Chapter 46

(45)

Thud!

Suddenly, a stone spike jutted out from the dormitory floor.

If he had let his guard down just a little, that blow could have broken his spine and killed him instantly.

Tarak, Valenciaunos stepped back lightly, looking at Jin.

“You have good instincts.”

Whether it was the remnants of the potion affecting him, his eyes had quietly turned blue again, calm but burning with intensity.

Jin asked, “How long have you been in this room?”

Valenciaunos replied nonchalantly, “Long enough that I was starting to think I had come to the wrong place. I was even considering whether I had to pull out that brats claws.”

While Valenciaunos’s claim about pulling out nails was a lie, Jin was unaware.

As Jin reached out, the sword leaning against the wall was swept up by the wind and entered his grasp.

Valenciaunos shrugged, as if to say, “Don’t bother resisting.”

Jin lowered his posture, ready to charge. “The Wyvernfit bandit.”

“Is that what they call me these days?”

“They say even for minor offenses, you feed wyverns and enjoy the sight.”

“You know quite a bit.”

Jin, with gray hair covering his forehead and blue eyes coldly glinting as he sought an opportunity, contrasted sharply with Valenciaunos, who tossed his platinum hair back and looked down haughtily with his blazing yellow eyes.

Taat, the navy-blue uniform-clad Jin thrust his sword first.

He realized that his eye color had been noticed, that the recent Infiltrators incident was related to his acquaintances, and what it meant that Valenciaunos had come now.

‘Everything’s wrong. I must leave the capital.’

Thus, his sword strike was resolute as if cutting away friendships and memories, and his hands moved with deadly precision.

Swick!

The blade dug into his thigh’s artery.

Valenciaunos swung his sword downward, parrying it aside.

Clang!

“You don’t seem interested in talking at all.”

“If you wanted to talk, you should have knocked first.”

Jin spun the sword around, trying to slice the opposite thigh, while Valenciaunos charged at him like a wild bull, targeting Jin’s shoulder.

Swick, and then thud.

At the moment they crossed paths, Jin stumbled.

“How cowardly!”

“Trentia isn’t here, so.”

With a foot planted, Valenciaunos pivoted, swinging his sword down.

As Jin found himself in a position where he was about to be cut down on his back, he uttered a short incantation.

“Burst, Ra!”

With both incantation and spirit omitted, an immense amount of mana was consumed.

Whoosh!

However, the rising wind barrier sent Valenciaunos crashing against the wall.

“Ugh!”

The bed shook, the walls rattled, and everything on the desk fell.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Jin grabbed his bag containing money and grimoires and dashed into the hallway.

“Not bad for a judgment call.”

Stumbling to his feet, Valenciaunos chased after him down the corridor.

Jin’s dormitory was on the third floor, and he had already sprinted to the end of the hallway near the stairs.

However, Valenciaunos was a man with the mana control of a Sword Expert.

Boom!

In an instant, he accelerated as quickly as in combat, causing the wooden floorboards in the hallway to crack under him.

“Wait…!”

“Too late.”

Valenciaunos threw himself forward, catching Jin by the waist, and with that momentum, they both leapt through the window.

Crash!

The glass shattered, and they fell three floors down.

“Wind! Surround my body, urgh!”

Valenciaunos mercilessly struck Jin’s neck, who was trying to cast levitation magic, and shoved his gloved fingers into Jin’s mouth.

“Ugh!”

Jin bit down helplessly on those fingers, while Valenciaunos yanked on his tongue.

In fights, the one at the disadvantage often prevails.

“Ugh!”

Thud!

They both tumbled onto the grassy area in front of the dormitory.

Valenciaunos nimbly got up like a cat and grabbed the fallen sword.

“If you come quietly, I’ll stab you gently.”

But Jin rolled on the ground, shouting wildly, “The Swordsmanship Department students are attacking! Everyone gather!”

“What?!”

“They think they can just come here!”

“That guy!”

“Catch him! Throw him into the lake!”

All student eyes turned towards them.

A swordsmanship department student as big as a bull, a magic department student wielding dual staves, a med student just finishing anatomy practice, and several students from the practical combat department, all came rushing with determination.

They were fortifying their numbers with administrative students who were used to climbing hills daily, carrying thick books in their bags, and theology students with two-meter-long steel cross-shaped staffs.

Valenciaunos shouted in shock and disbelief, “What the hell!”

The Street of Learning had several large academies clustered together, where students endured brutal competition.

They did so to achieve results at the university level to receive funding, and individually to stake their claim on rooms and bars and cafés.

