Chapter 301
"Hiding something while being troubled, you're the same, aren't you?"
Simon flinched inwardly, but he was no longer behind when it came to acting, he replied as if it was nothing to him,
"But Kajan, you know why Magnus is after me."
"I have a guess."
Kajan, leaning his body back in the bath, spoke,
"He must be after the Ancient Undead you possess."
According to Kajan, Magnus had not entered from the start as a clone mimicking his own appearance.
The Ancient Undead Alaze had entered Room 409 in the form of a slime and hid there, probably intending to move only after finding solid proof that Simon was a Legion Commander.
However, he was discovered by Kajan who entered the room, and after an intense fight, Kajan succeeded in destroying Alaze once.
"I knew it!"
Simon clapped his hands,
"So you didn't go down right away, Kajan!"
"…That's true. But after Alaze transformed into Magnus, I lost. And a few minutes later, you came in."
"I understand."
Splash.
Kajan tilted his body as if lying down in the bath, supporting the back of his head with his arm,
"Not about the Magnus problem,"
"…Pardon?"
"Isn't there anything else on your mind?"
…As expected, Kajan was sharp.
But Simon was still cautious about Walter.
In fact, he wasn't completely sure himself.
Walter was collecting 'hearts'.
Walter's real name was Judah.
And Simon felt like he had heard that name somewhere before.
It seemed he had heard it back when he had crossed over to the Holy Federation, so he had already asked Lete to investigate it.
That was all.
The suspicion was nothing more than conjecture, and the only confirmed thing about Walter was that he was collecting hearts.
Above all, the fact that Simon had crossed over to the Holy Federation was something he hadn't told even Neftis.
This was an extremely sensitive matter that could be interpreted as treason.
Therefore, there was only one thing he could say here.
"Professor Walter is collecting hearts."
Simon spoke carefully,
"And an enormous amount of them."
"I see."
Kajan nodded,
"Is that all?"
"…Yes."
Now that he had said it, he felt embarrassed, and Simon lowered his head in awkwardness.
"Necromancers' research is eccentric, unethical, and bound to be extremely dangerous. Even Keyzen's professors sometimes dabble in forbidden studies, but for the development of black magic, we turn a blind eye now and then."
After saying that, Kajan closed his eyes,
"In conclusion, I understand that you find Professor Walter suspicious. It's not to the point of reporting to Lady Neftis, but I will keep an eye on him as well, and if I find anything suspicious, I'll let you know."
"Ah, yes! That alone would be a huge help."
It was the first time Simon had told anyone about this, and just that alone made him feel much lighter.
"!"
Splash.
At that moment, Kajan turned his head and stared at the wall with a serious expression.
"What is it, Kajan?"
"Shh."
Simon closed his mouth and focused his hearing. From outside came footsteps and chattering voices.
"Isn't it a simple problem?"
They were women's voices.
"If the first-year dorm's hot water isn't working, then we can just use the second-year dorm's!"
"Hohoho! Exactly, exactly!"
"No one's using this place right now."
Simon's face turned pale.
'Oh, I'm doomed.'
The perfect situation for a misunderstanding, and they were both completely naked.
Simon quickly ran toward the entrance.
"Kajan! I'll shout to let the ladies know—"
Step, step.
Before he knew it, Kajan had gotten out of the bath and slid the bathroom window open with sheer force.
"What's the point in wasting time explaining?"
Kajan pointed outside with a calm face,
"This is my way."
"No, Kajan! That's the fourth floor out there!"
But the women's voices outside were getting closer and closer.
To make matters worse, this was a small bathhouse, with no separate area for leaving clothes, open the door, and you were right in the bath.
'This is insane!'
Simon had no choice but to reach out his hand,
'Cloud!'
A bluish-green smoke shot out like an arrow, wrapped around Simon and Kajan's baskets of clothes, and pulled them over. Kajan had already jumped outside.
"Uh, doesn't it sound like someone's in there?"
"Oh, come on~"
Simon bit his lip hard.
'I don't care anymore!'
Hugging the basket in both arms, Simon leapt outside just as the sound of the door opening rang out.
"Kyaaaaaaaaa!!"
From outside the window came an ear-splitting scream.
Glancing back at the building in midair, Simon let out a deep sigh.
In all his life, never had he imagined he would be escaping from a bathhouse's fourth floor, naked, at night. Truly one of the strangest experiences he had ever had.
"You've got guts."
Kajan, who had jumped down first, curled the corners of his mouth. Simon followed, grinning,
"Kajan, you know we both look really pathetic right now, right?"
"You're no different."
Then he pointed toward the ground,
"I'm fine, but won't you get hurt?"
"No way."
Simon reached behind his back and opened a large subspace. Fortunately, since they had just returned from the Neutral Zone mission, his Legion was still intact.
"Erze, come out!"
At Simon's command, Erzebet leapt out of the subspace and extended her arm, wrapping Simon's body in soft spiderweb.
He was pulled down and landed safely on the ground.
'…Not getting hurt is nice, but.'
Wrapped tightly in the spiderweb, his feet slightly off the ground, Simon couldn't move an inch.
'Why did she make it like this?'
[Ohohohohoho.]
The moment Simon heard that lecherous laugh, an ominous premonition washed over him.
[You know how much I've been bottling up, right?]
