Conquering the Academy with Just a Sashimi Knife (Novel) - Chapter 112 - New Beginning (3)

Chapter 112 – New Beginning (3)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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It was my first time going through departure procedures, but they were absurdly simple.

After checking in my suitcase and other luggage, I just had to briefly show my face at the customs checkpoint and get my passport stamped, thump thump, and it was over.

In my imagination, I had expected drug-sniffing dogs to run their noses over me once and a complicated process to be waiting……

Still, in the end, I was satisfied because we had shaken off that annoying swarm of reporters.

‘So this is finally my first time riding on an airplane.’

It was a small sort of excitement, but for someone my age who had never even ridden on a plane once, it hit me deeply.

And what added another spoonful of excitement on top was, naturally, the fact that I would be boarding a private jet.

To think my very first flight in life would be this extravagant. A sense of elation surged up from the bottom of my chest.

But.

What stretched out before my eyes was a corridor narrower than I had expected.

And on both sides, tightly packed seats stood lined up all the way to the pointed front in single rows.

“……”

Economy class.

And not just that, economy class on a low-cost airline.

I turned my eyes slightly and looked at the Sword Emperor and Abel. With their faces wrapped up in masks and hats, the two of them moved briskly and found their seats. Their movements were very swift and very practiced.

The Sword Emperor suddenly turned around. He opened his mouth to me, who was standing blankly in the middle of the aisle.

“Can’t you see the people behind you are waiting? Hurry up and come here.”

A deliberately lowered voice. It was likely a measure to avoid letting people realize he was the Sword Emperor. At his gesture urging me to move, I followed after him with a dubious expression.

As I drew close, the Sword Emperor pointed to the seat by the left-side window.

“That is your seat. I normally don’t give up the window seat easily, but since this is your first flight, I suppose I shall yield it to you for today alone.”

“……”

Without saying anything, I sat down.

Only then did embarrassment come crashing in. It was shameful. This ordinary side of me.

‘I wasn’t originally this kind of person.’

It seemed this damned world had done something to my brain.

While I was lost in stray thoughts, I heard the sound of a cushion sinking. Abel, who had sat down next to me, immediately took off her shoes and changed into the in-flight slippers.

‘Come to think of it, I have to stay stuck next to her again?’

The flight time to Switzerland, where Nibelung territory was located, was a little over ten hours. The three hours on the bus had already been uncomfortable, and now I would have to remain pressed companionably beside her for roughly three times that long.

It was truly an awkward situation.

‘Should I ask to switch seats?’

I looked over the narrow aisle. Before I knew it, the Sword Emperor had already put on an eye mask and fallen fast asleep.

“……”

Quietly, I withdrew my gaze.

‘You shouldn’t wake a sleeping person.’

After finishing setting everything up, Abel gestured with her eyes toward below my feet.

“The slippers are down there. If you’re on a long flight, the pressure makes your feet uncomfortable.”

“…Oh, right.”

After saying that, Abel put a pair of disposable earphones into her ears. It seemed they were not for listening to music, but for use as earplugs.

To be honest, I was curious. Why were people of House Nibelung, one of the very highest-ranking families in the world, so oddly commoner-like?

If it were cosplay, it felt far too natural. Yet to call them complete commoners, they carried too much elegance and dignity.

The sense of dissonance from that gap circled beneath my throat.

Still, it would be far too great a discourtesy to ask. There could be some private circumstance behind it, such as unstable finances or a declining household.

If you thought about it a little, being famous and being wealthy were separate things. There were plenty of celebrities buried in debt, after all.

Swallowing the question that had risen all the way to my throat, I took out the slippers below my feet.

“It’s best to sleep on the plane. The stewardesses will wake us at mealtime anyway. Since it’s your first flight, you’re probably full of expectations, but it’s not really all that special, so don’t be too disappointed.”

Right after that, Abel took out an eye mask and put it on, just like her grandfather.

An eye cover embroidered with a rabbit. Perhaps because it had been washed and reused many times, it was wrinkled and crumpled. A few stray threads were sticking out too.

‘……’

Abel crossed her arms tightly and straightened her back, then soon let her head droop forward.

‘Did she fall asleep already?’

Even after sleeping like that on the bus? After a short moment of admiration, I soon rested my elbow against the window frame. The view beyond the small oval window was the runway.

Even though it was just a road of asphalt, it somehow made my heart race.

A little while later, the chime announcing departure echoed through the cabin.

Wooooooooong.

The motor vibrated violently, and just as the airplane body seemed to tilt backward, it took off.

An unfamiliar sensation, my backside lifting several centimeters, and the buoyant pull acting from behind my back.

It was the starting point of vacation, one I would not forget even later.

* * *

After taking more than nine hours, we arrived in Switzerland.

Perhaps because it was a country in the foothills of the Alps, the weather was crisp in a way that did not fit summer.

To me, worn out by Korea’s blazing sun and oppressive heat, it felt nothing but pleasant. On top of that, with the added excitement of it being my first trip abroad, a smile formed on my face before I even realized it.

‘It really is beautiful.’

The scenery was magnificent as well.

