I Got a Fake Job at the Academy Chapter 137

◈ Episode 137 Roteng Fire (1)

The light of the setting sun scattered through the cracks in the thin clouds in the sky.

The red, warm light slanted down and left a long shadow beside Ludger.

shoot it

The grass bugs cried loudly with the sound of grass rustling in the wind.

The painter stared at Rudger as if he was trying to see something, even though he was blind.

“If you’ve come this far, you must know a lot after all.”

It was the painter who spoke first in the long silence.

Grabbing his painting tools in one hand, he rose from his seat.

“Go down. The story will be a bit long, so let’s do it as we go. Oh, come to think of it, we don’t speak each other’s names.”

“It’s Rudgar Cellis.”

“My name is Pierre. I’m just a normal angry man.”

After a light voice, the two slowly walked down the hill to the ruins.

Hans noticeably stepped back, putting the two of them apart so they could have a conversation.

Pierre, who led the way down the hill, ran his fingertips through the waist-high grass.

“Now it is a ruin where no one lives, but Roteng in the past was a very beautiful place.

“They say it’s a beautiful town, just like the picture. I heard a lot.”

“It actually was. However, everything was lost due to the great fire that occurred that day.”

Pierre had a bitter smile on his lips.

His invisible eyes seemed to be watching the scenery at that time.

“As Mr. Rudger said, I am a wizard. no. It was a magician, to be exact. I had some talent, so my aristocratic master picked me up, but I couldn’t adapt. It’s because I have a timid personality who likes to draw.”

Rudger quietly listened to the story of the past that suddenly started.

“Unlike a wizard, I was overly sentimental, and my head wasn’t working well, so I was scolded a lot by my master. He asked what kind of painting it was and broke my brush. At first, I put up with it, but as it continued, I couldn’t stand it. So he ran away in the night. Because I liked drawing more than using magic.”

I want to draw a picture.

Pierre, who ran away and wandered with such thoughts, came to a village.

In the beautiful and peaceful town of Roten, as if it came out of a fairy tale.

“I thought it was a great place. If you are here, you can really draw properly. But what can I do when a ignorant blue kid suddenly settles down in the village? It was hard for me to just wander around the village and adjust to it. at that time… … She helped me.”

“she?”

After coming down the hill, the two arrived at the entrance of the ruins.

Instead of answering, Pierre took out his paintbrush.

Before he could express his question as to why he had suddenly taken out the brush, Pierre moved his hand holding the brush.

As if drawing a picture, toward the empty space.

Swoop.

An amazing thing happened.

Color formed where Pierre’s brush had passed, and a line was drawn in the air.

It was similar to the realization of the spell to manifest magic, but Ludger understood right away that it was completely different.

With just a few strokes of Pierre’s brush, the surrounding area was instantly filled with color.

Red. blue. green. yellow.

All kinds of colorful lights spread around.

The sun disappeared over the hills to the west and it became dark in the son-in-law. Darkness fell like a night mist over the ruins filled with silence.

Only Pierre’s painting shone clearly in it.

Rudger watched it silently.

The magical power of paint that Pierre splashed into the air drew a line or spread widely, eventually drawing a landscape around him.

Eventually, what Ludger saw was not a ruin in the middle of the night, but a beautiful town in broad daylight.

I could see the wagons going around and people leading their lives.

‘Is it magic using pictures… … .’

Painting magic.

It was a new type of magic never seen before.

Before I was surprised by it, the people in the landscape painting started moving.

as if alive.

The world of painting showed the scene as it was at that time.

Pierre started walking, and Ludger quietly followed him.

“Roteng is a town where many vagrants come. It’s also a place where people who don’t have an ointment or who travel often stop by. Then you settle in. A town where even the wind can rest. That’s Roten. Even in such a village, there was something to be proud of.”

Pierre, who was walking slowly through the center of the painting world, stopped.

Rudger also stopped beside him.

At the center of the painting world was a woman who caught his attention.

It was a beautiful woman with long black hair. She could only see her back, but she could easily tell that her off-white color was not normal.

At first glance, her appearance was oddly familiar, yet unfamiliar.

It must be because the shadows around her eyes prevented her from seeing her face properly.

“I can’t see you.”

“I couldn’t draw her beauty as it is with my humble drawing skills.”

It is said that there is a limit to what cannot be drawn with painting magic.

Hearing that painting magic isn’t all-powerful, Ludgar had no choice but to say yes.

“She was like a fairy tale girl. She always had a bright smile and was kind to everyone. All her villagers loved her. Besides, her spirits also liked her because of her great affinity with nature.”

Every time the dark-haired woman walks down the street, people smile, greet, and wave.

Every time that happened, she also waved her hand and accepted it.

Small nature spirits floated around the woman, and birds chirping sat on her shoulders, picking feathers.

