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Chapter 19.
What kind of guy is this?
Kallon looked at Ruin as if he were dumbfounded.
“Then there’s no way for you to prove that you’re qualified?”
“Isn’t that something you should be figuring out on your end?”
In the end, Kallon snapped. With murderous intent, he drew his wand and pointed it at Ruin.
“Professor!”
Lily and the teaching assistants screamed in shock.
Kallon’s wand, brimming with killing intent, was aimed straight at Ruin’s head.
“Fine. Then just stand still. I’ll prove your qualifications myself. What do you say? A very easy and simple method, right?”
Ginseng Senior nearly fainted.
「Hey, that guy’s a special‑grade hero. Special grade! Do you want your head blown off?!」
But even with a wand about to blast his head apart, Ruin didn’t blink an eye.
There was a reason for that.
“Aren’t all professors at Haven heroes? And isn’t combat between professors absolutely forbidden? Does a Haven professor not even remember the highest‑level school rules?”
At that, Kallon scoffed and flicked his wand away. He even laughed, as if amused by the audacity of this fearless newcomer.
Ginseng Senior let out a sigh, saying his heart almost stopped. Of course, as a Firefly, there was nothing to really worry about, but—
「Hey. He’s notoriously strong even among Union heroes. Why are you answering him so rudely?」
At that, one of Ruin’s eyebrows rose.
Rude?
That’s unfair. He had simply given the best answer he could.
After all, he couldn’t say that he’d suppressed them with curse power, so he had to call it a secret.
Breaking students’ magic was Firefly’s exclusive specialty, so he didn’t want to reveal that to a special‑grade hero.
And if he said he’d nearly thrown students off the rooftop, he might get expelled for abuse—so of course that had to stay secret.
「As if you’d actually get expelled.」
Still, Ruin shrugged. Someone like Kallon was the type who bullied the weak and feared the strong—the weaker you looked, the more he’d cross the line.
“So, there’s no way to prove it?”
“Then you can at least capture a ‘demonfolk,’ right? Prove it that way.”
…Was he telling him to hunt his own kind?
But Kallon’s eyes sparkled, as if he’d found exactly what he wanted. His gaze was full of confidence that Ruins Wayne was a fraud who couldn’t even catch a demonfolk.
“Why no answer? Demon‑Hunting is a major focused on capturing demonfolk. If you’re going to be a Demon‑Hunting professor, you should at least be able to handle that much.”
It wasn’t wrong—but it was troublesome.
Ruin was, after all, a special‑grade demonfolk. He could easily deal with groups of upper‑tier heroes, even Pride’s named elites.
The problem was…
「You know you can’t use demonfolk power, right?」
Exactly.
If anything, that was the real issue. Dealing with demonfolk as the demonfolk “Ruin” would be child’s play—but doing so as the human “Ruins Wayne” was another matter entirely.
So Ruin tried to use Ruins Wayne’s magic. While he was consuming Wayne, he could use his traits and abilities.
But Wayne’s trait blocked him.
【Ironclad Pride】
Possesses extremely strong pride and refuses to do anything that would damage it. Never kneels.
Well… fine, that happens.
But at least he should be able to view the abilities, right?
So he tried.
【Ironclad Pride】
Possesses extremely strong pride and refuses to do anything that would damage it. Never kneels.
What the hell?! It won’t even let me view them?! What’s so embarrassing about it?!
Does this guy have some secret box that must be burned when he dies or something?!
Ruin grabbed the back of his neck, but whatever—it didn’t matter.
【Flame Shot】
That spell existed.
And how else could he have used fire magic in front of students when he supposedly couldn’t use magic?
‘I can more or less guess why I was able to use it.’
And it was a special‑grade spell, at that.
In other words, this stupid test of hunting demonfolk shouldn’t be a problem, right?
‘With special‑grade magic, most opponents are a joke.’
So—hehe—Union pigs, this will be an easy win.
…Or so he thought.
“Today, Professor Ruins will be telling us how to capture Firefly.”
The demonfolk he had to catch… was me?
You sons of bitches.
The students’ mouths fell open.
“Today we’ve come to observe Professor Wayne’s class.”
“Please explain how to capture Firefly.”
They were professors auditing the Demon‑Hunting class.
After the Goldmoon students had surrendered, Demon‑Hunting classes had resumed—which was good, but…
“Hey… how many professors are auditing?”
“…Does this look like auditing to you?”
The first‑year students in the room were sweating.
In particular, the back rows were filled with combat faculty professors from ten different majors. Even the associate professors, assistant professors, and teaching assistants under Kallon were present. No wonder it was suffocating.
‘They definitely came to drive out Professor Wayne.’
‘They even brought all the combat faculty professors just to humiliate Professor Ruins.’
Any newcomer would’ve been overwhelmed by this pressure—but Ruins was smiling.
“To crowd into a mere first‑year class like this… your scholarly passion is admirable. Or are you just obscenely bored?”
…Wow. They say he made Goldmoon submit—what a temperament.
“In the first place, professor audits were never approved for lower‑year classes, since it’s a burden on the students.”
…Oh! He actually cares about the students!
“A first‑year class is nothing more than watching snot‑nosed brats sniffle.”
…Good professor revoked.
Still, Ruin crossed his arms.
“So where did demon hunting go, and why are we suddenly talking about some ridiculous Firefly capture strategy?”
“Ridiculous?”
“Yes. Ridiculous Firefly.”
Though he was smiling, the barbed words made Kallon grin arrogantly, as if he thought Ruins was intimidated.
“What? Is Firefly too much for you?”
The students whispered that it was cruel—and they weren’t wrong.
In truth, this was a question that anyone in Haven—no, in the Union—would find overwhelming.
