The Academy is Doomed

Chapter 132

The First Priest, who was in charge of this holy sword expedition, fell for Amon’s cunning persuasion.

“Hmm…Setting aside the evaluation of mint chocolate, what you say isn’t wrong. If others were to find out that the Demon Lord’s goal was to make humans understand mint chocolate…”

After saying this, the thought ‘Is this really a Demon Lord?’ settled in Raizen’s mind.

Only a Demon Lord in name, isn’t she more like a chef and entrepreneur trying to spread her new food creation to people?

Of course, it doesn’t seem to suit people’s tastes, but anyway, she seemed to pose almost none of the dangers that the Holy Kingdom had been so wary of as a ‘Demon Lord’.

“Of course, we can’t lower our guard against the Demon Lord right away.”

“Obviously. That goes without saying.”

Banumin, the Goddess of Order who realized things were going in a strange direction, was just rolling her eyeballs.

And after roughly organizing his position, Raizen looked at Banumin and said.

“Goddess.”

-What, what is it?

“Our Holy Kingdom is absolutely in the position of serving and attending to you, Goddess. However…”

Raizen said with a face full of devastation.

“Now that we know the Demon Lord’s goal is like this…we can’t blindly be hostile to the Demon Lord anymore.”

-Wh-What!?

“The Holy Kingdom is prepared to wage a total war with its national fate at stake if the Demon Lord tries to destroy the world. That’s why we spend huge sums to gather various holy items and make massive donations to other religious orders to secure their cooperation in times of emergency. All for an all-out war with the Demon Lord.”

-Uh…

Though his words were long because he had to speak indirectly due to his position as a priest serving the goddess, in summary, this is what it meant:

‘Is there any reason to fight to the death with the Demon Lord for such a ridiculous thing that doesn’t even have the fate of the world at stake…?’

Unless the Demon Lord is a fool, she won’t just sit there and die if attacked by the kingdom.

She will resist and gather forces including demon tribes to wage a fierce war.

For what? Just for food!

Although they were a religious group serving the goddess, they were still human.

They wanted to avoid unnecessary bloodshed over something like this if possible.

“Therefore, could you please consider our position and think about observing the situation for now?”

Raizen bowed his head respectfully and pleaded.

However, Banumin decided to believe in the passion of her followers who served her.

-Stopping the Demon Lord’s long-cherished wish has been my long-cherished…

The moment the goddess said this.

Swoosh-!

Banumin’s face turned pale as she felt the faith of her followers towards her plummet.

An ugly appearance obsessing over something so absurd!

The priests before her felt their faith shaken and became disillusioned by such an appearance of the goddess!

Since this was fatal for the divine race who lived on faith, Banumin continued her words like flowing water.

-…but how could I be a god if I don’t listen to my followers!

“Ohhh! Goddess!”

-However, don’t lower your guard as the Demon Lord might have other ulterior motives. Understand?

“We shall keep it in mind, Goddess!”

Banumin, who maintained minimal dignity as a goddess, looked at the Demon Lord, Joamin, with a bitter smile.

Anyway, now that the perception of Joamin as a ‘harmless Demon Lord’ has been established, she would be able to freely spread ‘mint chocolate’ across the continent.

Although this was a terrifying thing for Banumin…

‘…But seeing humans’ reactions, it would be difficult for it to spread widely.’

Whether knowing this fact or not, Joamin was jumping for joy at the hope that she could now freely spread her masterpiece to humans.

Eventually, Banumin turned her head.

‘…That human.’

Amon Drake, was it?

Noticing her gaze, Amon looked at Banumin who covered her eyes with her index and middle fingers before pointing them at Amon.

‘I will watch you closely.’

A stern warning from the goddess!

However, Amon wasn’t part of the Order Religion to begin with, and had no intention of getting involved with them in the future!

White light enveloped the goddess’s body after she finished her warning.

It was time to return to the divine realm.

-…My followers.

“Yes, Goddess.”

-From now on, please offer chocolate as tribute.

“…Ah, yes. Understood.”

Banumin made a sad face as she felt her followers’ faith drop a little.

Nevertheless, she couldn’t give up chocolate.

After the goddess disappeared, First Priest Raizen, who looked like he aged 10 years from frustration, said.

“…Well then, Headmaster, we will take our leave now. Though it was brief, we are grateful for your hospitality.”

Anareel received this greeting with a bewildered face.

Then Raizen looked at Joamin.

“And Demon Lord.”

-What?

“Would you consider coming with us? It would benefit you too if we could convince the Holy Kingdom that you are harmless.”

Raizen’s words were both a warning and a proposal.

If she didn’t convince them, spreading ‘min-whatever’ in the future would be difficult, and coming along itself could be a way to prove her harmlessness.

However, the Demon Lord snorted.

-Do you have the courage to accept that I am not dangerous? I feel like you’ll be the first to point your swords at me out of fear.

“That won’t…”

-Young one, watch your words. Do you know who stands before you?

No matter how foolish she might have appeared until now, the fact that the being before them was the Demon Lord would never change.

A being so threatening that the Holy Kingdom and the entire continent would need to muster all their strength if she showed her true nature.

Such a Demon Lord smiled coldly and said.

-Tell your superiors this. That the Demon Lord currently has no intention of being hostile to humans. So please don’t do anything to break this pleasant thought.

“…Indeed.”

In the end, he had no choice in this situation.

Knowing this fact, Raizen quietly turned around.

“We’re returning.”

“Yes, First Priest.”

Eventually, the priests who left the academy set out on their journey to return to the Holy Kingdom.

