WeTried Translations
Translator: Nemui
Editor: Nemui
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Reincarnated as the Villain's Heir
Chapter 28: House Balfont and the Academy Are Deeply Entangled
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"Headmaster, good work."
In the headmaster's office, I gave the headmaster words of appreciation.
For the cover-up surrounding Deniro's group, cooperation from locals like him was indispensable.
Those guys were supposedly going through withdrawal procedures, but in reality, it was forced expulsion.
"No, no, the sons of House Balfont always help us... Problem children never disappear, no matter the era."
"Deniro and the others had apparently been threatening people before this too, cornering students mentally and physically and crushing quite a few of them."
"Indeed. There are fools who spout things like, 'They are children with futures,' but those ones were not humans. They were monsters. They need no future."
"Then monster subjugation was inevitable."
The headmaster's wrinkled face relaxed.
By having the headmaster himself cooperate and make a large public announcement, the cover-up would be complete.
Someone sharp might notice, but it did not matter.
Even if they noticed, they could do nothing, and if they moved around secretly to investigate, they would be saying farewell to this world.
"If people like Deniro grew into adults, far more people would have wept. If clean words like education could make every person decent, no one would suffer."
"I understand the feeling that merely expelling them is not enough. You have had a hard time too."
"Good grief, truly... Explaining things to everyone involved afterward has exhausted me..."
The headmaster also had a friendship with Leorg.
On top of that, House Balfont provided large amounts of financing to the academy, so he could hardly raise his head against us.
"By the way, has something else happened? If you went out of your way to call me, that must be what this is."
"Yes. Recently, the student council has become too extreme. Or rather, I should say one particular student..."
"Lilisha?"
"Y-you knew?"
Recently, Lilisha had apparently been using extreme methods in her crackdowns.
I had heard that injured students were appearing one after another, and distrust toward the student council was building.
Lilisha might indeed be a problem. But-
"The cause lies with you people too."
"W-with us...?"
"Who gave authority to the student council? You decide someone is excellent based only on high grades, then entrust order to students who are still growing. When that becomes inconvenient, relying on me is strange, is it not?"
"Indeed... You are right."
The headmaster drooped while still sitting on the sofa.
I still had things I wanted to say, but blaming the headmaster too much would not help.
"I will do something about Lilisha."
"Y-you will?! Thank you!"
"However, no matter what result comes of it, do not interfere."
"Yes, of course..."
He seemed worried that I might kill Lilisha.
After all, Lilisha was the heir daughter of one of the two great noble houses. If she graduated, that would add prestige to the academy too.
Well, I had no obligation to consider the academy's honor.
* * *
"L-Lady Lilisha... please, have mercy..."
"How pathetic! Next!"
At the mansion's training ground, I was holding mock battles with magicians and swordsmen I had summoned.
Because I did not commute from the academy dorms, this freedom was one of my strengths.
The tutor who had looked after me since childhood could no longer beat me, so I gathered new people like this.
"Lady Lilisha! Prepare yourself!"
The next opponent was a veteran with sixteen years of mercenary experience.
On the battlefield, he had apparently been feared as the Sword General, and if I let my guard down, he could eject me from the Safety Field in an instant.
With swordsmanship worthy of that reputation, he gave me no opening to cast magic.
But this was not enough.
"Too slow!"
"She dodged?!"
That man Alphys would never make an attack that could be avoided with mere mana reinforcement.
And compared to Alphys, this man's mana reinforcement was terribly crude.
Mana reinforcement spread through his whole body, wasting too much.
I showered the man with Fireballs from every direction and forced him out.
When it ended, my body was still hot.
"Weak! Too weak! I am amazed you survived the battlefield like that!"
"M-my lady! With respect, that is a little too much!"
"Jiiya, be quiet!"
"But...!"
"Be silent!"
I silenced Jiiya, who had fussed over me since childhood.
This was the one thing I could not compromise on.
Jiiya was worried, but Father, standing there, watched me with satisfaction.
So this was fine.
Right now, I was doing the correct thing as a member of House Parsifam.
If I wasted sympathy on the lower people one by one, I could never serve as the head.
"...Next."
"But Lord Branmud. The young lady has already finished matches with everyone."
"What are you saying, old man? She can still continue."
"No. Even with a Safety Field, pain and mental fatigue remain. Any more will burden them."
My father Branmud was an extremely strict person.
When he learned I had lost to Alphys, he slapped me again and again.
This was what it meant to be a head. Without being like this, we could never surpass House Balfont.
"Lord Branmud, we are already at our limit..."
Just as someone began to say that, Father burst a fireball floating in one hand.
The small yet extremely dense explosion was loud enough to pierce the ears, and the magicians and swordsmen present turned pale.
"I did not hear you. Say it again."
Perhaps the stronger they were, the more they understood the difference in rank, because the first person I had fought entered the field as if it were a rotation.
They should have done that from the beginning.
"Then..."
"Agh!"
"I do not need some pointless greeting."
I beat that opponent down completely.
The next one, and the next one after that, I forced out one after another.
Then it returned to the first opponent again.
"P-please, stop..."
Even if they were staggering, I kept attacking without easing up.
As I continued, my mana approached its limit.
I was out of breath, and if I kept going any longer, I would enter a mana depletion state and be in danger.
But strangely, I felt that I could still continue.
Rather, my body was telling me to keep going.
Was this the whisper of mana?
"Hah... hah... N-now... the finish!"
At the same time as I wrung out my mana and attacked, I collapsed.
I was done. I could not move another step.
After fighting all day without eating, I had truly reached my limit.
"My lady!"
"Wait, old man. Look."
"M-my lady's body..."
My body had become abnormally hot.
It felt as if I had fallen into scorching magma and was being swallowed by flames.
Normally, I should not have been able to move at all.
But I stood.
With my body releasing strange heat, I was certain I had become something.
"L-Lord Branmud. What is this...?"
"Heh. She has finally reached it. As expected of a member of House Parsifam."
My chest filled with an overwhelming sense of omnipotence.
Right now, I felt like I could lose to no one.
I even felt I was the strongest in this world.
I could win. With this, I could beat Alphys.
Even he had surely not reached this stage.
"Heh, hehe... I understand. I understand. This is the destination of a magician... the Arcane Truth of Magic."
The Arcane Truth of Magic.
The destination every magician admired.
There were only a handful of magicians in the world who had reached it.
But I had reached it. I had become it. I had mastered magic.
Alphys, wait for me.
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