I Became the Savior of the Academy’s Villains

Chapter 178

"......."

"......."

"......."

Luca, Ottbo, and Ferka were only watching each other, as if playing a game of nerves.

It was a situation where it was difficult for anyone to speak first.

'His face.......'

Luca glanced at Ferka's face.

He was not wearing the glasses he usually wore, and there were slight swelling and traces of a cut near his eye.

Anyone could see he had been hit.

"......."

Ottbo also seemed to have noticed, and his expression was grim.

Perhaps that was making the atmosphere even worse.

"Um......."

"Ah......."

"!"

At that moment, Ottbo and Ferka both opened their mouths at the same time.

The two of them stopped, startled, and looked at each other.

"You go first!"

"No, it's fine! You can go first!"

"No. Really, go ahead......."

The two kept deferring to the other to speak.

Seeing them, Luca sighed and spoke up.

"What brings you here, Ferka Gress?"

"!"

Hearing Luca's formal tone, Ottbo, standing beside him, widened his eyes a little.

And a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"Are you here to take Ottbo back?"

Whether Ferka knew it or not, Luca spoke with a flat tone.

He didn't know Ferka's reason for coming, but if he said he had come to take Ottbo back, Luca looked like he'd do whatever it took to stop him.

At this, Ferka smiled brightly.

"No. It's the opposite."

"The opposite...?"

Ottbo looked puzzled.

Ferka spoke lightly as she watched him.

"Ottbo. If you want, I'll help you become independent from the Gress family."

"!"

Independence.

Normally, this was something done by a daughter leaving to marry, or a relative who couldn't become the family head.

"As you know, our family is wealthy. If you want, I can buy you new territory and make you the lord of it. You can even have a new castle there."

"A new castle......."

"Haha, I can't buy you a count's domain, but still."

What could be bought with money only went as high as a viscount's territory.

But for Ottbo, who couldn't become the family head anyway, it was quite an attractive proposition to be given land.

"Of course, that's only if you truly can't forgive the Gress family and want to leave—and erase everything. If that's not the case, if you're still proud of the Gress name—"

Ferka smiled faintly.

Somehow, the wound by his eye looked even deeper.

"You don't have to become independent. We'll still support you until you graduate from the academy, and later, if you want, when I become the family head, you can come back and do whatever you want in the family."

"...... After you become head."

"Haha. Well, I don't think Father has forgiven your actions yet. I personally thought it was pretty cool, you know."

Ferka's eyes sparkled with admiration as he spoke.

The eldest son of the Gress family, who had always lived following his parents' words, seemed to harbor a sense of longing toward his younger brother, who had rebelled against their parents and left the family.

"Anyway, don't worry so much about the family anymore. Everything's been resolved now."

"Really......?"

As Ottbo spoke, his eyes were still fixed on the injury on Ferka's face.

Sensing Ottbo's gaze, Ferka touched his own wound and gave a bitter smile.

"Haha. Perhaps I should've come after I healed? I just wanted to tell you the outcome as soon as I succeeded in persuading them, but..."

"......."

Ottbo looked conflicted.

He seemed still worried about the other family members he'd left behind.

Ferka smiled warmly.

"Don't worry too much. In the end, father has to hand over the family to the next generation. He's a remarkable man, but he can't be the head forever."

"That's......."

"In the end, time will heal everything. Just like this injury, everything eventually heals."

As Ferka spoke and smiled, the wound near his eye seemed to have faded even more than before.

* * *

Ferka hadn't come empty-handed.

He brought several special engines and a new-type armored soldier, along with various books, so that Ottbo could continue studying Gress family's drive magic even while outside the family.

'Isn't this family secret?'

'It's fine. I trust you with it.'

Apparently, he had been quite impressed by Ottbo's great escape.

'If you ever want to use the family name, you're welcome to do so. See you next time at the academy!'

After leaving those words, Ferka departed.

"......."

Ottbo looked quite unsettled.

'His mind must be in turmoil.'

Luca clicked his tongue inwardly.

It wasn't something he couldn't understand.

'There's no helping it, I suppose.'

Luca quietly approached Ottbo.

"Ottbo."

"What is it, Luca?"

Trying to sound as calm as possible, Ottbo answered in a composed tone.

But there was a faint tremble of anxiety in his voice.

"Stay here during the vacation."

"Huh?"

Ottbo widened his eyes a little at Luca's flat statement.

"A lot has happened, so you should take time to collect yourself. Also, you'll need to analyze all those things Ferka left you before returning to the academy."

Luca glanced at the items Ferka had left behind.

Researching those while traveling wouldn't be easy.

But disassembling family-secret engines and armored soldiers in the academy would draw too much attention.

"As it happens, I also have some personal business to handle. It's time we acted separately."

"......."

The two, who had almost always been together since entering the academy.

Now, it wouldn't be strange for them to spend some time apart.

Ottbo pondered for a moment, then asked carefully,

"Where are you going......?"

"I won't know till I get there. It's a matter concerning devils."

"D-devils..."

