23 – Candidate for Saint – 4

 

‘How did you destroy the core of the Maker, huh.’

 

That was a bit of a tricky question to answer honestly.

 

If I mixed in a half-hearted lie, I’d be exposed immediately, making matters worse. To answer honestly, I’d have to reveal everything about Priscilla, thus the topic is off the table.

 

In the end, it meant I had to find an answer that would satisfy the chairman without revealing the truth.

 

“Is the question difficult to answer? I have plenty of time, so take your time.”

 

The chairman smiled leisurely, crossing his legs. With that, his tight skirt, so tight that it barely lefts room for any physical movements, rolled up slightly exposing his thighs.

 

Inside the writhing black stockings were captivating legs, with red high heels rhythmically twitching back and forth. Above the tight skirt was a white suit waistcoat clinging to his body, a belt tightly cinched around his waist giving just a hint of his belly button.

 

The buttons on his chest seemed in danger of popping off at the slightest movement, and a glimpse of sexy black lingerie peeked through their gaps. Since the thin white vest ended just above his side chest, his armpit was naturally exposed too.

 

“Hehe.”

 

With a seductive laugh, the chairman shifted the position of his crossed legs. The left leg went down and the right went up.

 

Because of the pose, I thought I caught a transient view of the intimate parts of a woman under the suit skirt, which didn’t cover even half of her buttocks.

 

‘…’

 

Seeing this, I felt something was definitely strange. More precisely the suspicion I have been harboring since the beginning became stronger.

 

The novel I took over was definitely a romance fantasy (lo-fantasy?). But I couldn’t understand why there were so many female characters, why all of them had traits fitting to male-led novels and dressed in such a manner.

 

Even if the protagonist is a woman, all the surrounding characters, the heroes, professors, and all but a few exceptions, are women, including the chairman in front of me.

 

Moreover, the female to male student ratio in this academy seemed to be roughly 7 to 3, and even reaching as high as 8 to 2. This is despite there being no mention in this worldview that females were superior to males.

 

‘…Was the original perhaps a Yuri?’

 

Although it feels inappropriate burping up a prologue just because it didn’t suit my taste, at least until the part I saw didn’t give that impression.

 

In fact, the title and tags of the work were honestly a bit ambiguous even for a romance fantasy. The reason I even read the prologue was because the distinct feeling of romance fantasy wasn’t there. It was after reading the comments that I came to know its genre.

 

‘And the antics Starlight Order pulls….’

 

No matter how they emphasize their evil side, to ensure the legitimacy of future development, an antagonist that makes the saint wear such clothes is not something that would happen in a female-led work.

 

Looks like it’s about time I ask Priscilla or Rosaria about the original work. So far, while I asked a lot about the original story, I barely made any inquiries about the work itself.

 

“I’d like to hear your answer soon. Do you need more time?”

 

I broke out of my thoughts at the sound of his experienced voice. The chairman was still sitting up with one arm under her chest emphasizing her bosom while sipping tea with the other. His high heels were still as they were.

 

After a moment of contemplating how to respond, I decided to go with the most fundamental choice.

 

“I was lucky.”

 

“Lucky?”

 

Despite the rather absurd response, the director showed no signs of irritation or anger, but instead wore a face of intrigue, seemingly encouraging me to elaborate further.

 

“Firstly, I had no way of piercing the bones that the brute had wrapped himself in.”

 

“That’s not surprising. Given the armor of a Maker, most attacks wouldn’t be able to get through. Clearly, this guy didn’t rise to the rank of commander of the third legion just because of his eloquence.”

 

Though I tried to penetrate it precisely, it felt almost impossible, but that’s not the important part right now.

 

“In the end, I had to look for another place on his body that I could damage. Upon closer inspection, I noticed his eyes and mouth were not covered in bones.”

 

“Then why didn’t you aim for his eyes? It would have been much easier to attack than his mouth.”

 

His eyes had always taken up half of his face, even when he was human-sized. As this proportion remained unchanged even as he grew larger, new observers would perceive him as a walking target.

 

I spared his eyes because Priscilla had tipped me off that they were a trap. However, I couldn’t reveal this much truth.

 

“It felt unnatural. It almost seemed like it was leading me to take a stab at it.”

 

“……Hmm.”

 

Maybe it was my imagination, but his yellow eyes seemed to twinkle.

 

“If the eyes were a weakness, he would have chosen to either conceal it as much as possible or to protect it at all costs. Therefore, either it was a fake part that wouldn’t take much damage from an attack or a trap designed to reverse the situation.”

 

The smile on his face grew even wider.

 

“What’s next?”

 

“There’s nothing else. I bet on the former case, and with the eyes excluded, all that was left was his mouth. So I aimed for his mouth, and it seems I was lucky.”

 

“……I see. That’s why you answered you were lucky…….”

 

The director crossed her legs and submerged herself in thought, not moving from her seat and tapping her red high heels lightly on her feet.

