Chapter 201 : Chapter 201
Chapter 201
Morning came, and the knights and soldiers formerly under Crownhardt assembled.
A special training course would run until deployment.
As they warmed up for training, a zombie walked out before them.
"Gah?!"
It was not a zombie — it was Latrine.
Her skin had gone sallow overnight, and her unwashed hair sat messily piled on her head.
But more than anything, what drained the life from her face was the expression itself — one that looked deeply wronged.
"Lady Latrine?"
"......What. Why? Do I look like some halfwit who cannot even memorize things?"
"Pardon?"
"Does it look like I am the kind of person whose innermost feelings get exposed and who deserves to be looked down on for being worthless as a human being?"
"Par......don?"
The knight, who had only been trying to ask if she was all right, flinched and stepped back in confusion.
Had someone actually said such things?
As the surrounding knights' gazes grew serious, the knight frantically waved his hands.
He felt wronged.
"I-I only said Lady Latrine, just that!"
"That is all it takes to be Lady Latrine?!"
"No, that is not what I—"
"Enough......"
Latrine trudged wearily to the side of the platform.
She wanted nothing more than to sit in a chair or lie in a bed, but she could not.
They did not have much time.
Above all — that inhuman man had spent roughly the same number of hours and walked in perfectly fine.
"Good to see you."
Cassian entered the training ground.
The soldiers, who now fully understood his capabilities, snapped to attention.
Looking over the knights standing in at-ease formation, Cassian nodded.
"I cannot personally teach all five hundred knights. Therefore, we will learn in a military-style cascade."
What was the strength of a military's top-down structure?
If you disseminated information to one high-ranking person, it could flow downward, and downward again.
It was a strategy that could be called the trickle-down approach to education.
"That is why the most important person in this training is the Duke."
And Cassian played his trump card.
Duke Crownhardt appeared dramatically beside Cassian, sword in hand.
No one would have resisted even if Cassian alone had conducted the session.
But for the Duke himself to personally lead the training?
The tension could only mount.
Of course, Cassian had not employed this strategy merely to keep the knights in line.
"Duke Crownhardt knows the Crownhardt Ducal House's swordsmanship best. And he knows the individual characteristics of these knights. You must control them, Your Grace."
Cassian's eyes swept back and forth between the Duke and the knights.
"Otherwise, Your Grace will die."
Was that some kind of novel threat?
Such thoughts occurred to them, but both the Duke and Cassian wore deadly serious expressions.
"Because in this charge, I will serve as the sword, and the Duke will serve as the hand."
Where did an Aura user ultimately discharge their power?
The final destination was the sword, and what connected to it was the hand.
Cassian had split the formation into two roles.
The role of fully receiving and refining the Crownhardt Ducal House's mana and swordsmanship.
That was the hand.
Once the Duke gathered and transmitted the mana, Cassian would stockpile it to the very last moment and then detonate it.
The risk was far higher for Cassian, but the Duke's risk was not low either.
"And there is one more person — Latrine."
When Latrine stepped forward, people's gazes swept over her.
Unlike when Duke Crownhardt had appeared, a flicker of puzzlement crossed their eyes.
Understandably so, because Latrine was a complete civilian.
She could handle a sword, but could not use Aura — just an administrative adjutant.
Yet not a single knight voiced that doubt.
'Cassian must have done something again.'
'She was badmouthing Cassian earlier, right? Then she must have gotten Chamson'd.'
'It is a Chamson situation.'
'Better be careful or I will get Chamson'd too.'
Over the past few days, they had learned to be wary of the elderly (that was the Spear God), children (meaning Freizia), handsome men (referring to Pan), and women (that was Rozalin) at this Academy.
And among all of those, the most dangerous was someone not particularly old, whose thoughts were demonic, who had a pallid face and looked as though he had never swung a sword in his life — a scholarly type.
Latrine happened to match several of those criteria.
'......Somehow, the soldiers' gazes seem impure in a different way.'
Latrine narrowed her eyes in brief contemplation, then sighed.
Her head was not working well.
Just processing what she had memorized all night was hard enough.
"Let us begin."
And when the lecture started.
Latrine began unleashing her prickly, sunken stress mercilessly upon the knights.
"Why are your feet there? With that stride length, your sword will produce not the Crownhardt formation but something more like a water flea that hopped out of it."
"Do you have six fingers, Sir? Why are your fingers positioned like that?"
"What position will you hold in the formation? The eye? Good. Then how dare you hold your eyes like that? Do you think the Duke is cross-eyed?"
"I see the knee can bend backward. Well, it is not impossible, I suppose. But we are here to see swordsmanship, not a circus act."
Even Cassian, listening in, flinched at the severity.
But every one of those criticisms was spot-on.
