Surviving as a Villain at the Academy chapter 166

166 – Aftermath. (2)

The dungeon exploration was over.

They must have suffered a lot because they were visibly exhausted, showing their fatigue until they returned.

Still, there was a reward for their suffering. The research log of the crazy wizard.

Although the wizard’s level was low by Asti’s standard, for our party, including Aris and Diana, the wizard’s research log was messy and disgusting, but it was helpful enough.

Just because he did evil things doesn’t mean he had built up his magical skills in vain.

He seemed to like to record things, so he had written down his magical records thoroughly in his research log, and it had become Diana’s and Aris’s formulas.

Even if it’s trivial, magical knowledge is valuable in itself.

In particular, what a crazy wizard like that had spent his whole life researching was likely to contain magical knowledge unknown to them, and it was actually the case.

“……It’s creepy, but it definitely helps.”

“Right.”

“We need to study it. Let’s ask the professor when we go to the academy this time.”

Diana nodded at Aris’s words.

It wasn’t just the two of us who gained experience; Ruslan, Johan, and Adrian were also satisfied with the field experience they each gained.

“We don’t know what kind of wicked beings we’ll face in the future, but it’s not bad to have met such a peculiar enemy. It was a good experience, senior.”

“Thank you for coming. You worked hard.”

“My whole body’s aching. Oh my… But how did you find this place?”

“We received a report that something suspicious was happening. Johan, are you okay?”

“Me? Well… You guys worked harder than me. But I think it was a good experience. It’s valuable experience to deal with such unusual enemies.”

“I’m glad you’re okay. Anyway, I’ll treat you properly when we get back.”

“Oh, that sounds good.”

“You came all the way to a dangerous place, so it’s the least I can do. First, get some rest at my mansion. The academy’s closed for the holidays anyway.”

“Okay.”

* * *

When we returned to the mansion, we had a wonderful rest. The mansion was so spacious that there were plenty of rooms to accommodate a few students.

Adrian was the only one who had never been to the mansion before. The other guys had been here a few times before, so they were quite familiar with it and were well taken care of by the servants.

It wasn’t that Adrian was particularly uncomfortable. As a saint, she was used to being taken care of.

The servants took great care of her, and when Adrian appeared in the dining room, her skin was so soft and radiant.

Of course, Adrian wasn’t the only one who was treated well. All the other female students were treated well, but… I felt like they were paying a little more attention to Adrian and Asti.

Well. Since both of them were people who were deeply involved with me, the servants had no choice but to treat them specially.

Especially since Asti and I were already in a public relationship, and Adrian was someone who had confessed to me in public at the Holy See’s Inquisition… The servants couldn’t help but be mindful.

Anyway, we had no choice but to talk to each other about the aftermath of this incident.

“Should we submit the research notes to the academy…?”

“Yes. Most of them are about evil experiments, but… There was a lot of relatively normal research before that. Before they became obsessed with immortality.”

Asti replied to Aris’s cautious question.

“…Yes.”

“Anyway, the academy won’t be able to ignore this, right? They’ll probably give us some kind of big award or something. We found the cause of the disappearance of hundreds of people and caught the culprit in a situation where law and order has been in chaos lately.”

“I think so…”

“Don’t you think we’ll get a generous reward?”

Asti smiled.

“A reward… I don’t really care.”

Ruslan replied to her words.

“Really? Well, everyone here is basically overflowing with money and financial余裕, so it’s understandable.”

“That’s right. We participated in this dungeon exploration to improve our individual abilities in the first place.”

“So, did you achieve your goal?”

“…Yes. I should say that I realized what I was lacking. Anyway, I’m satisfied because I gained a lot from this dungeon exploration.”

“Hmm.”

“Well, anyway, let’s submit a report about this exploration to the academy for now.”

“Do we really need to submit a report?”

Johan said as if he was annoyed, but I glanced at him as if to say, “What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Of course. Even in the academy student regulations, it’s a basic requirement to submit a report when doing external commissions or external activities. Remember that much, Imma.”

“Ah… There was something like that. Damn. That’s annoying.”

“You’ll have to report to the church anyway, won’t you? An evil wizard was killing people outside the law.”

