I Ended up Doing Too Well as a Professor of the Enemy Nation - Chapter 213
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 213. The Escaped Butterfly (4)
Ruin blinked for a moment. The door burst open and his Superior suddenly slammed a box down on the desk with a thud.
“It’s a reward.”
“…Excuse me?”
His Superior, who was famous for being the stingiest of the stingy, was giving him a box full of gold coins? This had to be some kind of conspiracy. Or a trap.
However, his Superior, who was grinning for some reason, said proudly.
“Thanks to you, the Hero was pushed back at the front lines!”
“…Excuse me?”
He wondered if his ears were playing tricks on him. But his Superior nodded triumphantly.
“I told you to stay by the Hero’s side, and it looks like you did good work. As expected of Fire Butterfly.”
Wait, could that really be called ‘work’?
“This is a bonus that came down from above because of that. Good job.”
Ruin looked down at the box and muttered to himself.
‘…Hero, what are you doing at the front lines?’
No, actually, keep playing around like that. My bank account is very happy right now.
* * *
One month since Ruin disappeared.
The Hero, who had received a return order from the angry Principal, was sitting with his chin propped up by the window in the Head Professor’s office. The sky was clear without a single cloud.
“…At least let it rain.”
Originally, to properly wallow in sadness, cold raindrops should be tapping against the window. That’s definitely how it should be…
Chirp chirp! Chirp chirp!
Outside the window, refreshingly clear bird songs poured out, grating on his ears. The sunlight was warm, and the breeze even carried the gentle scent of lavender. In short, it was perfect weather for a picnic.
“…Damn it.”
His plan to sink into sadness had gone up in smoke.
So he tried scratching some lottery tickets to change his mood, and won first place. He went to a casino hoping to lose a bunch of money and feel sad, and won first place again. When he tried to grab a quick meal at a restaurant, a chef’s special made personally by the head chef was ‘coincidentally’ placed in front of him.
“Let me be sad for once!”
The Hero held his forehead. Even from the distant restaurant, cheerful piano melodies could be heard. It had a gentleness that seemed to whisper ‘Feel free to be happy.’
At that moment, Rei approached Elaine. Rei poked his face forward and smiled brightly.
“Ah, I had a hard time finding you. It’s your day off, right? Let’s go shopping.”
“No. Go by yourself.”
The Hero didn’t even look at Rei. The Hero, who used to be overjoyed just seeing him, had been acting like this continuously. Even when he returned, the guy who would normally act like a puppy was being cold and distant.
Rei looked him over with displeasure for a moment, then raised the corners of his mouth. As if he was going to be generous.
“Ah- You’re thinking about Professor Ruins, right? Then we can go shopping and buy ‘things the Professor might use.'”
“…No. Forget it.”
When the Hero firmly refused, Rei looked at the Hero again with displeasure. This bastard, really. So Fire Butterfly comes before his lover now?!
Meanwhile, at the same time, in Haven’s Faculty Lounge.
The atmosphere was dying like a funeral parlor. More precisely, their mental states were dying. And for good reason…
“…The Chairman keeps coming to observe our classes. Is it really okay to leave things like this?”
At the Combat Department professor’s trembling voice, the Magic Department professor sitting next to him rubbed his eyes and answered.
“I told him too. Please stop observing.”
“And then?”
“…’Then please guide me to the classroom where Professor Ruin is teaching’…”
At that moment, several people simultaneously grabbed their heads. Whenever that name came up, everyone had PTSD-like fits.
And for good reason – it had been a month since Ruin disappeared. The Hero who went to Rhine said the incomprehensible words ‘Master wasn’t there,’ and now every morning at 6 AM he was patrolling the dormitory and lecture buildings searching for his Master.
“Master-! Are you here?”
“…This is my research lab.”
“Ah, yes. But Professor Ruins isn’t here, right?”
That’s how mornings started, and in the afternoons he would observe professors’ lectures without permission. He even raised his hand before the students and asked questions.
