She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (LN) - Volume 12 - Chapter 19

Chapter 19

“WHAT’S WITH YOU?!” the baron cried. “Why can’t I hit you?!”

“It’s no use. You’re essentially doing nothing but standing still.”

The baron pulled out more and more magical tools to fight, but the half-naked man weathered each attack head-on.

Each time he defended himself, he showed off for Mira, as if to prove that this was nothing to him. Presumably, he was trying to reassure a scared little girl, but his composure showed that it was no bluff.

The panicking baron also glanced at Mira, his lust manifesting in ever-more-violent swings with his magical tools. It was easy to imagine what he was fantasizing about and what delusions spurred him.

This honestly just looks like two perverts butting heads.

If someone walked in right now, they’d probably think the same thing—that a pair of weirdos was duking it out for possession of Mira. That proved how absolutely bizarre this battle was. It wouldn’t last long, though.

“Damn you, damn you, damn you!” The baron had exhausted his magical tools’ mana, leaving him helpless.

“Seems that’s all you’ve got. It’s my turn to have some fun.” The half-naked man stepped forward. Now that the baron had run out of steam for combat, his defeat was all but inevitable.

Realizing this, Mira racked her brain. If she stopped the half-naked man, it was hardly likely that she’d pull off her task within the overall plan. But if the intruder defeated Ardoloris now, the people outside wouldn’t witness the baron’s crime and seal his fate. At this rate, the news would claim that a weirdo had attacked a noble in his home.

Mira wondered how to continue with the plan.

Meanwhile, the baron screamed, “I didn’t want to use this, but I guess I have no choice!” As if resolved, he struck the wall next to him. There was evidently a hidden switch; with a dull sound, the opposite wall opened up.

Something crawled from behind it. It had a bizarre, sluglike appearance, with many tentacles extending from its body. It was certainly something such a pervert would be fond of. Though the baron had practically called it a trump card, the slug moved too slowly and heavily to seem dangerous. It didn’t look at all strong, nor ready to fight.

In fact, it was now creeping away from the half-naked man.

Mira watched, worried that the slug might have some ultimate attack, but it seemed the creature wasn’t the baron’s trump card; Ardoloris, panicking, struck another section of the wall.

“Ack, wrong button. This one!”

The next dull noise was different. This time, the ceiling creaked and opened, producing a hole connected to the mansion’s first floor.

“Now! Come, my dears!” the baron screamed upward, heralding the appearance of three beings.

What are these things? Monsters or animals? I’ve never seen anything like them before.

The strange creatures that appeared had doglike shapes, but their bodies were disfigured, and their eyes lacked willpower. They didn’t rampage out of instinct, nor move based on individual desire. They just stood by the baron as if awaiting orders.

“I see… More villainy,” the half-naked man murmured, glaring at the baron. He readied himself, taking a stance—not one of his heroic poses but a real fighting stance.

“Behold my most powerful guard dogs. Prepare to become dog food!” Clearly confident, the baron laughed and ordered his hounds to kill the man.

Suddenly, the air in the room changed. Following the baron’s order, odious malice emanated from the three beasts. They leapt forth as if finally released from chains.

The dogs’ bloodshot eyes betrayed no hint of reason, but through what could be called hunter’s instinct, they coordinated perfectly without communicating. One attacked from the front, while the other two circled to flank the man’s sides. It was difficult for the naked eye to follow them, and their fangs were far sharper than the average knife.

The baron’s three beasts each had an A-rank adventurer’s strength. They were worthy of being called trump cards—but only to people living ordinary lives, in ordinary circumstances, committing ordinary villainy. The baron was about to glimpse a world lying beyond the ordinary, inaccessible to most, observed by very few.

“Unfortunately, fangs as slow as those won’t reach me,” the half-naked man remarked.

Just before the three beasts could sink their teeth into him, they stopped. No. They were stopped. The beasts began to struggle, seemingly in the clutches of an invisible force. That only lasted a moment before they were immediately thrown back through, and above, the ceiling.

“May they rest in peace.” The half-naked man raised his right hand theatrically and snapped his fingers.

Instantly, a ray of fire shot upward through the hole in the ceiling. A harsh explosion boomed somewhere beyond. Soon, three objects fell through the hole and crashed to the ground—the hounds’ skeletons. What had happened up there? Whatever it was had enough firepower to vaporize their flesh in an instant.

“I-impossible… I bought those because I was told they’d be the most powerful guard dogs. What’s the meaning of this?! They did practically nothing!” From the baron’s perspective, the hounds had been defeated with ease. He kicked their bones in anger, screaming, “Useless beasts!”

