Published at 1st of May 2019 5:27 pm

Chapter 262: Side chapter - Rimuru’s Elegant Escape Play - 14

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

The morning of the fourth day.

The light of the sun was blinding yet warm, which made it hard to believe that there had been such a fight last night.

The intense battle with the poison tiger had gone on all through the night.

They had somehow been able to drive it away, and now everyone was sleeping deeply as if they were dead.

No one had died in the fight, but many were heavily wounded.

The casualties had stopped there because Moss had been ordered to protect everyone, but it would not have been strange if the outcome was one of a majority death, had I not intervened.

It wasn’t so much that Julius was a bad commander, but that the enemy was too strong.

It was like asking an elementary school student to defeat a soldier. There was too much of a gap in basic combat abilities.

In fact, it was one of the strongest on the island.

Semi-Demon Lord rank power was nothing to scoff at.

But nevermind that. A much more important incident has occurred…

So let us go back for a moment, and I will explain what it was that had happened.

◇◇◇

The combat teachers stood in the forefront and faced the poison tiger.

Unlike the time with Laplace, they were fully prepared.

Physical boosts through magic and skills, physical boosts through items. And completely equipped with unique equipment.

Their power was equal to an A-rank… However, an A-rank could be quite diverse.

A-rank. It was proof that you were at the strongest level in this world.

There was an enormous barrier to being admitted as an A-rank, and you had to be strong enough to set yourself apart from everything that is beneath it. It was the seat of the strongest.

However, that was before-before the great war.

Now that the Tempest unique rank equipment was circulating, it had become quite easy to achieve an A-rank.

People who have conquered different layers inside of the labyrinth often sold their acquired items on the black market, which meant that people were able to buy them with money.

Of course, acquiring unique equipment through such means would not allow you to use the equipment to its fullest potential.

If your base level had not reached a certain point yet, then you, of course, would not be able to break through the A-rank barrier.

Because of all of this, each school had a number of A-rank teachers employed there.

And yet…

With the threat of the monsters in front of us, it did not seem excessive.

Hazard rank, Calamity rank, and the old Demon Lord level, which was Disaster rank.

In the end, there was even the Catastrophe rank, which no one would touch.

As we were the only Catastrophe ranks, it wasn’t really something we had to consider, but the Hazard rank monsters ruled their territories in many lands. And so allowing a degree of the unique rank equipment to circulate was partially in order to increase the number of people who could fight them.

Because of this, damages from monsters all of over the world had decreased dramatically.

As for comparing the teachers and monsters in terms of power, we were at a great disadvantage, just as I had predicted.

I had already felt that Hazard rank monsters were too much for them, but this poison tiger was Calamity rank, so there was no comparison.

Just as I had said, there was a huge difference.

There was always a bigger fish.

Still, the teachers had relied on their numbers and surrounded the poison tiger, trying desperately to hold it.

And the result was this. The poison tiger’s powerful poison had injured them all to the point where they were on the brink of death. It was a terrible sight.

But they had done well.

They had used all of their power.

After all, I had witnessed it myself. They had felt that they could not fight ungracefully in front of me, and they had fought desperately against an opponent that they had no hope of winning against.

I felt like praising them without reserve.

At the same time, Julius and the others were also impressive.

With the pack of monsters coming towards them, Julius has stood in the front, fighting to his best ability while encouraging the others.

“We will surely win! Don’t give up!!”

He shouted. The students had been in danger of losing themselves in fear, but the voice gave them courage.

He had more backbone than I had thought.

And his skill with the sword was not bad. And he was even using magic.

He must have spent a lot on his equipment, as it was of the finest quality, and seemed like it was a lot more advanced than the weapons and armor of the teachers.

And while he was a student, he was almost as strong as an A-rank person.

Handsome+Prince+Capable!

I hated it.

The conditions were so great for him that all the males around him would feel miserable.

However, none of this had anything to do with the monsters. The monsters did not discriminate and did not spare Julius because of those qualities. He was only food to them.

And so they attacked, one after another.

Julius fought desperately.

Julius’ followers were also fighting hard.