“Professor, how do you think Professor Ruins would have taught this part?”
“…I don’t know. I’m not the Head Professor.”
“Ah, what a shame.”
Nights were the same. The Dormitory Supervisor came running frantically and shouted.
“Principal! The Hero is sleeping in the Silver Moon Dormitory corridor!”
The Principal held his head. He brought him back from the battlefield telling him not to cause trouble, and now what?
“Why is he sleeping on the dormitory floor?”
“He said Professor Ruins might return here.”
Eventually, an emergency faculty meeting was called.
“Half the professors have taken sick leave now.”
“…If we don’t bring Ruins Wayne back immediately, this Academy will collapse.”
Of course, they weren’t the only ones suffering. There was Echo. Echo, who was captured in the military interrogation room, was sitting leaning back in a chair. One eye was bruised, but he still hadn’t lost his sneering smile.
As expected-
“Now it’s your turn.”
At the Hero’s words, Echo chuckled.
“Hey, isn’t it proper etiquette to at least say ‘nice to see you’ before starting here?”
“Be grateful I didn’t kill you. You have something I need.”
“Oho. What might you need? Money? Information? Or perhaps my charm?”
Muttering “bullshit,” the Hero sat down facing him.
“Ruins Wayne.”
In an instant, the air in the interrogation room froze cold. Come to think of it, it was strange. Professor Eren seemed unusually close to Ruins Wayne, who had not even a fingernail’s worth of sociability. As if… they had known each other for a very long time.
“What’s your relationship with Master? How close are you?”
The Hero’s eyes turned menacing, like watching a harmful pest clinging to a parent or child.
“No, how long have you known each other?”
When there was no answer, the Hero took another step closer.
“Tell me everything about what power Master, no, Fire Butterfly uses, and where he’s hiding.”
Echo swallowed a hollow laugh. Master? That butterfly ‘raised’ the Hero?
No, before that-
‘This bastard… has my identity been exposed?’
I was keeping my mouth shut out of loyalty, but how careless.
The corner of Echo’s mouth twisted upward.
“What are you going to do once you know where he’s hiding?”
“I’m going to make him my ally.”
“…Ah, really? But I’m not sure that’ll work. Our butterfly is quite… shy around strangers.”
Bang!
The Hero kicked the chair with his foot.
Even as Echo fell over with the chair, his expression remained mocking. Damn it. If only this wasn’t Haven, full of Luck Power, he could escape.
“Shall I… tell you information about Fire Butterfly?”
The Hero’s eyes flashed instantly.
“Speak.”
“…Actually, your master is-“
“Master is?”
Instead of answering, Echo spat in the Hero’s face with a “ptui.” That sound tore through the silence of the interrogation room.
The Hero’s hand shot out like lightning, roughly grabbing Echo’s collar. And just as his fist was about to swing-
Click, click.
Someone was unlocking Echo’s handcuffs. What slithered out from a black hole was… a palm-sized Shadow Creature…
‘A Demon Beast?!’
The Hero looked at the handcuffs in confusion. A tiny Demon Beast was wriggling around, picking the lock. The Hero’s eyes widened.
“…What is this?”
Caught by the Hero, the shadow whined and hurried even more. However.
Bang!
The Hero’s hand struck down on the shadow directly. But the shadow slipped through his fingers with a whoosh and escaped.
“You… look familiar.”
The Hero’s eyes narrowed.
“…Right. This is it. That power Master used at the very end.”
The Hero recalled how Ruin looked when he left. That figure disappearing like the wind that day. And the mysterious black shadow that had crept up from under his feet.
He hadn’t considered it because he thought it couldn’t be such a low-level Demon Beast, but…
“It’s a Shadow Creature.”
“!”
Right. Fire Butterfly was a shadow! That’s why he could transform into anyone and move freely anywhere!
