Boom!
As I kicked down, the knight soared backward with a whoosh, but it seemed like the armor absorbed most of the impact.
“If only I had a sword or something.”
The encirclement was gradually tightening. The knights, having caught on to my exceptional skills, swung their swords with the determination to slice through one of my limbs.
“What are you struggling against just two students for?!”
Heini Rosales shouted from the back, but the reason the knights couldn’t breach me, unarmed as I was, was due to one thing.
Phew.
Lin, with her eyes closed, was reaching out towards me from behind. Thanks to her auxiliary magic, I felt significantly more agile and powerful than usual.
With the protective magic in place, I could ignore some of the knights’ attacks to a certain extent.
Eventually, Heini Rosales stepped forward, taking her rapier in hand, and without any preparation, she charged in.
Her target was Lin. She thought that subduing her first would allow the knights to overwhelm me with their numbers.
Whoosh.
My back kick landed squarely in her abdomen, bending her over. She stumbled a few steps back before gagging and vomiting.
‘Confident in your protection, huh?’
I used to enjoy creating slight openings like this and counterattacking, so for Heini to fall for it was a big win for me.
“Stick close behind; I won’t let anything happen to you, so just keep casting magic.”
“Okay, I trust you.”
Lin replied gently, but the situation was hardly as comforting as it seemed. Although I could endure for now due to my remaining stamina, I wouldn’t be able to take down a knight.
No matter how many magical beasts I’d hunted in the Forest of the Demon Realm, I hadn’t done so with my bare hands.
“Just a student, how could you be struggling?!”
“I’m regrouping properly!”
“Damn it!”
The knights, realizing how shameful it was to struggle against an academy student, grew increasingly rough with their words.
‘This is getting a bit tough.’
At the moment I wondered where the dean was, the reception room door swung open with a bang, revealing Eve and Tana.
“Here! We brought… huh?”
“What’s going on here?”
Seeing the bound Ares and Hayun, the two were taken aback by the sight of them attacking me and Lin.
But upon noticing the book in their hands, they recognized it as the monitoring record the dean had magically hidden.
“That’s it! That’s the crucial evidence that proves we aren’t the culprits!”
Suddenly, all eyes were on Tana.
*
“…Yes, there’s absolutely no issue with the footage.”
With a sour face that looked like she bit into something rotten, Heini nodded her head while still glaring at me.
“Don’t change your expression; we’re the ones who were wronged!”
As I made a mocking remark with my arms crossed, Heini let out a sigh and bowed her head.
“I-I’m sorry.”
She spoke sheepishly, aware that trying to arrest us without a proper investigation would merit a complaint against her in her role as inspector.
Of course, we weren’t appeased, so we simply ignored her.
“I never thought Hare would pull something like this.”
The professor in charge of Class A, Jeffrey, clicked his tongue while watching the footage. The dean had been attacked by Fenil’s gang, leaving him to hold his position as the school representative.
The moment we saw Hare on screen, the cloudy memories in our heads faded, and recollections of her returned.
Not just us, but others, too, started recalling Hare, leading them to piece together the circumstances of the incident sequentially.
Although it was indeed powerful magic, Lin argued its effect was so focused that a counter was quite simple, and other professors agreed.
Lin explained that it was a spell that made self-defense difficult since only two knives were being held.
Of course, there were very few mages capable of casting such magic throughout the entire academy, so Heini added that they were currently investigating on that end.
“In that case, we’ll investigate that student Hare and also check into the dean’s attack. I apologize again for the inconvenience caused.”
“If it’s just going to end with an apology, then why are people like you around?”
As I smirked and spoke, Heini clenched her fists but apologized again before quickly leaving.
I felt like I had just gulped down ice-cold water after exercising.
“Well then, is this where we wrap things up for now?”
Jeffrey, seemingly uncomfortable in the situation, stretched with a yawn and suggested we take a break.
“I’ve been swamped with calls from parents about this incident, so I need to deal with that. You all take a break.”
He left before even waiting for a response, looking like he wanted the dean to stand up soon.
“Have things settled down for now?”
Aries looked flustered by the sudden changes. Since no one was responding, I slowly opened my mouth.
“What if we hadn’t cleared the truth?”
“Huh?”
Lin, Aries, and Hayun looked at me, confused about what I meant.
I knew they were tired, but the matter felt too important to skip over.
“First, we would have been arrested without a chance to defend ourselves. We’d have been caught red-handed trying to steal the late king’s treasure.”
