Chapter 46 – Questions (3)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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A small commotion broke out in Star Class. The reason was Saki Ryozo’s class reassignment.

Because it was the highest class, there were always a few students among each year who could not adapt and voluntarily dropped down to Dragon Class. Usually, those students fell into two broad categories.

Either their background was relatively out of place, or their skill level did not fit the standard of the class.

But the person at the center of this commotion was one of the academy’s Four Seats and the top student in the written exams.

Even though she dozed off at every opportunity, she still got perfect scores on the weekly quizzes, her skill was outstanding, and on top of that, she was the beloved daughter of Saki Kojima, the Prime Minister of Japan and the Absolute Bow.

Even if one yielded a hundred times and accepted that someone like her might have asked to be reassigned because she did not fit in Star Class, the class she had chosen was the astonishing part.

“Lady Abel, did you hear that? That Saki girl got reassigned to Wolf Class. What kind of silly whim got into the head of a girl who does nothing but sprawl around sleeping all day?”

“…Mm, I see.”

Rachel asked Abel while loosening her stiff joints. The sound of bones cracking rang out. But Abel, still resting her chin on her hand, only stared blankly at the chalkboard without changing expression.

Without disappointment, Rachel shrugged and glanced at Abel’s profile.

Even though it was a sort of gaze that could make someone look foolish, Abel’s irises shone with a lovely color like pure gold. Then mischief spread in Rachel’s heart-shaped eyes, and she suddenly let out a laugh.

“Are you that disappointed?”

“Huh? Mm, about what?”

“Come on, class reassignments can’t happen unless there’s an open slot, right? And apparently Wolf Class happened to be one student short this year. Where did Saki even hear that information first and move ahead of everyone else? A girl who always just sleeps in the archery hall.”

Having listened quietly to Rachel’s story, Abel tilted her head and asked back.

“But what does Saki getting reassigned to Wolf Class have to do with me being disappointed?”

“I heard it from Speed Weapon. Last week, she put together a party with Geom-ma and went to clear Buffalo Dungeon.”

“–!”

While speaking, Rachel glanced sideways at Abel with one eye. On Abel’s face, a faint but unmistakable sign of fluster.

At that reaction, the playful curve at Rachel’s lips deepened. She shook her head, pretending to be deeply regretful, and said.

“Saki, seriously. Even if she liked him that much, there’s still such a thing as order, don’t you think? Geom-ma was already reserved by our Lady Abel first.”

“R-Rachel! What have you been saying all this time?!”

Abel stood up, slapping her palm against the desk. Rachel giggled as if enjoying herself and twisted a lock of hair around her finger. Abel’s mouth skewed.

“I’ve thought this for a while now, but Lady Abel really reacts every single time Geom-ma’s name comes up. There seriously isn’t something there?”

Letting out a deep sigh and shaking her head, Abel said.

“Let me make this absolutely clear. With Kang Geom-ma, all that’s happened is that we’ve exchanged a few words. We seriously have no relationship at all. So I’d appreciate it if you would stop making strange speculations in the future.”

“Heeey.”

Rachel stared straight into Abel’s eyes. Then she only gave a small laugh before speaking.

“That just means you don’t have any relationship up to now, right? That doesn’t mean you know what’ll happen later.”

Her voice was somewhat cool, and her eyes calm, as if weighing Abel’s true feelings.

“Abel, I don’t think it’s good to lie to yourself, even if you can lie to other people.”

“……”

Shock, surprise, confusion, and other emotions spread across Abel’s face. Rachel’s words, unlike her usual teasing tone, pierced straight into Abel’s chest, making one side of her heart throb.

Abel’s attitude had always been dignified. No, it had to be dignified. She deliberately avoided showing her emotions and maintained a calm exterior.

There was only one purpose. To be acknowledged by her grandfather, the Sword Emperor Siegfried. He poured boundless affection on her as a grandfather, but when it came to swordsmanship, he almost never acknowledged her.

As the strongest human alive and the one called the future Sword Saint, his standards must naturally have been that high. Thinking that way, Abel trained with the goal of being acknowledged by the Sword Emperor. She cut away unnecessary emotions as well.

So that she could become a proper swordsman, so that she could be acknowledged by the grandfather she respected and loved most, and so that she could prove she was alive.

She gripped the sword hilt tightly and swung it. As though brushing away anything that might hinder her growth.

Calluses formed in her hands, and she gladly accepted the pain of muscles tearing and knitting back together. There was no sense of grievance in living that kind of life. In order to become the best, she could endure this much as many times as necessary.

But heart demons came suddenly.

She had asked her grandfather for advice about the incident involving the demonic attack during the midterm.

