An Angel Lives in the Academy
Chapter 99: The Angel Who Meets the Headmaster (4)

There are times when your body doesn't obey you.

When you're so tired that your arms and legs tremble. Or when you've had so much to drink that your friend looks like two people.

During those times, your body escapes your brain’s control.

It usually returns to normal with some rest and treatment, but…

What if your body obeys you too well? Especially someone else’s words?

Not even the headmaster knew the answer. Even she, who had lived so long, didn't know what to do.

The headmaster, who had lived for thousands of years, stood before Leffrey, sweating profusely.

"Headmaster."

"...Yes Sir? N-No, I mean..."

The headmaster instantly realized she had just used formal language.

She slapped her lips hard, as if hating those lips for betraying her-

“Ow.”

And then whined.

Slapping her own lips just because she used formal language to someone much younger than herself? Some might consider it foolish, others might find it cute.

But to Leffrey…

...it meant something completely different.

That Iriel, the headmaster of the Central Academy, had decided to fight him.

‘As expected, she won't go down easily. Then it can't be helped.’

Leffrey sighed, then.

‘I’ll have to keep acting like Leffriel.’

He decided to deceive Headmaster Iriel through his performance.

Why would Leffrey try to deceive the headmaster, who had saved his life?

‘Iriel, the Angel of Truth. Another one of her titles is... The Revived Angel.’

The old empire in the other world supposedly had a system known as ‘Artificial Heroes.’

They chose those with exceptional talents from among high-ranking noblewomen and awakened them as false heroes using the power of angels that were revived through necromancy.

‘I've already seen an artificial hero in person. Professor Hexi, who was trained to become a Hero’s Companion, is an artificial hero.’

The fact that artificial heroes existed meant that angels revived by necromancy also existed.

Then where could that angel be?

‘She’s right in front of me.’

Leffrey, controlling his expression, thought about the girl standing before him. Iriel, who was humanity's strongest superhuman. Something that was revived from the corpse of a former archangel...

How would Iriel judge Leffrey?

If Iriel realized that Leffrey was a real angel…

‘If that happened, I'll be subjugated by Iriel. Earlier, I was able to give Iriel an order because she was caught off guard by Leffriel’s power’

But Leffriel was currently seriously injured.

Those commands wouldn’t last for long. And Leffrey no longer wanted to borrow Leffriel’s power continuously.

Why was he hesitant to borrow Leffriel's power? Was it because Leffriel was dangerous? Of course, that was one reason, but...

‘Now that I think about it, Leffriel never ordered me around, even though he was the archangel.’

It was true.

Leffriel always said he would take over his body for the sake of the mission but he never actually took any action to do so.

He never asserted his authority as an archangel. If he had commanded this little angel to obey as an archangel, Leffrey would have had no choice but to obey.

‘Maybe... He probably believed that, after falling to Earth as punishment, he couldn’t assert his authority as an archangel.’

Anyway.

He could have at least taught me how to fight as an angel. Or shared the information he knew. In a way, it was Leffriel’s way of showing that he’s nothing more than a Heavenly puppet.

‘Leffriel is seriously injured, so I have to handle this alone.’

But Leffrey felt gratitude toward Leffriel for all that he had done. Now that his benefactor was hurt, Leffrey didn’t want to recklessly borrow his power.

‘Besides, it wouldn’t be easy to borrow it today.’

Leffrey thought of the injured Leffriel, catching his breath.

However, he couldn’t let her know that he was an angel either. Iriel’s title was Angel of Truth. Though she’s revived and has lost most of her angelic traits... she would still have the ability to discern truth from falsehood.

Leffrey organized his thoughts.

‘If I don’t want to be subjugated by Iriel, then I have to keep pretending to be Leffriel, and not rely on his powers.’

And so, Leffrey, the Acting Angel, was activated once again.

Leffrey, mimicking Leffriel’s blank expression, said,

“It’s been a while, Iriel.”

It’s been a while? When did Leffrey meet the Headmaster to be saying things like “It’s been a while”? As far as he knew, he had never met her after awakening.

‘No, I saw her once from afar before the world ended…’

“I-It’s been a while? I’ve, I’ve never seen you before?”

“…You really don’t remember? Think carefully. You and I have acknowledged each other. Each other.”

It wasn’t a lie. During that moment of the War of Annihilation, Iriel had also seen the boy.

‘It’s not a lie. If I really knew that boy, if I had really met that boy…’

Iriel felt as if cold sweat was flowing down her back, even though she couldn’t sweat anymore.

Leffrey smiled meaningfully. The headmaster, seeing him like that, could only come to a single conclusion.

His appearance was so similar to that of the cruel judge, the archangel. His karma (Angelic Power) was weak, but seeing as how his body was still giving out orders so quickly, meaning…

...he’s undoubtedly a high-ranking angel.

“Don’t tell me… Leffriel-nim?”

Iriel ended up giving Leffrey the answer he wanted.

Leffrey, cheering inwardly, smiled meaningfully once more. Now it was time to enjoy himself, making absurd demands on the Central Academy by posing as the headmaster’s superior.

‘I can give orders to the headmaster? To the most powerful person in our academy?’

