Chapter 132 : Chapter 132
Chapter 132: Rome Academy (4)
I entered through the now-deceased Gate.
After walking for a few minutes, the view of the Class A children widened simultaneously.
“…….”
No words came out.
In front of them was a massive cluster of buildings stretching out in the shape of a cross.
A marble path pierced through the center.
At its heart stood a fountain with flowing water and stone statues of saints.
To the left, a plaza and an arena were visible.
There was a circular arena, and next to it, a training hall and a multi-dimensional practice range with floating platforms.
To the right, corridors connected to the Magic Tower and numerous lecture buildings were positioned.
The light of magic circles leaked through the buildings' glass walls.
And above that—
A Magic Tower soared as if to pierce the sky.
Streaks of light descending from the top of the tower flowed like a veil, covering and protecting the entire city.
“Whoa…….”
Admiration leaked out, regardless of who was first.
“Is this…… really a school?”
Jin-ho muttered with a dazed face, followed by Seong-hyeon, who spoke with a child-like gaze.
“It feels like…… someone mixed a cathedral with DisneyXand……”
The twins said at the same time.
“I want to take a photo!”
“Seriously, you’d definitely get a shot of a lifetime here!”
“Don’t take photos.”
At the cold voice of the Class President, Kang Tae-wook, the twins' hands stopped in mid-air.
“Why!”
“Yeah, why are you making a fuss!”
Kang Tae-wook exhaled a sigh of exasperation.
“Did you forget where this is? It’s Rome Academy. Don’t you know the basic rule that photos and videos are prohibited? Honestly, don’t be an idiot.”
“What?! An idiot?”
“Why is not knowing that being an idiot!”
The twins' eyes turned like arrowheads toward Kang Tae-wook.
Not stopping at glares that looked ready to fire lasers, they were poised to charge at Kang Tae-wook like rockets.
“Now, now, stop. Stop. Don’t fight as soon as you arrive. Are you going to blow this great opportunity by causing trouble?”
Ye-na stepped in between them like a mediator.
Ye-na’s words were reasonable.
Thus, the twins immediately backed down.
“No way, I wanted to come here so badly.”
“Right, I haven't even met a pretty girl yet—hup. No, I mean, I haven't even toured properly yet.”
At the twins' attitude, Kang Tae-wook turned his head without further picking at them or being sarcastic.
“And although Tae-wook spoke a bit harshly, Rome Academy has never exposed its classes or the campus to the outside. Of course, you guys wouldn't leak photos, but the act of taking photos itself could become an issue.”
At Ye-na’s voice, the twins had somehow turned into obedient puppies.
“Uh-huh!”
“I won’t take any!”
The twins' hands moved quickly.
The smartphones held in their hands vanished like ghosts.
Ye-na smiled gently.
Watching this, smiles also spread across the faces of Yoo jin and Lee Si-wang.
“Then, let’s move.”
The voice of De Marco, who had waited quietly, rang out.
Following the guide De Marco, the Class A students began to move their feet again.
On the way to the central corridor.
Beyond the glass walls lining both sides, students in the middle of class were visible.
On one side, a Magic Science lecture.
As the professor drew a complex magic circle in the air, the students moved their hands quickly to follow.
A composite magic system where dozens of circles and seals rotated simultaneously.
“Whoa…….”
Most of the Class A children half-lost their souls.
“Students can do magic like that?”
“Not just one person, but the whole group……?”
Even to the A-rank talents, the twins, it was something they couldn't help but be amazed by.
On the other side, a combat class.
The sound of explosions that inevitably leaked out reached the ears of Class A.
Boom!!!
As one student lunged with full power, not a sandbag, but an actual pillar shattered into pieces.
“That doesn’t look like just a rock, it looks like a superalloy made from Mana Stones?”
“Right, I saw that when we went to the Ignis Guild.”
“Wow, they break that with their bare hands? I don’t think the A-rank kids in our class could do it that easily……”
At the children’s murmuring, specifically the last remark, Kang Tae-wook’s eyes curved sharply.
Detecting the heat of bloodlust, the children spoke up again.
“Ah, never mind. At that level, Kang Tae-wook could do it with a finger.”
“Of course. That’s something even the twins could just do easily. Well… hahaha……”
Regardless of the correction, the twins turned their heads.
The appearance of the students in the training grounds was also extraordinary.
A student wearing artifact-like bracers on both hands, a student with three swords hanging on their back, even a student with magic orbs floating and circling around them.
Students who caught the eye at a single glance were visible.
And even to fellow students.
Every single one of them exuded the scent of the strong.
At that moment.
The gazes inside the glass walls turned toward the outside one by one.
As if someone had given a signal.
“…….”
“…….”
All the students listening to the lecture looked at Class A.
“That startled me.”
“What the, why is everyone suddenly staring……”
Behind the twins' surprised voices.
“Their gazes are no joke.”
“It’s because it’s the top prestigious school overseas, no, in the whole world. They said it’s the overwhelmingly number one academy.”
Jin-ho and Kang Tae-wook added calmly.
The twins crossed their arms and said.
“Somehow, it feels bad? It’s a gaze that says, ‘Ah, so you’re the Korean kids.’”
“Their expressions are exactly that. ‘Will they live up to the rumors?’ stuff like that.”
In fact, on the faces of the students beyond the glass walls.
There was neither laughter nor surprise.
There was an atmosphere of:
‘This is going to get interesting.’
‘Is that the class?’
However, after a while, their gazes naturally moved past the Class A children to the back.
The students.
Behind them.
The one person at the very end of the procession.
Yoo jin.
“…….”
“…….”
Although they couldn't hear what the kids inside were saying.
Class A could tell.
‘They aren’t looking at us.’
