novelraw Chapter 172 : Chapter 172
Chapter 172 : Chapter 172
172
"E-eek! Th-th-th-the......"
The moment the Wolf King appeared, Charlotte went pale and toppled backward out of her chair.
It was an unsightly display — as if she had thrown all dignity out the window.
She practically crawled across the floor to hide behind me, peeking out warily.
"Oho. You know me? The monarch of this third-rate territory?"
"I-I, I studied at the Imperial Royal Academy......"
"Aha. So you are a dog raised on Imperial water."
The Wolf King grinned, baring his teeth.
"A dog ought to recognize a wolf when it sees one. Of course."
Currently, the Wolf King's stage of activity was the Empire.
The moment demons had appeared, he had annexed all the tribes of the Great Forest and launched his invasion.
From what I had heard, he was raging about quite loudly and boisterously.
"It is more than that! The Imperial royal family has placed a bounty of one million gold on, on the Wolf King's head! As the worst, most terrifying criminal in history......"
"Do you have the confidence to say such things in front of the man himself and survive?"
"Hic."
Charlotte hiccupped and buried herself more actively behind me.
Frankly, even if she hid like that, I could not guarantee I could protect her one hundred percent.
The Wolf King was a force of that caliber.
Why else could he stroll right into what was essentially the heart of Akarind Academy City — the Royal Castle's inner office — without anyone stopping him?
I strained my ears and focused my hearing, but there was no commotion outside.
Which meant no one had realized the Wolf King had made his way this far.
"Do not be so wary. This is not my main body."
Perhaps guessing at my alertness, the Wolf King let out a small snort of laughter.
If it was not his main body, then it was probably the same clone technique Ulf had used.
I looked the Wolf King over carefully once more.
At a glance, his appearance was nearly indistinguishable from his main body.
Ulf's clone had manifested looking somewhat more aged than her main body.
Since she had been suppressing her aging with magic, a clone with insufficient mana naturally manifested in an older form.
'His body seems to have recovered somewhat.'
The last time I had seen it, his clone had been in the form of a complete old crone.
"Are you worried about an enemy?"
The Wolf King laughed as though he found my expression amusing.
It seemed he had guessed at my thoughts.
"She is not an enemy. She is my graduate student."
I said that as I slowly rested my hand on my sword's hilt.
The Wolf King was not a man one could afford to let his guard down around.
Beyond his martial prowess, his scheming mind ran deep.
He looked crudely straightforward, but his intuition was sharp enough that he could predict what someone was thinking just from a glance and a single expression — as he had just done.
For such a man to have come all the way here.
"Are you here to enroll in graduate school, by chance?"
"What a dreadful thing to say."
The Wolf King furrowed his brow with genuine distaste.
"I came here to offer thanks, and to propose a one-year alliance."
"......?"
Charlotte's gaze met mine.
A word of thanks, and an alliance.
Charlotte asked with her eyes whether I had done something to help the Wolf King.
So I bounced the look back.
'Did you help him?'
'How is an Academy student mired in nihilism supposed to help the Wolf King with anything?!'
The Wolf King looked at the two of us and let out a hearty laugh.
"It is not the two of you. Isadora. I wish to express my gratitude to her."
"Isadora......?"
"Are you feigning ignorance? I heard she has just been appointed as the Belmein Kingdom's Tactical Commander."
It was true.
It was one of the first tasks I had handled after returning to the Belmein Kingdom with the princess.
Which meant it had happened a mere week ago.
That was not the kind of information the Wolf King — who should have been busy fighting on some foreign frontline — would know.
The Wolf King rose from the windowsill.
The loose clothing draped over his body fluttered.
Through the fabric, which had no ties or buttons and hung open, I could see muscles covered in scars of combat.
It should have been a barbaric and scandalous outfit, but somehow it suited him perfectly.
"Isadora. She was a soldier of the Empire, but she was also one who betrayed the Empire for the sake of the Great Forest's peace and order — and for her ethics as a human being. The Great Forest does not forget a debt of gratitude."
"......"
"For the next year, in return for that debt, we will not trespass into Belmein Kingdom territory. Even should you attack us, we will turn the other cheek — twice."
The Wolf King maintained a solemn expression throughout.
He was a fascinating man.
His emotional expressions were rich — he would burst into laughter or furrow his brow at even the smallest topic.
His speech was unrestrained, unpretentious, and full of a raw, untamed feel.
Which made him cunning.
"That is not paying back a debt."
To think he could hide his true intent this thoroughly.
At my words, the Wolf King's right eyebrow twitched.
"The Empire has a powerful enemy on its doorstep — you, the Wolf King. And you will eventually bring the Empire down."
The Empire had ruled the world thanks to its overwhelming military might.
But the Wolf King was an existence that could stand up to that might — perhaps even surpass it.
Even now, the Empire was unable to drive out the Wolf King and his followers from their own territory.
"But that does not necessarily mean the Wolf King's freedom."
Once the Imperial populace fragmented, they would all target the Wolf King.
The sworn enemy who had toppled the Empire.
The one who captured that leader would be able to claim legitimate succession of the Imperial throne.
"The Empire is strong."
The Lionheart Knights had yet to enter any battle.
The Magic Tower had not participated either.
