Chapter 282

Chapter 282

??? : Wake up, Dwener.

A voice echoed in Dwener’s mind.

Though it was a voice he had never heard before, Dwener had a faint sense of who it belonged to.

‘Could it be... Frederick?’

The founding head of the Seigan family, awarded a title and land for subduing the 4th legion commander Balafar.

Even though it was an ancient event, Dwener recognized the voice, despite having only seen Frederick in an old portrait.

He could tell that his ancestor, Frederick, was speaking to him.

— Wake up, Dwener. You are the pride of the Empire!

But Dwener didn’t want to get up. His body felt unusually heavy.

‘Ancestor... just five more minutes.’

As the adorable heir of the family, wasn’t he allowed this small request?

Just five more minutes of sleep, he declared, closing his eyes again.

But soon, a sense of foreboding made Dwener open his eyes slightly.

He saw his ancestor, Frederick, running towards him with a spear aimed at him.

‘Eek!’

Dwener screamed inwardly and sprang to his feet, starting to run.

A sudden chase began with the founding head of the family.

Dwener was somewhat talented at running away. However.

— You wicked boy! Take this! Spiral Flash Grand Wheel Fury Scythe Strike!

Whoosh-!

He couldn’t dodge the spear flying at him.

The moment Frederick’s thrown spear touched his back.

“Huh!!”

Dwener woke from his dream.

Realizing what he had just experienced was a dream, Dwener quickly became aware of the pain all over his body.

Giant bolts of lightning were striking everywhere on the battlefield.

Judging by the pattern, it seemed the place he was in had just been hit.

Boom-! Crash!

The sky lit up with white lightning, children each defending against the lightning in their own ways, and a high-ranking demon that looked like a black bull.

Lying on the ground, Dwener fell into thought.

‘Why am I here?’

Dwener recalled the events leading up to now.

The sudden invasion of Carpathia.

Caron tried to dissuade him, saying he didn’t need to go, but he left the academy to protect Zero.

His horse betrayed him, tossing him down a hill with a high-ranking demon.

While moving to find shelter, he slipped and was directly hit by a demon’s spell aimed at Rodelin.

‘That was the beginning.’

Wherever he went, lightning followed as if attracted by his bad luck.

Hit by a total of three attacks, Dwener’s last memory was of a lightning storm striking the battlefield.

‘I thought I was dead for sure... but I’m alive.’

Did he unknowingly use the Seigan family’s hidden skill, ‘Absolute Evasion’?

Probably. After all, he had Frederick’s blood, the blood of a hero, in his veins.

“Huhu, a mere high-ranking demon can’t kill the descendant of the great Seigan family.”

Competent indeed! Perhaps he was a genius in battle.

A seemingly ordinary academy principal, but actually a genius in battle!?

...Or something like that. Anyway, thinking could wait. The important thing now was.

‘Get Zero and the kids and escape!’

Though he didn’t know how it happened, the demon was heavily damaged.

With good timing, they could escape.

Wouldn’t it be better to fight and win?

‘Easier said than done.’

A high-ranking demon with a reverse pentagram floating above it. Though heavily injured, it was still a high-ranking demon.

Running was the best option.

“Ugh...”

As Dwener got up, something fell off his body. It was a pendant. A mysterious pendant filled with pure energy.

He could instantly tell it was something precious, brimming with mystical energy.

“Why is this here...”

“...Ugh, this hurts.”

Suddenly, a voice startled Dwener as he looked around.

A blackened rock. Next to it was something charred black.

‘Is that a person?’

Despite the terrible condition, Dwener immediately recognized the girl.

“Luna...?”

How could he not? She was one of the children he cherished, always with Zero.

Looking back and forth between the pendant and Luna, Dwener soon realized.

This girl had saved him.

“Damn...!”

Dwener poured a potion over Luna’s body.

But that wasn’t enough.

‘Then I met Duke Aziz.’

Wandering a party looking for a job.

Duke Aziz approached him, and drunk Dwener passionately promoted himself.

About the importance of virtue, the wrongs of the world.

And his necessity.

The next day, Dwener woke up in the principal’s office of the academy.

With an appointment letter appointing him as the principal of Annwood Academy.

‘At first, I thought I was recognized.’

He thought his value, which aimed for virtue, was recognized.

But it wasn’t. Duke Aziz was closer to ‘evil’ than virtue.

And the act of placing an incompetent person like him in such a position was clearly ‘evil.’

Leaving the academy would be ‘virtue.’

But Dwener chose to stay.

‘Proving his worth was the only chance.’

A chance to prove his value.

A chance to revive the declining family.

Though it was committing ‘evil,’ he couldn’t miss this opportunity.

‘Just this once. Just this one time...’

That’s right. The first person in the Seigan family to pursue ‘evil.’

It was Dwener himself.

Thus, Dwener abandoned his pride.

Recalling memories he tried hard to forget, Dwener clenched his fist.

“Principal... Zero...”

Luna’s voice grew slower. She couldn’t finish her sentence.

She was enduring with her mental strength.

This request might be her last request before death.

But Dwener wasn’t someone who could grant such a request.

‘I am incompetent.’

A foolish man who abandoned his pride.

But for this dying child, Dwener could tell a small lie.

‘Because I’m a bad adult who abandoned my pride.’

Dwener placed the pendant around Luna’s neck and whispered.

Young girl, a girl with high pride. From now on.

“Leave it to the 18th principal, Dwener.”

Finally, Luna’s head tilted to the side. She had lost consciousness.

She wasn’t dead. But her life was hanging by a thread.

“Luna!”

Victoria ran frantically towards Luna. Dwener, holding his spear, passed by her.

Step by step.

As Dwener walked forward, he fell into thought.

Suddenly, memories from after he became principal resurfaced.

Though he was an appointed principal to keep the Emperor’s faction away, Dwener tried to be a good principal.

He tried to make a good academy, made various adjustments, and prepared means to prevent exam leaks.

— The principal should remain steady. Just stay still. Your role is sufficient as it is.

A letter from Duke Aziz. Dwener realized then.

That he had no role here either.

‘...A puppet, huh.’

He knew, but he never imagined being told to stay still.

The end of one who abandoned pride. It was fair to see it that way.

After all, it was strange to appoint an incompetent person like him as the principal of Annwood Academy.

‘Being incompetent. That was also one of the reasons I was appointed.’

Yes. Dwener knew he was incompetent.

No matter how incompetent, he wasn’t so incompetent that he didn’t realize he was incompetent.

The reason he praised himself as competent?

‘Like a matchstick self-esteem.’

It was an act to save it.

A life without any assigned role.

So perhaps. Dwener was in a precarious state like a candle about to go out.

Praising himself as competent was a struggle.

‘Because without it... I felt I would collapse.’

After that, Dwener was essentially imprisoned in the academy.

With nothing to do, he wandered the academy, killing time.

He planned to endure for two years, then find another job after gaining experience.

One day, about two weeks after the freshmen entered.

“Keke, good day!”

A lost student found his pond.

–TL Notes–

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at /MattReading

Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/BWaP3AHHpt