I Became an Academy Counselor

Chapter 80

"...I swear, there's nothing about this I like."

"What now?"@@@@

"I mean, it feels like we’re crushing someone powerless. This isn't what I became a soldier for."

Some of the prince’s men kicked the dirt, expressing their dissatisfaction. When they were told it was an important mission, they didn’t expect it would be about stomping on a princess who had already been pushed to the very bottom of the imperial succession. Was the throne really worth killing one’s own kin for?

Even after serving the imperial family for so long, this level of ruthlessness was hard to swallow.

"Well, what choice do we have? Orders are orders."

"...Tch. I guess you're right."

No matter how distasteful the task, there were things that had to be done. Even if they didn’t like it, they had resolved to end it as quickly and painlessly as possible. One of the soldiers turned to his comrades to confirm their plan.

"Are we sure it’s just a little further ahead?"

"Yes. We’ve picked up the signal near here."

"Alright, let’s finish this quickly."

Normally, no one was supposed to know the opponent’s location. The duel was taking place in one of the academy’s largest areas, and the element of strategy was preserved by keeping both sides unaware of each other's positions. But thanks to the prince’s underhanded tactics, the princess’s location had already been revealed.

Apparently, they had placed a small tracker on her during one of their earlier conversations. No one expected the prince to resort to such cheap tricks in what was supposed to be a fair duel on academy grounds.

Even though it didn’t sit well with them, they had no choice but to follow orders.

"...We can’t help the princess, but we’ll let the others live. I can’t stomach the thought of wiping out an entire family just for being involved."

"How thoughtful of you."

"What—! Intruder—Ugh!"

In a moment of complacency, disaster struck. They had the advantage of knowing their enemy's location and superior numbers, but they let their guard down. They hadn’t expected the academy students to be stronger than them.

One of their comrades was taken down without even being able to put up a fight, as a dark hand struck with precision.

"Don’t worry, I didn’t kill him. My friend doesn’t like that."

"Ew... Hitting people feels gross... It’s bad because it feels bad..."

"See? Even though he’s a demon, he hates doing bad things now. So, no need to worry too much."

"That hand... She’s a demon-possessed! Watch out!"

Though the soldiers tried to maintain their composure, they knew something was off. Wasn’t the princess supposed to be here? Why was there a demon-possessed person instead?

"Hey, what’s going on? Isn’t the princess supposed to be here?"

"Oh, if you came here following the signal, then you’ve been tricked."

"What?!"

"Seriously, though. You guys really went all out just to win. Your boss is hilarious, don’t you think?"

With a playful toss, the small device was flung between her fingers—a signal tracker. The soldiers quickly realized that it was the very same tracker they had placed on the princess. Somehow, their plan had been discovered and used against them.

Realizing they’d been had, the soldiers quickly recalibrated their priorities.

"...Change of plan. Let’s take out the enemy in front of us and then eliminate the princess."

"Ah, sorry, but that’s not gonna happen."

Snap.

The demon-possessed girl crushed the tracker between her fingers, and at the same moment, one of the soldiers’ communication devices went dead.

As she tossed the now-useless piece of equipment to the ground, she turned to the soldiers with a smirk.

At that moment, the soldier, frantically shouting orders, caught sight of a distant spear of light hurtling toward them.

Too late.

In the blink of an eye, the spear of light had already closed the distance, and the soldier squeezed his eyes shut.

Could anyone survive this?

He cursed his superior. If they had to face this kind of opponent, they should have been warned.

"What a sight."

"Wow, that pillar of light... If you get hit by that, wouldn’t you die?"

"Who knows?"

"What do you mean, ‘who knows’?!"

"That’s an Inquisitor. They avoid unnecessary killing... probably."

Stella smiled as she looked at the pillar of light that marked the success of their first move.

She had been caught off guard by her brother’s sneaky tricks too many times to count. Whether it was chess or political schemes, he always used dirty, underhanded tactics to strike at her where she least expected it.

But even the most cunning snake eventually gets stepped on.

If Stella couldn’t outwit him, someone else could.

"Teacher Ophelia was right. I’m glad I asked for her help."

"You're too kind."

"I thought he was just trying to taunt me when we were talking, but he must have planted that tracker on me at some point."

The thought of almost falling for her brother’s trick again made Stella grit her teeth. But this time, it didn’t matter. Where she lacked, her allies made up for it.

Ahnya handled the long-range attacks that Stella couldn’t, and Orca handled the ambushes and disruption.

This time, Stella was ready.

"Well then... I suppose it’s time for me to step in."

"Yawn... Already?"

"...Were you sleeping?"

"I’ve been so tired lately... I can barely stay awake..."

"You’re as carefree as ever."

The old Stella would have lost her temper and cursed at him for such behavior in a critical moment. But perhaps because of the recent praise exercises from Teacher Ophelia, she now found Leo’s calmness in a tense situation admirable.

"Leo, Aileen. Take good care of Teacher Ophelia."

"Don’t worry, we’ve got this."

"Don’t worry. Even if I mess up, you’ll fix it, right?"

"...You’re too laid-back."

They had successfully taken out the ambush force that had been sent to scout ahead, but Stella knew her brother would have realized this by now. He would be preparing his next move.

Thinking ahead, Stella swiftly moved to reposition herself.

Her brother was bound to pull something tricky again.

But this time, she would end the game before he had a chance to act.

As Stella strategized, she braced herself for the risks she would have to take.