[21st Round] Trust
“This device tracks the owner of the Chaos Artifact thanks to the power of His Majesty. However, every time you use this, the force contained in it is consumed. Hence, you should only activate it for a short time,” The researcher working in the bunker explained.
Acting Teacher’s performance, imitating Red, rendered the device almost useless, but I still had the Chaos Artifact I received on the Western Continent.
“I get it, so be quick about it.”
“Got it. Please put the shoes in this glass box.”
The device was activated as soon as I placed them inside, causing the teacher’s location to be pinpointed on a giant Fantasy map.
“Central Continent.”
I searched through all but that one continent, so that was expected.
So far, this was the result of my travel:
Northern Continent: Ethics, Acting, and Physical Education (Deputy Director)
Southern Continent: Mathematics, Fine Arts, Home Economics, and Biology
Eastern Continent: Swimming, Sociology, Chemistry, and Engineering
Western Continent: Gardening and Geography
Central Continent: N/A
All teachers, with the exception of Teacher Morals, acted in pairs consisting of a man and a woman.
There were two pairs each on the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Continents. The Western Continent only had one.
In total, I had caught seven of Fugitive Senior’s wives. There were only two more left to find.
The situation on the battlefield also quickly cleared up.
“The deputy director has fallen!”
“Ah! Sir Delujour!”
“It can’t be…”
“Run for it! Retreat!”
As soon as Tous Les Jours fell, the school staff immediately left the battlefield.
“Are you going to let them go, Drug Hero?”
“Yes.”
I didn’t have time to chase them since I urgently needed to find the teacher hiding in the Central Continent.
Taking the teacher’s shoes from the tracking device, I headed to my destination.
***
Elf Kingdom of the Central Continent.
This was the last bastion of the elves in the 4th curriculum, but in the 5th curriculum, their situation was different.
Since the Elven Empire flourished on the Southern Continent, the homeland of their race, they found no need to move to the Central Continent.
However, the Elf Kingdom still existed in the Central Continent, as in the 4th curriculum.
It took on a slightly different form, though.
“This is a country founded by miserable insects, dissatisfied with the rule of His Majesty Elfheim, the most wonderful and wisest elf in the world. The world of Fantasy does not need such pests. Feel free to eliminate them together with the teachers.” Shadow A subjectively explained.
But that wasn’t accurate.
The Elf Kingdom of the Central Continent inherited the traditions of the 4th curriculum. It was a country that promoted extreme hatred of the human race.
Ah! More precisely, it preached the superiority of elves over all other races.
“These bugs took advantage of the mercy of His Majesty Elfheim, even though he didn’t abandon them but supported them with his love instead. If he hadn’t been so good-natured, he never would’ve allowed the founding of a country of reactionaries!”
‘I get it already, Shadow A, so calm down.’
I quickly reached the correct coordinates displayed on the tracking device’s map.
I thought it was near the royal palace, somewhere in the country’s center, but it was surprisingly remote.
“Hmm? A meeting?”
It was an ordinary and undistinguishable forest, but a huge crowd of elves gathered around a rock amid its center’s large clearing.
At the top of a cliff, where their gazes were directed, a female elf confidently spoke.
“In the distant past, First Elf King Phoenix, scion of the sun and father of all elves, descended from the heavens on sunny wings to rule this wretched land with his wisdom. Frustrated by human incompetence, he created two companions. From his 4th lumbar vertebra, he made the Second Elf King, and from his 5th, the goddess of spirits.”
“Ooooh!”
“Ah!”
“Ooh!”
The character she described was nothing like the Phoenix I knew, but I decided to listen a little more.
Was this the myth of their origins?
It was funny.
“But the God of the Giants took our father’s solar wings, the Giant King stole his body and name, and the Demon Lord Parmamon killed the goddess and began to rule over the innocent spirits. The Second Elf King’s son, Elfheim, committed a terrible sin by allying with him.”
“Traitor!”
“Deceiver!”
“Hypocrite!”
