Chapter 302:

“By the way, I’m really impressed.”

Just when I was realizing my mistake and couldn’t hide my regret, the protagonist of another novel suddenly started spouting about being impressed.

He doesn’t know yet that I couldn’t deny the word “friend,” so it can’t be because of that.

That he would say something like that at this timing—

“You could have waited outside safely for the demonic realm to be cleared, yet you rushed here to help us…!”

‘That must be the reason after all.’

The protagonist of another novel, who had been supporting me, seemed unable to contain his emotion and subtly tried to press closer to hug me.

But thanks to Yor the Skilled Hands’ acupressure massage, I had regained normal condition.

Since I no longer needed support, I pushed the protagonist of another novel away, thwarting his attempt to hug me.

“What choice did I have? The Imperial Princess is here, and my fiancée Vigdis is here too… If I had pretended not to see the demonic realm that appeared here, I would surely have been put on the chopping block of criticism and ridicule. So I had no choice but to come. Don’t misunderstand me.”

“Yeah, yeah. I knew you’d say something like that.”

Today as well, the protagonist of another novel treated my words as tsundere remarks.

I also knew he would be like this, so I snorted “Hmph!” and ignored him.

Then the other person let out a cheerful laugh, incongruous with being inside a demonic realm, and brought up a difficult topic.

“By the way, your brother is really something. He’s not even an Awakened, yet he came into a dangerous demonic realm for his younger sibling!”

“My brother is… well… yeah, that’s right…”

“I’d like to greet your family member… I know I can just go and greet him, but still, I’d prefer if you formally introduced me.”

I don’t particularly want to tell Reysir about Karbaldr’s family circumstances.

The original author won’t keep this “setting” of Karbaldr buried forever, so I think the original protagonist will eventually learn about it, but…

Still, I hope it’s not now.

Besides, Reysir isn’t the only one here.

“This doesn’t seem like a good time for a formal introduction.”

“That’s true. The monsters here aren’t a threat as long as you don’t get close, so I think people won’t be in danger if they stay in one place. But they’re probably feeling anxious and scared, so dealing with the boss monster should be the priority now.”

“That’s exactly what I said.”

“Yeah, yeah. So after the demonic realm is cleared, shall we go to a cafe or your room to greet each other leisurely and have a detailed conversation?”

The protagonist of another novel arbitrarily tried to project his own wishes onto my words.

Anyway, what this protagonist of another novel wants is to watch me conversing with Valtraus up close.

That’s probably why he mentioned wanting me to introduce him directly.

The basis for this speculation appears in Chapter 187.

“For your information, I use honorifics with my brother.”

“Ah… that’s really a shame…”

The protagonist of another novel couldn’t hide his genuine regret.

I have no idea how much he wanted to see me and Valtraus talking with “nya” at the end of our sentences.

And I can’t understand why he’d want to see that.

But at any rate, just as I thought it was a relief that Reysir’s expectations seemed to be dashed,

“Still, I’m still curious about your family. Not only did he come running to meet you as soon as he received your request letter, but he also set foot in a dangerous area with you because he couldn’t let you enter the demonic realm alone. That makes me even more curious.”

The protagonist of another novel said this with a serious face, cruelly crushing my expectations.

No, it went beyond that and increased my difficulty.

Because unlike what he assumed, Valtraus was by no means a good brother.

“…Right now, clearing the demonic realm is the priority. So let’s end the small talk here.”

“Yeah, got it.”

“Did you find the boss monster?”

“Yeah, a while ago. The path was blocked here and there, so I had to take a long detour, and there were monsters in unavoidable positions, so I got delayed fighting them. But thanks to that, I got to meet you before fighting the boss monster, so maybe it worked out well?”

The original protagonist added an explanation as he said this.

It seems that the first to find the boss monster was Lausa, Fjodra’s familiar.

First, the eagle familiar flew around the academy on both wings, looking for a pile of stones presumed to be the boss golem.

Then Fjodra used her [Wind Mastery] skill to float herself and went to that location with her familiar, completing a cross-verification.

Well, golems can attack airborne enemies by throwing rocks, but…

They don’t detect living beings unless you approach within a certain distance, and they stop moving if you move away again.

So Fjodra could safely go scouting with just one familiar.

She could just use [Space Leap] if things went wrong.

“Where is it?”

“Right nearby. In front of the dining hall.”

The location is very coincidental.

Of all places, the boss monster appears where Hailga scolded the Confession Villain and wrote the history of the Fire Fist.

