The Academy is Doomed

Chapter 128

For now, they agreed to wait until the goddess Banumint wakes up.

And while Amon had untied his restraints and the divine tools, the priests, including Raizen, were so shocked by the unprecedented situation of a demon lord regaining consciousness that they couldn’t even think about taking action against Amon.

‘Still, he’s the only one who can stop the demon lord if he goes berserk…’

‘Since he’s human like us, he won’t let us die.’

While they let Amon untie himself based on such calculations, Amon was thinking differently.

‘How dare they tie me up? And I’m not even a demon, yet they tied me up with divine tools too? These corrupt priests with hearts of beasts who don’t even seem human. What’s the Demon Lord doing? Why isn’t she tearing these guys apart right now!’

Amon was secretly hoping the demon lord would go berserk.

If she did, he planned to say, “Well, we’re uninvolved parties, so we’ll retreat,” and evacuate with the academy people.

But surprisingly, contrary to Amon’s expectations, the Demon Lord had no intention of going berserk.

‘I’ll get beaten again if I act up. This guy can’t be beaten in a direct fight. I’ll have to wait for an opportunity and look for an opening later.’

‘Why isn’t the Demon Lord going berserk?’

‘Looking at how this teacher Amon keeps glancing at the Demon Lord, he must be watching to make sure she doesn’t go berserk! As expected, he does care about us since we’re both human!’

The three factions were thinking completely different things.

Anyway, in this somewhat serious atmosphere, the academy’s teachers were in the middle of a strategy meeting.

“We’ve bought some time for now, but what should we do? I think it would be best if the imperial family doesn’t find out about this.”

Anar’el nodded as if agreeing.

“If Sandrio finds out, there will be chaos. We need to handle this ourselves.”

While Anar’el’s words were correct, as the emperor might personally come here to behead Amon, Marion showed a somewhat troubled expression.

“An academy trying to cover up something that could become an international incident? While they’re not comparable to our empire, there are quite a few countries that support the Holy Kingdom…”

“That’s the frightening thing about religion. Ah, if only humans would believe in the World Tree.”

“Don’t slip in elven beliefs so casually.”

Marion grumbled while glancing at Sloth.

“Don’t you have any good ideas? I’m just a rough military wizard, so I’m not familiar with these matters, but you’re from a noble family, Sloth, so you must have some good solutions in mind.”

“Well? I might have something in mind, but…”

Though Sloth’s lazy personality meant she didn’t know the solutions to such situations in detail, being from a noble family meant she had picked up various things here and there.

Unlike socializing and networking that required actively going out, some things could be learned just by listening.

“First, the best solution would be an amicable resolution with the involved parties.”

“Amicable resolution.”

After repeating Sloth’s words, Marion quietly looked at his waist.

She was already fingering her sword.

For her, coming from a renowned swordsmanship family, the best form of amicable resolution was dialogue through swords.

“Doesn’t Fiora have any good ideas? You’re from the Pendorean family, right?”

At Marion’s question, Fiora scratched her head.

“Our family would never be in this kind of situation in the first place.”

“…True.”

Just mentioning the Pendorean family name would make opponents wet themselves and submit, so there was no way Fiora would ever be involved in such trouble.

Kai, who had been listening quietly, sighed.

“So in the end, there’s no real solution.”

“Well…how would teachers know how to cover up such an incident? Especially when we want to hide it from the imperial family.”

Kai gave a bitter smile as if agreeing with Marion’s words.

As the crown prince, Kai knew better than anyone how formidable the imperial family’s intelligence network was.

‘With a bit of exaggeration, it wouldn’t be strange if they already know about this situation by now.’

Originally, there was said to be a large crowd when Amon knocked out the goddess.

As rumors spread fast, unsavory gossip might have already crossed mountains and rivers to reach the capital.

That is, if Kai hadn’t intervened.

‘I’ve tried to block rumors from spreading through my intelligence network, but in the end, if we can’t reach a proper agreement with the Holy Kingdom’s priests, it’s only a matter of time before the imperial family finds out. Therefore, we need to take measures to prevent rumors from spreading both internally and externally…’

Kai glanced at the priests.

The problem was that they were a religious group.

Then, after looking at the goddess who was the object of their faith, Kai tapped Amon’s shoulder.

“What.”

“Senior, I think it would be best to show a repentant attitude when the goddess wakes up.”

“…I know.”

Amon didn’t deny his mistake.

‘Even though it was a noble act to defeat the demon lord, the goddess was clearly a victim. So I am reflecting on it. Yes, I’m reflecting, but…’

If the goddess, upon regaining consciousness, points at him and shouts to behead him, Amon’s repentant heart would become as fleeting as paper blown away by the wind.

In the end, his heart leaned toward the initial plan of siding with the demon lord.

‘…Oh, looks like the goddess is about to regain consciousness.’

As he thought, the goddess Banumin was stirring with a faint groan, furrowing her brow.

-Ugh…

“Go-Goddess! Are you conscious!?”

-Where am I…Ah!

Banumin, who belatedly remembered what disaster had befallen her, suddenly sat up.

-Wh-Where is the demon lord’s subordinate!?

Demon lord’s subordinate!