Thinking about it, that was what was ticking me off—what that treasure was and why it was at the academy.
“Yeah, that’s creepy when you think back on it.”
“Hmm.”
As Lin and Hayun reacted, Aries too fell silent, lost in thought.
“The late king’s treasure is still stolen. We’d be tortured for its location, but given our ignorance, we’d ultimately die from the torture.”
I said it calmly, but the three looked horrified, their eyes wide.
That would have been how it ended for us.
“What about the academy?”
Then what about the academy? The dean’s position is in jeopardy.
With such a significant incident occurring, talk would inevitably arise about the dean sitting at the highest seat.
In fact, Jeffrey mentioned earlier that several families were already trying to reach out.
But since they captured the culprit, it’s not like we’d be subjected to the utmost punishment. A compromise probably would have been made for the dean to step down instead.
“…What exactly are you trying to say?”
Aries sighed and finally asked me, and as I tapped the table, I replied.
“I’m saying the size of the problem is too great.”
If they were going to steal treasure, they should just steal the treasure itself.
If there’s a wizard capable of erasing all memories of Hare’s records at the academy, there would be a much simpler and cleaner method than what they’re doing now.
“Lin, is there any mage who can use magic like this right away?”
“No, no matter how prepared, it would take at least a week.”
“Even if the academy is vast, it narrows down to specific places at night, so it wouldn’t take as long as that.”
Hayun jumped in, nodding her head in agreement.
“What’s the best scenario for a thief? Stealing without getting caught, right? But this magic was prepared on the premise of being caught.”
“…Are you saying Hare got caught on purpose?”
“I think so.”
It also seemed suspicious that Fenil Leiros attacked the dean.
The three were thinking hard trying to come up with reasons, but as the one who laid out the agenda, I smiled and said.
“For now, let’s go take a break. Gotta let our brains relax to think clearly.”
*
After washing up and taking a deep sleep, I woke up again in the dark of night.
Complaining about my bodily cycles having gone all weird, I watched the stars outside while waiting for my fatigue to set in and caught a glimpse of the sleeping guard.
I heard the security had increased due to the incident, but it hardly felt noticeable in the early morning.
‘Man, this academy…’
Outside, they talked about Aios Academy being the top-notch academy, but stepping inside, it was an absolute mess.
Like students of reputable families, Aios Academy had also been living off its past glory.
What good is being great back in the day if the present is this bad?
As I clicked my tongue and turned my body, I noticed someone standing in my room.
In a scene that could be chilling, the girl I had long wished for unveiled her hood.
“Hare?”
I chuckled wryly, getting ready to grab my sword, but Hare expressionlessly asked me.
“How did you know?”
“What?”
I was baffled by her sudden question, but Hare earnestly followed up.
“How did you know about the Cockatrice’s weakness, or about the shared senses?”
Oh, that.
I scratched my head, feeling a bit defeated.
“You came all this way just to ask that?”
Phew, so you’re not going to talk then?
I thought she was suggesting a rematch, but instead, Hare lowered her head and covertly offered me a proposal.
“Someone is interested in you.”
“Hmm?”
“That person wants you. Come with me, and I’ll give you what you desire.”
“Do you really think I’d follow just because you said that?”
I retorted with a chuckle, but Hare’s serious expression remained unchanged as if promising to fulfill all my wishes if I went with her.
“Do you know what I want?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then how can you promise me anything?”
Seeing Hare’s frustration showed she was clearly agitated.
“I want to beat you up and find out why you all did this.”
Swish!
As my sword drew, I sliced Hare’s body clean in half. With a splash, she began to liquefy and splattered all over the ground.
*
“Failed the recruitment, huh?”
On the back mountain of the school, a man wearing a hood murmured with a sigh next to Hare, who remained expressionless.
“He’s a stubborn one. I told you he wouldn’t come.”
“Well, the captain wanted him.”
As the man fidgeted, shaking his clothes free of dirt, he asked.
“What about the assassination?”
“Right here.”
Hare presented Fenil Leiros’s severed finger, who had been attacking the dean and was under suspicion.
Since it was late, they planned to stay one more night at the academy and have Heini and the knights take him in for questioning about his relation to the current events. Sadly, the boy’s short life reached its end.
“Then why even give him the drug? He went berserk and acted on his own.”
“I had no choice with how much the Leiros clan whined.”
“Ugh.”
“The knights will have quite the trouble. Leiros will go absolutely crazy over the death of his son.”
“If they request another assignment from us, that’ll be our benefit.”
