EDPEN 28

Chapter 28.

You Have to Strip to Live (3)

Ruin let out a sigh and brushed at his clothes. Shards of ice fell off with dull clatters.

The imperial princess was flustered. The teaching assistant, startled, tried to rush over.

“P-Professor, are you all right?”

“Didn’t you say it was children’s make-believe? Ah. If you come any closer, you’ll turn into a frozen fillet, so don’t.”

The princess was bewildered.

He hadn’t frozen solid in that cold?

Ruin casually flicked his hand. This level of cold could be absorbed by his shadow.

‘Well, only if it’s equal or lower than my level, though.’

At last, Ruin raised his right hand and placed it on the barrier.

“Now then, it’s time for a fun eyesight test.”

As soon as he spoke, crack—fractures spread across the barrier. And before anyone could react, the barrier shattered in an instant.

Crack, crack!

Boom!

The princess couldn’t believe her eyes.

‘He broke that?’

That fast?

‘You said it was a counter-spell!’

Who could defuse a bomb just by laying a hand on it? A counter-spell is, by nature, a technique that analyzes the spell, dismantling its structure piece by piece. Naturally, it takes time.

But this—what in the…!

At that moment, an icy gale exploded outward, sweeping through the lecture hall.

Boom!

Ruin stepped out from inside the barrier, smiling.

“Well, excellent. At this level, it’s not child’s play anymore—let’s call it a proper game.”

The princess was too shocked to speak.

Hearing the word “counter-spell,” she had intended to watch how skilled he was. Counter-spell specialists were rare, after all. If his skills were half-baked, she meant to sneer at him.

But—

‘…I’ve never seen destruction this fast. He even dispelled the curse?’

Meanwhile, Ruin was pleased.

‘As expected, my prediction was right.’

He looked at his right hand.

There was a reason he had been so deliberately rude to the princess, to the point it might seem excessive.

‘I needed to obtain magic.’

Ruins Wayne’s trait, “God’s Right Hand,” could seal magic. And he could then draw it out and use it himself—though the conditions were strict.

【God’s Right Hand】

Seals all harm that comes toward me.

Right. The question was: what exactly counted as “harm”?

Magic that harms others, like the chancellor’s? Then only offensive magic would qualify?

‘No.’

The seed of his suspicion had been planted back when he broke the third-years’ barrier spell.

At the time, he had indeed broken it with a counter-spell, but because he touched the barrier with his right hand, a pattern had remained on it.

‘Well, that pattern disappeared quickly.’

That was because Ruin’s trait, “Noble Selective Appetite,” had activated.

【Noble Selective Appetite】 (Unique Trait)

Selects and consumes only what is beneficial to my body. Applies to everything.

Most likely, the third-years’ magic had been too weak. It judged it unworthy of remaining in his body and discarded it.

Still, that incident had helped Ruin greatly.

‘Could it be that anything containing “malice” is treated as harm?’

So he ran a test—to see how much Wayne’s ability could help him.

That was why he provoked the princess. She clearly harbored animosity toward him, making her an ideal test subject.

Once provoked, her killing intent overflowed, and the power was tremendous. More than enough to be judged as “harm.”

And sure enough—

‘It’s certain. Any magic containing malice can be sealed.’

In other words, even healing magic could be sealed if it carried killing intent. Which meant—

‘I can steal the healing professor’s magic!’

No, not just the healing professor’s.

‘I can steal the other professors’ magic too.’

Honestly, the amount of magic Ruins Wayne possessed was far too little. Thankfully, he at least had Fire Bolt, but an ordinary hero could use basic healing magic, not to mention all kinds of spells.

‘Even students can use that much magic.’

If Ruins’s specs were exposed, he might be fired on the spot. Frankly, he was worse than a first-year student.

‘If I don’t want to lose my office, I need to secure magic first.’

「Why, there’s that special-grade magic, you know. Figure-making~」

Should I steam you with red ginseng, you plant-headed superior?

Anyway, the princess’s magic had been sealed into his body.

If the finicky Noble Selective Appetite judged it useful, that meant it would benefit him. And thanks to Ruins’s Ironclad Pride, that magic would soon transform into a Ruin-exclusive variant spell.

