I’m a Villain, but I Want to Live a Long Life - Chapter 97

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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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The journey to the Academy continued for a long time.

Just when the routine of riding in carriages during the day and staying at inns at night had finally become familiar.

“We’ll arrive soon!”

The coachman, who had been silent throughout the journey, loudly announced our arrival.

“Ha, we’re finally here.”

Hanod yawned with a bored expression and muttered.

“Now I can finally sleep in a proper bed!”

Anita also shouted brightly, not hiding her excited expression.

When I turned my head, Estelin and Rosette were looking out the window with excited faces.

“So this is inside the Academy jurisdiction now?”

“Judging by how we passed through a checkpoint earlier, it seems so. There’s nothing but trees around.”

As Rosette said, the surroundings were filled with dense forests and thick trees.

As I looked out the window with curious eyes, the carriage had somehow entered a gentle hill.

“Look over there, it’s a tower!”

Estelin pointed somewhere and shouted.

When I shifted my gaze to where she gestured, I could indeed see a tower protruding between the treetops.

It was a tower that looked solid and sturdy, as if built by stacking stones one by one.

The dark gray surface gave off a gloomy atmosphere, but the spiral windows wrapping around the walls helped alleviate the bleak mood.

Anita’s group members chattered beside us.

“Lady Anita, what is that building called?”

“It’s a dormitory. Rishion Academy doesn’t have a large enrollment, so there’s no need for a huge dormitory.”

“As expected, Lady Anita knows everything. So anyway, that’s not the Tower of Wisdom where we’ll take our exam, right?”

“Of course not. That tower is called the Tower of Repose. I remember Duke Haren telling me it means to rest comfortably.”

The students were impressed.

Rosette shook her head disapprovingly.

“There she goes showing off again.”

“Leave her be, she has connections with the chancellor, so what can we do.”

When I shrugged, Rosette reluctantly nodded.

Meanwhile, the carriage continued moving busily.

The deeper we went into the jurisdiction, the more other towers appeared one by one, catching our attention.

Just when I was starting to feel a stiff neck.

“Now, we’ve really arrived.”

The carriage came to a complete stop.

“We’re here!”

“Ha, that was exhausting! I really thought I was going to die.”

Hanod, Anita, and her other group members quickly exited the carriage with excited faces.

Rosette, Estelin, and I also nodded and went outside.

As soon as I stepped out, the soft texture of earth was transmitted directly through my legs.

I looked around with an amazed expression.

We were standing in the garden of a low, massive building, different from the towers we had seen before.

“This must be the central building!”

The central building’s garden was entirely made up of lawns, and its size was impressive.

Especially the huge Creda trees planted around the garden’s edges created a mysterious and magnificent atmosphere.

As I was frantically examining the garden and building’s exterior, other carriages arrived one after another behind us.

After the carriages quickly dropped off students and left, finally only students remained in the garden.

“…Now that we’ve actually arrived, it feels quite surreal.”

Rosette muttered in a nervous voice. I nodded.

“Right. The atmosphere is definitely different from the Empire or other regions.”

“It’s a place that doesn’t even allow carriages to enter carelessly, so that makes sense.”

Estelin, who had been looking around, asked anxiously.

“So, more than half of these people will be eliminated in the upcoming exam?”

She was staring at the numerous students who had gotten off in the garden.

“That’s true, but… it’ll be fine. You said we’ll definitely pass.”

Estelin’s expression softened slightly at Rosette’s playful voice. She smiled brightly.

“Of course…! I’m really going to work hard.”

It was when I was also smiling while looking at the two of them.

Beep—

A sharp ringing sound echoed across the wide garden. The murmuring students’ gazes focused on one spot.

On the platform in front of the building entrance, a stranger stood holding a voice amplification magic device.

The students’ expressions hardened when they confirmed her face.

“It’s, it’s Sadina Edith.”

“Sadina Edith, the vice-chancellor of Rishion…”

“The Mad Witch?”

Along with the murmuring sounds, my eyes widened as I confirmed the face on the platform.

Soon a sharp, clear voice rang throughout the garden.

“Welcome to Rishion, all of you! I won’t bother introducing myself. You all know my name.”

The figure on the platform was looking down at the students filling the garden with interested eyes.

“Your entrance exam will begin two days from now. Until then, you’ll be camping in this gar… den…”

Beep—

“What’s wrong with this thing.”

When static flowed from the magic device, Sadina Edith frowned.

She glared at the magic device with an annoyed expression, then raised her fist.

And without hesitation, she struck the magic device repeatedly.

Finally, the crackling static stopped.