But that assumption was incorrect. The hounds had been genuinely powerful; they were just nowhere near as strong as the half-naked man.

“If not for you…!” More furious than ever, the baron drew a hidden blade and charged the half-naked man. 

His foe easily evaded this desperate attack. “Pitiful.” 

With that, the half-naked man produced rope from somewhere and looped it around his target. He rolled the baron over and had him tied up in no time.

The baron started shrieking, “Damn it! Release me! Do you know who I am?!” 

The half-naked man didn’t listen; he simply dragged Ardoloris along and tied him to a stone pillar. “Now, I’m sure you recognize these,” he said, scattering a bundle of papers across the floor. “They’ll unveil your crimes for all to see. The time has come to make amends and repent.”

When the baron looked at one sheet, his rage disappeared, replaced with panic. “How’d you…?!”

As Mira wondered what the papers said, one happened to fall close enough for her to read. It documented some kind of transaction; based on the baron’s reaction, it must’ve been inconvenient to him.

Some sections of the sheet that she could decipher mentioned flowers. It seemed odd for someone to pay so much for flowers, though.

Wait a second…

“Flowers” had been a code word during the deal earlier. In other words, these sheets documented the baron’s previous transactions. Where in the world had the self-styled hero found them?

Something concerned Mira even more. The way this half-­naked man was shoving evidence into an evildoer’s face reminded her of someone—someone she’d been hearing about recently. Could it be? Mira turned toward the intruder again in astonishment.

“Wait a second, are you—?” Just as she tried to ask what she was thinking, something slimy suddenly wrapped around her leg. “Wha—?!” she cried. “Nrrgh! Damn it!”

It was the sluglike creature that the baron had accidentally released before. She tried to pull it off, but her arms were bound. Her legs had been free, but the slug’s tentacles made them impossible to move.

Apparently finding a silver lining in this moment of despair, the baron squealed, “Oh hooo! Good stuff! That’s what I’m talking about!”

Seemingly attracted to her femininity, the creature had gone straight for Mira. As it crept close and crawled up her legs, a horrifying sensation assailed her.

“You disgusting little bastard…!” Realizing that the slug seemed more dangerous than the baron himself, Mira set a summoning point to conjure a dark knight. Someone moved even faster than her, however. 

“Don’t worry, miss. Just stay still a little longer.” It was the half-naked man. 

Though he looked more perverted than the baron, he actually was a hero. He touched the slug, and its tentacles dried up almost instantly; as he did so, the man looked away, apparently out of sympathy for Mira’s predicament.

The baron cried in despair.

“There.” Mira’s hero tore the dried-up slug away from her. “You can rest easy now.”

She didn’t know exactly what he’d done, but she realized it was some kind of spell—magic she had no grasp of. It must’ve been developed over the past thirty years.

What mattered now, however, was the half-naked man’s identity.

“That was close,” Mira said. “Thank you, friend. Could you possibly be Fuzzy—”

As she tried to ask, though, he interrupted, “Careful, miss. That’s a secret.” He put his index finger to his lips to shush her, punctuating the gesture with a wink. His motions were so natural, he’d obviously done this many times before.

“Uh…”

However cool he acted, his clothes—or lack thereof—just made him look like a weirdo. The contrast dumbfounded Mira.

Meanwhile, someone called out from beyond the hole in the ceiling.

“Hey! What’s the commotion? Everything okay down there?” Apparently worried by the explosion earlier, the guards waiting outside had charged in.

“Aha. The ever-reliable security guards have arrived. I’ll leave the rest to them.” The half-naked man looked up through the hole. Seeing the guards, he struck another pose. “Farewell, miss!” he said, then escaped through that same hole.

“Hey… Wait a second, would you?!”

If that man was who Mira thought, it would save her the time and effort of going to Haxthausen. She desperately tried to pursue him, but her hands couldn’t pull away from the bed. She remembered now that she was chained to it.

The half-naked man caught the guards above off guard.

“Whoa. What was that?!”

“Who the hell was that just now?!”

As things got livelier upstairs, Mira summoned a dark knight to cut off her chains, then stood to pursue the man.

Just then, the security chief jumped down from above. When he saw the summoner, he grinned wryly in relief. “Well…you seem fine enough.”

“Yes. Fine enough.” The half-naked guy had dried out the slug that attacked her, but its slime was still on her; her maid outfit was sticky and wet. Beyond that, though, Mira herself was all right. “Now, about that pervert who just left—where did he go?!” she demanded, ready to rush after and catch him. 

Unfortunately, she was out of luck.

“Sorry,” the chief replied. “It all kind of happened too fast.” The man had come and gone like the wind, so the chief’s eyes couldn’t follow where he’d gone.