Chapter 449

Chapter 449: Dark Demon Watches with Amusement (4k)

After all, it was the first final exam, and very few students turned in their papers early.

Even if they finished, they just waited obediently in the classroom until the bell rang, forcing everyone to stop writing and submit their papers one by one.

At this time, one could often see a variety of human conditions.

Some were confident, some were nervous, some hurriedly added the last stroke, and some sneakily peeked at others’ papers…

It was quite interesting.

After Dak submitted his paper, he let Diana and Rose go first, while he stayed behind until everyone else left. Then, he came to the podium and carried the papers with Professor Shylph.

“What’s the matter, Dak?” Professor Shylph asked with a smile.

Dak opened his mouth and said, “Professor, did you read today’s morning paper?”

Professor Shylph replied as she walked, “I’ve been a bit busy today.”

Dak thought for a moment and said, “I saw a report in ‘The Wise One Daily,’ and I’m a bit confused about it.”

Professor Shylph asked, “What is it related to?”

Dak whispered, “The Demon King.”

Professor Shylph’s heart stirred slightly as she said, “Let’s discuss this in the office.”

…

Soon, Dak arrived at Professor Shylph’s office.

He placed the papers on her desk and turned around to find that Professor Shylph had already locked the door.

“Wait here,” Professor Shylph said, walking to the guest table and picking up a newspaper directly from it.

She actually subscribed to newspapers, but she hadn’t had time to read them yet.

Seeing her sit on the sofa, Dak naturally started brewing tea.

Professor Shylph frowned as she read the newspaper, lost in thought.

When Dak finished brewing the tea, she had almost finished reading the report and couldn’t help but look up, saying, “It’s been two months.”

“Huh?” Dak responded.

Professor Shylph continued, “Since the Demon King escaped the seal and reincarnated, it has been nearly two months. The Church of the Saints has finally begun to act externally.”

Dak realized, “So it is indeed led by the Church itself? Then what did they do during these two months?”

Professor Shylph put down the newspaper seriously and said, “Of course, they didn’t do nothing. It must be some secret operations. Since they chose this method, it’s likely they haven’t found the Demon King’s reincarnation vessel or, even if they did, it managed to escape again.

That’s why they’re trying to mitigate the aftermath. Do you think they have any reason to fabricate such a report?”

Dak furrowed his brows and said, “Professor, it’s not easy to figure out.”

Professor Shylph said, “Try thinking from their perspective.”

Dak pondered, “If I were the Church, I wouldn’t know how the Demon King escaped from the seal in the first place. So, after discovering it, I would immediately investigate the issue, looking for external or internal factors. I don’t think they can find an external factor.”

Professor Shylph nodded slightly, “That’s true.”

Dak continued, “Then, they might need to clean up internally, which would waste some time. But the main thing is still finding the Demon King’s reincarnation vessel.

During this process, they would definitely use divination methods. But since the Demon King was previously known as ‘Undead,’ they probably have ways to counter divination. Perhaps his reincarnation is special and cannot be traced.”

Professor Shylph said, “Indeed. If it were easy to find the Demon King’s reincarnation vessel, even if it had thousands of containers, even if it took ten or twenty years, the Church would certainly eliminate all of them.”

After Dak confirmed, he speculated, “Without finding the Demon King’s reincarnation vessel, they must find a way to deal with subsequent issues.

For example, the impact on the Church if the Demon King suddenly reappears, or the effects on society… They need to stabilize the situation!”

Professor Shylph couldn’t help but nod, “The word ‘stabilize’ fits well. Unlike us, the Church doesn’t know that the Demon King’s reincarnation might affect the soul’s consciousness, so they assume the Demon King will return in full strength.”

Dak curiously asked, “How powerful is the Demon King in full strength?”

“Regarding that…” Professor Shylph sipped her tea slowly and said, “It’s roughly on par with my current level.”

Dak couldn’t help but frown.

Although he didn’t know exactly how powerful Professor Shylph was now, as the vice-principal of Saint Maryann Academy, even if she wasn’t as strong as Principal Altair, she should still be one of the strongest mages of the era.

The rapid development of mana technology over the past decade was enough to allow a powerful mage to evolve further.

And the Demon King, who had gone through a decade-long gap, could still compare to Professor Shylph… How strong was it back then?

“It’s no wonder the Hero Bret sacrificed himself in the battle against the Demon King.”

Dak took a deep breath and then said, “But since he no longer has the same power, why fear it?”

Professor Shylph shook her head slightly, “Perhaps because the Demon King’s existence itself is a form of faith. The scattered demon remnants and the fanatical heterodox sects could easily gather around it, forming a formidable force.

Or perhaps because the Demon King possesses the technology to increase the demon population, potentially reviving them. Additionally…”

Professor Shylph looked at him and said, “Although the previous mana technology supported our victory over the demons, it wasn’t systematic and hadn’t been simplified much.

However, modern mana technology not only has greatly improved depth but also forms a system with systematic learning methods. Someone with sufficient talent, especially those with advanced magical foundations, can learn it easily.”

Dak couldn’t help but say, “Like Vlad?”

Professor Shylph nodded, “Just like Vlad.”

Dak pondered, “This is indeed a problem. The Church considers the Demon King a major threat, and if things really get out of hand, those who allowed the Demon King to escape from the seal would become historical sinners.

Therefore, whether to stabilize or protect themselves, they need to distance themselves from this situation. I understand!”

Professor Shylph’s expression changed slightly as she asked, “What did you understand?”

Dak said excitedly, “Nowadays, the Church undoubtedly has one of the top voices globally. In the eyes of ordinary people, what they say is authoritative.

Assuming they suddenly announced that the Demon King has been completely killed, there would be some disbelief, but not many.

