I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 728 - Side Story 1: The End is a New Beginning (1)

Rudger looked around the room. It was a luxurious place. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all filled with high-quality materials.

It was optimized for the resident's convenience to such an extent that one might wonder if this was even acceptable. It wasn't particularly strange that such a space existed.

'The problem is that I'm supposedly the criminal of the century.'

If a criminal was caught, they should be locked in a prison with harsh conditions. Because that's common sense. However, Rudger was confined in this luxurious place without any handcuffs or confinement devices.

Of course, if he tried to leave, the people monitoring from outside would stop him, but what would be the point of that anyway.

'They brought me here knowing I wouldn't leave.'

He had only thought of it in his mind without calling out, but just then the door opened and that very person entered.

"We meet again like this." 

"First Princess Aileen."

Rudger looked at Aileen walking in confidently and called her name.

Beside Aileen was Pasius. His appearance had become calmer and more reliable than before. It made him realize that three years had indeed passed.

Of course, the same applied to Aileen standing before him.

"No, should I call you Empress Aileen?" 

"Could you excuse us for a moment?"

Instead of answering, Aileen asked Pasius for privacy. 

As if they had discussed this beforehand, Pasius bowed his head and went outside.

Only Rudger and Aileen remained alone in the luxurious space.

"We're finally alone together like this." 

"Is it really okay for someone who is the head of a nation to treat a criminal so humanely?" 

"Are you thinking of doing harm? I wouldn't mind at all though."

At Aileen's confident smile, Rudger also let out a slight chuckle.

"I knew you were always bold, but it seems many things have happened over the past three years." 

"Yes. Many things happened. Just dealing with the aftermath of the war was a problem. The impact from that time was so great that even now, three years later, it hasn't been completely resolved." 

"Three years. It's a period of time I can't get used to even hearing it again."

Over three years, the continent had undergone far too many changes. It was a period of such turbulent upheaval that even the people living in this era could barely keep up.

"Well, I'll gradually learn about the world's changes. The important point is this: my current situation." 

"As expected, it's good that you get to the point quickly." 

"You arrested me yet put me in a space like this. What exactly are you thinking? Normally, a public execution in front of everyone wouldn't even be enough."

Heathcliff van Bretus. The illegitimate child of the Bretus Holy Imperial family, and at the same time, the Demon King who plunged the world into chaos. He commanded demons, started a holy war, and ultimately destroyed even the source of faith.

Even if you gathered the most notorious villains in the continent's history and combined all their evil deeds into one, it wouldn't compare to Rudger alone.

Of course, the truth wasn't like that. Being the Demon King was nothing more than Salesin's propaganda, and the demons were merely apostles of a vanished faith, not evil at all.

However, public perception had already solidified that Heathcliff was the Demon King. That hadn't changed even over the course of three years.

"Do you think I should have cleared your innocence?" 

"As if."

Rudger shrugged his shoulders lightly. From his own perspective, the truth was still covered up and he had become a public enemy of the world, but he didn't feel wronged.

The actions Rudger had taken up until now were considerably contrary to both ethics and law.

Even if there were reasons, what he did was not justified. Of course, it was true that he was receiving an excessive evaluation compared to what he had done, but at this point, Rudger had decided to just enjoy it.

"Rather, being called the villain of the century, the first Demon King, is much better than being some mediocre criminal."

Rudger's attitude gave Aileen quite a shock.

"You have changed." 

"I have changed. Haven't three years passed?" 

"...Yes. That's right."

Aileen nodded as if in agreement. However, Rudger's change was slightly different from other people's.

Most people experience events in their daily lives, solve problems, accumulate wisdom, and gain experience as they live.

As such experiences accumulate and pile up, they form one's sense of self. It was natural for people to change and grow during these turbulent three years.

However, Rudger had spent three years in a place completely removed from society. Without being able to converse with anyone, he had merely existed alone in the imaginary space.

"I achieved everything I wanted until the very end. If you ask what my feelings are now, I can say I feel relieved." 

"Relieved..." 

"I confirmed that there was something at the end of the path I was walking. That alone leaves me with no regrets."

Since being born into this world until now Rudger had continued on a very long journey.

It was an absurd, difficult, painful journey with no telling when it would end.

The reason he could endure until the end was partly due to Rudger's own strength, but also because of the people around him who helped him.

Sometimes grieving over losing them, sometimes gaining new driving force.

Continuing like that. Advancing without stopping.

And finally, Rudger was able to reach the end of this journey. The period at the end of his adventure.

"There were sad and painful memories. At the same time, there were also small moments of joy and satisfaction." 

"..." 

"It was a terrible world, but I also found beauty within that terribleness."

He realized that the world wasn't entirely dark, that even though it was a difficult and painful world, it was still worth living in.

"Yes. Looking back, I think I had quite an enjoyable adventure."

Even knowing he shouldn't, Rudger sometimes had such thoughts. Wishing this adventure wouldn't end.

But it couldn't be so. Just as there's an end to every beginning, he had started this journey and had to move toward its end.

If he had stopped midway, that would have been his end. But that would have been nothing more than a false ending.

Rudger wanted to see the true ending. Not stopping and continuing forward, not yielding even in pain, breaking through and overcoming walls—that's how he reached it.

The exhilaration and relief of achieving all of that. Along with the endlessly surging emptiness.