The elves immediately began to curse the Third Elf King Elfheim.
Shadow A reacted immediately.
“Hero! Let me squash these bugs! If not for the mercy of His Majesty Elfheim, they would still be eating cockroaches!”
“Take it easy. Their novellas are all fiction. There’s nothing for you to worry about.”
In the myths that served as the progenitors of Fantasy novels, everything was usually exaggerated. Not surprisingly, Phoenix, a scoundrel, and murderer, was described as a wise ruler.
Reading the biographies of great people published on Earth would allow one to easily understand this.
They were described as aliens who had never experienced puberty in their lives.
▷ Alert: That’s her, but she’s grown a lot since the last time I saw her. Well, except for her chest.
‘How can you say that, Fugitive Senior?’
Such comments were already enough for a divorce.
▷ Rebuttal: What are you talking about? Size doesn’t matter! It’s more important to think about each other. Don’t you know what Elfheim always used to say? Elves have small breasts but big hearts.
I heard that every time we met.
He constantly tried to make the MAX-Class Hero marry his big-hearted daughter.
That aside, it was time to get down to business.
Click!
I snapped my fingers, creating a black hole under the elf’s feet, like a sewer without a manhole cover.
“We are elves of noble birth, emanating from our father’s 5th lumbar vertebra. Our pride— Ah!”
Her reaction speed was comparable to that of Biology Teacher, however.
She could easily become a physical education teacher, like the recently fallen deputy director.
I immediately checked her stats.
▶ Race: Deus Ex Machina Elf
▶ Level: 999+
▶ Job: Teacher (Teaching → Skills ↑)
▶ Skills: Fabrication G, Incitement G, Faith G, Hypocrisy ZZZ, Charm ZZZ…
▶ Status: Advent, Goddess, Light, Dark
Her three G-rank skills were already amazing, but her race was even beyond them.
▷ Type: Race
▶ Name: Deus Ex Machina Elf
▶ Rank: Mythic
▶ Mythic 1: Godhood.
▶ Mythic 2: Cosmic Gaze.
▶ Mythic 3: Time and Space Manipulation.
▷ Feature 1: Fabrication.
▷ Feature 2: Imperfection.
▷ Feature 3: Myth.
▷ Race 1: Unlimited lifespan.
▷ Race 2: Tweak Abilities.
Her race was too good for a teacher.
G-rank Fabrication.
This skill probably was very effective.
I kept my Fabrication skill until the very end, refusing to sacrifice it even if doing so meant overcoming my limits, but I still couldn’t reach that rank.
Plus, she had several divine powers.
[Light]
[Darkness]
[Oracle]
Light was the power of the director, the First Angel, and Darkness was stolen from me.
The Oracle was a power received from a god outside the realm of education.
I roughly understood the principle behind it.
Like all skills, Oracle consisted of two divine powers that served as the foundation of the Fantasy Institution.
If someone became a god according to their skills, their miracles would contain both light and darkness.
“Not bad.”
The final form that I once pursued was in front of my eyes.
Five pairs of aetheric wings unfurled on her back as she escaped falling into my black hole.
The wings on her right were white, and the ones on her left were black.
Her hair was also dyed golden, which was an unnatural color for pure-blooded royal elves.
“Ah!”
“Goddess!”
“It’s a miracle!”
To the elves around her, she was the perfect embodiment of a deity.
“Perhaps we should start with introductions. I am the career counselor and Head of the Academic Affairs Department. It is one of my duties to help students develop leadership skills. I didn’t want to deal with my ex-husband, whose lower body ruled him, so I remained inactive, but I didn’t think you would come to me yourself, student Kang Han Soo.
“What’s wrong with the First Hero?”
“Don’t even mention the name of that pathetic insect in front of me. He is the dark spot in my life that I want to erase the most.”
“… He hears us.”
“Ah! Really? Hey, you nasty parasite. Do you still rush at every woman you see with your tongue out like a lustful dog? Hmph! Don’t you dare show yourself before me!”
Her behavior immediately destroyed her goddess-like image.
