EDPEN 03

Chapter 03.

For a moment, Ruin’s flustered expression hardened.

His codename—
Had he been discovered?

It had seemed like he passed the inspection, but was that actually a trap?
Still, Ruin quickly turned his head and hid himself up near the ceiling.

Swish!

Below him, students were walking past in small groups.

“Hey! What are you doing, still not returning that Firefly book?”
“Huh? This one?”
“Yeah!”

The students began arguing over a book with a bright red cover.

— Firefly: On the Nemeses of the Union

It seemed to be a book about Ruin.

So they weren’t calling me.

Given the place, he’d flinched out of habit, but it seemed “Firefly” referred to that book.
In fact, the students were seriously fighting over it.

“Hurry up and return it! Firefly is the topic for this semester’s Basic Swordsmanship final! Everyone’s borrowed it, so there’s none left!”

Ruin was dumbfounded.
Were they actually teaching about Pride and him at Haven? Well, he’d heard they were in a cold war—makes sense they’d teach hero candidates who their main enemy was.
Sure, like how to deal with a crisis when encountering your archenemy…

“If we don’t have that book, we can’t solve One Hundred Ways to Torture Firefly!”

…Something felt off.

“Huh, you guys too? Our Magic Studies quiz was ‘How to Tear Firefly Apart While He’s Alive.’”

…That’s really off.

“Whoa, our professor told us to make a ‘drug that drowns Firefly’…”
“……….”

What on earth are these professors teaching?
Even the students were pouting.

“Just how dangerous is Firefly that he shows up as an exam question in every subject?”
“Seriously. Even Demon Lords don’t get this much coverage.”

At that, a female student who had come looking for the book clicked her tongue at them like they were rookies.

“You guys really don’t know anything, do you? Firefly is what the Union fears more than Demon Lords.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah. My father’s a general, and he said so. Among the demon race, that guy’s the most dangerous one. In terms of total damage alone, he’s humanity’s top priority enemy.”

So she wasn’t just some noisy brat—she was a general’s daughter.
I should remember that.

“He also said Firefly going quiet lately is just him biding his time to crush the Union.”

…No. I just got lost, that’s all.

“He said once Firefly starts moving again, the Union will be destroyed.”

…No. I was thinking of retiring and raising bees.

Still, the students gulped.
If the supreme commander of the imperial army rated him that highly, then Firefly must truly be terrifying.

“…S-still, he wouldn’t be able to get into Haven, right?”

Ruin clicked his tongue.
Idiots. I’m already inside.

“Of course not. This is the academy the Hero himself built.”

No. It’s my house, you weeds.

“Right. They say he received the God’s Temple to deal with Pride.”

Well, it is a god’s temple.
The problem is, it belonged to a god destroyed in ancient times, so no one knows which god it was.

“Then maybe there are hidden magical things here?”
“Isn’t that just a legend?”

Probably not a legend.
Since this place was a remodeled god’s temple, it was filled with “secret rooms.” Just that even he couldn’t open them properly unless certain conditions were met.

For example, requiring more than a hundred humans inside the temple to activate…

But as Ruin thought about it, he tilted his head.

“…Wait. There are hundreds of students here. Doesn’t that mean the condition’s met?”

Fortunately, the school’s overall structure hadn’t changed much from when it was his home. That meant the hidden opportunities and traps should still be intact…

No.

That was tempting, but for now, severance pay came first.

Without that, I’m locked into a slave contract.

Apparently convinced he couldn’t repay his debt, his superior had shamelessly shoved a lifetime contract at him. The sheer malice of it made Ruin want to vomit.

So he quickly recalled the layout of his house.

There are four routes to my vault.

Excluding the garden route he’d just abandoned, three remained.

1. Military zone (maximum infiltration risk)

2. Unidentified area on the map (absolute restricted zone—immediate execution if caught)

3. Professors’ research wing (the easiest)

The conclusion was simple.

Disguise myself as a teaching assistant and enter the professors’ wing.

There were professors, of course, but pretending to be one of them—each a hero—was too risky. Teaching assistants were easier to skin and replace.

But then a question arose.

Just what kind of bastards are these professors…

Teaching that kind of stuff?

Tilting his head, Ruin opened the delivery list. A whole column of names was lined up at locations that seemed to be in the professors’ wing.

Right… professor names, neatly listed…

“…….”

Ruin fell silent.

…What? Why do I know every single one of these names?

No—forget knowing them. They’re all people I stabbed in the back. The kind who’d chase Firefly to the ends of hell if they heard his name.

More importantly—are all of Haven’s professors like this?

“……….”

He snapped the delivery list shut.

Plan A (garden), Plan B (teaching assistant)—both abandoned.

If it were just one elven professor, he might’ve managed. But he knew them too well from past encounters. Each was a top-tier hero you’d have to gamble your life just to face—and there were a whole swarm of them. Becoming their assistant?

If I’m caught, I die.

A complete stranger might get by, but there was no way they wouldn’t recognize a former comrade-in-arms. They’d notice even the slightest inconsistency.

— I told you from the start that applying as a professor would be better.

You said that while talking about my face, didn’t you?

His superior’s mocking laughter echoed in his ears.

Being a newly hired professor would be good, that’s true.

No need to worry about suspicion, at least at first.
And if he could access a reading room restricted to professors, he might even find a way to break this cursed misfortune—this wanderer’s fate.

In that sense, getting into Haven wasn’t bad.
The problem was the hiring exam.

There’s a ritual during the exam that checks whether you’re a demon or not.

He hadn’t come for severance pay just to get burned at the stake.

