novelraw Chapter 190 : Chapter 190
Chapter 190 : Chapter 190
Chapter 190 - Honor and Glory (1)
With the start of a new year, the academy began its semester once again.
My, Serene El Stellia’s, third semester had also begun.
With the arrival of spring, new students enrolled, and existing students returned. Such natural and ordinary things were happening.
However, this spring was somewhat different from the springs before. No, should I say it was a distorted part?
The decreased number of cadets in the academy, which was not immediately obvious, and the anxious atmosphere of the cadets could be cited as examples.
The reason for the formation of such a different, somewhat heterogeneous atmosphere from before was simple.
It was because it was felt that the world’s situation had rapidly worsened over the past year, and because a considerable number of cadets had actually left the academy and gone to the battlefield.
‘Partial conscription of cadets.’
A desperate measure by the empire in response to the worsening situation, a system where cadets who showed a certain level of skill could volunteer to be sent to the actual battlefield accompanied by a knight.
In return, the cadets were guaranteed various benefits, including the highest level of academic credits, so a considerable number of cadets had left the academy and headed to the battlefield.
‘Though most of the cadets probably didn’t go of their own will.’
However, looking at those who remained in the academy, it was clear that it was not a very attractive option for the cadets.
Heirs of all sorts of prestigious families, children of great merchants, and other members of influential families.
It was a sad story, but those who were sent to the battlefield were mostly not those who had truly decided to fight of their own will, but cadets in an ambiguous position.
Members of noble families of low status who needed to raise the prestige of their family were a prime example.
Living as the young lady of the Stellia family is certainly an honor that is beyond the means of an inadequate person like me, but sometimes it gives me a certain kind of doubt.
Especially the fact that in this situation where many cadets, and even my precious friends, are going to the battlefield, I am being protected quietly in a birdcage.
The light of salvation, the seed of a hero, and various other grateful titles.
They were certainly words that referred to me, but⋯⋯.
“⋯⋯At this rate, those undeserved titles are meaningless.”
I grumbled with such a small mumble, but it was not a decision I couldn't understand. No, rather, it would be more correct to say that it was a very rational decision.
The Three Founding Families, and among them, I know what position the Stellia family occupies in the society of the empire. From the family's perspective⋯⋯ from my father’s perspective, it would certainly be something he would be reluctant to do, to send his heir directly to the battlefield.
“But, right now, I’m not being of any help to anyone.”
To not use the power one has, even though one has the power to save someone.
Can we really call such a person a knight?
Do I have the qualifications to be a knight?
“⋯⋯.”
Putting aside such internal questions, I looked down at the newspaper I had placed on the table for a moment.
To be precise, the various headlines written on the newspaper headline.
- Northern Front, a back-and-forth battle. Does an overwhelming victory exist?
- Magic Tower reveals it has responded to 12 terrorist attacks in the past 3 months.
- Stagnant peace talks on the southern front, is there a clue in sight?
Some articles reported hopeful news, and some reported desperate news, but all the content was common in that it meant that this era was entering a turbulent period.
However, there was one article that caught my eye more than anything else, so I couldn't help but move my pupils and read the short sentence.
- The eastern monster front, which had entered a lull, the protagonist of the victory was a young cadet.
Yes, a headline that could be summarized in such a single line.
-Flutter.
I naturally opened the newspaper and turned the page to where the body of that article would be.
The first thing that caught my eye was the picture of a boy printed large at the top of that page.
Dark black hair that resembled the color of the night sky, an impression that seemed to have a shadow cast over it despite being handsome, dark circles, and black pupils that seemed to have faded even more in color recently.
I knew this boy. After all, he was my friend.
Though it is still a question whether I, who couldn't be his strength when he was at his most vulnerable, should use the title of a friend.
“⋯⋯Sir Rain.”
Rain Enlight, he was truly becoming a hero. No, perhaps I should say he has already been reborn as a hero.
I slowly read the article aloud.
