Chapter 223 : Chapter 223
Chapter 223
I spent the next several days getting accustomed to the sword.
"Would you just behave?"
I grumbled at the sword with its blue tassel dangling from the pommel.
As if it understood me, the sword hummed once in response.
When I'd first swung it in the research wing—
I'd felt it speaking to me.
At the time I'd written it off as imagination. It wasn't.
The Doppelgänger Fantasy, unlike other Fantasies, was one that possessed a will of its own, almost like a familiar.
Despite being a sword, it had a definite will.
It wasn't a rational, conversational soul, but it could express simple likes and dislikes.
"You need to distinguish between what should be cut and what shouldn't."
I set another practice log on the Training Ground.
The moment I called up my intent, the sword began greedily reaching for the surrounding mana.
"Easy."
I reined in its appetite and restricted the mana in the area.
If it devoured every scrap of mana within a given radius, nearby allies could be thrown into a momentary panic, unable to absorb mana themselves.
For mages in particular, mana depletion was a life-or-death issue.
At my command, the sword vibrated once—petulantly, it seemed—and cut off its mana intake.
The flow snapped clean with a thunk-like sensation.
Even so, the Aura I felt was far stronger than with my old sword.
In the past, this much force would have taken three swings—no, five—to expend.
"Just the outer layer."
I said it aloud and fired a burst of Aura.
SHAAA!
The compressed Aura sliced through the log.
About half a success.
I walked up and nudged the severed log with my toe. It split apart into three pieces.
A bit tamer than when I'd first cut the mineral, but still unruly.
"If you keep baring your teeth like that, I can't use you in class."
I occasionally used live blades when sparring with students at Adept level and above.
In the Special Class, real-sword sparring was the default unless something unusual came up.
Aura itself was already dangerous, and when Aura clashed with Aura, the difference between a wooden sword and a real one was moot.
But a sword that inflicted this kind of collateral damage on opponents was unusable.
No—it was dangerous enough that it needed to be sealed entirely outside of combat.
"You keep this up and I'll lock you in the lab when I'm not fighting."
WOOOOOOOOOONG—!
The sword vibrated with more violence than ever, resisting fiercely.
The Doppelgänger Fantasy hadn't re-separated from the World Eater Fantasy.
More accurately, it couldn't. Being a "parasitic" Fantasy by nature, the Doppelgänger had embedded itself completely within the World Eater Fantasy.
Naturally, the graduate students in the research wing had thrown a fit.
"Heh, heh heh heh. I knew this would happen."
Even Sihan, who'd said that, was trembling with clenched fists.
Apparently foreseeing it didn't make it any less infuriating.
That was why Sihan and the researchers badgered me every time I visited—please, please leave the sword behind when you go.
"We get to study alchemy and the Fantasy ore at the same time! That's what you'd call killing two birds with one stone!"
A staggering array of testing instruments, reagents, rituals, and alchemical techniques had been applied to the sword.
The sword, naturally, hated every second of it.
Hum, hum, hum, hum, hum!
The sword nuzzled against me as if pledging obedience.
I slid it into its sheath and gave it a consoling pat.
Class time was approaching; I should head to the lecture hall.
I'd heard the expedition party had returned late last night.
I needed to catch the weary returnees up on how classes had progressed while they were away.
Having them share their expedition experiences might be good too.
A field trip, in a sense.
If I had them talk about what they'd learned from the experience, it could make for a valuable lesson.
Going on an expedition to hunt demons—
I'd done it a few times myself, and the tension from those moments was a real asset.
'Maybe today's class can be a bit relaxed?'
That's what I'd thought.
Yes. There was a time when I thought that.
***
"You must...... never encounter a leader who is ill-tempered, hasty, rash, explosive, poor in judgment, and treats every person around them as nothing more than a tool......"
One student spoke with his eyes squeezed shut.
He was probably from Zelta's team—the squad that had faced the Spear God.
"We lost...... our target due to some kind of unforeseen, mysterious incident...... and depending on the leader's temperament, the situation changes dramatically. Obviously not a good sign."
His face was deathly pale, as though he'd lived through something utterly horrifying.
"A leader who panics and just stands there going heh heh heh heh. A leader who goes full military mode and orders a sweep of the entire area to produce some kind of result. A leader who shrugs and says well, nothing we can do, and gives up...... all of those are fine. Yeah."
He was still glancing around as though terrified.
From the look of it, he was searching for the Spear God's location.
For better or worse, the Spear God hadn't come to my class.
He occasionally joined Special Class sessions but seemed to consider himself above the foundational lessons.
Either that, or his pride couldn't stomach sitting among students.
"Just blindly raging at us, saying it's all our fault, screaming at us to find something—if not a demon then at least a monster—getting so angry he even started swinging his weapon...... and then the other mentors had to rush in to restrain the old man, and, god."
The student's body shook as the memory surfaced.
His face had gone so white he looked ready to faint.
"Uh, that's enough, uh, it's okay. You can sit down."
I hurriedly calmed the student and seated him.
The tone of his presentation had soured the mood; the students' gazes were not kind.
The atmosphere was grim, and whispered murmuring rippled through the hall.
