I got into school for nothing - Chapter 232
I got into school for nothing (232)
Lesson 45. Foundation Festival Preparation - 7
She was wrapped in faintly glowing bandages all over her body, and over them, she wore an ash-grey robe.
Her face was so tightly wrapped in bandages that it was hard to recognize, and through the gaps, her purplish eyes, barely visible, gleamed enchantingly. Each time they sparkled, a vast amount of concepts, too immense even for the All-Seeing Eye to fully grasp at once, appeared and disappeared.
He knew she was a woman thanks to her distinctive voice.
However, the immense concepts imbued within the bandages concealed her identity not only physically but also within the realms of mana and soul. So much so that if he were to lose focus even for a moment, he might completely fail to perceive her.
He had already heard rumors of such a mysterious being among the full professors.
Clio Hecate, a being known as the 'Prophetess Who Determines Fate,' and currently, also the supervising professor of Ulrike Prominence.
And...
“How surprising.”
She uttered these words of admiration with a face that showed no surprise at all.
Perhaps she had anticipated that he would recognize her identity the moment they met.
“Though there were some hints... I didn't expect you to pierce through so many defensive barriers and arrive at the truth in a single breath.”
Murmuring “defensive barriers,” she traced the bandages tightly wound around her body.
It was a gesture to check if there were any gaps, but both she and Ban Yuwon knew there were none.
And this was also an affirmation that she was indeed Nine, the one who had come as reinforcements with Anneri and the other members of the Rebel Force during the Orc Wave that struck Earth.
He still hadn't fully grasped why she was here when he had come to meet Ulrike, but Ban Yuwon decided to show courtesy first.
“Thank you for your help back then. But how did someone who is a full professor at the Academy end up there?”
“It's the same principle as Mumyeong. What was there was not my true body... You had an inkling, didn't you?”
Of course, he had suspected that she must have used some unusual method, given her sudden disappearance.
Of course, that wasn't what Ban Yuwon truly wanted to ask.
“That's true... but Professor Yumina couldn't come herself back then either.”
“That's natural, as she lacks freedom.”
“Perhaps, then, on Professor Yumina's behalf...?”
“No, no. She and I are separate. Our objectives differ.” RAN0Bеs
So, did that mean Yumina was unaware of Nine's true identity?
But that was also natural, for the full professor before him was none other than Ulrike Prominence's supervising professor — the supervising professor of the very scoundrel who had sent an Orc Wave to Earth.
Now, he found himself even doubting her true intentions when she had come to help him back then.
As Ban Yuwon narrowed his eyes, she chuckled, her body trembling slightly.
“You think too much. This is not the time for you to distinguish between friend and foe. Stop doubting everything and utilize anything you can.”
“That's how you get indigestion, by carelessly gobbling up whatever you find without thinking.”
“And showing up unexpectedly like this without any appointment...” he grumbled, leaning back into a sofa that had materialized seemingly out of nowhere.
Though he responded with a pretense of calm, he was somewhat tense, thinking that at this very moment, he might be facing the greatest crisis since his admission to the Academy.
A situation he couldn't control, an opponent whose allegiance he didn't know.
Perhaps... he might have to unleash all the concepts he had carefully hoarded.
“Excellent. I wish my disciple had such a side to them. No... if that were the case, things wouldn't have unfolded like this.”
Nine lightly raised a hand, and the teapot on the corner table began to boil.
“The reason I brought you here today is...”
“Wait, I was originally supposed to meet senior Ulrike Prominence today.”
“Indeed. I knew that child could no longer contain her impatience and intended to make personal contact with you. That's why I guided you to a safe meeting place.”
An incredulous expression settled upon Ban Yuwon's face.
“And as a result, I walked right into your trap, Professor.”
“Precisely.”
“Isn't this just fraud, not prophecy?”
“I have never once made a prophecy. I merely move things along so that they unfold as I desire.”
She was indirectly stating that her actions—both passively allowing Ulrike Prominence's invasion of Earth, and then approaching Ban Yuwon in the guise of Nine to offer help—were all for her own objectives.
What happened as a result of the Earth invasion?
Enhanced security for Earth, strengthened combat power for Ban Yuwon, and encounters with Mumyeong and Nine.
And the full-scale initiation of actions by his precious mother and his annoying, yet equally precious, older sister...
