Vol. 1 - Ch. 25 - Back to normal Life? (2)

It was daily life again.

The academy, which was temporarily shut down, was also restored to its original state.

After being discharged from the hospital, the scar on my face had vanished, and I was able to set foot in the class.

"Shall we go?"

Since the temporary break was over, Enoch took me to the classroom and then headed to the classroom he was supposed to attend.

This meant that even after the lecture was done, I had to wait for Enoch to come over.

'Just one week...'

If Machina keeps her promise, the protection measures will end this week, when the festivities begin.

It has been a long time since my every move was monitored like this---not since I was about 5 years old when I was at a nursing home for a long time.

As I entered the classroom, the professor who came first and was organizing the class noticed me.

"Cadet Arma. Are you sure there will be no problem with listening to the lecture?"

"Yes."

And the first monumental class I took after becoming healthy was the 'Introduction to Sacred Studies' for cadets in the Wooden Cross class.

This introduction to theology has four levels from beginning to advanced, and the level of each cadet is determined by grade regardless of academy achievement strength.

So Judith and I, who are about to graduate, are taking the top level, Introduction to Divinity, which we avoided till the last minute.

Of course, Judith always skips the class because of her special student status.

'I applied to join the royal guard upon graduation.'

Judith had recently decided on her career path, and it seemed like she had been contemplating whether to return to her home nation after studying abroad.

Now, without Judith, who could be considered my ally, I was writhing under the gaze of the students taking Introduction to Divinity, who were up to four years older than me.

"Then let's start."

What started after that was an overview of the Aegis Theory and an in-depth analysis of the creation myth, which were more advanced than in previous classes. I ran through the start of the book and the end of the introduction, lost in thought.

'It is definitely a phrase found only in Yvonne, Liechten.'

<It is destruction, an irreversible disaster.>

A passage from this version of the Aegis creation myth, which must now be forgotten, wasn't included in the divinity course taught by Wooden Cross class majors. 

"You have great passion for learning, Cadet Arma Cruz."

"I am honored."

Sir August, the professor for this class, could immediately guess whether he saw or not, probably because he used magic against students.

I calmly turned the pages at my own pace and looked straight ahead. Eventually, when the class resumed, countless eyes turned to me and then to the blackboard.

Scratch, scratch...

Talks came and then died down too. With hundreds of young cadets gathered together, the atmosphere at the academy was generally volatile.

-tap-

So for about an hour, About halfway through the class, a piece of paper flew across the desk.

"...?"

I turned around to see who sent me a message, but no one looked at me.

Since I was looking directly at the board from the front row, it was difficult to guess who the note came from.

"Hmm."

When I opened the note, there was nothing oddly written.

'Murderer.'

Cleverly, in order to avoid having the handwriting discovered, they found and copied the letters for "murderer" from the textbook.

'This doesn't even tickle.'

I folded the note neatly and put it inside the pocket of my jacket, then rested my chin on my hand and focused on the class.

Although it has become less common now that I am a senior, it wasn't the first time something like this happened to me, as I was a student of arts with no background.

Anyway, I just hoped that these pranks couldn't last in the future so that they wouldn't group up on me.

"Let's finish early today."

"Thank you for the effort!"

Has it been around 30 minutes since I got the note?

Probably because of the festival preparations, Sir August had to end the class early, which was not usual, and left the classroom.

I grabbed my books and jumped up, but I was startled to notice that someone was watching me.

'It has to be him.'

He has black hair and a short stature, with a hood pulled down so that the face cannot be seen properly. This guy knows who I am.

I had no ties with him, so what is the reason for him to be this conscious of my actions?

I picked up the note with my fingers and smiled, waving it. I didn't know the name, but he was a cadet majoring in swords who was about to graduate this year.

"Boring."

The only thing I wanted to do before graduation was send notes during the lectures, so the future of Aegis Academy was bright.

"Cadet Arma Cruz, forgive me for being late."

"No, it is done."

I left the classroom with Cadet Enoch, who arrived a bit later.

As I left the classroom, several cadets I was familiar with greeted me.

While there were people who hated me, there were those who were kind to me.

I also have people I like and dislike. It is natural.

Enoch followed me quietly, like a shadow.

If it weren't for the sound of the iron laces that only the student council members wear, I wouldn't have even noticed Enoch's presence.

As I was about to pass through the lecture building and the central hall, another familiar face was there.

"Theodore, Arthur."

Even on the day I first had the dream, I ran into the two people.

Although the clothes were the same as the day when I met him after the first dream, Arthur had a different look from then on.

