“Is it true that you seek to major in history, Miss Hayes Roche?”

    Hearing that question from the examiner, the blue-eyed woman with a blond bob cut nodded her head immediately.

    “To be exact, I am very interested in theology. My dream is to chase the Light’s great miracle and follow in His footsteps when He appeared. Since the History Department has long and extensive historical documents, I thought that this place would be the perfect place to achieve this dream.”

    “Wow.”

    The professor of the History Department, who was acting as the first interviewer, exclaimed in admiration. Passion was an important factor in the field of archaeology, so passionate youngsters were always welcome in the department. The professor even wanted to ask if she had any plans to become a ‘graduate student’ while thinking about giving her some bonus points.

    However, this interview alone wouldn’t make the examiner know everything about the test taker.

    So…

    “Let’s meet at the debate hall.”

    “…Thank you!”

    Unlike the Swordsmanship Department or the Magic Department, the practical tests for the candidates who applied to the various academic departments were mostly debates. His words meant that she had passed the first interview.

    “I pray that I get a good evaluation in the practical test as well.”

    The girl said with a smile. Normally, they’d conduct the practical test first, but this year was a little different from the usual as they conducted the first interview first. But, them changing the content and order of the tests was something that happened every year, so this wasn’t anything strange.

    After that, the professor sent words of encouragement to the potential student of the History Department and left the interview room. Soon after that, the girl, who was wearing a bright smile on her face, also left the room without hiding her happiness.

    She then went into the bathroom and…

    “That was too easy.”

    The sweet smile on her face immediately disappeared—as if it was a lie—replaced by a cold expression. Not only that, there was also a hint of mockery on her face as she felt that things were going better than she thought.

    And here I thought the Royal Academy would be more thorough and ‘wicked’, but it’s way more ‘innocent’ than I thought.

    In fact, she had prepared a lot for the occasion, but things were going so smoothly that she didn’t even need to use those things, making her feel elated.

    However, there was still a matter that concerned her a little…

    I never thought I’d be meeting the person I was cautioned to be careful around so soon…

    Hayes Roche’s mind wandered to a certain knight who stood on the stage in front of 30,000 people. Even though he was just standing still, his intense spirit was able to overwhelm the crowd.

    …Lee Han Totle.

    Most of the information about the man was engraved in her head.

    [30 years old.]

    [He was born in a rural village between the Central and the Western Continent. However, his whereabouts for the next 15 years were unknown after his parents sold him to a slave trader when he was still young.]

    [He reappeared as a mercenary in a small mercenary group in the Southern Continent, but soon after, the group was destroyed due to a betrayal of a certain noble family from Britain. He was the only survivor.]

    [He reported his survival and the betrayal to the Mercenary Union, and the noble family that betrayed his group was destroyed soon after. He then settled in Pendragon and became a soldier, but a war broke out soon after.]

    [He was one of the few soldiers who survived the Southern Continent Unification War, which was said to have caused the greatest casualties among all the wars that has occurred in 300 years. He was then appointed as a knight by ‘Superhuman Baltar Grace’ directly, perhaps due to his considerable military achievements.]

    [Very little information circulated about him in the three years since he became a knight, but according to recent research, it was found that he is the best ‘magic hunter’ in the South and there is also a possibility that he is the same person as the ‘Heart Crusher’ who was also known as the ‘Slave Trader Hunter’.]

    [Regardless whether he is the Heart Crusher or not, it is judged that the power he possesses is extraordinary just from the fact that he was able to stop the Demon King-level monster.]

    [He is designated as a dangerous individual level 1 among 10 levels, and it is important to form friendly relations if possible. In the case if a hostile relation is formed…]

    …[Running away] is recommended.

    “Haa… It seems like the information about him is not an exaggeration…”

    Hayes burst into laughter. After seeing him in person, she completely understood why the temple had labeled him as a dangerous individual—he was a monster beyond comparison.

    I’ve never even seen such a monster in the temple—ah!

    …Come to think of it, there are some.

    ‘The guys’ that she was thinking about were on the same side as her, so she didn’t find them scary at all, but now that she saw a monster on the same level as them among the enemy, she couldn’t help but shiver in fear.

    She genuinely thought that it would be better for her to run away immediately as instructed. After all, no matter how much she thought about it, he was too much for her to handle.

    But…

    If it’s at night, then it’ll be a different story.

