He Didn't Want to Be the Center of Attention, Hence, after Defeating the Demon Lord, He Became Guild Master Chapter 23

I wanted Kirsch to remain safe, so I dispatched some of my guild members specialized in this type of job. The one in charge of gathering information was Leeza.

Verlaine entered the office on the second floor and placed the contract in the treasury, then started to remove her ap.r.o.n. That was her private room, so it wasn’t a strange or bold action… if I wasn’t present.

"…What? I’m only taking my ap.r.o.n off. Don’t tell me you’re going to order me to strip. That’s a pretty nice idea, though."
"There’s plenty of things I’d like you to do, but let’s talk about work for now."
"You’re always so composed… It’s true that I’m a dark elf, but don’t you feel any interest in me as a woman? Humans prefer normal ones, but we descend from the same race. Wors.h.i.+ping the G.o.d of Darkness or the G.o.d of Light is what determined our skin color, nothing more."
"I knew it was something like that, but hearing it from a dark elf is quite unbelievable."
"Eheh… Well, we’re talking about myths. Honestly speaking, now the color of our skin’s pretty much the only difference between us."

She said as she placed the folded ap.r.o.n on the desk. Then, she started to untie her headdress.

"…Should I take your looking at me as a display of love? It seems like you still haven’t healed yourself, so you should be in a good mood."
"Well, it’s not like I remove the alcohol in my body with magic every single time."

Under her white ap.r.o.n she brought only a black dress that wasn’t half bad on her. It looked neat on her white skin, but I was sure it would have looked good even on her real one.

"Anyway, that was quite the absurd request. The fate of the entire country is at stake… but it's fitting for someone like you, Master."
"A lot of people will know that we’re not a normal guild, so we’ll draw a lot of attention… after we finish this job, we’ll wait for things to calm down."
"I guess Velvechia is mobilizing their soldiers right now. What will you do about it? If they move their entire army, we might need to take some showy measures. I’m fine with going myself, but you probably have a better idea."
"It’s been a while since your last battle, so I can’t let you go all out. Well, someone will have to do something flashy, but the request is quite hard in itself…"

Verlaine wore a wry smile as she guessed who I was referring to.

"That girl, huh… She did a lot of damages in my country. We got a new lake, and it even became a famous sightseeing attraction. There’s plenty of things she left behind. Why don't we change her nickname into 'Walking cataclysm'?"
"She doesn’t know how to go easy… we can say the same for her looks."
"Her appearance, huh… I don’t dislike people who take care of themselves. I’d go my own way. Isn’t that the best way to live?"

Shouldn’t a former leading spirit like you talk about spiritual life, instead?1 I kept that nonsensical joke for myself and agreed with her in my heart.

"If you want to ask her something, just wait for her to drop by at the bar. I’ll help you too."
"Okay, thank you. But we need to start soon, so It's better to go ask her sincerely."

While I wondered if Walking cataclysm was sneezing at that moment, I moved to the back of the office.

"Master, didn’t you promise Cody to not get married until he does?"
"I don’t think so? By the way, if we take the ap.r.o.n off an ap.r.o.n dress it remains fascinating, why is it that?"
"Kh… I-If you think that, why don’t you show some reaction?! People are really bad, but you are a monster."
"Well, people are tempted easily. If I was to get drunk, I don’t know what I might do."
"…Master, you really are something. Shouldn’t you loosen up a bit more…? But it’d be better if you don’t do anything to make me despise you. I’m still the former Demon Lord."

Her tone suggested everything but disdain and hatred, but I still had to think about giving her talisman back.
Still, getting used to having a skilled bartender like her, made me think how sad it would've been when she would've come back to her homeland.

◆◇◆

The next morning, I left Verlaine handle the bar while I headed to the magic academy.

I took a stagecoach that brought me northeast and got off exactly in front of the academy. The site was pretty enormous, and from the garden, I only had to walk five minutes to reach the laboratory block.
The campus was filled with young people, some of which were eating their meal, while others were practicing magic.

A reception desk to coordinate meetings and such was placed at the laboratory block’s entrance. I bet they wouldn’t let me in easily if I had my face covered, so I approached it with my real appearance. Even if I had introduced myself as d.i.c.k Silver, no one would've remembered that I was one of the members of the expedition against the Demon Lord, since in those five years I erased every trace of myself. But given my nature, I preferred to use a false name.

"Good morning. Do you have an appointment?"

The receptionist was wearing a hat, and her uniform emphasized so much the shape of her chest that I had an internal struggle to avoid staring at that enormous blessing.
Her looks and bright smile really gave a 'young feeling', but if she was working here, she should've been older than me.
No, seriously, did Mylarka and the people related to this place enlarge their b.r.e.a.s.t.s or something?

"My name is Duke Solver. I’m searching the laboratory of Mylarka, who teaches offensive magic to the first cla.s.s."
"Professor Mylarka headed toward the library. Would you like to wait here for her, Mister Duke?"
"No, I prefer to go there myself. Thank you for the information."
"Quite a lot of men want to meet Lady Mylarka, but she usually refuses them even before knowing their names."
"I see… wait, why did you tell me, then?"
"She told me that I could let a young, black-haired man whose name started with 'D' know where she is."

