Chapter 33

Serpens was flustered.

Since he was young, he had lived in the back alleys and seen all kinds of people.
The back alleys were truly strange places.
Because they were places where even people who maintained their reason could reveal their lowest selves in an instant.
That was why he had grown up seeing all kinds of insane people.

He had seen those who had no hesitation toward slaughter,
those suffering from mood swings, and people who had given up on everything.

And yet…….

“It’s really nice to meet you. I am not the type to speak to others first, but for some reason, I felt like I had to with you.”

This was his first time seeing this kind of insane person.

“Hello to the mister behind you too. I am Freak.”

Serpens instinctively took one step back.
From experience, people who readily approached others tended to be troublesome.

“What is it? Do you also think I am strange?”

Serpens hesitated to answer and looked around.
Students whispering among themselves.
Some even sent looks of contempt.

The boy knew.
That their attention was not directed at him.
That it was directed at this bomb-haired boy in front of him.

Serpens showed an awkward smile to the bright-faced Freak.
It was a smile that looked forced no matter who saw it.

“Strange? No.”
“Really? Do you know you’re really bad at lying?”
“Haha.”

It was the first time he had heard that.
Bad at lying?
How many times had he extended his life with a lie made up on the spot?

Freak casually slung an arm over Serpens’s shoulder.
Then he whispered into his ear.

“Be careful of the imperial family, my friend.”
“What?”

Tap, tap.

Freak smiled and patted Serpens’s back.
Then Freak leisurely disappeared.

Serpens looked at his retreating back with a dazed expression, as if possessed by a ghost.

“What was that……?”

The sun began to disappear.
The sky grew dark.
It was the time when all Academy students had to enter their dormitories.

“Now I can finally breathe.”

Serpens, his face utterly haggard, stepped into the training ground.
Today had truly been a nightmare.
It had started after he met that bomb-haired guy at the training ground in the morning.
From the people called the student council, who openly showed hostility.
To nameless guys who followed him around without giving him a moment to rest.
Even guys who offered burdensome goodwill.

He did not know how long it had been since he had tried so hard to avoid people.

“Raise your sword.”
“Yes.”

Lucas was tired as well.
No physical fatigue had accumulated.
But spending the whole day around children, and at the center of the commotion no less, had built up mental fatigue.

Even so, what had to be done had to be done.

“Since we started late, we will end late as well.”
“Yes.”
“While we are here, you will not use Aura.”

Serpens tilted his head to ask what he meant.
If the possibility called Aura was only good for making his hand look impressive, it would certainly be a tremendous waste.
As always, he was prepared to train.
Then why was he not going to use Aura?

Lucas spoke calmly, as if he had expected it.

“There are more eyes watching here than you think.”
“I know that, but…….”

Lucas gripped his greatsword.
Serpens’s body reflexively lowered its stance.

“A possibility you cannot handle will bite your neck when the time comes.”

The greatsword slowly became level.

“Until you can use that possibility fully as strength, do not even think of revealing it to others. Whether it is Aura, or something else.”

Whoosh-

No sooner had he finished speaking than Lucas swung his sword.

Kakang!

Serpens raised his arm and deflected the sword.
A powerful impact traveled through his wrist.
The boy judged that if he had blocked it head-on, his arm would have broken.

“Before thinking with your eyes, use your sense.”

Clang-!

“I am doing that!”

Serpens’s eyes alternated between Lucas’s shoulder and feet.
Several months had passed since he began training. Even now, the boy still could not keep up with the speed of the greatsword.
If he saw the sword and reacted, he was always too late.
To keep up, he had to predict, not react.
That method was to watch the movements of the opponent’s shoulder and feet, as he was doing now.
Of course, even that only barely earned him the chance to defend.

Kgeugeuk.

The boy’s sword once again deflected the greatsword.
Lucas momentarily slowed his speed and created an opening.
If Serpens noticed the opening and aimed for it, he would counter. If not, Lucas intended to deliver a blow as it was.

Pat.

‘This…… is unexpected.’

In the brief instant Lucas had created.
Serpens instantly sprang up and widened the distance.

“Huk…… Heok.”

Eyes wide open, arms trembling faintly, breath grown rough.
It was not because of physical exhaustion.

‘What…… was that just now?’

Serpens’s action had not been made through calculation.
It was the cry of instinct telling him he had to create distance.
The boy, startled by it, had moved reflexively.

“…….”

Lucas looked at the boy for a moment.

Creating distance had been the correct judgment.
It would be a lie to say he was not surprised.
Look at that expression.
If the person himself was that surprised, how could Lucas not be?