Because the Sword Emperor hated exposure to an extreme degree, she had not expected much, but contrary to her expectations, he personally stepped out to the front line.

The news that he was actually taking on the position of temporary instructor at Hoakin Academy. And not for the Star Class, which his granddaughter belonged to, but for Wolf Class.

By her guess, it was because of Kang Geom-ma. Her grandfather, who always seemed weary of everything, felt a peculiar interest whenever anything related to Kang Geom-ma came up.

He had looked fully stirred, as though he were gazing upon a rough gem with limitless potential within it. Even if she could not know for sure, he must have been extremely covetous of Kang Geom-ma’s talent.

Considering her grandfather’s temperament, that had to be the case. At that sight, a powerful emotion surged up inside Abel’s chest like a dragon rising.

‘Kang Geom-ma.’

The owner of absurd talent. His outrageously exceptional talent was such that it would not be too much to call him a genius without equal. And on top of that, he was from the special advancement track.

Because she had been raised under the Sword Emperor’s care, in an education free of supremacist thinking, Abel was able to think without being bound by the nobility or baseness of one’s birth.

Even so, certain thoughts floated through her heart. The justification nobles used to pass down their privileges was power. In other words, blessings.

In order to secure that power, they judged each other, formed ties with suitable partners, and then continued the line.

Thus the descendants of nobles grew stronger by the day, but the gap between them and the commoners only continued to widen.

But Kang Geom-ma was different.

Ignoring any pretext of birth, he broke through situations by means of his own talent and martial strength. Whether because he was making tremendous efforts or not, even his body had visibly improved.

When she had first seen him, he had been a smooth-talking boy with a body too weak to speak of, but before she knew it, he had become a handsome young man with a distinctly masculine body and a sharp impression.

On top of that, although he was clearly following the path of a hero more than Leon van Reinhardt, who was called a hero candidate, he never showed it outwardly.

Without boasting of his achievements to anyone, he walked silently along a thorny path.

It was probably in order to protect those connected to him. If word spread that Kang Geom-ma had cut down a demon, then demons would relentlessly target both him and the people around him.

If he at least put on airs, perhaps she could have disliked him for that, but he simply ignored the cadets who criticized him and never answered back. If anything, that made him seem even more infuriating to Abel.

She felt so ashamed of herself for being jealous of Kang Geom-ma. And yet the more she felt that way, the more his face wound itself around her thoughts.

‘……’

As Abel sank deep into thought, a blush rose to both her cheeks. Seeing that, Rachel laughed and looked at her. Startled, Abel shook her head and then gave a dry cough before speaking in a composed tone.

“No matter how you think about it, I have neither the intention nor the room to harbor those kinds of feelings toward Kang Geom-ma.”

“Oh, if you say it that strongly, then I’m relieved too, Lady Abel.”

Rachel’s eyes rapidly filled once again with their usual mischievousness. Abel found those unreadable eyes truly troublesome. Rachel gave a wink.

“That means I don’t have to compete with you over Geom-ma. Thank goodness, thank goodness! I could maybe do something about that red-haired little brat and Saki, but I could never push my way past Abel, nyahaha!”

“…Ah.”

Abel realized too late. She had slipped.

* * *

“…Now then, this part will appear on next week’s written exam, so remember it. A student’s proper duty is, in the end, scholarship. Given the academy’s purpose, the practical exam naturally carries more weight, but cadets with empty heads can never grow into heroes respected by society….”

The professor was lecturing us on the importance of scholarship. The gray hairs across his head stood out.

The class topic was Basic Blessing Analysis, content that could have been rather dry. But this professor was popular with the cadets because of his witty way of speaking.

Even I, to whom the smell of ink was still unfamiliar, was enjoying at least this class.

Besides, it allowed me to examine in detail the settings that had only been mentioned in one or two words during gameplay. I moved my pencil diligently.

“Now then, the rank of a blessing is classified according to the being that resides within it. If a guardian spirit resides there, it’s called a guardian-spirit-class blessing, and if an elemental resides there, it’s called an elemental-class blessing. That sort of thing.”

“Professor, then if an ancestral spirit resides there, would that make it an ancestor-spirit-class blessing? My late grandfather keeps showing up in my dreams these days.”

“Your ancestors might help carry the bar weight while you’re doing ironwork, but they don’t reside in blessings, Cadet Joto Mate.”

In response to the joking male student’s question, the professor answered good-naturedly. A few cadets who liked dad jokes giggled. Settling down the classroom atmosphere before it could get noisy, the professor continued the lesson.

And during that warm, lively class, there was one girl who seemed completely disconnected from it all and utterly unconcerned.

It was Saki Ryozo, sitting in the seat next to me.

