I Got a Fake Job at the Academy
Chapter 440: Kidnapping (1)

‘Found them.’

The moment he thought that, Alex pounced like a leopard at his target.

The opponent was someone who handled spirits so without even measuring their abilities, rushing in for a surprise attack was the best choice.

However, surprisingly, the tracker noticed Alex's approach and moved to counter.

A wall made of water materialized before Alex's eyes.

'I killed my presence, yet they noticed this?'

Alex stopped in his tracks and peered through the translucent water wall.

Above the head of the robed figure, there was another spirit besides the one that had been tracking Sedina.

'There were two spirits. That means they're at least a mid-level spirit artist.'

Now that the surprise attack failed, what should he do?

He had wanted to end this quietly without drawing his sword if possible, but now that he'd been discovered, it wouldn't end smoothly.

That's when the robed figure recognized Alex and appeared flustered.

"Why are you here?"

"What?"

The robed tracker's reaction was somehow strange.

They weren't asking how Alex had found them, but why he was here.

Alex sensed something unsettling in that subtle tone.

"Hey, what's going on? You've been following us this whole time, and now what kind of trick is this? Trying something now that you've been caught?"

"Us? Are you acquainted with that girl?"

Alex frowned.

For someone who had been secretly following them, their response was surprisingly docile.

People trying to kidnap others don't usually show such naive reactions.

"You see, I've been protecting her because she said someone was following her lately. And now, coincidentally, there's a scoundrel sneaking around right in front of me."

"...It seems you've misunderstood something."

Alex smirked amusedly at the other's words.

"Misunderstood? That's rich coming from someone who's hiding their identity and using spirits to spy on people."

"...I apologize for that part."

As if not trying to convince with words alone, the other person dispelled the water barrier.

Then they pushed back their hood, revealing their identity.

Mint-green hair and long ears came into view.

"An elf? What? You're just a kid."

That was Alex's impression upon seeing their youthful appearance.

Though it was quite a rude comment, the other party didn't bother to refute it.

After all, Alex's words weren't exactly wrong.

"Despite my appearance, I'm quite old, and I'm actually a teacher at Theon."

The person introducing himself this way was Vierano Dentis.

Beyond simply being an elf, when Alex met those clear eyes of a long-lived sage, he instinctively knew this wasn't an ordinary elf.

'A teacher at Theon? That means they're Leader's colleague. Why would such a person secretly follow their own academy student?'

Alex maintained his guard while harboring these natural doubts.

"I don't care if you're a Theon teacher or whatever. Why were you secretly following that child? That's why I had no choice but to misunderstand."

"Rather, I'm the one who wants to ask questions. You must be from this city, so why are you with Miss Sedina?"

"That's none of your business."

The fact that Sedina belonged to U.N. Owen was a secret.

Alex lightly tapped the handle of the sword at his waist with his fingertip, a sign that he would draw his sword if he didn't speak properly.

Though Vierano's expression hardened, he carefully spoke as if wanting to avoid unnecessary fighting.

"I only came to meet Miss Sedina at someone else's request."

"And you need that outfit just to meet someone?"

"I had no choice but to be careful. There are those targeting her right now. To approach without being caught by them, I too had to hide my identity. That's why when I first discovered you with Miss Sedina, I suspected you might be their spy and followed you."

"Who requested you to meet her...?"

Alex stopped mid-sentence and closed his mouth.

He had noticed the subtle sense of dissonance that had been flowing.

The same was true for Vierano Dentis.

"...Wait. If you're not one of them..."

"...If you're not the one who was trying to follow her..."

Then where are those guys right now?

"Damn it."

Alex immediately tried to dash toward the restaurant where Sedina was waiting and Vierano did the same.

BOOM─!

Right after, a massive explosion occurred where the restaurant had been.

It was a huge tree that expanded in all directions, destroying the building.

The tree that burst up from underground tore through the restaurant from the first floor to the third floor, turning everything into a mess.

Building debris scattered everywhere, raising clouds of dust as people screamed and ran away.

Amidst the huge tree that had suddenly grown while destroying the building and the chaos ruling the street Alex didn't take his eyes off the building during all this.

He saw the shadows scattering and fleeing nimbly in robes clearly even in the chaos.

"Using magic to cause this much chaos in broad daylight? These aren't ordinary madmen. Which mages are they?"

Alex muttered this while chasing after the fleeing enemies.

"They're not mages."

When he turned his head at the voice beside him, he saw Vierano running at the same speed as him.

A wind spirit was accompanying him.

'Did he keep up using the wind spirit?'

Setting aside that question for now, Alex gave him a look asking what he meant.

"Only druids can make trees grow to that size."

"Druids, so elves? Wait. You're an elf too."

"Not all elves are the same. Isn't that true for humans as well?"

Alex's mind immediately grasped what was going on.

The ones who kidnapped Sedina were elves, and they were reckless enough to do this in broad daylight.

Vierano knew these people were targeting Sedina and had come out, then saw Alex and mistakenly thought he was with them, so he followed him.

Conversely, this side had mistaken Vierano for one of the pursuers so the situation had become thoroughly tangled.

Alex suppressed his rising irritation.

It was still okay for now, at least they were still chasing after the fleeing culprits.

No matter how fast elves might be, they couldn't easily escape this city, especially not while carrying an unconscious Sedina.

"They're entering the alley! They're planning to shake us off there!"

Vierano shouted as he spotted the elves moving nimbly.

Alex thought this was actually what he wanted since he knew the structure of all the alleys in this area.