The mountain peaks broadly surrounding the airport, the famous Alps.

Even in summer, the mountains dusted with frost pierced up through the clouds. The foreign architecture also blended modern and old styles beautifully.

In many ways, it was the kind of first impression that made it clear why Switzerland was considered such a major tourist destination.

Only after going through arrival screening, similar to departure, was I able to rejoin the Sword Emperor and Abel. Since the two of them were nationals, their procedures had been abbreviated, so they had come out first.

The Sword Emperor, who had been waiting, greeted me and said.

“It seems your first time, and yet you handled the procedures well enough.”

“Yes, well. There wasn’t anything especially difficult about it.”

Just as I had suspected, Korean was also an official language in Switzerland.

A world with no obstacle called language. It still made me want to curse, but this part was convenient. As a Korean, it even stirred some pride in me.

Perhaps still half-asleep, a hazy voice leaked out of Abel’s mouth.

“Grandfather, when did Uncle Gaines say he’d be here?”

“He said he’d be here soon, little one.”

The Sword Emperor, still wearing his mask, smiled gently with his eyes. A tender and kindly answer. But one word mixed into the sentence lingered in my mouth.

‘Little one?’

Abel flinched hard. Her face looked like all her drowsiness had vanished.

“G-grandfather! Geom-ma is here too, so don’t call me that!”

Abel’s face above the mask flushed like a tomato. The Sword Emperor asked back with a face that said he did not understand.

“…I’ve called you that since you were little, so what else am I supposed to call you?”

“T-that’s… well, that’s true, but. He’s right here beside us, and more than anything, I’m all grown up now!”

“Hahaha, all grown up, you say. In front of your grandfather, seventeen is no different from a newborn-”

Suddenly, the Sword Emperor’s gaze shifted toward me. He cut off his laughter and lowered his voice.

“-to be sitting. There are always exceptions. Well, even so. Abel, to my eyes, you are still my lovely little one.”

“G-grandfather! Stop, stop! I’m going to die of embarrassment!”

Words brimming with affection were exchanged between them. I smiled faintly as I watched the two. At that moment.

Screeeech.

At the sound of tires scraping over asphalt, my eyes sharpened.

More than ten black sedans. Gleaming brilliantly, they came to a stop all at once right in front of us.

Among them, the door of the one with the thickest frame opened, and a middle-aged man stepped out. Neat clothes and a suit pressed without a wrinkle.

Before the question of who he was could even properly arise.

“…!”

Bam, bam. Young men came pouring out.

At once, the procession arranged itself with the middle-aged man as its center, unfolding a vast crane-wing formation.

Step, step.

The middle-aged man walked this way. There was even an elegant dignity contained in his steps.

He came close, then immediately offered a bow bent neatly in half.

“Sword Emperor, and Miss Abel. Welcome home.”

The moment those words left the middle-aged man’s mouth, the young men saluted in perfect discipline.

Removing the disguise wrapped around his face, the Sword Emperor said.

“What are we supposed to do if you make this kind of fuss every time we come? It’s embarrassing for a person. And I am already retired. This sort of treatment is excessive for me now.”

“Please don’t say that, Sword Emperor. You are a hero of humanity, so something of this level is trivial.”

“You weren’t like this when you were younger, but it seems that as you’ve grown older, your flattery has increased.”

“Hahaha, perhaps it can’t be helped after spending so long in this line of work. Ah, right. Chairman Jebas Wallon of the U.N. Standing Council said to convey his apologies for being unable to come greet you personally.”

“Good grief. Why bring up that man’s name when I’m standing here talking to you now?”

“You are as unassuming now as you ever were, Sword Emperor.”

The middle-aged man smiled softly. Then his gaze came to rest on me.

“Sword Emperor, could that perhaps be the sashimi……”

“That’s far enough.”

The Sword Emperor cut off his words like a blade.

“I cannot explain in detail, but I would appreciate it if you kept quiet about that young man’s presence here. Well, the truth will come out soon enough, but for now we do need to be careful. It would be all the better if you also made absolutely sure to seal the mouths of those standing back there.”

“Ah, yes. Understood. Of course.”

“I may not trust others, but you, Gaines, I do trust.”

The Sword Emperor patted his shoulder. The man nodded somewhat awkwardly, then turned the conversation elsewhere.

“In any case, you must be tired from the journey. I will personally drive you to the main house. Please, get in.”

The Sword Emperor and the middle-aged man chatting together warmly. At a glance they seemed friendly, but there was unquestionably a superior-subordinate relationship there.

The Sword Emperor above, the man below.

At first I thought he was a butler. But his dress was remarkably elegant.

Dignity practically dripped from his gestures as well.

Out of curiosity, I asked Abel, who was standing there with me.

“Who is that man.”

“Uncle Gaines? He’s just, well-”

Abel said it as if it were nothing worth mentioning.

“-the President of Switzerland.”

“……”

What?

* * *

Three hours after departing from the airport.

The line of sedans drew a black ridge along the slopes of the Alps.

After going up the mountain road for about thirty minutes like that, an open stretch of land unfolded in the middle of the mountains. And right there in the center stood one stately old castle.