It was like a scene from a fairy tale, and even Ludger was robbed of his gaze for a moment.

It’s warm, cozy, and I feel like I’m going back to my innocence somewhere.

“It was she who helped me when I couldn’t adapt to this town. She is as beautiful as a jewel and has a smile that is warmer than the sun. Esmeralda.”

‘That woman… … .’

There was a constant smile in the village. It was such a peaceful place.

warm and peaceful

Looking at the scene, Rudger also thought that he would like to live here.

But that peace didn’t last that long.

One day, an aristocratic wizard happened to visit the village of Roteng, and everything changed.

The watercolor-like landscape was distorted in an instant, and the appearance of the painting world changed.

The wizard who led his subordinates was a tall, handsome blond man. He whispered all kinds of flattery to Esmeralda.

It was love at first sight. ask to be with you

It was easy for Rudger to see that it was not pure love.

What the aristocratic man wanted was not a woman named Esmeralda itself. It was that new power she could add to her own lineage, her elemental-friendly abilities she possessed.

Those who seek talented women and forcibly leave offspring.

It was still common for nobles to deliberately marry a talented woman for a better lineage.

“But being naive, she believed the nobleman’s mouth. Because she was so innocent, she did not doubt the words of others who hid her inner feelings.”

The scenery changed before I knew it, and I saw Esmeralda, who fell asleep with anticipation, and the villagers who were worried about her.

If Esmeralda is married to someone, it will surely be a blessing.

However, if the other person had a purpose other than loving her sincerely, he had to stop it even if he was hated by Esmeralda.

Everyone was helped by her.

I felt salvation in her warmth and innocence.

He couldn’t be dragged off by a wicked nobleman and made to live in misery for the rest of his life.

“But no one dared to step in and stop it. I just didn’t have the courage to do that. That’s right, because the other person is a noble.”

“okay. The old Durmang Kingdom was such a place.”

Rudger nodded in understanding.

Today’s society still has a class system, but in the past, it was much more serious than this, and among them, Durmang Kingdom in particular was the place that peaked in that respect.

Rudger remembered a familiar word from his previous life.

‘Ancien Régime.’

It meant the old system, and it meant a society in which long-standing feudalism gradually accumulated and generally rotted away.

The Kingdom of Durmang was a clear example of that.

Excessive confrontation between nobility and royalty. The lower classes who are exploited as a result. people starving to death. Citizens who can’t stand it. And even the nobles who brutally oppress them.

In those days, resistance by commoners to aristocrats was treated almost as treason.

It was common practice to annihilate an entire family if one person made a mistake, and in severe cases, all the people in the vicinity were hanged.

“Is that why you let people abandon her?”

Did the abandoned woman eventually harbor resentment and take revenge on the village?

But Pierre didn’t answer.

There is a painting world that runs towards a pre-determined ending, so I didn’t feel the need to ruminate on the tragedy of the day with my own mouth.

“If you see it, you will know.”

As if swallowing pain, Pierre stood nailed to his seat.

Suddenly, the scenery changed and it changed to the day the noble decided to take Esmeralda with him.

The atmosphere of Roteng, which was beautiful, was dark. The village, which had a warm and soft glow even at night, was heavy and gloomy as if it had guessed my future.

The fact that even the air that touches your skin feels cold is not a simple illusion.

The noble came to pick up Esmeralda as promised. Leading the family’s soldiers.

-ruler. Esmeralda. come with me

-I am… … .

The sound of the two talking could be heard over the blurry landscape.

Even Esmeralda, who was naive, hesitated, not answering hastily, perhaps feeling something strange.

However, since she had come this far, she couldn’t bear to refuse, so Esmeralda tried to grab the man’s outstretched hand.

-No!

At that time, a boy from the village stepped forward and shouted.

-miss! Don’t believe what he says! That guy is a man who seduces people with his three-inch tongue! All the words of love for the lady are lies!

– How dare this guy! Do you know who this person is and make fun of your mouth recklessly!

A soldier holding a spear threatened the boy.

But it wasn’t just the boys who came out.

-No matter how noble you are, you won’t be able to take that lady!

– Get out of our town right now!

-miss! You can’t go with a guy like that!

The kind grandfather of the bakery, the lady who opens the general store, the farmer uncle, and so on.

All the villagers defended Esmeralda and protested against the nobles and their soldiers.

Perhaps if it were a fairy tale, the nobleman would have gnashed his teeth and withdrew to see.

However, the world shown by this painting magic was not a story full of hope.

It was so dark and terrifying that it overflowed with despair.

It’s real.

-Do these lowly things try to fight me?

The look he showed when he whispered his love to Esmeralda was nowhere to be seen, and the aristocrat’s face was contorted like a devil.