Basically, gathering spirited young men skilled in magic and swordsmanship in one place was bound to lead to fights.

Brawls involving hundreds were commonplace, and sometimes swordsmanship professors would lead their students to invade neighboring academies under the pretense of teaching urban warfare.

Seeing the victorious smile form on Jin’s lips, Valenciaunos clenched his teeth.

“You cowardly bastard!”

He sidestepped the incoming medical student wielding a saw and then kicked one swordsmanship student hard, striking a magic student across the head with the metal tip of his sword hilt.

With royal blood and forty years of experience before the return, he was able to match the academy students, even under stress during the exam period, without backing down.

He gripped the ankle of the bull-sized man and hurled him aside, narrowly avoiding the swinging steel cross.

Woosh!

The cross grazed his platinum hair perilously.

“Sorelazie! Attack!”

“Eh?”

From the dormitory entrance, Sorelazie, waiting, struck her staff adorned with yellow jewels on the ground while casting a spell.

Beside her, Bastatin looked at her questioning if she was serious, but Sorelazie didn’t hesitate to recite her spell.

To her, the furious throng of students appeared quite dangerous.

“Do you remember that I saved you? Shockwave spreading in circles!”

Flash!

The blue electricity shot from the tip of her staff, hitting the ground and causing several students nearby to faint.

Normally, that would have ended there, but the newly developed spell surged outwards like ripples.

Krzzzzzz!

“Ahhhh!”

“Yaaagh!”

“Ugh!”

Students rolled their eyes back and fainted all at once.

Naturally, Valenciaunos, caught in that wave, trembled, but he embedded his sword into the ground to withstand it.

“Ugh!”

“Aaagh!”

He, suppressing his scream all the way, stood alongside the previously fallen Jin, now rolling on the ground again while screaming, creating an odd contrast.

Valenciaunos, readying his sword again, took stock of Jin’s movements.

‘I’ve seen several of them before the return. Yes. Thinking back, most of them would have learned magic, even if just for general knowledge. Swordsmanship requires physical effort, administration requires memorization, but magic is more innate talent, so it must have been the easiest path for them. After graduation, they’d likely find jobs around the Magic Street.’

It would have been nice if they could live that quietly.

He thought so sincerely.

However, the hands gathering Jin seemed to be thinking differently.

Valenciaunos noticed some of those hands were adorned with strange rings.

They looked like bones or dried tentacles.

As far as he knew, wearing such rings was exclusive to adherents of ancient ones, infiltrators, or dark mages.

“Sister! Retreat for now! We’re outnumbered!”

“I thought the same. Why didn’t you decide faster?”

“Wait, I’m your senior… Aaaagh!”

“Don’t use poison on students! You lunatic!”

* * *

In the bustling café on the Street of Learning, we caught our breath.

It was always better to talk in a crowd like this when escaping or discussing secret matters.

“Ancient ones and dark mages? Is that for real? I can’t believe my own eyes.”

“You know those rings, sister. The white bone rings and the blue and purple tentacle entwined ones.”

“At least they haven’t completely succumbed to corruption, claiming to be royalty.”

While they discuss ancient ones and old gods, not all of them are the same.

The ones commonly called ‘dark mages’ serve a well-known ancient one worshipped as the ‘God of Death’ in many cultures.

They derive strength from human death, and thus do not seek to kill all humans.

If too many humans disappear, they would ultimately face extinction or severe weakening.

The church also tacitly allows a hostile coexistence with them, punishing not the worship but the criminal acts of the worshippers.

Because of this, dark mages have been able to create undead hunting dogs to guard wine cellars in the imperial palace and have found their way into the imperial magic guild.

Moreover, not all ancient beings who want to kill or torture all humans seek to consume and run rampant among all their worshippers.

Abaddon left reasoning intact among those in iron masks, assigning them activities like missionary work.

Crafty and evil ancient ones have mostly learned to utilize human society to some degree.

The ring entwined with two tentacles was very cunning, an ancient being that rejoiced more in one person’s corruption than a hundred ordinary deaths, being proficient in magic and with followers innumerable.

“Whether I should like that or not is a separate issue.”

I smiled faintly and slowly combed through Sorelazie’s tousled hair.

Robes and pointy hats were hardly suitable attire for running fast.

“Aren’t they all meant to be caught? You’re looking quite cheerful for what you’re saying! We missed out in the end.”

“Ah, yes. I think I have a rough idea of who they are.”

“How?”