Its exterior was not gaudy. It was an old fortress deeply worn by the passage of time. Yet it did not feel shabby.

If anything, the stone walls that had preserved that history as it was gave off a majestic atmosphere.

The headquarters and residence of House Nibelung.

Castle Sigurdr.

As I said before, from here on was Sword Emperor Siegfried’s domain, in other words, extraterritorial ground.

To put it more simply, even the President of Switzerland, currently driving the car I was riding in, was both a citizen and a foreigner here.

To be honest, even I didn’t properly understand the concept while saying it. But apparently cases like this were not uncommon in Europe, so I had no choice but to think of it as a cultural difference.

Screeeech.

We arrived before the castle gate. Before I could even grab the car handle, one of the men rushed up and opened the door for me.

‘…To this extent.’

Thankfully, they had not laid out a red carpet. If they had, it would have been far too burdensome.

When we got out, the men once again formed a long line. And then they saluted.

The Sword Emperor returned it with a light salute, then opened his mouth.

“Gaines, thanks to you we arrived home without incident.”

“Not at all, Sword Emperor. To tell the truth, aside from going out with my wife recently, I haven’t had the chance to drive much, so my hands had been itching. If anything, thanks to you, Sword Emperor, I got to breathe some fresh air again after a long while.”

The Sword Emperor let out a short bitter laugh.

It seemed he did not particularly enjoy all this modesty.

After some pointless back-and-forth passed between the two.

Suddenly, Gaines strode over this way. Wearing a broad smile, he smoothly held out his hand.

“……?”

“Earlier, things were hectic, so I was unable to greet you properly. My name is Gaines Sebastian.”

“Kang Geom-ma.”

Dubiously, I shook his hand. The corners of Gaines’s mouth rose.

“I very much enjoyed the sparring video from the academy festival. Since then, I have become a fan of the Sashimi Sword Saint, can you believe it, hahaha!”

“…I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call me the Sashimi Sword Saint……”

“Pardon? Even though Sword Saint is such an honorable epithet? Why ever not?”

Because you stuck sashimi in front of it.

Gaines clicked his tongue with a disappointed expression.

“…Well, if that’s what you yourself prefer, then I shall call you Mr. Kang Geom-ma.”

“……”

The `Mr.` part was uncomfortable in just the same way, but if I added that on top, it felt like the conversation would only drag on longer. So I simply stayed silent.

“In any case, it is an honor to meet you like this. I sincerely hope we will maintain a good relationship from now on.”

To have the head of an entire nation say something like that to me. For me, just an ordinary cadet, it was not easy to choose what kind of reply to make.

“Good grief, Gaines, that’s enough, isn’t it? He’s still a young fellow.”

“Hahaha, my apologies, Sword Emperor. After all, geniuses naturally draw people in, do they not? I must have been unconsciously drawn in by that magnetism myself.”

The trivial conversation continued on a little more.

Before long, Gaines gave the Sword Emperor a deep bow.

“Then I shall take my leave now, Sword Emperor.”

“You might as well stay and have dinner while you’re here.”

“I would like nothing more, but I have state affairs piled up, you see. Next time, I will be sure to join you. Then, if you’ll excuse me.”

As he finished his words, our eyes met. He smiled so deeply the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes nearly folded in, then got into the car.

The tires rolled down the slope one after another.

While I blankly watched the backs of the black sedans, the Sword Emperor abruptly threw a question at me.

“What do you think of Gaines?”

I scratched the back of my neck.

“Just… well……. For someone in such a high position, he seemed pretty easygoing.”

“Ha, so that’s how he looked in your eyes.”

Letting out an empty laugh, the Sword Emperor shook his head as he spoke.

“Think about it carefully. Right now the world’s attention is focused on the successor who will come after me. But at a time like this, I brought you into my domain, so what do you think a witness like Gaines would conclude?”

“Ah……”

“I’ve known that man for a long time, but he isn’t some endlessly good-natured figure. He pursues practical gain over loyalty. The one good thing about him is that if he judges something profitable, he keeps his mouth shut.”

“……”

“Once you rise high enough, most of the people around you will be like that. So you mustn’t be deceived by appearances. Constantly doubt them, analyze them, and when necessary, make use of them.”

Keeping his gaze fixed straight ahead, the Sword Emperor went on in a calm voice.

“The armband of the Seven Stars is a position that carries enough weight to make even the president of a nation bow his head. You must not allow too much goodwill like today’s, but neither should you reject it too strongly. If you don’t press down, you’ll be ignored, and then the right to speak can only shrink by that much.”

“…It’s complicated.”

The Sword Emperor gave my back a gentle pat.

“You’ll grow used to it little by little. That’s why I brought you here in the first place. In any case, you must be hungry, so let us eat first.”

“I… think I’ll look at the scenery a little before going in.”

The Sword Emperor answered with a tilt of his head. Abel stared at me with sullen eyes, then soon followed the Sword Emperor inside.

“……”

I fell into thought while watching the west sink into dusk in silence.

The sky was being dyed black. A spectacular sight, dark night pushing away the pink glow of the sunset.