The argumentive Maria Rogwall and the quiet girl, Carole Primrose as well.

And the butlers.

Even the students who had seemed to have lost heart had regained their will and were cooperating with a fervor again.

Those who could fight went out in the front, while those who could not, acted as rescuers.

They were very efficient too.

The tents were lined up here, and the terrain made it easy to see everything.

As there was no place to hide, those who could fight moved out and created a circular protective wall around the center.

There were some students who screamed and cried, but as they would get in the way, they were shooed away towards me-in other words, into the center of the protected area.

It was so they didn’t lower morale, probably.

The pompous academic called Julius was also hiding here sneakily…

This guy. There would definitely be a punishment coming to him later.

In any case, I believed that Julius’ actions here were the right ones.

If even a portion of the wall was destroyed, the monsters would trample over us.

Fearing this, the teachers had lured the poison tiger away. However, with over a hundred monsters facing them, this was a battle too severe for the students to fight alone.

This wasn’t about Julius’ ability as a commander, but the fact of the situation.

As I said before, it was their opponent that was just too strong.

But still, Julius fought hard.

While my order to Moss to prevent any lethal blows played a big part, he had still avoided being hit by the monsters for quite a while.

Combat members of the exploration team, such as Karma and Magnus, were also cooperating.

“Don’t let your guard down, Julius!”

“-Karma, huh. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it!”

Karma had moved in and blocked a monster who had rushed towards Julius in order to attack.

After that, Karma, who had transformed into a red werewolf, stood next to Julius and continued to fight. His power was as great as the adults, and he was just as strong as Julius.

Karma was acting on Magnus’ order, as he had said that everything would be over should their commander fall.

Karma obeyed without question, and Julius also seemed to have discarded his usual composed attitude, and readily accepted Karma’s help.

While Julius may have said various things in the past, he did in fact, accept that Karma had a true ability.

The students were crossing the borders of their schools and working together.

It was all very good up until this point.

This point…

◇◇◇

What I first thought was strange, was Magnus’ movements.

He had sent Karma over to help Julius, while he relocated to where the monsters were relatively weaker.

With Magnus’ ability, it would be more appropriate for him to stay in an area where the attacks were more vicious.

As I was curious, I used ‘Magic Detection’ to get an overhead view and observe Magnus’ actions.

Then I saw that Rozari, the girl who seemed praise Magnus a whole lot, had left the frontlines. She was running towards the group of spare forces.

Spare forces-the people who had finished being treated for their injuries or put on their summoning items. Or so I had thought, but on further inspection, it seemed like that was not the case.

They were not treating the wounded there, instead, the wounded were being roughly carried to a different tent.

As for the group…

When I looked closely, I saw that they had finished putting on matching white robes.

There was Clad, who was one of the knights that guarded Julius, and even the combat teacher from Ingracia, who had not joined the fight at all.

Could it be that they are… Just as I thought this, things started to move at once.

First, the teachers who were fighting the poison tiger were poisoned and fell.

There was Master Brown and Master Peter from the Tempest Human Development Resource Academy.

Master William and Master Blum from the Ingracia Academy.

And to combat teachers whose names I did not know from NNU Magic and Science Investigation Academy.

The six of them had been holding the poison tiger back, but now it was free.

The teachers weren’t dead.

They weren’t dead, because Moss was protecting them. However, they might as well have been, as they were unconscious.

And so the poison tiger was now ignoring them and was now attacking the wall of students led by Julius.

“Julius, this is bad!”

“Tsk! If only there was a Hero…”

“Lord Julius!?”

Karma.

Even Maria and Carole, who always followed Julius.

They were all looking at Julius with expressions of anger and despair.

As for Julius…

“I…I won’t give up. Masayuki would have…”

Hmmm… I wonder about that?

If anything, he would probably just run away. Yes, there was a good chance of that.

He would ask Venom to stop the monster and in the meantime…

And then that person, who could now be called Masayuki’s director, would lecture him and bring him back.

However, the timing would also be perfect, as it would be right before Venom was about to be defeated.

Spectators of the scene could not be blamed for seeing this as a Hero coming to save the day in the nick of time.

