Aman, who had barely escaped from Hasel, hid in his office and began to rack his brain on what to do about this situation.

"Phew..."

Aman, who was pacing the room, repeating his breathing several times.

To summarize, a few hundred years ago, Lucas had stolen the holy relic of the Demon God Cult, 'The Soul of Shamos', and his father, Hasel, who had received it, had given it to a pitiful human, that is, the librarian Brandy, without a second thought.

And the librarian Brandy had hidden it in the space given to the librarian of the library, and the priests of the Demon God Cult knew that fact.

'If Brandy doesn't open it himself, the priests will kill him and open it.'

Then there were two options that Aman could take now.

One was to persuade Brandy to get 'The Soul of Shamos' and then obediently hand it over to them.

The other was to protect Brandy and prevent them from ever getting 'The Soul of Shamos'.

If he chose the former, he would feel a little annoyed, but Brandy would be definitely protected.

And since the object was returning to its original owner, that was actually the right thing to do.

'Hmm... I'd like to see the dogs of the Demon God struggle a little more...'

A thought of wanting to torment the Demon God Cult peeked out from the depths of his heart.

'No, no... they said they've already suffered for hundreds of years, right? Should I just give it to them?'

When he had seen him earlier, the librarian Brandy also seemed to have had it all this time without knowing what it was.

'Then why didn't he give it to them?'

As he couldn't stop thinking about this and that, Aman stood up straight.

"Let's ask the Lord. Right."

***

Aman, who had visited Lucas's room again, looked like a student before being scolded.

"Did you find out?"

"T-that's..."

The situation where he had to confess what his father, Hasel, had done. In a way, it was like tattling, but if he didn't tell the truth, he felt like he would be the one to suffer.

"I... that's..."

"...?"

"I-I know my father, Hasel Teridion, right?"

Has he finally gone mad? To ask if he knew Hasel?

"Hmm, let's see... Hasel, Hasel... oh, oh! Right, I remember. But I haven't known him for long, so we're not very close. Has it been about three thousand years?"

Lucas also tilted his head and sneered at Aman's absurd question.

"Ahem, ahem... that's... oh, I don't know! Yes! That's right! My father gave it to a pitiful human who was passing by about ten years ago! And that's Brandy. When I asked him why he did it, he said he just felt sorry for him!"

Aman, who had closed his eyes tightly as if he had given up, poured out his words like a machine gun.

"Right? There's nothing we can do."

But Lucas was calm.

"Is that... all?"

"Then what else can I do? And I've already given my lair to Hasel myself. So the things inside are not mine, but Hasel's."

"..."

"The owner of the object did as he pleased. That's not wrong, is it?"

"T-that's right."

Aman was flustered. No, he had been fidgeting, thinking it was like tattling, but to have such a calm reaction...

"So what are you going to do now?"

"Ah, ah... t-that's..."

Aman's mind went blank for a moment.

"You're slow with your words today. You're still at an age where you're not fully developed, but..."

"T-that's not it. T-that's..."

"Right, if you think of a word, you can say it then."

Aman got goosebumps at Lucas's benevolent smile.

'W-what the hell is he doing? Is he deliberately teasing me now!?'

It was an accurate diagnosis and judgment, but Aman was not thinking normally now.

And so, he stared blankly at Lucas and just moved his mouth for a few minutes.

"Phew... I think there are two ways."

"Oho... finally... right, you're a good boy. Go on, tell me."

Lucas, who was encouraging him with his hand. At this point, it was clear that he was teasing him.

"...Yes. First, there's a way to persuade the librarian Brandy and return the Soul of Shamos to the Demon God Cult. The disadvantage of this method is that it's annoying, and the advantage is that it can be resolved peacefully."

"I see. What's the second?"

"There's a way to protect Brandy and hide its existence to the end."

"The advantage?"

"Well, the servants of the Demon God will suffer for a few hundred more years."

"The disadvantage?"

"Brandy might die."

Lucas was lost in thought for a moment at Aman's words.

Lucas remembered how good he had felt when he had stolen 'The Soul of Shamos' from them a few hundred years ago.

'It felt very good. I was excited.'

But it was clearly a bad thing to have stolen and hidden their things.

'So it felt even better.'

But if he didn't return it to them now, Brandy, a human he had grown fond of, might be in danger.

'That's not right.'

But to return it? It felt very bad.

"Are you confident that you can protect Brandy to the end?"

"Within the academy... actually, no. I've cast a warning magic now, but if I'm busy during the festival, I might be late."

"I see. Then watch for the right time and persuade Brandy. And return it to the dogs of the Demon God."

It was unexpected. Lucas was no different from the one who had driven the demons out of the land, but to say that he would obediently return it.

"But since Brandy has already denied it... I don't know if he'll be honest with me."

"Make him confess."

"I'll try. But... are you really okay with returning it?"

"Haha, isn't that obvious?"

"..."

"I can always take it back from those fools."

"Ah."

As one corner of Lucas's mouth curled up slyly, Aman thought.

'I'm still a long way off...'

***

Aman's office.

"Then are the orcs ready?"

"Yes, but the problem is the cage that the orcs are in. It seems that their intelligence is quite high... the orcs seem to be trying to escape."

Aman, who was busy preparing for the competition, was at a point where even two bodies were not enough.

"Hmm... an escape attempt... why don't you put them to sleep with a sleep magic?"

"No matter how much I put them to sleep with a sleep magic, they wake up quickly..."

-Bang!

Then the office door burst open and a man came in.

"W-we're in big trouble! The orcs have escaped!"

"Oh no! They're finally causing trouble! Professor Aman!"

It felt strange for some reason, and in the end, the orcs had succeeded in escaping.

"Yes. Let's go."

The people who followed Aman, who was leading the way, were not mages, but academy employees.

"T-that way!"

Aman's anger welled up.

'No, how dare a mere orc try to escape?'

It was something that would have been unimaginable in the wild. Wasn't it a monster that would even pretend to die if Aman, a dragon, told it to die!

-Kueeek! Kueeek! Human!!! Kueeek!!!

As they got closer to the scene, the orc's roar echoed loudly.

-Kueeek! Kueeeek! Human!!!

They were running wild, as if they were so angry.

"Now, from here, I'll go alone."

Aman, who smiled brightly, stopped the employees.

"B-but... will you be okay alone?"

"Of course. You all should evacuate the students as safely as possible."

Although his mouth was smiling, his teeth were gritted.

He wanted to beat Desia, who was in charge of the magic application and had come up with the idea of orcs, to a pulp right away.

"Then please be careful, professor!"

As the servants quickly retreated, Aman turned his body and headed to the scene.

"You son of a b-tch, Desia...! What? Are you confident?"

As he got closer to the scene, seven orcs began to be seen. They were running wild, smashing the walls and the ground like crazy.

-Gooooo

The air around Aman began to twist.

-Kue... kueeek... chwik... chwik! It's the king... chwik!

Then the orc group stopped running wild and began to retreat, stumbling.

[Who broke us out?]

-Chwik, chwik! Chwik! King...! Chwik! Chwik!

At Aman's dragon language, the orc group buried their heads in the ground and began to tremble.

[You will die here. So accept your death with honor.]

-Chwik, chwik... king... we chwik... die...

[Right. If you cause a commotion again...]

-Chwik...

[I will slaughter all of your kind.]

-Chwik... chwik... I understand...

The orc was a monster with high intelligence. That's why it could speak human language to some extent, even if it wasn't perfect.

That's why he sometimes felt sorry for them when he saw them like that, but what could he do? This was the law of the jungle.

It was when he was about to turn away from them.

'...The warning magic is broken?'

The warning magic he had cast on the library was broken.

'It didn't just ring, it broke...! Damn it! While I was distracted by the orcs...!'

Something must have happened.

-Flash!

Aman, who teleported to the library without even having the mind to clean up behind him.

"Sh-t... I'm late."

But it was already too late.

The librarian Brandy was lying on the floor, his whole body blackened as if he had been cursed, and the passage hidden in the fireplace was open.

"Ha..."

Aman, who left the sprawling Brandy behind and headed to the passage.

The passage, which had a ladder instead of stairs, seemed to be quite deep.

-Thud!

Aman, who had jumped into the passage in an instant, looked around.

There were glowing stones embedded here and there on the walls, illuminating the surroundings.

"Ha... they're not here."

They were not to be seen, as if they had already taken it and had left.

Unlike its grand name of a secret space, it was no different from a warehouse.

Various things were piled up, from junk to things that Brandy had cherished in his lifetime.

But there was one empty space in the middle.

That must have been the place where 'The Soul of Shamos' had been placed.

"I'm f-cked... what do I tell the Lord..."

Honestly, the first thought that came to his mind was 'I'm f-cked'.

It didn't matter if 'The Soul of Shamos' was gone, since it had already been decided to return it to them, but what about the dead Brandy?

Aman, who was standing there blankly, looking at the empty space, began to feel his anger well up.

"I was going to give it to you... how dare you make a mess in my territory?"

The academy was now no different from Aman's territory. But the dogs of the Demon God, whom he didn't like anyway, had come and had made a mess.

"You sons of b-tches who are not even worth chewing up and spitting out..."

Aman clenched his teeth.

"As much as I'm f-cked... you're all f-cked too."

(End of Chapter)