 

Suddenly, her eyebrows arched in a graceful curve.

 

“Your words have made me more curious. Just how far does your luck extend?”

 

‘You don’t believe me.’

 

She was skeptical, and her suspicions seemed to weigh far more than her half-hearted belief. Guess this bluff isn’t going to cut it.

 

“Let’s just keep it at ‘I was lucky’ for now. There’s also one more thing you should know. There has been talk of you colluding with the third legion commander to survive this ordeal.”

 

“……Pardon?”

 

Who would spout such nonsense? At my baffled question, the director let out a quite inappropriate laugh.

 

“The one who started that rumor was entrapped by the crown prince himself, so don’t worry. All his corruption was exposed, and it’s all over for him. It was quite a pleasure to watch the very angry crown prince.”

 

“……”

 

I nodded uneasily. I wasn’t sure whether I should be happy about this.

 

“Anyway, let’s put the chitchat aside and as the director of Bellium Academy, let me apologize once again. Regardless of the cause, I made a student of my academy fight against the demon king’s legion commander. If the person trapped inside wasn’t you, then they might have definitely been found dead. This was clearly a mistake on the academy’s part. I’m sorry.”

 

From noble mtl dot com

 

The director, who had uncrossed her legs and removed the smile from her face, lowered her head slightly.

 

Despite her casual demeanor, the fact that the founder of Bellium Academy, who has participated in its history and establishment, had shown such a gesture to a freshman was quite out of the norm.

 

“So, I’m asking if there’s anything you want.”

 

“You mean, in return?”

 

“At first, I thought about paying compensation. But no matter how much I gave, I thought it would be a meager amount to you.”

 

It made sense. What could be more meaningless than money to me?

 

“Surely, you don’t want money?”

 

“No, definitely not.”

 

At my sharp refusal, a smile returned to the director’s face.

 

“Well, then you should prepare something else you want. I will do my best to accommodate it within my limits. I swear it on the name of Erestika.”

 

“What I want. I thought about it and decided to step back for now. It was not for me to decide alone here.

 

As the director of Bellium Academy, he would become a stronger card than Ingrid with whom we had an agreement before.

 

‘Can I delay my response? I need time to think.’

 

‘Of course. Do as you feel comfortable. Just don’t prolong it too much.’

 

‘How long is too long?’

 

‘Well, probably about a hundred years. Waiting longer than that would even be hard for me.’

 

‘…’

 

Anyway, it’s about the dragon’s sense of time.

 

Once the conversation was over, the director saw me off without a word. Though he seemed to subtly want to find out how my luck was ‘good’ until the end, he quietly stepped back when he realized I had no intention of telling him.

 

As it was still quite some time before lunch, I was heading to the cafeteria when I felt someone approaching from behind, which had been empty until just now. I turned around with a feeling that my hair stood on end.

 

‘…Aria?’

 

‘Hello, Mr. Mira.’

 

There was Aria. The Aria who gently clasped her hands and greeted me in her usual quiet tone.

 

I, with my eyes wide open, asked a question.

 

‘When did you get here?’

 

‘Since a little before you opened the door and came out. Didn’t you see me?’

 

I hadn’t seen her. I was dumbfounded and replayed what had just happened. There was no one there when I checked visually as I opened the door and came out into the hall, and nothing else felt amiss.

 

And yet here was Aria, standing there. It felt as though I had been bewitched.

 

‘…Why are you here?’

 

‘The director called me too.’

 

I nodded with a slightly apprehensive feeling. My eyes were still wide with confusion.

 

Aria slightly bowed to me, hesitated to enter the director’s office, turned around to me, and spoke with a smiling face.

 

‘You don’t have to think too complicatedly.’

 

‘…About what?’

 

‘Hehe, don’t you get it? I’m confident in reading people’s expressions. Your face seems to be full of questions.’

 

Even before my question was resolved, Aria disappeared beyond the door. The door closed with a thud, leaving me alone in the corridor of the top floor of the main building. I stared blankly at the director’s office and then turned around.

 

I still couldn’t fathom what the hell had just happened.

 

Aria returned surprisingly quickly. It seemed to me that it wasn’t even five minutes after I arrived at the cafeteria. I asked her what happened, but she just smiled.

 

And another person who I hadn’t expected returned as well.

 

‘How about it? This way I won’t hear anyone calling me vulgar, right?’

 

It was Rosaria, who confined herself to the dormitory in order to create a new saint dress with starlight threading. She had arrived just an hour after her request.

 

‘Uh…’

 

I, Priscilla, Aria and Brunhild sat there speechless, staring at Rosaria, who stood confidently.

 

It was natural, since she was wearing a black one-piece sweater that was not only revealing the contours of her body, but also short enough to wonder whether it would cover her hips if she sat down.

 

‘It seems like the problem is not with the clothes.’

 

Priscilla mumbled.