I Got a Fake Job at the Academy
Chapter 452: Oak Bark (1)

-Woong. Woowoong.

The cubes floating around Rudger began to change.

The cube, as large as an adult's head, split into dozens of smaller cubes, then clustered separately in the air to create new steel spears.

The elves just watched the scene as if entranced.

Instead of shooting the steel spears at the elves, Rudger vertically stuck them in the corridor between himself and the elves.

-Kwagwagwak.

In an instant, a steel barrier was created, and the elves, having lost their fighting spirit at the sight, couldn't even charge at Rudger.

"Alex, do it properly, the water is leaking this way."

"Ah. Sorry. I'm still not used to it."

What came from behind the Three Noble Family elves whose path was blocked was Alex's voice filled with death.

Rudger turned to look at the Dentis family soldiers and spoke.

"What are you doing? Weren't you fighting to protect your family?"

"That, that's......"

"For vassals to remain still while their family head fights inside. There was a good reason for Dentis family's status to fall to the ground."

At Rudger's provocation, the Dentis soldiers glared at him angrily.

"What are you going to do by glaring at me? Your enemies are over there right now."

Rudger gestured with his chin toward the Three Noble Family elves.

"If you're vassals of Dentis, protect your family with your own hands."

The elves thought it was insulting to hear words about their family from another's mouth, but they knew how to distinguish what was urgent.

The Dentis family elves immediately charged at their enemies and the balance that had only been maintaining vigilance had long since collapsed.

Moreover, even now, Alex was running wild among the Three Noble Family elves, continuing to overturn the battle situation and the moment the Dentis elite soldiers joined in, the outcome could be considered virtually sealed.

What followed was a one-sided massacre.

One might say the methods were excessive, but it was the Three Noble Families who barged into another's family and picked a fight.

Essentially, this should be considered a war now.

Of course, Alex wasn't completely without mercy.

"Those who surrender will at least have their lives spared."

There was no need to kill everyone.

For those who had lost their fighting spirit, they could just offer surrender and take them as hostages but Alex had underestimated the elves of the Three Noble Families.

He didn't know how full of pride and arrogant they were as elves.

Death is frightening to elves too.

However, receiving mercy from a human was something that would bury the pride of the Three Noble Family elves underground.

Seeing the anger, stubbornness, hatred, and killing intent in their eyes, Alex let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

"This is the first time I've seen people react like this when I say I'll spare them."

Yeah. This was better anyway.

This way, there would be no criticism even if they killed everyone.

"I told you clearly, didn't I? You brought all this upon yourselves."

The Three Noble Family elves charged at Alex with resolute determination.

However, their struggle seemed like watching the ridiculous end of moths rushing toward flames.

* * *

The fight was over as the elves who had recklessly invaded the Dentis family all became cold corpses.

Just as they were about to savor the joy of victory, Vierano also came out after finishing his fight.

Returning with Viela, Vierano looked so impeccable it was hard to believe he had been in a fight.

Considering the vibrations that had been echoing from over there, it must have been essentially a one-sided fight.

"What did you do with the elders?"

"We subdued and restrained them."

Vierano answered with his usual respectful attitude.

However, for some reason, the word "subdue" didn't sound like usual.

Rudger glanced slightly at Viela.

He had thought she was quite a spirited elf before, but now Viela seemed completely disciplined.

That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, if anything her respect for Vierano seemed much stronger than before.

"More importantly, things ended up like this after all."

Vierano's face became complicated as he saw the traces of the fight that had occurred inside.

He had vaguely expected something like this would happen, but there was a clear difference between just thinking about it and facing it in reality.

"What will you do now?"

"The Dentis family has already split from the Three Noble faction. But we can't side with the Lifrey family either."

"So you've essentially become a third force."

"Yes. This was something we had to do eventually. It just happened more hastily than expected. Dentis doesn't have the power to maintain independence on its own yet."

"Will it be alright?"

"We're not without options. Given the situation, we have no choice but to accept help."

"By help, you mean......"

"There is another family that has maintained neutrality like us until now."

Birk, who is in charge of guarding the forest's outskirts.

In terms of pure family military power alone, they could be considered at the peak among the seven families.

"They're people who stay still without getting involved in political struggles, but will they really move?"

"...Actually, there's one thing I haven't mentioned yet."

"There's something more about the Birk family, isn't there."

"I apologize. I should have mentioned it earlier, but given the situation..."

Just then, Hans and Bellaruna, who had been hiding near the underground prison watching the situation, also joined the scene.

After confirming that all members for rescuing Sedina were gathered, Vierano opened his mouth.

"The Oak Bark's Birk family should be in charge of blocking outside invaders from the forest's outskirts. But you all must find it strange. Why would such a task of blocking foreign invasions be assigned to just one family?"

"It certainly was strange."

Hans nodded in agreement.

The forest elves don't just live in harmony with each other.

Like humans, they form internal factions, establish power, and engage in competition and intrigue.

How could such elves entrust the forest's defense to a single family?

What if the Birk family deliberately joined hands with outside forces and opened up the forest?

Of course, it's not that there weren't precautions against such things.

First of all, the forest itself was a natural fortress that blocked invasion from outsiders.

Even so, it was strange in many ways that a single neutral force was in charge of maintaining a stable barrier.

"The Birk family isn't voluntarily in charge of the forest's defense. They are being punished."

"Punished?"

"The Birk family was actually a family that loved the forest more than anyone and enjoyed nurturing it. Though they now boast an iron wall-like defense like tough tree bark, that wasn't their original nature."

