Chapter 120 : Chapter 120
Volume 2
Chapter 44 : Eighty
“Who are you?”
Muen frowned as he asked.
He had been at the academy for quite a while now. He should not have provoked any little girls here yet.
Could this be some mess left behind by the original owner of this body?
No, that did not seem right either. Given the original owner’s tastes, there was no way he would have been interested in a girl like this.
“D-Don’t you remember me, Muen?”
The little girl got up from the bushes, dead leaves still clinging to her head. She adjusted the black-rimmed glasses on her face, which had gone crooked from how agitated she was, and said timidly,
“I’m Sherry Flander. I’m also a second-year student, just like you. I was there in martial skills class before.”
“Sherry Flander?”
Muen rubbed his chin and thought about it, but the name did not ring any bells at all.
And martial skills class...
Back then, in order to find the source of that inexplicable malice, he had swept his gaze across the students below over and over again.
Even so, it seemed he had never noticed a girl like her among them.
Was she really that inconspicuous?
“You might not remember my name, Muen, b-but if I mention one thing, then you should know.”
Sherry lowered her head, not daring to meet Muen’s eyes, and stammered,
“The... the library. A-after-school lessons?”
Muen froze.
Those were some alarmingly suggestive keywords.
They could lead people to all kinds of strange misunderstandings!
And besides, with her looking like such an honor student, was she really not afraid something would go wrong saying that sort of thing to a blond villain like him?
Muen could not help grumbling inwardly.
But then, a spark of realization flashed through his mind.
Huh?
Wait?
Those words...
Muen suddenly remembered.
“Oh, you’re the girl from the library who misunderstood me before?”
“Y-Yes.” Sherry nodded vigorously.
“So it was you.”
Muen rubbed his chin.
Back when he had first entered the academy, he had found this girl in the library while searching for a classmate who could tutor him. But because his image at the time had been truly terrible—a playboy, a man juggling more than a dozen girls at once, practically a menace to women—this innocent, naïve girl had thought he had ulterior motives, which led to that misunderstanding and ended with her kicking him as well.
“So... why were you following me?” Muen asked in confusion.
“B-Because I wanted to apologize to you,” Sherry said in a low voice.
“Apologize?” Muen stared at her in astonishment.
“I’m very sorry, Muen. I really misunderstood you back then.”
With both hands clenched together, Sherry lowered her head in an extremely respectful apology.
“At the time, I was misled by those rumors. I thought you were some scumbag who tricked girls, so I...Later, after everything that’s happened recently, I gradually realized that you weren’t as bad as I imagined. When I thought back on it after that... I realized that maybe you really had only wanted me to help tutor you.”
“That really was all it was.”
Muen smiled helplessly.
But now that he thought about it, he felt a little grateful for her misunderstanding.
Because of that, he had ended up meeting Senior Anna.
“Usually, I never get the chance to run into you, so I wanted to take this opportunity while I still could...”
“So in other words, you skipped martial skills class?” Muen said in surprise.
“W-Well, Teacher Cade already left anyway, didn’t he?” Sherry said, her cheeks reddening.
As she spoke, she suddenly pulled out a bamboo basket covered with red cloth from behind her back and presented it to Muen with both hands.
“What’s this?”
“This is just a small token of my apology.”
Probably out of embarrassment, Sherry kept tracing circles on the ground with the tip of her shoe as she said,
“I couldn’t possibly apologize empty-handed, so... I prepared a gift.”
“You really didn’t have to do this.”
Muen smiled when he heard that.
“I forgot about that whole thing a long time ago. It would have been fine even without an apology.”
“B-But if I didn’t, I would feel terribly uneasy.”
Sherry suddenly raised her voice.
“Please accept it, Muen.”
“I see. What’s inside?”
“S-Some pastries I made myself.”
Sherry said awkwardly,
“My family isn’t well-off, and I do not have much money, so this was the only way I could apologize.”
“Homemade pastries...”
Muen lifted the cloth covering the basket, and at once the fragrance of cake drifted out, making his mouth water.
It was obvious that Sherry was quite skilled at cooking.
“In that case, I’ll accept them.”
If it had been something valuable, then he absolutely could not have taken it.
But since she had clearly put so much sincerity into this, Muen felt that refusing again would only be rude.
“Th-Thank you!”
“No, I’m the one who should be thanking you. The cakes look delicious.”
“Th-Then I won’t disturb you any longer, Muen. Goodbye!”
Sherry gave him a deep bow.
“I’ll bring you more pastries next time too.”
“Huh? Next time?”
