Five Minutes

The number of daemons in front of the group was despairing. There were at least sixty daemons, with the weakest being at the fifth layer and the stronger at the twelfth layer.

When Dina and the teachers saw them, their expressions turned ugly.

"Dammit." A student whispered with a bitter smile. He probably was thinking he was not going to survive this time.

I felt someone walking towards me. When I looked at my side, I saw Louise there.

"… Claus, was this caused by my father?"

I thought for a few seconds about how to reply. In the end, I said the truth in the most inculpating way possible.

"He probably did not think this would happen, but in the end, a great part of this is his fault. The reason so many students died was due to him."

That is true. Although Earl Riea did not know about the daemons, his men caused the destruction of the magic circle that would have helped to protect the students, and many teachers betrayed the institute due to him. That caused indirectly the death of many students.

Louise bit her lips and looked at the ground. I smiled and grabbed her hand, indicating her that everything was going to be alright.

Louise smiled back, but it was obvious there was a lot in her mind.

At that moment, the twelfth-layer daemon leading the daemons walked forward slowly.

Several teachers put their guards up in case the daemon attacked, however, he did not seem to have that intention.

When the daemon was less than twenty meters away from us, he stopped.

Then, he opened his mouth.

"Hear me, students! I'm the fifth general of the daemon empire, Hwol Alf Dam! Who among you is in charge?"

Dina walked forward almost instantly.

"Nice to meet you, general. My name is Dina Quintin, the third princess of the Arcadian Empire. General, take your men away. I don't want to cause more unnecessary bloodshed."

The daemon stared at Dina with an amused expression. Then, he chuckled.

"Here is my proposal, princess. Order all the students and teachers to give up, and I promise you for my honor as general that none of them will be injured. We will take them to the daemon empire as war captives and treat them as guests. But if you decide to resist, I will order my men to massacre and rape until the last of you!"

Dina's expression fell and clenched her fist in rage.

"You…"

I also frowned. This situation was not good.

The truth is, the daemons are stronger than us (if I'm not included). Just that general alone is stronger than anyone in our group.

If we end fighting, I will be forced to fight him if we want to win.

Mmm… Should I create a clone of myself while my true self disguises as my "teacher" and fights that daemon?

That is a good idea…

But when I was about to do that, I felt something happening far, far away.

I was startled and gazed in that direction. Instantly, a smile appeared on my face.

I chuckled softly and use a technique to send my voice into Dina's ears.

"Don't worry. Just ask that general for five minutes and everything will be alright."

Dina was startled. But she trusted me unconditionally. She pretended to think about the general's words before putting a hesitating expression.

"… General, I hope you can give us five minutes to think about it."

The twelfth-layer daemon narrowed his eyes before nodding with a smile. "Very well, you have five minutes. If you have not surrendered by then, I will order my men to attack."

Dina nodded, but when she turned around and returned to the camp, her expression was grave. Teacher Tear, Katherine, and the others had similar expressions.

"Princess, what are we going to do?"

Dina wrinkled her brows and looked at me. But I just shrugged back with a smile.

Katherine noticed our exchange and frowned.

"Claus, could it be you have a plan?"

All the gazes were directed towards me. I smiled mysteriously and put on a relaxed expression.

"It's not a plan. Just… You will understand if you wait for a while."

Katherine furrowed her brows. Then, an expression of realization appeared on her face. "Could it be that you…"

"No, I won't." I denied Katherine's guess instantly. "I told you, that needs to be hidden."

Katherine nodded after hearing that. However, the doubt in her face became stronger.

I continued smiling without explaining anything. Even when Dina and Teacher Tear glared at me as though they were going to devour me I didn't reveal the reason behind my confidence.

I only wanted to enjoy a good show.

The five minutes passed slowly. Many students and teachers looked at each other with looks of worry in their faces.

Before long, an unknown student was the first to say what many were thinking.

"… We should surrender."

As a chain reaction, several students started to speak.

"Y-Yeah..."

"W-We can win against them..."

"At least, we can survive that way..."

Of course, there were some students who said that they preferred to fight to the death, but their words were quickly drowned by the pleas to surrender.

Dina put on a dignified expression and heard each word. However, she remained silent, without revealing her stance.

Even when the five minutes ended, she remained silent. But I knew... She decided to trust me until the end.

"The five minutes are gone, princess." The voice of the general came from the distance. "What is your choice?"

All the students fell silent, looking at Dina fixedly. Some of them were already prepared to express their surrender in case Dina decided to fight.

But at that moment–

"Choice? What is there to choose?"

A voice came from the distance.

Then, a magic circle appeared in the air.

A beautiful woman appeared from the magic circle, her long black hair danced in the wind, and her striking blood-red eyes looked at the daemons coldly.

In her right hand, she was holding the head of a daemon.

"All of you, dirty daemons, are going to die!"

Evelyn Humillitie, the Bloody Witch and headmistress of the Imperial Institute, was finally here.

...

PTRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels