The Stupidest in the Universe
Thud.
Olivia catches Kim Deok-Sung as he collapses.
“You!”
Olivia calls out to Kim Deok-Sung.
She hastily checks his pulse at his wrist.
Thump, thump.
A normal heartbeat.
Softly.
Looking at Kim Deok-Sung, who has his eyes closed with a peaceful expression as if he’s fallen into a deep sleep, Olivia bites her lip.
Her face turns red.
“Ugh! You were fine, and I worried for nothing! You fool! Moron! Sea cucumber! Sea squirt! Anemone!!”
Olivia shouts with a flushed face.
In stark contrast to her harsh words, she gently lays him down on the ground and uses her knees as a pillow.
Olivia’s hand quietly strokes Kim Deok-Sung’s head.
Even the heroines watching can’t step closer to that scene.
“Haru, it seems we can’t interrupt Olive sis this time. What a shame. My super cute little sister Haru could have made the play.”
“Ugh, it’s frustrating, but Kurosawa is right. Eri Ling will also yield to the princess just this once.”
The first to speak is Haru, puffing out her cheeks, and Eri nods in agreement.
“Grrr… Next time, I will definitely win! Bonaparte.”
Behind the two girls, Rin bites her lip with a clenched fist.
“Geeeee… I can also give my lord a knee pillow…”
Just then, Makoto appears beside Rin, muttering in a low voice.
Click.
Evangeline clasps her hands in prayer and cheerfully shouts.
“Hawa-hawa-hawa… But it’s a relief that Kim Deok-Sung is safe. Right, Trixie?”
Swoop.
Evangeline takes Beatrice’s hand.
Beatrice, caught in Evangeline’s grasp, blushes and says, “Hmph… The life of a lowly human is… not particularly concerning to me whether he lives or dies, but…”
“Oh dear, Trixie, you shouldn’t say things like that.”
Tap.
Evangeline scolds Beatrice in a firm voice.
Beatrice’s face turns red.
“B-but… living is better than dying, right? Above all, if that guy dies, it would be troublesome for me too…”
Beatrice trails off her words.
The one eye uncovered by her eyepatch speaks to Kim Deok-Sung.
What she just stammered was her true feelings.
It was her true feelings.
Kim Deok-Sung.
At first, she intended to use him to escape this situation.
Honestly, she didn’t have high hopes.
The Grand Elder of the Cult.
Beatrice was well aware of the horrifying strength of the EX-rank villain, Diego Morales.
The reason the League Master, Messiah, settled for an alliance without subjugating the Cult was due to Diego Morales’s immense power.
He was the world’s most wanted criminal and the worst technological terrorist.
To face him, Kim Deok-Sung’s abilities alone would not suffice.
That’s what she thought.
She was just slightly intrigued by the idea that she could disrupt Messiah’s plans.
If she could interfere with Messiah, maybe she could also interfere with the Cult’s plans.
But today, Kim Deok-Sung single-handedly defeated the EX-rank villain.
Whether it was luck or skill, his potential was already proven to be at EX-rank level.
‘Perhaps he really could…’
Beatrice’s uncovered right eye was fixed on Kim Deok-Sung.
He might just be able to save her.
With his own potential at EX-rank, connections to the President of the Japan Hero Association, the French Imperial family, the British royal family, friendship with the Son of the Sword Master, ties with the siblings of Ishihara Group, ranked first in the Japanese business world, and the surprising ability to manipulate the entire nation of South Korea with just a finger.
If it were someone like Kim Deok-Sung, he might just seize the freedom she thought was impossible until now.
“Ho ho ho. Well done.”
Evangeline felt the sincerity in Beatrice’s voice and ruffled her hair affectionately.
“Waaah, I’m the Crimson Saint! I’m not a child…”
As Beatrice grumbled, closing her eyes under Evangeline’s touch, suddenly…
“Everyone! You’re all alive! I’m so relieved, teacher!”
In a flash, Mayuzumi appeared with her pink hair swaying.
Hug!
She embraced everyone except Kim Deok-Sung and Olivia.
“Teacher, I was really worried… I’m so glad you’re all safe!”
Tears streamed down her face.
When they were suddenly attacked by the villain, she had thought it was all over.
Death didn’t concern her.
At the very least, she wanted to protect her students.
But they survived.
Her students were fine.
At that thought, someone’s face popped into Mayuzumi’s mind.
“What happened to Kim?”
It was Kim Deok-Sung.
Memories rushed back to her just before she fainted.
His words that it was okay to rest, and the warmth of his body came to mind.
Boom.
Mayuzumi’s face turned red.
‘Oh no! He’s a student, and I’m a teacher… It’s inappropriate for a teacher to have impure thoughts about a student…’
Mayuzumi shook her head vigorously.
Right.
This was purely a statement made out of concern for her students as their homeroom teacher.
Just fulfilling her duty as a teacher.
There were absolutely no personal feelings involved.
Thump, thump.
Just then, as Mayuzumi was trying hard to ignore her heart’s racing…
“Master is over there…”
Eri, nestled in Mayuzumi’s embrace, pointed in one direction.
Mayuzumi’s gaze followed where Eri was pointing.
The teacher’s gaze turns towards where Eri is pointing.
There lay Kim Deok-Sung, seemingly fallen, resting his eyes on Olivia’s lap.
“Looks like Kim is safe, thankfully.”
Mayuzumi sighs in relief.
It was a relief.
