I Became a Genius Mechanic at the Academy

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“Sophieee!!”

Gric opened his eyes and immediately shouted his daughter’s name as he looked at the bed.

However, there was nothing on the bed where he expected to find his daughter’s corpse.

Only the overflow of blood from the surgery stained the sheets.

“Ah… Aahhhh…”

Seeing the empty bed, Gric broke down sobbing.

If only a corpse had been left behind, he could have dealt with it, but now he couldn’t even find that corpse.

Just like a bishop who would take a virgin’s corpse somewhere after violating it, the Lord of Hell must have taken his daughter somewhere after assaulting her.

– Bang!

At that moment, someone opened the door and walked in.

It was an overwhelmingly beautiful person he had never seen before.

However, the impression of this beauty looking down at him felt somewhat androgynous.

It was confusing whether this was a man as beautiful as a woman or simply a woman with a short haircut.

“Are you awake?”

But judging by the deep, resonant voice, it was definitely a man.

He soon began to sweep the clutter off the table into a bag while speaking.

“The magic in your body must have been purified. Fortunately, your daughter has a special ability that allowed her to cleanly erase the magic.”

“…!!”

The moment Gric heard Ed’s words, he immediately sat up.

Ed had clearly said that “his daughter erased the magic.”

That meant his daughter was still alive!

“My, my daughter is alive!? Where is she?”

Gric rushed to Ed and asked about his daughter’s whereabouts.

Ed continued to gather things on the table, giving a brief reply of “outside.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Gric dashed outside to search for his daughter.

“…!! Sophie!!”

Eventually, Gric found his daughter, who was pouring divine power into the fallen subordinates.

He immediately ran to his daughter and embraced her tightly, and Sophie also hugged her father tightly for the first time in ages.

“I’m so glad you’re safe… so safe…”

Tears streamed down Gric’s face, overwhelmed with joy at his daughter’s survival.

Sophie, clutching Gric, conveyed her deep feelings in kind.

“But Sophie, wasn’t the Lord of Hell the one who kidnapped you?”

However, now that he had confirmed his daughter’s safety, a sense of doubt began to creep in.

His daughter should have been violated by the Lord of Hell, yet here she was looking so healthy and how was she even here?

Eventually, his daughter explained everything that had happened.

“Mr. Edgar Fix saved me.”

“…Edgar Fix?”

Edgar Fix.

There wasn’t a single person among the Empire who didn’t know him.

The first person in history to rise from commoner to Count.

To commoners, he was nothing less than an icon of success and a myth.

Thus, Gric also knew Edgar well.

“…I see. Then where is Mr. Edgar Fix? I need to thank him.”

The man who saved his daughter from the Lord of Hell.

Gric asked about Edgar’s whereabouts in order to express his gratitude.

However, his daughter’s response was unexpected.

“I believe the Count just went into our house… Have you not seen him?”

“…?”

He went into the house?

Could it be that the youth from earlier was none other than Mr. Edgar Fix?

Gric asked Sophie to confirm his suspicion.

“Yes. He is incredibly handsome. I was surprised too.”

“…”

Gric stared blankly at his house.

According to rumors, Mr. Edgar Fix was said to be a charismatic middle-aged man with a splendid beard, yet this was completely different from what he had heard.

The undeniably youthful man was indeed Edgar Fix.

– Bang.

At that moment.

Edgar opened the door and stepped outside.

In his hand was a bag filled with items related to the Demon Church.

Gric hurriedly approached him, kneeling and saying,

“I heard you saved my daughter’s life! Thank you! I will never forget this kindness!”

The benefactor who saved his daughter from the Lord of Hell.

However, Ed handed him the bag with an indifferent expression and said,

“Burn all of this.”

“…What?”

“I said to burn it all. Not just this, but everything related to the Demon Church.”

“…”

Gric accepted the bag, dumbfounded.

Inside was everything he once worshipped as if it were divine from the Demon Church.

“…Yes. Of course, I must burn it. I shouldn’t have fallen for such things.”

Then Gric grasped the bag with a bitter smile.

He had never intended to follow a mad religion that violated a virgin’s corpse in the first place.