‘...Hold on, what if this person's will was intertwined with Ulrike Prominence's invasion of Earth?’
No, it must have been so.
Even if she was a single-minded individual, this particular endeavor was too dramatic and reckless to have been carried out without someone egging her on.
If the professor before him... if Clio Hecate was the one pulling Ulrike Prominence's strings from behind, then wouldn't that mean she had intended all this from the moment she took Ulrike as her disciple, even earlier?
‘If so, then her true intention is a change reaching the Prominence family, or even the Ten Great Families as a whole... No, is that going too far? There's no guarantee that my dim-witted older sister will successfully overthrow the Prominence family.’
With his thoughts tangling in a complicated mess, Ban Yuwon inwardly despaired, running a hand through his hair.
As if he didn't have enough on his plate already, yet another problem had been added to the list.
All he wanted was to leave this place immediately, quietly retreat to his room, and fall asleep.
But as if she had anticipated even that reaction, she controlled her magic, and the perfectly steeped tea was poured into a teacup and placed before him, seemingly out of nowhere.
“I understand your feelings, but you must endure it for now. Even if it means putting up with the annoyance, there is still information you can glean from me.”
“Haaah.”
She was a profoundly irritating person.
Perhaps that tone of hers, which could even objectify situations she was involved in, was somehow connected to her efforts to conceal her identity?
“Hmph.”
He let out a low sigh, clearing his thoughts.
At any rate, there was not a single falsehood in her words.
Even if she was Ban Yuwon's enemy, the opportunity to speak with her one-on-one, heart to heart, was undeniably an advantageous situation for him.
From the looks of it, his opponent didn't seem inclined to resort to a show of force.
In that case, all he had to do was thoroughly analyze her every aspect with his patented Yugi and Giwon Sword.
“Alright, let's cut to the chase, then.”
Ban Yuwon declared, unreservedly downing the tea offered by his apparent foe.
As Nine had said, it was Ban Yuwon's way of declaring that he would stop agonizing over friend or foe and simply devour whatever came his way.
“The main point, you say.”
Perhaps pleased by his bold action, the bandages covering Mira's mouth twitched.
“I don't think revealing your identity as Nine was your only objective. There must be a specific reason why you called me at this particular time, isn't there?”
“Oh, of course. For a clever child like you, I'm compelled to give a reward right away.”
As she drank her tea, mirroring Ban Yuwon (observing the tea flow naturally through the bandages, which had no visible holes, Ban Yuwon realized he still had a long way to go), she spoke.
“But I cannot simply tell you the answer directly. That's because I cannot intervene this time, and you must perceive its importance for yourself.”
“The masquerade ball? No, that's not it...”
Ban Yuwon's eyes gently closed.
A matter in which ‘Nine’ couldn't intervene.
Since it wasn't the masquerade ball, there was only one answer.
“The Club-versus-Club Special Tournament.”
No voice responded to Ban Yuwon's words.
But for him, that was enough.
In fact, Ban Yuwon had been deeply involved in the design of this Club-versus-Club Special Tournament from its very inception.
A tournament held in abandoned dimensions, accepting applications from clubs of a certain scale.
While this was an eminently suitable tournament for Academy students aiming to become gods, it was simultaneously a perilous competition, vastly different from simple extracurricular activities.
Abandoned dimensions were spaces where all sorts of monsters thrived, creating overlapping waves that severely warped even the environment.
Even if a multitude of capable individuals undertook its purification, the danger remained the same.
...Even more so if there were traitors mingled among that multitude.
“The live broadcast was your idea, wasn't it?”
“Yes, I reached an agreement with the Chancellor through the student council president.”
“You anticipated that by doing so, even more factions would run wild, didn't you?”
“Yes, with the stage set like this, there's no way they wouldn't appear.”
First semester, early days of the Rebellion channel.
Ban Yuwon once gained favorable recognition by neatly dispatching dimension pirates, encountered due to an irregular phenomenon within the Tower, alongside his companions.
That became one of the catalysts for the smooth growth of the Rebellion channel. Conversely, the dimension pirate group, Exodus, having been humiliated by mere freshman students, had since gnashed their teeth and targeted him.
Though their presence had somewhat faded from memory due to clashes with other dimension pirate groups like Crimson Spear and conflicts with the Prominence family, he had never forgotten their existence.
