Chapter 52

So, I diligently attended lectures for a full two weeks.

During the weapons and martial arts lectures, I got permission from the professor and beat up Damien.

In the “Understanding the Vanguard” lecture, I volunteered to play the role of a monster and wiped out Damien’s party.

I also participated in mounted combat training, riding a horse and ramming into Damien, sending him flying.

He tried to swing that heavy greatsword on horseback, so I just… couldn’t help myself.

Now, the only ones brave enough to spar with me are Milia and Damien, so I knocked Damien down and helped Milia out.

Professor Kal-lain smiled with a very satisfied expression.

Even though Damien ended up in the infirmary every day, I controlled my strength so he could attend the next day’s lectures, so no problem there.

In fact, thanks to me, his skills improved by leaps and bounds every day.

Though his cheerful expression gradually darkened.

Hang in there, Damien. This is all for you and the world.

You know what they say, if you can’t avoid it, enjoy it.

Someday, you’ll be able to enjoy it too, right?

Eventually, you’ll even thank me.

Milia also tried to stop me for the first few days.

Just for the first few days, though.

After seeing Damien’s skills improve rapidly with each spar, she started cheering for both me and Damien.

“Go, Damien! Ha-shal-leur too!”

Now, as if this had become routine, Milia’s voice, waving her hand and cheering, was full of energy without a hint of hesitation.

The wooden bow on her back swayed along.

Maybe it was because of what Damien said last time, but she showed up with a bow at the next lecture.

Not that she gave up on swordsmanship, but she planned to use it as a secondary weapon.

“Well, Damien’s the one who has to do the heavy lifting.”

“Yeah…”

Damien, unable to do anything about it, just followed along like a cow being led to the slaughterhouse.

But once he picked up his sword, he came at me properly, so I didn’t mind.

In fact, it seemed like his fighting spirit had grown even stronger than before.

The way he gritted his teeth and swung his greatsword with such intensity, it was as if he was facing a mortal enemy.

If he’s this serious in sparring, it must mean he’s starting to enjoy the thrill of getting stronger, right?

Surely, you’re not resenting me for going through all this trouble to make you stronger.

Probably.

The other students don’t even make eye contact with me anymore, except for Ophelia.

Asha also attends occasionally, but no one dares to spar with her.

“Should I spar with you?”

“Really? I’ve enhanced the horizontal thrust of my jetpack this time, so—”

“…Let’s do it another time.”

I felt bad and thought about sparring with her, but after hearing that, I immediately backed out.

No matter how strong I am, there are some types I absolutely don’t want to face.

Increase the vertical thrust, vertical thrust!

Why is the flight altitude the same but the forward thrust increased?

Are you trying to wipe out humanity?

—

Anyway, that’s how I spent the two weeks.

Training Damien’s skills and teaching Milia archery.

Though I couldn’t explain archery in detail since I just shoot by instinct.

Milia’s talent was quite impressive.

After practicing a bit, she quickly became proficient.

After shooting about thirty arrows, she seemed to get the hang of it and started shooting like a hunter.

Compared to her swordsmanship, her growth was unbelievably fast.

Even Milia herself was quite surprised by her own skills.

The parts I couldn’t explain well, the professor, impressed by Milia’s skills, explained them thoroughly.

With this, she should be able to hold her own against the beastmen if we prepare some silver arrows.

The silver supply issue was solved thanks to Asha.

Asha… had hoarded silver…

Seeing Asha happily looking at the pile of silver ingots in the corner of the room, I just smiled while sweating.

Well, even if we don’t use it all, the price will go up someday, so it’s fine, right?

That silver is technically Asha’s property, so I can’t just use it as I please.

But if an attack happens, lives are more important than property, so Asha would agree to requisition it.

—

With that, we have about a month and a half left.

Aside from finding evidence, the preparations are going smoothly.

We plan to visit the underground waterways in about three weeks.

It’s a bit tricky to come up with excuses for Nigel as to why we need to visit the waterways so often.

So, I plan to find the evidence in just one visit.

If we go now and the enemies haven’t infiltrated yet, we’ll just waste our time like last time.

The closer we get to the attack date, the higher the chance of finding evidence left by the beastmen, so I pushed it back as much as possible.