‘I thought wrong.’

Lucas was not surprised when a skilled person accomplished something new.
But.

‘Is his chance of winning more than fifty percent?’

When the fruits of effort bloomed fully, even he could not help but be surprised.

Time quickly raced by, and two weeks passed.

In the morning, they roamed the outskirts for stamina training.
At noon, they went into their lodging for strength training.
In the evening, they finished the day with sparring.

Broadly, it was three parts, but in detail, the two spent their days busy with a schedule broken down to a harsh degree.

While the two poured in their own efforts.
The Academy students were receiving a small reward for their own efforts.

“Uwaaa!! The exams are finally over!”

Final exams made up of written and practical tests.
The students greeted their end with different expressions.

“Oh, right. Did you hear there is a special sparring match scheduled next week?”
“A special sparring match?”
“You know, that guy who looked like a beggar.”
“Ah, that guy.”
“I heard he is going to spar with the knight examination challenger kids.”
“What? A kid who looked younger than me? He didn’t look particularly strong either.”
“I think so too. That’s why I think it’s probably a false rumor.”

A rumor whose first speaker could not be known.
The Academy was currently noisy because of that rumor.

Many people didn’t care whether the rumor was true.
The feeling that something interesting was going to happen.
The students were simply happy to have a new source of dopamine to replace the stress of exams.

The ones irritated by this situation were those standing at the center of the rumor.

“Everyone is very interested in us.”

Black hair tinged with blue.
An eighteen-year-old boy with a neat impression that suited the smile he wore.

“It’s understandable, but it doesn’t feel very good.”

A seventeen-year-old girl with faint lavender hair,
and a dry expression that represented her cold personality.

The two were sitting in the Academy cafeteria and talking.

“Well, you are used to attention, aren’t you?”
“Being used to it and being unaffected by it are different.”
“That’s not what I meant, Violet.”
“…….”

The boy and the girl continued their meal and naturally looked around.
Whether it was because of the rumor or the sense of freedom after exams, the students were twice as noisy as usual.

“So, what do you think?”

The boy asked as he set down the knife he was holding.

“About what?”
“You know, that guy who looked like a beggar.”

Violet frowned slightly.

“Even if he is a child we don’t know, that isn’t a good way to refer to him.”
“I know. But that’s the nickname that works among the students.”
“You are the one who created that nickname that ‘works,’ Aiden.”

Aiden smiled and shrugged.

“I won’t deny it. So what do you think, Violet? Did that guy look like he had the skill to spar with us?”

Violet let out a short sigh.

“It’s safe to say we haven’t seen him directly except at the training ground two weeks ago. It’s difficult to judge from such a brief encounter.”
“Of course you would say that.”

Aiden propped up his chin and looked toward the window.

“Honestly, until I received this letter, I thought it was only a rumor.”

On the table where the two sat.
Two neatly opened letters lay there.
Letters identical in content, differing only in recipient.
They said that one week later, they would spar with a boy named Serpens over a recommendation letter for the knight examination.

“Don’t worry, Aiden. The principal must have her reasons.”
“Of course she does. We’ve trained at the Academy for years. Handing the recommendation letter over to some unknown guy like that is beyond unfair. It’s absurd.”
“……That is true.”

Ordinary students simply thought of it as entertainment.
Without giving any thought to the feelings of the people involved.

“Damn it, that young master bastard probably doesn’t even care much.”
“……That won’t happen, but even if one of the three of us had to give up their recommendation letter, it would be one of us two.”

A beggar-like appearance. A young age.
They could not define an opponent by things like that.

The 7th-class magician Frost.
If she had accepted this sparring match, there had to be a reason worthy of it.

“Haa…….”

A low sigh escaped.

If they lost, years of effort would come to nothing.
If they lost to a guy years younger than themselves, and one who was not even from the Academy at that.
It would disgrace not only themselves, but the prestige of their families.
If such a situation came, there would be nothing they could blame.
They had grown up receiving the greatest support.
If they lost…….
It would be purely because of their own lack of skill.

That was what the two feared most.
Their heads told them the possibility of losing was extremely slim.
But an anxious feeling continued to stir.

Because they had been called geniuses since childhood, because they had defeated people older than themselves.
They could not deny the fact that another genius could defeat them.

Because they had worked hard all their lives, even a small possibility returned as an anxiety they couldn’t ignore.

“I have no appetite. Let’s go train, Violet.”
“Okay.”

What they could do,
was only continue putting in enough effort to erase their worries.