Chapter 35

Chapter 35: The Academy is Hiding Swordsmanship (2)

Each full-time professor was assigned a sort of ‘laboratory’ by the Academy.

A full-time professor in the Magic Department was assigned a laboratory or training ground for practicing magic, a full-time professor in the Summoning Department was assigned a space for summoning creatures, and a professor in the Spearmanship Department was assigned a training ground good for practicing spearmanship.

In Kelthas’ case, it was a small training ground. It was of a size that only 1 or 2 people could train in at most, and it was difficult to call it a training ground.

On one side was a hammock, and on the other side was a sign that clearly said ‘Practice In Progress’, which had never been turned around.

Kelthas casually pushed aside the hammock and opened a door. Then, with a loud crash, practice weapons fell.

“…”

It was proof that he had not trained for a long time. However, Kelthas calmly picked up one of the scattered weapons and handed it to Dane.

“Is this alright?”

“Yes.”

Dane accepted the weapon as if he didn’t care much about it. Did he know nothing or was he pretending to be ignorant?

It didn’t matter either way.

“We will now begin the test.”

“Yes, Professor.”

“The test is… Alright, let’s do this. If you can successfully attack me with that sword even once, I’ll consider you to have some skills.”

It was ridiculous. Even though it had been nearly ten years since Kelthas had picked up his sword and lived like a vagabond, the position of Imperial Knight Commander was not earned through games.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll only move two steps. Isn’t that enough of a penalty?”

Dane didn’t respond. He just stared blankly at the sword.

‘It must be frustrating. Haha.’

Kelthas laughed inwardly.

If he used this to ‘evaluate’, then it made for a great excuse. After returning from vacation and urgently looking up the school regulations, he found that even the professors of the autonomous major department were ‘autonomous’.

What this meant was that the professor’s evaluation method was at his or her discretion, regardless of the major the student had chosen or the grades of the classes the student had taken. So, Kelthas planned to send this guy to another major as soon as possible and go back to living a leisurely life.

‘There’s nothing better than nitpicking.’

However, Kelthas could not help but tilt his head at Dane’s answer when he finally spoke.

“You said that I only had to successfully attack you once, right?”

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

Did that mean he could do it?

“Get into position.”

Professor Kelthas stepped away and roughly grabbed the sword he had picked up earlier with one hand. It was an unspoken warning that he was far above the boy and that there was absolutely no chance of a successful attack.

However, something was strange.

‘Why…? Where have I seen this pose before?’

Dane was holding a sword. However, it was not a neat and textbook-like posture like that of those trained by the Imperial Knights or the children of noble families. Instead, he was holding the sword with only one hand and staring at Kelthas.

However, he didn’t see any ‘gaps’ there.

At first glance, it seemed like it was some kind of relaxed pose, but Kelthas clearly saw it.

‘Why does he come to mind?’

The Imperial Knights were a group that protected the imperial family. However, there was just one time when they went to the front lines against the Drenik Empire to inspect the battlefield.

He saw it there.

The enemy’s ‘warrior’ who mercilessly cut down the knights of the Altheon Empire. He wore no insignia, no flag, no badge that symbolized he was a knight. He simply wore light armor and brandished two colorless swords.

None of the knights he encountered were any match for him.

Unlike the standard knights’ swordsmanship, his weapon was as irregular as the ferocity he had acquired on the battlefield. If a sword broke, rather than panicking, he fought with the broken sword and even picked up another sword nearby to fight again.

‘That man’s name was…’

As he was struggling to recall the impressive enemy knight’s name…

“I’ll start.”

“Come at me, then.”

Kelthas spread his arms wide.

However, he soon had no choice but to close his outstretched arms.

‘Oh my god.’

Suddenly, Dane rushed in and seemed to be within arm’s reach, but the direction of the sword that seemed to be aiming straight at his stomach suddenly changed to his neck.

“Hup.”

Tang!

He blocked it easily. It clearly bounced off, but…

Something wasn’t right. He didn’t know such an irregular sword path existed.

But that wasn’t the end.

Whoong!

Dane stopped the deflected sword with his body’s recoil, then used the momentum to cut in again, this time at the bottom.

As Kelthas was considering whether to jump up or step back to dodge, Dane simply turned around and attempted a diagonal upward slash.

Tang!

It was blocked again, but Kelthas was becoming increasingly confused.

‘How does this make sense?’

Boys at his age—no, even fully grown men—often failed to swing and stab with an honest sword. But this boy was going beyond that and attacking by swinging his sword from a completely unpredictable direction.

If one didn’t know where the attack would come from, they could only dodge.

If you knew where it would come from, you could block it, but you must have the skill to be able to do so.

That meant that unless it was someone as skilled as Kelthas, it was difficult to block this sword right now.

For reference, Kelthas had 6 cores. That meant he was a hexa-class.

Of course, it had been a long time since he put down his sword, but that didn’t mean his swordsmanship had completely disappeared.

‘I can’t take this lightly.’

He could only move two steps. He regretted limiting himself like that.

Against a fourteen-year-old child, at that!

No, more than that.

Tang!

‘Why is he so good at swordsmanship?’ Kelthas questioned as he deflected Dane’s third attack.

Magic, sorcery, summoning.

Plus, a fourth talent?

“Beside you.”

Dane’s sword approached at that moment. Kelthas was so lost in thought for a moment that he reflexively turned to the side at Dane’s shout.

Of course, just like before, he pretended to defend from the side and before defending from the front, expecting Dane’s sword to stab him from the front…

Thud.