It wouldn’t seem too lucky for Venom, but that was their problem.

I don’t care about Masayuki, anyway.

Right now, the students were important.

Julius gripped his sword with strong determination, and without showing a hint of fear, he stood in front of the poison tiger.

“I’ll be joining you, Julius!”

“Sorry about everything, Karma. As someone who is in a position of power, I have…”

“Don’t mention it. I understand. But we can be friends from now on, right?”

“…Yes. Let’s make it out of this alive!!”

Julius and Karma, and the other students as well.

They were in a hopeless situation, but they did not give up.

I wanted to give them all a passing grade.

I liked their spirit.

As for Julius, it would be necessary to guide him a little in terms of the way he thought, but I felt that he had at least the bare minimum of what a leader needed.

He wouldn’t win this round, but I thought that I would help a little after he was defeated by the poison tiger.

That was what I thought, as I observed them fighting.

As I knew from the beginning that they would not be able to beat the poison tiger, I had planned for Moss to beat it back once everyone had been defeated.

The only thing left was to see what these suspicious-looking people in the white robes would do. Also, Magnus’ movements…

But they did not look like they intended to join the fight until all of the students and teachers had fallen.

What horrible people. I thought with anger as I viewed them.

And once they saw that the last of the combat students had fallen, they began their move.

Two of the figures in white robes moved out and began to dispose of the monsters at a much faster pace than the teachers had been managing.

And then another stepped out in front of us survivors and activated a magic barrier.

The survivors were overwhelmed with shock and confusion.

“Don’t worry. I will protect all of you.”

Said Magnus.

As if to prove this claim, he went off alone to face the poison tiger.

Stupidity? No, it wasn’t.

Magnus’ movements were full of confidence, and it seemed that he understood that his victory was a certain thing.

And of course, he was right.

He began to fight with the poison tiger with a power that exceeded that of an A-ranker.

And so he was successful in driving it away.

“Tsk. It escaped. Ah, well. At least I accomplished what I wanted.”

Magnus said this as if it was nothing.

In fact, it seemed like Magnus had yet to show his full potential. And the poison tiger was not much of a problem in his eyes.

At this point, it was all but proven, that it had been Magnus and the others who had tricked Julius.

As Clad was Julius’ guard, he would have had plenty of opportunities to mix the herbs in his food.

And more than anything…

“Now, all of you. There are two options for you now.”

Out of nowhere, a single woman came out and made this declaration.

Her words were directed at us, the non-combat students.

It seemed as if she had been waiting for this moment when all of the fighters had been defeated.

This woman, if I was not wrong, was one of the research instructors from the NNU Magic and Science Investigation Academy. I think her name was Irina.

Her silver-rimmed glasses shined coldly as she continued.

“You can obey us and cooperate. Or you can continue to live here freely.”

Irina paused here and made sure that the students had understood her meaning.

Once she saw that they had been listening to her carefully, she continued.

“Now, we will request help from the mainland. We can go and defeat the Greed Circus if we want, but those people will likely be able to serve a different purpose. In any case, about all of you. We will take you with us if you agree to cooperate. Your safety will be assured and you will have a degree of freedom. Of course, you are also free to return to your own countries. However, you will have to undergo certain ‘restrictions’ and there will be ‘oaths’ to be made first. If you do not want to cooperate with us, that is your choice. You can just stay here and live freely…”

So saying, her eyes moved through the group as if she were looking into the eyes of each student.

“Now, what will you do?”

She said.

◇◇◇

The students were thrust into the worst kind of chaos.

Of course, part of the reason was that they were assuming that all of the teachers and Julius and the others, whom they had depended on, were dead.

“Wait! Who are you people?”

I was Master Pury who asked the question as she came out of a tent, her expression was severe.

Her exhaustion nearly ruined what was a pretty face.

It showed how long and how desperately she had continued to treat the wounded.

“Yes, Miss Irina. What exactly do you think you are…”

After Pury, it was Heinrich who came out next, as if to protect the students and find out what Irina’s true motivation was.

These two were the only teachers who were unharmed.

Neither of them liked to fight much, and so they would not have been useful in combat. Of course, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, with the strength of these white-robed people in front of them.

