How To Live As An Academy Extra Villain

✦ Chapter 98 ✦

「Translator – Creator」

“Ah… my dear son. So who on earth is this new girl? Anyway, you have totally taken after your father, so charming…”

“…Huh?”

When I opened my eyes, I was still lying in the same place where I had collapsed. The shattered walls and ceiling were nowhere to be seen, and the warm morning sunlight tickled my eyes. A pleasant breeze blew in from the hills.

The floor had an oddly soft cushion that didn’t match the setting. Thick layers of cloth were spread out beneath me.

Still in a daze, I tried to recall what had happened. I had definitely succeeded in inflicting a fatal blow on the necromancer, but I failed to consider the second wave and took the impact head-on, which knocked me out.

The last thing I remembered was hearing Cecila’s voice before losing consciousness.

But if I’m not dead and in heaven… does that mean I succeeded in driving off the necromancer? 

Was my vision of my mother just a dream then? I could have sworn she was scolding me…

“You’re awake?”

“…Cecila.”

I turned my head at the sound from behind me. The gray-haired girl appeared through the collapsed wall.

“Wait! You need to stay lying down! You need more rest…ack!”

The moment I tried to prop myself up, an intense dizziness washed over me. Cecila rushed over to support me but ended up tumbling on top of me instead.

“Heh…”

Luckily, my weight hit the floor first, but Cecila ended up sprawled on top of me.

I must not have fully recovered yet, as even that slight impact sent jolts of pain through my body.

She made no move to get off me. Her spinning eyes were right in my face.

“………..”

“Cecila.”

“……….”

“Cecila?”

“…Oh! Sorry!”

It took two calls before she finally came to her senses. She hurriedly got off me and straightened her clothes. Then she paused and gave me a sidelong glance.

“…Why are you being so calm about this?”

“About what?”

“No, never mind.”

Cecila seemed ready to argue but quickly sighed and let it go. She came back over and infused me with her holy power as I lay there.

“Anyway…I drove out all the evil energy, but you need to take it easy for a while. Edwin, did you get hit by the rebound too back then?”

“…Yeah.”

“You really pushed your body to the absolute limit. It’s a good thing you’re so sturdy, an ordinary person would have already departed for the goddess’ realm and then some.”

She wasn’t wrong. Even considering it was a life-or-death situation, I had definitely overdone it.

When the evil energy hit me, the mana inside me had already been ripped out in clumps. And it was in that state that I wrung the last remnants of my strength to cast my spell.

On top of that, the Flames of Purification consumed a tremendous amount of mana beyond normal spells befitting their power. If I hadn’t used an elixir to patch up my body, Cecila was probably right that I wouldn’t be among the living now…

“And the necromancer?”

“Dead. The souls he was binding have also found rest…”

While I had already suspected as much, her confirmation put my mind further at ease. This mission was a definite success. We had managed to save our territory from sinking into depravity.

And if she was right, perhaps my mother’s soul had found peace too. Maybe it wasn’t a dream, and she really did come to see me briefly before moving on.

“But Edwin, what about those black flames?”

Just as I was feeling relieved, her question made my heart sink. I had been wondering how to even bring that up…

“…What if I don’t want to talk about it?”

“…Well, I’m not sure how to handle it myself either.”

Cecila’s expression instantly hardened.

“…Cecila?”

“…Flames for burning evil energy? I’ve never heard of such a thing. I bet even His Holiness wouldn’t know much about it. Just where did such magic come from? The color looked really ominous too. And if you’re the one wielding it, how do I know you’re not an enemy trying to trick us?”

“That’s…”

“…Hah. Got you scared, didn’t I?”  

Cecila’s stony face broke, and she couldn’t hold back a light laugh any longer.

“I’m just kidding. Well, the color could be a bit dark. You’re so gullible, honestly…”

“…What?”

“Geez, you should get it by now. I’m saying I won’t ask about it anymore.”

“Aren’t you curious?” 

Cecila waved her hands dismissively at my counter-question.

“It’s fine. I am curious, but if you don’t want to talk about it, I can’t force you.”

“Is it really okay for you to brush it off like that…?”

“Why not? That’s what I’ve decided. And I’ve observed everything I need to, so it’s all good.”

“…? Then could it be…”

“Yeah, you want me to keep it secret, right? Don’t worry about it. I’m very good at keeping my mouth shut.”

Cecila’s words were a relief to me. This time the situation was so urgent, I hadn’t even prepared a proper excuse. But I was a bit suspicious of the underlying motive behind her excessive kindness.

Could she want something from me? Is she trying to put a leash on me in exchange for keeping the secret?

But Cecila just kept smiling brightly, as if she had no ulterior motives.

“What about…the other priests?”

“They’re fine too. When you used the flames, the warehouse had not collapsed yet, so there was a blind spot. I was probably the only one who saw,” Cecila shrugged. “And even if they did see, I’ll handle it. So don’t worry too much.”

“…Thank you.”

“No, thank you. How could I not do at least that much for my life’s savior? And maybe my future…ahem.”

Cecila trailed off and coughed, covering her mouth as if she’d said too much. She turned away and pretended to be distracted, then quickly left; there was a slight impropriety to her words. If she hadn’t come to help us, we wouldn’t have been in this situation to begin with.

