Top Instructor of a Third-Rate Academy

185

I reviewed the stories from the past life that Rozalin had told me.

First.

As demons invaded, the Emperor died.

Not only the Emperor, but the imperial grandchildren died one after another.

And to protect the last remaining imperial grandchild, the Lionheart Knights ceased all activity and disappeared.

Over the ten years of that history, individuals who had left the Knight Order were active in various capacities, but Perdius's figure never once appeared to the end.

I had thought this was due to the Empire's characteristic closed-off arrogance.

But what if, in truth, it was not that — and someone within had killed the imperial grandchildren?

And what if, on top of that, that person was the Captain of the imperial household's direct Knight Order, the Lionheart Knights?

"......A lot of things suddenly make sense."

"Hmm."

Sihan, having heard my whole story, stroked his chin.

"Let me sort this out. So the swordsman beside the Emperor is either the hidden villain or connected to the hidden villain, and the Emperor is in a pretty dangerous situation?"

"Yes."

"With the Empire currently split into five factions, if the Emperor — who holds one axis and is overwhelmingly trampling the other factions — suddenly disappears, things will fall apart?"

"Yes."

"And right now, that demon is heading straight for the northwest with the Emperor in order to catch the supposed 'demon summoner.'"

"Yes, so we should go save the Emperor——"

"Then let us just leave it be."

"......Excuse me?"

At his decisive declaration, all eyes focused on him.

Pan looked at Sihan with a gaze that said, Are you serious?

"You are joking, right?"

"No. Honestly, we do not need to be meddling that much. He died in the past life anyway, did he not?"

"That is true, but......"

"Well, I do not mean 'he died in the past life, so let him die.' By that logic, you died in the past life too, they say."

"Are you picking a fight with our Teacher right now?"

"I died in the past life too. It is insider humor. Anyone who has not died in a past life, shut up."

I could feel Rozalin's eyes burning.

I calmed Rozalin and looked at Sihan.

He pointed at me with a serious expression.

"What I am saying is — you need to use your body a bit more gently."

"He has a point."

Rozalin, as if she had never been angry a moment ago, lined up beside Sihan, folded her arms, and glared at me too.

......?

"You just woke up. Before that, you abused your body. We barely managed to keep you alive by using Sacer too. And now why are you trying to solve everything in the world yourself?"

"Right, right."

"So for the time being, leave this matter to people more specialized and more vicious than you."

"Hear, hear!"

"As it happens, the ones going mad from your demonic strategy are out in full force right now."

"Yes, yes!"

Demonic?

Going mad — what?

Not quite following the flow of the conversation, I asked back.

"Who are you talking about?"

Sihan laughed.

"The next Saintess. She is absolutely unhinged."

***

"The madwoman is here! Stop her!"

A mage's shout, nearly a shriek, rang out, and all kinds of magic began to pour in from every direction.

Underground bedrock, as hard as steel, thrust upward. Hellfire with the temperature of lava rippled.

A storm of blades that seemed it would shred one's skin to ribbons howled, followed by a cold close to absolute zero sweeping through the area.

It was an all-out assault meant to stop a single person.

"......"

Put another way, the fact that these attacks continued endlessly meant that one person was walking forward, tearing and breaking through every one of them.

What was unique and bizarre was her method of breaking the magic.

With a crack, one figure was trapped inside a thick mountain of ice.

Into it, thousands of wind-blades rushed to shred her body.

And indeed they did.

Within the frozen ice, her body scattered into hundreds of fragments.

However.

"I-insane......"

One spot alone.

The place where her face was took no damage whatsoever.

That was because she had concentrated her Holy Power only at the most vital locations — the brain and heart.

The next Saintess.

A being selected even while the previous Saintess still lived, possessing Holy Power stronger than anyone, was deploying her Holy Power solely to defend her weak points.

'Just as Teacher taught.'

Her Holy Power deployment resembled less the Holy Kingdom's style and more the unique swordsmanship essence of Akarind Academy.

She wielded her Holy Power like an invisible sword, cutting down the opponent's magic.

'Teacher.'

The ones who had absorbed Cassian's teachings best at Akarind Academy were probably Rozalin or Pan.

Befitting their reputation as geniuses, they understood most of what Cassian said and absorbed it as is.

But when asked who had spent the longest time learning from Cassian at Akarind Academy, the answer was different.

Yuria.

From the moment Cassian left his dormitory until the moment he returned to it, she attached herself to his side and followed him.

She picked up every word he said as though it were scripture, and assisted him throughout his training.

'Look how much I have grown.'

At Akarind Academy, those teachings had not been particularly useful.

She did not wield a sword, and she had not seriously trained in barehanded combat either.

But once she returned to the Holy Kingdom and began her Saintess lessons, the situation changed.

As she learned to handle Holy Power delicately, the theories she had absorbed at the Academy naturally began to fuse with that training.

Thus was born the Sacred Sword Combat Art.

Something even the Holy Knights, the Saintess, or the Inquisitors could not wield.

Only what Yuria had received from her mentor.

'So I will properly take revenge for you, Teacher.'

It exploded.

BOOM!

