The person I summoned from the Academy was Professor Sophia.
After all, clerics have traditionally been the specialists when it comes to slaying demons.
Although Professor Sophia wasn’t formally ordained, her S-rank “divine power” would certainly make her far more effective in combat against Seers than I was.
However… the reinforcements that arrived from across the darkened street weren’t the ones I’d hoped for.
“You again. Monastrell.”
Tall and lean, with messy black hair.
The Mad Dragon Monastrell.
She glanced at me with a sneer and said, almost mockingly,
“I figured you were scheming with those stinking demons, but turns out you were fighting them?”
“Did you follow me again just to keep an eye on me?”
“I just happened to be passing by and saw you needed a hand. We Academy professors should help each other out, right?”
“…Hah.”
What a load of crap.
Had anyone else said something like that, maybe I’d believe it…but coming from Monastrell? That was far too righteous a line.
What is she really after, hiding behind that fake friendliness?
But regardless of my suspicion, Monastrell simply cracked her wrists with a loud pop and charged toward another enemy.
“It’s not like I actually want to help someone like you, alright? It’s just that seeing these damn demons crawling around in front of me pisses me off more.”
With that, Monastrell took a few preparatory steps.
Tap. Tap!
After only three strides and a solid kick-off, she shot through the air. So fast she was almost impossible to follow with the naked eye.
And in the next instant, she shot up right beneath the Seer and drove an uppercut into it.
It was a bare-handed strike, simple in form.
But the force that followed was anything but simple.
Crack!
With a clean, powerful blow, Monastrell tore through the Seer’s outer shell like ripping open a paper bag.
Her fist, still full of strength, pierced through even the black sludge which was a material known for its near-impenetrable defense against magical attacks and reached the heart in a single blow.
Up until now, I’d thought only Josephine could exploit the Seer’s physical weak points.
Never imagined I’d end up fighting alongside someone like Monastrell.
Splatter!
The Seer’s body, having lost its heart, began to bubble and swell before the black sludge exploded like a bursting balloon.
That sludge tainted with madness and corruption could infect one’s mind and ideals with the slightest touch.
And Monastrell, now completely drenched in it…
“Damn it! Got in my mouth too.”
She spat, scowling and cursing, hawking phlegm from her mouth.
Guess that’s what you’d expect from a dragon.
At that level, unless a true demon of the Abyss descended, nothing could deal meaningful damage to her.
It felt wildly unfair. But for now, she was on my side.
With that, two of the four Seers who had me surrounded were now dead. They were taken down by Monastrell.
Only two remained.
One of them suddenly shot up into the sky and began to flee.
Realizing the battle was lost, it was trying to conserve its strength and report this unexpected loss to the cult leader.
Monastrell said,
“Tch. Annoying little shit. I’ll go finish that one off, so do your part here too.”
And so, what remained for me was a one-on-one showdown with the last Seer.
Having already defeated this opponent once before, and despite all the grumbling I’d done, Winter Winslet was still one of the main bosses of Candela of Judgment.
A Seer wasn’t nearly enough to pose a serious threat to someone of my caliber.
[Casting Vendigate’s Secret Art – Shadow Chain Spell.]
[Casting Palette Swap Spell.]
I took the Seer down with the most effective spell combo I had, then turned to look in the direction Monastrell had disappeared, lost in thought.
She hates me, yet tries to help.
Wants to kill me, yet still comes to save me.
What is her deal, really?
And Professor Sophia…how long has it been since I called for her? Why hasn’t she shown up yet?
Boom…
A deep explosion rolled in from afar, carried through the mist.
It was the sound of the remote detonation spell circle I’d drawn at the sewer entrance earlier that day going off.
Now that the Seers who were the main targets of tonight’s hunt were taken care of, it was obvious the demon worshipers would lose morale and retreat from the harbor.
To block their escape, I collapsed the sewer entrance.
All that remained now was to deal with the remnants. The cultists left disoriented without their leaders.
I swept through the docks, wiping out the last of the demon worshipers and their monstrous creations, and before I knew it, dawn was breaking.
With results like these, even Keith D’Alembert would have to be satisfied.
I took in the crisp morning air and returned to the hall where the students were staying only to find complete chaos had broken out.
“You’ve finally returned, Professor Winslet!”
Professor Sophia, who was standing guard at the entrance to the hall, immediately wore a furious expression the moment she saw me.
I let out a sigh.
“So this is where you’ve been hiding?”
“That’s my line, don’t you think? How do you call someone over and then not show up at all until morning?”
“I was busy.”
“Ha!”
A visible vein popped on Professor Sophia’s forehead.
“Fine, let’s put aside the fact that you disappeared. But what was that letter you sent me? You said a student was seriously injured during volunteer work!”
“Obviously, that was a lie.”
“What?!”
“I figured if I wrote it like that, you’d rush over right away.”
“…Wow.”
She was so dumbfounded she couldn’t even respond.
“But now that you’re here, you must’ve felt it too, right? The energy that’s hanging over this harbor.”
“That’s…”
At my words, her eyes sharpened. She asked,
“What exactly is going on in this town?”
“As you can see, things that shouldn’t be walking the streets were doing just that.”
Seeing the battle damage on my clothes, Professor Sophia asked,
“And you were out there fighting them?”
