Chapter 249 |
Battered full body armor and helmet, scarred and dented, accompanied by a chipped spear and a horse so gaunt it was a wonder it could still run.
Beyond unimpressive, his appearance was downright grotesque.
‘This isn’t some Don Quixote adventure…’
If there had been a squire like Sancho to serve Don Quixote, it would have been fair to call it a rebirth of Don Quixote himself.
"Everyone, keep calm. As long as we remain calm, we can overcome any situation... Oh no! Where is this fool going!"
The horse carrying Principal Dwener started walking towards the expansive grassland.
As Dwener rode away from the children, becoming smaller in the distance, the children began to whisper among themselves.
"Why is the principal here?"
"He's the commander, our... freshman commander."
"I see why he chose such a pitiful horse. He couldn’t have handled a stronger one."
Indeed, Principal Dwener was so incompetent that he couldn’t even control a scrawny horse.
Just then, someone grabbed the horse's reins and turned it around.
"..."
...There he was. Sancho was there.
Caron, serving Annwood Academy's very own Don Quixote, Principal Dwener.
"Keep it down. Have you already forgotten this is a battlefield?"
"No, of course not!"
With a sharp gaze and a curt tone, he instantly commanded the attention of the children.
Though more menacing than one might expect from a Sancho, what mattered wasn’t his harshness.
Bam-.
"..."
I stared intently at Caron, trying to communicate through my gaze alone, ‘Why is he here?’.
Then Caron looked back at me.
His eyes seemed to carry a heavy story.
A profoundly meaningful gaze.
*
Two days ago, when Dwener expressed his desire to join the defense of Carpathia.
Caron tried desperately to dissuade him, but ultimately failed to change Dwener’s mind.
If only Caron, who didn’t know the depth of Dwener’s intentions to protect Zero, had realized, he might have persuaded him.
‘As if I didn’t already have enough to worry about…’
Caron massaged his throbbing forehead.
Since a few days ago, appearances of black mages and demon summonings had begun across the Empire.
The Empire had deployed forces to those locations, naturally depleting the central forces.
"Something’s not right. I'll have to see for myself."
Even Elester had gone to a place reported to have demon sightings.
With many talents deployed, they thought they had managed the situation before it escalated.
But that wasn’t the case.
A telegram about the ‘Erosion’ starting in Carpathia.
Upon receiving the telegram, Caron, examining the map, realized.
They had been thoroughly deceived.
‘To think they were targeting the center all along...’
From north, south, east, and west of Carpathia, they staged incidents to deploy forces there.
‘Their goal had always been Carpathia from the beginning. And the reason was...’
To turn the Empire's heartland into uninhabitable land, causing disruptions in troop movements.
A bold strategy that, if successful, could deal the most significant blow to the Empire.
Indeed, the defense of Carpathia was a crucial battle that, if lost, would be a fatal blow to the Empire.
No wonder they were deploying even young students.
And yet...
"Hehe... the battlefield... I go... I protect..."
To think that Dwener, a coward with no talent for combat, insisted on participating.
Caron’s head ached more than ever. And he knew all too well.
‘The most dangerous thing on the battlefield isn't the enemy, but a foolish ally.’
And yet...
‘But I can’t just let him die out there...’
Though parachuted into his position, a principal is still a principal.
At the same time, Dwener was also one of the citizens of the Empire that Caron had to protect.
‘Being incompetent isn’t a crime.’
Caron's duty was to eliminate those who were ‘harmful’ to the Empire.
Dwener, though incompetent, wasn’t the kind to torment others.
Moreover...
‘The assessment of being incompetent is wrong.’
Caron had realized that Principal Dwener had been concealing his strength all along.
In Caron’s personal assessment, however, Dwener still belonged somewhere between incompetent and average.
Still, his evaluation had significantly improved compared to the past.
‘...Maybe I should use this opportunity to test him.’
Time was of the essence. There wasn't even time to dissuade Dwener anymore.
Now that it was decided they would go together, there was no reason to hesitate.
Caron’s mind began to race.
‘I should assign him to oversee the freshmen.’
Originally, he had planned to assign this task to Dargon, a sixth-circle mage, but he thought it too wasteful to use him just for escorting the injured and guarding duties.
While the safety of the freshmen was important, so was the safety of the second and third years diving into the battlefield.
If Dargon joined them, he could significantly reduce casualties.
‘After all, there’s no way the freshmen will be fighting demons.’
‘Leadership’ is a different kind of strength from physical force.
Even Dwener, devoid of any martial prowess, should be able to lead effectively.
"Principal, will you take charge of the freshmen?"
"The freshmen?"
"Yes, although you are certainly qualified to lead the third years, protecting the first years, the future of the Empire, is also..."
"That’s exactly what I was hoping for! Caron, my friend, you finally understand me! Are you finally as competent as I am?"
"...?"
It was quite strange.
Normally, one would expect him to protest, ‘Are you giving the competent me menial tasks!’, but here he was, easily accepting the proposal.
"It’s time to bring out the heirlooms!"
Dwener opened a display cabinet in the corner of his office.
Inside were a helmet, armor, and spear handed down through generations of the Seigan family.
"These are the arms my ancestor used when fighting Legion Commander Balafar. I had planned to use them only in emergencies, like the descent of a legion commander..."
Now, with Zero possibly being torn apart by a demon, if this wasn’t an emergency, what was!
