Chapter 237
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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Chapter:237 Reason (1)
***
It was evening.
The sky, which had been blue throughout the day, was now bathed in the hues of sunset.
The students of the academy, having finished their arduous studies and training, were returning to their dormitories, chatting amongst themselves.
A somewhat noisy but peaceful time.
Bonk! Bonk!
“Aghhh!”
“Ughhhh!”
In front of the faculty dormitory, two students were being beaten by a club.
Oliver and Penelope.
The two students from Class 13, where only problematic students gathered, were unable to come to their senses under the hail of club strikes.
“What, you want to beat the first class 1st and 2nd ranked students? You want to win the duel? Get out of here, you brats!”
Damien’s clubbing only stopped when the sky grew dark.
“Ughh…”
“Ow…”
Even though the clubbing had stopped, the two were unable to get up for a while. Their bodies trembled all over as they lay face down on the floor.
Damien placed the club on his shoulder and spoke to the two.
“Now you two are in your right mind, right? Go in and get some rest.”
Damien turned to leave, but then something suddenly caught his ankle.
Oliver and Penelope had crawled up and were grabbing Damien’s ankle.
“I-instructor! We b-beg you!”
“Please… please help us… win the duel… train us…”
Damien looked down at the two with a dumbfounded expression.
Even after going to such lengths to ‘persuade’ them, the two were still not ‘convinced’. It was the first time for Damien.
“What’s the reason?”
The two’s unyielding determination piqued Damien’s interest.
“The story may be a bit long…”
“But we would be grateful if you would listen.”
Oliver and Penelope told Damien their story.
As Oliver had mentioned beforehand, the two’s story was very long.
But it was quite an interesting story, so it wasn’t boring. Damien listened to the two’s story silently from beginning to end.
And he summarized it in his own way.
‘So, Oliver is the child of the second wife, and because of that he was bullied by the first wife and her children.’
In the empire, polygamy was allowed. And so, a lot of conflicts arose because of this.
‘The problem is that Oliver’s mother is from a minor noble family and Oliver has no talent.’
Oliver’s mother’s family was too weak to protect him and his mother.
In addition, Oliver had no talent, so he couldn’t even win his father’s favor.
In other words, Oliver and his mother had no means of resisting the bullying.
‘And the one who especially bullied Oliver was Gelliver.’
The other children of the first wife were all much older than Oliver. As they were each in charge of their family’s affairs, they didn’t have much occasion to clash with Oliver and his mother.
However, Gelliver was close in age to Oliver. They couldn’t help but spend a lot of time together.
So, Oliver was bullied by Gelliver throughout his childhood.
‘Penelope, that girl, was a bastard, wasn’t she?’
Unlike Oliver, who was recognized as the second wife’s son, Penelope’s situation was even worse.
She was a bastard born to a maid who was taken advantage of by the Duke on a whim.
Her mother was not even recognized as a wife. The position of the mother and daughter in the family was no different from being trash.
‘The more prestigious the family, the more obsessed they are with honor. Penelope, a bastard, was despised by the other wife and her children…’
Penelope grew up being treated as a good-for-nothing.
‘And she said that if she became of age, she would be sold to a family that could be of help to the Duke family. To prevent that, she had to win against Emilio in the academy.’
Damien stroked his hair back.
He couldn’t just ignore them after hearing about their circumstances.
“I understand why you made that request to me.”
The two of them focused their attention on Damien. Damien felt a strange sense of burden and asked.
“But why are you asking me of all people? There must be other instructors.”
“It’s because you defeated Delong Muller.”
Penelope opened her mouth.
“Delong Muller is known to have a bad personality, but he is also said to have a better understanding of swordsmanship than anyone else. You defeated such a man with only Imperial Swordsmanship. I think it means that your understanding of swordsmanship is far superior to him.”
Damien admired her audacity for calling Delong Muller ‘such a man’.
“So you think I can make you strong enough to get revenge?”
Penelope nodded. Damien let out a chuckle.
“Didn’t you say you didn’t trust instructors yesterday?”
“Th-that’s…”
Penelope’s face turned red in an instant. She looked down and mumbled.
“Th-that’s because… well… the academy instructors… they all hate us… so…”
Damien got a general idea of the situation.
Judging by Delong Muller’s attitude yesterday, it seemed that most of the academy instructors despised Class 13.
After being treated like that by the instructors, it was natural that they would become hostile to the instructors.
‘The circumstances are tough, and… they’re making an unreasonable request.’
Honestly, it was a request he couldn’t refuse.
There wasn’t much time left before the exams. Even if they focused on physical training and Imperial Swordsmanship subjects as planned, they would be short on time.
And yet, he had to make them win the duel? And that too against the first and second-place students in the first grade?
But he hesitated to actually refuse. It was because he remembered his own wandering days.
In his rebellious youth, Damien’s family could no longer tolerate his misdeeds and eventually cast him out.
At that time, the accusations and anger that his family spat at him pierced his heart like sharp arrows.
It was Damien’s fault, and it was something he had brought upon himself. Nevertheless, it was a very burdensome thing to bear the accusations and anger of his family.
However, these two people were being ostracized by their families through no fault of their own.
The pain they must have felt was surely much greater and more agonizing than Damien’s.
“…Alright. I’ll accept your request.”
Damien said to the two after careful consideration. At that, bright smiles appeared on their faces.
“First of all, let me make one thing clear. It’s actually impossible for you to beat those guys.”