“A live broadcast, a situation where I, the prey, offer my neck to be bitten. If Exodus learns of it, they won't be able to resist rushing in, will they?”
“Indeed, it was a reckless and audacious undertaking... You may intend to prepare, but you underestimate them. ‘Restrictions’ alone will not suffice.”
“...”
In the heavy silence, Ban Yuwon quietly drained the remaining tea from his cup.
Then he rose from his seat.
“Thank you for the advice. I believe I've heard all I needed to.”
“Was it helpful?”
“Yes.”
Ban Yuwon bowed his head and then exited the room.
Instead of stopping him, Clio Hecate offered a peculiar farewell.
“Huhu, it seems you're doing well.”
“...?”
He instinctively turned back at the farewell, which left an uneasy feeling, but by then, the door had already closed, vanishing without a trace, replaced by a stone wall.
If he hadn't experienced it before, he would have thought he was possessed by a ghost.
[Master, why do you think she insisted on calling you at this specific moment?]
Only after he had left her domain did Lilyth finally speak to him.
“It's probably because what will happen in the Special Tournament has similar conditions to the situation I'm currently in.”
[Similar conditions... the Ten Great Families?]
“Exactly.”
Perhaps because Lilyth shared most of her concepts with Ban Yuwon, her answer came quickly.
He affirmed his familiar's answer with a shrug of his shoulders.
“We already knew that some of the Ten Great Families were backing Exodus. Professor Hecate probably warned me out of concern that I might neglect the Special Tournament while focusing solely on the masquerade ball.”
As an added bonus, she subtly conveyed her intentions.
If his intuition wasn't mistaken, she was hostile towards the Ten Great Families.
She, who was renowned for selectively taking only elites from the Ten Great Families as her disciples.
Although it was all too obvious that she intended to use him as a pawn, and he didn't like it, if Ban Yuwon's intuition was correct, she was not an enemy for now.
What he realized simultaneously was that she couldn't see through all his plans.
‘So, she wasn't a true prophet after all. It seems she doesn't know everything.’
Relieved by that fact, he knocked on a door that had appeared before him, replacing Professor Hecate's room.
Beyond the widely open door, the figure of a young lady, fidgeting impatiently and awaiting his arrival, was revealed.
“Oh, you've arrived. I've been waiting for you. Please, come in.”
[I detect the scent of a vulgar female.]
‘Don't imitate Rucell.’
Scolding Lilyth sternly, Ban Yuwon stepped into the room and immediately realized its true nature.
Previously, when he had work to do with Mira that needed to be kept secret from others, he had used the Artifact Production Department's workshop.
It was essentially a concept similar to a private room, accessible only to representative students who had received authorization from a full professor, and this room was Professor Hecate's version of such a private room.
With Mira and now even Ulrike, Ban Yuwon realized anew that he was favored by truly remarkable individuals.
If asked if that made him purely happy, he would shake his head with all his might, but...
“I thought this place would allow us to converse quietly, just the two of us. What do you think? It's quite cozy, isn't it?”
“Yes, well... your personality certainly shines through.”
Unknown artifacts adorned everywhere, and golden decorations reminiscent of ancient Egypt.
As for the crystal ball placed in the center of the table, he didn't even want to ask what its purpose was.
“Actually, I didn't summon you for any grand purpose.”
‘I know that all too well,’ he thought.
‘To put it bluntly, Professor Hecate was the main course, and you're the dessert.’
“As you, my junior, are aware, we are fated to compete in a special match, with our honor and wishes at stake. Not even properly greeting each other before then would be too bleak, not to mention undignified. Therefore, today... ah... today...”
Ulrike's voice, which had been rattling off words like a rapid-fire recitation of a prepared script, abruptly cut off.
Ban Yuwon, turning to her with a puzzled expression, noticed that her gaze was fixed on his neck.
Her face was flushed crimson, and both her fists were tightly clenched.
At that sight, he finally realized that he was sporting a hickey on his neck.
That meant not only Ulrike, whom he was facing now, but also Hecate, whom he had just met...
[Naturally, even the professor would have been impressed.]
‘Just be quiet for now, please...’
Ban Yuwon sank.
Perhaps it was a small mercy that Ulrike sank with even greater ferocity.
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