear, bright voice echoed out as Muen suddenly took two steps forward and stood before them.
He straightened his student uniform, which had become slightly disheveled from throwing that punch, then looked over the crowd and revealed a warm smile so flawless that no one could find the slightest fault in it.
“I, Muen Campbell, happen to be the famous Duke’s son.”
“...”
The entire field went silent at once.
Everyone stared at Muen in astonishment.
What was going on?
Was Muen Campbell really going to use his status as the Duke’s son to stand against so many people?
“Even a Duke’s son can’t do whatever he wants!”
A voice from within the crowd said.
“That’s right, a Duke’s son can’t do whatever he wants.”
“Muen Campbell, you’re far too arrogant and overbearing!”
“Apologize to the teacher first.”
More voices immediately joined in.
“No, I think you misunderstand what I mean.”
Faced with all the accusations, Muen’s expression did not change in the slightest.
As his eyes searched the crowd for something, he said calmly,
“I have no intention of using my status to oppress anyone. I merely want to prove that I’m right.”
“And how do you plan to prove that?”
“Didn’t I just say so? I’m the Duke’s son.”
Muen looked at them with a smile, but his tone was colder than iron.
“How long do you think it would take me, with the power of the ducal household behind me, to verify someone’s identity?”
“...”
“One day should be enough, shouldn’t it?”
Muen turned to Cade.
“What do you think, Teacher Cade? If I investigate and it turns out that Koren really is a bandit, then would my actions just now still count as wrong?”
“This...”
Cade frowned.
If Koren truly was a bandit, then Muen’s actions just now would naturally not be wrong.
More than that, for exposing a dangerous figure hidden within the academy, Muen would actually have to be publicly commended.
But...
How could a perfectly ordinary teacher suddenly turn out to be a bandit?
Those two identities were far too far apart.
And besides, Teacher Koren was so manly, imposing, and talkative.
In every respect, he perfectly matched the sort of temperament Cade admired.
That was why, when Principal Pink Bear said he wanted to assign Koren as his assistant instructor, Cade had actually been quite pleased.
But now that he calmed down and thought about it carefully, while Muen Campbell’s reputation had always been poor, he also did not really have any reason to suddenly target a teacher for no cause.
“Could it be...”
Cade recalled Principal Pink Bear’s usual unreliable manner and suddenly felt a very bad premonition.
...
“But what if you falsify the results?”
Just as some people were beginning to think Muen’s words might actually hold a little truth, that drifting, unfixed voice sounded out again.
Like a stone skipping again and again across the surface of a quiet lake, it stirred up fresh waves.
And so the “righteous” heroes once again found new “proof” of the dragon’s evil and eagerly pressed on.
“That’s right, you’re the Duke’s son. Framing someone should be easy for you.”
“If we give you time, wouldn’t that just put Teacher Koren in greater danger?”
“The ducal household might even silence him directly. Gods, how terrifying!”
“Muen Campbell, we don’t believe you!”
Muen’s expression darkened.
He instantly felt that this was going badly.
If public opinion was pushed in this direction, then his status would instead become an obstacle to the truth.
After all, most people harbored an extreme distrust of power beyond their reach.
Should he ignore them for now and reveal the facts afterward? Or...
“That’s true. Any proof produced afterward can easily be faked.”
At that moment, a cold, clear voice suddenly echoed through the vast training ground.
“In that case, why not prove it on the spot?”
The voice was not loud, but it carried an innate nobility and pride. In an instant, the noisy training ground fell silent.
“The student council president?”
“Selicia?”
Everyone instinctively turned toward the silver-white figure standing in the entrance of the training ground, their faces full of confusion.
“P-President... Are you trying to take Muen Campbell’s side?”
That shifting voice sounded out once more, trying at once to pin the label of favoritism toward Muen onto Selicia.
But this time, no one echoed it.
Because the name Selicia carried too much weight.
Everyone knew she had a betrothal with Muen Campbell, yet when she stood there, not a single person felt that she would do something as petty as “take Muen Campbell’s side.”
Thus only one of the students who had been shouting the loudest before, his face pale, managed to gather the courage to ask:
“W-What do you mean by proving it on the spot, President?”
Selicia glanced toward a certain place below the stands, and a trace of amusement flashed through her eyes, but she said nothing. Instead, she turned to Muen and asked:
“Muen Campbell, will you take responsibility for what you just said?”