Before Muen could fully react, Sherry had already turned and fled as if she were running for her life.
But from her somewhat stiff movements, and the way she nearly tripped over herself, it was obvious that she had been nervous around him the entire time.
“Sherry Flander, huh? She seems like a pretty nice girl.”
Watching Sherry’s retreating figure, Muen could not help smiling.
He looked down at the cakes in the basket in his hand.
“Well, I guess I don’t need to go to the cafeteria anymore.”
With that, he changed direction and prepared to head straight back to the dormitory.
With the basket in hand, his steps felt light.
“For some reason, this feels just like Little Red Riding Hood in the forest.”
Muen muttered to himself, making a joke that only he understood.
At some point, the wind began to blow again, setting the entire forest rustling.
As the breeze moved through the woods, the chill of late autumn slipped through Muen’s sleeves and trouser legs, greedily licking at his skin.
Muen shivered.
Just a moment ago, he had been thinking that he should hurry back to the dormitory and put on an extra layer.
But the very next moment, he came to a sudden stop.
His expression turned grave.
Because he felt it again—that hidden gaze lurking within the autumn wind.
“So it wasn’t Sherry?”
Muen frowned, then quickly realized the truth.
Sherry had only been following him to apologize, so there was no way her gaze could have felt this cold, with that hair-raising chill in it.
“Thinking about it now... maybe it is not a pervert either.”
Just as that thought crossed his mind, Muen suddenly noticed the bushes and leaves at his side rustling.
Something was approaching.
“Who’s there?!”
Muen barked in a low voice, one hand already moving behind his back.
Then the bushes parted, and the first thing that met Muen’s eyes... was a pair of green-glowing eyes, cold and cruel.
Was that...
“A wolf?”
Muen froze and even thought he might be seeing things, so he blinked hard.
But it really was a wolf—a blood-red wolf taller than half a man.
Its crimson fur was so striking, and yet until the wolf stepped out of the bushes on its own, Muen had not noticed it at all.
“What the hell?”
Muen glanced at the bamboo basket in his hand, still covered with red cloth, and could not help twitching at the corner of his mouth.
“So if you’re Little Red Riding Hood, then you absolutely have to run into a big bad wolf?”
Joking aside, Muen did not dare let his guard down in front of the blood-red wolf.
This was Saint Marika Academy. Who knew what sort of bizarre thing a wolf with such an obviously unnatural color might turn out to be?
A teacher’s pet?
Or had one of those magical beasts kept by the notoriously troublesome Magical Beast Club escaped again?
But no matter what it was, Muen’s instincts told him that the situation was bad.
The crimson giant wolf did not attack right away. Instead, it prowled back and forth not far from Muen.
It seemed to be searching for his weaknesses, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Muen did not dare relax either. His gaze stayed locked on the blood wolf as he slowly shifted his position.
No matter where the wolf had come from, the smart choice was not to get entangled with it, but to get away as fast as possible.
This was the academy.
Unless he ran into one of those adorable first-years, then even some old janitor sweeping the streets could probably help Muen crush this wolf into dust.
Besides, the road he was on was not that remote. As long as he waited a little longer for class to end and students to start coming out, then—
In that instant, cold dread struck him.
The premonition of death that had been tempered through countless deaths inside the black book seized his hair like some horrible little relative’s child.
Turn around!
Turn around!
The danger is behind you!
Without hesitation, Muen spun around sharply and saw, amid the lush green, a blood-red blur leaping straight at him.
A second one!
The first wolf had only feigned drowsiness to lure him in?
Damn it! It was that smart?
There was no time to think.
Muen hurled the bamboo basket in his hand at the blood wolf.
The basket itself would not do any damage, of course, but the red cloth spread out in an instant, blocking the wolf’s vision.
The fragrant cakes scattered in every direction.
There was no time to feel sorry about them. With his free hand, Muen slammed down on the blood wolf’s head, and then the hand he had been keeping hidden behind his back shot out, plunging the short blade he had been gripping straight into the wolf’s throat.
Blood sprayed.
The blood wolf let out a few pained cries, convulsed, and then went still.
But Muen did not even have time to breathe a sigh of relief.
Because he could already feel the stinking, bloody wind surging toward him from the other side.
The first blood wolf had not been idle either.
The moment Muen turned to kill the second one, it lunged without the slightest hesitation.
Its claws stretched out, its fangs bared, just like a predator going for its prey’s vital point.
Muen did not look back, because he knew it was already too late even if he did.
He simply followed his instincts and twisted his body.
Crack crack crack crack.
