Volume 1, Chapter 51 – Eye of the Abyss

The infirmary was exceptionally quiet, and the first thing that greeted Stella was the scent of medicinal herbs.

She saw Cheryl lying on the sickbed, breathing steadily, her expression unusually peaceful.

“Nothing serious.” After examining her, the succubus orderly said, “It’s only temporary shock caused by magical power exhaustion. Miss Valentine’s constitution is astonishingly strong. She should wake up in a few more minutes.”

Stella lowered her eyes, her gaze sweeping over Cheryl’s pale sleeping face. Before she could even breathe a sigh of relief, two pairs of eyes turned toward her.

“See? What did I tell you?”

Vice Principal Mara leaned against the medicine cabinet, looking Stella up and down with undisguised admiration.

A cold snort came from beside the sink.

Principal Gehenna shook the droplets of water from her hands and turned around irritably.

“My best student?”

Gehenna’s pale golden eyes were filled with the resentment of someone forced to work overtime.

“You mean her, right? She blew up the House’s Mirror of Desire on her very first day and left me having to figure out how to repair it. And now she’s used dark cursecraft to send someone from the Valentine family straight to the infirmary. I just got back from a business trip, and before I could even take a sip of hot coffee, I had to come save someone…”

Gehenna began counting Stella’s offenses on her fingers. Her voice grew quieter and quieter, but the resentment in it only became heavier.

“Sigh. Because of this, I have to write a formal letter of explanation to the Valentine family and then deal with questioning from the school board… What a troublesome student.”

As though she had finally identified the source of all her stress, Gehenna began muttering to herself at an astonishing speed.

“…And later I still have to deal with that mess involving the cafeteria budget. Someone actually took the money meant for buying dragon meat and spent it on five tons of hallucinogenic mushrooms?”

“The Disciplinary Committee is nothing but trouble too. Apparently, powerful mental domination has recently become popular among the students for forced love, and the number of people ending up in the infirmary because of romantic disputes has skyrocketed. I’ll have to find time to undo the seduction effects one by one…”

“There have also been several theft reports from the herb storeroom. I’ll have to tell Prefect Patolize, who’s responsible for guarding it, to investigate and tighten up security.”

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“And then there’s the library. The Administrator came crying to me that, for some reason, an entire batch of book-spirit guards in the restricted section died without even leaving ashes behind. Some student must have broken in to steal books. I’ll have to investigate and reinforce the defenses…”

“After that, I still have to inspect the Blasphemous Forbidden Forest. I heard the Lord of the Forest has gone mad again. Someone must have caused some kind of disturbance in there.”

“And there are the Alchemy Club’s explosion incident reports, the Succubus Disciplinary Committee’s monthly summary, the review of next quarter’s admissions brochure… Ah… What a pain. Why is there always more work? I want to sleep. I want to stack my pillows three layers high and sleep…”

“…No. My workload… I’m going to be working overtime again tonight.”

The more Gehenna spoke, the more despairing she became. She irritably scratched at her already messy hair.

Stella shrank her neck and didn’t dare say anything.

She really had caused quite a lot of trouble. She had to admit it.

Forced love?

That was the result of the advice she’d given Patolize.

Book-spirit guards?

She had vaporized them with Holy Light.

The disturbance in the Blasphemous Forbidden Forest?

She had started that fire to save Lainia.

‘So basically, the source of the Principal’s overtime…’

Almost all of it could be traced back to her.

“Do your best, Principal.”

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Mara walked forward with a smile and quietly positioned herself in front of Stella, shielding her from view.

“Besides, I think you’ll soon be perfectly willing to write another letter.”

Gehenna froze, then raised her weary eyes. “What?”

“A surprise.” Mara blinked mysteriously. “You’ll find out very soon.”

“Always acting so mysterious.”

Gehenna sighed, forced herself to perk up, pulled open a drawer, and took out a pitch-black wooden box.

“Alright. Stop standing there like a block of wood.”

“Since you’re already here, let’s get started. The sooner we finish, the sooner I can get back to work. Do you know why Lilith School insists on conducting a bloodline examination for every SSS+ freshman?”

“…N-No, Principal.”

Stella was already feeling noticeably guilty whenever she faced Gehenna now.

Gehenna opened the wooden box. Inside lay a crystal-clear orb, and sealed at its center was a vertical pupil that continuously rotated.

“A few hundred years ago, an exceptionally gifted Archdemon appeared in the Demon Realm. She had no family, no surname, and appeared out of nowhere like a ghost. Everyone thought she was a genius bestowed upon us by the Abyss, until she nearly turned half the Demon Realm into ruins.”

“Without the bonds of family and the restraints of bloodline, power becomes a beast without a leash.”

Gehenna pointed at the eye.

“This is the Abyssal Eye. With a single drop of blood, it can search through the racial genealogy of the entire Demon Realm, trace your bloodline back to its origin, and identify your family.”

“Give it a drop of blood. If you’re a rootless weed, I’ll put a collar on you so you don’t run around causing trouble. If you’re the child of a prestigious family, then your family needs to hurry up and claim you so you’ll stop adding to my workload.”

“Hurry up. Once this is over, I still have to write the reimbursement request for the damage to the dueling arena… What a damn hassle.” Gehenna urged her.

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Her schedule was already packed enough. She only wanted to get this irritating overtime over with as quickly as possible, or she wouldn’t even be able to sleep tonight.

Stella looked at the ominous eye, then at the expectant Mara and the exhausted Gehenna.

This was absolutely a death sentence.

A rootless weed?

At least that would still be a demon. Still a native of the Demon Realm.

‘But me…’

Strip away this disguise, and she was a genuine, pure-blooded human!

If this thing actually displayed the two words ‘Human Race’ with perfect accuracy…

Then this definitely wasn’t something that could be settled by simply putting a collar on her.

Even though Gehenna’s voice sounded soft and utterly devoid of motivation, Stella had no doubt that if this seemingly harmless little Principal so much as moved a finger, Stella would instantly become a smear of ash on the floor.

Or worse.

She was completely screwed!

But…

There was no way back.

At this point, she could only gamble.

Gamble that the disguise provided by that high-grade elixir was thick enough, and gamble that whatever vicious handiwork Vice Principal Mara had performed could fool this eye.

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‘Lord.’

‘If miracles truly exist, please let one descend right now.’

‘Even if Principal Gehenna suddenly has a stroke, collapses from overwork, or simply faints…’

‘Or…’

‘Even if it goes against Your teachings, please just grant Your believer a genuine succubus bloodline right now.’

‘Anyone’s will do.’

‘Anything that can get me through this!’

Stella stretched out her hand, her fingertips trembling slightly.

‘Just don’t show human.’

A sharp sting came from her fingertip. A single bead of bright red blood fell and struck the center of the vertical pupil.

Drip.

Translator Note

Poor Principal…