Absolute Villain Ark - Chapter 26

After the battle with the hero, Absolute moves on to post-war processing.

The hero who injured the homeroom teacher was the cause of this commotion, so Absolute gives instructions to his subordinates.

“Cruel-san, explain the situation to the other teachers and bring them here. Mist, tie the hero to a pillar. Oriana, watch the hero so that he doesn’t escape. If he makes any suspicious movements, you may attack him.”

“”“Yes!”””

Each of them started to act in accordance with Absolute’s instructions.

The three injured this time were Teach, who was caught in the crossfire by the hero, the hero who was beaten to a pulp by Absolute, and Alicia, who collapsed from the strain of her anxiety. I wasn’t worried about Alicia, as she was being cared for by a classmate from the Mirai family faction.

I went to the injured homeroom teacher. Other students were taking care of him, but he seemed to be in a lot of pain. He didn’t look too badly injured, but even a normal attack by a hero can do several times the original damage. Several bones were probably broken.

“Isn’t this terrible, Teach-sensei?”

When Absolute called out to him, Teach laughed weakly with a sweaty face that was bleeding from the injury and pain.

“Oh absolutely. This disqualifies me as a teacher, but I’m surprised you still managed to win. As one who experienced the skill of the hero first hand, you’re quite a monster yourself. As expected of you, Ark.”

It was no wonder that Teach was lamenting. It is true that the skills of the hero are powerful. Even Absolute will not be unscathed, depending on the user. But a hero who has lost his reason, who has no skill and tactics, who pushes with his strength, is no match for Absolute.

“Don’t force yourself to speak. We’ll take you to the infirmary. Hey, Saint, you come with me. You’ll be treating him in the infirmary.”

Absolute called out to the saint. Absolute thinks that the hero’s outburst was probably committed by the saint. He was right to ask her what the hell she was up to. The saint looked frustrated, as if she couldn’t believe that Absolute had won, but she immediately smiled her usual gentle smile and followed Absolute’s instructions.

“Of course. It is a natural thing for a church worker to treat injured people. Let’s transport Teach-sensei immediately.”

“We’ll carry him away, Saint-sama.”

The saint’s guards try to carry him away, but it doesn’t work that way. The guards are only an obstacle when I have something to say to the saint. I told the saint’s bodyguards to hold on.

“I don’t need you. I’ll let my guys carry him. Hey, Mist, after tying up the hero, we’ll carry the wounded next. Come quickly.”

“Absolute-sama, you’re a roughneck, aren’t you? I don’t mind it.”

Mist, while talking lightly, is finishing the work. But the saint’s guards weren’t going to back down. One of the guards took a swipe at Absolute.

“I will not let a savage like you anywhere near the saint! You back down!”

(Have they forgotten that I’m a high ranking noble? Even if they say that there’s nothing like status here in school, there is a proper way to deal with things like this. Be it a prince or a hero, they really get on my nerves. I guess I have to make them understand once…)

Holy knights are a fighting force held by the church, and their status is no different from that of commoners. Therefore, I must correct this holy knight who misunderstands his status.

Absolute intimidates the rude holy knight with his skill, “King’s Dominance”.

“I told you before that I don’t tolerate anyone who gets in my way. Besides, you’ve been rude to me for a while now. Do you think that a mere holy knight is of the same rank as me? If so, I’ll make you suffer the same fate as the hero.”

“….!!!!”

The rude holy knight was so intimidated that he cringed. The other holy knights were also unable to resist, and their bodies trembled. The air was chilled by Absolute’s intimidation, and the Saint shouted.

“Stop it, you people, you are disrespectful to Ark-san! I will give a stern warning to the guards later, so please can we please put this situation behind us? Also, the church has instructed me never to leave my escort, so please allow me to have one escort.”

The holy knight regrets what he did when the Saint bowed her head because of his own actions.

(Well, one escort is acceptable. It was worth it.)

“There won’t be a next time. Come on, let’s get going.”

Absolute, Mist, the saint, and the escorting holy knight moved to the infirmary to treat the wounded Teach. After that, thanks to the skills and recovery magic of the saint, Teach’s body recovered, but he was still in the infirmary as a precautionary measure. After the treatment, Absolute and his team left the infirmary. At this point, Absolute cut to the chase.