As long as they create the fact that ‘the Demon King is dead’ before the Demon King declares its return, and make it d*e in public opinion…”

“In other words, even if the Demon King appears, as long as no one believes, it won’t be the Demon King, and it won’t cause global panic.”

“As long as the Church handles it quickly, the returning Demon King could be impersonated by demon remnants or heterodox sects, and all explanations depend on the Church itself.”

“Controlling the people’s voice is controlling the world’s ‘truth.'”

“This report is the initial hype!”

…

Professor Shylph’s lips parted slightly, surprised.

She had similar thoughts, but she hadn’t expected Dak’s insights to be so detailed.

If the Church truly acted as Dak described, it was undoubtedly crafting a lie for the entire world.

Between admitting failure and deceiving the world, they chose to deceive the world!

If successful, it would be ingenious.

But this seemingly “ingenious” strategy actually carries greater risks than simply admitting failure.

If the Demon King becomes powerful and the deception is exposed, the Church would suffer irreparable damage.

“Who came up with this plan?”

Professor Shylph couldn’t help but think.

Was there such a mad person in the Church?

Didn’t they fear other forces would uncover their deception and overthrow them?

But on the other hand, if the evidence was in the hands of the royal family, they might remain silent.

And from the standpoint of Saint Maryann Academy, they wouldn’t say much either.

Because the royal family and the Church are not in opposition; they even have mutual infiltration.

Both support social stability.

Overthrowing the Church would bring no benefits to the royal family, the academy, or the people.

Maybe in a different era, things would be different.

But this era is like this.

Humans can’t afford internal wars in the short term.

A decade of recovery is too short.

Other humanoid species are also the same.

That’s why the neutral Saint Maryann Academy occasionally shows support for the pacifist faction.

…

While she was thinking about this, Dak stood up and said, “Then, Professor, I’ll go back.”

Professor Shylph nodded without trying to hold him back, “I need to grade the papers too.”

So Dak left the office.

His thinking angle was somewhat different from Professor Shylph’s.

Because he never thought the Demon King would pose a significant threat, nor did he care much about the Church itself, so he didn’t delve deeper.

This incident made him suddenly realize that the world was moving toward “informationization.”

What the Church was playing or might play was manipulation of public opinion information.

With the promotion of basic education and the development of the times, the dissemination of media like newspapers would become increasingly important.

But the real “informationization” marker—the computer—had already appeared.

Saint Maryann Academy’s selection cards and Dak’s identification cards fully possessed some functions of computers, even more convenient than the earliest computers.

However, no one had focused on this aspect, and further development of the selection card technology had been neglected.

Moreover, the information dissemination of the selection card was based on the school’s barrier, lacking scalability.

But everything always starts from the simplest, and having a foundation opens up possibilities for development.

All defects and shortcomings can be addressed.

If they could develop and control this technology, it would be equivalent to mastering the new era’s information dissemination pathway, even dominating the entire era.

…

Although this was the case, Dak was just thinking about it.

He didn’t have the time or interest to be this world’s John von Neumann.

He had a potions class exam in the afternoon.

As for the Church and the Demon King, watching them go crazy and collapse is quite delightful.

…

Three days passed in a blink.

When the last Beast Mastery exam ended, most students felt as if they had been released from hell, wanting to howl at the sky like wolves.

Among the six exams completed in these three days, the most difficult one was undoubtedly the Arithmetic Class.

This could be seen from the pale faces of the students who walked out of the examination hall that day.

The only thing that brought them relief was that on that night, the first-year students suddenly discovered that the second-year seniors were also suffering the same pain.

Humans are good at seeking temporary peace through sharing pain.

Professor Bacon, who taught the second-year Arithmetic Class, not only used the textbook compiled by Dak but also combined it with the original second-year textbooks, making this year’s Arithmetic Class unprecedentedly difficult.

After Dak learned about it, he couldn’t help but feel relieved that the textbook was written by an anonymous author. Otherwise, if the second-year seniors knew the demon was right in front of them, wouldn’t they drown him?

Compared to the high difficulty of the Arithmetic Class exam, one of the six exams turned out to be unexpectedly simple.

The Beast Mastery exam written by Professor Nina contained very basic content, and anyone who paid attention in class could answer it.

However, Beast Mastery was originally an elective like astronomy in the first year, so there was no need to increase its difficulty.

In general, the students who walked out of the Beast Mastery exam classroom seemed much more relaxed.

The first-year students, who had just finished all their exams, didn’t even have time to return to their dormitories to drop off their bags before they gathered in groups and rushed into the specially opened Traveler’s Street to celebrate their upcoming three-month break.

Dak originally didn’t want to go, but he reluctantly followed along under the pull of Tudor and Pistons.

Diana and Rose naturally went along too.

Their moods were fairly decent.

But the first-year students were still rather inexperienced; after finishing a meal, they dispersed, with no other activities planned.

Most people just wandered around Traveler’s Street briefly and then returned to the public room in the Noble Academy, playing chess and chatting happily.

They had at least two extra days to stay on campus.

Only after the professors graded the papers and distributed the grades could they leave.

Additionally, the professors would assign different levels of summer homework based on each student’s score range.

On Friday evening, there would be the end-of-term party and graduation ceremony!

The awarding of the Academy Cup and the Holy Grail wish activity would also take place simultaneously.

Thinking about the Academy Cup, students from the other three academies besides the Mana Academy would feel a vague pain in their chests, as if they had eaten lemons.

…

It was almost nine o’clock at night when Dak finally escaped from Tudor and company and returned to his dorm.

He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, lost in thought.

“A whole academic year, just passed.”

“It’s been a rough one!”

But before he could rest properly, there was a knock on the door.

He couldn’t help but frown.