Chapter 178

Chapter 178

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 178Faust's face stiffened at my question.

“The Villain Alliance... you say?”

“Yes. Didn't you join hands with the Villain Alliance?”

According to my experience, Faust at this point in time had joined hands with the Villain Alliance.

To be precise, he'd merely commissioned the Villain Alliance for personal reasons, so Faust might feel wronged by the accusation...

But what else would you call that if not joining hands with them?

“Faust. Is what my son said true?”

At my words, Father's voice sank low, and it felt as though the temperature around us had dropped.

He was none other than the head of Calione, which had recently been in conflict with the Villain Alliance.

It was anger backed by perfect justification.

And that wasn't all.

“The Villain Alliance are the ones who recently carried out the terrorist attack on Seoul Hero Academy, aren't they?”

“Doctor Faust of all people joined hands with people like that?”

Most of the people gathered here were no righteous heroes, but they each had their own pride. There were even some whose children or relatives attended Seoul Hero Academy.

Sensing the surrounding atmosphere, Faust realized that things were taking a strange turn and waved his hands.

“It seems there has been a slight misunderstanding. I had intended to explain it slowly to everyone later... but since things have come to this, I suppose I have no choice but to introduce her now.”

Clap clap

-The moment he briefly clapped his hands, one of the birds wandering around the garden.

No, one of the fairies I'd mistaken for a bird flew over and landed on his shoulder.

“Is it my turn already? My introduction?”

“...

This isn't exactly an exciting atmosphere.”

“But it's a festival?! Festivals are supposed to be fun!”

Her tone and gestures were like those of a mischievous little girl.

The only difference between her and the other fairies floating through the air was that, unlike the others who emitted brilliant light from their bodies, a faint pitch-black glow seeped from around hers.

“Allow me to introduce her to everyone. The executive of the Villain Alliance whom Calione Junior just mentioned... and the person whose help I briefly received this time. The guild master who runs the guild Midsummer,

Peak.”

“Hello, everyone! I'm Peak, a dark fairy! Mwah! Mwah!”

That's right.

The fairy enthusiastically blowing kisses toward the audience over there was one of the current Villain Alliance's high-ranking executives.

A named character known as the Fallen Fairy.

“...

Midsummer, you say.”

Upon realizing it wasn't Plague, Father's aura gradually began to fade.

The reason Father had reacted this strongly was probably due in part to Peak's appearance and personality.

That was because Peak herself was a very unusual existence.

“Aah! Don Calione! You're not mad anymore, right! Right!”

Seeing Father's expression soften even slightly, she approached while patting her chest in relief.

“I heard Plague recently messed with the Don's

people? Our leader told me to convey that he feels very regretful about that incident too! I don't really understand difficult stuff like that... hmm! I hate that bastard Plague too!”

She'd already come right up to Father while excitedly rattling off her opinion, and she extended her tiny hand toward him.

“So. Let's not fight, okay? Don Calione!”

Perhaps he'd understood her personality from that short exchange alone, because Father let out a breath to clear the atmosphere, then carefully took her hand.

“...

I'll try.”

“Yeah! Great!”

More than anything, the stories Peak had built up over time were probably the biggest reason Father accepted the handshake.

The fairy group ‘Midsummer’ led by Peak.

Their purpose, acting as intermediaries to send fairies wherever fairies were needed, was the protection of animals and nature.

The only difference between her and other fairies was that she would stop at no extreme action if it meant accomplishing that goal.

The most recent incident was probably... making poachers trying to hunt a protected species drink madness powder and shoot one another?

They were a group that was difficult to call outright Evil

.

However, they'd carried out plenty of armed actions outside government authority, and some had even led to the overthrow of administrative units, so they had been designated as ‘villains.’

And that wasn't all.

The overwhelming strength of her fairy army as they moved across the front lines was quite formidable, so it wasn't particularly strange that she was an executive of the Villain Alliance.

“I'm glad it seems to have gone over well. I've recently been developing a new drug, and I needed assistance with that as well as fairies to brighten up this party, so I asked for her help.”

Faust said that while glancing toward me.

“Given the recent incident, you must have been sensitive regarding the Villain Alliance, yet failing to inform you beforehand was my mistake. Allow me to apologize on this occasion, Don Calione.”

At the sight of him bowing his head, Father accepted the apology with a brief nod.

Of course he should apologize.

If we hadn't brought it up first, I'm sure he would've shamelessly pretended not to know until the very end.

But we'd received an apology, and I'd accomplished my objective, so I decided to stop the exposé here.

Thanks to what had just happened, those around us could now roughly guess what kind of position I held within Calione and what level of ability I possessed.

By casually speaking as though I naturally knew information that no one here except the parties involved knew, I'd demonstrated my intelligence network, and I'd shown just how much Father cherished me.

In other words, I'd boldly declared, ‘If you touch me, prepare for a meeting with Calione, okay?’

In fact, even those who hadn't shown much interest in me until moments ago now seemed to be taking notice one by one, so this was a satisfying enough result.

