Chapter 220

Chapter 220

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 220Last night.

Inside a secret conference room in the Vatican, voices both loud and quiet continued without end.

“The heir to Calione is entering Italy!”

“What in the world brings him here so suddenly at a time like this!”

They were priests belonging to the Vatican's intelligence bureau, the organization that governed the entire Italian Peninsula.

The reason they had gathered so late at night was precisely because of the news that had recently arrived.

“Shouldn't we stop him immediately!”

“How are we supposed to stop him?! Do you have any idea how much the Calione family has donated to our Catholic Church over the years?”

“Then what do you suggest! We just leave him alone? Who knows what kind of trouble he might cause?!”

“If he is Calione's son, isn't he the child who recently helped Bishop Augustus defeat Fafnir? With talk running rampant lately that Augustus should be recognized as a saint, if we block that child from coming, what do you think the other factions will say!”

At one priest's words, silence fell over the conference room.

In the end, it meant there was no way to stop him because of political issues.

“Even just from the rumors circulating right now, Calione's heir is practically a troublemaker. He stood on the front lines in the war against the Villain Alliance, took the lead in bringing down the Evil Dragon Fafnir, and recently was even invited to ‘Walpurgis Night,’ that pagan festival!”

“How is that a pagan festival! It's just a simple social gathering!”

“What?! How do you know that! Are you a pagan too?!”──Thud!

“──Quiet.”

But there was someone who froze the meeting room, which had become noisy again in an instant.

“Let's calm down a little. Is there any need for us to fight among ourselves?”

A man wearing a crimson cap on his head while maintaining a smile.

Within the Vatican, he was the head of the intelligence bureau and a Cardinal.

“It is certainly true that incidents and accidents happen wherever Eugene Han Calione goes. However, it has not been proven that the child is evil. It could simply be that he was unlucky enough to get caught up in them.”

His words were reasonable.

No matter how many rumors about him reached this place, there had never been any story that the child had actually committed crimes or acted as an evil person.

But even so, he was the heir to Calione.

If he became involved in anything within mainland Italy, there was no knowing how this land might change. Whether it was by his own will or someone else's.

Perhaps because of that, one priest slowly looked toward the Cardinal with concern.

“...

Cardinal. Then what exactly do you intend to do?”

At that, the Cardinal stroked his ring as though he had already decided and answered.

“I will send someone to stay beside Calione Junior and watch him.”

“Pardon? By someone, you mean...”

“Michaela. I intend to send that child.”

At those words, every priest who had been sitting still until now sprang to their feet.

“Sending Michaela? Isn't that an excessive response?”

“That child is one of the intelligence bureau's main combat assets. You're sending Michaela because of a single brat?!”

“Wouldn't it be better to assign a nun from another department? If all she has to do is watch him, other nuns are more than capable enough!”──Bang!

And once again, the Cardinal struck the ground with the staff in his hand.

But there was one difference from before...

“This is truly absurd.”

His expression was not smiling.

“You dislike this, you dislike that. You even dislike the solution I proposed.”

It had gone cold and rigid.

“Then perhaps you should become Cardinals yourselves.”

At that, the conference room once again fell silent.

The Cardinal, gripping his staff tightly, took a deep breath for a moment to calm himself, then returned to his usual gentle expression and spoke to them.

“As all of you fear, Eugene Han Calione is someone who could become a major variable for our Holy Empire. If he becomes involved in an incident or attempts something strange, wouldn't it be best for us to step in first and respond at the earliest stage? Or...”

He rose from his seat and looked at the priests.

“Once something happens, it will be too late. If things go wrong, who among you will deal with Calione?”

No one could answer his question.

Most of them had personally witnessed how Calione had closed the Vatican's underground dungeon in the past.

“This is the child we raised for times like this. This is the child we trained in preparation for times like this. If not now, when will we give her proper work? When protecting all of you? When transporting sacred relics? No. Isn't right now exactly the time?”

Finally confirming that the atmosphere in the meeting room had shifted toward agreement, the Cardinal sat down again.

“Give Michaela her mission. Officially, the purpose is the protection of the heir to the Calione family, an honored guest family that has rendered great service to Catholicism. As for the intelligence bureau's mission, tell her to monitor his every move and report it.”

Having finished the emergency agenda, the Cardinal raised both hands and pointed toward those inside the meeting room.

“──Everything for the Lord's kingdom.”

“──Everything for the lambs of this world.”