After all, she had spent the entire night watching the same stances thousands of times, pointing out problems and memorizing their meanings.
Cassian, who had served as the demonstration assistant, had merely shifted minutely from a perfect stance.
The knights' flawed postures were glaringly obvious even at a glance.
'Terrifying......'
'He taught Latrine this way? What kind of battle has she been through?'
The knights' misunderstanding-laden gazes turned toward Cassian.
Even Duke Crownhardt himself was sending a look that asked what on earth he had done to his adjutant.
Cassian felt wronged.
All except one person.
'This...... is actually a bit fun? I think the stress is lifting?'
The corner of Latrine's mouth twitched.
She alone was smiling in this place.
***
After training, I stopped by the classroom.
"You have to maintain the stance all the way to the end!"
"To form a group formation, think about what Sword Intent the group is pursuing. Spotting the most skilled person among the ten and copying them is not the answer. It is also good to imagine a hypothetical being that all ten share as a common goal."
Fortunately, the two teaching assistants were conducting class far more normally than Latrine.
And the content was quite solid.
This seemed trustworthy enough.
'Then I need to do my part.'
My next stop was Sihan's laboratory.
It was still bustling with graduate students.
"You fools! Bombs! Make more bombs! Otherwise we might have to blow up Lefteria!"
He was driving people with enough madness to show in his eyes.
Apparently hearing the future of Lefteria Island from Rozalin had been quite the shock.
I called Sihan out briefly to rescue the graduate students.
"What?"
"I need a weapon."
"A weapon — you have a good sword. I am an alchemist, not a blacksmith."
"I will not be using this sword. I just need something a bit...... crude."
I laid out the operation plan for dealing with the World Eater.
Having heard the whole thing, Sihan scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"So you are talking about a sword — conceptually a bullet — that can collect and fire the energy of five hundred people?"
"Yes."
I could certainly fire Aura.
But Aura was at its most powerful when it took the form of a sword.
I was a swordsman.
It was only natural that I was strongest with a sword in hand.
So ultimately, to discharge maximum force, I needed a complex weapon — one that would let me fire while holding a medium capable of containing Aura.
"Hmm. So if I make a two-stage ejection system in sword form to fire the Aura as a projectile — in bullet form?"
Sihan, having heard me out, sank into thought as though something had clicked.
"All right. Making it is not hard, but you will need to help."
"Me?"
"You absorbed all the Fantasies. I need you to use the Iron Eater to fuse a few metals together. I will give you the blueprint — if you can shape them to match, even better."
"Why not. Let us give it a go."
After spending time with Sihan, there were others I needed to see.
Pan, Rozalin, Hati, and the rest.
The midterm bosses.
"While I am away, please do not be too harsh on the students when the exam takes place."
"Hmph."
The Spear God snorted.
"You came all this way for a request like that? If those shameless brats choose me, they must be prepared for the consequences. It is their problem to handle."
"Well......"
I swallowed the rest.
If the two teaching assistants gave their best.
And if the students realized their potential and produced something beyond expectations.
Then even the Spear God would not be able to maintain that attitude.
The possibilities of the formation were boundless.
"Forget the exam — let me come with you."
I shook my head at Rozalin's words.
"I am taking all five hundred knights. In chaotic times, someone needs to protect the Academy."
Duke Crownhardt had brought five hundred capable personnel.
Along with those, nearly thirty thousand civilians.
Which meant the number of people we needed to protect at Akarind Academy had increased enormously.
Protecting them required the current personnel to work even harder.
With all the knights being taken away, Rozalin — the Guard Captain — could not leave her post.
"But Teacher, every time something happens, you collapse!"
"Do not worry. I have a plan for that."
"Really? For real? Really? Do you promise? You have to come back! Otherwise I will seriously throw away Akarind Academy, the Academy City, everything, and come looking for you! You hear me? If you are in hell, I am going to hell."
Rozalin spewed what could have been either a threat or a tantrum.
I smiled at the sight of her.
Everyone was worrying about the exam and the Academy, the World Eater and the world.
Among all these people, you seem to be the only one talking about my safe return.
"I will contact Ganemia and Yuria in advance."
They were already stationed in the Empire, where the World Eater was.
Even if my body overheated after the attack, they could immediately recover me and pour Holy Power into me.
"And I absorbed the Sacer Fantasy too."
The Sacer Fantasy granted a body that regenerated infinitely as long as one could endure the pain.
With that, I should be able to hang on without collapsing.
Probably.
"......Seriously, just try not coming back. No — just try getting hurt."
I tapped her hat gently.
And so, two days later.
"The weapon is complete."
"Training is done. It is rough, but...... it is the best we can do right now."
Preparations were finished.