novelraw Chapter 108 : Chapter 108
Chapter 108 : Chapter 108
108
After killing the first demon, Rozalin, Hati, Yuria, Avril, Ulf, and Berlis, as well as Sordian and others, gathered to talk about the future.
It was a format where they primarily answered when those of us who hadn't regressed asked questions.
"An academic exchange, you say?"
"Yes. What were the students from the Imperial Royal Academy like on the future battlefield? And about the youngest imperial grandson of the Imperial Royal Family."
"Well."
Surprisingly, Rozalin didn't know much.
"I also spent seven years just living as a mercenary. Under this old lady. So I don't really know much about central politics. Avril is good with this stuff."
"Hmm."
"And if it's the youngest imperial grandson, it's that kid, right? That little kid."
It seemed Rozalin had seen the youngest imperial grandson before.
But to call him a little kid.
You're 15, and that youngest imperial grandson is 14, so there's only a one-year difference.
"I regressed 10 years, so I'm 25! And this old lady is..."
"Ahem."
Before Rozalin could say anything, a leaf flew from somewhere and stuck to her mouth.
With a muffled sound, Rozalin fell backward.
"We don't know either. That imperial grandson, he died."
Rozalin continued Hati's words.
"No, in the first place, almost all of the imperial bloodline died."
"If you say almost all?"
"Was it about two years? The emperor passes away. And in less than a year, they die one by one."
It was a gruesome story.
I looked around, even though I knew Ulf had already put up a protective barrier.
If the story that came out here were to leak, I might be accused of treason.
"Actually, that's a given. Think about it. In order to grasp the truth of all things in the world, humanity creates imaginary beings and mythological existences. There are gods who actually exist, but how many false gods are there?"
Ulf tapped the floor with her staff.
Then, a picture appeared of savages in leather clothes moving inside a huge cave.
It was a simple picture made of only lines, dots, and planes, but it was interesting to look at.
"The history of humanity is told differently by each shaman and spirit who has passed down the story. Some say that fire was invented first, and others say that it was because dance or writing was invented."
"Pfft! And demons appear in all of them!"
Thanks to Ulf's magic being concentrated here, Rozalin, who had removed the leaf, got up with messy hair.
"There was a demon that blocked conversation with others within its domain and delivered stories with different meanings. Its individual name was Loneliness."
"They say there was also a demon that ate dance. Everyone within its domain would move their hands and feet uncontrollably, regardless of their will. Its individual name was Stage."
"How demon-like~."
Berlis smiled sweetly after hearing the explanation.
Our gazes turned to Berlis.
"Demons are, after all, the dregs created by the development of human civilization~."
"Monarchy. Especially in the royal family, the core of imperialism, it's impossible for demons not to appear!"
"Perhaps that's why no one knows how the bloodline of the Imperial Emperor died."
So they only guess that it was the work of a demon, but they don't know which demon did what.
"But there was one imperial grandson who survived until the end."
"Really?"
"Edicts stamped with the emperor's seal continued to come down from the imperial family. Rumor has it that the reason the Lionheart Knights, that is, the Imperial Knights, didn't move an inch from within the imperial castle was to protect that last remaining imperial grandson."
Captain Perdius de Lionheart.
The man who wielded the strongest and most beautiful sword among the swordsmen I had seen.
But Rozalin had said that he never showed himself in the final war.
It seemed he valued the bloodline of the Empire more than the history of humanity.
"Teacher, so you asked about outstanding students from the Imperial Royal Academy? That kid was probably quite good. There's a person named Lola. She'd be in the 5th or 6th grade now, and she's pretty good with a spear. I think she was active until the 60th demon war."
"Pilsner is pretty good too. He's probably in the 3rd grade now. He made quite a name for himself as a mercenary. He fought until around the 40th or so."
"Come to think of it, there are a few kids I saw as mercenaries. Jin, Tylus, Kephia, Thrin... I don't know their ages, so see if you can find them."
"Huh? Thrin was from the Royal Academy?"
"You didn't know?"
"I thought he was a jerk, so that's why."
I put the names people called out into my head one by one.
Then I brought up the story of the Imperial Royal Academy's library to them.
"Oho."
The one who showed the most interest was Ulf and.
"Oh my? There?"
Berlis.
Perhaps because they were relatively academic people, the opportunity to see forbidden and secret books seemed to be welcome.
"Hmm~ should I follow?"
"Probably not. The Royal Academy's magic tower should be managing the spells. The 6th-circle magicians will have put up various protective barriers."
"That's a bit disappointing."
"Since we're on the topic, I should tell you. When you go to the Royal Academy, there will be a tower master, but be careful of the one under that tower master named 'Ban'."
"Be careful...?"
"A regressor."
Well, even if it wasn't Ulf, it was plausible that there would be a magician who had regressed.
In fact, it was stranger that no magician regressor had appeared so far.
"Oh my? But why should I be careful of that person named Ban?"
Berlis looked at Ulf as if she was curious.
