Chapter 140: Identity of the Villain (1)
Back at the Academy, Vikir thought back to last night's events.
'That guy with the black sack. He must have used the blunt technique of the Quovadis, right?
He had the word 'Ephebo' tattooed on his chest.
He had the skills of an advanced Graduator, so it took some effort to deal with him.
That didn't stop him from running away halfway through, which was a shame.
'Tomorrow night, I'll have to go around even more intensely. I'll have to hit every place that smells like a demon, and I'm sure I'll see him again.'
If you don't want to come out, you won't be able to.
I'm going to wipe out all the businesses the demons have set up in the human world.
'Demons love human blood, especially the blood of children, so we'll focus on the most vulnerable orphanages, hospitals, and monasteries.... I need to become a Sword Master as soon as possible to make the hunt a little smoother.'
Vikir is currently a Superior Graduator, having fully regained the strength of his former life.
Combined with the protection of the River Styx, the magic sword Beelzebub, the Baskerville 10-style swordsmanship, and the experience gained from slaying countless demons, he can now truly compete with a Sword Master.
Considering he's only 18 years old, there's a lot of room for improvement.
"First, the seventh tooth. I need to master the Baskerville seven tooth technique first....'
Vikir was mulling over his thoughts.
"Okay, everyone!"
A voice snapped Vikir out of his thoughts.
A second-year girl stood in front of the first-year students and focused their attention.
Her nametag reads something like this.
<Newspaper Club (Media Society Participation Club): Ryukeion (Λ?κειον)>.
Club.
A student organization is also known as a circle, society, club, etc.
This club, called Ryukeion, is a small newspaper club run by about 30 students.
However, despite their small size, their influence was enormous.
The daily newspaper, which was a mix of news from inside and outside the academy, always sold like hotcakes and was in great demand outside the academy.
Students wanted to know what was going on inside the academy, no matter how small, as soon as possible, while parents and stakeholders outside the academy wanted to know more.
It's no wonder that the world's eyes were on this group of young people, who would later become world changers.
And Vikir was one of the most desperate for information.
By day, he lives as a normal student inside the academy, hiding his identity, and by night, he's a hunter who goes out and hunts demons.
To do so, he must utilize the information inside the academy to the fullest.
The only way to know what happened at night faster than the morning newspaper, and what happened during the day faster than the evening newspaper, is to join the organization that produces the morning and evening newspapers.
A newspaper inside an academy like Ryukeion.
'By the way, they don't have many members, surprisingly.'
Vikir turned his head to look around at the scene inside the newspaper department.
The room was filled with magical printing presses that printed mana screens onto paper, and various photographic materials.
However, the number of people in the room was small.
A few sophomores led the freshmen in the club. The rest were freshmen like Vikir.
The current first-year entries for the newspaper were as follows.
Don Quixote Tudor (Class A, Cold).
Sinclair (Class A, Hot).
Sancho Barataria (Class A, Cold).
Usher Bianca (Class B, Cold).
Piggy (Class B, Cold).
Vikir (Class B, Cold).
In the beginning, there were more newcomers.
But Ryukeion is a very demanding club, and the workload is too much for a hobby club to handle.
Furthermore, at the academy, where exams are so rigorous that even the slightest neglect of personal study can result in a detention, it was impossible to combine schoolwork with the club unless you were extremely talented.
Moreover, the head of the newspaper department, Saint Dolores Rune Quovadis, is known to be a workaholic, so it's no wonder the freshmen are falling apart at the seams.
Worse, it's rumored that being a staff journalist for Dolores' newspaper is harder than midterms and finals.
The remaining freshmen were a tough bunch.
One of the sophomores gathered the freshmen together and asked.
"How did you guys end up in the newspaper? We're known for our discipline here at Ryukeion."
Tudor was the first to answer.
"Hahaha, I'm an alpha male, so it's no problem, academics, clubs, I can do it all!"
It was the confidence of a top student in the Cold Class and a member of a seventh-generation family.
Sancho was the next to speak.
"Hmm. I stayed because I don't want people to think I'm just a strong-minded fool. The newspaper club sounds like something intelligent, and I want to be an intelligent man."
Everyone was a little surprised by the unexpectedly serious answer.
Piggy was next.
"Well, I originally like collecting and analyzing information... ... I think it's my calling!"
He stuttered a lot, but it was still a pretty bold ambition.
This time, it was Sinclair, a good student, who spoke up.
"Isn't money, information, and power inseparable in the first place? Of those, I think information is the most dominant."
It was an answer that accurately understood the inseparable dynamics that move the world.
Finally, Bianca spoke up.
"Ugh. I was tricked into joining by Dolores."
"Tricked?" Everyone looked at her in disbelief.
Bianca hesitated for a moment before answering truthfully.
"He told me this was a 'sniping' club...."
She wasn't wrong. Every once in a while, there's an article in the newspaper about sniping someone.
When Bianca finished, we all laughed heartily.
One of the sophomore captains giggled and patted Bianca on the shoulder.
"Well, by that measure, we are a sniper club. Look at this article!"
She showed them a sports article on page two of the last issue of the morning paper.
The magically animated photo displayed views and comments.
[Exclusive] The identity of the 'face genius' who appeared in the first year's Naphthali game!? / Views: 48,999
-Last night in afternoon gym class, a mysterious freshman was seen in a......
<Discussions: 31,021
?(1st year student Cold Class): Every time this guy frowns, I also frown a can of beer... I'm upset... ???