A series of crisp sounds like beans popping came from inside Muen’s body, as though hundreds of bones were grinding against one another, as joints shifted in defiance of all common sense.
Muen’s body bent into a bizarre arc, and at that impossibly close distance, he actually managed to evade the blood wolf’s pounce.
But the wolf’s claws still raked savagely across his shoulder, leaving behind several gruesome bloody gashes.
Feeling the stinging heat of pain in his shoulder, Muen’s expression hardened. He thrust a hand straight into the wolf’s jaws.
Its barbed tongue tore his skin, its sharp canine teeth pierced his flesh, and the agony in his hand and shoulder hit his nerves all at once.
But Muen still clamped onto the wolf’s lower jaw as tightly as if he were gripping the handle of a club.
Then, with a twist of the wrist, a violent turn, and a downward smash—
The blood wolf’s body traced a perfect half circle through the air, flipped one hundred eighty degrees, and crashed onto its back, exposing its vulnerable belly.
Without even a moment’s hesitation, Muen lunged on top of it and stabbed the short blade in his hand straight into its heart.
The blood wolf struggled once, then quickly went limp.
Muen pulled out the dagger and leaned against a nearby tree, panting in short, harsh breaths.
Only a few breaths had passed since the second blood wolf launched its attack on him.
But the danger packed into those few seconds was enough to leave lingering fear in his heart.
After all, he had never expected there to be a second blood wolf—one that could silently creep up behind him and launch a surprise attack.
“No. I need to leave. Now.”
Those blood wolves had not happened upon him by accident.
The way they attacked felt more like an ambush meant specifically for him.
Not to mention that gaze...
Muen swept his eyes over the injuries on his shoulder and hand.
His expression darkened.
After steadying his breathing for only a moment, he immediately prepared to leave.
But then he heard water.
The sound of flowing water.
A quiet, murmuring current.
But there was no water here. So where was that sound coming from?
Muen lowered his head and looked at the ground.
The two blood wolf corpses were melting like honey left beneath searing heat.
They became two pools of blood.
Soon, the pools began to churn and bubble as though some invisible furnace were boiling them.
Then, out of those boiling pools of blood, new blood wolves stepped forth, shaking their heads, baring their fangs and claws.
Two became four.
The four newly born blood wolves exhaled foul breath from their nostrils.
Their ghostly green eyes glowed with cold cruelty as they slowly surrounded Muen.
Muen’s entire body went cold.
But not because of the wolves closing in on him.
In truth, his earlier disadvantage had only happened because he had been unsure what these blood wolves were, so he had chosen to observe cautiously and ended up getting ambushed.
Now that he had roughly gauged their individual strength, they were only at the level of low-grade magical beasts.
Even surrounded, Muen was absolutely confident he could escape.
After all, running away had always been his specialty.
The problem was that, at this moment, he recognized what these blood wolves really were.
They were not magical beasts, and they were not pets.
Born from pools of blood, lacking true substance, yet possessing all the savagery and ferocity of real magical beasts.
As long as they had enough magic power supporting them, they could keep reviving from the pools of blood over and over, each time in greater numbers and stronger than before.
This was a special summoning spell, and in Muen’s memory, there was only one person who used it.
Someone he—or rather, the original owner of this body—had once known extremely well.
“Aemon?”
Muen looked into the depths of the forest.
“Is that you?”
“...”
No answer came.
But footsteps did.
A thin shadow stepped through the fallen leaves blanketing the woods and came to a stop in front of Muen.
“Long time no see, Muen Campbell.”
That face remained hidden in shadow, impossible to make out clearly, but the exposed half of his mouth curved in what seemed like a mocking smile.
“I never thought you’d still remember me. What an honor.”
“You—”
For a brief moment Muen froze, and then anger suddenly rose in his chest.
“Why are you doing this?”
In Muen’s memory, Aemon Biandi had been very close to him—or rather, very close to the original owner of this body.
He had been the most loyal of the original Muen’s lackeys, helping him do all manner of vile things. People had even called him the Wolf of Campbell.
He had been Muen’s most capable subordinate, and many acts of persecution against Ariel had been carried out by him personally.
For instance, at the very start of the school term, he had challenged Ariel, only to be stopped by Muen.
So Muen had never imagined that Aemon would suddenly attack him.
And judging from the look of things, this was not some joke. Aemon was truly trying to kill him.
As a result, Muen could not help but feel a surge of fury—as if he had been betrayed by someone close to him.
“Answer me, Aemon. Why are you doing this? Were you controlled by someone? Or is it...”
“Ha. Why am I doing this?”
Aemon interrupted him. His hoarse voice dripped with bitter mockery.
