Chapter 27 – Preparation (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Siegfried and Media left the hospital room.

Tok, tok.

The sound of their footsteps spread across the corridor floor.

The orange glow of sunset fell across both their faces. Media, who had been walking ahead, suddenly stopped. The Sword Emperor following behind matched her pace and stopped with her.

Media turned her head toward the window.

Beyond the glass, Hoakin Academy’s main building rose tall enough to pierce the clouds, standing firm as if overlooking the academy itself. Media stretched out her index finger straight and pointed beyond the window.

“…Zig, remember? When we first entered this academy, you were sprawled flat on that wooden bench. When I told you to move, you pulled out your sword without a second thought. What did you say back then? Something about not ordering you around, was it? Your middle-school syndrome was really severe. Honestly, even you have to admit it was a bit much, don’t you?”

“I don’t remember.”

When the Sword Emperor shrugged shamelessly, Media smiled faintly. Her mint-colored eyes shimmered with nostalgia.

“It feels like we enrolled in this academy only the other day, and yet we’ve already spent sixty years here. Even until graduation, I thought I’d never want to set foot here again. Living really is… something. You have to live a long time to see it, right?”

The Sword Emperor stroked his chin for a moment and nodded. A trace of reminiscence settled in his golden eyes as well. Memories were meant to be shared as if they were contagious.

The Hoakin Academy of today had degenerated into a venue where corrupt factions among noble heirs mingled, but it was also through this academy that they had met comrades with whom they had weathered countless hardships.

It was a place they could neither simply love nor simply hate, one full of mixed affection and resentment.

“But the funny thing is, even though I’ve been here for over sixty years, that still doesn’t fill even one tenth of Hoakin Academy’s history. Even when we enrolled, this place had already been built ages ago. What a long history it has. Even though there were big and small incidents, the academy has nurtured and protected cadets for seven hundred years. And yet….”

Media bit down on her lower lip and swallowed the end of her sentence. The nostalgia vanished from the side of her face, and a darker color settled over it.

Her green hair, tinted by the purplish light, floated in the air as if it were drifting. Her anger had risen all the way to the crown of her head.

As veins surfaced at Media’s pale, fine temple, thin cracks began to spider across the window beside them like chains. The surging air turned the mood cold.

Before the midterms, she had definitely received a report from the instructors that the preliminary inspection had been completed. Scopuli Island was, though rarely, part of the mermaid demonoid’s range, so several inspections had been carried out meticulously.

And yet, despite all the effort put into those inspections, academy cadets had nearly lost their lived.

To a demonoid, at that. It was something without precedent in the academy’s history.

No, it was something that never should have .

As the headmaster, Media had no choice but to feel the full weight of that responsibility. She ground her molars in silence.

“……”

The Sword Emperor could tell what Media was feeling from the slightest tremor alone.

Regardless of her position as headmaster, she was a woman whose concern for the cadets was sincere. Her atmosphere might have been somewhat slutty, but as an educator, her mindset was beyond compare.

They had already spent over half a century together. Silence alone was enough for the two of them. But if things continued like this, every window in the hospital would shatter.

The Sword Emperor lightly patted Media on the shoulder.

At that, the green hair that had been billowing in the air like a wandering ghost gently settled back down. The strands resting over her shoulders were fresh as spring greenery.

“Sorry, sorry. I got worked up for a moment.”

Apparently embarrassed, Media scratched her cheek and then put on a bright smile. Then, as if trying to change the atmosphere, she began showering praise on Kang Geom-ma.

“That aside, isn’t our Geom-ma amazing? They said he killed a mermaid all by himself. What do you think, Zig?”

At that question, a furrow formed between the Sword Emperor’s brows. Letting out a low sigh, he muttered inwardly.

‘Innate talent.’

There was no other way to explain it.

Countless names once hailed as unprecedented geniuses and favored children of the age had shone briefly, then faded like meteors whose lived had run out.

In heroic families thirsty for glory, the moment a child showed the slightest sign of promise at a young age, they would already call that child a genius. The word was thrown around without any standard at all.

The Sword Emperor did not speak that word lightly. He had forbidden even his own granddaughter Abel from using it casually.

Overwhelming talent. If there was someone who truly deserved to be called a genius, it would surely be that boy. The Sword Emperor let out a soundless laugh.

If experience continued to accumulate, just how far could Kang Geom-ma grow? The Sword Emperor himself was already over seventy, but Kang Geom-ma was still in the vivid years of boyhood.

If it was that boy, might he perhaps be able to reach ‘that realm’ the Sword Emperor had dreamed of all his life?

Many thoughts drifted through Siegfried’s mind. After finishing his reflections, the Sword Emperor let out a low sound and spoke.

“I’ll be imposing on the academy for a while, Media.”