Before answering, Ulf took out her tobacco pipe from her bosom and puffed on it, sucking in the smoke.
Puff, the faint gray scent of tobacco scattered in all directions.
"The 6th-circle can glimpse the order of other worlds, not the order of this world. Just as this corpse-handler here can eavesdrop on conversations in the demon world."
I already knew about the circles.
"That's why magicians were easily corrupted when the demons appeared."
"Corrupted?"
"They continue to follow the demon's fantasy to make their magic stronger. As they do, their magic becomes more wondrous, but they themselves become grotesque as humans."
"Ah! I've seen it a few times!"
Rozalin raised her hand high.
"Teacher, that Fantasy, you know? If you use it too much, you go crazy."
...You gave me something like that?
I looked at Rozalin with a dumbfounded expression.
"Hey, I told you. Too much. The people who were corrupted like that were mostly nobles of the Empire. Pigs who had like twenty Fantasies."
Even if the probability is low, still.
I looked at my sword with an uneasy heart.
Is it really okay to use this?
"I was like that too."
"...Ulf was?"
She doesn't seem like it at all.
No, can regression even turn a madman's mind back to normal?
Looking at the people around, it seemed that Rozalin and Hati were also hearing this for the first time.
Only Yuria narrowed her eyes and looked at Ulf, as if she knew something.
"In the end, when I saw Pan swing his sword and cut through space-time, I came to pursue the order of humanity. If it weren't for that debt, I would have continued to stay by the Wolf King's side and help him."
"What is the Wolf King doing now?"
"He's uniting all the barbarian tribes beyond the Great Forest. He'll finish all the unification within half a year and officially launch. When that time comes, I'll have to go back there too."
Is the time for parting coming?
It was somehow bittersweet.
The person who came as a graduate student was running away without even writing a thesis.
"But Ban is different. That guy was obsessed with the order of the demons until the very, very end."
"What about his circle?"
"At the end, Ban's circle was the 5th-circle. I don't know what kind of conspiracy the guy who returned here is plotting. I don't know how far the magic tower is connected to him, so be especially careful. I'll reinforce the tattoo I drew on your body before I leave."
"Thank you."
We shared a little more information about the Imperial academic exchange and the Empire, and then we got up from our seats.
No, we were about to get up.
"Child."
Ulf called out to Yuria.
"You, child, let's talk a little before you go."
Ulf gestured for us to leave quickly.
It seemed they had something to talk about alone.
As we returned to our respective homes, I glanced back and looked at Yuria and Ulf.
Yuria's eyes had been fixed on Ulf from before.
And Ulf was still smoking the cigarette she had been smoking to soothe her frustrated heart.
For some reason, my heart fluttered.
It shouldn't be a bad story.
***
Even after everyone left, Ulf smoked her cigarette a little longer, maintaining her silence.
It was because she knew that Yuria would know for herself without being told.
"It's alright."
It was Yuria who spoke first.
"For now, I can endure it."
"I can see your mind collapsing a lot. It won't be long. Two months at the shortest. Within that time, you might become a demon. Will you be okay with that?"
"...I will resolve it."
As Yuria said that, a purplish energy flickered ominously from her body for a moment.
It was a phenomenon I had often seen from Ban's body before the regression.
Ulf sucked on her cigarette without another word.
The taste in her mouth was bitter.
Meanwhile, just as the instructors were preparing for the academic exchange, the students were also busy preparing for it.
Even late at night after classes were over, the training ground was full of people.
"Can we win?"
Pan let out a faint sigh and put down his sword.
Hearing that, Bridget cursed.
"Fuck, if you say that, you think we'll say, 'yeah, we're so weak'?"
"Huh?"
"You monster."
Bridget turned her head and spit out the blood and phlegm that had collected in her mouth.
Nearby, more than ten students in a similar state as him were sprawled out.
It was solely Pan's ability.
"Still, it's the Imperial Royal Academy."
"Senior... no one from the Royal Academy's students will be able to beat you at your level. No, even if an instructor came, they wouldn't be able to win."
A student who had come to the Belmein Kingdom from the Empire to study abroad this year said, slumping down.
"That's right. I also received private tutoring a few times, and the level of the friends I studied with was similar to mine."
"Really? Still, it's the Empire..."
Pan couldn't quite accept what the students were telling him.
The illusion that the name of the Empire gave to the students of Belmein Academy was that great.
The students from the Empire didn't bother to persuade their seniors.
In a month, the seniors would realize it for themselves.
When that time came, the noses of those who had sneered at them for studying abroad in a third-rate academy in a rural territory would be humbled.
Imagining that scene made even this hellish training week enjoyable.
'I'll show them properly on that day.'
When the academic exchange was over, the whole world would know.
No longer would people admire the Imperial Royal Academy, but the people of the Royal Academy would have fantasies about Akarind Academy.
And so, after a month of dedicating themselves to each other's training.
A guest came to Akarind Academy.
"We will escort you to the Royal Academy."
The escort for the exchange conference was none other than the Lionheart Knights, the official knight order under the Imperial Royal Family.