"So they're essentially in exile. How did that happen?"

"The Birk family...was originally a vassal family that had the closest relationship with the Plante family."

Everyone was surprised when the name Plante came up but considering the current treatment of the Birk family, it certainly made sense.

"I see. Plante and Birk. These two families were at the pinnacle of elven society in the past."

"Yes. However, when the Plante family was annihilated on charges of trying to smuggle the World Tree outside, the Birk family also took part of the blame for that crime."

In the end, the Plante family's position was taken by Lifrey.

Those who helped in expelling Plante became a new family called the Shadewarden.

The positions of the former Plante and Birk are now occupied by today's Lifrey and Shadewarden.

"The Birk family also accepted their punishment without turning away from their sins. That's how they've fought a long battle in the place closest to foreign enemies, hoping that someday they could return to the glorious forest closest to the World Tree."

"So that's why the Birk family maintains neutrality while other families fight."

"It's because essentially no one wanted to join hands with Birk. No matter how much they want to win, they want to avoid getting involved with a criminal family. Even after hundreds of years, that perception still remains."

"Are you suggesting we join hands with this Birk? It won't be an easy choice."

"The last bloodline of the Plante family is alive. Though they've responded to everything with silence until now, this time will be different."

"But where is the guarantee that they will?"

This time it was Bellaruna who asked.

"The Birk family was essentially exiled because the Plante family tried to smuggle the World Tree outside on their own, right? Wouldn't they rather hate the Plante family?"

That argument was quite plausible.

They have received the punishment of guarding the forest for nearly 500 years.

100 years ago there was a racial war, and the Birk family suffered the most casualties on the front lines.

The memories of that day faded in guns, gunpowder, and death.

What remained was only emptiness and anger about why they had to be doing this.

What's more terrible is wondering when this punishment will end.

Even though they fought in the war 100 years ago, their perception didn't change.

Then maybe it would never change in the future.

The vague fear that they might have to live like this for their entire lives.

What thoughts would the young elves of the Birk family who are born and living now have about Plante?

"You could think that way. But if they really had complaints, they would have made claims about the injustice before. But even after the racial war, the Birk family didn't make any separate claims about their rightful rights."

"At least that's how it looks from an outsider's perspective."

"Of course, there will be internal noise that outsiders don't know about. But in the end, looking at the big picture, it means the Birk family still doesn't have major complaints about their situation."

"Or."

Hans opened his mouth while considering the worst case.

"...They might be secretly preparing for rebellion without others knowing."

Hans thought it made sense even as he voiced that thought and the others felt the same way.

"That's right. In fact, the Birk family might have accumulated hatred and anger for a long time, and might be looking for an opportunity to unleash it. But even so, what we need to do doesn't change."

"Indeed. The method may be different, but the fact that the Birk family will move remains unchanged."

Of course, the Birk family couldn't be completely trusted.

The possibility that they would declare non-involvement in this matter couldn't be ruled out but even a deep-rooted great tree, when faced not with a storm but an earthquake that turns the very skin of the earth upside down, then they too would have no choice but to respond in their own way.

"Then will Teacher Vierano contact the Birk family right away?"

"First we need to send a messenger, but I wonder how long it will take..."

"Can't you have conversations through that forest network?"

"That's not as easy as it sounds."

Vierano explained the blind spot in the forest network used by elves.

"The forest becomes our eyes, but it doesn't become fair eyes to everyone. Mainly the watchers who can access the network have priority, and even among them there's a hierarchy."

"So even watchers can't freely intrude into other territories' networks."

"Yes. There's a reason why territories are divided by family. Even excellent watchers can't freely peek into other families' territories. If we can't do it secretly, we need to follow official routes, but sadly, we don't know the network connected to the Birk family."

"The Dentis family?"

Rudger asked as if surprised and Vierano nodded bitterly as if understanding that reaction.

"It's not just the Dentis family. Even the Lifrey family, the highest authority in the forest, probably doesn't know. They're essentially sent to exile, so they don't care about such things."

"Then wouldn't it be harder to deal with rebellion?"

"To prepare for that, other families' watchers are constantly monitoring around the Birk family. But they say there's no internal movement visible from the outside."

"The Birk family doesn't care at all about internal forest matters. They're truly an organization that could be considered independently operating."

"Nevertheless, they fight their best to block foreign invasion. That's the kind of people they are."

If Vierano would say this much, they were worth trusting.

"The problem is that sending a messenger directly will take at least half a day. That's not good in a situation where every hour counts."

"I'm worried about that too. If I had known this would happen, I should have built more connections with them. Viela, do you have any way?"

"I'm sorry, Uncle. We don't have connections with the Birk family either..."

Even Viela, who was currently acting as family head proxy, firmly stated that was impossible.

While everyone was pondering like this, there was one person carefully raising their hand.

It was Bellaruna.

"Um......"

Everyone's attention quickly turned to Bellaruna.

Whenever Bellaruna stepped forward in moments like this, something always happened.

"What is it, Miss Bellaruna? Are you thinking of bypassing into the Birk family's network?"

When Vierano looked at her with expectant eyes, Bellaruna flinched.

"Ah, that's possible too..."

"...So it is possible."

Ignoring Hans who muttered in disbelief beside her, Bellaruna spoke what she had originally intended to say.

"But there's no need for that because, well, I can communicate directly with the Birk family."

"......"

Everyone who belatedly understood the meaning shouted in surprise at the same time.

"What?"