Surviving as a Con Artist at the Academy

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268. Lyman Begilius (1)

The massive clash occurring within the dimensional rift came to a halt.

Lyman and the Destruction God Endless were exchanging powerful blows.

Their collision, which no human in this world could dare approach, ended with Lyman’s victory.

– You have won…

Endless, struck directly by Lyman’s maximum output of mana, vanished after uttering those words.

With that, the Destruction God Endless disappeared from this world.

I wasn’t particularly enamored, but a smile formed on Lyman’s face for having accomplished what his mother could not.

However, Lyman was not in a normal state either.

Having been hit repeatedly by Endless’s anti-regeneration arrows, his entire body was riddled with holes.

Even his heart was no exception. Even Lyman, an immortal being, could not regenerate.

‘Still, I could manage without a heart…’

I don’t know when this arrow’s effect will wear off.

It was fortunate that while my power was compromised, the opponent’s strength was not whole either.

Ultimately, exhausted, Lyman’s demonization released, and he returned to his human form.

As he fell beneath the rift, he plummeted towards Papias’s surface.

Below, he could see the people of Aligieri observing beyond the rift.

From the Principal to the professors, they were faces he could never forget.

– They are all precious children. Even if they are young now, if taught with care, they can grow up correctly.

– You grew up that way too, Lyman. Sometimes, you should thank your mother for that.

Suddenly, echoes of the past resonated in Lyman’s mind.

Voices he had heard from his mother and Master long ago left him momentarily dazed.

The Principal Kaiden was the closest visible figure.

He was undoubtedly the descendant of the child who achieved the most among those taken in by his mother.

‘Yeah… what you said isn’t wrong.’

While he recognized his mother’s words to some extent, a question arose in Lyman’s mind.

How had someone who received such care while growing up turned out to be such a punk?

*

“….”

Lyman, who had briefly lost consciousness, opened his eyes once more.

The last memory he had was plummeting down from the dimensional rift.

What lay before him was an unfamiliar sky.

The rift was gone, and there was no ominous feeling… just a beautifully clear sky.

No matter how much his regenerative ability was diminished, he wasn’t fragile enough to die from falling from a sky.

But there was something even more astonishing.

“My wounds….”

The injuries from Endless’s arrows had completely healed.

The areas he had thought would be unrecoverable due to the anti-regeneration arrows were now fully restored.

Just then, a voice emerged beside the astonished Lyman.

“What’s there to be surprised about? You’re an immortal, aren’t you?”

“Huh?”

Seated next to him was a grinning boy.

Radon Crawler. At his words, Lyman clicked his tongue and lay back down.

“What happened?”

With a tone that implied he should get to the point, Radon started explaining.

“After you fell from the rift, these people treated you. They also realized you were that demon.”

“What method could they possibly use to heal me? I got hit by arrows that nullify regeneration.”

“You shouldn’t underestimate the power of the magical devices from Aligieri’s secret storage. It’s something created and passed down by your mother.”

In the depths of Aligieri, a storage room could only be opened with the Principal’s authority.

Inside were important magical devices crafted by the Great Sage Dantia, intended for combating evil gods.

One of those devices had been used on Lyman.

“Have you ever heard of a box that nullifies the power of evil gods?”

“Nope. There must be more than one item created by that lady.”

“Anyway, thanks to that box, not only was that Zombie Evil God nullified, but the power of the arrows that struck you was also neutralized.”

Since the arrows’ power was neutralized, the wounds healed on their own.

It was as if his mother’s magical device had helped him at this very moment.

And the ones holding that magical device were the scholarly individuals carrying on her will.

“But now I’ve been outed as a demon. Isn’t everyone scared?”

“Of course, everyone was puzzled at first. But since you took down the Destruction God, they helped you. Besides, considering your performance during the Magical Banquet, it’s a fitting reward.”

Back then, I’d also panicked. A meteor capable of destroying the continent was descending.

Then, like a hero of justice, Lyman soared into the sky and shattered that meteor.

The sight of Lyman in his demonic form must have been witnessed by many.

“Still, they don’t yet know you’re the son of a Great Sage, but that will soon change, right?”

“….”

The longer the tail, the more it gets stepped on.