‘With this, I can somehow run the Demon-Hunting Studies classes.’

Be grateful, Ruins Wayne.

No matter what, you can’t exactly conduct a class using figure-making… I mean, the firefly’s copy ability.

Meanwhile, the princess looked clearly shaken and dejected.

“I didn’t even see you use a counter-spell…”

She seemed unable to accept what had happened.

“You erased the barrier… and the curse magic at the same time.”

Ruin averted his gaze.

Well… it wasn’t a counter-spell, but the power of his right hand. Of course she couldn’t see it.

In truth, he had never intended to use a counter-spell in front of the imperial family. Why?

‘Someone wanted by the imperial family can’t exactly demonstrate the firefly’s signature techniques in front of them.’

But the princess, biting her lip, looked frustrated.

‘Just how skilled… is he?’

She was a talent recognized even within the Union. And yet she hadn’t even seen him use a technique. It seemed to be her first experience of such humiliation, and she stared at Ruin with a strange intensity.

Facing her, Ruin cleared his throat.

“Well, you pass. I’ll give you a reward.”

What?

“This isn’t a deal. It’s a reward for your hard work.”

Ruin began unwrapping the bandages.

Slide.

At the sound of the bandages falling, the students and professors who had been pressing their ears to the door erupted in chaos.

“I’m surprised, Professor.”

“At what.”

“That you really don’t have a mark…!”

“Didn’t I say I didn’t?”

Ruin tidied up the bandages.

In fact, he had shown his face to the princess.

‘I had to prove that there was no mark.’

To the princess, whose pupils were shaking as if she were about to collapse to her knees, he coldly shot back, “Don’t think stupid thoughts—prepare compensation instead.”

The dazed princess staggered away, while the shocked professors screamed in disbelief.

“Still, showing it to us… that was really unexpected.”

“What’s there I can’t show?”

“No, I mean—you guarded your face like a madman… I thought it was an absolute taboo, something never to be touched.”

…Assistant. Wasn’t that sentence a bit longer than necessary just now?

In the end, Ruin sighed. Beneath the removed bandages, his face bore horrific scars—closer to a rotted leper’s face.

Of course, those scars were from an In-Skin Mask. He’d obtained it through contact with a mole hidden within the Union.

‘I had it made by someone skilled, so it won’t be discovered anytime soon.’

The real problem wasn’t that, but Ruins’s damned trait. Why?

【Obsessive Compulsion】

Due to paranoid tendencies, always pursues perfection and produces perfect results.

If the In-Skin Mask had even the slightest flaw, he would reject it outright. From Ruin’s perspective, that was enough to drive him insane!

‘This bastard—does he plan to sabotage every deal by nitpicking?!’

Artisans of this sort were notoriously prideful!

Well, the artisan actually liked it.

“You seem to have a good eye. Care to check some of our defective goods? I’ll even give you the In-Skin Mask at half price.”

Ruins, you uselessly useful bastard…!

Anyway, there had been a real purpose behind going so far as to reveal his face to the princess.

The first reason was to shut the princess up and put the healing professor in his place.

‘The one who told the princess to look at my face must have been the healing professor, obviously.’

“You’ve seen it. There is no mark.”

The second reason was to demonstrate that he had deeply researched healing studies—and that it was effective.

“This is ‘Dermal Deformation Syndrome.’ I’m developing a treatment, and about one-third has already been restored.”

A sharp princess would understand exactly what these two points implied.

And sure enough, she looked genuinely surprised—a rare sight.

“Isn’t Dermal Deformation Syndrome an incurable disease?”

That’s it, princess! Exactly! Sharp as ever!

Even though she was from the Department of Magic, she was taking advanced courses in the Department of Healing. In other words, she had a strong interest in healing studies.

She was also the healing professor’s favorite disciple. Which meant—

‘If the princess transfers to my class, it’ll be a huge sensation.’

Judging by the “expelling a professor” incident, Goldmoon seemed to worship the princess. Students would surely follow her.

It was underhanded, but unavoidable.

‘Right now, only about ten students are willing to take my healing class.’

Considering it was such a niche field that even a freak willing to retake every subject would shy away from, that was something to be thankful for—but it was nowhere near enough to take over the healing lecture hall.

