Chapter 353: Using A Scapegoat
Renard sighed in his heart as he looked at his pitiful position on the rankings.
He had assumed he would easily top the Dungeon Expedition in terms of solo kills, but his performance didn't even come close to the actual winner.
Nessia.
While Renard's score was close to a thousand, the young lady's points were in the tens of thousands.
To be more specific, 45,280 points.
The number of points she had accumulated was so absurd that no one else could even dream of replicating her feat.
Since Nessia had made the talismans, all the points automatically went to her.
Alex had zero points, but did that even matter right now?
Renard glanced at their club president, who was lounging on a beach chair and sipping some fruit punch while inside a dungeon.
Who could blame him?
With all the monsters dying as soon as they entered the sanctuary, the only thing that needed to be done was to collect the monster cores, which Dim Dim was doing happily.
The other club members easily dealt with the monsters that barely survived, while the club president took a break.
This was the first time anyone had seen something so outrageous! Even Theo, who was usually calm and stoic, felt his eyes twitch when he saw Vaan giving Alex a shoulder massage.
"A little harder on the right… Yes, that's it," Alex said with a sigh. "Thank you, Vaan."
With all the Demon Worshipers taken care of, Alex had nothing else to worry about except making sure that all monster cores were picked up. But even that task was being taken care of by Dim Dim. He only had to watch his stats go up!
But Alex's carefree life came to a sudden end when the other Student Councilors and some of the Professors arrived to retrieve Gaston and his remaining subordinates.
"Mr. Alex Stratos, does it feel good lying on that chair?"
The familiar voice made Alex immediately stand at attention because it belonged to none other than the Headmaster of the Academy.
Professor Rowan Vademont.
"H-Hahaha. Good day, Headmaster," Alex greeted. "Nice weather we're having, eh?"
The other members of Endless Horizon averted their gaze. It seemed that their club president's head had suddenly short-circuited.
Nice weather? Inside a dungeon?
"The competition has already been canceled," Professor Rowan said, not bothering to entertain Alex's sad attempt at small talk. "Have you not been informed that there is a Dungeon Outbreak?"
Since the Headmaster was confident that Gaston's group was the last batch of the Demon Worshipers inside the Dungeon, he decided to personally take a look at what was happening inside.
He had already tossed the other Demon Worshipers inside his personal domain, where they would be interrogated at a later date.
"Oh dear, a Dungeon Outbreak?" Alex blinked. "That's… dangerous, right?"
"It should be," Professor Rowan answered. "Normally, it should be dangerous. But… the current situation is a bit abnormal. Don't you agree?"
The Headmaster glanced at Dim Dim, who was still steering the magical artifact about to suck up all the monster cores on the ground.
The Professor had to agree that this was a very efficient way of farming monster cores, but he couldn't help but be suspicious of Alex.
Seeing how meticulously the magical formation had been laid out, he inferred that these students already expected a Dungeon Outbreak. This would also explain why most of them did not venture deeper inside the dungeon.
At first, when the members of Endless Horizon had been setting up the formation, the Headmaster had assumed that they were just being cautious.
But now, things were falling into place.
"Are there a few things you'd like to tell me, Mr. Stratos?" Professor Rowan inquired.
Alex blinked once, then twice, before thumping his fist on the palm of his hand as if he had suddenly thought of a great explanation.
"Headmaster, I already mentioned this in the past, but I'm actually a Seer," Alex explained.
"Uh huh." Professor Rowan crossed his arms over his chest. "So you're telling me that you made this preparation after seeing a vision?"
"Exactly!" Alex nodded.
"Then why didn't you tell the academy? You should have approached me so I could have chosen another dungeon for the expedition." Professor Rowan narrowed his eyes.
Alex wanted to say, "And why should I do that?" but he held his tongue and simply smiled.
If the Headmaster had really gone with another option, Alex wouldn't have had such an easy time gathering cores since this magical formation only worked against the Undead!
"There's a good explanation for this, Headmaster," Alex said seriously. "It's because even if I had told you, there's a chance that you wouldn't have believed me. I mean… if I had said that not only would there be an outbreak in the Orion Dungeon, but Demon Worshipers would also be planning to ambush us, you would not have believed it too, right?"
"At least, you should have told me about it," Professor Rowan reiterated. Clearly, he had no intention of backing down.
However, Alex had already prepared what he was going to say next!
"There is also another reason why I didn't say anything, Headmaster."
"And that is?"
"It's because of Lady Celestria."
The Saintess of the Solara Academy, who was listening to Alex and the Headmaster, frowned in response.
The members of her delegation, including Prince Garen, also looked at her, as if asking her to explain what Alex was talking about.
"I-I don't know anything!" Lady Celestria exclaimed, flustered by the intense attention the students and some of the Professors were giving her.
Professor Rowan also furrowed his brows because he also had no idea what Alex was trying to say.
"Um, it's like this." Alex coughed lightly. "Since Lady Celestria is the Saintess, she often receives divine messages, right? Then, since she was going inside the dungeon, which means she didn't receive any revelation from her Deity, I wondered if my vision might have been inaccurate."
One was a Seer, and the other was a Saintess who regularly received divine visions and messages.
Since they hadn't received the same information, Alex's statement might not have been considered credible enough to be taken seriously.
After realizing what the young man was implying, everyone finally understood why Alex had kept it a secret.
If he hadn't said anything, he wouldn't have been called a liar. However, he had also decided to take things into his own hands and prepare for the Dungeon Outbreak with his club members.
Professor Rowan's frown didn't disappear, but he couldn't deny that Alex had a point.
In fact, the Headmaster had only thought that Alex was a self-proclaimed Seer, so he hadn't paid much attention to this.
But after the young man and his club members had handled the two incidents with the Demon Worshipers, Professor Rowan decided that he would have a private talk with Alex later about his "Seer Ability".
Meanwhile, outside the dungeon, Lady Celestria's face had reddened. She hadn't received any revelation from her Deity, which suggested that Alex could see the future better than she did!
'Your Excellency, did you really not know that there would be trouble waiting for us in the dungeon?' Lady Celestria asked her Patron Deity.
"… Of course, I knew. I just didn't say anything because this was a trial that you and the rest from Solara Academy had to face."
"…"
The Saintess didn't miss the hesitation in the voice of her Patron, but she wasn't stupid enough to question the words of a divine being.
In the end, she shifted her attention back to the shameless guy using her as a scapegoat for his selfishness!