As expected of the first and second-ranked students in the first grade, Emilio and Gelliver had reached the level of junior knights.
Junior-knight was the level where one could manifest an aura and strengthen his the body with mana.
Even by the standards of ordinary people, they could be called superhumans.
“To beat those guys, you’ll have to work several times harder than the other guys. Even so, promise me that you won’t have any complaints.”
“W-we will!”
“We will follow all the orders you give us!”
Oliver and Penelope replied immediately. Damien nodded with a satisfied look on his face.
“There’s one more condition. Actually, this is the most important one.”
“Yes! Please tell us!”
“If you lose, you die by my hand.”
In an instant, the two doubted their ears.
“It’s not about begging you to kill me, but about just dying by your hand.”
“Hey, instructor, are you joking…?”
“Do I look like I’m joking right now?”
Flames burned in Damien’s eyes. A chilling gaze was shot towards the two.
At that chilling gaze, the two gulped down their saliva.
***
After sending the two away, Damien then made contact with a member of the Extermination Squad.
“Sir Damien, it’s good to see you again.”
Jake, a member of the Extermination Squad, said with a welcoming face. Damien, as before, checked the tattoo on Jake’s forehead with his monocle.
“Did you find out what I asked you to do?”
“I didn’t get much information because I didn’t have much time.”
Damien was not disappointed. It had only been a day. It was an absurdly short time to gather information.
“However, I heard something interesting.”
“What is it?”
“I heard that the knights of the White Blood Knights Order have been going out frequently this year.”
The White Blood Knights Order was an order of knights created to protect the academy.
The fact that the knights of the White Blood Knights Order were going out frequently was suspicious.
‘There’s no way Sla can scout and kidnap students all by herself. Could it be that Sla’s subordinates have infiltrated the White Blood Knights Order?’
Damien thought of Blanca. It seemed that he needed to investigate a little more thoroughly.
***
The next day, it was time for training. Unlike the previous day, no one ran away today and everyone gathered in the training ground. It seemed that they had realized that running away was no longer an option.
“Penelope, come forward.”
At Damien’s command, Penelope stepped forward. Damien handed her a wooden sword and said,
“Today you will be in charge of the morning class.”
“…What?”
Penelope was greatly embarrassed by the sudden order.
“I have something to do for a short while in the morning. Don’t worry, just do what I used to do. Make them run without rest for the entire morning session.”
“I understand.”
Penelope was puzzled but she followed Damien’s orders.
Damien left Class 13 behind and walked out of the training ground.
“Let’s see… where did they say the first-grade swordsmanship class was held.”
Damien’s work was none other than to watch Emilio and Gelliver’s training.
There was no ordinary way he could fulfill Oliver and Penelope’s request.
So Damien’s plan was to grasp all of Emilio and Gelliver’s techniques and habits, and then adapt them to Penelope and Oliver.
‘They may be junior-knights, but there’s no way there’s no way to win at all.’
Junior-knights were still immature, so even when they strengthened their bodies with mana, the increase in power was not that great. Additionally, the use of aura was prohibited because it was a sparring match.
In other words, it meant that if they could gain a technical advantage, they could win.
‘There are only 5 days left. I wonder if it’s possible.’
As Damien was walking with these thoughts in mind,
“Oh, isn’t that Sir Damien?”
Blanca was running towards him from the other side. However, unlike usual, she was not empty-handed. She was carrying a large wooden crate on her shoulder.
“Well, I’m glad I ran into you. I have something for you.”
Blanca put the wooden crate down on the ground. It was filled with various training equipment.
“This is the training equipment I told you about last time. It’s old, but it’s still usable. I haven’t skipped maintenance work every day.”
Blanca said proudly.
“I really didn’t expect you to bring it. I’m sorry.”
“Hmm? What are you looking at me for? I’m Blanca Roche. I never make empty promises.”
Blanca said while patting her chest armor with her hand.
Looking at her, Damien recalled what he had heard from Jake yesterday.
“Thank you, but… frankly, I’m a little embarrassed. Why are you being so kind to me?”
Damien asked bluntly. At Damien’s question, Blanca made a shy expression.
“Well, if you don’t know the circumstances, it might seem a bit strange.”
Blanca thought for a while and said to Damien,
“Can you spare a moment?”
Damien looked at the clock tower in the distance. It was still some time before the start of the first-grade swordsmanship class.
“I guess I can spare a moment.”
“Thank you so much. Then follow me.”
With that, Blanca started walking.
***
“There’s one absence in Class 13’s attendance book, isn’t there?”
Blanca said to Damien as they walked.
True to her words, there was exactly one student in Class 13 who was on leave, a student who was on hiatus.
“How do you know that?”
“That’s not all. I also know his name. It’s Gael Rondo, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“We’re going to see that boy now.”
Blanca stopped walking. Damien raised his head and looked at the plaque hanging on the door.
The plaque read “Infirmary”.
“This is where students who are seriously injured or sick while training at the academy come to recuperate for a while.”
“Is Gael Rondo in here?”
Blanca nodded and opened the door to the infirmary. Inside, there were over ten beds.
A boy was sitting on one of the beds.
His skin was pale, and his cheeks were sunken. His complexion was as dark as a dead person. Even from this distance, a strong smell of medicine wafted over.
“…Ah!”
As soon as he saw Blanca, the boy smiled brightly and shouted.
“Mother!”
***
[PR/N- Hello everyone! I have an exam tomorrow, so there won’t be a new chapter. See you guys after the exam.]
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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