novelraw Chapter 39
Chapter 39
Chapter 39
Worthy of the epithet “Wise General,” Beatus was, to put it nicely, unique—and to put it badly, the only sane person among the Knights of the Stars, where everyone else seemed to be missing a screw.
For example, when Dokgo Ran recklessly charged alone into the midst of Creatures, he joined her and covered her back.
When Famille Demezear, based on thorough efficiency-first principles, demanded sacrifices, he stopped it at an appropriate point.
To the extent that among readers he was even nicknamed ‘Be-gukbap’ for being good at cutting off frustration.
Because of that, Jin Crow had kept him in mind, but he hadn’t paid him much attention.
‘He takes care of himself.’
There was a reason he had gone out of his way to visit only Famille before.
Whatever the reason, Beatus had already applied for the lecture long ago, so there was no need to seek him out.
He was, so to speak, the model child of 2275.
“Go ahead and answer.”
His platinum-blond hair and eyes stood out.
He might have fallen a little short of being called a handsome man, but as if reflecting his taciturn personality, his bold, well-defined features nonetheless gave a distinctly favorable impression.
Once Jin Crow’s permission was given, Beatus opened his mouth as if he had been waiting for it.
“Typical mass-produced types do not have consistent forms, and their lifespans are extremely short. And the same goes for mutants that alter surrounding lifeforms.”
As expected.
Beatus was exactly as Jin Crow remembered him.
Satisfied with the smoothly 이어진 answer, Jin Crow nodded with an approving gaze to signal him to continue, and Beatus did not stop speaking.
“For instance, in the case of a Pawn, as you said, Instructor, it exhibits bodily organs and behavior specialized for anti-personnel attacks. And in the case of a Knight, rather than charging or attacking, it is an individual specialized for defense and entrenchment…….”
“That’s enough.”
Jin Crow cut him off at the appropriate moment.
Even the answer he had already given was sufficient as a response to the question at hand.
“Two points.”
“Thank you.”
Despite Jin Crow’s seemingly indifferent words, Beatus instead bowed his head and obediently fell silent.
He had no complaints even after subtracting the one point given to Dokgo Ran.
If it had been the other way around, Dokgo Ran would have flown into a rage asking why she wasn’t given three points.
Internally grateful that a future that was obviously exhausting just to imagine had not come to pass, Jin Crow swept his gaze over the cadets once and spoke.
“In this current climate where the danger posed by Creatures is increasing day by day, this is a corpse specimen specially supported by the Ministry of Defense.”
Today, he had deliberately set up one in the best condition.
There were still several hurdles to overcome before it could be put into practice, but for the exam he was planning to realize, it was important for the cadets to become familiar with the real thing of a Pawn.
“Make sure to get it etched into your eyes. Today’s lesson ends here.”
Those taken aback by his words were Ginatio the assistant instructor and the cadets, but as if he had done all that needed doing, Jin Crow calmly walked past the cadets and headed out of the warehouse.
“……Uh, um.”
Once Jin Crow left like that, the cadets’ gazes naturally turned toward Ginatio, the assistant instructor.
Rolling his eyes at the sudden situation he had not been informed of in advance, he soon let out a low sigh and opened his mouth.
“……Take a look for a bit, then do self-study.”
That was the best he could say.
However, no sooner had he said that than he shouted upon seeing Dokgo Ran, who had somehow already come right up in front of the Pawn and was伸ing out a finger.
“Hey! Don’t touch it!”
“Come on, it’s not going to wear down just because I touch it.”
“Kh, khm!”
For some reason, he was bothered by how Hino Kanae, who was standing nearby, squirmed, but as other cadets gathered one after another, he had no choice but to give up.
‘Well, they said there wouldn’t be any particular problem once the bio-signals were cut.’
Of course, an ordinary person would react sensitively even to the toxic substances seeping out of a corpse, but that didn’t apply to superhumans.
……And some of them weren’t the type to listen even if you told them.
Still, he felt strangely uneasy.
He looked at Jin Crow’s back as he headed outside with an oddly meaningful air, then shook his head.
Though it hadn’t been made known to the cadets yet, he had heard that even during this entrance inspection, while rough, Jin Crow hadn’t caused any major problems.
‘There’s no way something will happen.’
For reasons he didn’t know, it wasn’t only him or Ideale—most people had already noticed that Jin Crow had changed in a peculiar way.
However, he didn’t know.
That Jin Crow still hadn’t given up on inspecting the front lines, and that he was filled with a desire to make the cadets strong no matter what in order to prevent annihilation.
……Of course, there was a bit of personal motive mixed in as well.
“Phew.”
With her brows drawn together, Ideale exhaled the breath she had been holding back as if吐ing it out.
Although the position of headmaster at the Central Special Service Academy was considered relatively cushy, the workload was by no means small.
Of course, compared to when she slept about two hours a day while juggling paperwork and combat on an actual battlefield—work that couldn’t be handled even with an adjutant attached—it was nothing.
“Haa.”
That didn’t mean paperwork would ever become enjoyable.
After briefly scanning the report submitted under Major Obia’s name from the Military Police, Ideale soon muttered as if resigned.
“Obia…….”
Though Obia Timist’s reputation within the academy was surprisingly not that bad, from the standpoint of receiving reports, she was nothing but a headache.
“Typos, omission of important incidents. You’ve really done a number of things.”
It seemed she would have to call her in soon and say something.