But we can’t push it back too far either.

Even if we find evidence, we’ll need time to convince Freide and prepare the knights.

So, we compromised on three weeks later.

While pondering over excuses to tell Nigel, I knocked out Damien again today.

But he’s starting to catch up to my swordsmanship.

Not that we’re really fighting seriously, though.

My full strength isn’t something to show in sparring.

Alright, seems like the basic preparations are somewhat in place, so I’m feeling a bit relieved. If things keep going this way, even if we can’t find evidence, maybe we can handle it with just the academy students.

I flipped through the notebook where I’d written down the story details before. My memory’s getting a bit fuzzy, you know… with everything that’s happened, the finer details are kinda slipping away.

*The Milicia Attack Incident.*

It was a diversion tactic—attacking the regular students during their mid-training to create chaos, then targeting the special admission students while the forces were distracted.

The primary goal was to eliminate as many of the Empire’s future knights, aka the academy freshmen, as possible. The secondary goal was to either eliminate or kidnap the special admission students to stir up diplomatic trouble for the Empire.

Sure, the anger of those nations would first target the beastmen… but since beastmen are already public enemies, who cares about that? As long as the Empire takes damage, other nations’ resentment doesn’t matter.

So, in the end, we have to prepare for both sides.

For the regular student attack, if we gather me, Damien, Ophelia, Milia, and even someone like Edgar, we should be able to handle it, right?

The biggest issue was the first-years being scattered and picked off one by one. As for the second and third-years, most of them are already dispatched, so no need to worry about them.

The real problem is the guys attacking the special dorm.

In the original story, the focus was only on Damien, so I have no idea what happened to the attackers of the special dorm. At least, there wasn’t much damage in the original setting.

So, maybe it’ll be fine? Now that Nigel’s in the special dorm too. If there was little damage in the original where Nigel wasn’t around, then with Nigel helping, it should be no big deal.

Plus, Freide’s probably on alert after my warning, and I’ve already prepared the silver coins through Asha.

With all this, I’d say we’re pretty well-prepared.

So, I’ll just focus on the beastmen attacking the regular students.

46 days left…

No worries. There’s still plenty of time.

========[Underground Sewer]==========

“The homeland’s decision has been made. We move in 16 days.”

A growling voice echoed through the walls.

The light from magic lamps illuminated the underground sewer walls, where massive shadows flickered. Three beasts were conversing under a perception-hindering spell.

“16 days? That’s still too early… Besides, isn’t that before they’re even out for training?”

The responding voice was deep and heavy. It was a massive man covered in gray fur, resembling a bear.

“The entire plan has changed, Andrei. By the will of His Majesty in the homeland. Seems the movements of Ka`har have been quite bothersome.”

“Changed? So the original diversion strategy is scrapped, Boris?”

A third voice chimed in with a question. It was higher-pitched and sharper, likely a female.

“No. It’s not scrapped, Natalia. Quite the opposite. It’s a much larger-scale diversion operation, involving warriors from the homeland.”

“The homeland is… moving?”

At Boris’s answer, Andrei’s eyes widened as he asked again.

“Yes. The homeland will concentrate warriors near the Sky Mountains to divert the Empire’s attention there. Then, it’s finally our turn.”

Boris spread his arms wide. His reaction was filled with joy and excitement.

“A grand festival will begin. The stage will be the entire capital!”

Andrei crossed his arms and tilted his head.

“So, it’s just us attacking the capital… Isn’t that too few? Twenty-five warriors can’t possibly handle that.”

“Don’t worry about the numbers. That’s been roughly taken care of.”

Natalia answered Andrei’s concern instead of Boris.

Andrei turned to look at her. The beastwoman, resembling a black panther, smirked and lifted her chin.

“That’s right, Andrei. No need to worry. Natalia has successfully connected with the half-breeds. Our inferior kin, who became slaves of the Empire. Their resentment has reached the heavens, and now, the time has come to burn the Empire’s heart!”

Boris’s voice echoed through the sewer. He seemed intoxicated by his own words, his eyes gleaming with fervor.

“Our resentment.”

The two beastmen bared their teeth and laughed. Their sharp fangs glinted under the light.