Given all the performances Lyman had showcased, including the meteor incident, it was only a matter of time before it was discovered.

Of course, it didn’t mean anything bad would happen.

“What about the others?”

“They’re resting in that tent. They were so exhausted they fell asleep.”

It was a temporary encampment set up by the Aligieri people.

Radon had just been inside a moment ago.

Jenny and Luska were pinching each other’s cheeks while sleeping, and Mary was without her eyes closed, placing a bug in Nebia’s mouth.

It was eerie how they all moved as if they were sleepwalking.

And it was shocking to see Nebia mistaking the bug for a snack due to her sleep-talking.

“They all look really comfy. Hahaha….”

Recalling that scene, Radon chuckled with a faint smile.

They looked just like usual.

Beside those girls was the red-haired Student Council President.

“Mirona is safe too.”

“….”

“She’s probably starting to regain memories of her previous lives.”

Mirona had lived a total of five lives up to this point.

Her fourth life, as everyone knows, was as the Saint Maria.

Her third life was as the boss’s daughter of an underground organization on another continent.

Her second life was also someone from another continent, dubbed the Absolute Sword of the continent.

And her first life was as Maya, a disciple of the Great Sage Dantia and the daughter of Emperor Makia.

When all those memories return, Mirona would meet her demise as foretold by the curse.

“Then we should hurry up and break it. You never know when or where she might die because of humans.”

Mirona had faced death four times.

Considering that three of those deaths were caused by humans, Lyman couldn’t help but feel his disdain for humans grow.

In her second life, as the Absolute, she died due to the betrayal of her lust-driven subordinates.

In her third life, she was hunted from the very beginning due to her lineage.

And in her fourth life, despite being innocent, she was killed simply for being the boss’s daughter.

Such humans shared a common trait.

“Humans are selfish creatures.”

Those who have no rightful claim yet whose pride reaches the heavens.

Those who sow discord among people just to rob her of her position as Absolute.

Those foolish subordinates who were deceived and struck her from behind.

Even after receiving her grace, they repay it with enmity, showing their stupidity.

And even more maddening were those who insist there’s nothing wrong with their actions.

Indeed, humans were a truly pathological existence.

“That lady’s teachings must have been wrong.”

Just because she was the boss’s daughter, her face was marked for capture everywhere.

Simply asking why she was sought after led to her being thrown out by tavern owners.

The truth that it was merely a petty revenge.

Killing her doesn’t yield food or riches, yet humans were ready to behead her.

“Why on earth should I like that foolish lady?”

“Ha….”

“You know well enough about her.”

Radon couldn’t argue against that question.

He recalled web novels he enjoyed reading back on Earth.

If a character like Dantia was the protagonist, the comments section would have been devastated.

– Why is the protagonist such a fool? Does he have any intelligence?

– Is that really the Great Sage? Their intellect isn’t even as good as a monkey’s!

– The author must also be an idiot, so just stick to normal jobs. Don’t feed us this kind of nonsense.

Just imagining those comments sent chills down his spine.

What would Dantia have felt if she had lived on Earth and read web novels?

While pondering this, he sighed.

“But still, I’ll protect what she left behind. It’s the only path I can take as one of her blood.”

Yet, paradoxically, even while disliking his mother, Lyman was still maintaining her reputation.

The mere act of enrolling in the Aligieri Academy was proof of that.

Lyman disliked his mother’s naive heart.

He couldn’t empathize with helping others without any gain, just blindly.

But that sense of empathy had somewhat opened up.

“Therefore, you too will become something I must protect.”

Radon Crawler. He was a legacy left behind by Dantia.

From that point on, he too fell within the scope of what needed protection.

At those words, Radon was surprised but smiled, extending his hand.

“Then let’s do our best from now on. Friends.”

Lyman laughed in the same way and grabbed his outstretched hand.

“Sure.”

It was a moment where Lyman, who had always been cynical, transformed vividly.

“Oh, of course, your partner is Mirona.”

“Who doesn’t know that? You have four partners at this rate.”

However, he had to let go right away to prevent any strange misunderstandings.

The atmosphere turned chilly in an instant.

Surviving as an Academy Scammer.