Playing the Perfect Fox-Eyed Villain Chapter 48

Episode 48. Squint and Laughter

Alphas Mayhand.

How could I forget that name?

Linne felt dizzy.

Three years ago, something strange happened to the peaceful Rondbell family.

The scenery she saw then still lingered in Linné's mind and tormented her.

An oddly quiet mansion.

The butler's corpse, stained with red blood.

A sword that shines coolly.

The last… … image of his father, who was telling him to run away.

Linne glared at the being who had caused the 'anomaly' with eyes that trembled as if an earthquake had occurred in his pupils.

I wanted to run out there and stab that disgusting face with a knife, but I remembered the words of my teacher Haydn Reich and barely managed to maintain my senses.

– 'Linne, if you meet a member of the sect with the rank of 'Monsignor' or higher, leave the place and call your fellow comrades.'

Haydn Reich's words are quite natural.

When encountering someone of the rank of 'Monsignor' or higher on your own, there is no guarantee of victory or defeat in battle.

It would have been proper to leave the room and call in others to deal with it.

‘… … My feet won’t move.’

However, Linne was unable to move easily due to the excitement of finding the beast, the fear of the strong, and the worry that he might disappear while he was out asking for help.

'What should I do, what should I do?'

After a moment of hesitation, she decided to follow him for now.

If she had been her normal self, she would not have made such a reckless decision, but she was more determined not to let go of the enemy she had worked so hard to find.

But on the contrary, her body felt the strength of Alphas, and primal fear began to dominate her body.

'No! This won't do! I won't be able to avenge my father with this weak-willed attitude.'

Linne, who had made up her mind, began to chase after Alphas.

She felt like drawing her sword and rushing at him right now, but a thin sliver of reason stopped her.

'Why did you come here?'

Suppressing her boiling anger as much as possible, Linne began to follow Alphas stealthily.

Passing through the garden outside the main building, Alphas continued walking.

'This is… … .'

Eventually, the place where he stopped was the annex building on the outskirts of the academy.

It is a secluded place where only authorized personnel can enter due to the aging facilities.

'For what purpose?'

Linne was suspicious of his incomprehensible actions, but as if possessed, she entered the annex where he had disappeared.

“It’s too obvious to call it tailing.”

Ugh.

It was none other than Alphas who was waiting for the surprised Linne.

At his expression that said he knew everything, Linne naturally drew the sword at her waist.

“Looking at the uniform… it doesn’t look like a knight from the Cryphat family. Do you know me by any chance?”

You know? How could you not know?

“Three years ago, at the Rondbell Mansion…….”

Linne responded to Alphas's sly words with a voice trembling with anger.

“Huh? Rondobell… Hmm. Oh! No way….”

Alphas, who had been lost in thought for a moment, soon remembered something and a sinister smile began to appear on his face.

“I thought that half-and-half face looked familiar. It was Derain Rondbell, the daughter of that parasitic brother.”

Ignoring the ugly voice, Linne took a stance as if she was going to run out at any moment with her drawn sword.

“Are you here to seek revenge?”

Despite her ominous demeanor, Alphas' expression and tone of voice remained unchanged.

“It would have been a good idea to either ignore it or report it to the Knights Templar. What a shame. After all, it’s our only life.”

As soon as he finished his last words, mana that was squeezing Linne gushed out from him.

Linne activated the mana within her body and fought against the oppressive mana of Alphas.

“You’re amazing for your age.”

Alphas, seeing her like that, continued talking with a mean smile.

“How about just passing by without noticing? Like when I peeked through the window the day Derain died.”

“Just……die!”

Linne squeezed out all the mana in her body to escape Alphas' mana and rushed at him.

“Haha. As expected, you’re a sweetheart with a milky smell.”

Kwaaang!

Alphas' lightly swung his fist and Linne flew towards the opposite wall faster than she could run.

“My eyes were not wrong. Compared to other children of the same age, Auror is quite advanced. But he still has a long way to go. Hehe. First, let me make him listen to me.”

Alphas frowned slightly as he looked at the slightly scratched fist, but soon smiled sinisterly and approached Linne, who had a bewildered expression on her face.

***

Linne's expression was shocked by my candid words. As I thought about it, I felt a sense of guilt.

If it were the usual Linne, she would have laughed at my evaluation or not been particularly impressed.

That doesn't mean I'm going to take back what I said or go and apologize in person.

If it was 'Yurien' at that place, he would have said something like that. It would be impossible for him to apologize.

'That's not wrong.'

Although it was a remark that came out unconsciously, the evaluation of Linne did not come out without reason.

Although improvements in 'swordmanship' could be found in posture, breathing, and gait, the most important problem with 'aura' had not been resolved.

I'm talking about the problems I saw in the slums.

'More mana blood than a normal person.'

Because of this, Linne has a problem where if she uses her aura in a normal way, her mana will quickly run out.

Originally, the one who solved this problem was her master and swordsman Haydn Reich. It was the master's duty to solve his disciple's problems.

“Well, I guess you’ll figure it out. I don’t think it’s my problem right now.”

Although I blurted out useless words as if I was shouting.

“Haha. Thank you for your hard work, Sir Yulian.”

After finishing some simple administrative work related to the 'Closed Eyes' business, I was preparing to leave the academy grounds when I was approached by Vice Principal Alomm Chorni.

“It seems that the students are not too dissatisfied with the results of this exam, as Sir Yurian, who is a member of the royal institution and an excellent knight, is in charge of supervising and managing them.”

This is a test that involves the evaluation of none other than 'Yurien'. If you do not agree with it, it will be a complete denial of my opinion.