Of course, just thinking about how she would start whining already made her head throb.
Perhaps because she kept dwelling on such headache-inducing thoughts.
Ideale set down the tablet she had been holding for a moment and took a sip of the coffee that had long since gone cold, sour, and bitter.
Because of that?
Or perhaps despite it.
She felt her head clear up, if only a little.
She gently rubbed the whites of her eyes where her glasses had left marks, then placed her hand back down to review again.
But at that very moment.
Knock knock-.
She heard the sound of someone knocking on the door outside the office, and before she could even turn her head, a familiar voice came from outside.
“Headmaster, this is Instructor Jin Crow.”
She unconsciously parted her lips, then closed them again.
For an instant, the question ‘Why?’ came to mind.
When she had met him previously, she thought they had already said everything that needed to be said.
After a brief moment of deliberation, she realized she had left him standing outside and opened her mouth.
“Come in.”
Whatever the reason, there was no reason to refuse an instructor who had come to see the headmaster.
……As long as it was legitimate business.
The moment her permission was given, Jin Crow opened the door and entered, and soon a familiar face came into view.
Pale skin and an exceedingly sharp expression.
Along with a solid, well-contained physique beneath his uniform, there was even a touch of irritable psionic energy.
“What is it?”
She asked while dragging her fingers down over her stiff eyelids.
However, even in that brief span of time, she had already roughly guessed his business.
‘It must be because of the midterms.’
A newly established lecture, and at that, a linked lecture—one dealing with Creatures that were still actively being researched—so the effort required to prepare the first exam would be no small matter.
On top of that, wasn’t it a linked lecture that combined theory and combat?
When her thoughts reached that point, she naturally assumed Jin Crow would be requesting additional manpower.
‘There aren’t any instructors with spare capacity right now. This is troublesome.’
Since the instructors currently serving in the Central Special Service Academy’s faculty numbered fewer than a hundred even including those dispatched externally, manpower was especially scarce during exam periods like this.
Because of that, Ideale was about to say that, for the time being, she would assign at least one of the assistant instructors to support him.
Yes, she was about to say it.
“I thought I should come and seek the headmaster’s approval.”
“Hmm?”
Had it not been for Jin Crow’s words reaching her ears before she could even open her mouth.
After all, the nuance was quite different from what she had been expecting.
She looked at him for a moment, then nodded as if telling him to continue, and Jin Crow added as though he had been waiting for it.
“This is something that requires the support division’s help.”
“The support division?”
What kind of department was the support division?
Normally, it doubled as an administrative department that handled overall maintenance and facility management of the academy, but at a special service academy, it was a little different.
Its scope was somewhat broader.
Whether psionic energy or superhumans, both were still being actively researched, so there was a separate research department under the support division.
And when instructors commonly spoke of receiving help from the support division, they were often referring to that research department.
Even so, it was rare for someone to come all the way to the headmaster to seek permission.
“Why?”
Because of that, she couldn’t help but ask back.
If it were anything ordinary, there would be no reason to come to her specifically—wouldn’t it be something he, as an instructor, could go and request support for on his own?
Her question was entirely reasonable.
However, before long, she had no choice but to doubt her ears at the single sentence Jin Crow followed up with.
“I plan to use the five corpses that were handed over. Would that be all right?”
“What?”
Five corpses that were handed over.
It didn’t take long for her to understand what his words meant.
‘Creatures?’
At the same time, the words ‘Rermal front-line inspection,’ which Jin Crow had tried to insert into the curriculum, surfaced in her mind.
What had happened to Rermal Planet again?
Ah, the regiment that had been deployed was annihilated, and even Atla Colony, where Jin Crow himself had been dispatched, had effectively scuttled……
On top of that, a coup d’état and Red Hand terrorism.
‘What if the cadets had gone there?’
Just imagining it made her feel faint.
Moreover, wasn’t the timing he had slotted into the curriculum roughly similar to when the Red Hand attack had occurred?
Even so, Ideale still retained a shred of trust in Jin Crow.
Surely, no matter what, after having been warned so strongly before, he wouldn’t do something even crazier.
“……What are you planning to use them for?”
As if responding to her expectation, Jin Crow opened his mouth confidently.
As though he were certain that once she heard him out, she too would willingly agree.
Perhaps because of that.
Though inwardly uneasy, she waited for his words with half an expectation of what he might say.
“I was thinking of turning them into Training Dummies. Coincidentally, Professor Lillian in the research department under the support division is an authority in that field, so…….”
“Get out.”
“Yes?”
She hadn’t known that expectation would be crushed in less than ten seconds.
“I said get out!”
Ideale tried to throw whatever she could grab, but since there was nothing within reach, she hastily pointed at the door with her finger, veins standing out on her neck as she shouted.
And only then did she realize it.
That a madman was more frightening when he was trying to do something than when he was staying still.
‘If I give him alcohol and cigarettes, he’ll go back to staying quiet, right!’
Genuinely thinking that, she flew into a rage.
But Jin Crow, thinking that she simply hadn’t yet understood this ‘perfect and efficient training method,’ added further.
“I’m thinking of conducting the practical exam using the Training Dummies made that way, but you don’t need to worry. They won’t be easily damaged by the cadets, and they’ll be made as close as possible to the original so they can gain experience…….”
“Get out right nooow!”
What came back was nothing more than a shout that was, in a way, close to a plea.