"Definitely an emergency, indeed!"
Dwener began to don the equipment.
Despite diligent care, problems had arisen here and there due to their age, much like a defeated knight.
Caron was left speechless at the sorry sight.
‘Let’s just get going. There’s no time to waste.’
Annwood Academy’s Don Quixote and a somewhat sinister otherworldly Sancho.
The moment they set off.
*
Caron’s profound gaze said it all.
‘I... There’s been too much happening. It’s really tough.’
-He seemed to say.
What exactly had happened was unclear, but it seemed best to move on.
Once someone has arrived, you can’t just send them away.
‘Dwener’s arrival doesn’t change my strategy.’
Of course, the incompetent Dwener could still plunge them into unforeseen danger.
Maybe causing the number of demons, originally four, to increase, or pushing us further into the fortress.
But that’s okay. In fact, it’s welcome.
‘Given my current power, I could take down a fourth chapter boss single-handedly.’
So, two chapter’s worth of demons? No matter how much Dwener flounders, it’s unlikely I’ll be put in danger.
The only variable would be if Dwener messes up my plans, but that’s unlikely to happen...
"..."
And soon I realized. From the very first step, things had gone terribly wrong.
The first demon to appear, Amon.
Dargon, the sixth-circle mage, was supposed to reduce Amon’s HP by 50%.
He would have been in charge of the freshmen instead of Dwener.
But looking around, there was no sign of him.
That’s right. Dargon had been ousted by Dwener.
‘Now who’s going to reduce the HP...’
Dwener, just by showing up, had ruined my perfect strategy.
At this point, it was perplexing. Dwener should have stayed at Annwood Academy; why did he come all this way?
‘He must have come because of me.’
A disaster caused by high favorability. But put another way.
‘A hidden piece.’
Dwener’s participation in the defense of Carpathia was unheard of.
Indeed, this was a sort of hidden piece, but in the invasion of Carpathia, the only real trouble from the user’s perspective was Mabelga.
So then.
‘Could it be... Is this a hidden piece meant to capture Mabelga?’
Even with multiple playthroughs and currently armed with 'Divine Imitation' and various fateful encounters, chipping away at the 10,000 shield was still a daunting task for me.
Was it actually ‘someone’ else’s help that was needed, and could that someone have been Dwener?
If so, this was a monumental discovery.
It was when I was looking at Dwener with eyes full of respect.
"Demons! Come at me as much as you want! I’ll show you the spear skills that have been compared to the hero, Douglas!"
It was just as Dwener had twirled his spear around on his horse.
Clang-.
Dwener’s spear fell to the ground. His grip hadn’t withstood the centrifugal force.
"..."
"Hmm, it’s been a while, a slight mistake. Ugh...!"
As Dwener bent down to pick up his spear.
Thud!
"Oof!"
His falling off the horse was inevitable.
‘That Dwener could whittle down Mabelga’s shield?’
It was an absurd notion. It now became clear.
Dwener’s hidden piece had nothing to do with Mabelga.
"Cough, cough! I’m not quite warmed up yet. I need a moment."
Dwener energetically swung his spear around.
Hmm, certainly impressive. Could his spear skills rival those of Rezé?
That is, impressively bad.
"The principal is our commander?"
"Eh... Surely not. Teacher Caron will assist him."
"His spear skills match those of Douglas?"
Kids, don’t say that. The deceased Douglas... no, the living Adonis would cry.
"Zero, there you were."
A man once known as Douglas, a young man with golden hair.
It was Adonis. He passed by Dwener as if he didn't see him.
"Keke, please understand even if it offends you."
"Huh? What do you mean by that suddenly?"
"Didn’t he just invoke Douglas’s name with that skill? Didn’t it hurt you?"
Adonis glanced toward where Dwener was, then back at me.
"What are you talking about? There’s no one swinging a spear. All I see are words."
"..."
It wasn’t that he was ignoring Dwener. It was just that to the eyes of Adonis, a nine-star knight, Dwener barely registered as a person.
That was Dwener for you.
I decided to change the subject.
"Keke, are you feeling alright?"
Following Luna’s brash comment, Adonis, who had been petrified into stone in the past, recalled that time.
"Hmm, I remember that the two children had gained a new skill... but I have no memory of what followed. Seems I’m just an old man after all."
It appeared he had lost his memory due to the shock.
Well, that was understandable. Luna’s attitude, trying call an old man a friend, was something even I hadn’t experienced in Korea.
I felt the Confucian dragon within me stir.
Looking towards the fortress, Adonis murmured.
"Hmm... it seems worse inside than I thought."
"Keke, aren’t you here, Adonis? You’ll be able to hold it off."
In reality, the invasion of Carpathia by Lizbeth ends in failure.
High-ranking knights like Caron constantly arrived to provide support, but Adonis being there was a bigger reason.
"Right. I plan to go inside with Caron. So, about this place... would you mind looking after it?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, take care of the children. That includes ‘that child’ too."
‘That child’. He was talking about Victoria, the Empire’s thirteenth princess.
I couldn’t help but be puzzled. Why was he saying this to me...
"Woooah! Demons! Behold my magnificence!"
"Everyone, align in rows. No mercy for penalties."
"Take care, now."
Don Quixote Dwener, the kind-hearted Teron, and now Adonis too.
I knew then.
The story had started to go off the rails.
--TL Notes--
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