It would be a lie to say she wasn’t worried.
Even a seasoned S-Rank hero, known as the magical girl of destruction during her active days for clearing numerous gates and catching countless villains, had been helpless in defeat by this opponent.
Not someone an ordinary student could handle.
And yet, he had survived.
‘Ugh… This is so embarrassing. I feel unworthy as a teacher…’
A teacher should protect their students, yet here she was, feeling like the one being protected.
There’s no way this is acceptable.
‘And to top it off…’
Seeing Olivia using her lap as a pillow sparked a hint of jealousy in her.
‘The teacher could also be a lap pillow…’
With that thought, Mayuzumi shook her head vigorously.
A lap pillow?
What kind of unhealthy and corrupt thought is that?
On top of that, feeling jealous of a student who is so much younger than her?
This can’t be.
Just then, as Mayuzumi tried to suppress her jealousy, Olivia muttered,
“Universe’s biggest idiot…”
Completely ignoring the reactions around her, Olivia focused solely on Kim Deok-Sung.
Memories of when she explored the ruins during the beginning of the first semester with him flooded her mind.
He had collapsed after they conquered the ruins, and she had given him a lap pillow then too.
Her face turned red.
Pouting her lips, she exclaimed,
“Idiot!”
Despite the harsh words, Olivia gently stroked his black hair, biting her lip.
‘The scene I caught a glimpse of right after he woke up… That was definitely my brother’s mental projection, right?’
The final moment of the fight between Kim Deok-Sung and Berserk lingered faintly in Olivia’s memory.
Though not exact, the hazy image still remained.
Without a doubt, it was the Black Prince’s mental projection.
It wasn’t just that.
‘The spirit standing behind you also looked just like…’
It resembled the late Black Prince.
‘Could it be…’
If the spirit residing in Durandal was indeed the Black Prince.
If the brother she so longed for hadn’t actually died ten years ago in the battle against Fafnir but had instead survived in spirit form.
Many of the questions Olivia had held onto would suddenly resolve.
The reason Kim Deok-Sung could wield the black blade strictly controlled by the French Royal Family.
The reason he fought resembling her brother.
If it meant that the Black Prince, now a spirit, had supported him?
‘…’
The spirit of Durandal is the Black Prince.
Olivia was nearly convinced.
‘But why didn’t he say anything? As expected…’
Yet, the Black Prince had never uttered a word about his identity to her.
Even when they first met in spirit form in Seoul, he was nothing like the reserved, dignified, and cool figure she remembered; he’d been rather frivolous.
‘My brother would never act like that!! Clearly, that behavior is a desperate attempt to hide his identity!!’
But why the secrecy?
‘It must be related to what happened ten years ago…’
Olivia’s mind flashes back to a memory from ten years ago.
It was a childhood memory, but impossibly vivid—the day when the Omega Rank Gate opened and the Omega Rank Otherworldly Being, Fafnir, attacked Paris.
The world became a hellscape, and the hero nation France faced imminent destruction.
That day, she still recalls the sensation of someone patting her head as she trembled in fear.
And the Black Prince never returned.
Many heroes die in battles against Otherworldly Beings.
But the Black Prince was an unmatched hero who ended the Great Catastrophe of the Five Crowns thirty years ago.
Even an Omega Rank Otherworldly Being wouldn’t easily take him down.
‘…That incident might not have been just a simple gate.’
There might be a larger conspiracy hidden beneath it all.
Coincidentally, on the very day the Black Prince met his demise, the other Five Crowns, except for Seira, all died for various reasons.
If there really is a bigger conspiracy at play, it would make sense for her brother to hide his true identity and play the fool.
If the secrets surrounding the deaths of the Five Crowns were to be known, just knowing their existence could prove dangerous.
And the Black Prince she knew wouldn’t have wanted her to be in danger.
But Olivia wasn’t a fool.
‘Those fools he’s fighting against… could it be…?’
From the cherry blossom festival to now.
The villains and incidents that had been occurring way too frequently.
At first, she thought it was just her bad luck, but if a gigantic plot was indeed behind it…
Perhaps Kim Deok-Sung was battling something far more sinister than she imagined.
A gust of wind brushed against Olivia’s cheek.
She was displeased with both the Black Prince and Kim Deok-Sung.
“These fools…!”
If there are hardships, if there are difficulties, she should be able to rely on him.
Isn’t that what her position as a personal maid is for?
Yet, just like in the past, Kim Deok-Sung was trying to handle everything on his own without leaning on her.
Just like the Black Prince of the past.
It was the ideal hero she had longed for.
But,
“…Sometimes, I want to be your help too…”
Yet, feeling neglected was inevitable.
In a rare moment, Olivia whispers her sincere feelings in a quiet voice.
Naturally, an unconscious Kim Deok-Sung couldn’t hear her heartfelt words.
*
Her head hurt.
“Ugh.”
A groan escaped her lips.
“…Am I awake?”
A familiar yet strange middle-aged man’s voice reached her ears.
Wait, not the Black Prince but a middle-aged man?
Suddenly.
She lifted her heavy eyelids.
As expected, the first thing that entered her view was the unfamiliar ceiling of a hospital.
Given the chaos with Berserk, it would be stranger not to end up in a hospital.
Hospitals were becoming familiar to her.
The issue was…
“It seems you’ve regained consciousness.”
Next to her, in a patient gown, sat a middle-aged man with green hair.
It was Shinozaki Ichiro.
Wait, why is he here?
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