“…How are we supposed to catch a special‑grade fugitive even special‑grade heroes couldn’t catch?”
“Isn’t it a legend the Union failed to capture for seventy years? This is too much…”
In other words, Kallon had deliberately come to ask a question meant to corner him. If the answer was lacking, he’d claim the professor was unqualified and push him out.
‘That’s why he deliberately brought all the other professors.’
“Why so hesitant? A Demon‑Hunting professor should, of course, be able to capture a great villain like Firefly.”
Ruin’s lip curled upward in disbelief.
Well, earlier the question had been so absurd that he’d gotten a bit sharp without meaning to.
“Hasn’t Firefly not appeared for fifty years? I heard he was already dead.”
“Oh? So you’re on that side as well? Demonfolk live longer than humans. Fifty years could just be a sabbatical.”
At the word sabbatical, Ruin almost let his true personality slip.
‘A sabbatical? Union bastards sure live cushy lives.’
In reality, he’d had missions every single hour without rest.
‘Handling infiltration missions one per hour—does that even make sense?’
And now they wanted him to go back to that hell, even under a lifetime contract? Absolutely not.
As Ruin ground his teeth in irritation, Kallon tilted his head.
“Wayne?”
“Ah. You want a method to capture Firefly?”
How troublesome. Telling me to catch myself.
And all the other combat faculty professors and students were staring with sparkling eyes, clearly fascinated by Firefly. Given the Chancellor’s words, it seemed Kallon hadn’t brought this topic up for no reason.
‘Troublesome. I can’t expose my weakness. What do I do?’
If he answered too vaguely, they’d say he was incompetent and fire him.
Just how much bullshit should he spin to make this pass naturally?
As he was pondering that, Kallon’s associate professors—apparently deciding something on their own—cut in as if they’d been waiting.
“Well, it’s naturally a difficult topic. That’s why we came to help with the class.”
The teaching assistants sighed in relief—but Ruin’s eyes narrowed. Their intentions were obvious.
Sure enough—
“How about learning combat faculty methods by assisting us?”
“And since the chief research office is spacious, it’ll be perfect for discussions.”
They were even trying to take his lab, naturally. Honestly, up to this point, one could almost call it cute.
“Why not study together under Professor Kallon?”
In short, they were saying they’d demote Ruin to associate professor and have Kallon take over Demon‑Hunting.
And associate and assistant professors could be dismissed from Haven at the discretion of the chief professor—that was the department head’s authority.
‘Since they can’t formally take Demon‑Hunting, they’re resorting to underhanded tactics.’
Well, he didn’t care about advancing as a professor—but this would seriously interfere with collecting his retirement pay.
‘What to do?’
Normally, he’d just make them disappear—
‘But if Haven shuts down, that’s a problem. I need something simple and effective…’
That was when it happened.
As if amused by Ruin’s reaction, Kallon’s associate professors chuckled.
“In that case, why not ask Professor Kallon for his syllabus?”
“Yes. Professor Kallon’s family, House Gloucester, has devoted great effort to capturing Firefly. There’s much the Wayne family—mere watchdogs—might not know.”
「Watchdog family?」
‘It’s a way of saying a policing family.’
House Wayne was responsible for maintaining imperial order, with a wide range of duties.
‘If Gloucester is the Iron Wall of the sea, then Wayne is the dogs of the land.’
「Oh, that’s why he looked familiar—that’s a descendant of the famous Admiral Gloucester!」
He already knew.
Like Wayne, Gloucester was one of the Eight Great Noble Houses—a lofty ducal family. Professors at Haven were equals regardless of noble status, but still.
Among nobles, the Eight Great Houses were nobles among nobles. Their stiff necks were understandable.
And more than that—
“Gloucester is especially famous as the ‘Strongest Shield,’ isn’t it?”
Yes.
If the Chancellor’s family—the head among the Eight—possessed the “Execution” vision to slay demonfolk, then Gloucester’s vision was the iron fortress of “Absolute Defense.” No wonder the combat faculty was so proud.
Sure enough, Kallon spoke.
“I apologize for my earlier harsh words. You’re still unfamiliar with Haven. I’ll help you.”
“That’s right. No demonfolk has ever breached a Gloucester ship.”
“In the Admiral’s time, they were called iron‑walled underwater fortresses.”
“Yes. So you can rely on Professor Kallon, Professor Wayne. Gloucester is the family best suited to combat studies.”
The combat faculty professors murmured in admiration, nodding along, and Kallon smiled modestly.
But Ruin let out a quiet laugh, as if something had just occurred to him.
Ships? Fortresses that couldn’t be breached?
Thanks—that reminded him. He’d figured out how to deal with these guys.
Just then, a teaching assistant handed Ruin a stack of papers—it looked like a syllabus Kallon had prepared. As Ruin read it, Kallon pressed on, as if pushing the operation forward.
“Knowing something and teaching it are entirely different realms. After exchanging questions, it’s clear—you’re not yet accustomed to our students. Leave the teaching methodology to us. As long as you follow the method, there won’t be any issues.”
Ruin smiled faintly as he looked at the syllabus.
Oh? I needed to prepare one anyway because of the Chancellor—and you’ve kindly provided it for me. Much appreciated.
The professors under Kallon smiled, thinking the matter had been resolved peacefully.
Then Ruin did something unexpected.
Riiip.
He tore Kallon’s syllabus in half.
Everyone gasped inwardly.
Is he insane? He just tore up the chief professor’s syllabus?
But then Ruin spoke.
“Teaching methodology, you say.”
“!”
“Then as long as it’s a method that really gets through to the students, that’s fine, right?”
“……!”
Kallon was thrown into confusion by Ruin’s smile—a smile that seemed to say, You won’t regret this.
…What is this guy planning to do?