Just as Amon, who had received this excessive title, was cracking his knuckles for his initial plan…

-No, maybe not a subordinate…Anyway, where is that human?

Banumin immediately corrected her statement, and Amon quietly hid the fist he had been cracking.

‘As expected of a goddess, she has at least minimal thinking capacity.’

Then, realizing that everyone’s attention was on him, Amon spoke.

“I’m here, Goddess.”

-Ah… I see. The demon lord is right next to you too.

“And let me tell you, I am not the demon lord’s subordinate. If I were, I wouldn’t have attacked the demon lord like that.”

-…That’s true. I apologize. I thought you might be a subordinate since you attacked me.

When Banumin apologized honestly, Amon narrowed his eyes.

‘She honestly admits and apologizes for her misunderstanding?’

Indeed, a god was different from others for a reason.

If it were Amon, or anyone around Amon, they would have denied it first and made excuses!

Amon cleared his throat and said:

“Ahem! It’s fine. Anyone can make mistakes.”

One of the priests flared up.

“There’s no way the goddess would make a mistake…”

-Be quiet. It’s true that I misunderstood.

“…I-I’m sorry.”

Amon’s body trembled at the sight of Banumin sternly rebuking the follower who was blindly defending her.

‘She really is a god!’

Deeply moved by her godlike benevolence and fairness, Amon, who until just moments ago had been planning to beat the goddess to death, was now considering joining the Order of Divine Law.

“Ahem, by the way, Goddess. I too, being a mere human, am bound to make mistakes. My rudeness toward you was a simple accident. I apologize.”

-Ah, it’s fine. It didn’t hurt much anyway.

Amon smiled awkwardly, having clearly heard Banumin groaning while unconscious, occasionally grabbing her nose and saying things like ‘Ugh, it hurts’ or ‘What about my nose.’

“…Th-thank you for understanding.”

-Anyway, that’s not what’s important…Excuse me for a moment.

Banumin said, extending her hand.

-Would you hold my hand for a moment?

“Huh? Oh, alright.”

Amon grasped Banumin’s hand.

At the same time, Banumin’s eyes grew round.

-This can’t be…

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

-…N-nothing. Nothing at all.

Banumin had set up a mana barrier to prevent Amon from holding her hand.

Yet Amon’s hand passed through the mana barrier as if it had never existed and grasped her hand.

‘Just what is this human’s identity…?’

The demon lord sitting next to Amon nodded, thinking, ‘Well, of course, I wasn’t beaten up for nothing after all.’

Anyway, Banumin, who seemed shocked by this fact, let go of Amon’s hand.

There was no need to reveal that the mana barrier didn’t work on Amon.

‘He might hit me again.’

Banumin cleared her throat and said:

-Ahem, judging by the energy I felt through your hand, you seem to be a person with a very pure and good heart. I’m relieved.

“Ah! Yes, I am quite virtuous!”

Amon was delighted, and those who knew him well were greatly shocked.

But they couldn’t argue when the goddess said so!

However, the demon lord, who was both an opponent of the goddess and had been beaten up by this supposedly virtuous Amon, seemed to have a different view and grumbled:

-Virtuous my ass. He was more like a crazy dog handler.

“Shut your mouth.”

-…

After silencing the demon lord’s complaints with one word, Amon turned to Banumin and said:

“Come to think of it, I’m late with my introduction. I am Amon Drake, a teacher in the academic affairs department of Amonis Academy, and the ‘mentor’ of Boris, who was recently chosen by the holy sword Nukhael.”

Amon particularly emphasized the part about being Boris’s mentor.

He thought the goddess might look favorably upon someone who taught the hero.

Then others rushed in as well.

“Ahem! I’m also Boris’s teacher. I practically raised Boris. Yes, indeed.”

“What! Senior Marion, why are you butting in…?”

“Goddess, I also taught Boris very diligently.”

“No! Senior Sloth, you stopped teaching Boris when he started learning magic in earnest, so what are you saying…”

“Hahaha, Boris especially follows me around and sees me as an older brother.”

“Kai, let’s not talk nonsense.”

“Yes.”

After fending off the opportunistic wolves who were rushing in hoping to gain favor with the goddess, Amon glanced at the others.

‘At least Fiora isn’t stepping forward since she hasn’t known Boris for long…’

“Goddess, Boris, as my top disciple, received the most teachings…”

“Has this crazy person lost their mind!”

At the point of meeting a real god who had manifested in the mortal realm, they were all trying desperately to imprint their existence on the goddess without regard for dignity.

“Goddess! If it weren’t for me, Boris wouldn’t have even stayed at the academy!”

“Headmaster, go lick the World Tree trunk somewhere else!”

“Wh-what did you say…!?”

Before they knew it, as they desperately tried to show their presence around the goddess, the priests also stepped forward to demonstrate their faith, not wanting to be outdone.

And meanwhile.

Unlike the goddess who was delighted by the people surrounding her, the demon lord was alone, sadly scratching the ground.

At that moment, a black shadow approached the demon lord and spoke.

“What do demon folk usually eat?”

-Huh? De-demon folk don’t really eat meals.

Disappointed by that answer, Brestle clicked her tongue and disappeared from the demon lord’s sight.