“You should know better than anyone else, Young Master Muen.”
“Me?”
Muen frowned in confusion.
Had he done something?
But over this period of time, in order to change himself, Muen had completely cut ties with his former circle of wastrel noble friends. He had not even contacted Aemon.
He had never thought of Aemon as a mere lackey anymore.
So why...
“Ha... hahahaha...”
Looking at the confusion on Muen’s face, Aemon suddenly started laughing.
He laughed wildly, a laugh that made one’s skin crawl, desolate and terrible.
“So you really don’t understand, Muen Campbell! You really don’t understand!”
“You have no idea how much I hate you now!”
“I want nothing more than to skin you alive, tear out your bones, and suck out your marrow!”
The moment those words fell, killing intent exploded.
All four blood wolves transformed into blurs too fast to track as they pounced at Muen.
They were all faster and stronger than before!
In a single instant, every path of escape was sealed off.
It looked as though, in the very next second, Muen would be torn into pieces by those blood-red giant wolves.
But—
Muen was far too familiar with Aemon’s blood wolf summoning.
He had seen Aemon use it more than once in the past, and so he knew its weakness well.
These blood wolves could not truly be killed.
With strength and speed that ranked among the best even within the second rank, they were incredibly troublesome. Once they got their target entangled, even an early third-rank warrior could be worn down to death alive.
As for mages, there was no need to say more.
These agile giant wolves were the perfect predators for them.
But in the end, it was still a special type of summoning spell.
All of its power was concentrated in the wolves themselves.
Their offense was overwhelming, but their defense was lacking!
Especially at the moment when the wolves launched their attack and forced the caster’s true body to expend a great deal of magic power!
The instant the wolves lunged at him, Muen raised his hand, fingers curled like claws.
Thunderclap!
A deafening blast erupted. Under Muen’s control, the violent shockwave slammed into the blood wolf in front of him.
The wave rippled outward, and the blood wolf let out a cry.
Muen surged forward. In the instant the wolf was affected, he drove the short blade in his hand straight into its eye.
All the way to the hilt!
The blood wolf quickly went still.
Even though it was a summoned creature, it still obeyed the law of living things. Strike its vital point, and it dies.
But Muen knew it would soon revive again from the pool of blood.
He could not drag this out!
Grabbing the wolf’s head, Muen swung its corpse around like a professional hammer-throw athlete, twisting his body a full turn and a half before hurling it backward into the other three blood wolves.
Their pounce was delayed, buying Muen a brief moment to breathe.
But that precious time was not for resting.
It was for—
Shadowstep!
Muen vanished from where he stood.
All that could be seen were the fallen leaves on the ground being whipped up like they had been caught in a gale.
The next moment, Muen appeared directly in front of Aemon.
Aemon clearly had not expected Muen to break past the blood wolves and close the distance so quickly.
A flicker of shock appeared on his face.
And then, reflected in his stunned eyes, a fist the size of a clay pot rushed toward him in an instant.
“Aemon!”
Muen roared as he punched.
The fist smashed into Aemon’s cheek, instantly twisting the sneering curve of his mouth.
“Tell me why!”
Aemon’s already thin body was sent flying by that single punch.
The moment he hit the ground—
Muen chased after him with Shadowstep again, straddled him, and drove another punch down.
“Why are you attacking me?!”
Muen felt fury burning in his chest, so fiercely that even his eyes turned red.
As if he had been betrayed by the person closest to him.
No—not as if. That was exactly what it was.
For the Muen Campbell of the past, Aemon had been his most capable subordinate, his closest follower, his most obedient dog.
That version of Muen Campbell had never once imagined the possibility that Aemon might betray him.
So all that grief, that incomprehension, flowed through this body, through those inseparable memories, and set the current Muen Campbell ablaze with rage as well.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Who ordered you to do it?!”
“What are you trying to achieve?!”
“Why did you betray me?”
Muen struck again and again, until his fists were smeared with warm blood.
And yet even then, Aemon’s lips still curved in a mocking smile.
“I betrayed you? Muen Campbell, that is a ridiculous thing to say!”
Aemon spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva at Muen and laughed madly.
“Weren’t you the one who betrayed me first?”
“What? Me?”
Muen froze, then growled,
“When did I betray you?”
“You abandoned me!”
Aemon’s eyes flew wide as he shouted,
“You abandoned me! Isn’t that betrayal?”
“What do you mean, abandoned you? I let you go free. I stopped making you act like a dog. To you, was that really—”
Muen yanked him up by the collar, looking as though he wanted to hit him several more times.