“Now, now! Looks like everyone who hadn't arrived yet is here, so can't we start the party already? I haven't eaten yet, so I'm hungry!”

Peak clapped her hands and shouted in order to lift the subdued atmosphere again.

“All right! Music!”

When Peak shouted and pointed at the band that had stopped playing, the interrupted music began again as though by magic.

“And dancing!”

This time, when she shouted while pointing toward the sky, the fairies floating around her burst into giggles and began flying through the air.

“And finally, alcohol!”

Bang──!

Along with a wide burst of aura, the stacked champagne bottles began moving and flying toward those whose hands were empty.

It was mana control that truly transcended common sense.

“Happy Walpurgis!”

At last, the real party was beginning.

______________

After finishing my greeting with Faust, I headed toward the seat the fairies had designated in advance.

At the same time, countless gazes could be felt from all around.

Father sighed and looked at me.

“From the looks of it, this father of yours is about to become quite busy.”

People were already watching for an opportunity to speak with Father or greet him.

“Some of them will surely be interested in you as well... but if you stay with me, you'll probably only be bothered even more. Why don't you take a look around?”

“I'll do that.”

I'd already been wondering how to leave my seat anyway, so thanks to him, I could roam around much more easily.

Powerhouses whose mere movement could shake an entire region.

It would be a loss to stay in one place when I had the opportunity to meet people like this.

“Ah, and don't carelessly drink the cocktails.”

“...

Is wine all right?”

“Wine is fine.”

“Yes.”

Only after receiving permission that champagne wasn't allowed but wine was did I finally manage to leave.

Sometimes, when he acts like this, I can't help wondering if he's a little overprotective.

The forest after the party began looked exactly like something out of a fairy tale.

An elegant banquet in the woods, where fairies and witches flew through the air as people tilted their glasses and conversed.

It was enough to make me think this was probably what most people had dreamed of when they were children imagining a banquet in the forest.

“Now then, let's see how many familiar faces came.”

Even as a player, getting invited to ‘Walpurgis Night’ in the early stages was practically impossible unless you did something utterly insane.

Getting invited to a gathering of world-famous heavyweights when you've only just started?‘Without luck on your side, it isn't easy no matter how skilled you are.’Unless you did something truly ‘insane.’

Well, I wasn't the latter, so in this case I'd say both luck and skill had worked in my favor.

I looked around while enjoying the pleasure of filling in data I'd been missing.‘Maru of One Man, One Evil? He's already here at this point too. Isn't that the Native American chief active in North America? Seriously, all kinds of people came.’While I was enjoying a sight that was practically heaven to me as I looked around the party.

“Hm?”

I spotted a familiar face.

Skin even paler than the others. Slicked-back pitch-black hair and red eyes. A man wearing a wrinkled jabot

like something you'd see in a medieval drama.

“Dwich Rodman.”

I could see the head of the Rodman family moistening his lips with wine filled with red liquid while staring somewhere.

It certainly wasn't strange that this man was attending ‘Walpurgis Night.’

After all, the ‘Rodman’ family he led had spread its fame and infamy widely from the past until the present.

In other words, he was what you'd call an old-timer of ‘Walpurgis Night.’

But what is he looking at?

If he's staring that intently, then whatever's over there must have either irritated him or caught his interest.

I followed his gaze and turned my head.

“Ha.”

What the hell, he was looking at our table?

His gaze was fixed on Father's table, where he was surrounded by others exchanging greetings and conversation.

His eyes weren't friendly in the slightest.

If anything, they were hostile.

He dares look at our table with eyes like that?...

Good, I've decided.

As I slowly walked toward his table, he seemed to notice my presence and finally turned his gaze toward me.

“Count Dwich Rodman. Am I correct?”

First, start kindly with a favorable smile.

“That is correct... I never imagined the crown prince of the Calione family would know me.”

Perhaps he'd seen what happened with Faust earlier, because he turned fully toward me and raised the corners of his lips.

But I could still feel wariness in his eyes.

I needed to approach a little more carefully.

“I happen to be very fond of the stories about Count Dwich Rodman. For example... there was the incident when you single-handedly stopped a rampaging dungeon in the northern forests of Romania long ago. The story that the previously unnamed forest came to be called the Red Forest afterward has something that makes any man's blood boil.”

“Oh?”

At my enthusiastic explanation, he looked surprised and turned his body fully toward me.

It meant I'd finally captured his interest.

“There aren't many people even in Romania who know that story. It seems you truly know quite a lot about me.”

“Well, I've had quite a few different phases myself. Your stories seemed extremely cool to me back then.”

Blood and slaughter. Nobles and races of darkness.

Vampires, a collection of keywords that practically screamed adolescent delusions, naturally couldn't help being a race players liked.

Thanks to that, I knew quite a lot about him.

Now, this was where it began.

Since I'd shown him this much goodwill, he wouldn't mind talking with me a little longer.

I was calculating how naturally to steer the conversation, whether I could extract something from him, and how to make him feel just the right amount of humiliation when.

“Father. Just as you said, I spoke with Gary Franche and... huh?”

“Ah.”I'm fucked.