    As long as she could make good use of the [Mystic] that the organization had ‘blessed’ her with, there would only be a handful of people who could defeat her at night.

    It would be more so if they were men.

    “Phew.”

    Heyes pondered for a moment, and she quickly made a decision.

    I have to continue with the mission.

    It was all due to the nature of her mission; she absolutely had to pass the test.

    Running away is not an option. I have to continue taking the test.

    She didn’t think that running away was a bad move, it was just if she ran away now, she’d lose everything that she had. There was a high possibility that she’d be branded as useless by the organization.

    For her, the only thing worse than death was being judged as useless and being ‘discarded’. She couldn’t afford to have that kind of future.

    No matter how much that knight suspects me, he can’t do anything to an exam taker, that I’m sure of.

    If there was one thing she knew, it was that he was still a knight and an instructor. Someone with the honor of a knight and the duty of instructor could never harm her no matter what.

    However…

    Clack-!

    “…”

    “I’ll start asking questions now. Every time your answer is delayed by even a single second, I’ll pull the trigger. Don’t worry, you won’t die right away. After all, you have the ‘Dream Demon Power’ inside you—the one they extracted from me.”

    “Y-You…”

    “Dream Demons won’t die from a mere gunshot. Let’s get started.”

    Crack-!

    The woman appeared calm on the outside, but anyone that took a closer look at her would be able to see that she was anything but.

    She, Judia Pierre aimed her gun straight at the back of Hayes’ head with a sinister glare. At this, Hayes Roche could only break out in a cold sweat.

    “I-If you do this, you will only get in trouble, Priest Pierre.”

    Hayes was taken aback for a moment, but she soon regained her confidence. Even though she had a gun pointed to the back of her head, she was still able to say what she wanted to say, showcasing her strong will.

    However…

    “I see. So you still don’t know your place.”

    Bang-!

    She just chose the wrong person to defy.

    Heretic Inquisitors.

    They were people who would never engage in pointless emotional fights or compromises, assassins of the temple who were thoroughly trained to eliminate anything that went against the teachings of the Light of Brilliance.

    Judia Pierre pulled the trigger without hesitation. Hit by the gunshot, Hayes felt like her head was about to explode.

    “Keuk!?”

    …But, even though she felt that way, her head didn’t actually explode. It wasn’t because the gun wasn’t powerful enough, but rather because a gun alone couldn’t pierce the head of a ‘Dream Demon’.

    “A Dream Demon’s body is like liquid. They have a mysterious constitution that makes them look like they have substance, but one still can’t touch them.”

    “Ugh!”

    “That’s why most physical attacks aren’t that effective against them, why most attacks won’t be enough to kill them.”

    Clink-!

    Judia Pierre elaborated about Hayes’ own powers. But, unlike her calm tone, her eyes seemed to be burning with fire. That was understandable though, after all, the woman’s power was the result of the experiments where the temple had tortured her.

    Her anger only grew as she recalled the pain and suffering that she thought she had forgotten, or rather, that she had been forcibly ignoring.

    “However, even though Dream Demon won’t die from physical attacks, they will still feel the pain. The bullet that hit your head in particular is coated with poison. The pain you feel will probably be twice as much.”

    “!!”

    “Do you feel it now? Well, that’s good. You’ll understand your hubris as the pain gets worse.”

    “Ahhh!”

    “Do you want the pain to go away? Then be obedient and answer my questions. Who sent you? How did you get your power? Tell me everything. If you do that…”

    Clink-!

    “-I’ll let you die without pain.”

    That was the most merciful option Pierre could bestow. After all, if she wanted to, she could keep on torturing her while keeping her alive.

    However…

    “H-Haaa…haaa… S-Stop talking nonsense! T-That’s what you call a proposal?!”

    Unfortunately, this was Hayes’ first time facing an inquisitor, so she didn’t know that the offer was really a show of mercy. Instead, she gritted her teeth, snickering as she writhed in pain.

    “D-Don’t make me laugh! H-How dare you treat me like this! A-Are you trying to betray Cardinal Raphael, your benefactor?! How dare a human butcher who acts like a hunting dog—”

    “…”

    “Ah, come to think of it, you’re not even human, aren’t you? You’re just a made-up personality, isn’t that right, Priest Pierre—”

    Bang-!

    Bang-!

    The sound of gunfire rang out one after another.

    However, Pierre didn’t fire her gun in anger.

