Free Web NovelChapter 236: Mayday (1)
After saying our farewells to Empress Camellia, Elisha and I immediately returned to the Hero Academy together. When the academy gates came into view, the tension that had followed me throughout the long journey finally melted away, and a pleasant weariness settled into my body, as though I were returning after a long trip. I wondered if I had unconsciously begun to think of the academy as home.
Elisha turned to me. “I’ll go report the details of the incident to the headmaster.”
“Should I come with you?” I asked.
“No, it’s fine. You should get some proper rest, Dale.” Elisha said.
She began walking toward the gates, only to suddenly stop. “Once we pass through these gates, I won’t be Elisha anymore. I’ll be Professor again.”
“I know. No, I understand,” I replied.
Elisha approached me with a faint smile. “Heh. Didn’t I say once we pass the gates?”
She gently brushed my cheek, then lifted my chin a little and placed a soft kiss on my lips. It couldn’t be compared to the kisses we had shared before, being just a little more than our lips barely touching, but it was enough for this moment.
With a refreshed expression, Elisha turned away. “Go on, Dale.”
“Yes, Professor.”
And just like that, our trip to the Empire, whether one called it short or long, came to an end. Beyond the academy gates waited a return to everyday life.
After parting ways with Elisha, I headed not to the dormitory, but to the party house. It had been a week, no, closer to ten days since I had last set foot inside. The moment I opened the door, the sight that greeted me was Berald, shirtless, towel in hand, wiping sweat from his body.
“Gyaaaaaah!”
Bulging muscles that looked like they would start moving on their own, bronze skin glistening with sweat, and nipples boldly asserting their presence on his chest—the sheer visual assault hit my eyes head-on, and a scream escaped me without my consent.
Berald spotted me and came charging over, his footsteps thundering. “B-Brotheeeeer! Where the hell have you been?” ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
“D-don’t come any closer! Stay back, you bastard!”
“What’s this cold reception? You vanish for ten days and then act like this? Come on now, get over here and embrace me!”
“Guhk!”
Too heavy! Too damp! And it smells!
He continued, “I was worried sick when you disappeared without a word! I’m just glad you’re safe!”
Suffocated, I shouted, “Guhk, c-can’t breathe... H-help!”
“W-what? Your face just turned purple! Were you injured somewhere?”
“No, I think you’re the one injuring me right now.”
It seemed Senior Sophia had heard the commotion. She descended the stairs, frowning. “Berald. I told you not to walk around shirtless outside.”
Berald scratched his head with an awkward grin. “Ah, sorry. My clothes tore during training, so I had no choice. But my clothes seem to tear way too often lately. Even the last one you made for me ripped, Senior Sophia.”
“It’s fine. I’ll make you another,” she replied.
“N-no, I’ve already received at least five by now! I can’t keep imposing on you.”
“It’s not difficult. And you can’t exactly buy training clothes tailored to your body size anywhere, can you?”
“Well, that’s true, but...” Berald trailed off, tilting his head as if he couldn’t quite understand. “Uh, Senior, may I ask what you make the training clothes out of?”
“Why?”
Berald spoke hesitantly. “Well, um, I’m grateful, really, but they tear so easily it feels a bit strange.”
“I just use cheap fabric. So, you can throw them away immediately when they rip.”
“Hmm. Even so... Didn’t you also put magic on them?” he asked.
Senior Sophia visibly panicked at that moment. “M-magic? W-what kind of magic would I put on them?”
Berald widened his eyes and tilted his head. “Huh? I could clearly sense something like your mana coming from the clothes.”
“I-It’s your imagination! I’ve never cast something like corrosion magic to make them tear easily!”
“I didn’t say that much...”
“Anyway! Don’t nitpick clothes someone went out of their way to make for you and just wear them!”
“Y-yes, ma’am.”
Senior Sophia let out a relieved sigh, placing a hand over her chest, though whether there was actually anything to place her hand on was another matter.
I looked at her. So, she did cast corrosion magic. I thought she came down way too quickly.
Senior Sophia usually stayed on the third floor, in her magic research lab. Even if she had heard noise from the first floor, she had come down suspiciously fast, clearly for another reason.
She hurriedly changed the subject, turning to me. “Ahem. Anyway, I heard you went to the Empire with Professor Baldwin on some business. But why didn’t you contact us even once?”
“There were circumstances.”
While we were being investigated over the attempted assassination of Empress Camellia, all of our communication magic devices had been confiscated. However, from the party’s perspective, I had left for the Empire with Elisha, then vanished for over a week. It was natural for them to be worried.
“Well, once I heard from the headmaster that you and Professor Baldwin were safe, I wasn’t too worried.” Senior Sophia let out a short sigh and shook her head. “But the others didn’t take it so well.”
