Ch.147Chapter 147. Final Chapter (1)

*Shing-*

The black-bladed sword showed off its aura just by being drawn from its scabbard.

Elaine drew the Black Shadow Sword that Ryuyeong once used and swung it lightly.

There was a time when she couldn’t even look at the Black Shadow Sword because her emotions would overwhelm her, but now she was somewhat okay with drawing and swinging it.

*Shing-*

After swinging the sword for a while, Elaine sheathed the Black Shadow Sword again.

It truly was an excellent sword.

Almost too good for someone like her to wield.

‘Ryu.’

Elaine gripped the Black Shadow Sword tightly as she murmured the name that made her heart ache just by remembering it.

She could hardly believe that several months had already passed since Ryu and Satan had their duel and both disappeared.

To Elaine, it felt like it had happened only recently.

But contrary to how Elaine perceived it, time flowed quickly and honestly.

As Elaine had expected, Ryu had indeed disappeared from the continent along with Satan that day.

After enduring for several days alone on the island, Elaine was rescued by members of the Black Shadow Corps who arrived belatedly.

Elaine lost consciousness as soon as she saw Yuria, and when she woke up again, she had returned to the Crescen Empire.

While Elaine was unconscious, the political situation on the continent had changed dramatically once more.

The human allied forces didn’t wait for Satan’s monsters to come; instead, they launched a counterattack on the north, and this operation was hugely successful.

The monsters hiding in the north were no longer the same monster army as before.

Not only had their numbers drastically decreased, but the monsters that once had black skin had all returned to their original state.

Moreover, the monsters that seemed to be under no one’s command anymore were literally hunted down by the human allied forces.

The end of Arte Flora, Satan’s only human subordinate, was more anticlimactic than expected.

Standing dazed as if she had lost her mind even as the allied forces stormed in, Arte had her head severed with a single stroke by Kassis.

The announcement from the Black Shadow Corps, which coincided with the allied forces’ annihilation of Satan’s army, brought peace to the continent in an instant.

The story that Black Shadow Corps Commander Ryuyeong had dealt with Satan.

Just like that, the continent suddenly regained peace as suddenly as it had fallen into chaos.

The allied forces that had gathered in the north quickly disbanded after achieving their goal, and only the Crescen Imperial Army remained to handle the aftermath.

The Black Shadow Corps, which had dealt with Satan, and especially Commander Ryuyeong, became continental heroes.

However, Ryuyeong had not appeared in public since that day.

It was widely believed that he had sustained serious injuries in the battle with Satan, but Elaine knew the exact reason.

Ryuyeong, or Ryu, could no longer appear because he no longer existed on this continent.

“Sigh.”

The Black Shadow Sword, Ryu’s last trace left on the island, was given to Elaine thanks to the consideration of Yuria and Addy.

Apparently, there were no knights in the Black Shadow Corps, and the commander would probably prefer that Elaine have it, or something like that.

And so, the situation was somehow resolved, and time passed slowly but steadily.

People’s topics of conversation gradually shifted from Satan and the Black Shadow Corps to more everyday matters, and Satan’s appearance was increasingly viewed as just a passing incident.

The return to normalcy was the same for Crescen Academy.

Crescen Academy, which had been on break, decided to resume the second semester without extending the vacation period.

And today was the first day back.

Honestly, Elaine still couldn’t believe it.

The events of the past half year seemed like a dream.

From entering Crescen Academy to the inter-grade competition, the Cain Hover incident, the festival attack, and finally Satan’s resurrection.

All these events had happened in less than a year.

And at the center of all these incidents was always Ryu.

‘Damn it.’

When her thoughts reached this point, Elaine felt a pang in her heart again.

Elaine still hadn’t completely escaped her feelings of self-reproach.

If only she hadn’t been captured that day, Ryu would still be attending the academy with her.

If only she had…

“Elaine!”

*Startled-*

Just as Elaine was about to sink into her thoughts, she snapped back to reality at someone’s voice.

The owner of the voice coming from outside was Cynthia.

Looking out the window, Elaine saw Cynthia, already prepared to go to the academy, waving toward her room.

“I’ll be right there.”

“Hurry up!”

Elaine hastily strapped on the Black Shadow Sword and left her room.

The Sinclair mansion, which had been destroyed, had already been perfectly restored.

Elaine quickly exited the mansion, receiving greetings from servants she wasn’t yet familiar with.

Cynthia welcomed Elaine with a bright smile.

“It’s been so long since we’ve been to the academy.”