“So, Saint, do you have any excuses?”

“What are you talking about? I have nothing to hide.”

The saint remains aloof without changing her expression.

“You’re so blatant. You used your skills to strengthen the hero and intentionally set him up to run amok. You were planning to use the hero to kill me at the last moment, right?”

Absolute questions the Saint. The Saint’s guards may have taken this as a false accusation and tried to step forward to protect the saint.

“You, the saint would never do such a thing! Stop making false accusations!”

The holy knight was about to close in on Absolute, but he suddenly stopped moving. He knew someone was behind him with a knife to his neck.

“Don’t move, Absolute-sama is still speaking. And he said earlier that there would be no next time, didn’t he? You’ll get killed for real, so it’s best for your own safety not to interfere. Well, he won’t harm the Saint, probably. Isn’t that right, Absolute-sama?”

Mist stops the holy knight from getting in Absolute’s way. Mist is  from the house that assists the Ark family in their shadow work. He is also a shield for those who would harm Absolute, and he fulfills his duties without asking any questions. Mist’s job now is to remove anyone who interferes with Absolute’s conversations. He is used to this kind of work.

“I don’t know. So what do you think, Saint?”

In some cases, it may look like hostage-taking, but it should work on the saint.

“It’s a terrible accusation. And what if I did it? You have no proof, do you?”

The Saint stares at me as if she is offended.

(Taking a hostage has no effect?  She’s a pretty cold-hearted person, Isn’t she? And she’s a pretty good actor to lie so nonchalantly in this situation.)

Absolute analyzes the saint even as he speaks.

“Unfortunately, if it were magic, I might have been able to prove it by tracing the magic, but your skills are unique. It would be impossible to prove it this time. Perhaps you have anticipated this, but you are a damned woman.”

“You talk as if you know my skills which only the top class people in the church know about. Since there’s no evidence, what will you do? Do you want to publicize that this whole mess is the work of a saint?”

(Even if I said it, no one would believe me, so there’s no point. Besides, if I did that, it might affect the punishment of the hero, so I’m not going to do it. It’s a chance to suspend him from school, if not expel him. If the hero is suspended, he won’t be able to be involved in the events during that time. There’s no way I’m going to miss it, and I’d hate for it to go the way the saint wants it to go.)

“Hmph. If I do that, the responsibility of the hero will also be in doubt. So this time, I’ll go along with your idea. But you’ve made enemies of the Ark family, and you’ll have to pay for this sooner or later.”

“I told you I didn’t do it. If you’re done talking, could you please let go of my escort?”

Absolute gives Mist a visual cue to release the holy knight.

“Thank you very much. Well, we will go back first. And I’d like to make up for the disrespectful comment that my escort made to you earlier about taking the escort hostage.”

The saint bowed lightly to Absolute and left, followed by her escort.

“Are you sure it’s okay? You can’t just let her go.”

Mist had his doubts about letting the saint go without doing anything.

“It’s okay, and we still don’t know if it’s just the saint or the church that’s the enemy. If we let the saint live, they will move through the saint again when they make some kind of plan in the future. By then, we will know who the enemy is.”

(In the original story, the saint may have been a naive girl who had never left the church, perhaps just hiding her true nature, but this time I sensed clear malice from the saint. And her tactics were quite insidious, as she harassed me under the guise of a heroic outburst. This may not have been the only time she did this…)

Mist asked Absolute, who suddenly fell silent and started thinking.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your thinking, but isn’t it simply that the hero asked the saint to strengthen him? Shouldn’t we not think too much about it?”

In order to beat Absolute, he asked the saint to strengthen him. Mist thought so, but Absolute did not care about that.

“You are mistaken. The important thing this time is that the hero and the Mirai family are at fault and that the saint has turned on us. So it doesn’t matter whether or not the hero asked her to strengthen him or not.  Let’s go back, Mist.”

As if to say, “That’s enough,” Absolute turned away and walked away. Absolute and the others returned to the training hall after the saint.