“In that short time, he led 8 battlefields to victory, and his appearance of fighting the enemy at the very front without sparing himself amplified the morale of those watching.”
The military achievements he had established were shocking in themselves without any embellishments, but the article was lavish with praise.
To the extent that one could feel the admiration for the subject in every expression of the writing.
‘Who would have imagined that Sir Rain would receive such treatment and respect?’
Considering all the contempt and disdain that had been poured on him during his middle school days, this was still a difficult part to believe.
“If you think about it that way, this is definitely a good thing, but⋯⋯.”
But why was it that I couldn’t feel pure joy, even though it was clear that his efforts had borne fruit?
I couldn’t properly grasp the reason. How should I express this feeling?
Was it because I couldn’t grasp at all the reason why he had become so strong in that short time? Or was it because I could no longer understand his inner thoughts?
However, one of the definite reasons I felt that way must have been in his picture in the article.
The story was that his eyes in the picture were so cloudy and a deep shadow was cast over them that the single ray of light that had shone even in his past hardships could no longer be found.
That was all.
***
Boarding a medium-sized military airship is certainly a heart-pounding experience in many ways, but once you get used to it, it’s not something to be welcomed.
The fact that the passenger’s comfort was not considered at all because it focused solely on output and maneuverability, and the gloominess of its interior would be one reason.
Above all, the world seen through the airship’s window showed a desolate appearance as if it would soon be destroyed, so it was even more so.
However, the biggest reason would have been that the people on the airship were heading to a battlefield that was no different from a death trap.
“⋯⋯.”
Even in such an uncomfortable seat, the boy with the dark impression maintained his usual composure and silence.
He didn't talk to anyone in the airship, just staring blankly outside.
That appearance formed an aura that made it difficult for others to approach him, but on the other hand, it was also a factor that amplified his mysteriousness.
Though the person himself was just devoting all his consciousness to it because there were too many things to think about.
‘This battlefield was filled with spirits that Akmandar had made go berserk. It would have been difficult to prepare spirits of this number and quality alone, and it would be good if I could secure evidence of the prince’s assistance.’
The boy's body was in this place, but the boy's true battlefield was not this place.
A man who stood tall with a noble smile in the imperial palace, far away from here now.
The first prince, Claudio Renart Abellon. The formless war he was waging with him was the part he was truly concentrating on.
However, even his contemplation could not last long.
And that was because someone had come to his side and spoken the boy's name.
“Rain Enlight.”
The boy with a pale complexion, who had turned his head towards the window, could feel a sense of fear and loathing welling up from the depths of his chest upon hearing that voice.
An instinctive rejection, reminiscent of when the boy faced his older sister.
However, the boy suppressed that rejection in his chest and forced himself to feign composure and turn his head.
Though he already knew who would be in that place.
Rain calmly turned his head to the place where someone who had approached him would be.
And in that place would be a boy with a sharp impression and dark gray hair.
And, he slowly said the boy’s name.
Still trying to ignore the negative feelings he felt just by saying it.
“Sir Felix Shotton.”
Rain already knew about the other boy in front of him.
Felix Shotton. An individual who was so deeply trusted among the prince’s confidants that he was called his sword, and a cadet who possessed skills worthy of that title.
‘He’s no match for Serene or Arien, but he can sufficiently gain an advantage over the other individuals below them, and he has the decisiveness that the two of them lack.’
The events of
And, above all, the person presumed to have given the old Rain Enlight some kind of humiliation.
It could have been seen as just a conversation between cadets who had been driven to a dead end, but behind it, there was a greater meaning.
A boy who was put forward as the face and sword of the ‘new era’ that the Princess's Faction had put forward, and was sharpening his blade against the prince.
And the boy who had stepped onto the battlefield representing the ‘new era’ of the Crown Prince's Faction, which was put forward to counter him.
This meant that even setting aside the personal connection between the two, they were running towards each other with the goal of each other’s destruction.