— If you’d cancel your retirement, we could help you.

As if. You’d just work me to death this time—who wouldn’t know that?

That’s why his head hurt.

If I can’t get my severance pay, I’ll be bound for life.

And it wasn’t like that damned wanderer’s curse helped. He’d died riddled with arrows—thought he’d finally be free of that cursed constitution, and then this happened.

【Wanderer’s Fate (Wanderlust)】
A destiny that forces one to roam. Brings misfortune to oneself and others. The deeper the affection for a target, the stronger the misfortune.

The bastard just reappeared with a localized name!

When a gold-eyed fortune-teller with a nineteenth-century vibe explained a strangely familiar curse, Ruin had grabbed the back of his neck.

Damn it. Turning Chinese characters into English doesn’t change a thing!

Above all, Ruin hated this curse. It had taken away the people he cared about.

The more he loved, the more he lost—like it refused to let him settle anywhere.

In the end, it’ll probably take the host’s life too.

After all, his own life counted as something “precious.”

That’s why he’d tried everything to fix the curse. Even contracting with a Demon Lord was part of that effort. In exchange for suppressing part of the curse, the Demon Lord had demanded an enormous sum.

“Pay everything back, interest included. If you can’t, you’ll become my taxidermy butterfly.”

If he couldn’t pay, his heart would be ripped out. Not wanting to die young, he could only press his brow in frustration.

Damn it. If I could just get my severance pay, I could clear my debt and retire in one go.

There were also eighteen years’ worth of treasures from his spy days in the vault, but the severance pay alone was massive.

But given the situation, he had no choice. This wasn’t even a mission—what was he doing in enemy territory?

And it wasn’t like a prestigious academy professor position would just fall into his lap.

Enough stubbornness.

Yeah. Give up all plans and at least preserve some dignity—

“Oh, Dean. There you are.”
“!”
“That looks like Haven’s professor acceptance documents. This is your area, right? Pass it along for me.”
“…….”
“Come to think of it, Haven’s famous for top-tier salaries, isn’t it? Whoever got accepted must be lucky~”
“…….”

Looks like there’s no choice but Plan C.

Ruins Wayne.
29 years old, male.
A roaming adjunct lecturer who recently took Haven’s professor appointment exam.
Passed the first and second rounds through recommendation and is now awaiting the final interview with the chancellor…

“Perfect.”

Absolutely perfect conditions.

As Ruin opened the documents, he felt like this was a gift from heaven. Essentially, it was an acceptance notice, but it seemed to have been returned due to an incorrect address. The request was simply to resend it to the updated address.

Was he crazy? Just deliver it honestly?

The chancellor interview is basically a formality.

They call it an interview, but very few fail at that stage. Meaning, with a bit of waiting, this man would be assigned a professor’s office.

There was just one problem—

The subject he teaches.

Ruins Wayne’s fields were Demon Hunting Studies and Defense Studies—in short, a professor specializing in fighting and exterminating demons.

He’s my natural enemy.

Borrowing his skin wouldn’t be easy. He’d have to confront the man directly, and judging by his credentials, a single mistake could get me killed.

Still, he couldn’t give up.

My life’s on the line too.

Eyes burning, Ruin soon arrived at a shabby lodging.

“Ruins Wayne. Are you inside?”

He swallowed slightly. The smell of old planks and dust wafted up.

“Important documents from Haven have arrived.”

There was a startled reaction inside.
Ruin opened the door without suspicion—and froze in shock.

An impossible scene unfolded.

Ruin was stunned.

Even someone who’d played the role of a spy for so long found this situation deeply troubling.

Why?

“What are you!”

At the shout of a stranger, a bloodbath lay before him. One man lay collapsed, stabbed, while a masked bastard—yeah, a robber—was looting a safe.

…So he killed someone…
…Meaning the owner of this room…
…Which means Ruins Wayne…?

Insane!

Ruin sprang forward like a coiled spring. In an instant, he seized the robber’s head.

Bang!

“Gah!”

Too fast to see. Slamming the robber’s head into the floor, Ruin twisted his arm.

“Aaagh!”

The robber tried to swing his knife while screaming, but Ruin’s eyes flashed. At the same moment, the blade froze midair.

Stop.

The robber tried to move his hand—

“W-what… Aaaagh!”

The arm suspended in the air bent at an unnatural angle.

Crack!

The robber howled.

“My arm! My arm! What’s with this delivery bastard—!”

Crunch!

Ruin stomped down and shattered the robber’s leg.

“AAAGH!”

Damn it.

After subduing him, Ruin hurried to check the blood-soaked man. A curse and a sigh of relief escaped him at the same time.

“Are you all right?”
“Ugh……”

Alive.
The real Ruins Wayne.

He recalled the photo attached to the documents. Even though it was black-and-white and so low-quality it looked almost pointillist by modern standards, he could make out the outline.

The problem was—the outline showed a man wrapped head to toe in bandages.

I already knew from the photo, but…

It wasn’t like there’d be another weirdo who walked around cosplaying as a mummy in daily life.

Still, just in case, Ruin asked:

“Are you Ruins Wayne?”

The bandaged man nodded weakly.

Ruin clicked his tongue. He’d just wanted to borrow the guy’s identity, and now this… no, wait. In this case, should he be thankful for the help? No—no, that’s not it.

“Hold on a little longer. I’ll call for medical help.”

But the man shook his head.

“Let me go be with her now……”

What?

“My life is trash… It’s not worth living anymore.”

Ruin’s expression turned deadly serious.

“Mr. Wayne. You can’t do that.”

You can go later—but at least attend the chancellor interview first!