I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 813 - Side Story 86: Ancient Ruins (3)

"Catch him! We absolutely cannot let him escape!"

Arius shouted, watching Hans flee. Three burly paladins chased after Hans. There was no need to send everyone. From the looks of it, he appeared to have no combat ability whatsoever.

'Judging from his weathered appearance, he must be a veteran explorer. We need to capture him and extract information about how many companions he has and when they arrived here.'

Arius had thought he would be the first to arrive at the ruins so Hans' presence was far beyond his expectations.

Rufus was equally surprised. He couldn't believe there were people who had arrived at the ruins before them.

'How on earth?'

To break through the forest faster than anyone else and get this far would require considerable numbers. Moving with a small group made no sense. In a forest overflowing with spirit beasts, having fewer numbers would only be disadvantageous.

Spirit beasts were evolved creatures that had absorbed mana. Their strength was comparable to master-level fighters, and their intelligence was quite high.

'Spirit beasts are cunning and intelligent creatures. They can distinguish whether their opponent is weaker or stronger than them, whether they can be touched or not.'

This was why large numbers were necessary. When moving in large groups, spirit beasts wouldn't attack because they knew it was dangerous.

'If they broke through such a forest, they must be an expedition of at least similar or even larger scale than ours. But were there any such groups remaining?'

Rufus had a grasp of the overall forces and numbers of the expeditions gathered at the current forward base.

At least as far as he knew, there were no forces in Hyperborea that could match them yet.

Even the mages of the New Magic Tower were moving in small groups, split apart due to their arrogant tendencies.

'Another force we don't know about.'

This wasn't good. This was an unexpected situation. Moreover, looking at the traces around, it didn't seem like a large group had been moving about.

"Sir Arius. It seems we were too complacent."

Rufus truly hated this arrogant paladin enough to want to kill him, but he knew when and where to show restraint. The same was true for Arius. Though it annoyed him that this dark mage dared to sit at the same table with him, there were more important matters at hand.

"I think so too. To think there are people who reached the ruins before us." 

"Looking around, the numbers don't seem that large. The problem is that entrance."

Rufus pointed to the entrance of the ruins where Hans had been lingering.

"We don't know how many people went inside. We don't know how much time has passed either. I think we need to move as quickly as possible." 

"Hmm."

Arius stroked his chin. Though he wanted to capture the escaped Hans and extract information, his mind wavered at Rufus's words.

"Alright. We can't let precious items be taken from right under our noses. We'll enter immediately as well."

Arius's paladin order and Rufus's dark mages headed toward the pitch-black entrance.

"Stop right there!"

The burly paladins chased after Hans. Though they wore armor, they were paladins who had undergone long physical training. Even wearing armor and carrying heavy loads, they could easily catch up to an ordinary person running at full speed.

That's certainly how it should have been.

"What the! Why isn't the distance closing!" 

"That bastard! How is he so fast!"

No matter how much they chased Hans, the distance between them wouldn't close at all. Rather, Hans's figure visible to the naked eye was gradually getting smaller. It was clear evidence that he was faster than them.

'What? Even for a veteran explorer, to be this fast?' 

'Moreover, he's been sprinting at full speed for several minutes now, but he doesn't even look out of breath. Doesn't he get tired?'

The paladins' pride was hurt. What kind of disgrace was this, unable to catch one person who appeared to have nothing to do with combat?

They drew up their holy power and cast blessings on their bodies. Then vitality returned to their tiring bodies. Robust strength dwelt in their muscles and bones, spurring their movements.

Thud!

The moment they stepped on the ground, their shin guards dug deeply into the earth. With that propulsion, a paladin who leaped high dropped right in front of the fleeing Hans.

Though he had consumed considerable holy power for this, it didn't matter.

"Finally caught you!"

The one fortunate thing was that Hans hadn't fled back into the forest but only circled around the ruins. If he had disappeared into the forest, even the paladins wouldn't have been able to enter recklessly. They too feared the spirit beasts just the same.

