I Became the Savior of the Academy’s Villains Chapter 100

Luca made a bored face.

"You guys again?"

"Again?"

"Aren't you Red Bandage?"

The moment he saw the bandages, he recognized them right away.

It was the Red Bandage gang he had seen at the illegal workshop.

When Luca seemed to recognize them, the woman at the very front burst out laughing.

"Hoho! Have we become that famous?"

"C-captain, is becoming famous a good thing for us?"

"Quiet! Being famous is always good!"

The woman shouted at her subordinate, who had dampened the mood, and slung her crossbow over her shoulder as she spoke.

"I'm Ibaol, the leader of the vigilante group Red Bandage, based here in Kototo."

"A vigilante group?"

Luca, looking dumbfounded, picked up a bolt that had fallen to the ground.

"Do vigilantes shoot things like this at people?"

"It's not dangerous if it's shot at people! See, the tip's blunt, even though it has a needle attached!"

At Ibaol's words, Luca glanced at the tip of the bolt.

It really was blunt.

"How absurd. Just because it's blunt doesn't mean you don't get hurt."

"If someone doesn't get hurt, it's not threatening, is it?"

Saying this, Ibaol once more aimed the crossbow at Luca.

"So, will you pay the toll?"

"Do vigilante groups collect tolls?"

"Of course! Do you think vigilantes make money by digging dirt?"

With a shrug, Ibaol gave the crossbow a little shake.

"The Kototo estate no longer receives protection from nobles. We protect the people living here from bandits and monsters, and shouldn't there be some reward for that?"

"That's the toll, then?"

"That's right! The only reason you can travel this road safely is because we're guarding it!"

It was true that they hadn't run into any monsters or bandits until now.

'Well, actually, we did run into something... but let's forget about that.'

Luca remembered those people Ottbo had passed with his dazzling driving skills, then shook his head.

"They tried to charge us for medical fees at the workshop, and now here you're trying to take a toll. You call yourselves a vigilante group, but you're just thugs."

"Medical fees? What do you mean by that?"

Ibaol frowned, and Luca replied blandly.

"At the illegal workshop, Red Bandage guys were playing at insurance scams with self-inflicted injuries. Isn't that your operation too?"

"Ugh! Those guys! Are they still doing that?"

With an angry glare, Ibaol turned to her subordinate nearby.

The subordinate stammered.

"N-no... We're just sort of protecting those kinds of guys.....?"

"Tell them to come back immediately! I sent them away for a bit and now they're embarrassing the vigilante group!"

"Y-yes, Ma'am!"

Luca clicked his tongue at their third-rate comedy.

"So, can we leave now?"

"Why? You haven't paid the toll yet."

Apparently, Ibaol drew a line between matters, and she again pointed the crossbow at him.

Luca clicked his tongue, then looked at Ottbo.

"Ottbo. How much longer for the magic power recharge?"

"Uh... 30 minutes?"

"That's reasonable."

Srrrng.

Luca drew his sword.

The opponents were already armed, and a bolt had even been shot. Besides, no bystanders would get involved and make things troublesome.

"Haha! You're going to fight all these people?"

Ibaol, having seen Luca block the bolt earlier, still figured there was nothing he could do against more than a dozen people.

Luca replied flatly.

"Pity. It would've been better if there were at least twice as many."

"Brag all you want. Go! If you can't pay the toll, take the auto-carriage from them!"

Ibaol sent her subordinates forward, and Luca lowered his sword tip.

"Maybe this time I'll at least get a warm-up."

* * *

"Th-this can't be...!"

Ibaol lay on the ground, her crossbow cleanly snapped in two.

By her side were subordinates bleeding from various slashes on their bodies.

And Luca stood over her, sword pointed in her direction.

"That was entertaining, in its own way. It's interesting to subdue people without using magic power."

"Who... what are you...?"

"Would anything change if you knew?"

Ibaol, trembling, asked about Luca's identity.

Luca just chuckled and wiped the blood from his sword blade.

"Ottbo. Magic power recharge?"

"It's done! We can leave now."

"Let's go, then."

With that, Luca turned and left the spot with his companions.

Vrooom.

This time, Ottbo drove at a slower speed.

With both hands on the wheel, he spoke.

"Luca. Why did you just leave those people?"

"Did you want me to kill them?"

"N-no, that's not what I meant."

Ottbo scratched his cheek.

"They really do ward off monsters and bandits around here. If I had killed them or even maimed them, it could've made things much harder for the residents."

Even non-enhanced monsters could be dangerous for ordinary people.

Even if these guys collected tolls and protection fees, as long as they kept monsters in check, their existence had some justification.

"Is that so?"

"They're so open about their activities, yet no one stops them—probably means the lord of this estate is powerless. You could say the administrators just changed hands. If this were a proper estate, we would've had to pay at the gate anyway."

"Oh, right. That's true."

Country roads weren't managed by the state.

Some were, but the roads in remote areas were the responsibility of the lord of the territory, who could then charge passing travelers a maintenance fee.

"If they hadn't started by firing a bolt, I would've paid the toll. But they were just too cocky."

"Yeah, that's true."

Ottbo snickered.

At that moment, Hav, who was listening in, poked his head out.

"There are tons of people like that around here. That's why, when I traveled with Master before, we always took the forest paths to avoid them."

Seeing him, Luca made a curious face.

"Oh. Looks like you're used to this now. Maybe we could speed up a bit, Ottbo."

"Should we?"

"Eek?!"

Hav quickly retreated in alarm, and Ottbo laughed heartily.

