CH 77

When he opened his eyes in the game, he was right back in the situation that had been going on when he logged off.

The Reedflow Academy mages and wolf hybrid had gathered around Notum to listen to her story. And the old dark mage that was crouched under the table playing with something that looked like black shadow-like matter.

[ You got it? Take them to a quiet place and shoot him. ]

Looking at the dark mage, he remembered what Ian had said outside.

‘Mmm. A dark mage. A dark mage… I do need to confirm with them. If they are actually connected to the mute’s side, then he could continuously leak our information.’

Professor glanced at the old man that was hunched over in the shadows. Most of the water-type mages here were commoners, and Mage Ottman was a kind person to begin with, so they weren’t showing much hostility towards the wolf hybrid and troll, but that did not mean they were able to approach them easily either. It takes time for strangers to get to know each other, but the people here have completely different jobs, are different races, and even have different reasons for being here. They don’t have anything in common.

Taking one step back, the distance between one another was clear. The water mages were one group, Notum and Borka another, and the dark mage who was all alone was another. This won’t do. If we have to do something together, then everyone at least needs to be at the point where they can greet each other.

‘Hm. There is something just right to break this awkward atmosphere. There isn’t anyone from the church here, so I probably need to do it.’

Clap clap clap!

After organizing his thoughts, Professor clapped to attract everyone’s attention, then pulled out the chairs from the table the dark mage was hiding under.

“Everyone! Can you all come to gather over there?”

Rustle, rustle.

Trudge trudge.

They were a little hesitant, but most of them followed. It wasn’t that Professor had an especially strong leadership or anything. The situation just made it that way.

‘The people in this place were all forced to be here. It looks like the church didn’t tell them anything when they were put here, so they’re all probably frustrated and nervous. If I act up here and pretend I know something they will at least come listen to see what I have to say.’

Watching the people gathering, Professor organized his thoughts. Starting now, he was going to shock the people here just a bit.

“Gwruh- Five, six chairs. Notum sit.”

“Huh? N–no. You can just sit on the floor.”

“Gwuh.”

The fact that Notum listened to him also played a part in the others taking action. The Reedflow Academy mages, who had a positive impression of Professor as the same water-type mage, followed behind, and the werewolf Borka begrudgingly trailed behind and sat at the table.

Of course, there was an exception as well. The dark mage who was still hiding under the table was that case.

“Hmph! I don’t have any reason to listen to—”

“You’re fine where you are. I really can’t force you out of there if you can’t bear the light. I gathered everyone here on purpose so you can listen too, so just stay there. Right, do you want something to cover yourself up?”

Professor rummaged around his inventory and took out the large sack he used to use instead of a bag.

[Item : Dirty Count Mandalius's Curtain : Curtain from the count's house. It's tough and durable. It is incredibly dirty, stained with dust and blood.]

‘Mmm. I should have washed this beforehand if I knew this would happen. Is this just going to make him angrier?’

When he held out the cloth with a little uneasiness, the old man brightened up, snatched it from his hands, and put it over his head, almost making his worry feel foolish. Even though he was covering himself with a dirty rag that stenches, the old man let out a satisfied sigh with no sign of discomfort.

“Mmmm. That’s much better. Thank you, young one.”

“It’s no problem. As a sort of mage myself, I can sort of understand your situation here.”

Tobrune is overflowing with low-rank magic items, and the Light’s Order is as wealthy as the power of their influence. It’s been hours since the sun had set, but the place was almost too bright to bear due to the magic bulbs around the room.

An incredibly bright environment. The dark mage, who had said something about dark mana or something, and his irritated and alert reaction.

‘A water mage would have a similar reaction if they were put in a desert. There’s a culture among mages where they make their environment similar to the element they use. In that sense, the robes from the church are imbued with a little bit of the Light’s Order’s holy power, so they emit a faint glow by themselves. The old man over there probably couldn’t bear that and took it off and crawled under the table where there was at least a little less light.’