With a massive shockwave, fragments of ice flew in all directions.

As the mages hurriedly tried to brace for the explosion —

"Gwak?!"

Yuria, who had suddenly drawn close, was seizing one of their throats.

Her body had not yet finished regenerating, and was spurting blood in places. One of her legs had nothing left below the ankle.

But that was only for a brief moment.

"Die."

As she crushed and twisted the mage's neck, her body returned to its original state.

"Witch — a witch......"

5th-circle mages were daunted enough to say so.

"My, my. Who is calling whom a witch. To the next Saintess of the Holy Empire, of all people."

The problem was that it was not only Yuria on this battlefield.

Ganemia followed behind her with a displeased expression.

"Foolish creatures. Clear them away."

The moment her signal dropped, a piercing shriek rang through the air.

The Inquisitors.

"I told you not to go alone."

Ganemia stroked Yuria's head as though worried.

Yuria had joined the battlefield three days prior to this moment.

She had been running a deception operation together with the Inquisitors.

While doing so, she had received a single piece of news.

'Teacher Cassian sustained serious injuries fighting Perdius and has collapsed. The Holy Sword has been destroyed, and Perdius and the Emperor seized every Fantasy and fled.'

Upon hearing the news, Yuria's eyes had rolled back, and she had joined this battlefield.

There was no longer any reason to maintain the deceptive disguise operation against the Empire.

Now that their main force's location had been exposed, it was far more advantageous to consolidate the divided units and push in as one.

Yuria glared at the mages with emotionless eyes.

Once again she had to snuff out the lives of those disloyal creatures......

"Your teacher has contacted us."

Yuria's movements stopped.

Her eyes slowly turned to Ganemia.

Ganemia saw the poison in Yuria's eyes dim somewhat.

'Seriously, does she love her Teacher that much?'

Yuria's feelings toward Teacher Cassian were, in a sense, akin to fanaticism.

Ganemia was quietly worried about that.

God is not merciful.

The position of Inquisitor alone showed as much.

No matter how much something concerned questions of right and wrong or of ethics and morality, God would punish someone for merely believing in something other than Him — something wicked.

If Yuria adored and followed Cassian this much — especially someone supposed to be the next Saintess following him like this —

'There must be a divine plan behind it.'

Come to think of it, Yuria had been chosen as the next Saintess already in this state.

God must have His own intent.

Composing her mind like that, she led Yuria to the rear.

"He has something for us to handle. Go, take the transmission."

***

— Teacher, your body is all right, yes?

"It could be too dangerous, so for now just figure out the location. And please handle the Underground Magic Tower properly."

— There are no abnormalities in your Mana Roads, yes?

"The Saintess and the Holy Knights should have felt the aura of demon summoning. Please ask them to check for that same aura when handling the Underground Magic Tower."

— And the pain, you are all right?

"Your voice is a bit off. Do not overexert yourself too much."

The transmission cut off.

Sihan, who had been listening beside me, looked at me with an expression of exasperation.

"At this point, is that not just you unilaterally saying what you want to say?"

"Hm?"

"The conversation is not connecting at all."

"We communicated plenty."

Yuria would have understood everything I said.

Her only priority was higher than my words — my health and condition.

And my priority was higher than my own health and condition — the content I had to relay.

"Yuria's feelings were properly conveyed, so it is fine."

"Honestly — what exactly is so good about a teacher like you that all these lunatics keep following you?"

Sihan clicked his tongue.

"Anyway, this matter is settled. Now, there are many people waiting for you, so we had better make the rounds."

He must be talking about Duke Crownhardt.

"Can you hold them off for a bit?"

"Huh? It is urgent, though."

I knew.

It was an agenda where a member of an Imperial Ducal house, along with his subordinate soldiers awaiting assignment, was defecting to a rural territory of the near-collapsed Belmein Kingdom — the Akarind Academy City.

The Duke had come in person, and his soldiers were waiting to be placed.

But precisely because of that, I needed time.

"I cannot go in unprepared."

"What are you up to?"

"I want to check my cards in order to hold the initiative."

"Ah. The training ground?"

Sihan nodded as though he understood.

"Got it. I cannot buy you much time, though. At longest, about two hours? I will offer them tea and ask if they are interested in the Magitech graduate school."

"Do not steal too many. Many of them are bound to become my disciples."

"Whoever picks them up first gets to keep them."

Sihan said that, then promptly left.

Hmm, he is not going to sweep up most of them, is he?

No. That cannot be.

This Magitech thing — I hear you have to seriously grind math.

No one in the world likes math.

Especially soldiers and knights.

Steeling my resolve that way, I slowly walked toward the training ground.

Rozalin and Pan promptly trotted up and attached themselves to my side.

"You are going to train, right, Teacher? Your body! Was Sacer effective? Was the ninth Mana Road connected? They said the Fantasies were absorbed — can you feel it? Can you use demonic powers, like — like you have become a demon or something?"

Rozalin chattered, firing off questions.

"I do not know exactly. I can feel something...... Let us go check for now."

Whatever it was, if I could make use of even one thing, I would be able to seize the initiative over the Crownhardt Ducal House as well.