"Just kidding. Besides, we have to stop at a village soon to eat, so it doesn't matter if we speed up."

"Phew...."

"Hav. You'd better not eat too much."

"Why?"

"You'll just throw it all up anyway."

"...... Ugh."

They arrived at a nearby village, ate, and then hit the road again.

Although not as fast as before, they still moved much quicker than expected.

After about three more hours of driving, fatigue showed on Ottbo's face.

"Ugh...."

"Ottbo, you'd better rest for today."

"Huh? N-no, it's fine, I can drive... a bit more...."

Seeing Ottbo begin to nod off at the wheel, Luca spoke sternly.

"Unless you want your destination to be the afterlife, not our actual goal, stop here for now."

"... Okay."

They got off the carriage and prepared to camp.

"Are we going to have more people show up asking for tolls?"

"It'll be all right here. I remember camping here with Master. But let's move deeper into the forest, just in case."

"Lead the way."

They could have kept going a bit further to wake up, but thanks to Hav, they chose to camp immediately.

As he'd shown during the Ataran forest fieldwork, Hav was a camping expert.

Even though they hadn't restocked camping supplies in Bizen, the tools from his backpack made everything much more comfortable.

Even while preparing camp, Ottbo kept dozing off.

"From now on, we'll drive for three hours and rest for thirty minutes."

"That might make the trip a bit longer...."

"You've probably realized how tiring driving is. Let's go with safety."

At Luca's firm words, Ottbo nodded.

"Got it."

From then on, their routine was simple.

They spent all day moving in the auto-carriage, occasionally stopping at villages to eat. If the timing worked, they'd sleep at an inn; if not, they'd camp out.

Sometimes they encountered bandits, but they were rarely even enough for Luca to count as post-meal exercise.

If they had traveled on foot, their bodies would have been exhausted and their minds blank—but because they sat idle in the carriage, it felt even harder.

Five days passed like that.

"... Oh! Isn't this Max?"

Hav, absentmindedly staring out the window, recognized a familiar road and his face lit up in surprise.

Luca, who had been looking at his phone, glanced over.

"Ottbo, are we almost there?"

"Looks like it."

"It's Max, for sure! Moula—we're already at Max!"

Next to the ruined Parama estate, here was the Max estate, the place Hav and Moula visited to get daily goods.

They were essentially almost there.

Both viscountcies and especially baronies had tiny territories—usually, the village was right by the lord's manor.

The Max estate was a barony, with only a small lord's manor and a tiny village nearby.

But at the point where the road met the village, there was something like a checkpoint.

"Halt! Stop there!"

"?"

The group was puzzled.

Normally, no one stopped an auto-carriage in a place like this.

After all, riding an auto-carriage meant you were likely a noble—or at least someone of significant social standing—and people tended not to want to bother such travelers.

But Max estate's guards stopped them.

"What's this? I've never seen a checkpoint here before."

Hav also tilted his head in confusion.

"What's your business here?"

"Luca, what should I say?"

Ottbo looked at Luca, who replied impassively.

"A commoner dares to speak informally to a noble? Ask if he wants to die."

"Understood!"

Cheerfully, Ottbo frowned at the guard and said,

"How dare a commoner speak so rudely to a noble. Do you have a death wish?"

"!"

At Ottbo's words, the guard flinched and glanced nervously at him.

"Um... c-could I see your identification...?"

"Identification? Hmm...."

Ottbo thought for a moment, then pulled out his student ID from his pocket and handed it over.

"I only have my student ID at the moment. Is that fine?"

"This is...!"

The student ID of the Hernan Royal Academy.

It could serve as higher-level identification than most ID cards.

But there was no way such a rural guard would recognize an Academy student ID.

'... Th-this, this is the imperial seal?'

However, even this guard recognized the imperial seal stamped on the card.

He quickly snapped to attention and saluted.

"S-sorry for the trouble! Please, you may pass!"

As Luca's party passed, the guard hurriedly called out to another guard on standby.

"Hey! Go quickly and tell the lord! Someone from the imperial family has arrived!"

But apparently, this led to a bit of a misunderstanding.

* * *

At the very edge of the Max estate, the road ended.

"There's no maintenance at all here now, so you can't use it."

Other places may neglect road maintenance, but at least they still cleared fallen trees or animal carcasses, while here there was nothing at all.

There wasn't even a paved road, and in some places, grass was taking over.

"Finally, I can actually walk."

"It's really not far from here—we'll arrive soon!"

Luca and his party put the auto-carriage into the storage space and followed Hav.

Whether it was because he'd gotten out of the carriage or because they were almost home, Hav practically bounded forward with excitement.

After about twenty minutes of walking, they saw smoke in the distance.

"There it is! Let's go!"

Spotting the smoke, Hav broke into a run.

But just three steps in—

Psshuk!

"Gyaah?!"

"!"

Suddenly, Hav disappeared from sight.

He had fallen into a pit trap on the ground.

"Are you all right?"

"H-help...!"

The trap was lined with sharp spikes.

A normal person would have been killed instantly.

Fortunately, Hav had attached a capsule to his body in case of auto-carriage accidents, one that would explode automatically to generate a protective shield upon impact.

Thanks to that, he didn't end up impaled and killed.

But he was obviously still shaken.

Luca pondered how he should rescue him, but at that very moment, he instinctively gripped his sword hilt as he felt signs of movement ahead.

"Don't move! If you move, we'll shoot!"

Shabby people in ragged clothes were glaring at them.

But the instant Luca saw what they held, his eyes widened.

"... Guns?"

What they held—though crudely made—were unmistakably guns.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

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