Conquering the Academy with Just a Sashimi Knife (Novel) - Chapter 109 - End of the First Semester (2)

Chapter 109 – End of the First Semester (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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As soon as the midnight commotion ended, I immediately left the annex.

The Sword Emperor and the Headmaster sent me looked as though they had something to say, but I told them we’d did it another time.

Perhaps because they read what was in my mind, they did not try to stop me. Only adding that they would take care of the cleanup for now.

Since it was a major incident in which one of the elders had died, the aftermath would be important. Even so, with the villains’ heads lined up in the annex and the evidence secured from Auditore.

There might be a huge upheaval, but the remaining elders and nobles would not be able to open their mouths so easily.

Because if they bared their teeth carelessly, their own necks might end up in danger.

When I reached the dormitory building, I left a message for Weapon, who would be waiting in the Headmaster’s office. The gist was that everything had ended without any major trouble.

Weapon replied only briefly with the message, `Go in and get some solid rest.`

He must have had endless questions about how the incident had unfolded, but he did not ask a single one.

I could vaguely tell that all that mattered to him was knowing I was safe. Frail in many ways though he was, he really was a deeply considerate friend.

I gave a faint smile and moved my feet briskly. My whole body felt itchy and grimy.

‘Let’s wash up the moment I get in.’

Having rolled around in dust until just recently, my appearance was a complete mess. On top of that, all sorts of smells had mixed together and were giving off an unpleasant stench.

When I arrived in my dorm room, I checked my clothes.

I had not realized it, but the yellow-and-red-stained top and the pants torn here and there came into view.

“Tsk.”

The uniform had been expensive enough already, and now it had completely turned into a rag. If it had only gotten a little stained, I could have taken it to the cleaners, but at this point I would have to get new clothes.

Unfortunately, Hoakin Academy uniforms had no secondhand market. Wearing these clothes itself was authority and proof of status.

In reality, even dungeons with strict entry procedures became simpler if you were wearing only the Hoakin Academy uniform.

Only after it got ripped and shredded did I realize it, but it really was a convenient outfit. The only problem was that it cost an obscene amount.

I did have one extra set, but there was no way that would be enough to get through the sweltering summer. Even so, the timing was good, because tomorrow was the closing ceremony.

What was more, we had exterminated all the villains who had infiltrated the academy. Since Professor Damian himself, the one who summoned them, had shown up, that was probably all of them.

Even if that were not the case, with the main force gone, they would probably hide their traces and flee.

“Hoo……”

Letting out a deep sigh, I stuffed the clothes I had taken off into a trash bag.

Then, before washing up, I stood in front of the mirror.

I blankly looked at the reflection in the spotless mirror. Hollow eyes worn down by fatigue, and hair that had faded even more than before.

The lines of my face and the impression it gave had also grown far sharper than before.

An appearance that had changed far too much. At the face that was changing drastically day by day, a hollow laugh suddenly slipped out.

“The problem isn’t just that my face changed.”

What did it matter if my appearance had grown mature early and handsome?

What had changed far more than that was I myself as a person.

I turned over my palm. The part that met the hilt was covered in rough calluses. It had been like this in my previous life too, so it did not feel entirely unfamiliar.

Still, the series of processes by which these calluses formed was different. My brow furrowed.

In my previous life, when I looked down at my calluses, I confirmed my own growth as I sliced fish. The rougher my hands became, the more pride and pleasure I felt. At the time, I regarded it as a kind of medal.

But what about me now? These calluses had been earned by harming countless lived.

I had no regrets at all. Every one of the bastards I had cut down deserved to die. I was not so soft-hearted that I would lose sleep because I got rid of scum like that.

Then why was this sense of revulsion washing over me? The reason was simple. When I made slashing movements to harm an enemy, there had not been even a hair’s breadth of emotion in my hands.

Just three months ago, I had been someone whose legs trembled when facing people my own age in the subspace.

Now I just swung the sashimi knife first. Without the slightest hesitation or wavering.

At first, I thought it was because of the Blessing of the Sword God, but after what happened today, I changed my mind.

Of course, the Blessing of the Sword God might have had some influence, but even more than that, it was probably this body’s own innate disposition.

My thoughts leaned in that direction. A sense of unease and an ominous premonition came over me.

Who exactly was Kang Geom-ma, the body I had possessed? Even the parents in this world who had cared for me had vanished as though they had never existed.

To begin with, why had I, once nothing more than an ordinary citizen, fallen into this world? It must have been the plundering of some incomprehensible being, but what was its intention, and what was it trying to convey?

Questions bred one after another, continuing without end.

“……”

By the time I had been agonizing for a long while like that, I had forgotten that I had come in to wash.

Soon I slapped my cheeks and gave myself such a dry wash that my face stung. As I said before, it was a habit of mine whenever I tried to pull myself together.

