The Birth of a Hero (3)

1.

Within the academy, everyone is equal.

Regardless of status, everyone is classified as a ‘student.’

But it’s not truly equal.

Nobles receive noble treatment.

Commoners receive commoner treatment.

Even as equal students, a tacit class society exists.

Is that why?

“If the Saintess can help, we would be grateful.”

I was able to easily enter the problematic assistant professor’s room.

While strictly prohibiting others from entering, they opened the Barrier for me because I am the Saintess.

For reference, the two people who came with me couldn’t come in.

“Hmm…”

I looked around the room.

It was an ordinary dormitory room.

There was a bed and a desk.

Teaching materials and research data were piled up like mountains.

“A comparison and consideration of the Five Kingdoms’ spear techniques…”

I don’t know much since it’s my first time at the academy.

It seems that the Swordsmanship Department doesn’t just do swordsmanship training.

They also conduct research to theoretically organize the various swordsmanships of the world.

“Excuse me, did you find anything before?”

I asked the assistant professor from the Magic Department who was investigating here.

“I haven’t found anything yet.”

“Did you check for Demonic energy?”

“I did as soon as I arrived. But no Demonic energy was detected separately.”

“Hmm…”

But.

What should I call this feeling?

From the moment I entered the room, there was an unpleasantness that felt like needles pricking my skin.

It was as if I had entered the beginning of the Demon Realm.

That’s exactly how it felt when the air with a high concentration of Demonic energy brushed the tip of my nose.

However, as the assistant professor said, there was no Demonic energy in the room.

Then, something suddenly caught my eye.

“This is…?”

There was a dagger under the bed.

It looked ordinary.

Something felt strange.

The moment I grabbed the dagger, a stinging sensation began to prick all over my body.

I pulled the sword from its scabbard and checked the blade.

There were no engravings.

It was just a very common dagger.

“Did you investigate this too?”

I showed the dagger to the assistant professor.

“Isn’t it just an ordinary dagger?”

“I feel a strange energy here.”

It’s just a hunch, but.

The intuition honed on the battlefield for a long time was rarely wrong.

“Could you check if this was used in a spell?”

“Understood.”

Looking at the dagger that looked like it could be found anywhere in the swordsmanship training ground, the assistant professor tilted his head and began to examine the dagger.

He drew a Magic circle on the floor and placed the dagger on top of it.

“Reveal yourself.”

At the assistant professor’s shout, the Magic circle flashed with white light.

The dagger absorbed the light.

And after a while.

Black ripples appeared on the dagger as if blood was flowing down.

“T-This is…! Traces of using a spell!”

The assistant professor’s eyes widened.

“I don’t know what kind of spell was used… but I know it’s a spell of considerable rank. How many lines are there…”

The assistant professor took the dagger.

“I need to report this right away. Thanks to the Saintess, I was able to find a clue.”

“……”

“Saintess?”

Ah…!

I remembered.

I had seen a dagger like that before.

Before, to be exact, when I was injured on the battlefield before I was a Sword Saint and was receiving treatment at the temple.

‘Aaaaaah!!’

The screams echoing in the temple.

Recalling that time, it felt like I could hear that sound.

A Demon appeared in the temple. The guy’s identity was an officer who was about to be discharged at the time, and a dagger that looked similar to that was stuck in his back.

And the owner of that dagger is…

The Demon Lord Army’s corps commander with the alias Puppeteer.

Lich, Mortis.

Of course, that bastard doesn’t move directly.

He has his subordinates handle the work.

It’s not certain yet, but if that’s Mortis’s dagger, it means that his subordinate is somewhere in the academy. And being inside the academy means they are not a Demon.

“Investigate all the people who are usually close to this assistant professor.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think there’s someone among them who is colluding with the Demon Lord Army.”

“Yes? Is that true?”

“It’s not certain. It’s just a possibility.”

“Understood. I will investigate immediately.”

The assistant professor nodded his head greatly.

Is it because it’s the Saintess’s words?

It feels like they strongly trust whatever I say.

2.

The assistant professor, Mark, took the dagger and returned to the Magic Department.

-Knock knock

He knocked on the door.

After a while, a reply came from beyond the door.

“Come in.”

Mark opened the door and went inside.

“Excuse me, Professor. I came because I have something to report.”