But just then, a ray of sunlight happened to fall through the gaps in the leaves.
It shone across Aemon’s face.
Muen’s raised fist stopped in midair, and the fury in his eyes gradually faded as well.
“Aemon, you...”
What kind of face was this?
Leaving aside the injuries Muen himself had just inflicted, that face was covered in scraggly stubble and full of exhaustion.
His eyes were bloodshot, as if he had not had a good night’s sleep in a very long time.
His eye sockets had sunk in, his cheekbones jutted sharply, and he was so gaunt he looked like a corpse.
But why was he so thin?
Even if he was only the second son of a viscount, he was still a noble.
And in Muen’s memory, when he used to follow the original Muen around, he had always eaten and dressed well. How could he have become this skinny?
And...
Only now did Muen realize something else.
Aemon seemed far too weak.
Aemon was a fourth-year student, and not even one of the weaker ones at that.
Otherwise the original Muen would never have taken him on as a lackey.
Even knowing the weakness of the blood wolf summoning, Muen should not have been able to break through it this easily.
The blood wolves in his memory should have been larger and far more terrifying.
That was why he had not recognized them right away.
But why...?
“Aemon, what exactly happened?”
“Heh. What happened? How could a noble son of a Duke possibly know?”
Aemon’s eyes were scarlet.
“How could you possibly know what I went through after you abandoned me?”
Aemon yanked open the clothes across his chest, baring his upper body.
And then Muen saw them—
Fresh wounds.
Countless of them.
Dense, overlapping, ragged, horrifying. Flesh torn open in every direction, leaving a sight so terrible it made the stomach turn.
He had been grievously injured this whole time, and his magic power had long been depleted. That was why he was so weak.
“This is...”
“Hahaha! You are a Duke’s son. You washed your hands of your past and decided to cut yourself off from everything you used to be, so you threw away every last part of your former life.
Including the dog you once kept.
Of course there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone applauded and celebrated, because from then on the world had one less tyrant in it.
But did you ever stop to think what would happen to that dog—that dog who bit countless people for his master and offended countless others—once he suddenly lost his owner?”
What would happen?
Of course he would be retaliated against.
Those who hated Muen Campbell.
Those who envied Muen Campbell.
Those who loathed Muen Campbell.
None of them would have dared do anything to Muen Campbell himself. They would not even dare speak a harsh word to his face.
Because he was the Duke’s son. The Duke’s only son.
Just as those thirty-five noble children had not even dared raise their heads in front of Muen before, his power and status towered over almost everyone.
So all that envy, hatred, and disgust had been heaped onto the dog who no longer had a master.
No matter how sharp your fangs and claws are, once you lose your master, what can a dog really do?
A drowning dog will naturally be beaten.
“So... that was it?”
In Muen’s mind, Selicia’s words suddenly resurfaced.
[Muen Campbell, you cut yourself too cleanly away from your past.]
[Not everyone will be happy because you changed.]
“So that was it...”
Because he had wanted so badly to change himself, after entering the academy Muen had focused on nothing but himself.
He had never once looked back at those remnants of the past.
So naturally, he had never known that in those dark corners untouched by the light, someone had endured so much on his behalf.
“I’m sorry, Aemon...”
At this point, Muen no longer knew what else he could do, so all he could offer was that weak apology.
“Sorry? Is there anything I'm sorry to do? Does it? No!”
Aemon roared hoarsely,
“Do you know how many times I apologized to those people? It was useless! Completely useless!”
“I...”
Muen’s expression turned bleak. His lips trembled.
“Then what do you want me to do? How can I make it up to you?”
“Make it up to me?”
Aemon suddenly went still.
As though he had heard an answer he never expected.
After a brief silence, Muen suddenly saw Aemon’s mouth begin to twist.
Not into a sneer.
Into a fawning smile.
A smile so natural, as though he had made it countless times before.
He grabbed Muen’s hand tightly. At that moment, Muen could almost see a tail wagging behind him.
“Then... Young Master Muen, let me go back to being your dog. Just like before. Let me be your dog again. I’ll do whatever you tell me. I’ll bite whoever you tell me to bite. All right?
Let’s go back to how we used to be! All right?”
“Go back... to being my dog?”
Looking at that flattering smile on Aemon’s face, Muen suddenly felt sick.
How could he let someone be his dog?
He was not the old Muen Campbell anymore!
“That’s wrong.”
“Huh?”
“That’s wrong, Aemon. You’re a person. You’re not a dog.”
“B-But my reason for living is to be your dog, Young Master!” Aemon cried, eyes wide.