As he raised his hand, the soldiers lined up behind him moved.

-The guys here insulted the nobility. That’s an act of daring to rebel against the kingdom! Wipe it all out!

The soldiers moved as if they were accustomed to the command.

So the massacre in the village of Roteng began.

It’s not that the villagers didn’t resist, but the gap with the opponent was too great.

Opponents are elite troops trained by noble families. There were few, but knight-level powers and wizards.

On the other hand, the villagers were all retired mercenaries or wandering adventurers, even if they were highly regarded.

There was no way they could be opponents in the first place.

A man stabbed by a soldier’s spear fell down screaming.

Red paint smeared.

The torches thrown by the soldiers burned the house.

Yellow and orange colors exploded.

Embers flew and those who could not escape were burned to death inside.

Black paint was spread on the ground.

Hell unfolded in the world.

“No way, this… … .”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Pierre nodded as if he knew what Ludger was talking about.

“This is the truth about the Great Fire of Roten that is not known to the world.”

The Great Fire of Roten was not a mere natural disaster.

It was a man-made disaster. Durmang Kingdom has been hiding the ugly truth until now.

-Please stop! please! The villagers are innocent. I will follow you please… … .

At the heart of that terrible massacre, Esmeralda wept.

She begged the nobleman to stop. She herself would follow, she cried out to stop killing more, she to stop the senseless slaughter.

However, the nobleman whispered his love to her and replied in a ruthless voice.

– That’s stupid. It’s already late. See with your own eyes what happens to those who rebel against the nobility.

The man who whispered love in the past was no more. Instead, all he sees is a monster with ugly desires.

iced coffee. I see. This is the true face of this person.

Esmeralda sat down in her seat. Her empty eyes captured the images of dying people.

-no.

Life goes out in a collapsed house. The embers scattered in all directions and then disappeared as if they were melting.

That fire is someone’s life. It was someone’s scream.

-no.

Esmeralda, who had been weeping endlessly, bowed her head as if she were about to collapse.

The aristocratic man clicked his tongue as he watched.

– Is it broken? No, maybe this would be better. It would be easier to deal with by acting like a doll rather than not listening.

He had no intention of hiding his true feelings any longer.

-I can’t because my head is dizzy from the smell of burning garbage. I’ll go first, so you guys stay and don’t leave a single rat behind.

-yes.

-Leave that woman for now and bring her to me when the situation is over.

-All right.

The nobleman left the burning village behind and left with his direct escorts.

There was no guilt on his face for committing the massacre.

-It will be over soon.

-okay. The guys who ran away were all killed by the guys waiting outside.

– Tsk. So why are you resisting the nobility and inviting your own anger? Let’s take a girl for now. After all, she is the body that will become the master’s concubine.

The remaining soldiers approached Esmeralda and reached out their hands as they were given.

At that moment, a fire suddenly started burning all around her.

The fireballs that rose one by one like a wisp of fire circled around her as if protecting Esmeralda.

– What, what is this.

-Is this a spirit?

The soldiers, who judged that they were the lowest level spirits without proper power, tried to push the spirits away by waving spears.

That complacency led to death.

Flames spread through the spear pole and wrapped around the soldiers. The soldier tried to shout something at the fire on his body, but even his scream was swept away by the flames.

In an instant, the two soldiers turned to ashes and disappeared.

The flame, which was a spirit, grew in size using corpses as fuel.

It was too foreign to be called a spirit now.

The flame responded to Esmeralda’s despair. Fireworks rose all over the roaring town.

The flame sucked up the red paint on the floor.

Rudger had no choice but to watch the scene.

Could it be the grudge of the dead?

The flames that absorbed the black and red paint on the floor began to gather around Esmeralda.

– What, what the hell! What have you done! Answer me, bitch!

The soldiers who saw the scene were terrified beyond description.

Esmeralda slowly lifted her bowed head.

Her eyes, empty and blank, looked beyond the soldiers, to the place where the nobles who had completely left the village had disappeared.

– I hate you.

What came out of his lips were deafening words of curse.

Eventually, the flames gathered behind Esmeralda conceived a being.

The giant, whose whole body was bursting with hot flames, stood up.

A stooped body with a fat, ugly appearance. The magma-seeking face was contorted with anger.

Rudger remembered that spirit. It was the same spirit that attacked the banquet hall at that time.

– I hate everything about you.

The soldiers panicked and raised their spears.

Esmeralda, who was watching the messy scene, clasped her hands together and muttered as if praying.

– So please. <Quasimodo>.

Ghosts of dead people and small spirits. And the existence created by Esmeralda’s despair and hatred entangled in one place.

An artificially created incarnation of revenge.

– Burn everything.

Quasimodo opened his mouth and let out flames.

The new life born of death brought forth death again.