"Hup!"

Hans' eyes widened in surprise as the paladin landed right in front of him. The paladin extended his brutish hand.

At the very least, he needed to grab this guy and slam him into the ground to feel satisfied.

The moment the paladin's hand was about to grasp Hans's collar, Hans's body disappeared from view.

"What?"

It was just a moment, but he had lost track of Hans's movement. The paladin belatedly realized that Hans had slipped past his side like a loach.

'What kind of movement is that?!'

It wasn't a movement a human would show. Rather, it was closer to a beast, unpredictable, and that's why it was so surprising.

Hans ran desperately to escape from the paladin. After shaking off the paladins like this, he planned to hide somewhere quiet.

'I just need to hold out until big brother comes out! When big brother comes, he can sweep away all those guys!'

Muttering like this made him sound like a third-rate street thug from an alley, but Hans didn't care. Even though he worked as an unofficial imperial informant, he didn't want to fight like this.

He had fought enough during the holy war and was sick of it. He wanted a peaceful retirement now.

He had earned enough money to last a lifetime, and he had even built the wheat field and beautiful mansion he so desired. And a wife whose personality was a bit—no, very—eccentric.

'There's absolutely no reason to fight paladins in a place like this!'

Hans was fleeing with such desperate resolve, but soon his limit came.

Chwing!

A spear blade made of light dropped sharply right in front of him. Instead of stopping, Hans naturally changed direction to avoid the spear.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

But multiple spears flew in and surrounded Hans like a cage. Hans instinctively knew there was no way left to escape.

"Ah."

The moment he hesitated, the paladin who had been chasing from behind grabbed Hans and pushed him down.

"Finally caught you! You rat bastard!" 

"Huff. Huff. He's disgustingly fast on his feet."

The paladins who had consumed considerable holy power to catch Hans were sweating profusely and panting.

They couldn't remember when they had last run so hard they were this exhausted.

Now that they had caught him, they just needed to return and hand him over to the commander. They would get something out of extracting information.

Then a bird made of light flew to the paladins. The bird created by holy law conveyed Commander Arius's orders to them.

"What. He says we don't need a hostage, so just kill him?" 

"Then what did we work so hard for?"

It was an anticlimactic result for all the hard work they put into capturing him alive, but the paladins decided to think positively.

At least they were given the opportunity to vent their frustrations on the one who had annoyed them.

"Hey. Consider yourself unlucky." 

"Right. Who told you to run so hard? If you'd been caught obediently, you wouldn't have to go through this."

They forcibly lifted Hans, who had fallen to the ground.

"N-no."

Hans muttered to himself with a terrified face. The paladins thought Hans had sensed his future.

"Huh? Blood?"

But they soon discovered that Hans's chest was soaked red. It was a mark of being stabbed by something sharp.

"What's this?"

They were able to find beast fangs in the inner pocket of Hans's coat. There weren't just fangs. There were things like claws and scales as well.

Every one of them was large. These weren't things that could be obtained from ordinary beasts.

"Why is he carrying these around?" 

"Well, he's an explorer, so he must have collected precious-looking samples. Still, he was unlucky. Did he get stabbed by the things he collected when he fell?"

The paladins let out hollow laughs looking at Hans's situation. Seeing Hans with his chest turned red made them feel deflated. He would die anyway if left like this, so they decided to just finish him off cleanly.

"Farewell."

It was the moment when one paladin lifted the club in his hand to strike Hans's head.

Thwack!

Without even looking, Hans extended his hand and caught the club.

"Huh? Wh-what is this."

The paladin who had swung the club was flustered. Hans's strength was so great that the club wouldn't budge at all. He couldn't believe this scrawny guy possessed such strength.

Meanwhile, Hans continued his muttering.

"Really, I didn't want to do this. This... even I might not be able to control it." 