What should I do first?

Let’s start with awarding special scholarships to that kind and innocent student, Leffrey. Then punish those Magical Studies students who bothered Leffrey and Soya.

And then.

‘I also want to have a game console and a computer installed in the cathedral. It’s against the academy rules, but with the headmaster’s order…’

Hehehe, forgetting he was in front of Iriel, Leffrey smiled brightly. It was cute, but also looked a bit stupid.

He wasn’t exactly a very smart angel to begin with.

Leffrey, the Stupid Angel!

But there’s a famous saying in gaming. ‘Expectations lead to betrayal’ Right. Expectations are often betrayed.

And now, Leffrey’s expectation had been betrayed.

“Leffriel, you who claim to be the last angel to protect this world… I will eliminate you.”

Iriel took a stance.

A golden-haired girl moved gracefully, her steps as light and smooth as a dance.

Leffrey recognized that stance.

The name of that stance was…

“Martial Arts of the Archangel who Tramples Dragons?”

It was Martial Arts of the Archangel. Iriel was trying to kill him.

‘No no no no no!!! Why?!’

Leffrey was deeply shaken…

But he didn’t forget that he was acting. So he simply put on Leffriel’s usual blank face and stared at Iriel with indifference, as if he didn’t care.

“I see. So I… am not even worthy of you using Martial Arts of the Archangel?”

And it was a wise choice.

If Leffrey had also used Martial Arts of the Archangel, then Iriel would have charged at him, and Leffrey would have been one-sidedly beaten up by the owner of thousands of years of accumulated karma,

‘I would have bid farewell to the world right there.’

He would probably be dead.

For sure.

‘Iriel is the strongest superhuman in the human world. There’s no way I, who couldn’t even beat a single professor, could defeat her. The same Iriel who forced humanity to establish the Central Academy, the one who merged two dimensions using her bare hands.’

It was the correct judgment.

Leffrey couldn’t defeat Iriel.

Although Iriel was some revived monstrosity that couldn’t even be called an angel, the magic and the karma she had accumulated over her long life were real.

Even if she couldn’t cure Hexi’s angelic power deficiency, she was still powerful, like the Demon King.

It’s just… she couldn’t guide the direction of the world towards Heaven, towards the light.

‘Anyway, why, why is Iriel treating me like her enemy?’

Leffrey couldn’t understand. Why? He had lived an honest life, diligently attending the academy and, on top of that.

‘No, I’ve been practically living like a true angel!’

Leffrey felt somewhat wronged.

But Leffrey, swallowing such feelings of injustice, pretended to be calm and spoke to Iriel with a flat tone, as if he were not intimidated.

“Why are you antagonizing me?”

“...Do you really want to hear it from my mouth? Can you be this dense? To lack even the concept of an angel disobeying Heaven’s orders? You, a puppet of the heaven?”

Nod nod—

Leffrey nodded.

Seeing that, the headmaster took a deep breath and.

“You’re Leffriel! Leffriel, the Angel of Judgment! The tyrant angel who wipes out civilizations and races under the pretext of judging the corrupted world!”

A tyrant angel? Honestly, Leffrey thought it sounded cool.

“Why would you have come to this world? Naturally, it’s to punish this corrupted world! I won’t let that happen. No matter how much this world deserves to be destroyed, I will no longer stand by and watch as the world burns!”

So this was the reason.

Leffrey nodded.

And said,

“I understand.”

“Yes, I’m glad you understand that much.”

“Then there’s no reason for you to be hostile toward me.”

Leffrey continued,

“Because I also want to protect this world.”

“What?”

Iriel asked in disbelief, even though she had realized that Leffrey’s words were true, befitting the Angel of Truth.

“Don’t you believe me? Surely you would have sensed that I’m being truthful, as the Angel of Truth?”

“You’re Leffriel! A high-ranking angel like you surely has dozens of powers to deceive me!”

“I don’t have those such things.”

But Iriel was stubborn,

as if she had been deceived by such tricks in the past.

“No, I don’t believe it. An angel like you is more than capable of lying to fulfill a mission. I’ve had enough of being deceived by an angel’s lies.”

Just who could have deceived Iriel?

Leffrey had a hunch.

‘An angel who lied… Lucifer…’

Perhaps Iriel was tricked by the Demon King in the past. Then her hostility was understandable.

Logical thinking fades when faced with trauma.

‘And the headmaster’s traumatic doubt and distrust... led to the professors' cruelty.’

The professors were beings who could commit any atrocity for the sake of protecting this world. They sacrificed themselves telling others to sacrifice, and sacrificed others in the name of the greater good.

For the sake of the world, all other values were to be ignored.

This twisted way of thinking all stemmed from Headmaster Iriel’s trauma.

“I, I would do anything to protect this world.”

Iriel’s eyes were filled with madness that didn't befit an angel.

“I hate fighting, but… this, this is not something I can stand by and watch as an angel…”

Leffrey felt the weight of his angelic duty.

As always, angels are beings that fulfill their duty.

“To eliminate the enemies of the world.”

“I will carry out the mission.”

It was time for Leffrey, once again, to fulfill his duty.