"Did you have trouble sleeping?"

Instead of answering, Arthur just looked away, which meant that he didn't want to show his weakness to someone like me.

"It is a fever."

Theodore, who answered instead of Arthur, spoke with a worried look, which could be seen on closer inspection.

"Isn't it better to take a break from the lectures?"

"It is alright."

"So stubborn."

"You get along well."

Instead of asking the stupid question if swordsmen get fever, I decided to avoid the topic, which Arthur didn't want to talk about.

"But the person behind you..."

"Ah. Because Shirley and Judith are away, I need to be accompanied by Cadet Enoch for some time."

It is odd to say this at a military academy, but the existence of the Student Council was like a so-called vigilante group.

It meant receiving a certain level of respect, regardless of age.

Theodore said 'thanks for your work' to him and then bowed to me.

-Grrr...

It was at that moment...

A sound, which couldn't be much farther from us, caught my attention.

'Demonic beast?!'

Almost out of instinct, I took the gun out of the holster and loaded it.

Arthur and Enoch were also prepared, standing ahead of me and Theodore, who couldn't use magic.

-Clank!

At almost the same time, a huge animal jumped in through the window on the high floor.

Shattered glass rained down on the cadets gathered in the hall on the first floor.

"Ackkkk!"

The lower-class cadets, who had no experience at all, were busy running away, while those who managed to understand took their swords and spears out.

"Avoid!"

This is basically an elite military academy for warriors and mages.

If what had jumped out was a decent mountain animal, any cadet would have been able to handle it on their own.

But this time, things were different.

"Demonic beast!!"

I shouted.

What suddenly appeared in the Wooden Cross was this Chimera-shaped demonic beast with glowing red eyes.

Without taking my eyes off the beast, I turned the lever to load and then put my finger on the trigger.

The beast's body was that of a lion, but the teeth were long enough to touch the ground, and the line from its spine to the tail had scales on it.

I stretched out my arm, grabbed the pistol in position, and aimed it.

'This, Arthur is...'

Unlike Arthur and Enoch, who stepped ahead with swords drawn, I couldn't change my path now. If two people ahead of me get caught in the path, it would be murder.

"left."

"yes."

To the right of Arthur, Enoch lowered his stance and approached the beast. The demonic beast was drooling, and its nose was twitching like it was searching for something.

-Grrrrr.

It was a low, sinister shout.

Sharp eyes wandered around looking for prey and then turned to me.

"!"

The moment Enoch lowered the body to attack its leg, it jumped up.

It was a fatal error in the judgment that left the stomach exposed, but the demonic beast didn't care about it.

Bang!

Having trained my heart not to beat as fast as I usually do when holding a gun, I accurately hit the forehead of the beast without shaking.

If what was in front was a beast and not a demonic beast, I would have stopped it, but this one wasn't slowing down.

Bang!

The angle wasn't right to aim, so I raised my arm and pulled the trigger.

Now the demonic beast had been shot twice in succession in the head, but its wide-open eyes were still raging.

There was no time to reload.

I had to think about whether to use the last resort of hitting him with the pistol or use the meaningless second-best solution to give up my arm and then aim for its vital point.

It was the moment I decided to push the arm into the demonic beast's mouth.

Kwaaak!

The demonic beast, which came in front of me, roared.

However, instead of feeling the pain of its teeth being lodged, I heard someone else's breathing.

"Sorry, I wasn't feeling well."

Slurp.

Arthur blushed red and wiped the sweat from his chin. It was a clean and neat cut.

The demonic beast was cut in half from the tail to the mouth and died without any noise.

"No, thank you."

Arthur wasn't the only one to hit it.

Enoch, who went under the stomach of it, jumped over and cut its skin open, and then came to me, covered in the blood of the demonic beast like Arthur.

"Hurt anywhere?"

"I am fine, but you are the problem, Theodore?"

"It is fine. Instead, the engraving is hurting; I will have to take it to the local office."

Theodore raised the arm, which had burn marks as the bracelet containing the inscription prohibiting the use of magic turned hotter.

"Wouldn't it be better to go from the hospital window first?"

"No. It isn't the first time something like this has happened."

The prohibition, which says one cannot use magic, becomes relaxed in the face of a crisis.

It was the natural survival instinct of a living being for a mage to use magic in a situation of crisis.

If magic was used on instinct and someone got injured, it would be unfair.

Theodore calmly looked at the fallen beast after stopping the bleeding in the arm with an indifferent expression.

At that moment, we all thought the same thing.

What that demonic beast was aiming for was 'me'.

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