“No one’s reason for living could possibly be something that ridiculous!”
Muen flung away the hand Aemon had used to clutch him, then stretched out his hand again.
“Stop saying disgusting things like becoming someone’s dog, Aemon. Be my friend instead. If we’re friends, then no one will dare do anything to you anymore. And the people who bullied you—I’ll make them pay too.”
“Friend...”
Aemon stared blankly at the hand Muen had extended.
“That’s right. Friends.”
“I...”
A flicker passed through Aemon’s eyes, as though he were wavering.
But in the next instant, his face twisted once more with fury and savagery.
“I won’t believe that!”
“What?”
“I won’t believe in some empty word like friendship!”
“It isn’t an empty word. I mean it, Aemon. I want to be your friend,” Muen said seriously.
He did not know exactly how to define friendship, but from the memories he had inherited, Aemon had clearly been that important to the old Muen Campbell.
Otherwise, Muen would not have been that furious just now.
“But I know you, Muen Campbell!”
Aemon shouted angrily,
“As your former dog, I know exactly what kind of person you are! You do not have friends, and you do not need friends. All you need are dogs you can command and toys you can amuse yourself with!”
“...”
Muen opened his mouth, then closed it again.
On that point, he had no words.
Because the original Muen Campbell really had been that kind of scum.
Or at least, that was exactly how everyone else saw him.
But...
“That was before.”
Muen’s expression turned resolute.
“Didn’t you say it yourself just now? I’ve already washed my hands of that life. I’m not who I used to be. I’m not a scumbag anymore!”
“But all you changed was your behavior. Behavior is easy to change. But what about your nature? Isn’t nature what decides everything?”
“My nature has changed too!”
“And how are you going to prove that?”
“I...”
How could he prove it?
What could he use to prove that a person’s very nature had changed?
To prove one thing, naturally, you needed an even more powerful deed.
“Aemon, you know this, right? Last semester, I only got three points on my Fundamentals of Magic exam.”
“Huh?”
Aemon froze.
Of course he knew.
The entire academy knew. He just did not understand why Muen suddenly brought it up.
“And do you know this too? The Campbell family is a family of true brutes. From top to bottom, not a single one of us has ever been good at magic. Even the library at home is full of nothing but books on martial skills and all sorts of bizarre junk. My ancestors would rather stuff it with books on postpartum care for sows than add a single magic textbook.”
“...”
“You could say the words ‘bad at magic’ are carved right into the bloodline of the Campbell family,” Muen said.
“But a few days ago, someone suddenly told me that I had to pass the next Fundamentals of Magic exam.”
“A first-year exam?”
“A second-year exam!”
Muen’s voice thundered.
“A second-year exam!”
“How is that even possible?” Aemon blurted out instinctively.
From three points to passing—no matter how you looked at it, that was an absurd leap.
“Exactly. How is that even possible?”
Muen laughed softly at himself, then his expression turned serious at once.
“But I’m going to do it.
I’m going to score sixty on that exam. I’m going to pass. I’m going to get a score so shocking that it leaves everyone speechless!
In the name of Muen Campbell, I’m going to stun everyone who thinks I can’t do it!”
Muen stretched out his hand toward Aemon again.
“Aemon, let’s make a bet. If, one month from now, I really do pass, and really do break the ‘curse’ of the Campbell family, then won’t that prove to you that I have both the determination and the ability to change my nature?
So when that time comes, will you agree to be my friend?”
Aemon stared blankly at Muen.
It seemed as though he could see an unshakable determination in the blond man’s eyes.
“...But even scoring sixty, I could also—”
“If sixty isn’t enough, then I’ll score eighty!”
Muen shouted through gritted teeth.
“If you think merely passing isn’t enough, then I’ll push higher and aim for excellence!”
“Eighty...”
Aemon’s eyes widened abruptly.
“Have you lost your mind?”
For any exam, if sixty points was the dividing line for a pass, then eighty points was another dividing line entirely.
One represented the threshold of basic competence, something anyone could achieve through serious study.
The other represented true mastery of the subject—something that required not just effort, but also method, and a bit of luck.
And for Fundamentals of Magic in particular, with its huge mass of tedious knowledge points, many students who had studied diligently all along still hovered at only seventy-something.
Across the entire second year, the excellence rate for that subject was only around twenty percent.
If Muen going from nothing to passing in one month was already like some near-impossible feat, then reaching excellence in one month was pure hell-mode absurdity.
Even someone like Aemon, who was not especially bright, instantly realized that this was impossible.
“I have gone mad. I know it’s impossible. But didn’t you just say that changing my nature is impossible too?”