I couldn’t mention that they were the ones supplying illegal magic tools in the red-light district before the return.

“I saw them around the red-light district casino.”

“Really? That’s interesting. I was in that area for quite a while but never saw those kinds of kids.”

“I heard about you from them. They avoided you. They were scared to be seen as illegal mages before the illustrious Sorelazie and end up getting burned.”

“Hmmm. I see.”

Sorelazie nodded as if she roughly understood.

She blinked her golden-green eyes a few times before speaking in an unusually anxious voice.

“I have something that worries me.”

“Worries?”

“What if most of the royals truly fall for the ancient ones, and if that is proven, will His Majesty leave us alive? You might manage to survive somehow, but…”

She trailed off.

“I don’t think he would be one to eliminate loyal subjects first. But I understand your concerns, sister. Any good thoughts?”

Sorelazie hesitated before saying, “You probably have an inkling of where to find them, right?”

“Yes.”

“How about we deal with them all at once before the ancient ones’ power emerges?”

“What? So we killed them because they were too unruly?”

“It’s just collateral damage during a skirmish. I have just barely secured a workshop and a staff. I don’t want to die now that I have something to lose.”

I could fully understand what Sorelazie was worried about and feared.

I, too, had been on edge during my previous life whenever an infiltrator related to the royal family showed up, uncertain when Jeilliris might change her mind and come to cut me down.

But killing even the illegitimate children who haven’t sinned yet weighed heavily on my conscience.

The possibility of corruption applied to me as much as it did to Sorelazie.

Bloodlines carry obligations and responsibilities, but I didn’t believe such responsibilities were so heavy that they warranted death to prevent corruption.

“Let’s assess the situation. We can kill those who are heavily corrupted or fallen. That seems best to me. After all, such individuals wouldn’t be capturable. But for now, let’s leave those who are still keeping their distance alone.”

“How unexpected.”

Sorelazie’s eyes widened.

I smirked, determined to maintain the reputation of a bandit.

Having shown myself in the underground for Matheos’s sake, I needed to be more thorough with Sorelazie.

“Perhaps the Majesty could find a use for them?”

“Ah, that might be the case.”

She nodded as if she understood.

“What could that possibly mean?”

Bastatin, sitting beside us, narrowed his eyes displeased.

“Honorifics. By familial ties, I would be your aunt or uncle.”

“Then what does that even mean?”

He looked somewhat frivolous with vibrant eyes and disheveled green hair, but his reaction was surprisingly sensible.

“Have we truly manipulated lives behind the scenes like this? For our own gain?”

I swept my hair back and shrugged with a smirk.

“It’s not like I’ve been doing it stealthily or with ulterior motives.”

The café buzzed with students gathered for exam study.

“And I don’t think this is exactly for one’s gain. I’m just trying not to incur losses. Besides, it’s not simply about money, it’s about lives.”

“Isn’t it shameful?”

“What is? Working hard in a situation where your life could end at any moment?”

“To hold people responsible for aspects they couldn’t decide on in a singular life.”

Bastatin clenched his fists.

“We just wanted to live normally.”

I shook my head with a bitter smile.

“Because of your bloodline, you learned swordsmanship and magic in a flash, and you call that normal? That’s not normal, that’s deceptive. Can’t you see everyone around you? They’re all struggling with their studies, trying their best. That’s what normal looks like. The joy of magic and the fun of swordsmanship is something very special.”

Bastatin’s jaw dropped.

I lightly tapped his neck with my fingerblade, playfully trying to hide my fangs.

“You would have had it good too. Making poison easily, enjoying the sweet life. That’s special. Your everyday life was extraordinary. I’m not blaming you for it. Given how you were born, you should enjoy it to its fullest.”

“We also put in effort.”

I crossed my legs and replied, “Did we struggle as hard as they did?”

“….”

With a forced grin to break his spirit, I said, “Honestly, that isn’t important.”

“What?!”

“The world isn’t structured so that the hardest workers win. The most crucial factor is status, and then talent follows. If you were born with both, you have to understand that that brings with it responsibilities and obligations.”

He looked as if he had plenty to say, but couldn’t quite sort it out.

I stated firmly, “Didn’t I say? I’m not going to kill everyone. I’ll only take out those who are too deep into ancient beliefs.”

“How deep is ‘too deep’?”

Bastatin asked, trying to soothe his eyes that were about to tear apart.

I drained the last of my coffee, thinking for a moment.

“See it for yourself.”

* * *

Before the dark storage room, grimoires piled out one by one.

Among them were several with human skin covers.