Muen froze for a moment, then nodded firmly.
“Of course.”
“Slandering and attacking a teacher is not a minor offense at Saint Maria.”
“He isn’t a teacher. He’s a bandit,” Muen said seriously.
Selicia stared into Muen’s eyes. After a while, she suddenly nodded.
“Very well. I hope what you’ve said is true.”
With that, she flipped her hand and produced a transmission stone of an extremely unusual design.
Soon enough, the stone connected, and a respectful voice came from the other side.
“Your Highness.”
“Connect me to the Belland Third Intelligence Office.”
“At once.”
A burst of static came from the transmission stone, followed by another voice, this one elderly.
“What are Your Highness’s orders?”
“Search the list of wanted criminals from the last three years in Belland and the surrounding regions. Keywords: bandit, Koren, scar, bald, male.”
“At once.”
The transmission stone fell silent.
And with it, the enormous training ground sank into utter stillness as well.
Everyone stared in disbelief at the girl who had casually mobilized a level of power beyond ordinary people’s imagination. No one even dared breathe too loudly.
Even Muen was inwardly swearing in awe.
As expected of Selicia.
That domineering way of hers, where she could casually dig up your entire family history on a whim, really made one want to cling to her black-stockinged leg and start singing “Conquest.”
Still, Muen could not help feeling uneasy.
What if Koren had never actually been wanted?
“Your Highness, the results are in.”
The transmission stone came alive again very quickly.
“Speak.”
“Koren Vorso, bandit. A small-time bandit active in the mountain ranges around Lake Bepol beginning three years ago. Distinguishing features: a large scar on his face, bald, male. Estimated cultivation: peak of the second rank.”
“The peak of the second rank?”
Selicia arched her brow. “A bandit that weak managed to stay active for three years?”
The sound of pages turning came from the other side of the transmission stone, as though the speaker were checking a file.
“According to the report, although Koren Vorso’s cultivation is not high, he possesses a mysterious escape art and is extremely cunning. Furthermore, in these three years he has only robbed people of money and never of their virtue, and he has never once taken a life. So after several failed attempts to capture him, the local authorities lowered his priority to the lowest level. Even his bounty was only five thousand Amiel.”
“All right. I understand.”
Selicia cut off the transmission stone at once.
In simple terms, the people below had decided this fellow was too troublesome to catch and not remotely worth the cost. So after making a few token attempts, they had simply stopped bothering.
After all, he posed little threat.
That was why even after being wanted, he had been able to keep wandering around everywhere without even changing his name or appearance.
“But what I did not expect...”
Selicia’s eyes turned cold.
“...was that our Principal Pink Bear would hand me such a marvelous disaster.”
No matter how low the threat, he was still a bandit.
Under normal procedures, for an ordinary teacher to take up a post at Saint Maria, he had to pass through layer after layer of review.
Even the slightest blemish within three generations of his family would bar him from entering this top academy, where nobles were everywhere and prodigies were as common as stray dogs.
Yet somehow, at an academy where even a father having once visited a brothel would have disqualified you, they had actually hired a bandit as a teacher?
If word of this got out, the whole academy would become the laughingstock of the Empire.
The evil gods had failed to accomplish what Pink Bear had nearly managed with ease.
“The greatest vulnerability in the academy... is actually the principal?”
Selicia nearly laughed from sheer disbelief.
But whatever.
There was no need for her to get angry on his account. Someone else would deal with him later.
For now...
Selicia lowered her eyes and looked at Koren, who was lying on the ground.
“Are you still going to keep pretending to be unconscious, Mr. Bandit?”
“...”
“Heh.”
Seeing that Koren still did not move, Selicia lifted one hand slightly, and a longsword of frozen crystal condensed in her grasp.
“If you still haven’t woken up, then let me test my sword on you.”
“W-Wait, wait, I’m awake, I’m awake! Please move that sword farther away!”
Koren sprang upright in a panic and stared fearfully at the icy sword in Selicia’s hand.
“This feigned-death martial skill of mine can fool even fourth-rank warriors. How did you see through it?”
“I couldn’t.”
Selicia lowered the sword and said coldly,
“I just figured that with Muen Campbell’s soft, flimsy little body, one punch shouldn’t have knocked you out for this long. So I decided to test you.”