‘What do you say to that, Fugitive Senior?’
▷ Shock: How could she say something so terrible? She used to be so kind and sweet…
It looked like the First Hero, chasing a perfect harem, would need to take some time to let his wounded heart heal.
I clenched my fist slightly and leaped forward.
Compressing space, I could instantly close the distance between us.
“Oh! Hero and Demon Lord, have you forgotten?”
[Light]
[Darkness]
However, the space that I had shrunk increased again, and the time around me slowed down.
As a result, I remained in place despite my forward pounce.
But I had foreseen this.
[Spinal Cord]
I accelerated my very being.
Commands emanating from my brain propagated along the peripheral nerves of my body.
I became seemingly endlessly quicker.
The time had come for her to witness the true meaning of speed.
Through it, I was able to move at normal speed even when time itself had been slowed down.
“That won’t work on me.”
“I see. It seems you didn’t defeat Director Parmael with luck alone, after all. If so, how about this?”
[Oracle]
The Academic Affairs Department Head ascended to the skies, allowing all elves to witness her.
She folded her arms over her flat chest.
“That’s blatant sexual harassment!”
“Don’t read my mind.”
She was to be blamed for reading my thoughts without permission.
“Hear my command! Slay the heretic who despises the breast of your noble goddess’s breasts!”
[Oracle]
She unleashed divine power in response to the Righteous Hero’s provocation.
I focused my attention on protecting myself against unknown effects.
At that moment, the assembled elves reacted to her power.
“The Oracle needs us!”
“For the noble goddess!”
“Glory to her flat chest!”
“I can feel my strength growing!”
All the elves present were immediately enhanced.
I took a look at their stats.
▷ Race: Elf
▷ Level: 195
▷ Job: Fanatic (Faith → Madness ↑)
▷ Skills: □□ ZZZ, □□ ZZZ, Faith ZZZ, Gathering D, Agriculture D…
▷ Status: Ascension, Oracle
They had skills named using texts unrecognized by the system, as in the case of the Black Box.
Her divine power turned thousands of elves who had never fought or posed any threat before into a band of soldiers worthy of being called the Army of God.
Then I, too, shouldn’t just stand around doing nothing!
[Spinal Cord]
“For the glory of Mollan!” I shouted as loud as I could.
As the MAX-Class Righteous Hero, I would fight honestly and impartially, bravely opposing the manipulation of evil itself!
I, Kang Han Soo, the first apostle of Mollan’s Teachings, praised the great Master Mollan before the flat-chesters!
“Hear Mollan!
Behold Mollan!
Feel Mollan!
Foolish mortals will never be able to resist his will!”
“Mollan’s Teachings…”
“Mollan…”
“But the Oracle… Kh?!”
The elves who tried to attack me grabbed their heads as they fell to the ground.
I checked their stats again.
▷ Race: Elf
▷ Level: 195
▷ Job: Farmer (Earth → Agriculture ↑)
▷ Skills: Gathering D, Farming D, Faith E, Rest E, Dexterity E…
▷ Status: Fainting
I easily returned them to normal.
“How is this possible…”
“Evil Head of the Academic Affairs Department. Have you prepared yourself? Now your soul, as flat as your chest, will suffer greatly.”
“How dare you sexually harass your teacher… Huh?!”
“I am justice!”
[Spine]
Sexual harassment?
I thought she was being paranoid.
The Head of the Academic Affairs Department screamed as my righteous fist shattered her wings.
“Help! History teacher!”
“I’m here!”
“Ah! You really came!”
“Sorry, I’m late! Are you injured?”
“I’m fine.”
Before I could punish her for her blasphemy, an uninvited teacher intervened in our showdown.
I was already used to it.
“A couple again.”
While I, the MAX-Class husband, suffered from loneliness while enforcing justice, my opponents flirted in front of me.
As the Righteous Hero, I couldn’t forgive them—
“Cowardly husband~”
“Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeex!”
“Mollan~”
… My most recent words were proved wrong.