"Ahem, w-well, shall we have someone else present?"
I quickly looked around for another volunteer.
Instinct told me the students might not be ideal; an Auditor would be better.
A freelance knight in his forties.
He fixed me with a resentful glare.
"We had a target. It vanished."
"......"
"I don't think Cassian is incompetent. He's a brilliant swordsman. A venerable teacher. And there's a great, great, great deal to learn from him."
Why are you saying that through gritted teeth?
"However! A capable scholar doesn't necessarily make a capable commander! Sometimes a person outstanding in one field becomes a liability in others and causes trou—mmph! Let go!"
The Auditor was dragged down by a mob.
Most of them appeared to be students from the expedition.
"......"
Hoping against hope, I helped a knight to his feet.
He cleared his throat and continued.
"If they're making this much fuss over something this minor, then it's clear that Akarind Academy's students may be talented, but they're sorely lacking in experience. Back in my day......"
The knight was hauled away even faster than the freelance Auditor.
Even his fellow soldiers and knights pulled him down with undisguised displeasure.
Hmm...... this wouldn't do.
After deliberating, I pointed to Zelta.
Zelta, at least, should be different.
He rose with a composed look, as if to say not to worry, and strode to the front.
And he began his speech.
"Everyone. This was a trial! We must never forget—this is the final exam!"
Right.
"Just as the teacher made the midterms difficult, the final must carry an even harder challenge. Demon subjugation? That wasn't so hard!"
......What?
"In truth, the teacher never expected us to actually subjugate a demon!"
Yes he did.
"Rather, by telling us to slay a demon and then making the target vanish, he wanted us to find how we recover from that despair! To learn not to lose hope even among the worst mentors imaginable—that was his intent!"
That's really not it.
I looked around.
I'd hoped someone would drag this nonsense off the stage, too.
But this time, people actually seemed to agree with Zelta.
Not just the expedition members—even the regular students were nodding and murmuring in admiration, as if finally hearing something that made sense.
No, it's not. That's not it at all.
"Zelta."
"In that crucible, we clung to the one truth, the one light, the one figure worthy of worship that is Cassian, and followed his teachings alone......!"
"Zelta?"
"Yes, Teacher."
"Step down."
"Yes."
Zelta left the stage without protest.
Whew...... was this class a disaster?
"Teacher! Me! Me!"
But then a familiar—yet somehow jarring—voice rang out from the back.
It was Rozalin.
"What brings you here?"
"I'm auditing today's class! That's fine, isn't it!"
"Sure, I mean, you're the Guard Captain and there are more students here than anywhere else, so there's no issue, but......"
"I'll share my experience! I'm amazing! I've got way more experience than anyone here! I'm the leader! I'm the Top Disciple and a Master!"
I considered for a moment what would unfold if Rozalin took the floor.
And I reached my conclusion.
"......I trust you've all listened carefully to the expedition students' reflections so far. I think Zelta summed up my intentions quite well. Let me supplement his explanation a bit as we continue the lesson."
Let's not have Rozalin present.
Let's build on Zelta's version instead.
"I want to present too! I said I'm presenting!"
Rozalin protested, but I ignored her.
Class ended without further incident.
***
"You're the one who messed up and now you're acting like this! You told us to go slay a demon! Then you shouldn't have slain it before us!"
"I had no choice. It was the right call."
"Put the students in a bit of danger! You cunning demon!"
"? Isn't the demon the one who puts people in danger?"
"Teacher! Why are you being so dense! You should get the hint!"
Rozalin bickered and snapped at my side.
She seemed a bit sore that I'd dealt with the demon first, so I consoled her appropriately and played along with the conversation.
Behind her, Pan and Yuria trailed along.
Yuria also looked unhappy, though her anger seemed directed at Rozalin rather than me.
"That brain-dead imbecile dragged me along and made me waste precious time...... three weeks I could have spent with you, Teacher......"
"Hey! It was necessary!"
"No, it wasn't."
Pan just watched the two of them.
"You're not upset?"
"Why would I be? Zelta was right about everything."
"God...... never mind. I'm the only sane one here."
While Rozalin was busy fuming.
We arrived at a small house near the research wing.
Blue Light, released from confinement, was there under protective watch.
Protective watch in name—in practice, it was closer to surveillance to keep him from escaping.
The Firestorm mercenaries guarding the place greeted us when they spotted our group.
Three mercenaries were attached to this single small house alone.
Each of them was Adept level or above.
No matter how elite Blue Light was as the head of an Imperial intelligence unit, slipping past them wouldn't be easy.
We passed them and went inside.
"Welcome."
Blue Light was in the middle of brewing coffee.
As if he'd been expecting me, he'd made enough for two.
"Didn't expect you'd bring a tail."
"They should hear this too."
"Very well."
After his release from the research wing's isolation.
He'd been providing various pieces of intelligence for our negotiations.
Information on nobles inside the Empire, suspected moles among those who'd be arriving, and so on.
Useful, certainly, but not exactly what we were after.
"So I put some thought into it. What information you actually want."
He took a slow, savoring sip of coffee.
His expression was unhurried.
He seemed quite confident about this particular offering.
"Avril. I'll tell you where he is."