novelraw Chapter 88 : Chapter 88
Chapter 88 : Chapter 88
088
Ulf, appearing once again, let out a hearty laugh at my proposal.
"So you mean to use me to eliminate your political rivals?"
"I'll exclude 'political rivals' and 'eliminate'."
"Then I don't know what it is, but you mean to use this one purely?"
"Because you are a graduate student."
"Oh my. Since I volunteered to be a graduate student, it's a checkmate. I have brought this disaster upon myself."
"It's fine with me even if you give up on being a graduate student."
"How can I avoid a difficult path when I have volunteered for it to broaden my knowledge of mana?"
Ulf said so and then walked towards the training ground with a majestic stride.
No, she was about to walk.
She stared at me and her right eyebrow twitched.
"You brat, has the wolf gotten much bigger?"
She seemed to be talking about the wolf tattoo on my body.
But quite bigger?
Could it be because of the illusion I saw yesterday?
I told Ulf about the scenery I had seen.
"You mean to say you saw an illusion. Hmm."
Ulf fell into thought, tapping her cheek with the tip of her staff.
I've felt it since I first met her, but her expressions were very diverse.
The person around me who used their expressions the best was Rozalin, but she seemed to have even more expressions.
She reached out her hand and fiddled with the area around the tattoo.
Every time her fingertips touched, a small spark ignited, as if she were using some kind of magic.
"You brat. Do you have a hobby of whittling away your lifespan whenever your disciples extend it even a little?"
“……Yes?”
What a violent thing to say.
Ulf's expression had now changed to one of slight pity.
"You said you didn't swing your sword and your body didn't hurt at all. Yet you used up a huge amount of mana. It seems that reading that one trajectory consumes as much mana as swinging a sword."
"That's……"
"It's possible. Rozalin and the desert mercenaries, their bodily senses have become sharper since they learned mana."
I had heard similar cases from students like Pan and Bridget.
Since they were taking in external mana, it felt like their entire skin was absorbing information from all directions.
"Seeing that, it seems your eye is not just an eye of intuition, but something close to magic. If I were to name it, it would be a Demon Eye. It was originally unable to exert its power, but it seems to have opened when the road was opened."
"Why do I have such an eye?"
"It is difficult for me to say in detail. It is not the order of the world that I have glimpsed. But to put it another way, it means that an order we do not know resides in this eye."
Her hand slowly moved towards my eyes.
"You brat, have you ever made a pact in your childhood?"
A pact, as in Geis?
I had heard about it in theory when I was at the Imperial Royal Academy.
It was a way to strengthen one's power by placing a restriction on a part of one's body like a curse.
"No."
My past self was certainly a boy who craved power.
My father had abandoned me, and my mother had died early.
I needed strength to survive in the world alone, but I didn't want to gain strength to the point of sacrificing my life and lifespan.
"Your broken Mana Roads could be believed to be a Geis. You have offered up your entire lifespan, so your eye could have emerged."
Slowly, her finger approached my eye.
The finger, which had arrived as if it would touch the edge of my retina, moved back and forth in front of my eyes as if it were a strange thing.
Slowly, her finger moved away from my field of vision, and in its place, Ulf's pupils took over.
Her obsidian-black pupils were so deep and strong that it felt like I would fall into them if I looked at them.
"I have weakened your eye. Here, try to block it."
Ulf raised her staff and swung it, whoosh.
A humming sound, as if the air was being muffled, was heard, and it felt as if the world had slowed down a bit.
Looking at the tip of Ulf's staff, I could roughly guess where the staff would go.
I took a step back and dodged the staff.
"How is it?"
"I don't see any illusions."
My senses had become a little more sensitive, but the direct illusions had disappeared.
"It is a temporary measure. If you overdo it, the illusions will soon appear. And if you use those illusions a lot, your body may explode at some point."
"Explode?"
"It is not a figure of speech. It is not a metaphor or an analogy, but literally, a body that has absorbed a large amount of mana will explode. If you do not want to leave your disciples with a terrible trauma, be careful."
It was the scariest threat I had ever heard.
I felt a different kind of fear than when the street thugs had said they would kill me if I didn't give them money.
"But… if I can't see like this, how do I teach those people?"
To be precise, how do I deal with them and handle them, not teach them.
As I was worrying about that, Ulf burst into laughter.
"You have a sword that cuts through everything, yet you are afraid to block and dodge? You are truly a scholar, not a swordsman."
Ah.
"Follow me. I will teach you how to handle such ruthless beasts."
Ulf walked ahead with her hands behind her back, trudging along.
When we arrived at the training ground, the hundred or so people Avril had mentioned were gathered there in a crowd.
Their posture, even as they were gathered, was unruly, unlike the students.
Some were lying down, some were leaning against the wall, and some were expressing their annoyance.
For example, the green-haired man was one of them.
"Huh? The young master said so, but is it right for us to learn this? Isn't he just an academy student? Huh? A sparkle from a sword? Do we have to be here to do a magic show like that?"
He shoved his face in people's faces and vented his complaints, and each time, people backed away as if they were fed up.
But that was only an act to avoid his face; none of them denied the green-haired man's words.
Rather, the people all around nodded in agreement with his words.
The proof was that none of the people with bored expressions were warming up for the class.
Seeing this, Ulf burst into laughter as if she had expected it.
"Truly beasts."
Her husky, low-pitched voice forcibly drew the attention of everyone gathered here.
It was such a violent voice that it made them forget even what they were doing.
'She's imbued it with mana.'
I wanted to learn that sometime.
Mine felt like it just activated regardless of my will.
"What. Was that you just now?"
Breaking the brief silence, the green-haired man strode forward.
"Huh? I asked if you did it? Huh?"