“──The meeting is over, so go prepare to spread the Gospel.”

“──Let us praise the Lord.”

Thud

- thud

- The sound of the Cardinal's staff striking the floor echoed to signal the end of the meeting, and the priests began to leave.

______________

A hotel suite in Palermo, which could be called the central city of Sicily.

Suppressing my nervousness as much as possible, I stared at the message that had just arrived.[Ratte: Apparently the Vatican's intelligence bureau is heading to where you are right now, Young Master!][Ratte: So I think you should prepare in advance!]

“It's already too lateee...”

Holding my face, I glanced at the woman lying unconscious on the bed.

It had already been twenty minutes since she lost consciousness.

About the same amount of time had passed since I asked Ratte to find out why the Vatican had come looking for me.

-Ding!

After that long wait, a message finally arrived.[Ratte: Young Master. An official letter just arrived. Apparently the reason for their visit is to escort the Calione family's guest, who is an honored guest of the Vatican?]

“Huh?”

I was bewildered by the absurd reason.

No, the Vatican was sending me an escort? Not just any family, but the heir to the Calione family? The son of a Mafia boss?

“Does that even make sense?”

And that person over there, knocked unconscious after getting smacked by a door, was supposed to protect me?

“Ridiculous.”

The reason they sent someone to act as my escort.

No matter how I thought about it, calling it an escort was just a pretext. I could only assume they'd attached someone to monitor me.

Otherwise, there was absolutely no reason for the Vatican to assign someone to me.

An honored guest? It was true that our family donated enormous offerings to Catholicism every month, but we absolutely weren't a family beloved by the Vatican enough to be assigned an escort.

Then who exactly was the person in front of me?

I definitely felt like I'd seen her somewhere before, but I couldn't remember well.

Had I seen her in the game?

“I definitely saw her...”

As I silently examined her while thinking that.

“...

As expected, you are impressive. Calione Junior.”

“Hm?”

The woman who had kept her eyes closed until now opened them and raised her upper body.

“I never imagined you would notice that I had awakened merely from that. Truly, the title of the greatest troublemaker of this era suits you well.”...

Pardon?

Saying that, she got off the bed, politely clasped both hands in front of herself, bowed toward me, and began introducing herself.

“I am Michaela, Commander of the 0th Order of the Holy Knights of the Holy Vatican Empire. Starting today, I have officially been assigned as the escort of Eugene Han Calione, eldest son of the Calione family, honored guests of the Vatican. I look forward to serving you.”

Ah. I remembered.

Commander of the 0th Order.

A character who appeared in the latter half of the game, and unlike her appearance, purely in terms of combat ability, she definitely ranked among the Vatican's upper tier.

She was somewhat different from the person I remembered, but if she was the Commander of the 0th Order, then she undoubtedly possessed considerable strength.

I had no idea how someone like that had managed to get hit by a mere door and even knocked unconscious, but one thing was certain.

She looked incredibly clumsy.

After all...

“This is strange. Why is my forehead so hot...”

“...

I think it would be best if you looked in a mirror.”

“A mirror, you say?”

After hearing me, she held her badly swollen forehead and headed toward a nearby mirror.

A short while later.

“Huh?”

Michaela saw herself with a large bump protruding from the middle of her forehead.

She looked flustered for a moment, then raised one hand and placed it over her forehead.

A moment later, a green glow gathered in her hand.

The wound enveloped in light gradually regained its original skin color, the swelling quickly subsided, and it returned to normal.

Come to think of it, most people belonging to the Vatican could use healing, right?‘Looks like they don't think it's a major problem either, so let's quietly let this disappear.’I sank into thought while watching her heal herself.

In this world, healers were fairly valuable resources.

And this one was even commander-class.

She wasn't a character I'd met in the original game, so I couldn't be certain, but if someone like that had officially been dispatched as my escort... huh? Didn't I basically just get myself an automatic-defense potion bottle?

“Oho...”

“Hmm? What is it? Do you have something to say?”

“No, nothing. Please continue treating yourself.”

“?”

This might be far more profitable than I expected.

I could already picture in my head how I was going to make use of her.

The corners of my lips naturally rose.

It was a day that made me want to offer a prayer of thanks to the Lord for no particular reason.

______________

Before Michaela arrived at the hotel.

She took out her phone, checked the final orders sent from the Vatican, and clenched her fist with determination.

The target of this mission was the heir to the massive Mafia force said to control most of the underworld.