Dane’s sword hit his lapel.

“Ha.”

Kelthas felt speechless. The collar touched by the sword was torn.

‘He knows how to release magical power with a sword as well?’

Even with a practice sword, he could easily rip things like collars. However, he shouldn’t have been able to cut it so cleanly.

“I think I made a hit.”

This boy was a genius. An unbelievable genius, at that

He didn’t know how many cores Dane had. However, against someone with six cores, he used only pure swordsmanship to cut Kelthas’s collar.

Kelthas burst into laughter as he looked at Dane, who had already put away his sword.

“Yeah, you did,” Kelthas admitted honestly.

Then he asked, “With all this talent, why didn’t you apply to the Swordsmanship Department?”

He was just curious. Why didn’t he choose swordsmanship when he had the skills to brush against the collar of a hexa class knight?

“I thought my family would be sad.”

“What?”

Spearmanship, magic, and summoning.

Dane chose three of the talents he had learned and developed from his family, excluding assassination, which was impossible to choose.

Of course, this was something that Kelthas couldn’t understand. S~eaʀᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

But one thing was certain: Dane was a genius. A genius in swordsmanship and a genius in talent.

Only then did he understand why the three deans unanimously passed him, and why there was no great stir when he said he would test Dane’s swordsmanship.

‘Damn. I guess there’s no other choice.’

Kelthas realized that his leisurely life was overshadowed by dark clouds.

If things went as he anticipated, he would have played around for a bit and then nitpicked, saying that Dane had no talent for swordsmanship and that if he wanted to pursue this major, he had to pass his training as a professor.

He’d been thinking of just letting Dane train in swordsmanship for a bit and then ending it…

All his plans went down the drain.

Kelthas was simply frustrated that he couldn’t rest. However, he wasn’t the kind of shameless person to ignore such crazy talent when it was right in front of him.

“…you can go back now. I’ll call you again.”

Now he had no choice but to become a real professor.

‘This is going to be troublesome.’

But why?

Why was he becoming curious about the boy in front of him?

“Yes. Thank you, Professor.”

It was at that moment that Kelthas, who was standing in a daze and planning how to teach一

“Oh, and, Professor? You took more than two steps at the end.”

At Dane’s words, Kelthas looked down.

He had definitely moved more than ‘two steps’ from where he had been standing before.

“Haha.”

Kelthas let out a hollow laugh with a complicated expression on his face.

Then suddenly it occurred to him.

‘Argrik.’

The name of the warrior who was born on the battlefield and who ended his life on the battlefield, whom Duke Thermion once praised.

Professor Kelthas’ test was quite impressive.

It wasn’t like a fight to the death on a battlefield, but I still did my best. Professor Kelthas was a powerful man whom I couldn’t defeat in this body. Rather, I felt like I was rushing in with everything I had, and it felt good.

At the last minute, that deceptive tactic worked.

If it had been a real fight, I would have lost because of the overwhelming difference in our cores without even trading a few blows. However, considering the situation, I’d clearly dealt Professor Kelthas a blow.

By the way, I didn’t know there would be a test.

Still, I was glad I passed. After all, I knew that the professorship of the Autonomous Department was in fact an honorary position. However, there was still a professor in charge, and passing their test had considerable significance.

For instance…

“Dane.”

There, my second sister, who was standing there fidgeting, came running to me as soon as she saw me.

“Are you alright? Was the professor annoyed by any chance?”

My second sister looked at me over and over, checking to see if I had any wounds on my body. I burst out laughing at how cute she looked.

“It’s alright, nothing happened.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I took the test and passed.”

“You passed the test?”

My second sister’s eyes widened.

“Why?”

“That’s strange. Professor Kelthas isn’t the type of person who would give a test that could be passed…”

Just what kind of professor was he that my second sister was reacting like this?

“That professor. He’s only attended one regular faculty meeting so far. Even then, he only came because the dean called him over. He hates to be bothered.”

“…”

He was a greater person than I thought.

“So, I came here because I was worried about what he would say to you and what he would make you do…”

So, I passed such a person’s test. It was certainly an impossible test to pass ordinarily. He was a hexa-class warrior who came from the Imperial Knights, so he would be able to sweep away even a few carriage loads of new recruits on the spot.

“I’m so glad, Dane.”

My second sister always felt relieved that I was safe. It was another reason why I liked my second sister.

“You don’t have to worry too much.”

“How can you say that? I’ll keep worrying about you while I’m here as an assistant professor.”

“I’m sure you’re busy with work, too. I’ll take care of myself. I have friends and there are clubs. I haven’t figured out which one to join yet, though.”

“Friends? Oh, you mean Leila? The daughter of Duke Thermion. She’s pretty. Oh, so the first and second place are always together?”

It seemed certain that I would be noticed wherever I went.

Well, so what?

Being in the spotlight wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, it was welcome.

“Take care. Having a close friend will be a comfort to you throughout your academy life.”

That sounded right. In that sense, Leila was a good person who always tried to teach me things.

“Dane. You weren’t able to visit the dorm because you were held captive by the professor earlier, right? I’ll take you there.”

In the midst of all this, my second sister seemed to be really worried about me. I tried to tell her that I could do it on my own, but I gave up when I saw my sister’s worried eyes.

“Yeah, alright.”

I suddenly became curious.

Would it be more noticeable to walk with Leila, the daughter of Duke Thermion, or would it be more noticeable to walk with the genius of the Summoning Department and the ‘terrifying assistant’ who was my second sister?