At those words, Media stared at him with wide eyes. There was no way she wouldn’t be surprised to hear that from an old man who had insisted on living in seclusion in House Nibelung most of the time.

But the golden light in Siegfried’s eyes burned like the noon sun.

That blazing radiance was the look of a swordsman burning with fighting spirit. At the sight, Media’s eyes curved into elegant half-moons, and she nodded.

Media clasped her hands behind her back and walked forward with light steps, humming under her breath. The cracks in the window vanished in an instant.

* * *

After being discharged, the first thing I did was visit the academy forge. It was to reforge and enhance Murasame, the weapon I’d received as a reward for the midterms.

Since its dimensions fell outside the Blessing of the Sword God’s requirements, reforging was unavoidable. To put it honestly, Murasame as it was now was nothing more and nothing less than an iron rod to me. And if the blacksmith gave it a good treatment, there might even be room to improve its performance.

The blacksmith, his face red from the heat of the forge, readily accepted my bold request. In exchange, though, he demanded the leftover metal scraps as payment for the repairs.

Since the sword had only been around sixty centimeters long to begin with, it was impossible to split it into two blades anyway. Still, the fact that I wouldn’t have to pay an expensive fee was lucky. With that, the blacksmith told me to come back in a week.

In front of the Wolf Class classroom door.

I stood there blankly for a moment, looking up at the nameplate with the Chinese characters written on it. Then I quietly opened the door and stepped inside.

Cadets chatted warmly among themselves. They flicked a glance at me once, then went right back to talking.

Just as the headmaster had said, it seemed that the fact I’d cut off the demonoid’s head on Scopuli Island had been kept secret.

It felt strange to say it myself, but perhaps the reason my classmates could laugh and joke around like that was because I had stopped the mermaid.

I passed the lectern and went to my usual seat at the end of the third row, then sat down. The warm sunlight streaming in felt good against my face.

“Geom-ma!”

A familiar voice called out to me from the back of the classroom. I turned my head.

“Chloe, what happened to you?”

Clack, clack.

Supporting herself on crutches, Chloe made her way toward me with labored steps. The metal crutches tucked under her arms looked big for her height, so her little shoulders were raised as high as they could go.

“Heh, one thing led to another and I ended up like this. But one of my teammates, Speed something-or-other, gave me first aid, so the doctor said I should be able to walk without the crutches in about a week!”

Chloe thumped her chest with a clenched fist as if it were nothing. With her shoulders drawn back and her chest lifted proudly, I could tell she had grown a little stronger too.

It wasn’t only thanks to my own efforts. It was an undeniable fact that I had killed the demonoid mermaid, but beneath that were the teammates who had each fulfilled their roles. Chloe’s call for help, Rachel’s one-against-many strength, and even Speed Weapon’s healing buffs.

…Though now that I thought it over carefully, the protagonist Leon hadn’t actually done anything.

Seeing the protagonist look more incompetent than expected somehow drained all confidence out of me. Could he really defeat the Demon King?

Judging by how things had gone so far, forget the Demon King, it felt like he’d get cut down at the entrance by a mere underling of a legion commander.

‘Was it just because he got hit first?’

Tilting my head while lost in thought, I noticed Chloe looking up at me with sparkling eyes. Like a puppy waiting to be praised, she wagged an invisible tail.

The sight felt unexpectedly cute, and a small laugh slipped out of me.

I wanted to reach over and pat her on the head, but if I did that in the middle of the classroom, the boys would definitely start whistling. So instead I left my arm where it was and simply gave her a small smile.

“Chloe, thanks. I lived because you called for help.”

“The amazing one is you, Geom-ma! You killed a demonoid all by yourself!”

“Well, I just got lucky. Honestly, I barely survived myself.”

“…Heh, that’s cool.”

A crimson blush spread across Chloe’s cheeks as she scratched her head.

As if something had occurred to her, she started explaining all sorts of things that had happened while I’d been hospitalized.

From private details like how the teammates had chipped in together to cover the cost of the VIP room, to rampant rumors that Headmaster Media and the academy elders were clashing over strengthening the academy’s security posture.

It seemed that quite a lot had happened during the one week I’d been hospitalized. As Chloe explained and I nodded along in response. The classroom door suddenly flew open.

“Everyone quiet down and take your seats!”

Instructor Lee Won-bin barked loudly and silenced the cadets. Unlike usual, he looked obviously tense. Streams of sweat running off his barren scalp soaked into his collar.

Once the classroom atmosphere settled, Instructor Lee Won-bin brought his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat.

Then he glanced sideways toward the hallway, pulled out a handkerchief, and wiped his scalp. The polished baldness shone in the light brightly enough to hurt my eyes.

“Before morning training, there is something I need to tell you first.”

A faint discomfort rose in the instructor’s eyes as he said it. Even the cadets seemed to sense that something was off from the stiffened tone.