Of course, 'let him know where I am', not 'tell him where I am'. That sounded exactly like something Mylarka would say… but what if someone else with those characteristics was to show up?

"She also said that this man’s voice would be lower than expected, so I guess she was talking about you, am I right?"
"Well, yes, probably. Can you please tell her to not leak personal information, please? Not even as a joke."
"Yes. I will keep this a secret between us."

She nodded with a cheerful smile, and my gaze descended on her big b.r.e.a.s.t.s, which gently followed her movements. On her name tag was written 'Pollon Marcot'.

"Sorry if it isn’t related, but do you talk with male students without a real reason?"
"My job is to provide information for those who come here, so, without a real reason, I avoid talking more than that."

I see. So, since I wasn’t a student, she would've talked to me again if I came back… wait, keep yourself together, Duke. If Mylarka were to know about this, she’d have killed me, so it was better to keep my lips sealed.

◆◇◆

I stepped into the library and asked the librarian where to find Mylarka. Since she was researching offensive magic, she should've been on the east side of the second floor.

That kind of magic could work in several ways, including borrowing power from spirits or G.o.ds, or using one’s magical power to meddle with the world’s laws. In my case, I self-studied and improved what I learned from other people, but I was part of the latter group.

Once on the second floor, I walked through it admiring the huge number of books stored on the shelves, until I finally saw her.

She was trying to reach a book, her entire body stretched out, but her fingertips could only graze it.

"What’s the point in placing books this high?! They should be within everyone’s reach…!"

She was complaining under her breath out of frustration, something she wouldn’t have let anyone see.
I then stealthily approached her, took the book from the shelf, and handed it over.

"Did you need this?"
"Kh… H-How long have you been here, d.i.c.k?"
"Just in time to take this for you. Is it the right one?"
"…Well, I won’t say it isn’t."

She took it and scanned through the pages she was flipping.

"Don’t think my opinion of you improved only because you are taller than me and because you tried to act gallantly."
"I’ll bring you a stool next time, then. Or do you prefer to get piggybacked?"
"D-Don’t get c.o.c.ky! Get on all fours and be my stool, instead! I’ll take my shoes off before stepping on you!"

She yelled at me, and even though I was used to her verbal abuses, that was a bit too much even for me.
Although she was a young teacher of the magic academy, she was still sixteen and looked no different from a student. It was the same for the receptionist I talked to before, and I’d also say that the hat suited her very well.

"…I felt like you’d come here soon. Is there something you want from me?"
"Yes. I want to ask the masked caster…"
"No, forget it."
"…Can you listen before refusing, please?"

She interrupted me before folding her arms, book still in her hand, then she stared at me while brus.h.i.+ng her blond hair.

"That is something I do only for Yuma. Can you stop thinking I’d normally wear a mask?"
"I know that you really care about your friends."
"F-Flattering me won’t help you. I only thought it would be dangerous for Yuma if Aileen was her only guardian, nothing more."

You are the most dangerous one, though, but I decided to keep silent.
If she agreed to lend me her power, I’d have solved the first problem… in an epic way.

"…I’ll try to consider it after you help me. You should be able to carry fifty books if you use Support Magic, right?"
"Keeping them in balance sounds impossible, but no problem. So, you also act like a normal teacher, huh?"
"I won’t find references for my magic in these books, but if I don’t teach my students the theory, they won’t learn how to use magic at all… Ah, take the blue one on that shelf. Now the second one from its left."

She kept giving me orders, and books kept piling in my arms, but that wasn’t an absurd token to make her listen to my request.

The mountain had grew up almost to the twentieth book when she fell silent for a moment.
I looked at her and she made a kind smile.

"I’m glad you came today. It would have been hard to carry all of these by myself. Thank you, d.i.c.k."
"Kh… T-That’s good to hear. I’m glad I could help you."
"…Mh? What’s with that weird look? Is there something stuck on my face?"
"Yeah, the most typical eyes, nose and mouth in the world."
"Oh, are we playing at stating the obvious? You have the plainest eyes, nose and mouth in the world, too."

I was surprised to be thanked by her… Was she somewhat happy while collecting the books together or was it just my imagination?

"Oh, by the way, d.i.c.k. I bet you stared quite hard at the enormous chest of Pollon, the receptionist. That’s rude and disgusting. Be careful, because next time I’ll call the guards."

The moment I wanted to get back at her, I considered what could've happened in that scenario. The name of Duke Solver would spread around the country for being arrested in this academy, and there was nothing he could've done to escape his fate. Once Timis was to hear about it, she would've been very disappointed…

When the pile of books was two times my height, I brought it to the librarian, who stared at it shocked. After I got the permission to take them, I walked toward Mylarka’s laboratory. I felt like I was standing out without a real reason, but I convinced myself that it was for a greater good.

1 The original is a pun that we didn’t know how to translate:
Verlaine: …それでこそ人生ではないか
d.i.c.k: 魔族でも魔生とは言わないんだな
"人" (person) → "人生" (life = person + life)
"魔物" (spirit = magic + creature) → "魔生" (magic life = magic + life).
Verlaine is part of a magical race (魔族), so d.i.c.k’s joke would be something along the lines of “but if you are a magic creature, shouldn’t you say 'magic life' rather than 'life'?”
Suggestions for a better way to put it are appreaciated.