I nodded.
“That’s why I called you here in the first place… though now I have to ask….what were you doing?”
“It’s not like I was out for a stroll. Unholy beings were attacking the students. Dealing with the cultists may have been the right call, but what kind of educator just leaves their students behind to go running around?”
“Hmm? I distinctly remember telling the students not to go out at night.”
Professor Sophia shook her head.
“Even though it was pitch dark, the students were out doing volunteer work. I ran around until my feet were on fire, trying to protect them.”
I frowned.
Supervisor Stanley at the harbor and those guildmasters..
Did they ignore my warnings?
Reckless bastards.
“I owe you one.”
“What do you mean, owe? We both just did what we had to.”
Professor Sophia, who said this, seemed to have already calmed down.
“Well then, shall we head back?”
And so, on that Sunday morning, after seeing the students off back to the academy following their volunteer work, I went straight to find Rose Bly.
Then, the next day.
The headline of the Lambart Daily shook the city.
<Lambart Daily Newspaper, June 10th>
– Community leaders of Bluefields Harbor exploit academy students sent for volunteer work.
– Numerous missing homeless individuals found in the private warehouse of Dawson Carl Vigo, head of the Bluefields Warehouse Association.
– As evidence of human trafficking crimes emerges, other local leaders vehemently deny any connection, claiming, “I had no idea.”
Although I was the one who got the ball rolling, once Rose Bly began her investigation, all sorts of things came to light….things I hadn’t even known myself.
Guildmaster Dawson who practically handed me a death flag turned out to be a member of a cult, and though clumsy, he was using black magic.
It wasn’t all that surprising. Cultists often used black magic as bait, and those who showed potential would be pushed to form contracts with demons. That’s how they recruited.
However, much of what Rose Bly uncovered was downplayed or deliberately left out of the article.
First, Guildmaster Dawson, attempting to offer sacrifices to demon worshippers was reframed as a human trafficking case, and the numerous eyewitness accounts from victims describing demon worshippers and demonic creatures were completely omitted from the article.
Regarding this, Rose Bly came to me, grumbling that the report had been censored by the Bureau of Public Safety.
“They said revealing this as the work of a cult would cause social unrest or whatever… That’s the official reason, but something smells fishy.”
Rose Bly’s instincts were spot on.
There were already ministers in the Laurencia court who had been bought off by demon worshippers. Most likely, they were trying to brush the whole thing off as the personal deviance of Dawson, sweeping it under the rug.
In a similar vein, to divert public attention, they put greater weight on punishing others.
Stanley, the harbor supervisor who ignored my warning and illegally forced academy students into labor thereby endangering them was immediately dismissed and sentenced to prison.
The guildmasters involved were fined astronomical amounts, and their unions were reportedly dismantled altogether.
On the other hand, Shannon Quinlivan and Rita Ridge, the two academy students who exposed Dawson’s crimes, and Jacqueline Dogwood who protected city residents from the attack of a “mysterious human trafficking organization” were each awarded a certificate of merit by the Bureau of Public Safety and the Academy.
Of course, since the truth about the demon worshippers was buried, the fact that I was the one who defeated them never came to light.
But I hadn’t done it for the recognition. I was just carrying out the task entrusted to me by Keith d’Alembert. Besides, the Bureau of Public Safety promised to repay the favor in another way, so I had no complaints.
Honestly, it was probably for the best.
Getting into a public confrontation with the demon worshippers could’ve drawn unwanted attention from their agents embedded in the court or even worse, brought me into direct conflict with Nerico Resolu, the cult leader and the Fourth Point of the Heptangam society.
In any case, the incident seemed to have come to a close.
***
“For your dedication and strong sense of duty, having saved many lives and brought great honor to the Laurencia Royal Academy, we hereby present you with this certificate. In addition, you will be granted extra points for the next two years in the selection process for the Exemplary Conduct Scholarship…”
A few days after the volunteer work.
At the certificate ceremony held in the grand auditorium, Jacqueline received the award with a bewildered expression.
“Th-Thank you.”
The certificate detailed her accomplishments in elegant script and bore the official seal of the Academy’s president.
Looking at it, Jacqueline felt an unexpected sense of embarrassment.
Do I really deserve something like this? The real hero who saved everyone was someone else…
Of course, she was referring to Professor Winslet.
Honestly, the only reason we were able to protect the homeless people was because of the professor. If he hadn’t shown up… I probably would’ve died a meaningless death.
Jacqueline believed it was Professor Winslet’s actions that truly deserved to be known.
However, the professor had instead ordered Jacqueline to keep quiet and not to tell anyone what she had seen that day.
Naturally, Jacqueline nodded and promised she would. Then, the moment she got back to the dormitory, she told her two closest friends everything she’d experienced.
“Why would the professor not want people to know what he did?”
In response to Jacqueline’s question, Shannon said,
“Who knows? But a true hero doesn’t care about praise. I think the professor just felt that saving people was enough. That’s something I really respect.”
Normally, Jacqueline would have teased Shannon for praising Professor Winslet again,
But for some reason, she didn’t feel like it today.
She simply nodded quietly and murmured under her breath, just softly enough that the other two couldn’t hear,
“Yeah… that is kind of cool, actually…”
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