Academy’s New Guard is Unusual - Chapter 97

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 97
“What was that Aura?”
Milo asked with a frown.
“It’s a Cursed Aura—Curse mixed with Aura.”
“Ah, so that’s why it was black.”
It was a hastily thrown excuse, but Milo accepted it without suspicion. Volcan was no different.
“If mixing Curse makes it black, then Volcan, you too—”
“Let’s head back.”
I cut Milo off and walked ahead.
We returned to the Guard Corps as it was.
As Milo went in to wash first, Scarlet appeared from the side.
A Beer Cup sat in her hand.
“Here, drink.”
Scarlet thrust the Beer Cup—laced with poison, openly—toward me.
At this point, I was genuinely curious where she kept sourcing all this poison.
‘She waited until Milo left.’
Since Milo had snatched the cup from me last time, this time she seemed to be seizing the moment when he was gone.
However, this time Volcan was present.
Of course, Scarlet also knew that Volcan was favorably inclined toward me.
But she must have thought that since Volcan was neutral by nature, he wouldn’t interfere further.
That situation had changed now.
Because I had earned Volcan’s favor.
“How much longer do you intend to carry on with such petty antics!”
Volcan’s roar was thunderous. The force in his voice was so powerful that the entire building seemed to shake.
Startled by Volcan’s sudden outburst, Scarlet turned to look at him.
“……Volcan?”
“I know your anguish runs deep because of Charlotte! But there is a limit to all things! We have even prepared a separate place for Charlotte! What more do you want! Speak!”
Volcan turned to Scarlet and challenged her again in that same ringing voice.
Though taken aback, her eyebrows twitching, Scarlet did not back down.
“You want to know? You all forgot about Charlotte and fell for that bastard. Charlotte risked her life to save you—”
“Do you think Charlotte would wish to see a newcomer tormented? Do you think so little of Charlotte?”
“You—”
“Charlotte was kinder to the newcomer than anyone! It was Charlotte who accepted Milo! You’re simply using Charlotte as an excuse for your guilt while tormenting your brother!!”
At Volcan’s sharp accusation, Scarlet visibly wavered. Her true feelings had been laid bare.
‘Earlier she couldn’t remember Charlotte, but she remembers her in that way.’
Had her memories of Charlotte only remained fragmentary?
I muttered to myself, watching Volcan.
At that moment, the door burst open and Milo and Hanswell rushed in. It seemed they had come running, startled by Volcan’s voice.
“What is the matter?”
“Scarlet’s at it again with poison! It’s truly despicable and base!”
Volcan shouted, pointing at Scarlet. Then Milo pounced on her with a cry.
“You’re doing that again?! How much longer will you keep this up!”
Milo joined in, pressing Scarlet harder.
“Scarlet, enough now.”
Even Hanswell added his voice, and Scarlet’s smile crumbled.
The door opened and Ludrick entered.
“Ludrick.”
Scarlet called out to him.
Ludrick was in a romantic relationship with Scarlet. However, he was also my younger brother.
Ludrick approached and snatched the Beer Cup from Scarlet’s hand. Then he drained it completely.
“Ludrick!”
Scarlet grabbed him urgently, but Ludrick didn’t stop.
After draining the cup, Ludrick looked at me and spoke.
“Good enough, brother?”
His prospects were hardly promising, but he seemed genuinely devoted to his woman.
Though the effort appeared to be ineffective, of course.
Scarlet, huffing with indignation, disappeared as if in flight.
Her retreating figure was utterly pathetic.
“Should I not chase after her?”
“I have night watch.”
Ludrick waved his hand dismissively and left.
“It’s just as well. She needed a proper dressing down.”
“Agreed. We cannot tolerate this indefinitely.”
Milo and Volcan voiced their sentiments.
I stared at the door through which Scarlet had exited.
Currently, Scarlet was completely abandoned by Squad 42. Even Ludrick hadn’t defended her.
‘A fine opportunity.’
I planned to comfort the cornered Scarlet and extract information about Charlotte or Scarlet herself.
I headed toward the door Scarlet had gone through.
Scarlet was in the room at the far end.
The door bore the name “Charlotte.”
When I cracked it open, I heard sniffling.
‘Is she crying?’
I hadn’t anticipated tears.
Scarlet was a woman who resembled a black widow. In the game, she had appeared as the Priestess of the Outer God, in fact.
For such a woman to be curled up in a corner of her room, blubbering over some nagging—
‘This is bothersome.’
I clicked my tongue at the sight of Scarlet’s trembling back.
But it was a good opportunity for me.
It meant Scarlet was that thoroughly cornered.
With just a little comfort, I could extract information.
I rapped deliberately on the open door.
Knock-knock. Scarlet’s back went rigid.
“Who is it.”
Scarlet asked without turning around.
“Grave.”
The sound of her grinding her teeth came, sharp and vicious.
“Are you here to mock me?”
“Among other things.”
I answered lightly and shut the door.
Thud. At the sound of the door closing, Scarlet’s back flinched.
Scarlet slowly turned to face me. Her eyes were reddened from weeping quite heavily.
Normally, crying makes one look weak, but Scarlet was the opposite.
The malice that poured from her was almost tangible, practically dripping.
She was so menacing that I caught a glimpse of the Priestess of the Outer God from the game.
“Am I so hateful to you?”
“Yes. Enough that I’d want you dead.”
“Why?”
I was genuinely curious.
The other members of Squad 42 had been unkind, but Scarlet stood out for her severity.
Scarlet had thrust poison at me from our very first meeting.
It had gone far beyond simple territorial behavior.
“I created a position because of the issue with Charlotte’s seat, duties have become more seamless than before, and Squad morale has even improved. Is there any reason to dislike me?”