Eugene Han Calione, heir to the Calione Family.

Not long ago, the public had called him ‘Calione's delinquent,’ but that was truly an old story now.

He had changed so remarkably that anyone saying such a thing at a gathering these days would be laughed at.

That was because he had recently become involved in various incidents and achieved accomplishments that were anything but ordinary.

Even if those achievements were false rumors created through Calione's power, they were the sort that could not simply be ignored.‘You must be cautious, and then cautious again. Stay as close to him as possible and make sure to determine whether he is plotting anything strange and how he normally lives.’Recalling once again the advice of the Cardinal who had taken her in and raised her, Michaela entered the hotel.

“Welcome, Sister. What brings you to our hotel?”

Now that Italy had become the Holy Vatican Empire, members of the clergy were truly respected by everyone.

Of course, in the rural areas of Sicily and other villages separated from mainland Italy, people sometimes showed wariness, but in this land made up mostly of Catholics, one thing was certain: no one could disregard them.

“This is official Vatican business. I have business with the person staying in the suite here.”

At the employee's words, Michaela showed the necklace proving her identity and stated her purpose.

Normally, they were forbidden from revealing information related to a guest's personal details, but this was official Vatican business.

Refusing to cooperate was unthinkable, so although the employee looked briefly flustered, they soon handed her the elevator key granting access to the suite.

“May God's blessing be with you, Sister.”

“May God's blessing be with you.”

After exchanging a brief greeting, Michaela immediately boarded the elevator.

The operation she had devised was as follows.

1. First, knock on the door, meet face-to-face, and exchange greetings.

Through her training at the Vatican, Michaela had already finished objectively assessing herself.

She was beautiful and cute.

Therefore, rather than raising his guard before he saw her face, she thought it would be more advantageous to meet him face-to-face first and exchange greetings.

2. While beside him, perform actions that would make him lower his guard, identify Calione Junior's openings, acquire information, then send it to the Vatican.

Deliberately showing weaknesses could instead cause the opponent to underestimate her and let information slip.

Michaela intended to take advantage of that and send as much information as possible to the Vatican.

She had practiced enough.

The plan was perfect.

At last, she reached the suite, steadied her mind with a short prayer before beginning the mission, and knocked on the door.

She heard ‘Who is it?’ from inside, but did not answer.

That was because she knew that in this region, saying ‘I'm from the Church’ usually made most people wary.

But the door didn't open.

What was this? She definitely heard a voice from inside.

Knock knock!

She knocked again and quietly waited.

Her rhythm had nearly been broken, but she was a professional.

She quickly regained her composure.

But the door continued not to respond.

Tilting her head, she began knocking cheerfully in rhythm.

Knock knock! Knock! Knock knock!!──Bang!

The instant an impact struck her head, her vision shook violently and strength drained from her body.

“Ugh!”‘I clearly... didn't sense any presence at all...’The situation had happened so suddenly that she couldn't even raise holy power to protect her body and was caught completely off guard.‘To think I'd be taken down from the very beginning...’And just like that, she lost consciousness.

And when she opened her eyes again.‘...

Infiltration successful.’Realizing that she was lying inside the target's room, she smiled faintly to herself.

Her opponent currently did not know that she was awake.

If she simply continued pretending to be unconscious, she should be able to obtain useful information──“Ridiculous.”‘...?!’As though he somehow knew that she was awake.

Feeling his gaze on her, Michaela jolted and began raising holy power, but quickly suppressed it.

It would be strange for an unconscious person to use holy power.‘1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11...’So, just as she had practiced during training, she counted prime numbers to calm her confused mind.

Right.

Her breathing control and acting were perfect.

No matter who he was, it should be impossible to notice──“I definitely saw her...”

He saw it?

The holy power she had raised was extremely faint.

Probably so faint that even detecting it would be impossible unless she herself were concentrating.

And yet he noticed this...

Concluding that further acting was pointless in the face of her opponent's overwhelming observational ability, she gave up pretending and opened both eyes.‘He is not someone to take lightly.’As though his attitude from moments ago had been nothing, he instantly wore a worried expression and showed concern for her.

Michaela felt chills run through her.

And then there was her swollen forehead.

She hurried to the mirror and treated it, but...‘...

He's smiling?’Could even this have all been intentional?!...

Eugene Han Calione.

Looking at him smiling behind her, she raised the warning level in her heart to the highest stage.‘Eugene Han Calione. You truly are terrifying.’