"What's this bastard saying? Hey Gilbert. What are you doing? Hurry up and finish it." 

"Th-this guy's strength is no joke." 

"What? Did you eat something wrong today?"

The two paladins were about to reproach their colleague Gilbert but stopped.

Crack!

Because an eerie sound of the club breaking echoed out. It wasn't an ordinary club, but one made by mixing holystone and metal to easily contain holy power. That club, stronger than most iron maces, was shattered in Hans's hand. And with just the grip strength of one hand at that.

The paladins weren't fools. They felt an instinctive eeriness. The paladins wrapped their entire bodies in holy power. They realized that if they didn't kill Hans right here and now, it would be dangerous.

But that judgment came too late.

"Graaaaaaah!"

Hans raised his head toward the sky and roared. Mixed among the human voice were countless beast voices.

That tremendous cry spread throughout the entire forest centered on the ruins.

Fwoosh!

The forest birds flew up in surprise. The spirit beasts that had returned to their lairs also looked back toward the ruins in shock.

The spirit beasts felt the countless powers embedded in the cry that echoed from afar. How those powers mixed together to become a tremendous wildness that even they couldn't fathom.

The power of spirit beasts concentrated in one place manifested through the vessel called Hans.

Creak creak creak!

Hans's body swelled up. Fur, scales, and carapaces sprouted all over his body.

All of those things mixed together, taking on a bizarre form. It was a contradictory sight that somehow achieved harmony while not fitting together.

The paladins doubted their eyes. Hans, whom they had been looking down at, had now become so large they had to look up at him. 5 meters? No. His height had already exceeded 10 meters.

"Wh-what is that..."

As Hans was stabbed by the fangs, claws, and scales of spirit beasts, the genetic factors of those spirit beasts were injected into his body.

If it had been just one, Hans might have been able to control it with his own will. But with multiple factors entering simultaneously, even Hans couldn't control it.

Power surged throughout his body. The powers of spirit beasts that flowed in from outside collided inside.

And in the deepest place within the Beast of Gevaudan, which had been sleeping for a long time, opened its eyes at the arrival of uninvited guests.

Rudger walked through the corridor of the ruins. As he had expected when viewing from outside, the ruins were quite intact despite being old.

"Amazing. I didn't expect it to be preserved this well."

Casey also muttered that this was her first time seeing something like this.

"Is it alright outside?"

Veronica asked.

"Inside here, it might be my imagination, but it feels a bit disconnected from outside." 

"It's not your imagination."

Rudger corrected Veronica's speculation into certainty.

"I expected it from the magical power surrounding the ruins' surface, but this place is a space isolated from the outside as much as possible." 

"Then..." 

"Whether to prepare for external invasion or to preserve the items inside for a long time. The commotion happening here won't flow out to the outside."

The reverse was also true. Even if something happened outside, it would be difficult to detect it from inside the ruins.

"Then wouldn't Hans, who was left alone, be in danger?"

Veronica thought of Hans. The Hans she knew was an unofficial imperial informant. Though he wouldn't be without combat ability, considering the danger outside, that wouldn't be enough.

'Shouldn't we tell that person too?'

Casey conveyed to Rudger in a whisper. She was one of the few people who knew about Hans's special constitution and abilities.

'There's no need to tell her. Hans will handle it well on his own.' 

'What if he encounters the Lumensis Order?' 

'Hans isn't that naive. He may look like this, but he's a veteran who went through the holy war. He's better than anyone at taking care of himself, so we don't need to worry.' 

'Then it's fine?' 

'Yes. He even packed spirit beast fangs, didn't he?' 

'True. If he has those, it should be fine.' 

'As long as he doesn't stupidly use them all at once.'

Rudger thought. Still, he has experience, so surely he wouldn't do such a thing, right?

"Trust Hans. He'll survive well on his own. Let's focus on exploring the ruins."

When Rudger spoke with such certainty, Veronica decided not to worry about Hans any further.