So he’d used the princess, but would it really work?

‘We’d need at least a hundred students to meet the conditions… how the hell…’

Damn it, is there no way to become top-tier while freeloading?

Just then, Assistant Lili kept glancing at Ruin’s face. And her gaze was anything but normal.

For a moment, Ruin worried she might have noticed the scars were fake.

“What are you staring at?”

The title “assistant” aside, Haven’s assistants were mid- to high-rank heroes of the Union—not people to underestimate.

“Professor Wayne. You’re really handsome.”

“…Huh?”

After seeing this face, she had the nerve to say that?

“No, seriously.”

At the moment, Ruin was wearing the In-Skin Mask over his real face. The tiny portion he’d shown as “healed” was actually his real face, but—

‘What a peculiar taste.’

Of course, his ginseng-headed superior had asked whether he wanted to use his real face, but that was fine too.

‘Wayne’s face is a congenital monster anyway. Even if this is the “fixed” version, who’s going to complain?’

His hair and eye color matched, and it didn’t deviate much from the marquis family line.

Infiltration was a livelihood. For a firefly, infiltration was as natural as breathing. Though thanks to that, his superior had cheerfully asked him to take on a Haven infiltration mission too…

‘Are you insane? Once I get my severance pay, I’m going to raise bees. Why would I—’

Just then—

“When I saw you before, I never would’ve imagined this.”

At the assistant’s words, Ruin immediately went on guard. This wasn’t in the “information.”

“Have we met before?”

“Ah! You probably don’t remember, Professor.”

Lili broke into a sweat, as if recalling an embarrassing past.

“Actually, when I was a student long ago, I took your class…”

Ah. Was that why she’d been paying attention? He’d wondered why Charlie’s self-defense assistant was following him around.

More importantly—Ruins… with traits like that, did you actually teach well?

“Anyway, Professor. Try recruiting students with your face. You’ll be popular.”

…Are you serious?

“I’m serious.”

As expected, there’s not a single sane person under a hero.

In any case, gathering students was a problem. And no less of a problem was this:

• Introduction to Demon-Hunting Studies: An Introduction You Don’t Need to Know

• Instructor: Ruins Wayne

• Registered students: 1

Ha. Who the hell signed up for this?

And this was a general-education theory course. Meaning it couldn’t be replaced with games like tag—you actually had to teach. Ruin’s eyebrow twitched upward.

‘What kind of pervert would take this?’

“What? The First Prince registered for Wayne’s class?”

“Yes. It was clearly His Highness’s name.”

Upon hearing the news, Professor Calon felt a headache coming on.

“Why is he doing this again…”

It made sense—after all, the First Prince was a graduating student whom Calon himself was teaching.

And so Calon ground his teeth. Everywhere he went, people were chattering, “Is it true Gloucester got completely wrecked by the Firefly?!” It made his teeth ache.

Granted, it was his grandfather’s affair, but disgrace was disgrace. Did they really expect him to work at the same place as that man?

‘I have to drive him out somehow before the chairman arrives.’

Heroes all admired and revered the Savior. It was only natural to be sensitive about whom the chairman took interest in.

‘But if a prince attaches himself to Wayne, I can’t get rid of him.’

More than that, the caliber and level of students one taught directly reflected a professor’s achievements.

‘Don’t tell me the First Prince is taking an interest in Wayne?’

If Ruins became an aide to a throne successor, it would be a disaster. In exchange for winning the imperial succession war, they were guaranteed the right to use the Wish Stone. The professors couldn’t help but be tense.

“Is it all right? If His Highness the First Prince is interested in Wayne…”

“He won’t catch His Highness’s eye anyway.”

“But didn’t he neutralize the princess’s magic? She’s still a transcendent candidate.”

At that, Calon scoffed.

Hah, a transcendent candidate?

“You mean that princess with unstable power?”

“!”

‘So what if he suppressed one little girl like that?’

“And to begin with, I know Wayne’s teaching ability.”

“!”

Hadn’t Calon seen Ruins’s chaotic, ramshackle lectures back when he was a part-time instructor?

“Ruins Wayne is a quack.”