??(2nd year student Hot Class): A girl like me... I was a woman like Simon*'s bed who could not be shaken even by idols from imperial capitals the size of an empire... Today, I received a serious heart attack... As a retaliatory assault, I got hit on the lips and made to pay for it once. Ask me?
??(1st year student Hot Class): I'll watch this video even when I'm a granny.
??(1st year student Hot Class): My oppa whose name I don't know... I want to make a promise to my oppa that I will live and die just for today while smoking cigarettes on the veranda of the 10th floor of my private villa in the imperial capital...★
??(2nd year student Hot Class): I heard that this person's MBTI test result is SEXY...? ????? Take me away...
??(1st year student Cold Class): A person who wants to be crushed by this mysterious newbie's brow wrinkles
??(1st year student Cold Class): 2 ppl.
??(3rd year student Hot Class): 3 persons
??(2nd year student Cold Class): I thought his name was Vikir.
??(1st year student Cold Class): ...Let me stain your life with my name...
??(4th year student Hot Class): Mmmm... What's a beauty class? What a joke...
??(3rd year student Hot Class): Don't like Vikir/What is that?/Don't like Vikir/How do you do that?
??(4th year student Cold Class): Oppa... Oppa Vikir... Even though you are younger than me, you are my eternal oppa... I keep crying because of you, so a new big lake was built in our territory...
.
.
Crazy results with almost 50,000 views and 30,000 comments.
Upon seeing the article, Tudor and Sancho burst out laughing.
"Wahahahahaha! Hey, Vikir, this is the day, right? Our Naphtali day!"
"...."
Vikir put his hand to his forehead and sighed lightly.
Meanwhile, Bianca's head is turned away with a pathetic expression on her face, and Sinclair is staring at the newspaper article with Vikir's picture on it.
Piggy was staring enviously at Vikir, who seemed to have made friends with Tudor and Sancho.
Just then.
The door to the club burst open, and Ryukeion from the newspaper department walked in.
"Hey, guys!"
St. Dolores, the head of Ryukeion, called the meeting to order with her usual enthusiasm.
She gathered the first, second, and third year students together and began to discuss what would be published in today's evening paper.
"Last night, the second and third year reporters went outside the academy to do some reporting. They got good stories, we just need to decide on a headline."
Dolores placed the finished articles on the table.
The articles covered the following topics.
[unpublished article] / Views: 0
-Late last night, October 0, at dawn. A mysterious assailant appeared and ransacked a nursery school in 00...
Unusually, the attacker didn't touch the riches in the vault...
The conclusion was that it was not the actions of a person with whom he had a grudge. ...
Nothing is known about his identity, what his objectives are, or what his fighting strength is...
The damage done to the nursery in this incident is untold...
The number of girls between the ages of 10 and 13 who died unjustly is only confirmed...
Meanwhile, no official comment has been made by the imperial family and the Quovadis of the Faithful on the matter...
<Comments: 0>.
Last night, an unknown assailant broke into an orphanage on the outskirts of the Imperial City, killing the director and a number of poor, parentless children and leaving the neighborhood in shambles.
He didn't touch any of the gold or jewelry in the vault, and his intentions were purely murderous.
...Well, it goes something like this.
Vikir looked at it and thought.
'There's a lot of misunderstanding here.'
The demons had killed the girls, not Vikir.
However, the imperial guards who arrived late seemed to have judged that Vikir was responsible for the demons' actions.
'It doesn't matter, we're not going to get caught, but we need to run the data on this nursery raid through Sindiwendi to see if it's connected to Viscount Gambino's slave auction, which I robbed earlier.'
While the rest of the newspaper staff was trying to figure out what to call the story, Vikir was thinking about something else entirely.
Meanwhile, serious discussions continue around the table.
Everyone was eager to put their own headline on the front page of a newspaper that would be seen by the entire nation.
"Fearsome Villain Born!?"
"Outside the academy, a monster stirs up the imperial capital!"
"What is the Imperial Guard up to!"
"An Unprecedented Villain Challenges the Quovadis!?"
"Girls, mysteriously going to their deaths. Who's Behind It?"
The titles are tantalizing.
But none of them hit the spot, and the debate stalled.
The smart newspaper staffers quickly realized what was holding them back.
"Oh, we don't have a name for the villain yet!"
"That's right, it's not as if we can call him a villain or a villainous criminal!"
"Let's give him a nickname first!"
Often, heinous criminals are given ominous nicknames such as "King of the Cave," "Son of the Fountain," "Murder King," "Human Snow White," "Bluebeard," and so on.
So we needed a catchy nickname for this villain, too.
Someone who suddenly and unexpectedly appeared one day and terrorized the night of the Imperial City.
A villain of epic proportions who brutally murders prominent dignitaries of society, or mercenaries whose names are widely known, and then disappears like a ghost, leaving no clues behind.
What should we call this unprecedented villain?
The students of the newspaper department were excited and participated in a nickname contest.
"Since the incident took place in District, how about 'The Wolf of District'?"
"Well, the raids and murders didn't just happen in the district. How about 'Nightcrawler of Misfortune'?"
"Too long. How about 'orphaned predator'? It's more impactful."
"'Orphan' is too discriminatory and demeaning. If we're going to go with that, let's go with 'nursery raider'."
"But orphanages aren't the only facilities that have been attacked. There's been monasteries, hospitals, places of worship, and even district offices. How about 'Mr. Terrorist'!"
"Hmmm, this is a little tricky."
There was a lot of discussion, but nothing really stuck.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Just when everyone's opinions were lulled into silence.
Saintess Dolores murmured softly, unconsciously.
"...The Night Hound."
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