The professor looked at her and then withdrew his gaze as though used to it. He had every reason to show dissatisfaction or reproach her, but instead he simply continued the lecture without saying anything.

Part of that might be because of her public standing as the daughter of Saki Kojima, the Absolute Bow, but in truth, Ryozo still scored perfect marks on every quiz even when she slept like this.

From an educator’s point of view, she had to be a very burdensome kind of student.

I turned my head and looked at Ryozo’s sleeping profile. Her lovely shoulder line leading into her neck. Beneath the sky-blue hair, her skin was white.

‘She really sleeps like crazy.’

Today marked the second day since Saki Ryozo had been reassigned to Wolf Class. I wanted to test her intentions and ask why she had come here, but I had not had the chance.

Why? Because she did nothing but sleep all day, so I couldn’t talk to her. Even if I shook her shoulder awake, she would only blink her heavy eyelids a few times and then fall right back asleep.

The cadets who had approached her to build some connection also let out sighs as they watched her did nothing but sleep through class.

Well, up to this point, I could still write her off as just a beautiful girl with a Snorlax-like trait.

But why did she insist on sitting beside me every single day? She looked lazy as a sloth, but she always secured the seat next to me.

Thank goodness Chloe’s hospitalization had dragged on, because if she found out, another knife fight would definitely break out.

‘…Still, thanks to her, a lot of the aftermath was easier to handle.’

When Chloe cut off the checkpoint employee’s head, Saki did not give us any lecture or scolding and instead moved quickly to help clean up afterward. Even when a human head dropped off right in front of her eyes, her attitude hardly changed.

Speed Weapon, being the same sort of brainy type, analyzed the process rapidly with his head. On the other hand, Ryozo kept unnecessary words to a minimum and grasped the important connecting points. She truly was an anti-frustration heroine.

I scratched around my chin and then turned my gaze toward the professor. The fingers holding the chalk were covered with white dust.

“The ranks of blessings are divided, from the top down, into heroic spirit, elemental spirit, guardian spirit, and personal spirit classes. Most of the blessings held by the cadets here are probably personal-spirit-class blessings. Correct?”

When the professor asked that, subtle emotions settled onto the faces of the cadets. As if soothing them, he continued his explanation.

“Cadets, don’t be disappointed. Even a guardian spirit, no, even a personal-spirit-class blessing can perform at a higher efficiency than a guardian-spirit-class blessing if it is used skillfully. Besides, elemental-class blessings are, after all, blessings that only a handful in this world possess, aren’t they?”

And a few days ago, I had snatched one of that handful. Right then, one female cadet raised her hand and asked.

“Professor, then what about heroic-spirit-class blessings?”

“Heroic-spirit-class blessings. The public usually calls them hero-class blessings. Though it feels a little strange for a professor of blessing studies to say this, they are essentially treated as legend. Since the dawn of humanity’s first manifestation of blessings, only one person, Balor Hoakin, the Hero of Origin, has ever manifested one. Well, of course–”

The professor suddenly cut himself off. It seemed he had almost gone on to mention Leon, the second awakener of a heroic-spirit-class blessing and the title blessing Miracle’s Blessing. But soon he shook his head.

Well, naturally. Leon had not yet fully awakened the title blessing Miracle’s Blessing as the second heroic-spirit-class blessing in human history. From a scholar’s standpoint, it was not something one could judge hastily.

“All right, we’ll end class here for today.”

With that, the professor stood up his introductory text and tapped it lightly against the lectern. The moment class ended, the cadets poured out of the room in droves. No one could resist lunch.

I was just about to get up from my seat too when, suddenly, a question brushed through my mind.

“Professor, I have a question.”

When I called out, the professor, who had been cleaning up, widened his eyes. Since I normally only listened quietly in class, his reaction was one of surprise. Soon, the professor gave a gentle smile.

“As much as you like, Cadet Kang Geom-ma.”

“Do you happen to know anything about the phrase, May God’s blessing be with you?”

Even Saki Ryozo, who had been sleeping deeply, rubbed her eyes and slowly lifted her head at my voice. Stroking his beard, the professor answered with a puzzled expression.

“I don’t understand the meaning of the question, but there is a flaw in your wording, Cadet Kang Geom-ma.”

“What flaw do you mean?”

At my words, the professor blinked both eyes.

“Because there are no gods left in this world any longer. Well, even so, your scholarly enthusiasm moves me. If anything ever makes you curious, come visit my office anytime. Well then.”

The professor left the classroom. I stared blankly at his back.

Seeing that, Saki let out a small laugh. I slowly turned my head and looked at her.

“Are you done sleeping?”

“Mm, I don’t think so.”

Ryozo buried her forehead in the desk again.

“Wow.”

I let out a short exclamation.