Looking into the mirror, I muttered.

“Up to now, I’ve only been running ahead like mad.”

I needed to give myself some room to breathe. And just in time, vacation.

Originally, I had intended to diligently go around dungeons during the vacation. But I decided to turn that plan a little.

If I kept driving myself onward, it would just be a repetition of the same situation.

An enemy appears, and I cut, slash, and slice again.

If I kept doing that, I felt like I would really lose myself, so I decided to pause for a beat.

In any case, the club members would all be returning to their hometowns, and it would have been too much for me to go through dungeons alone.

When I let out a short breath, the turmoil in my heart settled down, and my thoughts were gathered back in as well.

I turned on the shower. Streams of water at high pressure struck my face.

Feeling refreshed, I washed away the grime. Blood, sweat, and fatigue tangled together and were sucked down into the drain.

* * *

The next day came.

From early morning, the class was filled with the sound of chatter.

“Where are you going during break?”

“Not sure, I think I’ll spend it at home with Papa and Mama. What about you?”

“I’m going to spend vacation at the villa in Hawaii with my family~ If you have time, come play too!”

“Oh, really? I want to, I want to!”

The atmosphere of the class was full of excitement. Which made sense, since vacation started tomorrow.

After completing an unbearably packed semester of coursework, they were finally being given their rest. It was only natural that they wore such clear and bright expressions.

To be honest, I felt a bit light myself. Come to think of it, in my previous life I could not remember ever resting for more than a few days. After all, I had started working life at seventeen.

So this long period of rest felt unfamiliar to me and exciting at the same time. Well… even so, I would probably just stay cooped up in my dorm room.

Now that even the very existence of my parents in this world had vanished, how could I visit my family home? If I had to guess, there was a high chance that address had been deleted. Or someone else was living there.

Rather than create an unnecessary disaster, I should just lounge around in the cozy dormitory. If I felt like it, I could also train my body now and then and gather information in the library.

I turned my head to the right. Chloe sat there wearing a face full of gloom. In the noisy classroom, she alone seemed downcast.

I was about to ask the reason, then stopped. Come to think of it, many members of Auditore had died in last night’s incident.

No matter how much Chloe hated her family, the death of her blood relatives was bound to make her sad.

Rather than bring it up for no reason, it was probably right to send a quiet bit of consolation in silence.

At that moment, I heard Chloe mutter softly.

“I don’t want to be apart from Geom-ma during vacation……”

“……”

I immediately withdrew the consolation I had been about to send. A creepy chill that raised goosebumps surged up.

She hates being apart from me more than the death of her family? At that point, wasn’t something seriously wrong with her brain circuitry?

As expected, the way a yandere girl’s mind worked was not something an ordinary person like me could dare understand.

‘Chloe is the real deal.’

I shifted my gaze to the .

Ryozo sat there with her lips pushed out and her arms crossed. Her tightly narrowed brows stood out clearly.

‘…What’s with her now?’

Her face was full of worry in a different sense from Chloe’s. Somehow, only the two people sitting on either side of me were giving off an aura completely opposite to the buoyant mood filling the room.

Ryozo too had a dark complexion no less than Chloe. More precisely, her expression was rotting away. To the point that she did not look like a youth welcoming vacation at all.

And this was Ryozo, who was always sneaking naps. I would have thought she would like it the most……

‘Does she hate vacation that much?’

For reference, Ryozo had been discharged from the academy-affiliated hospital as of yesterday. Her physical condition had improved a lot, and apparently she would receive further treatment after returning to her home country.

‘Well, with a sword wound like that, there was no way she’d recover just from being hospitalized for a few days.’

As I watched her while feeling something a little strange, our eyes met.

Ryozo’s face immediately turned red, and she abruptly whipped her head away. Then, keeping her gaze fixed far away, she abruptly spat out a question.

“Y-you, what are you going to do during vacation?”

“I don’t really have any plans. I was just going to stay here in the academy.”

“What!? You’re saying you’ll stay in the academy for a whole month straight?”

At those words, Ryozo suddenly looked at me. When our eyes met, she lowered her gaze as if embarrassed. She looked at me only by slightly lifting her eyes.

At the mumbling Ryozo, I gave a little shrug.

“I don’t have anywhere to go anyway.”

“…I-I see.”

Awkwardness dripped from her response. It seemed like she was choosing what kind of reaction she should give. She was a quick-witted girl.

She must have guessed that my family circumstances were not ordinary. But in reality, they really were far from ordinary.

‘Because I had a family, and then they were gone.’

Ryozo’s eyes rolled around in circles. Seeing her look like she was deliberating over what words to say, I smiled a little.

“Ryozo, you have a good vacation too.”

“……!”