Muen stared straight into Aemon’s eyes.
The blazing fire in his pupils seemed ready to burn everything to ash.
“In that case, I’ll go and accomplish another impossible thing, and use it to prove that this impossible thing is possible too!”
Muen’s words echoed through the silent forest like a bolt of heavenly thunder.
For some reason, as Aemon looked at this Muen Campbell—who now seemed like an entirely different person—the hatred and fury that had piled up in his heart vanished completely.
Like snow and ice melting beneath sunlight.
Almost unconsciously, Aemon extended his own hand and reached for that hand that looked so warm, so reassuring.
Muen could not help smiling too.
Great.
This matter...
At last, it can...
Hm?
Muen’s expression suddenly froze.
Because their hands clasped, but instead of the reassurance he had expected, he felt...
Pain.
Terrifying force squeezed down from the other man’s grip, nearly crushing his hand to pieces.
“Aemon, you—?”
“Huh?”
Muen had just started to question him when he realized Aemon looked equally bewildered.
Then pain twisted across Aemon’s face.
Veins bulged violently on his forehead, as though he were enduring some unbearable torment.
“Aemon? Aemon, what’s wrong?”
Realizing something was terribly wrong, Muen ignored the pain in his own hand and asked in alarm.
Clutching at his chest, Aemon’s dark veins writhed beneath his skin like black snakes.
“The potion.”
“What potion?”
“That woman... the potion she gave me... my magic power had already been exhausted before... I only built up a little because of that potion, but now...”
“A woman? What woman?”
“I don’t know—ahhhh!”
Aemon suddenly let out a scream of agony.
His already gaunt body swelled like a balloon, his frame expanding violently as it tore apart his student uniform.
Across the surface of his skin, coarse black hair began sprouting, each strand like hardened steel.
Under Muen’s stunned gaze, in the span of only a few breaths, Aemon transformed into a monstrous...
Werewolf.
“What the hell? What kind of dark fairy tale is this?”
So not only could Little Red Riding Hood run into a big bad wolf, she could run into a werewolf too?
Sadly, there was no one here to save him.
There was not even a third person around.
And so Aemon’s blood-red eyes, which seemed to have lost all reason, instantly locked onto the only other living person present.
The savage aura coming off him made it hard to breathe.
Muen’s face stiffened. Instinctively, he tried to pull back and open some distance between himself and this thing that looked far too dangerous.
But what should have been an extremely easy action for him failed.
Because Aemon was still gripping his hand.
Muen’s expression changed. He tried to wrench himself free, but Aemon’s hand had become like an iron vise, utterly impossible to escape.
Damn it. What was he supposed to do? Cut off the arm outright?
That brief moment of hesitation was enough to bring about the fate that seemed already sealed.
Muen’s vision blurred. Before he could even react, his breath suddenly locked in his throat.
Aemon’s other hand—no, the other claw—shot out and clamped around his neck!
The claw tightened steadily, immense force crushing into flesh and bone, and Muen could even hear his cervical vertebrae crying out under the pressure.
Because of the huge difference in size, Muen’s feet were hanging off the ground, completely unable to exert any force.
And when he raised his one remaining free hand and hacked viciously at Aemon’s arm with his other short blade, the edge struck those black hairs and gave off the ringing sound of metal colliding with metal.
What the hell?
Was that fur really made of steel?
So that earlier description had not been a metaphor?
In that instant, Muen felt true despair.
Because he understood his own strengths and his own advantages very clearly, and he also knew that for him, this was the worst possible situation.
Aemon glared at him with a savage expression. In those blood-red eyes glimmered a bloodthirsty joy, as though he could already see Muen’s blood spraying before him.
What now?
What was he supposed to do now?
As the suffocating pressure intensified and his mind began to blur, Muen frantically searched for a way out.
The black book?
But the black book did not seem to have any direct way to enhance his strength.
Then there was only—
The flames of the King of Withering?
But...
This was the academy. And if he used that kind of fire, the kind that burned everything to nothing, then Aemon would definitely...
Any other way...
There was no other way.
Damn it.
Am I still powerless?
Am I still this weak?
Am I still—
“Sigh.”
At the very edge of losing consciousness, Muen suddenly heard a sigh.
Not from the black book.
But...
“Freeze.”
A cool, clear voice spread through the forest.
And along with it spread an overwhelming cold.
It was like a blizzard capable of swallowing even the world itself. The green woods were rapidly coated in pure white.
Muen saw panic flash across the werewolf’s face, and then it could no longer move.
He was sealed inside a layer of deep blue ice.
