Repeat Vice - The Villainous Noble Doesn't Want to Die, So He Swore to Not Die As One of The Four Heavenly Kings - Chapter 68: Welcome Camp III

Chapter 68: Welcome Camp III

A girl with wavy platinum blonde hair, the Kingdom’s First Princess Asteria Roa Sinterio, was running frantically through the forest. Her camping robe was torn in several places, and her uniform underneath was stained with mud.

Chasing her, mouth agape and in a crazed state, was a massive wolf monster, the Great Wolf Gévaudan. It barreled through the trees with its enormous body, fixated solely on devouring Asteria.

The Great Wolf Gévaudan had suddenly appeared while Asteria and her team were preparing their camp. Ignoring the other members, it had attacked Asteria directly.

Asteria was an exceptional mage. She possessed a large amount of magical power inherited from the royal family, an outstanding aptitude for magic, and a powerful light attribute. Her magic skills were on par with those of the Kingdom’s magical military division. This proficiency was why she had been granted permission by the King to leave the castle for monster extermination missions.

However, this time, the odds were not in her favor. Her opponent was the floor boss of the dungeon “Great Wolf Fortress,” the Great Wolf Gévaudan. Floor bosses vary significantly in strength depending on the dungeon’s difficulty level, but even the weakest of them require a skilled party of adventurers to defeat. They are not enemies that students, no matter how talented, can handle alone. This held true even for Asteria, despite her exceptional abilities.

“Why is it only targeting me…!”

Asteria kept running and tumbling through the rough, decomposing forest floor. She had lost track of her team members, but since Gévaudan had shown no interest in anyone but her, they were likely safe.

She had tried to blind it with light magic several times, but Gévaudan showed no sign of hesitation. She had also hit it with attack magic several times, which seemed to have some effect, but Gévaudan continued its relentless pursuit despite its injuries. High-powered spells required time and preparation for chanting and constructing magic circles, which was impossible while being chased.

“Damn it, why didn’t Raymond join this trip…!”

Asteria bitterly uttered the name of her fiancé. The engagement was arranged by their families, and Asteria had never felt romantic feelings for Raymond. Nonetheless, she respected his noble character and exceptional skills. The Galleon Duke family, to which he belonged, had the unique ability to contract with monsters and command them as summoned beasts. Furthermore, Raymond himself possessed extraordinary magical prowess.

If Raymond had participated in this orientation camp, he could have defeated even a floor boss on his own. But Raymond was not here. Like other upper-class nobles, neither he nor his four friends had joined the camp.

Probably the only ones capable of handling a floor boss here would be the teachers, who were elite mages themselves. However, if they were present, they would likely be near the entrance of the “Forest of the Hungry Wolves.” While some upperclassmen were supervising within the forest, they were just students. They lacked the power needed to deal with a floor boss.

Thus, Asteria ran in the opposite direction of the forest entrance to avoid involving other students. She could only hope the teachers had noticed the disturbance and were on their way, but who knew how long that would take.

“I might actually die here…”

Or perhaps, it wasn’t a matter of “might.” The forest pathless and treacherous, she sprinted with her magically enhanced legs. Behind her, the specter of death closed in swiftly. She had no room for error. A single misstep would mean knocking on the gates of the underworld in the next moment.

Moreover, Asteria’s stamina had limits. Ever since encountering Gévaudan, she had been moving at full speed without rest. Her combat style was that of a pure mage who left close combat to others while casting spells from a distance. While she had learned body enhancement, her lack of practice in using it continuously due to her usual combat style was catching up with her. Her entire body screamed in pain from the constant use of unfamiliar body enhancement magic.

But she couldn’t afford to release it. If she did, the massive wolf behind her would instantly kill her.

“—!?”

Fate played a cruel trick as a sudden swarm of bees obstructed her view. It was only for a blink of an eye, a split second, but in such a situation, even a momentary distraction could be fatal. Distracted by the bees, she tripped over a protruding tree root and fell. As she endured the pain and tried to reassemble her interrupted spell to reapply the body enhancement, she looked up.

The massive wolf was right before her, mouth wide open.

“—ah.”

No, this can’t be happening, I can’t die like this. Disjointed thoughts and words flashed through her mind. She had indeed noticed an unusual number of insects, especially bees, since entering the forest. But she never imagined they would lead to her death. It was over. There was no escape. Accepting her fate, Asteria closed her eyes, ready for death.

In her final moments, what flashed through her mind wasn’t her life or her fiancé’s face, but the face of a red-haired boy she had never met.

＊

A gentle warmth enveloped her body. Wondering why death had not come, Asteria opened her eyes.

She saw a beautiful orange flame quietly burning and the face of the red-haired boy from her vision, looking relieved.

“Eh…”

Unable to comprehend, Asteria was stunned.

The red-haired boy smiled gently.

“Seriously, why were you running deeper into the forest? You barely made it, Asteria.”

Hearing the boy’s kind voice, Asteria felt a surge of warm emotions from within her.

“Abel…?”

It was a name that slipped from her lips, pulled by those warm emotions.

The red-haired boy—Abel—looked surprised and widened his eyes.

“What—”

Could she have remembered?