Hadn’t he almost lost his daughter because of it?

‘Is he too quick to give up?’

However, Ed found Gric’s attitude surprising.

It was not easy to give up once someone had tasted magic.

Magic was remarkably addictive.

Even those who managed to escape the Demon Church might return to it, unable to overcome the symptoms of magic addiction.

Because they couldn’t forget the intense euphoria of acquiring magic.

‘Did I recover something, perhaps?’

Yet Gric showed no signs of magic addiction.

This meant that Sophie’s divine power was of a considerable level.

Her powerful divine energy had completely erased the symptoms of magic addiction.

“But… how did you face the Lord of Hell…? According to the scriptures, the Lord of Hell possesses power that could destroy the world…”

Then Gric began to ask the questions he had been curious about.

He had heard rumors of Ed’s strength, but he never thought he was as strong as the Lord of Hell.

How could a young man possibly confront that demon?

“Oh. The Lord of Hell?”

At that moment, Ed gazed at Gric with a chilling smile.

Then, summoning segmented pieces of a suit from his inventory, he continued.

“Is this what you refer to as the Lord of Hell?”

As soon as Ed finished his sentence, each piece summoned from the inventory began to attach to him.

Gric slowly began to open his mouth as he watched the parts connect to form a fully equipped suit.

His face gradually turned to horror.

Eventually, he turned around and shouted.

“Sophieeee!!! Run! Run away NOW!!!”

The Lord of Hell, who had laughed wickedly while slaughtering his subordinates.

That horrific sight became a trauma for Gric.

It was a symbol of violence he never wanted to face again.

“Hmmm. Should I clarify a misunderstanding first?”

However, Ed’s cruel appearance was only when facing foes with magic.

Now that Gric had returned to being a complete human, it was time to clear the misunderstandings.

Thus, Ed shot a web shooter at Gric to bind him and then spoke to Sophie.

“Sophie, explain to your father why I am here.”

***

Three hours later.

Having gathered all the townspeople who had regained consciousness, Gric was making a significant announcement.

He called them to the widest field, saying he had something important to declare.

“What on earth happened…?”

Yet Gric’s subordinates were filled with questions.

Not without reason; upon regaining consciousness, the magic had vanished, and the demon who was slaughtering them was nowhere to be found.

Just moments ago, it felt as if their limbs were being torn apart while screaming, yet how could this have happened?

Moreover, why was the captain telling everyone to gather in the field without any explanation?

“From today onward, we will withdraw from the Church of Salvation.”

Despite their questions, it was nothing compared to the bombshell that the captain just dropped.

As soon as all the villagers gathered, he made a declaration that sounded unbelievable.

“C-Captain!”

“What do you mean!”

“What are you talking about right now?”

Protests erupted from various places.

Withdrawing from the Church of Salvation was no different from stating they would submit to the nobility.

Moreover, wasn’t the captain the one who united everyone to reclaim their legitimate rights against the nobility?

Why would he say such a thing now?

“A new lord is coming here.”

At that moment.

The atmosphere, which had been buzzing, temporarily quieted down following Gric’s words, but that was only for an instant.

What would happen now that a new lord was arriving?

“And the new lord’s name is Edgar Fix. In other words, he is a man who has risen from commoner to noble.”

However, if the new lord was indeed Edgar Fix, the story changed considerably.

Count Fix was the first noble to originate from a commoner in history.

“Captain.”

But at that moment.

A young man stood before Gric with a sharp gaze.

He glared at Gric and said,

“Are you saying, captain, that you would give up the Church of Salvation just because the new lord is a commoner? Haven’t you been tormented by the nobility all this time?”

The youth’s piercing observation caused the mood that had been settling to boil once more.

One after another, people echoed the youth’s thoughts, saying they needed the strength to protect themselves because nobility was something no one could trust.

“That butcher who swept through this village earlier.”

Yet everyone fell silent at the captain’s next words.

Mentioning the chainsaw-wielding butcher who had destroyed the village in a mere 10 minutes made them all freeze.

“That butcher… is none other than Mr. Edgar Fix.”