“Yes, I suppose we have not introduced ourselves yet. We are the ‘Humanity Emancipation Alliance.’ Our purpose is the end of the domination of the evil Demon Lords and to win back a future for ourselves. This plan was built with very long-term goals, so all of you will be useful in it as well.”

Here we go. A weird organization.

The ‘Humanity Emancipation Alliance’? What is that?

All I selfishly wanted was to enjoy a little vacation…

Really? Where did I go wrong?

No, now that I think of it, perhaps I had gone wrong the moment I decided to ride that airship?

[[I am saying this just as a precaution, but please do not cast doubt on me.]]

No, no, I would never…

No matter how I look at it, there is guilt. How could I merely doubt?

I’ve been used. There is a mysterious organization… I’m not even sure if they are real…and someone wanted to crush them.

The real culprit behind this is surely…

[[You suspect me! You are horrible. Hmph. Hmph.]]

No, I don’t suspect you at all.

I am sure of it.

Nevermind.

If it comes to this, I will see it through.

[[That’s the master I know!]]

So it is according to your calculations, after all, Ciel! I thought this, but decided to not let it appear on the surface layer of my consciousness.

It was a little late, and there were some things that I thought were strange.

While I reeducate the students, I will have to do something about this Humanity Emancipation Alliance as well.

These organizations tended to be dangerous while they hide in the shadows, but are surprisingly easy to crush once they are exposed.

Thinking of it like that, Ciel’s plan was perfect.

The Humanity Emancipation Alliance was over the moment that I knew about them.

Well, even if that hadn’t happened, I am sure that Diablo or Souei would have caught them eventually.

“And I am a member of the Glory Knights, one of the factions within the Humanity Emancipation Alliance. I was pretending to be a student in order to investigate from the inside.”

Magnus said this, just as I had decided to crush the Humanity Emancipation Alliance.

I see, since just about anyone could become a student, it was easy to sneak in.

But using the school for such a purpose seemed like nothing short of a declaration of war to me.

I mean, I could see why Ciel would not ignore such a foolish organization existing here.

She had looked for the perfect timing to get evidence and then had me move.

I was perhaps not the smartest, for being so easily lured by the word ‘vacation,’ but the people who were unlucky in this situation were those of the Humanity Emancipation Alliance.

Ciel was even more frightening than any Demon Lord once you made an enemy of her.

Irina and Magnus appeared to be in high positions within the organization.

They talked on of how wonderful it was, and of how horrible the Demon Lords who ruled…in other words, me and the other Demon Lords, were. They insisted on the validity of the right of humans.

After that, they went about trying to persuade the students.

This was so that they would testify that the students that they had abandoned had just been killed by the monsters.

Also, they wanted to place all of the students in important positions in the country once they had become older, therefore extending the power of the Humanity Emancipation Alliance.

Perhaps Julius and the others had denied their invitation to join.

And so they had become a nuisance to be rid of, once the opportunity presented itself.

And such an opportunity had arrived, and so it had now come to this.

“I suppose it will be too difficult to give us an answer this instant. We will return again once we finish going to the shore and requesting help from the mainland. I hope that you all would have come to a conclusion by then. It would not be a good thing for us, to have colleagues and fellow students die. And so I pray that you make the right decision.”

Irina said and ended her speech.

Magnus had created a barrier around the area to keep out monsters, ensuring the safety of this place.

This was likely done to calm us and minimize the amount of hostility we might feel.

“Magnus. So, you were tricking everyone?”

“Ah, Satoru. Sorry to involve you in all of this, when you aren’t even a student.”

“You, are you really fine with having allowed Julius, Karma and the others to be killed?”

“…I am not fine with it. But…those who think differently than you are only in the way.”

Magnus muttered in a slightly saddened voice.

However, he seemed very convinced that he was in the right.

This idiot was a student at the school.

“Hey, Magnus. You made me very angry. You better remember that, the next time we meet.”

Magnus did not understand what I meant, and he could only shrug.

And once he had finished setting up the barrier, he reunited with Irina and the others, and they left us.

And that was how the long night ended.

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