While I could never tell what Cecila was normally thinking, after going through this crisis together, she seemed like a very different person.

So were Cecila’s words earlier really just pure kindness?

* * * * *

We took an additional day of rest in the empty village before returning home. To be precise, only Mona and I truly rested. Cecila and the priests were busy scouring the village.

They meticulously inspected for any remaining evil tools or spells, and did indeed find and purify some.

In the house Becky had introduced as her own, they discovered a few hung corpses, one of which was disturbingly well-prepared, almost as if it were a pig or cow. We speculated that this was the “fresh meat” Becky had mentioned on the first day. We also identified one of the bodies as Mona’s father, the village chief.

However, we didn’t directly convey that fact to Mona. Even suspecting her father’s death was already too much for the child. Accepting such a harsh reality would be too overwhelming for someone as young and fragile as she was.

“Have you ever been to the capital before?”

“…No, never.”

“Take a good look. This will be your new home from now on,” I spoke to Mona, who was sitting on the horse in front of me. Mona gazed at Madehaven’s capital and let out a small exclamation.

“Woahh…”

Before leaving the village, she and I briefly discussed Mona’s situation.

She wanted to take the girl to the Holy Kingdom, but after consideration, I decided to take Mona into my family’s mansion instead.

The final decision will of course be my father’s, but I don’t think he’ll overturn my choice.

I had several reasons for choosing to take Mona in myself.

Resolving an issue that occurred in our territory seemed fitting, and Mona, left alone, was pitiful. She might also become a good friend to Adele, who often felt lonely.

More importantly, her proven resistance to demon possession alone guaranteed her future potential. She was too valuable to simply hand over to the Holy Kingdom.

When we returned and reported the full story, my family was in an uproar, and my father seemed utterly shaken by the necromancer’s reappearance. 

When Cecila and I pressed for details about the past, my father hesitantly recounted what happened.

He had believed my mother died of illness, but noticed inconsistencies during her funeral rites and eventually found traces of evil magic.

At that time, Archbishop Timothy was visiting the south, and my father, along with the then Inquisitor Timothy, tracked down and defeated the necromancer. However, they did not find evidence of a demon summoning circle, nor had the necromancer fully established a base. They dismissed it as the last desperate act of a weakened remnant.

The Church reached the same assessment, and to prevent public unrest, they requested my father keep the incident quiet. Already reeling from the loss of my mother, my father acquiesced to their demand for silence.

My father proudly proclaimed that I had avenged my mother. Cecila comforted me by holding my hand, and the dream I had of my mother came rushing back, leaving me emotionally overwhelmed.

Based on the necromancer’s words, Cecila vowed to petition strongly for the Holy Kingdom to establish an Inquisitorial branch in Madehaven upon her return. If an Inquisition office is opened in our territory, we would have resident inquisitors providing far stronger surveillance than currently.

In any case, despite the many twists and turns, our territory ultimately secured considerable safety assurances.

While not perfect, I feel I’ve reasonably achieved what I had envisioned before returning home for break.

* * * * *

“Adele?” 

“Big brother!”

A few days later, after some light exercise for recovery, I returned to find Adele sitting at a table piled high with paper cranes, with Mona keeping her company.

After hearing my explanation, Father readily welcomed Mona into our mansion. Adele too quickly befriended Mona – she must have been starved for a friend her own age. Now Mona served as both Adele’s companion and assistant.

Adele scampered over and hugged my legs tightly before returning to her intense focus on the table. 

Curious what had her so engrossed, I approached to find the piles were origami cranes.

“Adele, may I ask what you’re doing?”

“Sorting out the trash…!” Adele cheerfully replied.

The pile she was sorting consisted of letters folded into origami cranes. I remembered hearing that my father had given Adele the key to the mailbox. She had apparently been waiting eagerly for my letters all day.

“This is for Father… This is trash… This one’s also trash… This too… Ugh, really!”

She quickly checked the sender of each crane, separating them into two groups. One group was neatly stacked back on the desk, while the other was swept into a small box under the table. As she repeated this task, she puffed out her cheeks in frustration.

…But were there really any letters coming to our house that could be considered trash?

Worried Adele might be making a mistake, I placed the box of discarded cranes on the table. I rummaged through it, checking the senders.

“Huh?”

Though there were over ten cranes, only two names were written as the senders— Ellie and Selene.

I turned my attention to the letters Adele had sorted on the desk. Out of the numerous cranes, only a few were important letters addressed to my father, and Adele had sorted these correctly.

The rest all bore Selene and Ellie’s names. No wonder Adele mistook the heaping piles for trash.

Now that I think about it, they did both say they would be writing…

“Hunh?”

“Adele, these are letters for your brother. There are quite a few, but they’re all legitimate letters. You’ll need to check more carefully next time, okay?” I said, gently patting Adele’s head. There was no need to scold her.

However, Adele just tilted her head, brought a finger to her lips, and muttered to herself—

“…But they are trash…?”

— End of Chapter —

If you have liked the novel, don’t forget to rate and review the novel on NovelUpdates

Also, if you cannot wait to see what lies ahead in the story, you can subscribe to my 〚 Ko-Fi Membership 〛 and read a maximum of 18 chapters ahead