In that sense, the curtain that was made of a thick and durable cloth was the ideal hiding place for the man. With the cloth covering his entire body, the dark mage pushed out an empty chair from under the table to show their intention to participate.

Good. For now, we made a situation where everyone could talk.

We are bit.ly/3iBfjkV, find us on google.

Once everyone sat down, Professor stood up and opened his mouth.

“Now. Now, since everyone’s here, I’ll start the explanation. First of all, let’s start with introductions. My name is Professor. Like everyone else, I was dragged here by the church, and unlike you all, I have been given the role of commander of this prisoner group.”

Looking around at the people around him, Professor dropped the formalities he had been using. A clearly intentional change of mood. The moment he started talking, the air in the room, which had primarily been curiosity, instantly changed to discomfort.

‘I’ll need to tell them the reality first.’

The planning he had done outside. The imbalance of the troops or the supply issue was under the assumption that these people would seriously invest themselves into this mission. But thinking about it, that was impossible. Everyone was forced to be here in the first place, and if their lives are somehow threatened during the mission,

‘They’ll definitely escape. No, they don’t even need to go that far. All they have to do is get a little far from Tobrune, and everyone can just go about their own ways.’

The absence of a purpose. That was the biggest problem and the first task he needed to complete.

‘I would prefer talking to them one-on-one and giving them a detailed explanation, but there isn’t time to do that.’

“Ahem! By commander, do you mean that you will… order us around?”

“Yes. To be exact, I have the authority to rate the actions and attitudes of the people who were captured under the ‘suspicion of treason against the church’ and dispose of them if they are not compliant with the mission.”

“B—by ‘dispose of’, you mean…”

“It means returning to where we are supposed to be. Not the bright and pleasant housing on the surface, but the underground prison where you’ll listen to Ro Haram’s ringing until your brain melts down.”

Whooosh—

‘Damn, that’s cold.’

The slightly uncomfortable atmosphere now turned out right frigid. That was only natural. Some random guy just waltzed up to them and suddenly announced that they needed to listen to them or else they’ll be executed. It’d be a bigger problem if everyone were all bright and happy after hearing that.

This was where he needed to start his highly delicate emotional control. Licking his dry lips, Professor continued talking regardless of the cold stares.

“Don’t you think it’s odd? I don’t know about anything else, but the fact that the church that immediately executes anything even remotely connected to dark mages took mages that had direct contact with the Crimson Mute, a werewolf and troll that they don’t even think are human, and even a literal dark mage and just locked them up in a house. It doesn’t make any sense. Although all of you are keeping quiet right now, I’m sure everyone has thought about it, ‘why are these guys doing this, why am I still alive, and well, here’. About how it’s different from the rumors.”

Professor’s comments only made the silence in the room a level heavier. The question that had been nagging each and every one of them. He had just openly revealed the uncertainty that everyone was holding inside their minds.

Now that he had set up a nice meal of doubt and anxiety on their plates, all he had to do now was feed them with the spoon called reality.

Clack.

Professor placed the relic from the church, the [Light of Nelphia], that hung around his neck and put it on the table. A holy light that even a person who doesn’t know about holy power would recognize was flowing out from the empty oval ornament.

Professor slowly and deliberately delivered each word to the people overwhelmed by that light.

“Let me officially introduce myself. I’m Professor, an F Rank mercenary from Touran, a Rank 1 mage of the Reedflow Academy, and a warrior that the Light’s Order has blessed. This relic is evidence that my will is with the church and that I have the authority to execute anyone who does not follow the order of the church in the church’s name.”

Professor uttered one last thing to seal the deal as he watched dark, cold despair and sticky, scorching wrath spread over his audience.

“So if you want to live, you’ll need to listen to what I say, people ‘suspected of treason’.”

The traditional and most effective method of persuasion: is the carrot and stick method. Up until now, he used the stick to nail reality into everyone harshly and imbued a forceful purpose to the mission through fear and threats.

‘I’ll put down the stick for now. This seems like a good time to start using the carrot.’