From the darkness, eyes gleaming like those of a wild beast, the Spider Queen approached.
[As soon as we got back from the dispatch, I got trapped in subspace! Then I turned into a Keyzen girl student and got scolded! In the Neutral Zone, all I did was act as the Legion Commander's stand-in!]
Simon's face shifted to one of realization.
[Then, when we came back to Keyzen, it felt so nice, my dear Commander~ I was barely holding myself back, and now, right in front of me, the Commander's bare body!!]
Erzebet, as if her sanity had already evaporated, stuck out her tongue with a flick as she closed in.
Simon let out a deep sigh.
'Taking Erzebet out while in midair was a mistake.'
[A reward! Please grant me one!!]
Just as she spread her arms wide and lunged toward Simon, a hand from behind grabbed her hair, yanking her head back. She let out an "Ack!" as her face tilted upward.
"Simon is still underage, Erzebet."
It was Kajan.
She turned to look back and shouted irritably,
[Ah, it's you again!!]
When Erzebet raised her finger, spiderweb shot out and sliced the surrounding trees clean in half.
It seemed she still hadn't let go of the grudge from the Saint search incident.
Kajan, having dodged with a light leap, was now clad in armor of Darkness.
'Dark Robe! So Kajan can use it too!'
Erzebet, seething in fiery irritation, kept pulling out webs, and Kajan took up a defensive stance.
"Erze."
Simon let out another sigh and spoke with an indifferent expression,
[Stop.]
Thud!
Erzebet's body trembled violently, then she knelt on one knee before Simon.
[You, you're too cruel! To give me an Absolute Order!]
"I can't control you with words alone. Get a grip, Erze."
The webs that had bound Simon naturally loosened.
'Ugh, it's cold.'
Around them was the pitch-black night, and the night wind made Simon's teeth chatter.
Kajan spoke,
"Let's return to the dorm first."
"Yes."
He sent Erzebet back into subspace and threw on his clothes roughly, then Simon and Kajan quickly ran toward the dorms.
"Haha!"
While running, Simon couldn't help but laugh at how absurd the whole situation was.
"Is it funny?"
"No, it's just, with all this noise, it really feels like I'm back at Keyzen!"
Tomorrow, a new schedule would begin.
Full of anticipation, Simon picked up his pace even more.
* * *
The next day.
Students of Keyzen, armed with plenty of stories to tell, were wearing their uniforms again and heading to school.
"Everyone's alive!"
"Who met a priest?"
"Where did you go for your dispatch?"
The sounds of chatter filled the air from all directions. Simon and Dick, having gotten up early, were walking across the campus.
"A general assembly in the auditorium on the first day back, huh…"
Dick was chewing on toast as he checked the schedule.
Simon asked,
"But why the assembly? Do you think they'll tell us about the fourth BMAT?"
"No way! Usually the students are the ones who dig up BMAT info. If they're gathering us like this—"
Dick crossed his arms and continued,
"I think they're going to talk about some kind of rule change."
"Change?"
"Hehe! Actually, I heard from a pretty reliable underling that the professors are really unhappy with the BMAT. I think maybe there'll be some changes to the schedule or something."
"That's quite an interesting story."
The two stopped in surprise. Other students were murmuring too.
"Shall I continue?"
Before they knew it, Bahil was standing before them.
"Professor Bahil!"
It was an unexpected appearance, and Simon greeted him with a happy face, while Dick wore a sly grin.
"Jumping in at this timing! Suspicious, isn't it? Were you waiting here for us? To see the future ace of Katarology, maybe?"
Bahil stared at Dick's glib mouth and thought,
'I'd love to curse that yapping trap of his.'
If he weren't Simon's friend, he would have already been floating as a corpse off Keyzen's coast.
Bahil turned his head toward Simon.
"I heard you performed remarkably in the dispatch evaluation. You worked in the Vengeance of the Neutral Zone?"
Simon scratched his temple in embarrassment.
"Yes. But it wasn't all that remarkable. I slipped up once in the middle too."
"Hey~ Pretending to be modest is a disease, you know! We just tore through the Neutral Zone, didn't we? Fought the Efnelle guys! Weakened the Federation's control over the Neutral Zone! Wiped out the gang—"
Bahil's smile twitched only at the corners of his mouth.
Shut your mouth already.
'I want to talk to Simon about curses.'
"Simon, perhaps—"
"Oh, look who it is! Hahaha!"
Suddenly, someone else barged in.
Bahil turned sharply, and from the crowd, someone strolled forward with infuriating ease.
"Professor Belya!"
Simon's face lit up once again.
"Ah, you brats! You came back safe? You missed Noona, didn't you?"
Belya, who had absolutely no sense of reading the room, made the veins on Bahil's temples pop ever so slightly.
"Professor Belya! I fought using what you taught me during the dispatch! The Venom Swamp!"
"Well done! Black magic improves when you're bold enough to use it in real combat!"
As Dick and Belya laughed with their mouths wide open, Bahil's expression grew darker and darker.
'Maybe I should just erase them both here and now.'
Bahil moved his hand behind his back. A magic circle of Darkness formed as a curse began to take shape.
"…You two."
And then—
"What are you doing here with the students?"
Not a trace of presence had been felt. Both Belya and Bahil froze and turned their heads.