Moreover, if the culprits went somewhere away from people's eyes on their own, this side wouldn't need to hold back either.

"Well, that's quite the welcome."

The moment Alex and Vierano entered the alley, countless arrows were shot at them.

Vierano stepped forward first.

As the wind spirit moved and spread a curtain, the incoming arrows bounced off in all directions.

The deflected arrows stuck into the solid walls and ground, their tips quivering.

To so easily deflect arrows shot with such tremendous force.

'I guess this is why he's not just any teacher at Theon.'

While thinking this, Alex drew his sword and lunged forward.

Several elves gripped curved swords in both hands and rushed at Alex.

Seeing the patterns engraved on the curved swords, Vierano shouted.

"Be careful! These are Shadewarden trackers! They're said to be unmatched in close combat...!"

Before those words could finish, a spray of blood bloomed in the air.

Surprisingly, it was the elf swordsman who fell.

Vierano couldn't finish his words and gaped.

‘To take down a Shadewarden elf swordsman in a single blow?’

He knew from how the other had noticed their presence while secretly following that they were quite skilled, but.

'To think they were this strong...'

Meanwhile, Alex's sword continued cutting down the elf swordsmen rushing at him one after another.

He had originally been an advanced knight, but he had achieved tremendous growth after his fight with Luther.

No matter how skilled the trackers of an elf family might be, they were no match for Alex.

Though the opponents must have realized this, they continued attacking Alex and Alex quickly understood why.

'These bastards. They're throwing away their lives to buy time.'

Elves throwing away their lives?

He had never heard of such a thing.

As Alex was inwardly bewildered, Vierano moved to support.

He instantly subdued the elves who were trying to throw their bodies at them with his wind spirit.

The atmosphere pressing down from above like a massive pressure was no different from an invisible hammer.

The light-bodied elves couldn't easily escape and were flattened to the ground.

"These ones have received special training. They'll use any means necessary for their goal."

"Yeah. Looks that way."

Without any signal, both of them simultaneously raced through the alley.

They broke through while ignoring and avoiding the attacking elves as much as possible.

Their speed was faster than even the elf trackers had expected, so much so that the elves fleeing while carrying the unconscious Sedina looked back in dismay.

"Eek!"

As the elf in the lead raised green magical power, fierce tree roots rose up and blocked the alley.

"We need to go around!"

"No. That would take too long."

Ignoring Vierano's opinion, Alex gripped his sword and concentrated his breathing.

An ashen flash flickered in his pupils then the aura that burst from his sword split all the roots before him but beyond the cut roots, there was another wall of new roots.

Simply swinging wouldn't be enough.

'In that case.'

He imitated that sword he had seen that day.

The aura flowing from the sword began spinning like a drill.

As that speed gradually increased, it affected the surrounding air currents.

‘Spinning the aura?’

Ignoring Vierano who watched that sight with disbelieving eyes, Alex extended his sword straight out.

The small vortex engraved on the sword shot out in a long line, piercing through the fierce tree roots in a straight line.

The vortex that penetrated through multiple layers of walls eventually pierced through the heart of the elf druid who kept creating roots.

"Kuhek!"

The elf druid looked down at the hole in their chest with disbelieving eyes, then soon collapsed while coughing up blood.

At the same time, all the roots blocking the alley disappeared.

"Let's go."

Alex and Vierano resumed chasing after the elf who had kidnapped Sedina.

Perhaps they had judged they could shake them off sufficiently here, as there was no more interference.

Then they could catch them.

Alex's expression, which had been certain of this, soon froze coldly upon seeing the group standing ahead.

* * *

-Screech.

Rudger got out of the stopped carriage.

Without even greeting the coachman, he walked quickly toward the hideout.

Not the official hideout, but one of the decoys created to avoid others' attention.

When he arrived, he saw Alex sitting there with his head deeply bowed as if ashamed and beside him, Vierano Dentis with a troubled expression.

"Mr. Rudger Chelici?"

Vierano's eyes widened upon seeing Rudger and he had a questioning look asking why he had come here.

However, Rudger had no leisure to answer that.

"What happened?"

Rudger asked Alex and Alex raised his bowed head to meet Rudger's eyes.

"Sorry, Leader. It was my mistake."

"I heard Sedina was kidnapped."

"...Yes, that's right."

"I assigned you just in case. Yet she was still kidnapped."

Rudger wasn't in a particularly good mood right now.

He had rushed here right after hearing the news that Sedina had been kidnapped.

While feeling irritation, displeasure, and a bit of anger, he tried to calmly grasp the situation.

"Even if you let your guard down, someone of your current level shouldn't have been beaten so easily, especially if the opponents were elf trackers."

Rudger had fought with Shadewarden's trackers before.

They were certainly quite strong but compared to the current Alex, they couldn't win against him.

Conversely, even if they chose to flee without facing Alex, it would be the same.

The area the culprits chose to kidnap Sedina and shake off Alex was Leathervelk's back alleys.

That was naturally a place Alex could see through like the palm of his hand, yet Alex had lost the target.

He couldn't help but feel something strange about that.

"There were others who interfered. Who were they?"

Alex gave a bitter smile at those words.

Though he should be more troubled than anyone here, he was judging the situation more rationally than anyone, this is why he can't win against Leader.

Alex shook his head.

"They weren't elves. If anything, they were actually complete opposites."

"Opposites?"

"The Lumensis Order."

At Alex's words, Vierano's eyelids trembled and Rudger couldn't help but doubt his ears for a moment.

"Say that again."

"The ones who blocked us while we were chasing the culprits were holy knights of the Lumensis Order."