At that, Ryozo’s face reddened even more.

…What was wrong with her? Did she really get PTSD like Weapon said? That calm and rational Ryozo was acting like this?

Just as I was failing to hide my bafflement, Lee Won-bin and the Sword Emperor opened the classroom door and came in.

At the Sword Emperor’s sudden appearance, excitement spread across the cadets’ faces. It was his first time showing up since he retired as one of the Seven Star Heroes.

Judging by the situation, it seemed the matter of his retirement had been sorted out to some extent. At his appearance, the classroom went beyond murmuring and became noisy.

“Quiet! Quiet!”

Lee Won-bin smacked the podium with his palm. The cadets, with vacation right before them, seemed to have had the reins taken off and were not inclined to listen to him.

On top of that, they had spent a whole semester struggling together. Compared to the start of the semester, the cadets now felt much more at ease around Lee Won-bin.

Only after Lee Won-bin had shouted at them for about five minutes did the noise die down. He opened his mouth looking thoroughly drained.

“I know you’re excited, but you are cadets of Hoakin Academy. Please, I’m begging you, maintain at least a little dignity outside. The academy’s reputation is determined by your conduct.”

“Yeees-!”

The cadets answered in unison with booming voices. Only then did a smile rise to Lee Won-bin’s lips.

“Good grief, at least your answers sound like Hoakin Academy cadets. Anyway, I’ve already sent the guidelines by email, so I won’t make this long. Always be careful with your conduct and attitude, and show your parents how much you’ve grown. That’s all.”

After finishing his words, Lee Won-bin stepped back and yielded the place to the Sword Emperor. The heated atmosphere from just now cooled in an instant. They all looked subtly tense.

His appearance alone was one thing, but there was also the worry that this might drag on like a principal’s lecture. It was plain to see they were worried about that, because all of them wanted to hurry home and were practically bouncing in their seats.

The Sword Emperor was famous as an old fossil. The moment he opened his mouth, a tedious lecture would begin. Someone audibly swallowed.

The Sword Emperor swept his gaze across the room. His eyes stopped on me for a moment, then he opened his mouth as though nothing were amiss.

“Only old fossils who know nothing of the world are long-winded, so I will keep it short. I look forward to seeing all of you grown by next semester, and with that, I shall finish.”

The Sword Emperor cut off his words with crisp discipline. At his remarkably un-old-fossil-like remark, the cadets let out exclamations.

Even I was honestly surprised. This was the Sword Emperor, the very image of an old fossil. And yet he was giving such a concise address. I was genuinely taken aback.

The cadets quickly lifted themselves out of their seats. After exchanging farewells, they all streamed out.

Lee Won-bin and the Sword Emperor stayed in place, apparently intending to make sure everyone left.

The classroom, which had emptied out in an instant. Before long, Chloe spoke with a wan face.

“…Geom-ma, have a good vacation too.”

“You too, Chloe.”

“…Yees.”

Chloe replied in a dying voice. I had considered ignoring it, but vacation was starting, so I decided to give her some encouragement.

“I’ll be looking forward to seeing a more grown-up you. So have a good vacation and come back.”

When I said that, Chloe’s eyes sparkled brightly. She nodded with force.

On the other hand, Ryozo still looked out of sorts. I wondered what I should say to her, then gave up. Mental counseling was a doctor’s job, not mine.

Chloe headed for the door with lightened steps, while Ryozo trudged over.

‘I should go back and get some rest too.’

Just as I was about to gather my things and stand up, the Sword Emperor suddenly approached.

‘…Ah, right.’

This old man had looked like he had plenty to say to me yesterday. Then didn’t tell me he was waiting for all the cadets to leave because of this?

The Sword Emperor, now close at hand, looked at me for a moment and then opened his mouth.

“Do you have any plans you’ve set aside for the vacation?”

“……?”

For a moment, I doubted my ears. It was an unexpected question.

All of a sudden he was asking about my vacation plans? Was this just his way of opening up before getting to the real question?

While various questions clouded my mind, the Sword Emperor stared fixedly at me. Somehow, that look was familiar.

It was the look of an old fossil I’d often seen while working at the sushi restaurant, the kind that pressured you to answer. Hadn’t he made that anti-old-fossil remark less than ten minutes ago?

Pushing down my stray thoughts, I answered.

“I was just thinking of training here at the academy.”

“…I see.”

After those brief words came back, a cold breeze seemed to blow between the two of us for a moment.

An awkward silence seeped in, the kind that felt like it would kill me.

As I tried to subtly shift my feet away, the Sword Emperor said, as though abruptly throwing the words out.

“Then would you not come with me?”

“……?”

The sudden suggestion left me dumbfounded.

Before I could even ask back, the Sword Emperor looked straight into my eyes and opened his mouth in a low voice.