Chapter 35: The Wolf Uproar - 5

I didn’t know whether it was a wolf that had turned into a person, or a person who had turned into a wolf and then back into a person.

But the bitch standing in front of me had clearly been born a wolf.

There was no way a human could stay expressionless while standing there completely naked like that.

Did she not have any sense of shame?

That was the sight the wolf presented to me.

Narrow, half-lidded eyes that gave away absolutely nothing about what she was thinking.

Hair the same color as the fur that had covered her whole body when she was still a wolf.

And as if to announce that she had originally been a wolf, a pair of wolf ears stood perked up on top of her head.

As if the violent spectacle of the deep valley between her large bronze breasts wasn’t enough, the firm abs set beneath them twitched faintly.

Iris? No, maybe even bigger than Isabella...

No, no, no, no, no.

This is not the time to be appreciating a naked wolf.

What the hell would those voyeur freaks think if they saw this mess?

Ah, fuck, they’re definitely going to nitpick the hell out of this again.

Just in case, I stole a glance at the gauge below.

49.7%

■■■■■□□□□□

Fuck off.

Of course. It had dropped.

Worse, it was still going down in real time.

It already felt far too late, but before it dropped any further, I shut my eyes on the spot.

No, seriously, why is she naked?

Usually, when something transforms into a humanoid form, common sense says it should get clothes too.

Sure, since a wolf is naked by default, maybe this was logically consistent, but this was a romance fantasy world.

There should be limits to changing genres.

The age rating is skyrocketing in an instant here.

Meanwhile my reputation is plummeting straight into the ground.

God damn it, my reputation.

Granted, the only people here were Haede and Iris...

But apparently closing my eyes had only made things worse.

It was touching me.

It was touching me.

The soft body heat of something with such overwhelming, violent volume that it felt like it could crush me was pressing harder and harder against me.

To make matters worse, we were about the same height, and she was so close I could feel her breath, so those two full, massive hills were pressed right against my chest.

Maybe because my eyes were closed, the sensation of them felt even more vivid.

And since she wasn’t wearing a single thing, that too...

No. No. No.

I forcibly endured the ticklish feeling rising up inside me.

Either way, nothing was getting done while she was naked.

I couldn’t function. Nothing was progressing.

After taking one deep breath, I looked the wolf in the eyes.

Though with those half-lidded eyes of hers, I couldn’t even tell whether we were actually making eye contact or not.

I barely managed to drag my gaze back up every time it tried to drop lower, then finally forced out a single sentence.

"First, turn back into a wolf."

We can talk after that.

#

Thankfully, the wolf immediately returned to her original form at my words.

I was getting dizzy.

To think that huge wolf was that exhibitionist from a moment ago.

I felt like my whole sense of reality was about to collapse.

Maybe because they had seen her naked once already, Iris and Haede were no longer petting the wolf recklessly like before and were just keeping their distance.

"What happened?"

Dante appeared looking refreshed, as if he had finished whatever he had gone off to do.

"Did you come down with some kind of illness?"

"No!"

Dante denied it so hard his voice practically squeaked.

At the same time, he kept avoiding my eyes and looking away.

His face seemed red, and seeing the cold sweat too... yeah, there was definitely something going on.

Ah.

There was only one possibility.

The bastard must have urgently needed the bathroom.

Well, that couldn’t be helped.

He was a prince. He couldn’t exactly piss out in the open.

Dante stared at my face for a moment, then narrowed his eyes as if he had read my thoughts.

"You’re thinking something weird, aren’t you?"

"It’s nothing."

How embarrassing.

Your big brother will keep your secret.

"But why is a demonic beast wandering around inside the academy? It shouldn’t be able to get in because of the barrier."

"Because of a dungeon, probably."

"A dungeon?"

"No matter how powerful the barrier the headmaster created is, it can’t stop a dungeon from forming."

The artbook era of Dawnstar Academia.

Dungeon spawns were basically a kind of natural phenomenon, and supposedly even the headmaster’s barrier couldn’t prevent them.

So it wasn’t strange for a dungeon to spawn inside the academy.

"But that wolf was being controlled by someone. There’s no way something like that just came out of a dungeon... wait, don’t tell me."

"That ‘don’t tell me’ is probably right."

I pulled out the choker that had been around the wolf’s neck and showed it to him.

Because of Carnwennan, the choker was now nothing more than an ordinary object.

But since it would soon become evidence proving this was the work of the villains who would attack the academy, I hadn’t thrown it away.