Just when Professor tried to approach the others, that were now frozen up gently,

“Hwack-tu! You disgusting humans. Was threatening us to listen to you the reason you gathered all of us? Alright, fine. I’ll try to disobey your order and fight back with a rebellious and aggressive stance. Why don’t you try executing me as you said with that silver tongue of yours?”

Borka, the werewolf, aggressively got up from his chair and stood in front of Professor, talking in a challenging tone.

‘Hm… I’ll need to put away the carrot for a moment.’

Professor followed his attitude and stood up from his seat, and as he watched the werewolf glaring at him, he internally took out the stick he had put away.

“….Borka, Dalrune.”

The werewolf had been seated right next to Professor. When Professor slowly uttered his name threateningly, they just responded with a sharp laugh.

“Was my explanation not enough?”

To Professor’s calm statement, Borka just smirked and replied boldly.

“No, there was no need to. Because I had sworn to the spirit of the forest that I would never become the slave of the humans!”

Just as he finished his sentence, Borka charged at Professor.

Whoosh!

As if he was planning to end the fight as soon as possible, Borka’s right hand swung towards Professor’s eyes. The way he stuck up the knuckles of his middle finger expressed that he wouldn’t mind an eyeball or two getting popped.

‘A surprise attack without any hesitation, and although the swing looks like it was from pure emotion, his left hand is loosened to prepare against my movements. This guy, he’s a seasoned fighter.’

[Need help?]

‘As if. Just watch me.’

[Keke. Just say the word if you need to. All I need is a finger to beat something like that werewolf.]

Ignoring Hyde’s whispers, Professor hit back the wild attacks Borka was swinging towards him.

‘His right hand swinging around with obvious patterns is the bait, and that left hand, which is waiting for the moment I block, is probably the real attack.’

It was similar to an attack pattern of an arena fighter with a sword and shield than just a bare-fisted fight. Seeing that his movements flowed smoothly like liquid, he had probably used this method of fighting for quite a long time.

‘But a traditional fighting style like this is easy to break.’

Grab!

“Agh—ergh!”

Professor grabbed the forearm of the right had that had been being used as a distraction with his large hand.

“You have good movement and fighting sense and are experienced. You’re pretty good, aren’t you?”

“Grgh, let go!”

When he couldn’t slip out his arm no matter how much he struggled, he instead stabbed in his sharp nails on his left hand into Professor’s stomach, which was left wide open.

Shpt!

The razor-sharp claws sliced through his muscular abdomen and sank in all the way up to his fingertips.

Drip, drip.

“Grrrrgh, you let your guard down, huma—aaaaaghk!”

Just as he thought the fight was over, Borka released an agonizing scream from Professor’s tightening grip around his arm.

“Aaaaagh! Gaaaaaaghhk!”

“You have a surprisingly balanced fighting style for a werewolf. Hmm, I like it. A trained werewolf, that’s nice. As a reward for this pleasant surprise, I’ll teach you something.”

Cr-r-r-r-ack—

“Ghahhhh! L—Let go!”

Borka’s eyes suddenly widened while trying his best to loosen the solid grip around his arm with his left hand. The abdomen, which he made a large hole in, was squirming around as if it was alive and mended itself back together.

“M—Monster….!”

“Yeah, I am a monster. And this is what you will be fighting against from now on. And when you’re facing monsters like these, a traditional method like that—”

Crash!

Professor picked up Borka by his arm, then smashed him down to the ground.

“Is going to break when facing an opponent that is stronger.”

“Ghhhh, ughhhhh….”

“Oh, you’re pretty sturdy. Those are great basics you got there. Plus one point. Try working on your skills a little more, though.”

Professor lightly smiled at Bokra, who had passed out on the stone floor that had been shattered to pieces.

“Ah, that’s refreshing!”

The stuffiness he had been feeling disappeared after moving his body for the first time in a while.

“Ghhhhhgh, urghhh…”

After seeing Borka squirming around not long after losing consciousness, Professor gave him a bright smile.

“Werewolf! You’re seriously tough! Now, then. That isn’t your full power, right? Wanna start round 2?”

