Chapter 138
Everyone could tell that the festival was approaching.
In the aerial city of Academia, which prohibited the entry of outsiders, merchants lined up to come in.
They were getting ready to set up shops here and there.
Additionally, a group of clergy from the church could be seen, as the festival included a sacrificial meaning related to Yggdrasil.
Perhaps sensing that the world had begun to grow more dangerous recently, the checks on these people were carried out even more thoroughly.
No matter how tight the defense system of Academia was, that only applied to those outside; it didn’t include the inside.
Thus, in order to prepare for any eventuality, Academia didn’t just rely on nametags or visual identifications but used various magical tools to verify identities.
…Well, from what I saw, that stuff was pretty pointless, yet it continued.
People grumbled about the now cumbersome entry procedures of Academia but complied obediently.
Academia’s festival was also an event where staff members from noble families from across the world gathered, so if one was lucky, they could make a good fortune.
I glanced at the procession for a moment before turning away and continuing on my path.
Soon, the third and fourth years would embark on airships out of Academia.
As always, only the first and second years remained during the festival period.
The fact that internal schedules rarely changed was likely largely influenced by the stagnant figures from the church.
After walking a bit, I spotted a group of fourth years that hadn’t yet departed. Among them, a few individuals were giving orders, and they were the fourth-year members of the student council.
As I got a bit closer, the gaze of the man leading all of them fell on me.
His eyes resembled mine, Vargan. Seeing that didn’t feel too good.
“What’s going on?”
Rheincarven stopped what he was doing for a moment and asked me.
We weren’t particularly close as brothers.
There’s no way I came over for no reason, so he grasped that it was a rather important matter.
Just as I was about to open my mouth to speak,
An interrupting party walked in.
“What’s going on? I just came to say goodbye to my brother. ‘Rai’ must feel lucky to have such a caring younger sibling, right ‘Bar’?”
“…….”
A woman, Alexeria, who seemed to have lost some brain cells beyond even Paula, barged in and interrupted the flow.
Rheincarven cast her a cold glance, both familiar yet unfamiliar, but he surprisingly couldn’t say anything to her.
Current Student Council President Rheincarven, who was formerly a member of the student council and her senior, found it hard to speak out against Alexeria.
The last time he talked about Clemens, he briefly showed some seniority, but it was only for a moment.
It was nothing.
Alexeria, with a beaming smile, showed no signs of leaving while watching me and Rheincarven chat.
“Continue the conversation. Don’t mind me.”
“……”
As time passed in silence, her fiancé Bracchium appeared out of nowhere, trying to pull Alexeria away.
In response to Bracchium’s forceful demeanor, Alexeria protested.
“Is it really that bad to want to listen to my lowerclassmen talking? Why are you interrupting~!”
“Sorry about that. Rheincarven, Vargan.”
Bracchium effortlessly lifted Alexeria.
Despite Alexeria’s struggles and landing a few hits on Bracchium, it seemed like it didn’t hurt him at all as he still refused to let her go.
Watching the two of them, I decided to speak up.
“Since I was planning to share with both of you anyway, it’s fine for you to stay.”
Originally, I meant to pass it through Rheincarven, but since we’re all gathered, let’s resolve it now.
It may have gotten a bit chaotic, but I didn’t mind.
I pulled out three round something from White.
These were parts of my Familiar, allowing me to separate up to 12 of them for use.
Upon seeing the object, Alexeria’s previously excited expression twisted into confusion at my comment about her staying. The visuals were unsettling.
“Vargan… what is this?”
“It’s the eye of my Familiar.”
To be precise, it was the eyeball of my twin owl Familiar, “King Eye,” which had performed well in the Class Battle.
“Why would you give me something like this…?”
“I hope you could take it with you during the upcoming field practice.”
“Uh…?”
“I trust you’ll honor the request of a beloved junior.”
With a bright smile, I handed one eyeball to her, allowing its slimy texture and mucus to stick to her hand.
“Wait a second, Vargan… Even so, this is… ugh.”
“I understand. Let’s proceed as such.”