I had expected as much, but hearing it directly still weighed heavily on me. “That’s...”
I asked, “Where are the others?”
“Laniege hasn’t been coming to the party house for a few days, and Iris and Yurina are—”
Before she could finish, the party house door opened. Walking in were Iris, Camilla, and Yurina, disguised as Yuren. All three women’s eyes widened when they saw me.
“Huh?”
“Dale?”
“D-Dale?”
Time seemed to freeze for a moment.
Iris was the first to react. “You... YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! Where the hell did you run off to in the Empire without a single word!”
Fucking asshole? Her way of speaking sure is antique. Is it because she’s a Saintess? I wondered.
“Do you have ANY idea how worried I was? You piece of SHIT! I’ll smash your damn head!” she yelled.
For some reason, a sharp beeeep kept ringing repeatedly in my head.
Camilla hurriedly clamped a hand over Iris’s mouth. “S-Saintess! Please calm down!”
Held tightly by Camilla, Iris flailed her legs wildly. “Mmph! Mmmphhh!”
Her fiercely glaring eyes showed that her anger hadn’t subsided yet, but fortunately, Camilla managed to restrain her well enough that things didn’t escalate further.
Yurina approached me with an expression much calmer than Iris’s. “Are you okay? You’re not hurt anywhere, right?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t contact anyone because of circumstances, but I wasn’t injured or anything.”
Honestly, though, it didn’t matter if I had been hurt when I possessed a body that could revive perfectly fine even if it were pulverized down to the cellular level. However, it seemed I was the only one who thought that way. Yurina, Iris, and the others always worried about my physical condition first, every single time, even though they all knew I had an immortal body.
But it was not like I disliked that. If anything, I was grateful. It meant they saw me not as some undead creature that revived no matter what, but as a human being.
Yurina asked, “What about Professor Baldwin? I heard she went with you.”
“She’s fine too. She’s gone to report to the headmaster for now.”
It looked like Yurina had been under a lot of stress while Elisha and I were out of contact. She placed a hand over her chest and let out a long sigh of relief. “Whew! That’s a relief. When you suddenly stopped responding, I was really worried.”
“Sorry.”
If I had known they would worry this much, I would’ve asked Empress Camellia to at least let me send a letter. The regret came belatedly.
Yurina shook her head. “Mmm. It’s okay. I’m sure you had your reasons, Dale. So, would you mind telling us what happened?”
“Of course.”
I was planning to explain everything to the party members anyway, but I looked around first. “By the way, Laniege...”
“We’ll call Laneige later. Tell us what happened first.”
“Uh, alright.”
I would have to tell the same story twice, but compared to how much worry I had caused them, that was nothing.
“Then let’s all gather in the lounge.”
* * *
At the lounge on the second floor of the party house, with everyone except Laneige present, I explained all that had happened.
Yurina and Iris, who had thankfully regained her senses, frowned. They naturally had questions about it.
“So, the Archbishop of Depravity’s goal was to stop the resurrection of the Demon God?”
“And what was that about calling you a Descendant of Ruin, Dale?”
“I don’t really know that part myself,” I replied.
There was still too little information.
“Then, in the end, this incident prevented a war between the Empire and the Republic, right?”
“Yes. Well, I don’t know how the future might change from here, but for now, yes.”
“That’s a relief. If a war had broken out....” Senior Sophia trailed off and glanced at Berald.
She was from the Empire, and Berald was from the Republic. If war had erupted between the two nations, their relationship would have become complicated.
“But didn’t you stop the assassination plot pretty quickly? Why did you stay in the Empire for so long?”
I replied, “Ah, that’s because...”
I went on to explain what had happened with Camellia.
Iris narrowed her eyes. She casually stood up and sat down on my right. “Hmm, Empress Camellia told you to become her husband?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“This again?” Iris said.
I could practically read the expression on Iris’s and Yurina’s faces as they stared at me. So, I immediately replied, “N-no! I told you! I rejected that proposal!”
“Hmmm. Did you?” Iris said. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
Yurina stood up and sat down on my left. “But, Dale.”
“Y-yes?”
“You said Professor Baldwin was with you when you rejected the Empress’s proposal, right?”
“Why?”
“Well, if I were Professor Baldwin, I don’t think I could’ve just stayed quiet.”
Dry saliva slid down my throat.
“Come to think of it, did you and Professor Baldwin stay in the same room the entire time you were under investigation?” Yurina asked.
“Uh, w-well, technically, yes.”
Iris looked at me with a sweet smile in her eyes. “Heh. I see. Is that so? Then that means, Dale, while we were losing sleep worrying about you, you were having a cozy little time with Professor Baldwin?”
Mayday. Mayday. This doesn’t feel right.