If there was one question, it was how such a low-level Demon Beast could be free from ‘light’…
The Hero crouched down and made eye contact with the tiny Demon Beast.
He wasn’t sure, but he understood that Ruin was a higher species that controlled dark races including Shadow Creatures.
“Hey. Where did your master go? Your master sent you to rescue this bastard, right?”
Echo tilted his head.
‘…Butterfly rescuing me?’
The Hero asked again with an angry face. He just disappeared in front of him, but sent a subordinate like this to rescue a comrade.
“…Won’t talk? Time for torture?”
Echo tilted his head even more. Is it possible to torture a shadow?
But as soon as those words fell, the Hero waved candy like coaxing a child.
“You want to eat it, right? This is really expensive? One piece of candy costs 1 million quid.”
…Is that bastard really insane?
But the Shadow Creature was actually startled. Perhaps it thought it should bring such an expensive item to its master. It wriggled again and dragged the candy bag, which was bigger than its own body.
Then the Hero grinned and flicked on the light. Under the gas lamp’s glow, the shadow contracted with a whimper and trembled.
“Light is your weakness, right? If you don’t talk, here—”
When the Hero even pulled out a candle, the shadow trembled even more as if screaming. Then it slowly and cruelly smiled.
“It hurts, doesn’t it? Sorry. But from now on, you’re a hostage to catch Master—”
That was the moment.
Thwack!
“Guhk?!”
The Hero’s body flew toward the wall and crashed into it. He had been struck and sent flying by the shadow. Looking to see what happened, the small shadow was actually growing bigger and bigger.
“No… why…?!”
The Hero doubted his own eyes.
“Shadows should be weak to light! Why…!”
Then, the form of the shadow that had been growing up to the ceiling height completely changed. The writhing shadow grew larger, then transformed into the appearance of Ruin with his hands in his pockets. And—
[…Disappointing.]
Just one word.
At that familiar voice, the Hero’s heart sank. His face looked not like a battlefield hero, but like a delinquent student being scolded.
But soon the Hero shouted.
“Master, please come back!”
[Nothing you do will matter. I’ll never see you again]
The Hero froze. And the next moment, the shadow disappeared along with Echo.
Then, commotion was heard from outside. The military’s subordinates came rushing in.
“What happened!”
“A demon has infiltrated all the way here!”
“Only Fire Butterfly could do something like this, right?”
“But this is shadow energy… Could it be that Fire Butterfly was from the darkness tribe?”
“That’s impossible! How could a low-level Demon Beast—”
“Anyway, this is important information. I’ll report it to headquarters immediately!”
As one soldier tried to rush out—
“Stop!”
The Hero’s urgent voice. Low and resolute.
“But, Commander!”
“What came in here was a different demon. And don’t tell anyone about today’s events.”
“Still!”
“That’s an order.”
As the interrogation room door closed, the Hero collapsed to the floor.
“He was disappointed. Now he’ll never come back again…”
It was a voice mixed with despair, deeper than the defeat of war.
* * *
Having rescued Echo, Ruin sighed.
He had briefly stopped by Haven using shadows, but the security had become even tighter.
‘Damn. I need to get employed at Haven again.’
What should he tell Pride?
As Ruin was brewing coffee like that.
Clank, clank.
Instead of the church bells announcing morning, the sound of metal clashing could be heard. Ruin tried to ignore the sound by moistening his throat with a sip of cold water.
However, without even knocking on the door, the door burst open and broke.
Bang!
Ruin spoke without even giving it a glance.
“…I told you not to break the door.”
The one who entered the inn where Ruin was staying was Sasha Chef. She let out a long sigh.
“Fire Butterfly.”
“What.”
“I’ll give you compensation. Go back into Haven.”
Ruin laughed as if asking what nonsense she was talking.
“…You didn’t forget that I ran away from there, did you?”
“I didn’t forget.”
Should I be happy about this, or should I be sad.
「Why don’t you manage your expressions?」
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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