“Ah.”

“That’s alright, I’ll do it anyway. Senior Johan, you don’t have to bother yourself.”

“……I’ll do it, Saintess.”

Johan spoke with a sullen face, contrasting with Adrian’s cheerful tone. How could he let the Saintess do such a chore? A mere trainee priest, no less.

……Though his skills were hardly that of a mere trainee priest.

“Then, let’s all rest. You’ve all worked hard.”

“I don’t think we’ve worked that hard, though.”

Diana spoke coquettishly, but no one believed her. Diana was the first to collapse as soon as they arrived at the mansion.

“You talk a big game, you do.”

Alice said, sounding exasperated.

* * *

After asking for the servants’ understanding, Ruslan headed to the mansion’s training hall. Thanks to what he had experienced in the dungeon, he had completely internalized the enlightenment he had gained the other day.

In particular, the moment he had cut off the chimera’s neck, he realized that it was a fundamentally different swordsmanship from what he had wielded until now.

Is this what it means to progress? Ruslan had a satisfied expression on his face. It had certainly been a difficult battle…… but it had been worth it.

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To be honest, he couldn’t thank Frah enough for including him in this dungeon raid.

He held his sword and unfolded what he had learned. Recalling the sensation he had felt when he had cut off the chimera’s neck.

Focusing on cutting off all consciousness, wielding a single, complete sword strike.

As he continued to swing his sword, he suddenly realized that someone was approaching him. He felt like something similar had happened before.

Lowering his sword slightly, he turned his head and found a familiar face.

It was Frah.

“What are you brooding about? You should rest when it’s time to rest.”

“It’s just. I felt a lot today. I realized something, and I needed to confirm whether it had fully become mine.”

“That’s always the way it is. Well, I’m glad you gained a lot from this dungeon raid.”

“Honestly, I could kiss your feet and thank you.”

“That’s disgusting, so no. Even if you’re a guy, it’ll only be more disgusting.”

Frah made a genuinely disgusted expression.

“Right. It’s just that.”

“Anyway, if there’s another opportunity like this in the future, I’ll continue to share it with you. Follow along if you want, or don’t if you don’t.”

“That’s something I would ask of you myself…… But, can I ask you one thing?”

Ruslan asked, looking at Frah.

“What is it?”

“Why are you sharing these opportunities with me? To be honest, I don’t think you have any reason to do this for me.”

Ruslan thought about his relationship with Frah up to this point. To be precise, his relationship with him after the Alice attempted rape incident.

They had been on such bad terms that they could have been called enemies, and to Frah, he must have been an eyesore, or even more than that.

Even so, why was Frah giving him these opportunities?

“Because that’s what needs to be done.”

“……What needs to be done?”

“That’s right. You need to get stronger. More than you can imagine.”

“I don’t understand…….”

“You don’t have to understand now. You’ll know when the time comes.”

Ruslan couldn’t help but wonder more at his words.

What in the world did he find out? Prach’s recent behavior had been very strange.

It was as if he knew something.

But there was no way he could know. He instinctively felt that Prach wouldn’t tell him the reason why he was acting like that.

* * *

The dungeon exploration was over, and it was time for a break for now.

When Ruslan, Adrian, and the others returned to the dormitory, we were able to have a somewhat relaxing holiday.

“I’m glad things went well as planned, aren’t you?”

She sipped her tea and looked at me with her chin resting in her hand.

“Yes. Ruslan’s growth has been quite encouraging. Especially when he cut down the chimera’s neck.”

“Yeah. I felt like he had grown at that time.”

“Oh, and I need a place where I can handle Salus’s power… I think I’ll have to look around. I’d like it to be a rugged terrain that not many people can approach, so let’s go look for it later.”

“Yeah. I got it. But are you just going to keep talking about work?”

“Why? What do you want to do?”

“Isn’t it about time? Your emotions.”

“Ah.”

I had completely forgotten about it. It was an important issue for her.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t been paying much attention to it.”

“It hasn’t been a month since you last ate… I’d like to eat something hearty today since it’s a rare occasion.”

“……Okay.”

With that, she immediately pushed my body onto the bed.

Hey. This is different from usual.