This added confidence to my guess that this demonic realm is related to the Confession Villain episode.

‘But the dining hall is right in front, isn’t it? If I had been just ten minutes late, I would have appeared like the protagonist during the boss raid and used a buff skill at the same time!’

‘Not me, but Valtraus, that is.’

‘I obviously wouldn’t have been able to act immediately due to motion sickness, and Valtraus’s [Elation] buff effect was far superior.’

“Lord Valtraus, what do you intend to do now?”

“I am not an Awakened. It is obvious that I would only be a burden if I followed to where the boss monster is, so I will wait here.”

In response to Fjodra’s words, Valtraus answered like this and swung his whip to activate the [Elation] skill again.

The effect of the [Encourage] skill was still barely remaining.

Since the stats had increased by as much as 1.665 times, everyone felt it and was amazed.

Some were staring blankly into the air, probably opening their status windows to calculate how much their stats had increased.

Then, suddenly, Valtraus said the following.

“Karbaldr. Wouldn’t it be better for you to wait here too? It’s not like you can do anything against a giant rock monster.”

It’s only natural that Valtraus would think this way.

Because the people of House Austri have always played the role of supporting from behind with buff skills instead of fighting directly themselves.

To them, the whip is a tool to aid in using the [Elation] skill,

And merely a self-defense item used by coating it with poisonous aether to protect themselves from enemies that break through the defensive line.

But this boss monster is a rock mass, so poison doesn’t work on it.

And besides, unlike other family members, Karbaldr can’t even use poison-attribute skills, can he?

But I shook my head and refused Valtraus’s suggestion.

“That won’t do. If the battle drags on, I need to extend the buff skill you cast before its duration runs out. It’s a bit awkward to say this myself, but among us, I’m the one who fights relatively well…”

“Are you that strong…?”

“It’s not that I’m strong, but that there are people weaker than me. There are those who have lived their whole lives without any combat and only received two weeks of training. As someone who even participated in the Bimu Tournament last semester, I can’t sit this out.”

“You entrusted the boss monster to kids who don’t even have basic skills?!”

Valtraus raised his voice in half shock, and even I was startled by his reaction.

He was capable of making such sensible remarks?

Even though he claims that a death during childbirth is murder by the fetus, and has hated his younger brother for nearly twenty years, and still does?!

“…I hope Her Highness the Imperial Princess didn’t push things too hard just to gain merit.”

The Austri Ducal Family claims neutrality, but personally, Valtraus sided with the First Prince, so maybe that’s why?

He dared to say something implying that the Imperial Princess was using inexperienced young students to satisfy her own greed.

“That’s not it. It just happened that way, I suppose…? I know it might sound like an excuse to you… But anyway, someone has to step up to deal with the boss monster, right? And the professors have a duty to protect the students…”

“Are these people here not also students?”

“They are students. But they have been given the responsibility and duty to fight in the demonic realm.”

The responsibility and duty that Fjodra spoke of arise from being Awakened, so in a way, it can be considered the will of heaven.

Binding them into a special class was the Imperial Family’s decision, so it can also be interpreted as the Emperor’s will.

Perhaps that’s why neither can be blamed?

“…But that doesn’t mean we need to bring people who are useless in battle along. They’ll only be a burden.”

Valtraus refrained from further criticism and returned to the original topic.

“I was already considering that after experiencing it in the previous battle. But since you have that opinion, I need not worry anymore.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“Even if the monsters here are safe as long as you don’t approach them, someone being chased by monsters could come this way. So I was troubled because I couldn’t leave the weak ones behind. But you argued that it is right to exclude them from battle even though they are Awakened. So you can protect them.”

“……My familiar can only carry two people including myself.”

“That works out. There happens to be exactly one person who couldn’t contribute at all in the previous battle.”

Fjodra said that and looked at someone, and upon seeing the being at the end of her gaze, Valtraus’s face crumpled with annoyance.

Because that being was holding a large hammer that, at a glance, looked perfect for smashing rocks.

But it wasn’t hard to guess why Fjodra pointed out Risi.

Risi often freezes up from tension or tightly shuts her eyes during our sparring sessions, and since to attack an enemy with a hammer you need to approach first, doing so greatly increases the risk of being hit by the golem’s attack.

If someone whose body is stiff from fear is forced to stand on the front line, the danger would be even greater.

That’s probably why she had no choice but to just leave her standing in the rear.