A moment ago he had looked so hideous and terrifying, yet now Muen found him almost comical, like some caveman frozen in a museum display case.
A hand suddenly grabbed Muen by the neck and yanked him down.
“Cough... cough...”
Muen clutched his throat and coughed violently, dragging great gulps of air into his lungs.
Then he lifted his head and looked at the familiar silver-white figure standing beside him.
“Selicia? What are you doing here?”
As he said it, he suddenly felt like laughing.
It seemed as though he was always asking that question.
Selicia stared at the werewolf frozen in the ice, as though pondering something.
Hearing Muen’s question, she turned and said coolly,
“If I told you I was here from the beginning, and I watched you from start to finish while you said all those foolish things to that fool, would you be angry?”
“Huh?”
Perhaps because of the lack of oxygen, Muen’s brain was too sluggish for a moment to process it.
Selicia did not bother waiting for a response. She turned back again and muttered to herself,
“I had hoped this might lure out the big fish hiding behind the scenes, but the other side seems even more cautious than I imagined. What a pity.”
As her words fell, elite members of the student council in red uniforms rushed in, swiftly and efficiently beginning to layer all kinds of restraints onto the frozen Aemon.
“Wait!”
Muen suddenly called out to stop them.
“What are they doing?”
“Relax. They’re only sealing Aemon temporarily, treating him, and asking him a few questions.”
The bun-haired student council secretary, Veir, appeared from who-knew-where, puffing out her cheeks as she spoke.
“Aemon was probably just misled by someone. We won’t punish him too severely. Of course, a small lesson is still necessary.”
“I see.”
Muen nodded, then suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to Selicia with some hesitation.
“Um, Selicia... could you maybe...”
“You want the list of the people who bullied Aemon, don’t you?” Selicia said directly, as though she had seen straight through him.
“Yeah.”
“...”
Selicia stared at him silently for a moment, then suddenly stepped closer, raised the leg wrapped in black stockings, and—
Kicked Muen hard in the shin.
“Ow! That hurts! Selicia, what was that for?”
“If you’ve already chosen this path, then do not turn back. Otherwise, I’ll really want to hit you.”
“But—”
“No buts.”
Selicia bent down, her cool eyes fixed sternly on Muen.
“Teaching bad students a lesson is the student council’s responsibility. You do not need to concern yourself with it.”
“...”
Muen fell silent.
“It seems you understand now.”
The student council elites had more or less finished dealing with things over there. Selicia straightened up and prepared to leave with them.
“Oh, right. Do you need me to send you to the infirmary?” Selicia asked.
“...”
Muen glanced at his shoulder and his hand.
His recovery speed seemed greater than that of an ordinary person.
The wounds had already scabbed over by now.
So he nodded.
“Thank you, but no.”
“I see. Then goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
“Ah, right.”
Selicia suddenly turned back and looked at Muen seriously.
“With your brain and your level, scoring eighty on next month’s exam is almost impossible, but... good luck.”
“...”
Muen froze for a moment, then forced out a smile uglier than crying.
“I will. Thanks.”
...
After Selicia left—
Silence.
Muen lay amid the lingering whiteness that had not yet faded, staring blankly up through the gaps in the leaves at the distant sun.
Suddenly, as though the sunlight had stabbed him in the eyes, he covered them with one arm and cursed under his breath.
“Damn it—”
Footsteps sounded in the woods, light and soft like those of a cat.
A girl approached, her figure alluring even beneath the strict uniform that concealed her body so thoroughly. She came over and slowly knelt down at Muen’s side.
“Looks like I still came too late.”
Anna looked over the wrecked forest scene and spoke as though sighing in regret.
Then, after a brief thought, she shifted her body, gently lifted Muen’s head, and placed it on her lap.
A lap pillow.
The arm Muen had been using to cover his eyes trembled slightly.
“There, there. Junior, stop crying now.”
Anna gently stroked Muen’s head, as though soothing a little cat.
“I’m not crying,” Muen said.
“Mhm. My junior isn’t crying. My junior is very strong.”
The leaves swayed. Sunlight flickered. The air was a little cold.
“Senior.”
“Mhm?”
“I’m going to score eighty.”
“Ah.”
Anna touched her cheek, looking somewhat troubled.
“When you said you were going to score sixty before, you already scared me. No matter how you look at it, eighty is just too difficult, isn’t it?”
“But I’m going to do it.”
“...All right then.”
Anna lowered her head and smiled softly.
Her eyes curved, and the tear mole at the corner of her eye made her look especially enchanting.
“Well, you are my adorable junior, after all.”