Sadina muttered with a slightly softened face.

“…Now it’s working properly.”

Her gaze turned back to the students.

“Where was I. Ah, I had just mentioned that you’ll need to camp in this garden for two days.”

The students, who had been quiet for a moment, murmured and looked at each other.

Anita, who was not far away, muttered with a dissatisfied voice.

“We’ve been traveling for two weeks, and now we have to sleep on grass instead of a soft bed?”

There were quite a few students besides her making displeased expressions.

“But the dormitory tower we saw earlier was so huge, why do we have to camp…”

“I guess it’s true that camping in the central garden before exams is a Rishion tradition.”

“Ha, really…! I hate bugs more than anything in the world!”

Once one person started complaining, grumbling voices erupted from here and there.

I looked around nervously, then checked Sadina’s expression on the platform.

‘Are the kids complaining right now slightly insane?’

To fearlessly spout such words when they know Sadina’s nickname is the Mad Witch.

Sadina was a character who appeared quite impressively in the original work.

‘She was the one who used to threaten to kill people right in front of the Emperor…’

But even so, she was a person who received exile instead of execution. There was only one reason she could survive.

“Stupid idiots with nothing but complaints can turn around and leave now-!!”

When her clear voice covered the garden, the students became as quiet as mice.

Sadina’s eyes flashed.

Her finger was pointing to the single carriage remaining at the back of the garden.

“It’s a carriage returning to the Empire. I have no desire to teach loud-mouthed idiots.”

The students shut their mouths with pale faces. Despite the considerable distance, the intimidating aura emanating from Sadina was tremendous.

‘Right. Sadina is truly a hidden powerhouse of this world. Though she’s slightly insane.’

Sadina was a criminal who had brought down a noble family when she was only fourteen years old.

The reason she could become a professor at Rishion without being executed was simple.

Sadina’s abilities were too remarkable to execute her for her crimes.

Fourteen-year-old Sadina, who was being transported to the Empire for execution immediately after committing her crime, encountered bandits who had set up camp on a nearby small hill.

That day, that low hill disappeared without a trace.

Because Sadina had blown up everything in the vicinity except herself.

The “mad” in ‘Mad Witch’ didn’t mean wild and fierce madness.

It referred to her tremendous ability to completely annihilate anything she set her mind to, leaving not even a particle behind.

‘That’s also why the Emperor couldn’t execute Sadina in the original story.’

He was afraid that if he sentenced her to death, Sadina might blow up the entire Imperial Palace.

“Why is no one getting in the carriage? You all seemed to have plenty to say, but now you’ve all become mute!”

As Sadina snapped coldly, several students unconsciously stepped backward.

Screech—

Sharp static burst from the magical device again.

Sadina glared at the magical device with an annoyed expression, then threw it to the ground.

Then she shouted loudly toward the air.

“Whether you return to the Empire before the exam starts in two days is your freedom! Rishion forces nothing upon anyone!”

“…”

“Those who want to take the exam should endure the next two days, and those who want to leave should leave now! For reference, the Academy provides no supplies!”

The students became noisy again.

“What, we’re supposed to camp out in early winter without any supplies?”

“If that’s not telling us to freeze to death, what is? We didn’t bring anything, so how are we supposed to sleep in a place like this…?”

“No food, no way to wash, how are we supposed to endure two days!”

Sadina silently stared at the murmuring students. One by one, the students who met her gaze closed their mouths.

Having brought silence to the garden with just her gaze, Sadina spoke coldly.

“Well then, farewell.”

With those final words, Sadina turned around sharply. The cloak she wore fluttered.

It was a green cloak with the dragon-wrapped tower emblem that symbolized being a member of the Academy.

As Sadina completely disappeared into the building, Anita shouted in frustration.

“What is this!”

“Is this really how entrance exams are normally conducted?”

Hanod beside her also sighed deeply and held his forehead. The other students looked equally troubled.

Estelin muttered.

“What should we do? We have to endure two days…”

Rosette also sighed with a troubled expression.

“Actually, I have heard stories about the Academy making students sleep outside before exams. I just didn’t think it was real.”

I nodded.

“Being hungry is one thing, but sleeping is the problem. It’ll definitely get extremely cold at night.”

Just then, a rather chilly wind whooshed between us.

After thinking for a moment, I spoke.

“Let’s go out for now.”

“Where to?”

“Let’s go to the forest. We still have two whole days until the exam starts.”

Estelin’s eyes widened.

“Is, is it okay to leave the garden?”

I tilted my head and answered.

“She didn’t say we couldn’t leave, did she?”

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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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