“Yeah.”

Elaine desperately tried to appear nonchalant as Cynthia spoke as if nothing had happened.

Elaine knew very well that Cynthia was doing this for her sake.

After being kidnapped by Satan, Elaine knew she hadn’t been herself.

As soon as her body recovered, Elaine had immersed herself in training.

Blaming herself that if she had been just a little stronger, none of this would have happened.

Only recently had she begun to calm down and return to a normal life.

“We’re meeting Emily at the academy entrance.”

“Mmm.”

Elaine somehow managed to take her heavy steps forward.

**

“As you all know, a lot has happened recently.”

Elaine looked around absentmindedly as she listened to Professor Amillion’s words.

The students of Class 1-S were all the same.

Except for one person, Ryu, who wasn’t in his seat.

Elaine wasn’t in the right state of mind to properly hear what the professor was saying.

Although Ryu hadn’t come to the academy before the break either, the feeling of his empty seat then and now was very different.

Back then, there was a belief that Ryu would return someday, but not anymore.

The empty seat of someone who she knew couldn’t return felt bigger and wider than expected.

“So the academy has prepared a simple event.”

Elaine was still lost in thought, unable to focus on Professor Amillion’s words.

The journey to the academy had been somewhat okay, but once she entered the classroom, she couldn’t stop thinking about Ryu.

“…So we’ll finish early today. That’s all.”

‘Ah.’

Elaine couldn’t remember anything from Professor Amillion’s speech, though she thought she had heard something about an event.

Elaine watched Professor Amillion leave the classroom and then turned her head back.

Cynthia looked at Elaine with a knowing smile, as if she had expected this.

“You didn’t hear any of that, did you?”

“No. I couldn’t concentrate.”

“There’s no class today, and we’ll just have a simple event prepared by the academy and then we’re done.”

“Event?”

“Yeah. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but the top and second-ranked students from each grade will participate in something? For the first years, that’s you and Emily… oh.”

Elaine flinched as soon as she heard the word “top-ranked.”

First-year top student.

That was Ryu.

Cynthia, realizing her mistake, covered her mouth and cleared her throat.

“Ahem. Anyway, so it seems you and Emily will be doing something.”

“I… see.”

Cynthia and Emily still didn’t know the full truth about Ryu.

Elaine later found out that these two had only been told that Ryu wouldn’t return to the academy due to his work with the Black Shadow Corps.

In other words, the two of them still didn’t know that Ryu was actually Black Shadow Corps Commander Ryuyeong.

‘Maybe that’s better.’

Elaine thought as she forced herself to nod.

Unlike Elaine, Cynthia and Emily, who didn’t know Ryu’s true identity, weren’t seriously uncomfortable mentioning him.

Elaine had once heard them say that they might have a chance to meet him again after graduating from the academy.

“Should we go ahead? It’s being held in the auditorium?”

Emily, who had approached from the side, joined the conversation.

Elaine nodded at Emily’s words and picked up the Black Shadow Sword as she stood up.

She didn’t know what they were going to do, but the Black Shadow Sword was now like a part of Elaine’s body.

Something she always had to carry.

“Did you hear that rumor? They say students from O’Neil are coming to our academy for a field trip this semester?”

“What? Really?”

On the way to the auditorium, Cynthia spoke up.

Emily was the one who responded to Cynthia’s words.

‘…We really are returning to normal life.’

Elaine thought as she listened to the two talking about events that would happen in the second semester.

The world was getting closer and closer to normalcy.

Except for her.

“And they say we might go on a field trip to the north! Apparently, it’s even safer now because this incident drastically reduced the number of monsters living there.”

While only two of the three participated in the conversation as they walked, Elaine’s group arrived at the auditorium.

The auditorium was already quite crowded with students.

They all looked bright and happy.

‘Sigh.’

Elaine let out a deep internal sigh as she looked at her peers and seniors.

Beyond them, on the auditorium stage, there was an elegantly written banner.

<Crescen Academy Opening Ceremony, Prize Drawing Event>

This seemed to be the simple event Professor Amillion had mentioned.

An event where grade representatives participate in a drawing to distribute prizes selected for each grade.

Judging by the list of prizes written behind, the gap between prizes wasn’t that big.

The first prize was a cake, and the sixth prize was candy.

It was literally just a fun event.

Normally, there wouldn’t be such an event for the opening ceremony, but it seemed like a device to somehow breathe life into the students after everything that had happened.

“Sigh.”

Of course, it didn’t work at all for Elaine.