And after they had gone some distance from the city of Amur.

Raizen, who suddenly stopped walking, turned his head to look in the direction of the academy.

‘…Amon Drake, was it?’

A teacher at the academy. That fact wasn’t important.

‘A being who can harm the Demon Lord besides the Hero. Moreover, a being who can even harm the goddess.’

It was a fact that stuck in Raizen’s chest.

Also, he felt like he had seen something about this in the scriptures before, though he seemed to have forgotten it because it was such an absurd content.

‘I should take some time to look it up when I return…ah, returning.’

Raizen’s face was only dark because he couldn’t even guess how much turmoil this expedition would bring to the Holy Kingdom.

* * *

The next day.

‘Hehe, when will the people from the Holy Kingdom come to get me? The Hero has already finished mental preparation.’

Two days after that.

‘Why are they so late? Does preparing the Hero appointment ceremony take this long?’

And a week after that.

‘Did they die on their way?’

The day after that thought, Boris could finally accept it.

‘It’s ruined.’

Well, of course! How could life go well for a commoner kid from the countryside!

Boris lost motivation for everything due to his depressed mood.

But to others, this seemed like complaining despite being well-off.

Boris had the most certain prospects for the future among the academy students.

‘Wasn’t Boris already designated to become a royal magician…?’

‘Professor Sloth said that even her brother, the captain of the Goliath Knights, has his eye on Boris. He said that with that level of talent, despite being a commoner, he would become great no matter what he does…’

‘Last time, even the mayor of Amur was whispering about making magic demonstrations an Amur specialty…’

Boris was receiving good evaluations from inside and outside, whether he knew it or not.

So why was he so hung up on this absurd ‘Hero’ thing!

“Tsk tsk, I don’t understand.”

“He’s not even stupid. He’s still young, young!”

The students who until recently were desperately trying to pull out the holy sword to become Heroes themselves had completely forgotten about their own blemish.

Anyway, Boris had lost motivation for everything to the point where students were criticizing him.

‘This is serious. To think he would doze off even in my class.’

Boris, who used to show bright eyes in class whether he liked it or not due to Anar’el’s magic and Brestle’s potion, was now nodding off even in Amon’s class.

‘I’m worried he might forget what he learned again like before…’

Amon, concerned about the small and cute side effects of the magic and potion, approached the dozing Boris and gently stroked his shoulder.

“Boris.”

“…”

“Boris, wake up.”

“Snore…”

Hmm, Amon stroked his chin and whispered in Boris’s ear.

“Please wake up, Hero.”

“Uh, ah! Yes! Yes!”

Other students laughed with amusement seeing Boris wake up startled, but Amon gave a bitter smile.

‘How much were you looking forward to becoming a Hero?’

Well, the word Hero does have a special resonance for boys.

Even Amon, who still retained his childlike innocence, was tempted by it.

“Boris, are you very tired?”

“…No.”

“Hmm. Shall we talk for a moment after class?”

“…Yes.”

Boris drooped his shoulders thinking he was going to get scolded.

And after class, Boris approached Amon who was organizing teaching materials.

“Um, Professor.”

“Yes, Boris. Have a seat.”

As Boris sat down, Amon said while organizing materials.

“Were you looking forward to becoming a Hero?”

“Huh? Well…yes.”

Seeing Boris nod, Amon opened his mouth.

“Then I should apologize to you first.”

“Huh? Why would you…?”

Amon said as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Because I stopped you from becoming a Hero. I’m sorry.”

“…Huh? Wh-What did you say?”

Boris’s eyes went wide like a surprised rabbit. And the emotion that followed the surprise was definitely anger.

“Why, why…?”

“Boris.”

Amon said in a calm voice.

“Do you know what it means to become a Hero?”

“…”

“It means you have to risk your life fighting the Demon Lord.”

At those words, Boris’s trembling from anger stopped, and Amon continued speaking.

“You’d have to leave this academy, go to the Holy Kingdom, and train every day to fight the Demon Lord. Since you have to use the holy sword Nukhael, you’d have to roll around in the training grounds every day doing physical training and sword practice.”

“…”

“But you can’t neglect magic practice either because you’re a Hero.”

“…”

“You’ll have to study much harder than now too because you’re a Hero.”

“…”

“You’ll have to learn how to hunt since you’ll need to find food while adventuring, learn how to gather wild plants, and thieves will attack the Hero party…”

Boris had already untied the holy sword Nukhael and put it down beside him.

“Boris.”

“Yes.”

“Leaving home means suffering.”

“I see.”

“And…”

Amon stroked Boris’s head and smiled bitterly.

“Eventually you’ll have to fight desperately with the Demon Lord and demon tribes someday…and I don’t want to see you do that.”

Amon laughed awkwardly and cleared his throat before speaking.

“Well, that’s how it is. Anyway, I’m sorry again. You must have been really looking forward to becoming a Hero.”

“…It doesn’t matter anymore. Like you said, Professor, leaving home means suffering. This is my home anyway.”

“Thank you for saying that.”

Amon smiled gently and said.

“Now, go and rest. Professor Fiora’s class is coming up soon.”

“Yes! Professor.”

After Boris left.

As Amon was organizing teaching materials with a relieved smile, he suddenly frowned.

‘…But where did the Demon Lord go?’

She had disappeared without a trace at some point.

* * *

In a basement somewhere in the academy.

-Kekeke! With this, the ultimate ‘taste’ is complete!

“Huhuhu…This is truly moving.”

-Tremble at this taste!

Two shadows laughed ominously and one of their long ears was fluttering with joy.