“Haha, if it was to the extent that you were dissatisfied, you would have been going through the formal knighthood process, not a student.”

“That’s true!”

Alomm started laughing out loud.

“But I know it’s just a waste of time…….”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“I… I wonder if it would be difficult to take on this task on a day other than Victory Day.”

I think I've heard a similar story before.

“Although it is not outwardly expressed, it seems that there are those in the royal family who are questioning Sir Yurian’s actions.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, let alone Haydn, whose face was revealed, and who was his disciple…… Ahem!”

Alomm, who had been talking about the name of the swordsman, coughed again and started to roll his eyes here and there.

Most of the citizens living in the system know the relationship between the 'Black Star' and the 'Smiling Executioner'. That must be why they act like that.

“It’s okay, the conflict with the Master has been resolved long ago.”

“Ha, haha! That, that’s fortunate!”

I said that, but in reality, I have never mixed a word with '검성'.

'In the end, not attending was the right answer.'

Listening to Aloem, it seemed like an excellent choice not to attend this 'Victory Day'.

“I’m so glad you were able to resolve the issue with Haydn.”

"yes."

“Oh! By the way, wasn’t Miss Linne the only one who raised an objection to Sir Yulian’s evaluation in this practical exam?”

Alomm took out a piece of paper from his bosom. He could vaguely see the name 'Linne Rondvel'.

“Although he received the highest grade, ‘Le Meilleur,’ it is written that he requested a correction to the evaluation given by Sir Yurian during the process.”

He continued speaking with a somewhat troubled expression.

“It’s just a shame. I was secretly hoping that there wouldn’t be any objections in this practical exam.”

“Would you please give me that objection form?”

When I asked for an application form, Alomm made a puzzled expression, then obediently handed the documents over to me.

“Since it’s my job, I want to do it neatly.”

“Getting things done… you mean?”

“Yes, I will try to convince Miss Linne. If I can do that, there won’t be a single objection to this test.”

“Oh, oh…….”

Alomm was impressed by my words. After that, Vice Principal Alomm kept bowing his head and walking away, saying, “Please take care of me.”

'It's an objection… … but it's not something you need to worry about.'

Now, wasn't I just putting aside the 'Victory Day' where the famous 'Black Star' also showed his face and doing the job of an academy instructor?

'If there's any noise in that situation, it'll be easy to find fault with.'

The reason I skipped the Victory Day celebration was simply to avoid having to face the Black Sword. It wasn't to get the royal family's disapproval.

'Then first, I guess I should find out where Linne is.'

With that thought in mind, I closed my eyes and focused all my attention on my danjeon.

'Mana Detection', which has been used frequently before. The purpose is to increase its range and detect Linne, who is currently at Bayer Academy.

‘… … No, I shouldn’t have high expectations.’

The Bayer Academy is extremely large. Detecting a single person's mana in this vast landmass is like finding a needle in a haystack──.

"hmm?"

However, contrary to expectations, it was not that difficult to detect Linne's mana in this vast academy grounds.

Linne's aura seen in the recent practical exam.

It is mana that feels familiar and has been detected by 'Mana Detection'.

'If it's this location… … is it the annex?'

I know that place roughly.

Once I figured out where Linne was, I started walking towards it.

***

– 'Miss Linne, nothing has changed since then.'

A single word emerged clearly from Linnaeus' fading consciousness.

Those words ignored all the painstaking efforts she had put in so far.

“That’s amazing. At that age, you can handle auras that surpass those of a regular knight. But your endurance is poor.”

Looking at Alphas, who was saying the same thing as Yurian, Rinne could only quiver with her lips at her own shortcomings.

'Is this the extent of my limitations?'

She was just a stubborn fool who was intoxicated by the label of 'genius' given to her by others.

“Don’t get up. I’ll make you feel better soon.”

Phew──!

Linne tried to get up, holding onto her trembling legs, but Alphas would not allow it.

He kicked her with a vicious kick and held the sword he was holding in front of Linne's face.

‘The enemy is right in front of you… … .’

Tears of regret flowed from Linne's eyes at the sight of herself being unable to do anything.

I should have tried a little harder.

I'll swing my sword one more time.

'I'm sorry, Father.'

A cold sword shone through her tears.

“Okay, let’s finish this now.”

Her body was so damaged that she couldn't even respond to the words of her enemy, Alphas, let alone hold a sword.

Yeah, just being comfortable like this could be a way.

I started swordsmanship at a late age. I remember cutting back on sleep and swinging my sword twice as fast as others in order to catch up with those who went before me.

'It was all in vain.'

– 'Is that all you can do?'

She clenched her fists at the sound of Yurian's voice, which came like an auditory hallucination from somewhere.

I can't die like this!

Her obsession with revenge and her anger towards 'Yurien' began to stir up her from the brink of death.

If your father in heaven saw you now, how pitiful would he look?

There was even the sight of Yurian laughing at himself, saying, "I thought it was like that."

'That's… I don't like it!'

Although he had a strong desire to avenge his father, he also hated seeing the detestable sight of Yurian.

An arrogant person who dared to draw his sword on the teacher who taught him.

A senseless sword that can even kill a newborn baby if ordered by the royal family.

A shameless person who would even abandon his colleagues for the sake of promotion.

I feel no respect at all.

He has tremendous skills in that subject.

If he saw me now, he would surely criticize me like this.

"This is a terrible sight." he said…

“This is a terrible sight. If this continues, won’t it be a disgrace to me, a fellow student?”

That disgusting, cross-eyed Yurian was standing at the entrance to the annex.