In the midst of such emotional turbulence, the man who had lived like dust for only one purpose could finally put his mind at ease.

Aileen stared quietly at Rudger.

Even if he spoke like that, the wounds this man carried were surely not so light. Over the past three years, while handling the aftermath of the holy war, hadn't she come to know in even greater detail what he had experienced?

"Even if the world remembers you as the Demon King and points fingers at you?" 

"If that's the end of the story, then there's nothing I can do about it."

Aileen clenched her fist tightly at the sight, then released it weakly. Even though it wasn't her own matter, she was this angry, yet when he himself spoke like that, she felt like only she was being made a fool.

"Fine. If that's what you say, then I can't step in." 

"That doesn't mean I really wanted you to do nothing though." 

"Hehe. You know how to say such things too?"

At Rudger's playful words, Aileen let out a laugh without realizing it. Come to think of it, she remembered when they arrested Rudger.

She had forgotten due to the pressure of facing this man again and talking about the past. That day, the day they brought him out of the imaginary space. Rudger burst into laughter for the first time in front of everyone.

The fact that this man, who seemed cold and indifferent, was capable of such a pure smile had shocked her greatly.

Thinking of that smile, she could understand his words about becoming detached from worldly affairs and gaining a kind of transcendence.

"Well, the world may define you as evil, but that's only one side. Little by little, the perception of you is changing." 

"It's changing?" 

"Yes. From Salesin's evil deeds to the shame and darkness possessed by the Holy Kingdom of Bretus, those things have been revealed to the world. As a result, there's no small amount of public opinion sympathizing with you, who were an illegitimate child of that place." 

"I can roughly picture what kind of situation it is. Is that also why you're keeping me like this?" 

"That's part of it, but who would dare to arbitrarily confine you in the first place?"

At Aileen's meaningful words, Rudger's eyebrows twitched.

"What do you mean by that?" 

"I heard. You used 8th Circle magic in the holy war?"

8th Circle was a transcendent realm known to be impossible for humans to ever reach. Nevertheless, the reason such a realm existed was because there had actually been someone with such power in history.

"I received help, and I used power drawn from the outside. Even if you asked me to use it again, I can't do it anymore."

At that time, it was possible because Grandel had transmitted 8th Circle magic and he had analyzed and deconstructed it.

"Normally, even imitating it like that isn't possible. And even if it's not the 8th Circle, didn't you definitely achieve the 7th Circle?" 

"That's hard to deny." 

"In history, there has never been anyone who achieved the 7th Circle at that age. That alone makes your value as a person very outstanding." 

"So that's why you're keeping me like this? Unable to even think of executing the villain of the century?" 

"Well, to be honest, that's not the only reason."

When she said that, Aileen's expression looked unusually tired for her.

"There seems to be more reasons." 

"Someone claiming to be your teacher came to see me." 

"Ah..."

Rudger realized how the situation had unfolded with just that one statement from Aileen.

"She threatened to erase the country if any harm came to her disciple." 

"...Teacher."

Rudger let out a groan. Unlike Rudger, who imitated 8th Circle magic through expedient means, Grandel was a real 8th Circle mage.

As the first to achieve such a realm, erasing a country would be nothing for her if she put her mind to it.

The reason she hadn't done so until now was because she felt disillusioned with life and wished for death. But those feelings had also been resolved after her conversation with Rudger. The nations of the continent were now in a position where they had to be on high alert for her movements.

"Is my teacher alright?" 

"Yes. From what I heard, she recovered greatly after recuperating. Whatever the case, with the threat of an 8th Circle mage, moreover an ancient vampire, there would be no one bold enough to hold an execution ceremony."

To think the situation would be swayed like this by a powerful individual, rather than some national issue.

But it was also difficult to call an 8th Circle being an individual. At that level, it wouldn't be wrong to evaluate them as an existence beyond another dimension.

"That's why I'm keeping you like this, and that's why I'm talking to you like this." 

"But won't the rumor that I've returned spread eventually?"

There were quite a few witnesses to Rudger returning from the imaginary space that day. For now, Aileen would keep them silent, but that wouldn't continue forever.

Once stories started flowing into people's ears one by one, rumors that the Demon King had returned would spread rapidly.

"That's exactly what I'm worried about." 

"If you keep me alive, there will be those who want to kill the Demon King, and conversely, there will be those who protect me." 

"Right. In the end, this is also a political problem."

The situation was developing in an interesting way. Of course, if Aileen, who was directly involved, knew Rudger was thinking this, she would be annoyed.

But what could be done? You couldn't call something interesting uninteresting.

"Well, I'd like to just not care and let things sort themselves out...But still, since this happened because of me, I'll at least think about it with you." 

"Ha. How touchingly grateful those words are. Well, you're the only one who can speak so boldly before me, the Empress." 

"The point is this: eventually, rumors that I've returned will spread anyway." 

"That would be so." 

"Then we should make the first move and announce it from this side first." 

"Announce it? That the Demon King has returned?" 

"Yes. It would be better to craft the story a bit more. That we finally brought back the Demon King who was staying in a dimensional rift, an imaginary space. We need to attach a reason too. Something like holding the ringleader who started the holy war, the war criminal, accountable." 

"Wait. What you're saying now is..." 

"That's right."

Rudger nodded, confirming that it was exactly what Aileen was imagining.

"The Demon King Heathcliff van Bretus. We're going to execute him."