“Is this the shadowboxing I’ve only heard about……”
“It’s obvious, but I made a mistake.”
“……Teacher, you’re popular.”
“There’s no way we’d catch their eye……”
Class A had to confirm their homeroom teacher’s presence even after coming abroad.
***
“We have arrived.”
With De Marco’s words, a silver light flashed at the end of the central corridor.
The knights guarding the interior moved to both sides of the path of their own accord.
The path coming down from the Magic Tower’s direction.
The holy gate engraved with the True Cross symbol opened slowly, and a girl in a white dress walked out from between it.
A silver circlet that looked like a holy crown.
A subtle light flowed from her hair as it caught the bright sunlight.
Her blue eyes turned toward Yoo jin and the Class A children for a long moment.
“Seriously, she looks like a Saintess……”
Ye-na let out a small exclamation.
With the Holy Order of the True Cross lined up on both sides without the slightest disarray, and the Holy King approaching through them.
At her appearance, not just Ye-na, but most of the Class A students watching were dazed.
Returnee.
Holy King Maria.
The pillar of Rome and the messenger of God upheld by the world church.
She had her real name, Karina, but now there was no one left who could call her by that name.
Because the Holy King was currently higher than the Vatican and the Pope.
She stopped in front of Yoo jin.
Blue eyes and pure white skin.
Slender arms and legs.
A beautiful collarbone.
It was a beauty that felt like it would blind one’s vision.
And within it dwelt a tremendous dignity.
Softly curved eyebrows and the corners of her mouth.
Unlike such a relaxed expression, the children watching were all swallowing hard.
There are various ways in the world to end a fight before it even begins.
The one they had seen most closely was.
Their own homeroom teacher, Yoo jin.
The Returnee called the Demon King.
When Yoo Jin released his power.
The method of showing that overwhelming difference in power that made one lose the will to fight.
This was something only a few with overwhelming power could do.
Even S-ranks, called Transcendents, could not do it.
The Holy King in front of them was a bit different from this.
It wasn't that she exploded Mana or Demonic Energy, nor did she make them feel an overwhelming difference in strength.
It was simply dignity.
And holiness.
Something was felt that could not be easily expressed in words.
That was why the children were bowing their heads without even realizing it.
“…….”
“…….”
The Holy King’s steps slowly stopped.
And her mouth was about to open.
“This isn't right after calling guests over.”
A voice that struck first.
The owner of the voice was Class A’s homeroom teacher.
It was Yoo Jin.
The Holy King’s eyes shook violently.
For the first time, into her world filled with holiness.
“I may not know other things, but I taught two things well. How to survive…… and how to greet people.”
Crunch!
Crunch!
A pure white light visible only to the Holy King.
The pure white Demonic Energy containing holiness was being devoured by darkness.
“You should let them greet you of their own accord.”
The Demonic Energy extending from the Demon King’s body began to erase the holy Demonic Energy.
***
Holy King Maria.
A Returnee who awakened the power of God.
An Archmage who realized all of magic, and a healer who can handle the power of God and the power of light.
And at the same time.
[The Revered One]
A messenger of God with a passive skill.
Because of that, she is revered.
Uptheld.
One could not help but kneel before her.
Due to the power of God.
Even if that was independent of one’s own will.
She had lived like that.
Continuously.
“…….”
The Holy King’s eyes shook violently.
The corners of her mouth trembled too.
Because it was the first time.
This kind of reaction.
Her skill.
Her Demonic Energy.
The holy power that she herself could not control…….
Seeing it being defeated so helplessly was within her sight.
Power borrowed from God.
Light, the strongest power in the world.
It was being devoured by darkness.
By the Demon King in front of her.
The power that no one could defy.
The power that she herself had not been able to control.
That power that had made her lonely all her life…….
Due to the Demon King, who was wearing the warmest expression in the world.
It was disappearing.
‘Ah…… ah…….’
No one can know.
But the Holy King was being saved by the Demon King.
***
“You scoundrel! What on earth have you done to the Holy King!”
The voice of the Holy Order rang out.
The knights lined up on both sides moved in a swarm to block the way in front of the Holy King.
The Holy King was frozen like a stone.
As if she were in a different world alone, without any movement or voice.
Simply…….
She was shedding tears.
In that situation of unknown cause, it is natural for the knights to show such a side.
The Holy King was the heart of Rome.
She was the light, and at the same time, the sky.
Only.
“What are you saying, I didn't do anything. I just said they can do it themselves since she was receiving greetings as she pleased.”
Whether it was the heart of Rome or whatever.
To Yoo Jin, his students were more precious than that sky.
The tips of the knights' swords pointed toward Yoo jin.
Everyone knew that Yoo Jin was a Returnee.
So this was a suicidal act.
However, they knew they wouldn't be able to win.
Simply because they were knights.
To fulfill their mission, they were merely staking their lives.
The knights and Yoo jin confronted each other.
At that moment.
“Everyone, please stop.”
A person appeared anew from the door the Holy King had come out of.
Totti.
The Principal of Rome Academy, and the only blood relative of the Holy King.
“Please withdraw.”
At his voice, the knights guarding the front of the Holy King put their swords back into their scabbards.
Step.
Step.
Small footsteps echoed.
An elderly gentleman in a white priest’s robe stopped his walk in front of the Demon King.
“Truly…… it is a power no different from a devil.”
At his voice, Yoo Jin's eyebrows twisted sharply.
“Even so……”
A small smile hung on the mouth of Totti, who looked at his granddaughter for a moment.
‘Pa-pa-pa!’
‘Gramps.’
‘Grandfather.’
‘Principal.’
‘Saint Francesco Totti…….’
Grin.
A dark smile formed on the face of the clergyman for the first time in years.
“By any chance, are you married?”