Rozalin had said that even during the previous timeline's demon wars, they had never joined the fight.
They had merely holed themselves up in the royal court, desperate only to protect the Emperor.
But what if that royal court no longer existed?
What lengths would they go to when every restraint holding them back was removed?
"Which makes fighting an external enemy in the middle of all that uncomfortable. Is that not why you proposed one year?"
Considering the Belmein Kingdom's geopolitical situation, this was a highly political move.
We were currently in an alliance with the Kingdom of Namress.
Our relationship with the Holy Kingdom was not bad either, and we had close ties with the next Saintess.
So the moment the Wolf King allied with our kingdom, he could neutralize a great many threats at once.
"Using gratitude as an excuse for this is a rather cheap move."
"Well, this is unexpected. I thought you would just be hunched over wheezing in a corner, but you grasp the state of the world quite well."
"That is thanks to our Queen."
I glanced back at Charlotte, who was hiding behind me.
She seemed so frightened by my gaze that she tried even harder to hide, making it hard to see her properly.
"She was in the Empire as recently as a week ago."
"This is not the level of analysis an Academy student should be capable of."
"It is the Imperial Royal Academy, after all. Where the greatest minds in the world gather."
In truth, the Wolf King was right.
This was not information an ordinary Academy student could piece together.
The one who had brought all this information to me was Abrahal.
No matter that the Goldline Merchant Guild had withdrawn from the Empire and relocated its operations to Belmein, the human resources they had cultivated for so long had not vanished.
Combining the intelligence coming from them with what Charlotte had known before coming here, this level of inference was possible.
"So why do you not repay the debt in a more fitting manner?"
"Hmm. You make a fair point. The matter is too significant to settle with mere lip service. We did, after all, derail one person's life."
The Wolf King stroked his chin with a serious expression.
"You seem quite fond of Isadora."
"The Great Forest does not forget debts or grudges. Debts are repaid in kind — grudges, doubled."
And yet the same man had just tried to skate by with token thanks.
"Very well. Then let me give you proper intelligence. Beware the Magic Tower."
"The Magic Tower — you mean Ban? Could he be the one summoning demons?"
Both Ulf and Rozalin had warned me about Ban of the Magic Tower on several occasions.
The one who had glimpsed the order of demons and become a demon himself.
A 5th-circle mage whose whereabouts after the regression were unknown.
If they were warning me about someone like that.
"Demon Summoner, you say. So you have a vague sense of the existence too. No. Ban is not the one summoning demons."
The Wolf King grinned, baring his teeth as though amused.
"You too."
Which meant Ulf and the Wolf King had their own hypotheses about who was summoning demons.
"But it seems he wants to imitate something similar."
"......"
"Ulf told me to warn you. The Magic Tower is planning something. And the Magic Tower backs Prince Leferil."
"......"
Leferil was the prince who had been humiliated at the Academic Exchange Conference in the Empire.
Come to think of it, when he had come to see us, Ban had volunteered to serve as his escort.
It was highly likely they had maintained close contact since then.
"You would do well to be on guard. A demon's methods are deeply insidious."
"Thank you."
This information was something I had genuinely never heard before.
At my thanks, the Wolf King clasped his hands behind his back as if his business was done and strode toward the windowsill.
He dangled his legs over the edge of the window and glanced sidelong at me.
His eyes gleamed with an eerie light.
"You have grown strong. Appetizing."
"......"
"But you still have a ways to go. At that level, you are still no match for Pan at his peak. Get stronger, Teacher."
***
"That Wolf King bastard — a wolf sneaking in as a clone to leech off us. Wolf King, my ass. More like the Craven Wolf."
Rozalin could not contain her fury and was wringing her hat.
She was still, to this day, calling herself the Guard Captain of Akarind Academy City.
In other words, the Wolf King infiltrating Queen Charlotte's inner office was her responsibility.
"I mean, we were keeping watch really hard! Okay?!"
Rozalin spoke as if indignant, but her face was full of guilt.
Given her personality, she would almost certainly beat herself up about this and obsess over it.
Considering how fixated she had been when I had nearly gone missing recently...... Honestly, was her mental state not a bit fragile?
"We need to train."
"Ugh."
"I am not talking about tactical training or guard drills."
"......Oh?"
Rozalin's ears twitched.
Her dejected expression gradually brightened, color returning to her face.
It was an expression of expectation.
"That is right. I need to train all of you."
The Wolf King was strong.
And we were still too weak to stand against him.
The Wolf King himself had said so.
That I was still no match for Pan at his peak.
Even after I had become able to wield the abstract sword and slice apart massive demons in chunks.
And what that meant was.
'I am weaker than the demons that will appear going forward.'
And also.
'I am weaker than the Empire that is currently standing against the Wolf King.'
I did not believe I could resolve all of that on my own.
My current achievements were not the result of my solitary effort — they had been possible because my comrades had lifted me up.
So now was the time to elevate the skills of my comrades, not myself.
"As it happens, the textbook for advanced swordsmanship was completed over the break."
Rozalin, Hati, Pan, the Spear God who occasionally dropped by the Academy, and...... hmm, should I include Sordian as well?
In any case, I needed to train my students and raise their skill levels.
"I will need to organize a special class."