While Alexeria showed her disgust, Bracchium calmly nodded and received it.
The remaining one was for Rheincarven.
“Brother, you should take this too.”
“Tell me its purpose.”
Rheincarven asked before accepting it.
It seemed to be a characteristic of the Schugenharz bloodline to quickly confirm the main topics.
“Brother, do you remember the last time all our siblings gathered together?”
The five Schugenharz siblings.
It had already been about five years since they were all in one place.
Though it was a somewhat random question, Rheincarven quietly listened to my response, as I appeared to long for familial bonds.
“I thought it might serve as a gathering for family unity.”
At the same time, it was also for the festive episode… but let’s not mention that.
*
In the floating city of Academia, there’s an artificially created forest.
This place was made using magic, so it felt so natural that it was hard to believe it was man-made, with creatures frolicking about.
At the time of day when the sun was high in the sky.
Liam and Kaiman were training together in a certain part of this forest.
They wanted to rent a practice room, but all the reservations for those many rooms were already full.
If they trained in a visible area, they risked being misunderstood as fighting, possibly facing consequences like the previous issues with Vargan, so they intentionally chose this secluded spot.
Somehow, following Vargan’s suggestion, Kaiman had recently been spending more time with Liam, which had proven quite beneficial.
“Indeed, Liam’s swift swordplay is quite impressive; it’s just unfortunate the accuracy is a bit lacking.”
Kaiman had begun referring to Liam as ‘big brother’ at some point.
He couldn’t treat him as a mentor or a captain, but it was a title of respect he had come to acknowledge.
But it’s a title he acknowledges and calls him by.
Generally, when we say their training, it refers to Liam and Kaiman showcasing their swordsmanship to each other.
Kaiman’s swordsmanship is raw, while Liam’s, guided by skills, is effective without any clumsy moves, prompting him to learn it.
Conversely, Liam, witnessing Kaiman’s swordsmanship firsthand, realizes the significance of flexibility and the surrounding environment, something he hadn’t grasped before.
After illustrating the speed-focused swordsmanship that establishes lightning attributes,
the two take a brief break while talking.
Although it seemed like Liam and Kaiman’s personalities wouldn’t match, their differences allowed for mutual recognition and consideration.
Kaiman expresses his thoughts on Liam’s sword, lying on a large rock like a bed as he speaks.
“I’m glad to be paired with you. I thought you were just a soft human, but you have tenacity and quite a talent, making you a worthy rival in the future.”
“What’s with that compliment?”
“What’s with it indeed? I told you last time that I’ll be calling you ‘hyung’ from now on. I recognize you.”
“That you did…”
“To put it bluntly, it seems like you have ‘just a little bit more’ talent than I do. It’s a shame you couldn’t learn from the captain, but he isn’t a swordsman.”
Kaiman mentions Vargan as the captain.
He recalls when Vargan claimed he wasn’t a swordsman and recommended Liam.
Then realizing they both come from humble backgrounds, he suddenly wonders:
“How can you wield such orthodox swordsmanship when you have the same lowly status as me? Did you have a teacher?”
“Um… something like that.”
“So you had a master after all! Please introduce that master to me later. If he’s a person who teaches swords to a commoner like you, he must certainly have teachings for me as well.”
“…Yeah… if the opportunity arises…”
Liam trails off in his response, and as silence ensues, Kaiman seems to have forgotten the topic entirely and opens his mouth again.
With a mischievous grin, he reminisces:
“Actually, I was going to drop out of the Academia.”
“Really…? Why?”
Liam hadn’t received any information about Kaiman from the original work. Thus, Kaiman was a character he knew nothing about, introduced through Vargan.
“It’s said to be an institution that nurtures heroes, but it felt terribly bland to me. If it was about slaying monsters, it would be different, but saving people isn’t my forte.”
Kaiman, seemingly unimpressed, continues.
“There was nothing that truly attracted me. It felt like eating a bland soup. Then I saw the captain, and my thoughts changed completely.”