There was a middle-aged man.

The fountain pen was moving smoothly.

He was in the middle of handling his work.

His name was Ethel.

He is a professor who teaches Summoning Magic.

He is Mark’s supervising professor and is in charge of this case.

“Something to report?”

Ethel stopped his hand and looked up.

His face had a subtle kindness.

“This…”

Mark placed the dagger he found in the room of the assistant professor who became a Demon on the desk.

“I found it in that room. I discovered traces of using some kind of spell.”

Ethel glanced at the dagger once.

He put Magical power on his fingertip and tapped the dagger.

Then, faint Demonic energy flowed out of the dagger.

“That’s right. There are traces of using a spell.”

Ethel shook his hand and erased the Magical power.

“Where did you find this?”

“I found it in the room of the assistant professor who caused the problem this time. It was dropped under the bed. When the Saintess saw it, she immediately recognized that it was used in a spell.”

Mark told him what had happened a little while ago.

“The Saintess?”

“Yes, she came to help find clues.”

Ethel tapped the paper with his fountain pen and nodded.

“Okay, I’ll take this to Professor Meian to analyze it in more detail.”

“And there’s one more thing.”

“What is it?”

“It’s not about an object. The Saintess told me to investigate all the people who are close to that assistant professor. She said that maybe someone is colluding with the Demon Lord Army.”

Ethel frowned.

One of his eyebrows twitched.

“Does that mean… there’s a traitor in the academy?”

“She said it’s not certain.”

This time, he told him everything he heard from the Saintess.

“Okay, I understand.”

Mark greeted him and left the professor’s office.

Ethel was left alone in the professor’s office.

Ethel picked up the dagger and shook it.

The kindness on his face hardened into a blank expression.

“Saintess…”

He thought of the blonde woman.

It hasn’t been a year since she officially became a Saintess.

However, she showed great prominence as a Saintess from the second test.

She filled the Goblet of the Giant completely.

She was at the scene of the Demon incident in the third test where the Demon incident occurred.

It is said that a young man from the Southern Kingdom defeated the Demon alone, but the Saintess who was there must have helped.

I haven’t accurately grasped the Saintess’s abilities yet, but judging from the Divinity she showed in the second test, she must have tremendous abilities.

The reason why she passed all the credit to the young man is because she doesn’t like being in the spotlight.

I heard that she refused the position of Saintess several times.

I don’t know the exact reason.

She showed a passive attitude, saying that she didn’t have the qualifications of a Saintess.

Looking at her staying in her dormitory room all day even after entering the academy, I can see how burdened she is by other people’s attention and how timid she is.

That’s that.

“…I don’t necessarily have to kill her.”

The Demonic energy on the dagger moves.

The shape of the rippled Demonic energy changes.

The Magic circle that had been distorted once it was used regains its shape.

“What would happen if I turned the Saintess into a Demon?”

Sticky Demonic energy wriggled like earthworms on Ethel’s back of his hand.

3.

“Hoo-yat…!”

Elia jumped out of the window.

Today, she did two rotations in the air and landed coolly.

“Kkeueueueung… Hoo-ah-eueue…”

She stretched refreshingly, breathing in the morning air.

Elia, who was only wearing a robe over her pajamas, headed to the forest behind the dormitory.

Elia’s daily routine begins with swordsmanship training in the forest before starting morning worship.

Other students think that Elia stays in her dormitory room all day, but in reality, she sneaks out of the window from time to time to secretly explore the academy or do swordsmanship training.

She almost got caught sneaking out a few times, but she has never been properly caught, so she is relieved and enjoys going out through the window.

“Egu-gu… Did I overdo it yesterday?”

Elia patted her shoulder.

She overdid it too much on the bed yesterday.

She suddenly wanted to move her body before going to bed, so she exercised, and her shoulder seemed to be stiff.

Still, I think I’m gaining muscle these days.

Elia rolled up the sleeves of her robe and gave strength to her right arm.

A cute little bicep popped up.

Now she can do two consecutive push-ups.

“Heh heh!”

She took the wooden sword hidden in the bushes and went deeper into the forest.

Inside this forest, there is a small clearing suitable for swordsmanship training.

It was about the time she arrived at the clearing.

There was a guest there.

“That kid is…?”

A silver-haired girl was wielding a sword.