“Grrr—grrrrrrrrrgh! I will never become the slave of a human even if I die!!!!!!”

Rough tufts of fur grew out of Borka’s bloodied face, and his mouth grew out into a long snout, sharp teeth filling up this entire mouth.

“Awoooooooo!!!!”

He had now grown to a similar height to Professor, with muscles much more toned and firmer than before. And at the fingertips were razor-sharp claws that now grew to the size of kitchen knives.

[Woah. Those were inside his fingers? They look even bigger than his fingers, though?]

‘They didn’t come out of them. They probably grew out as a part of the werewolf transformation.’

Chck!

Observing the true form of a werewolf, Professor spoke in a calm tone, as if this wasn’t his problem at all.

“You’re going to wake up all of the neighbors if you cry out that loud. You know how the Light’s Order priests stay up late into the night to pray, right? The paladins will come here in a moment to kill you.”

“Grrrrr, it doesn’t… matter. I was already dead the moment I was captured. I might as well kill the warrior that’s supposedly the hope of the humans if I’m going to die anyway…”

‘Mmm. Looking at his attitude, he really sounds like he gave up on his life.’

What do I do? He needs to hesitate somewhere for me to dig in.

“Ah, Dalia, Tushan, Marka… Wait for me. I will be there soon…”

Ding!

Just as Professor was grinding the gears in his head to the point it could be audible, something that sounded like Borka’s last will drifted into his ears.

’ Dalia, Tushan, Marka? Those are names used in the south. He said he’s going to go meet them just before he dies?’

Spt—

Pow!

“Ahh!”

Borka charged in, not giving him a moment to think. It was a speed incomparable to when he was in human form. After barely dodging an attack to the head by turning around and seeing a few flecks of his hair cut off by the razor-sharp claws, Professor started to blurt out any word he could think of.

“Revenge!”

Shhhk!

Claws few towards him instead of an answer.

‘Damn it! Is it not revenge? Then…’

“A wish from the clan! Is the Lycanthrope’s relic in Rodrick...!”

“Seeing that you aren’t shutting up even at the brink of death, I’ll need to cut off that tongue of yours to make you quiet!”

Shhk—

Shlck!

‘Aghhhh! S***! My hand! W–what do I do? Do I just beat him up? But it’ll be forever bye-bye with this guy if I use my strength here! Ughhhhh… I can’t lose my only normal troop like this…. not like this….!’

And in that moment, in the mind of Professor, who had been covered in blood from dodging Borka’s attacks, an old cliché popped into his head like a lightbulb.

“K–kidnapping!”

Flinch!

To the word that Professor screamed out, Borka stopped his attack for a split second. And seeing that reaction, Professor cheered internally.

‘Let’s go! It was that! Damn it, why didn’t I think of that? A sub-race that had suddenly come out into the city on his own! And if that place happens to be the center of racism, Rodrick, then it obviously has something to do with slaves!’

Finally finding the place to attack, Professor let out a sinister laugh and continued to dig into his wavering heart.

“I see. So, it is kidnapping. A child of the clan, or perhaps family, had been kidnapped by someone like a slave merchant. Did you come to find them? And did you get caught by the church while wandering through the cities like that?”

“…It’s too late. I failed, and I will soon join them…”

“Are you really going to give up like this? Are you going to let go of everything and go back alone to the great spirit back home? Then the children that had been kidnapped are going to be slaves for the rest of their lives.”

“Grrrrrrr… How dare you say that with a human’s mouth!!!”

Looking at the werewolf’s eyes glow bright yellow from anger, Professor cheered internally once again.

‘Yes! That’s it! Fuel that anger! Think about it! If you die here, those kidnapped children have no hope or future! You can’t die like this, Borka!’

Ignite flames of anger on dying embers of will, and apply a collar called responsibility so they cannot give up.

‘I’ll make sure that you’ll be begging me to please go on the church’s mission!’

Looking at Borka, who was now approaching him with an electrifyingly fierce fury in his eyes, Professor let out an even more sinister laugh.