“That’s exactly why. Charlotte’s crying somewhere, and we can’t be laughing while having abandoned her, can we?”
Scarlet spoke each word with deliberate weight and bitterness.
Her hair began to drift upward slowly, as if caught in a phantom breeze.
The blood vessels in her eyes reddened as her gaze grew bloodshot.
It was truly menacing.
‘The Priestess of the Outer God.’
She was remarkably like the Priestess of the Outer God I had seen in the game.
The Priestess of the Outer God was the catalyst for the Rift’s full-scale invasion.
If Scarlet became the Priestess of the Outer God here, the late-game sequence would unfold as it was.
But I couldn’t eliminate Scarlet outright either.
I couldn’t predict what backlash might occur if I killed the person destined to become the Priestess of the Outer God now.
‘I have to placate her somehow.’
The problem was that Scarlet was thoroughly enraged.
What Scarlet wanted was for me to leave the Guard Corps.
So—
“If Charlotte returns, I will leave the Guard Corps of my own accord.”
“What?”
Scarlet’s focus returned, at least slightly.
After all, Charlotte had already become an Apostle of the Outer God.
There was no returning.
Even if she did return, by then the Guard Corps would be meaningless.
For me, it was a proposal with nothing to lose.
“Are you sincere?”
“Sincere. I swear it by the honor of my parents.”
As I mimicked Volcan’s tone and spoke, Scarlet’s fluttering hair gradually settled.
She had calmed down somewhat.
Indeed, barbaric oaths were effective.
I recalled what Scarlet had said.
“You said you could see Charlotte crying. Is that true?”
“……Yes.”
Scarlet answered in a suppressed voice.
It was too strange to dismiss as simple mental illness.
After all, didn’t Volcan have a Fragment of Outer God lodged in his head, and suffer nightmares daily?
There was a high likelihood that a Fragment of Outer God was affecting Scarlet as well.
Given that she saw it directly rather than in dreams, her Fragment seemed to be larger than Volcan’s.
‘So that’s why Scarlet was so sharp.’
It made a kind of sense.
Of course, it wasn’t my concern.
The Fragment of Outer God that Scarlet possessed would be more powerful than Volcan’s.
I had nearly died eating Volcan’s Fragment.
Consuming the Fragment lodged in Scarlet would require me to build my power base further before attempting it.
“In exchange, I also have a condition.”
“A condition?”
Scarlet looked at me with eyes that said ‘How dare you?’ Her hair began to rise again.
She truly had a tyrannical temperament.
Still, I needed to ease her anger.
So—
“Make sure to give me a drink once a day without fail.”
“……You want alcohol?”
“The sharp taste is good.”
“Interesting.”
Scarlet’s eyes narrowed.
The familiar widow’s smile.
She seemed to have regained some vigor.
I retreated with relief.
As I left the room, Ludrick was waiting.
Ludrick looked down at me with his usual arrogant eyes and spoke abruptly.
“Thanks, brother.”
It was an irritatingly presumptuous expression of gratitude.
“You certainly have a girlfriend with a charming personality.”
“She’s kind to me, brother.”
Ludrick squinted. His expression held a hint of smugness.
Ludrick boldly opened the door and went in.
And then—
“Get out.”
He emerged again immediately.
As I glanced at him, Ludrick, looking somewhat embarrassed, put tobacco in his mouth.
“Smoking, brother.”
Anyone could see he’d been kicked out by Scarlet, but the tobacco excuse—
“Yes, smoke plenty.”
“Seriously, brother.”
I ignored him and turned away.
Soon it was time for bed.
I lay down and closed my eyes quietly.
By nature, I do not sleep deeply.
I sleep in a state of alertness to prepare for any unexpected attacks.
It was a kind of occupational habit.
Because I sleep so lightly, I dream often.
Most of them are nightmares.
The nightmares I have fall into two main categories.
The first kind are nightmares where I relive things I experienced after coming here.
Aura tempering, the Witch’s experiments, Church worship—things like that.
The second kind are nightmares where I directly experience the Bad Endings I saw in the game.
Like now.
I slowly looked around me.
As if cleaved by a single stroke, corpses neatly bisected lay thick all around.
The blood they had shed flowed in a scarlet river.
Not a trace of life remained in any of them.
The lukewarm wind that brushed my cheek and the viscous stench of blood were disturbingly vivid.
It was one of the endings I had seen in the game.
‘An ending caused by the Principal’s Rampage.’
It was the ending that appeared when I failed to stop the rampaging Principal.
But—
‘The Principal isn’t visible.’
The Principal himself was nowhere to be seen.
It was strange.
Usually, in such dreams, I would end by confronting the calamity.
Why wasn’t he visible now?
With effort, I turned my neck to survey the surroundings.
All the carnage around me pointed in a single direction.
The problem was—
I stood in that direction.
I looked down at my hands.
A Black Aura rippled in my grip.
It was so massive that the blade within was invisible.
Though it rested in my hand, the darkness was so profound and dense that I myself feared it.
It was unmistakable evidence.
‘I had done this.’
The Black Aura sank deeper.
As though affirming the correct answer.
This nightmare was different from the ones I had experienced before.
This one was the most vile, and left the deepest unease.
Because it felt as though it might become reality.
But it was not yet.
‘Yes, not yet.’
I exhaled slowly.
I found what needed to be done immediately.
Then the Black Aura caught my eye.
Even amid this carnage it had wrought, the Black Aura undulated with hunger.
It was truly savage.
So—
‘The Black Aura can be wielded.’
I smiled with satisfaction and tightened my grip on the Black Aura.
The Black Aura trembled slightly.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————