    She was simply…

    “Still not knowing your place, I see. It seems like you grew up sheltered in the temple.”

    “Ahhhhhh!”

    “This kind of reaction to merely this much pain… Weren’t you raised as an assassin?”

    “A-An assassin?! O-Of course not, I-I’m going to be a saintess! A-A saint—huh?!”

    For a moment, Hayes’ eyes widened.

    …Why did I say that?

    “Seems like the poison is finally taking effect.”

    “!?”

    “Some people misunderstand us inquisitors as murderers, but our original mission is to punish those who threaten the temple and extract information from them. In other words, we have dozens of ways to make someone like you tell us everything we want. The poison I injected into your body is considered a rather strong method even among them. From now on, until you draw your last breath, it might be hard for you to lie.”

    “L-Lies…!”

    “If it makes you feel better, you can think of it as a lie.”

    The way Pierre threatened Hayes made it sound like a joke, but the latter’s eyes went bloodshot.

    What a vicious little lady.

    Even though she was still being tormented by the pain of the poison and the shot, she was still so stubborn.

    Brainwashed—no, she’s just convinced that she is the Chosen One.

    Pierre knew these types of people well. They were those who were taught by the temple to think that they were ‘special’.

    After all, this was the technique often used by heretics. Seeing the temple using such a thing, she clicked her tongue inwardly.

    Those heretics!

    Thinking that there were more heretics in the temple than she had thought, she became furious.

    At that moment…

    “Y-You’re going to regret this! If something happens to me, ‘they’ are gonna make their move!”

    “They?”

    “T-The [Family of the Templars] that cooperates with the temple! You’ve heard of them, right?”

    “…”

    Because of the poison that forced her to be truthful, Hayes blurted out everything, and when Pierre heard her say ‘Family of the Templars’, a single family came to her mind.

    The family that has produced more Templar Knights than anyone since a long time ago; the family that was more loyal to the temple than to the royal family.

    “Lohengrin…”

    The family of Count Lohengrin.

    They were one of the founding families of the Pendragon which had been said to have served the King of Knights.

    Pierre’s expression hardened at the thought that they had infiltrated the Academy.

    “D-Do you understand now? Y-You touched someone you shouldn’t have touched!”

    Hayes started to lash out on her, as if cursing her. Even when she was feeling a lot of pain, she still had a tenacity to provoke her opponent, and it seemed as if everything she said would come true.

    However…

    “Lohengrin, huh? Are they invading from the east?”

    “…H-How?”

    “So I’m right? Well, that’s fortunate. Now it makes sense why he headed that way.”

    “??”

    “Heh.”

    For the first time, the smile on Pierre’s lips contained amusement rather than mockery.

    Because she found the situation really amusing.

    Her opponent seemed to have prepared the best possible countermeasure, but they were still a bunch of hopeless lambs in front of [an individual] who was stronger than most predators.

    “Foolish people. Know this. In this academy…”

    ─There’s a monster within.

    *   *   *

    Crackle-!

    “?”

    For some reason, Lee Han felt a tickle in his ears and the bridge of his nose.

    Did I catch a cold?

    “No, that can’t be. I don’t catch colds so easily…”

    Is it because it’s cold out here?

    Well, I guess it’s a given since I’ve experienced seasons in a strange way this time.

    After suffering through the winter snowstorm, he was now facing the autumn weather.

    Due to him experiencing the seasons in reverse order, his body had probably become a little weaker.

    “Getting older is scary. When I was in my 20s, I used to be so healthy…”

    Crackle-!

    “Oh, you guys should take care of yourself well while you’re still young too. You’ll get in big trouble if you fail to.”

    “…”

    “Except for this arrogant brat, fuck this guy.”

    The waist and back of the man who boasted a height of 3 meters above Lee Han’s head were breaking.

    Argentine Backbreaker.

    It was a wrestling technique where its user would grab the opponent’s thighs and neck, and crush them on the user’s shoulders. If someone were to ask what kind of advantage using this technique had, it was none other than…

    “I told you already, don’t litter in the Academy’s grounds if you don’t want me to break your spine.”

    Crack-!

    It was a technique suitable for folding someone’s spines.

    Lee Han was someone who, once said something, would always keep his word.


    0 Comments

    Heads up! Your comment will be invisible to other guests and subscribers (except for replies), including you after a grace period.
    Note
    // Script to navigate with arrow keys