Hearing the word 'devil', Ottbo bit his lip.

Back at the Hebro territory, there had been nothing he could do.

'If it's about devils, there's really nothing I can do right now...'

Back then, in truth, Luca had dealt with everything alone.

Ottbo still didn't have the strength to fight devils yet.

'...... If only I could study drive magic a bit more.'

Ottbo felt he needed to grow a bit more.

He looked at Luca.

"Alright. I'll try to grow as much as I can during vacation so I can help you next time!"

"I'll be looking forward to it."

With Luca's flat response, Ottbo gave a faint smile, then said anxiously,

"Be careful, Luca. I know you can handle yourself, but those guys......"

"Don't worry. I'm not about to fight them recklessly."

Luca said this flatly, and then parted ways, returning to his own room.

There, he found Whistle, still hard at work purifying the golden heart contaminated with devil's strength.

'At least one thing's clear—sky power is the future.'

Recalling what God had said through Chat-GOD, it was apparent that hunting devils was currently the fastest way for Luca to grow.

And the most important requirement for hunting devils was power of the sky.

'The efficiency is simply absurd.'

Even the church's holy power wasn't as effective against devils as this was.

He could now understand why some 'being' in the past had obtained Whistle from Skybird.

Sky power was perfectly optimized for erasing devils.

'Maybe the reason the protagonist couldn't fully absorb Etherna's power was to preserve balance?'

If the protagonist, with storage power, had also gained sky power, the original series would've wrapped up within five volumes.

'If I want to strengthen the power of the sky, I'll have to hunt devils after all.'

Whistle, who grew stronger by absorbing devil strength.

To make her complete, devils must be hunted down.

No matter how he sliced it, it all came down to devil hunting.

'I can't just roam around hunting devils during the school term, so it's better to hunt as many devils as possible during the vacation.'

With that thought, Luca looked at Whistle.

"Whistle. How much longer will it take to purify that thing?"

"Ugh... I don't know. The devil inside has been erased, so it's basically an empty shell, but for some reason it's still hard to purify."

"Hmm...?"

As previously discussed, there are two types of devil stones.

One contains a devil's fragment, the other the devil itself.

This devil stone had contained the Devil of Hunger.

And that Devil of Hunger had been completely wiped out by Luca.

So now the devil stone should be empty—in other words, it should revert to its original state as a divine relic.

'But the mechanism of divine relics is...'

Surprisingly, divine relics and devil stones have the same structure.

Divine relics are also divided into those containing a god's fragment and those with the god itself inside.

In essence, whether a relic is sacred or demonic depends on whether it contains divine or devilish strength.

'That's the method the protagonist used to forcibly be acknowledged by the divine relics.'

There were two ways for the protagonist to use divine relics without being qualified.

One was to store the relic's power with storage and use it indirectly.

The other was to enter the divine relic and win recognition directly from the god or fragment inside.

'It doesn't work for others, but the protagonist is able to extricate his spirit and act independently of his body. Srettle Magus wanted to study that as well.'

And moving only the spirit was something Luca could manage, more or less.

'It's not easy to do right away, but with some practice, it should be possible.'

With 'Luca' and 'Luca Traverse' now separated, Luca felt it should be possible to use power of the clouds to leave this body and move independently.

'I've never done it, but the mechanism is very similar to the power the protagonist acquired. I should be able to do it.'

Even if not, now he had the support of Herote, the strongest mage.

If she understood the mechanism, she'd surely be able to help.

'It's truly fortunate she's on our side.'

Having thought that far, Luca shook his head vigorously.

That wasn't what was important now.

He looked at Whistle.

"Whistle. You don't have to force yourself to purify it."

"But if I purify this, it might strengthen my own power, and the item itself could help you!"

Whistle, flustered by Luca's words.

But Luca slowly shook his head.

"There's use for it even unpurified. And there's no need for you to strain yourself just to make yourself stronger."

"Meaning...?"

Whistle looked puzzled.

Luca said in a flat tone,

"I'm planning to focus solely on devil hunting for the remaining three weeks. I'll gather plenty of extra devil stones so you can recover your strength as fast as possible, so don't get hung up on that one piece."

"Master!"

At his words, Whistle unfurled her wings as if startled.

But it wasn't out of displeasure.

On the contrary, she seemed very pleased.

"That's a great idea! With your power right now, you should be able to fight devils without any problem! Three weeks is a bit short, but if we give it our all, we can certainly take on at least two or three devil-worshipper groups!"

At this, Luca pursed his lips.

"Is that so? From your perspective, would two or three devil stones be considered a surplus?"

"Huh? W-wait, can you use that god's power to find even more devils?!"

Again, Whistle spread her wings in surprise.

Seeing her confusion, Luca shook his head.

"No, that's not it."

"Then...?"

As Whistle tilted her head curiously, Luca took something out.

A semi-transparent card, the size of a credit card.

It was the communication device Herote had given him.

"There's already a group searching for devil worshippers, isn't there?"

"......!"

It was time to meet the other members of Heaven's Door.