"Then you’re saying someone deliberately spawned a dungeon inside the academy?"

"It’s just a guess, but there’s a high chance of it."

Just as Dante said, this dungeon spawn was less a normal natural phenomenon and more a case of someone exploiting that phenomenon.

And that someone was connected to the villains who would soon attack the academy.

This wolf was their prototype, and because they couldn’t break through the headmaster’s barrier head-on, they had used their brains to create a kind of loophole. When the time came, the villains who appeared during the academy attack would invade using the same principle.

That was why I had said the wolf was a sign of the coming academy attack.

And that wasn’t all.

If we left the dungeon alone, it would become a massive headache later during the academy attack incident.

Unlike the train incident, the academy attack was basically a defeat event.

A villain far beyond what we could possibly handle at our current level appeared as the enemy, so losing was unavoidable. But if the dungeon was left alone until that attack happened, the demonic beasts inside it would pour out too, and the whole place would become an absolute disaster.

If things went badly, a few characters could even die here.

In the game, there had been loading saves.

But did anything like that exist here?

That was why the dungeon had to be dealt with now, before it caused trouble later.

"Then that means there’s a dungeon somewhere in the academy?"

"That’s right. And that wolf knows where it is."

I looked at the wolf.

"Yes. I know the dungeon’s location."

The wolf nodded.

"Wolf, lead us to your home."

"Wait, Ian. You’re not actually planning to go into the dungeon, are you?"

Dante grabbed my wrist as if to stop me.

But I nodded.

"Stuff like this is easier if you crush it early."

"Wouldn’t it be better to leave it to a professor?"

Haede raised a hand slightly and said that.

"Then we’d get demerits."

"Even so, that would still be better than this. We don’t know what might be in the dungeon..."

Of course, leaving it to a professor would be the easiest option...

There had been a route like that in the game too.

One route involved handing the wolf over to the professor on duty and leaving the dungeon subjugation to them.

If I remembered right, taking that route didn’t get you demerits. You actually got merit points instead.

But there was something about choosing that route that bothered me too much.

The Stars of Knights weren’t hoping I would enter the dungeon just for the sake of it.

If someone had spawned a dungeon inside the academy, then that meant...

"No, Ian might be right. If the dungeon was spawned by someone, then there’s a high chance the culprit is inside the academy."

It meant there was an accomplice inside the academy working with the villains.

Even if we left this to a professor, it wouldn’t stop the villains from infiltrating the academy.

They would definitely have taken the wolf away and confirmed the dungeon, so they should have known there was an accomplice.

They definitely wouldn’t have failed to prepare, so why did the attack still get through?

Probably because they never found the accomplice.

The problem here was that I didn’t know who the accomplice was either.

Even in the game, the accomplice’s identity was never revealed. It just got brushed aside.

Whether I cleared the dungeon myself or left it to a professor, the fact that the attack would still get through didn’t change.

If nothing I did could stop the attack event anyway, then it was better for me to clear the dungeon myself.

And it was also true that there was a hidden piece inside.

Rather than handing that hidden piece over to a professor, it would be better to give it to one of the protagonists.

"Anyone who wants to go back may return to the dorms."

Anyway, unlike the Dolnesia case, this hidden piece was an item, so it didn’t really matter whether they followed me or not.

Iris simply lowered her head in silence.

Seeing her like that, I turned to Haede.

I really didn’t mind going alone.

I was about to ask her to take Iris back to the dorm first.

But then...

"Lady Haede, with Lady Iris..."

"If we leave the dungeon alone... that would be a problem, wouldn’t it?"

Iris nodded as if she had made up her mind, then looked at me and spoke.

Her blue eyes shone as if resolve itself had been carved into them, and seeing her like that, I couldn’t help nodding back.

When Iris saw me nod, she clenched her fist as if she understood.

"Then I’m going too."

"Ris?!"

Haede tried to stop her, but Iris seemed to have already made up her mind.

She could have just gone back to the dorm with Haede and no one would have blamed her.

"I’m sorry, Ede."

Iris smiled at Haede as if to reassure her and spoke.

"But if I can plainly see something troubling ahead, I don’t want to pretend I didn’t."

I really should say she had the makings of a saint...

She was such a good kid.

"Then at least Lady Haede..."

"Hah? Who said I was backing out?"

"What?"

Haede suddenly crossed her arms, puffing herself up with swagger.

"It could be dangerous."