As he was about to ask, Asteria, perhaps from exhaustion or because the tension had broken, fell asleep in Abel’s arms.

Soft blue flames floated around her.

“…She’s asleep.”

“Yeah…”

“She called you Abel, didn’t she?”

“Yeah.”

“Could Asteria be an Apostle too?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, Abel, are you even listening to me?”

Repeating the same half-hearted response, the blue flame looked at Abel with suspicion. Abel, meanwhile, gazed at Asteria with deep relief.

The blue flame sighed.

“I don’t mean to interrupt, but you haven’t forgotten about Gevaudan, right?”

Behind Abel, Gevaudan, who had been deprived of its prey, roared furiously. It opened its massive jaws, aiming to devour Abel. Abel, without even looking back, responded nonchalantly.

“I haven’t forgotten. It’s no problem.”

Immediately, Gevaudan was engulfed by a pillar of fire. Despite being enveloped in flames, it continued its assault on Abel. However, its fangs never reached him. The fire intensified, reducing Gevaudan’s huge body to charcoal in an instant.

The blue flame spoke in admiration.

“Wow, that was impressive. Taking it down without even looking. And to think you haven’t even received a blessing yet—amazing.”

“Don’t mock me. Besides, you know I can handle this much.”

“Yeah, but sometimes I forget how strong you are. I mean, you also took down Ambre instantly. What level are the Four Beasts? 60? And Gevaudan, the floor boss, is 40? I wonder what your level is now…”

“That… What is this ‘level’ you speak of?”

“Uh, a number representing strength, I guess?”

“And who assigns these numbers based on what criteria? Umbre was far stronger than Gevaudan.”

“But you defeated them both instantly…”

Their conversation was interrupted as Abel’s keen senses detected someone approaching. He extinguished the flames around him.

“What’s up?”

“The teachers. They finally arrived.”

“So slow.”

“It was the same last time. Back then, Asteria wasn’t alone and they managed to hold off Gevaudan a bit longer.”

Asteria was a mage who specialized in ranged combat. Considering she had been alone, Abel thought she had done well to survive this long.

Still holding Asteria, Abel waited for the teachers, when he felt a gaze and turned around. He thought he saw something black and fish-like jump in the bushes.

“Now what?”

“Nothing… just a fish, I think…”

“A fish? In the forest?”

“…Right. Must have been my imagination…”

The gaze and the presence were gone. Shaking his head, Abel awaited the teachers. The buzzing of numerous bees, possibly disturbed by Gevaudan’s rampage, filled the air.

＊＊＊

The sudden appearance of the floor boss, the great wolf Gevaudan, led to the immediate cancellation of the orientation camp. The teachers rescued Abel and Asteria, and the new students scattered around the forest preparing for camp were called back.

Three students were reported missing. Despite a search by the teachers and senior students, they were never found.

A few days after the camp, in a restricted area near the dungeon, clothing scraps and bloodstains believed to belong to the missing students were discovered. Upon dissecting the charred Gevaudan, the remains of three unidentified bodies were found in its stomach.

The bodies were so badly damaged that even determining their gender was impossible, but they were assumed to be the missing students.

A floor boss that shouldn’t have appeared outside the dungeon and the near-death of the kingdom’s first princess—these incidents led to severe accusations against the academy from the royal family and the nobility.

Abel’s role in single-handedly defeating the floor boss and saving Asteria was kept secret. Publicly, it was announced that the teachers had defeated the boss and rescued Abel and Asteria. This cover-up was intended to mitigate the academy’s responsibility and prevent Abel, a commoner, from drawing too much attention. 

This was decided through discussions between the headmaster and Abel.

＊＊＊

In the office of the headmaster of the Royal Magic Academy.

An elderly man with long, platinum blonde hair and a matching beard that nearly touched the floor, yet with youthful skin—an oddly mismatched appearance.

The headmaster, Einbel Roa Azdarl, Duke of Azdarl and younger brother to the current king, sat in a throne-like chair, smiling confidently at the red-haired boy before him.

“Abel Carrot. First, let me thank you. I appreciate you agreeing to our proposal. Thanks to you, the academy will survive.”

“Is that so? I’m glad to hear it.”

“A floor boss appearing outside the dungeon and three casualties. This is already the biggest scandal in the academy’s history. If my beloved niece Asteria had died, the academy might have been closed down.”

“I see.”

The current king, Asteria’s father, had been furious, nearly losing his composure. Abel’s cooperation, claiming the teachers had saved Asteria, allowed the academy to narrowly escape closure.

“I’m truly sorry. You could have been a hero.”

“I have no interest in titles.”

“That’s very like you.”

The headmaster’s words, as if he knew Abel’s character well, made Abel frown. The headmaster stood up and began making coffee with a magic-powered device, preparing three cups.

“But—it’s been a long time since we talked like this, hasn’t it?”

The headmaster placed one cup before himself and two before Abel.

“—Since the time Raymond’s rebellion, perhaps?”

The headmaster, looking at Abel and the floating blue flame, narrowed his eyes.

“…So you’re the chosen one, huh?”

Abel, dropping his formal tone, looked up at the ceiling in exasperation.

The headmaster, Einbel Roa Azdarl, the chosen apostle of the God of Light, laughed merrily.