“This is sudden news. For a while, I will first introduce the person who will be sharing instruction… with our class.”

Having said that, Instructor Lee Won-bin hurried to the classroom door and greeted the person outside with a respectful manner. It was such an unfamiliar sight that it felt almost unnatural.

Soon, a man entered the classroom. As if by prior arrangement, all the cadets’ mouths fell open at once. Exclamations burst out here and there.

The man lightly patted Lee Won-bin on the back and stepped up to the platform with composed strides. Lee Won-bin awkwardly tried to stand beside him, then retreated a few paces behind.

“For the time being, I will be serving as Wolf Class’s temporary instructor alongside Instructor Lee Won-bin. My name is Siegfried von Nibelung.”

“S-Sword Emperor, please just call me Lee Won-bin comfortably.”

“We’re in the same line of work. I can’t very well do that.”

“Ah… yes, understood.”

Instructor Lee Won-bin lowered his head with a flushed face, looking deeply apologetic.

The cadets broke into loud whispers.

Only I froze, unable to understand the situation amid the heated atmosphere.

…Why was that old man here?

* * *

Night deepened over Hoakin Academy.

It was a dark-moon night, with the moon hidden behind black clouds. Only the streetlamps scattered around the grounds cast intermittent light. Even that was made more suspicious by the night fog.

Within the veil of darkness, a man and a woman were speaking in secret. Judging from the slaps flying across the man’s face, however, it was not a secret tryst.

“I’m sorry.”

Smack!

The middle-aged man, his hair flecked with gray, lowered his head without even touching the right cheek that had flared hot.

The female instructor smiled brightly and tapped her own left cheek with her index finger. The man, without complaint, turned his left cheek toward her.

Smack!

The blow was so hard that the man’s head whipped sharply to the side. He crushed down the boiling anger and humiliation rising inside him.

‘Because if I don’t…’

The man raised only his gaze slightly and looked at the female instructor. A woman with purple eyes and hair gleaming strangely through the damp fog. Her arms and legs were long and attractive enough that even her clothes hung beautifully.

The female instructor had a bag of gummy worms tucked under one arm and was chewing them one by one.

Then she licked the sugar from her fingers and wiped them across the man’s shoulder.

‘Damn it!’

The middle-aged man cursed inwardly. Afraid it might show, he did not dare lift his head and kept staring only at the ground.

Given his status, this was something he had absolutely never experienced before, and never should have had to experience. The female instructor watched him blankly, then spoke lazily.

“You should’ve done the job properly while you were at it. Honestly. You really are gifted at making things troublesome, aren’t you? Don’t you think so, Elder?”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Does sorry solve everything? You need to take responsibility. Responsibility. Ah, seriously, what a pain. Was it really that hard to bring Leon back half-dead? Even if he is a hero candidate, you took a mermaid there and still couldn’t do it? Because of your little mistake, that Sword Emperor bastard has planted himself in the academy.”

“I’m sorry, Instructor Kim.”

“Hah. From this point on, if you say ‘I’m sorry’ one more time. You know what happens, right?”

The female instructor poked the elder in the forehead repeatedly with her index finger.

The man, well past forty, looked like he was about to cry. The female instructor coldly popped another gummy worm into her mouth.

“Anyway, did you find out what I told you to?”

“Yes, I found it out.”

“Honestly, I still can’t believe it even while saying it. To think a mermaid got brought down during the midterms for mere first-years. Then again, considering who enrolled this year, if they all joined forces, what couldn’t they do? Tch.”

“Well, about that….”

When the middle-aged man hesitated and trailed off, the woman fixed him with emotionless eyes. His face turned pale as he continued in a stammer.

“It was done by a single cadet.”

“…One person? Leon, that kid?”

“No.”

“Then who was it? I absolutely hate it when people drag things out.”

“It was Kang Geom-ma, this year’s top student.”

The purple eyes widened all the way. The man only worked his lips as he stared at her.

Then the female instructor composed her expression and leaned in close to whisper softly by the elder’s ear.

“The Fifth Legion Commander is furious over this. You understand there won’t be a next time, right?”

“……!”

She gave the male instructor a playful wink. He bit his lower lip and trembled violently.

“Now get lost. I don’t even want to look at you.”

“I’m sor… ngh!”

The man clamped a hand over his mouth and barely swallowed the words that almost escaped. Then he shuffled backward like a eunuch before hurrying away.

Whoosh!

An ominous flame rippled over the female instructor’s palm. Reflected on her retina was the savage purple fire dancing like a living thing.

“Kang Geom-ma….”

She stared blankly for a moment as she murmured the name. Then she extinguished the flame, and a fishy curve slowly drew itself across her lips.

“Looks like I’m finally going to have some fun again.”

The gummy bag, now turned entirely to charcoal, was giving off a scorched, sickly-sweet smell.