He cracked his huge knuckles, looking as if he would start throwing punches at any moment.
In fact, his shoulders and arms were ready to throw a punch at any moment.
But Ulf was still nonchalantly sneering with her hands behind her back.
"You're annoying."
The green-haired man immediately threw a punch at Ulf.
The punch was swung at Ulf at a speed that was almost invisible to the eye.
Pow!
It was sent flying back.
"Huh?"
The fist that had been swung at Ulf was turned to a pulp and hung limply towards the ground.
His arm had holes in it here and there, as if it had been poked with a very thin needle, and blood was trickling out from them.
His arm was limp, as if it had no bones.
"Ugh, huh?"
The green-haired man looked as if he didn't understand why his arm had become like that.
He looked at his arm with a curious expression, as if he didn't feel any pain.
"What's this? Huh? What did you do, whitey?"
"It seemed too desolate, so I planted some of my seeds. Now. Blossom."
Flowers bloomed, feeding on the blood.
Red flowers began to bloom from the holes in his arm, and soon unfolded black-spotted leaves.
They were so dense that they even covered the man's huge hand.
"Then now—"
"That's enough."
Just as Ulf was about to do something with her staff.
With a thud, the flowers on the man's arm fell to the floor.
In a very short time, Raipen had shaved the man's skin and cut off only the flowers.
'That's an unbelievable swordsmanship.'
His arm must have been hard to see because of the petals.
Did he just put the shape he had seen earlier in his head and cut it out as if he were carving it?
"What is an old monster that should be in the Great Forest doing here, Ulf?"
Raipen seemed to know Ulf.
Well, it was natural for someone with his level of skill to know the powerful people of the continent.
He was, after all, an escort for the Goldline Merchant Guild.
"There is a child who knows me."
"White hair. A strange staff with a flower on its head. And even more bizarre spells."
"Oh my. I guess I'll have to dye my hair so no one will recognize me."
"I'll ask again. Old monster. What are you doing here?"
"Tsk tsk. Has your master not told you about me? You are like an abandoned dog."
"We are mercenaries and employers in a contractual relationship anyway. We only exchange necessary information. Just answer me."
"That is because this one is my master."
Thud, Ulf's hand rested on my shoulder.
Everyone's eyes turned to me.
Hey, Ulf? I don't think this is the right time for that.
"Well, master. I have done as you instructed. This should do it. Do you understand?"
“……Ulf.”
Ulf chuckled.
She was the only one laughing in this wide space.
"Do not be too flustered. I am just making sure they understand. And didn't you want that too, teacher?"
Their momentum had certainly died down.
It was because none other than Ulf had shown respect for me by calling me master.
"That arm, can it be treated?"
I pointed to the green-haired man's arm.
The green-haired man was still poking his arm with a dazed expression.
The sight of his limp arm every time he poked it with the fingers of his other hand was very bizarre.
"It is not good to be too kind."
With a cracking sound, the green-haired man's arm went back into place.
“Uwaaaaaaah?!”
The pain must have finally set in, because the green-haired man fell to his knees and crawled on the ground.
His eyes had rolled back in his head and he was drooling, so the pain must have been considerable.
"My master is weak-hearted and seems to be willing to forgive even this kind of indulgence. Children. You must be grateful for such great kindness and listen well to the master's instructions. Is that not part of your contract?"
No one answered Ulf.
They just slowly scattered with sluggish movements to prepare for training.
Ulf sat down on a chair near the platform, crossed her legs, and watched them, as if this was as far as she would help.
From now on, it was my turn.
Raipen crossed his arms and looked at me as if he were annoyed.
"You've put on such a show, so you'd better teach us something truly valuable."
Instead of answering, I went up on the platform so that I could see all the people spread out at a glance.
"Everyone, please swing your sword three times. A horizontal cut. A side cut. And a thrust."
"Now?"
"You can do it all at once. Please do about ten of each."
"My weapon isn't a sword."
"It's about the trajectory of the attack, so you can swing your weapon according to your own trajectory."
"Hey, I use a whip. If I swing my weapon like that, everyone here will die."
"Then you can assume you are holding a weapon and move your body."
"This is not a joke."
Grumbling voices erupted from all over, but no one resisted.
The effect of Ulf's show of force seemed to still be in effect.
One hundred, no, ninety-nine mercenaries, excluding the green-haired man who was still lying on the ground, began to swing their weapons in a disorderly fashion.
I carefully observed them.
'I see it.'
Their individual postures are unruly, but when you combine and mix them, you can see a strange harmony.
Things that are subtly similar because they have trained together or have been in sync for a long time.
They assume the same enemy, check the position of the mercenary standing next to them while I swing my weapon, and the people who handle the same type of sword intent.
'It's familiar.'
Among the swordsmanship of the three groups, there was one that was strangely familiar.
'……Eleveth.'
It was similar to the swordsmanship that Bridget and Eleveth had shown after the last vacation.
Since Avril had taken the two of them, it would not be an exaggeration to say that that group was on Avril's side.
About 94 out of the 99 people used martial arts with a similar will.
And those who did not fit in with them and swung their swords with a slightly different intention.
"The fifth one from the front. Yes. The person using the rapier there. And the second one from the back, the person using the hammer. And right in front of me, yes. You originally use a shield and a flail, right? And the very back, yes. The small person. You seem to be using a dagger. Ah, the person next to them as well, side by side. Yes. The person using the greatsword. That's right. Up to here."
I pointed out the people one by one and called them forward.
With each person called, the surrounding air grew heavy.
When all four had finally come forward.
Everyone had stopped swinging their weapons and were staring at me.
I declare, facing the gazes filled with various intentions.
"From now on, these five people will be my teaching assistants."