"Well, it’s not like I’m going to die, right? And I can’t just let Ris go into somewhere dangerous like that alone."

This girl had this side to her...?

"I don’t want to disappoint her... If I’m going to act cool in front of Ris, I have to do at least this much."

She had said something like that earlier, but...

Why exactly did she want to act cool in front of Iris?

Well, that wasn’t what mattered right now.

Finding the dungeon quickly before the professor on duty arrived came first.

"What about you, Dante?"

"Of course I’m going. I can’t just stand by when the danger is right in front of us."

Dante nodded as if it were obvious.

So in the end, everyone was coming.

"So... Ian, you’re going to that dungeon?"

"I have to—"

Wait a second. Who just said that?

What was with this chilly feeling...?

And that wasn’t all.

As if they had all planned it, Haede, Iris, and even Dante were staring in the same direction, their faces stiff.

I really, really did not want to turn my head.

Because somehow, I already knew who had arrived.

In the direction they were looking...

"Are you planning to cause trouble again, Ian?"

Just as expected, Dolnesia was standing there with her arms crossed, smiling with a cold expression.

...Hm. Why was Dolnesia here?

"...Didn’t you say you were going back to the dorm first?"

"Rocinante was making such a fuss. So I came to check. Thanks to that, I got quite the show."

Rocinante made a fuss? Why?

More importantly, what had she seen this time that had made her angry again?

"Could you perhaps tell me from what point you were watching?"

"Who knows... I wonder from what point I was watching?"

I see.

So she had seen all of it.

"For the record, it was unavoidable."

How was I supposed to predict that the wolf would suddenly transform and the result would be a woman with all her clothes off?

"My, I didn’t say a word, though?"

"Your eyes are saying it for you right now."

Smiling that cold smile, Dolnesia walked up to me and pressed her fist against my chest.

"Let’s go."

"Hm?"

"Weren’t you going?"

Dolnesia said that with a smile.

"Do you think this is the first or second time? Even if I tried to stop you, you’d go anyway, wouldn’t you?"

The chill from earlier was gone from her smile now.

"Then I’ll come with you."

#

The place we reached, guided by the wolf, was the academy cafeteria.

When we went farther into a secluded corner, we found the hidden dungeon.

"Here."

[Nest of the Three Beasts.]

So the dungeon had been pretty close by.

Who would have thought there’d be a dungeon in the cafeteria?

The wolf entered the dungeon first, and I followed it inside.

After the light struck my eyes for a moment, the dungeon that came into view was a cave reeking with a stale smell, just like that goblin-filled dungeon.

Though this one was incomparably larger.

Once Dante and Dolnesia came in behind me, followed by Haede and Iris...

Ding!

[A five-person party has been formed!]

[Party Members: Ian, Dante, Dolnesia, Iris, Haede]

A bluish notification window appeared.

But a five-person party?

Why wasn’t the wolf included?

Was it because the wolf wasn’t human, so it didn’t count as a party member?

I didn’t know whether it was a system error or whether the current wolf simply wasn’t being judged as a person.

Leaving that question unresolved, we kept walking until we reached a huge cavern.

At its center was a leopard the same size as the wolf.

Apparently it hadn’t noticed our arrival, because it was simply sprawled out asleep.

[Dotore’s Experimental Subject, Leopard]

◈ Level: 40

◈ Danger Level: A

Its level was lower than the wolf’s, but it didn’t have the [Agony] penalty.

Which meant its actual specs were higher than the wolf’s.

"That one is a rather lewd creature, so mental attacks are its specialty."

The wolf casually tossed out the strategy.

Though after what had happened earlier, I wasn’t sure who had the right to call anyone lewd.

Still, just as it said, in the game this thing had mental attack skills.

Its attack patterns had leaned more toward hypnosis and mental attacks than physically striking like the wolf did.

"Mental attacks, huh. That makes things a little tricky."

Dante nodded at the wolf’s explanation.

"Well then, since it happens to be asleep, let’s go with a surprise attack."

At Dante’s words, I pulled out my shield, equipped it, and drew my sword.

Then I slowly started walking forward.

I had only done that much.

"Um, Ian?"

"What?"

And yet Dante called out to me in a flustered voice.

Looking at his face, he really did seem baffled.

"You do know what a surprise attack is, right?"

A surprise attack.

Why, of course. I knew exactly what it was.

Dolnesia let out a sigh, as if she had already realized something.

And I answered him with a grin.

"I do."

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