I’m the Slit-Eyed Character at the Academy, but I’m not the Mastermind
Chapter 364

Swoosh— Tap! Swoosh— Tap!

Rodelin’s precise and disciplined crawling advance!

It was quite an impressive sight—if only she weren’t wearing pajamas.

‘No, more importantly, why is Rodelin even here!?’

I wasn’t sure how this had happened, but one thing was certain.

‘We’re screwed.’

The only ones aware of our sudden appearance were Rodelin and the few people who had heard her outburst.

It would take them a considerable amount of time to grasp the situation, which meant no one would be coming to help us.

‘So this isn’t a time attack mission? Then… is it a battle?’

Could a hidden piece that had remained undiscovered for 18 years really be that simple?

I had a bad feeling. A really bad one.

“…!”

Rodelin’s eyes gleamed mid-crawl. She must have spotted Dolores, who was being held captive.

For now, I decided to observe. Letting Rodelin rescue Dolores was the best course of action.

“Kyaaak!”

Dolores, who had been spitting like a madwoman, was no match for Bickerd’s strength.

Restraining her wasn’t a difficult task for him.

Placing one foot on her back, he issued a short warning.

“Consider yourself lucky that I’m a knight who values honor. Otherwise, you’d be dead already.”

“Hah! I don’t see any honor in a pervert who torments a lady.”

“The fact that we’ve tolerated your antics until now is already a form of mercy. If you don’t understand that…”

Bickerd roughly grabbed a fistful of Dolores’ hair and yanked her head up.

His cold gaze bore down on her.

“I can teach you right now.”

Dolores’ eyes rolled sideways.

From Bickerd’s perspective, it probably seemed like she was looking away in fear.

But that was only half true.

Dolores had indeed been averting her gaze out of fright, but then something caught her attention—

Rodelin, hiding with a finger pressed against her lips.

Completely unaware of this, Bickerd smiled in satisfaction.

“That’s right. Stay quiet, just like this. I’ve been dealing with enough annoying crap lately—I’d like a break.”

He then dragged Dolores to one side of the wall.

Grabbing a pair of iron shackles, he secured them around her ankles and fastened them to a wooden pillar.

With her whole body restrained and even her legs bound, escape seemed utterly impossible.

“Get some rest. Eat if you want.”

After dropping a few rice balls in front of Dolores, Bickerd yawned and moved toward the campfire.

Wrapping a blanket around his shoulders, he settled down—and soon began nodding off.

Rodelin only made her move after a considerable amount of time had passed—once Bickerd’s head drooped completely.

Rustle—.

Clutching a flagpole in her hand, Rodelin crept toward Dolores.

Step by careful step, she moved forward—silent but steady.

Ten minutes passed this way, and Rodelin finally reached Dolores.

“…”

“…”

A wordless exchange of understanding passed between them.

Rodelin scanned her surroundings and noticed a dagger embedded in the wall. Carefully, she retrieved it.

Just as she was about to cut the ropes binding Dolores—

“Well, well… Thought it was a rat, but turns out it’s a student?”

Bickerd muttered from his seat by the fire.

Rodelin immediately stopped cutting and turned to face him, stepping protectively in front of Dolores.

Bickerd scratched his neck lazily as he stood up.

“What a hassle. The execution was supposed to be tomorrow… Now things are gonna get noisy.”

“A knight kidnapping a villager? What kind of absurdity is this!?”

“I admit it’s a kidnapping. But absurd? Come on, killing one or two people isn’t that big of a deal.”

“…Where are your accomplices?”

“Accomplices? Ah, so you saw them? Looks like they let their guard down. They’re always nagging at me, but… tsk.”

“…”

“But if they’re not here yet, where’d they go? There’s no way you took them down… Did they split up to throw you off?”

Rodelin had been referring to us—the ones wearing animal masks—but unaware of this, Bickerd grumbled to himself.

“Surrender. Some leniency may be granted.”

“Why would I, when all I need to do is kill you?”

Bickerd drew his sword from his belt.

Its keen edge gleamed so brightly that it almost seemed like it split the air itself.

He twirled the sword playfully before turning his gaze to Rodelin.

“You better get ready. Surely you’re not unarmed? A proud Annwood Academy student like you?”

The only weapons Rodelin had were the dagger she had pulled from the wall and the flagpole bearing the empire’s banner.

No, calling the flagpole a weapon was a stretch.

Since she had followed us in a hurry, she didn’t even have her pocket dimension pouch with her.

Rodelin glanced at the flagpole leaning against the wall—then bowed her head slightly.

“…Forgive me. I apologize.”

Slice!

The flagpole dropped to the ground with a dull thud—Rodelin had severed its middle section with the dagger.

Now gripping the lower half like a sword, she let out a deep breath.

A blue aura wrapped around the broken flagpole.

It was Aura.

Bickerd’s eyes widened slightly at the sight.

“Oh? Aura at your age… You’re not just some ordinary rat, huh?”

Aura—an exclusive power of knights that could only be used starting from Five-Star, a symbol of true strength.

In game terms, it was an overpowered skill that boosted damage by around 30%.

Beyond just the damage increase, it also had the effect of breaking enemy weapons and armor, making it a must-have skill for any character that wielded a weapon.

And above all else—

‘It looks cool.’

Style. Aesthetic. Drip. What could be more important than that in a game?

Of course, it continuously consumed a significant amount of mana, making control difficult. But compared to the reasons listed above, that was a small price to pay.

“A Five-Star at your age… Impressive. You’re about three years ahead of me.”

“…Thanks for the compliment.”

“You must be one of those so-called geniuses. Geniuses… They’re the real problem. Those filthy bastards who effortlessly surpass the years of struggle we’ve poured our lives into!”

Bickerd’s demeanor shifted. The countless battles, the injuries, the accumulated stress—

A condition brought on by all that: anger control disorder.

And it seemed like it was flaring up again.

“That bastard was one of them, too. The arrogant brat who left us in this miserable state!”

“…”

“You’ll become one of those monsters soon enough. And then you’ll start trampling people like us… No, wait, is that why you’re here right now?”

“…I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You don’t need to. It doesn’t matter because…”

Clang!!

“You’re gonna die right here!”

Bickerd lunged forward, and the battle erupted.

Sword and flagpole clashed, sending bursts of blue Aura scattering in every direction.

Right now, Rodelin was a Five-Star Knight. As long as she had enough mana, she could use Aura.

“Kh…!”

But that was just the minimum requirement. She wasn’t yet skilled enough to wield it proficiently.

And despite his appearance, Bickerd was a real knight. Not just someone with a high combat rank, but a sworn knight, receiving land and salary for his service.

‘A professional in battle, you could say.’

One of the main reasons I avoided fighting knights.

Not only were they strong, but they were also unwaveringly loyal, meaning reasoning with them was pointless.

And since they worked in groups, messing with one meant dealing with the whole squad.

They’d chase you all the way to the borders of their territory, making them a massive pain for players to deal with.

“Kuha! How does it feel? The strength of a knight you people have always looked down on?”

“I never… looked down on you!”

Clang!

There’s a saying that even rotten fish is still fish.

Bickerd may be rotten, but he was still a knight.

It was only natural that Rodelin was being pushed back.

“Our senior is losing? Shouldn’t we help?”

Luna stomped her foot, looking ready to jump into the fight.

But I grabbed her sleeve and stared into the air—

If my guess was right, any second now…

[Hidden Quest]

— Rescue Dolores!

Assist Rodelin in rescuing Dolores.

If ‘Dark Beast Squad’ remains undetected in the process, additional rewards will be given.

Reward: 100 EXP, 30 Gold

Bonus Reward: Significant increase in ‘Dark Beast Squad’ reputation, Significant increase in Rodelin’s favorability toward ‘Dark Beast Squad’.

Penalty for Refusal: -3 to all stats.

Penalty for Failure: Dolores dies, ‘Dark Beast Squad’ reputation significantly decreases, Rat pursuit activated, ‘Dark Beast Squad’ wanted as a criminal group.

A quest window popped up in front of me. Just as I expected.

At this point, refusing the quest wasn’t an option.

The fact that there was a reputation reward related to ‘Dark Beast Squad’ was a little concerning, but…

‘Eh, what’s the worst that could happen?’

If things started to go south, we could just go inactive for a while.

As long as we weren’t caught on the scene, there wouldn’t be any real penalties.

“Ugh, what now!?”

“Keke, are you giving up our advantage of a sneak attack? If we’re doing this, we should do it properly.”

“Properly? Ah-ha! I see! Right, that’s important. This is also about spreading our name.”

“…?”

I had no idea what she was talking about, but now wasn’t the time to argue.

A sneak attack had to deliver a devastating first strike.

And right now, the person among us who could deal the biggest blow was…

“Rabbit mask.”

“Kki-Kkiiik?”

“Fire.”

Our walking nuke, Rezé.

Rezé loaded her Magic Gun and poured her mana into it.

Then—

BOOM!!

“…!!”

KA-BOOOOM—!

The mana bullet struck Bickerd dead-on.

And yet, Rodelin—standing right next to him—was untouched.

100% accuracy was terrifying.

As the smoke cleared, I could see him—

Bickerd’s body, covered in small burns and wounds.

He must have tried to reinforce himself with mana, but he hadn’t been able to block everything.

“Who the hell are you!?”

Just as I was about to tell her to fire another shot as an answer—

Luna suddenly jumped onto a rock and proudly shouted.

“If you ask who we are, it’s only right that we answer!”

“…?”

I had no chance to stop her.

Rezé climbed up beside her, striking a weird pose, and shouted—

“To prevent the destruction of the world! To protect the peace of the world!”

What the hell.

Why were they acting in sync like they had rehearsed this!?

Before I could even process what was happening, Luna turned her head slightly and whispered—

“Why aren’t you joining in? You love this kind of stuff.”

“…Me?”

“You always say it looks cool when other people do it! I went through all this embarrassment for you!”

That was only because I had seen them in the game!

And this is blatant plagiarism! Even their movements are just like the Trash Sprout Defense Squad’s! You can’t just steal from a kids’ show!

Sparkle, sparkle—!

But Luna didn’t seem to care at all.

From her perspective, this was probably just an exciting hero roleplay with friends—something like that.

‘A longing for the childhood games she never got to play because she had no friends… or something like that.’

Rezé was probably the same. She also had no friends until she was fifteen.

In the end, I had no choice but to climb up onto the rock with them.

Luna and Rezé beamed at me, their eyes sparkling with anticipation.

With a small sigh, I whispered softly—

“Indeed, we are…”

“Dark Beast Squad!”

Luna and Rezé shouted excitedly.

“…”

“…”

A hollow wind swept through the cave.

–TL Notes–

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