Kaiman, initially planning to drop out of Academia to become a monster-slaying hunter, found himself drawn to Vargan’s display of strength and strategy, thus deciding against quitting and joining Arbol Frutal.
After listening to that, Liam innocently asks, curious:
“What guild were you planning to join?”
“A guild? I was thinking of making one myself.”
“Without any foundation?”
“I intended to go and create connections. I hadn’t really thought it through. I only pondered the guild name and my own name a bit.”
“Haha….”
Liam couldn’t help but chuckle at Kaiman’s tendency to act first and think later.
Regardless, Kaiman proudly declares the name of his only plan back then: the guild and his hunter title.
“‘Blood Pact Warrior Guild’ and the guild leader ‘Makan’! What do you think? Isn’t it quite a cool name?”
“Oh?”
“It looks impressive, but… hmm? Wait, what guild did you say?”
Liam’s expression suddenly shifts as he turns toward Kaiman.
Kaiman, frustrated that Liam wasn’t listening properly, snaps at him to pay attention this time.
“I’m from the Blood Alliance Warrior Guild. Now that you mention it, it does sound a bit like Captain Vargan…”
“Wait, what?! The Blood Alliance Warrior Guild?!”
Liam is taken aback and grabs Kaiman by the shoulders.
Magan is startled by Liam’s enthusiasm and reprimands him.
“Really, no matter how fancy the name, that’s over the top. Reacting like that would make even a real man flinch. If someone heard you, they’d think it was something shocking!”
“Oh, sorry… it just slipped out…”
Liam composes himself, pondering.
The Blood Alliance Warrior Guild is something he read about in a novel, not to mention he has seen the name Magan a lot.
It was definitely the name of a guild that had undergone terrifying growth over the course of two years from this moment.
That alone was shocking enough, but there was one more reason why Liam reacted so strongly.
‘No doubt about it. Magan was definitely involved back then…!’
This man, currently known as Kaiman, was one of the key figures during the future raid on Vargan. There were descriptions of him dismantling Vargan’s forces like a berserker possessed by madness.
‘Did I just recruit a future enemy…? Could it be that Vargan knows everything and is playing us?’
As Liam was about to ask if he had mentioned this story to anyone else, he was interrupted by an unexpected figure.
“Hey… you two are really loud. Can you take it outside? You’re disturbing my sleep.”
The languid voice of a man came from somewhere up in a tree.
Even Kaiman, with his animalistic senses, shot up into a fighting stance, startled that he hadn’t felt any presence.
“Who are you?!”
“…Yawn, I have no intention of fighting, so can you lower your sword? It’s annoying.”
“You’d better reveal your identity. The fact that you approached without any presence means you intended to threaten us!”
“…You’re a tiresome one.”
Slowly, he introduces himself, like a sloth making a grand announcement.
He wanted to avoid having to deal with annoyances that could arise from not saying anything.
“I am… Pertigle, a second-year student… is that enough?”
“Pertigle… Pertigle… oh, Pertigle?!”
Hearing his name, Liam, who had been mumbling, suddenly shrieks in surprise again.
Pertigle plugs his ears in response to Liam’s outburst and scolds him to be quiet.
“It’s noisy. If you want to talk, could you go outside?”
Disregarding his upperclassman’s warning, Kaiman asks Liam, who seems to recognize Pertigle.
“Why are you so shocked, buddy? Do you know him?”
After initially being surprised by Kaiman’s identity, Liam’s heart swells once more at Pertigle’s name.
Second-year Pertigle.
A member of the Darek Union and a Spear Master.
Aside from the minimum class hours required for graduation, he is hardly ever seen.
This character, who loves peace and sleep, and finds everything tiresome, has the notable point that since his entrance until now, his grades have been average.
In the festival episode that Liam knows, he crushed the freshmen as a second-year upperclassman.
Ocel Julio Clemens.
His name sits alongside Ocel Victoria Francesca as the last third in line.
In other words, he’s a rare breed indeed.
“Anyway, can you both just leave already…?”
He was one of the current second-year’s strongest forces, finally revealing his true power in the festival episode.