In case the boy might reveal something about their connection, the assassination was carried out to eliminate the risk.
Since he died while in the knights’ custody, Leiros would naturally suspect Heini and the knights, possibly using them as a pawn for further manipulations.
Business doesn’t just come; one must create it.
That was the man’s creed.
“Then…”
Before the man could say “let’s go,” something caught his attention.
The boy who had just been talking to Hare jumped out of the third-floor dormitory window.
He smoothly slowed down mid-air by embedding his sword into the wall and made a perfect landing, starting to sprint toward them.
But even if he came this way, there was no door.
Blocked by the towering wall of the academy, he thought he could not reach the mountainside where they were located.
However, Daniel suddenly sprang sideways up the tree in an instant, leaping to plant his sword into the middle of the wall.
Using it as a foothold, he jumped again, this time onto the top of the wall.
With a rope tied to the sword’s tip, he pulled it back in after reaching the top of the wall.
Daniel’s eyes met the man’s perfectly.
‘Found him.’
Descending the wall, Daniel ran straight towards them with the momentum of a predator about to make his kill.
“Run!”
Having experienced this once before, Hare shouted in a hurry, and the man, startled by the unexpected situation, began chasing after Hare.
“What the hell is that guy doing!”
Starting from the distance between the dormitory and the backmountain, Hare murmured, biting her lips.
“I don’t know what he is.”
When she had heard from Lin, he was timid but kind, always holding onto his beliefs.
She had heard he was a capable friend but pitifully unable to showcase his skills due to his personality.
What was with this turnaround?
‘Where the hell is the timid boy in that?!’
She had thought it was strange during the exam, and she felt a sort of madness when they fought directly.
Who would carve themselves up like that, even with recovery mages around?
In truth, Daniel right now felt utterly different from the Daniel the academy knew.
“What a crazy bastard, he’s so fast!”
Even though the distance had been significant, Daniel had already closed in behind them. It was now close enough for them to hear his voice.
“You can’t escape!”
His calm voice made the man halt in a panic.
“I’ll just kill you. There’s no need to run away.”
He hadn’t fled because he felt he couldn’t win; it was just that he didn’t want to waste his strength.
“Hare, you can go.”
“But…”
“Leave it! I’ll take care of this and come back.”
“…Understood.”
Hare quickly vanished.
Daniel made no effort to pursue her, stopping alongside the man in front of him.
“Impressive, I never thought you’d chase us down like that.”
“To handle a Doppel Slime, you must keep it in sight. Because of that trait, I knew the position of my room’s window.”
“…!”
How did he know he was using Doppel Slime’s abilities?
Right. Just moments ago, the figure he spoke to was not Hare but the man’s clone transformed into her.
“From Cockatrice to Doppel Slime, what exactly are you? You don’t look like an ordinary student.”
In response to his inquiry, Daniel scratched his head and retorted.
“What about you? Why are you using abilities from the magical beasts in that forest?”
“……”
The man showed no signs of answering. His hand transformed into sharp blue spikes, demonstrating the basic combat form of a slime.
But Daniel’s sword was already piercing the man’s neck.
Gurgle!
The man’s head was severed, but that wasn’t the end. Daniel continued swinging his sword, chopping him to bits.
Both arms, both legs, the torso, and the head.
The sight wasn’t exactly pretty, but he was just slime anyway.
“Do you really think that just because you sliced me, I’ll die?”
The man’s voice echoed, his severed limbs moving to attack. Daniel slashed them down, ignoring them as he climbed on the man’s upper body.
“It doesn’t matter what form you take. Even if your head is over there, the biggest mass is still the slime’s main body.”
Squish squish squish.
“Aaaah!”
“I can still channel mana into my blade.”
Ignoring his physical attacks, Daniel thrust his sword repeatedly, causing the upper body to shrink little by little.
‘Good, if I keep this up, the mind will shift back to the side with the arms and legs.’
It hurt like hell, but thanks to Daniel’s brutal slashing, the body was gradually getting smaller.
Thwomp!
The scattered remains of the slime clumped back together, revealing a bizarre sight as Daniel reattached the limbs to the torso.
Even if it looked odd, at least it remained connected.
“The Doppel Slime’s mind is drawn to the larger chunk, creating a tendency to merge. This means my main body is now larger, huh?”
“Ugh…”
“Still not talking? Let’s keep going.”
Daniel continued stabbing the creature, while the man squirmed in desperate thought.
‘I need to get back and tell them!’
Survive and tell them about the monster lurking within Aios Academy.
