Ch.221221. Master and Disciple

“The most important one is Aria.”

At my words, everyone’s gaze turns toward the small girl with black hair.

Though she scratches the back of her head awkwardly, Aria shrugs her shoulders, seemingly pleased to be acknowledged by me in front of so many people.

“Everyone, be my stepping stone.”

Her words weren’t heroic at all, but anyway.

KUAAAAAAA!

No one could criticize her arrogant words. There simply wasn’t time for that.

Romuleus’s monstrous cry echoes urgently.

I continued speaking immediately.

“Aria is the only one here who can kill that monster. So we need to support her and push forward.”

“So we’re just babysitting the kid? Are you wearing diapers?”

“Are you kidding me?! I’m eighteen! I’m old enough to get married according to kingdom law!”

Watching Aria rush at Findenai’s mockery.

The royal representatives—Archmage Rockpellican, Magic Judge Tyren, and Royal Guard Gloria—wore bewildered expressions.

They’d naturally be confused by people exchanging marketplace banter in front of a monster trying to devour the kingdom.

“So we just need to break through those incoming tentacles and get this kid to the front?”

Deia, drinking a mana potion she’d found somewhere, gulps it down in one go.

Her shotgun hums with blue light, ready to unleash firepower once again.

“I’m not a kid.”

“That’s correct.”

“P-Professor?!”

Ignoring Aria’s continued objections, I continued.

“Tyren, with the strongest defense, should lead the way with the Magic Judges.”

“So I’m the meat shield? Fine, I’ll do it.”

Tyren immediately gathers the judges with his staff in hand.

Arranged in a long line, they form a barrier, clearing a path while blocking the tentacles that had already begun attacking.

“To protect this land, I’ll move first!”

After confirming he was taking the lead, I immediately turned to Gloria and the Royal Guard.

“I’m counting on you.”

“I don’t like that Tyren goes first, but… Royal Knights are swords, not shields.”

There was no need to say anything more.

Gloria raised her greatsword high and formed a second barrier with the Royal Knights behind Tyren.

Since there were so many tentacles, some broke through the Magic Judges’ mana barriers.

But when the Royal Knights joined, their numbers decreased significantly.

“Darius and Deia…”

Honestly, I would have preferred if they stayed behind.

“I’ll join the Royal Knights. There’s not much else I can do anyway.”

Darius shouts and rushes forward before I can tell him to go, taking the initiative.

Deia, watching his back with a look of pride, loads her shotgun and slings it over her shoulder.

“I can’t clear a path anyway. I’ll just provide cover fire from the side.”

“Sigh, stay by my side since it’s dangerous.”

Better to keep her close than send her away and risk what she might do.

“Findenai, protect her well.”

“Easy.”

Findenai clenching his fist looked quite out of place, since only the Blood Claw’s hand could inflict damage.

“…When this is over, I’ll look into finding an axe that suits you.”

“Oh?”

I had originally planned to find and give him the Bangbu he used in the game.

But after seeing him handle the Warshoes so freely, I changed my mind.

Rather than giving him his drop item, providing a higher-tier item would better unleash Findenai’s potential.

It was truly time to depart now. The number of tentacles pouring down was increasing, and the surrounding buildings had long been half-destroyed.

“Lord Rockpellican, the path.”

“Ah, yes.”

At my words, Rockpellican gathered mana and raised his staff again.

The mana of his disciples behind him resonated together, and the formless mana quickly manifested as magic.

KRUDDDDDD!

The ground begins to rise at an incline.

A rough, unaesthetic, but thick and massive stone bridge forms.

The bridge gradually extends toward Romuleus.

Tentacles fly in to destroy it, but…

BWOONG!

Gloria leaps from the ground with a burst of flame, running along the forming bridge and cutting down tentacles.

KUUNG!

As the magically created temporary stone bridge is completed, Rockpellican speaks in an exhausted voice while wiping away cold sweat.

“Good luck to you all.”

Even for an Archmage, he had performed many difficult, large-scale spells today.

He deserved a rest, so I expressed my gratitude and headed onto the bridge.

“Luanes, you take the lead.”

“…Using me so blatantly.”

Despite saying that, Luanes calmly took the front position and began running.

Tentacles spurted out from everywhere. White smoke rising from his entire body transformed into hand-like shapes.

The white hands grabbed, burned, or tore apart the tentacles, demonstrating their power.

“Is that really spirit magic?”

Findenai questioned whether Luanes was a Spiritmaster, but he indeed was.

However, unlike me, he doesn’t handle spirits in the usual way.

[He manipulates his own soul, doesn’t he?]

The Dark Spiritmaster, who had approached me, looked at Luanes’s back with disbelief.

He guessed correctly at a glance.

That’s right.

Luanes Luden Griffin is a Spiritmaster who manipulates souls, but he manipulates his own soul.

That’s why he was a Spiritmaster who didn’t need others’ souls.

That’s not to say he couldn’t handle other souls like me. But to see the evil spirits he possessed, one would need to be in a life-threatening situation.

We wouldn’t see them now.

I ran following behind Luanes, with Aria immediately following me.

Behind her was Deia, and finally Findenai.

With our formation set, I called to Aria.

“Run while conserving your strength as much as possible. Don’t draw your sword yet.”

“Yes! I know!”

Her voice was filled with pride at having understood the answer I gave her.

Hearing it, I couldn’t help but have a faint smile on my face.

Somehow I had become a professor, feeling proud of my student’s achievement as if it were my own.

“Professor! Do you remember when you freed me from the hero’s fate?”

“Yes, of course.”

As we continued pushing forward, Aria began a somewhat unexpected conversation.

Ignoring the presence of Findenai and Deia…

“You told me that was the ending of the life I had been carrying.”

The ending of Aria Rius, who lived as the hero in the game Retry.

And the life of student Aria Rius that would unfold from now on.

Thinking about it, I realized I had promised to give her an ending, but I had received quite a lot of help from her until now.

“I’m sorry.”

Because of my shortcomings, there were situations where she had to wield her sword.

I apologized for that, but Aria smiled as if she had expected it and shook her head.

“No, I’m not blaming you, Professor. This is my fault.”

“…”

“You gave me a weapon that could kill a god, but you didn’t tell me about it. You wanted me to realize it myself.”

Yes, that’s right.

She currently possessed the only weapon in this land that could kill a god.

“You showed me the path, but the realization is something I had to achieve on my own. Being spoon-fed everything by others doesn’t lead to growth.”

Hearing that far, I could guess what she was going to say next.

But I deliberately didn’t interrupt her.

Some things have meaning when spoken aloud and heard, even if already understood.

“Professor, you showed me that I could end my life as a hero.”

“…”

“But breaking those shackles is ultimately something I have to do myself.”

The distance to Romuleus was getting closer. Somehow, Aria was already holding the Sword of Gluttony, Duatein, in her hand.

The greatsword that had cut down and devoured two Black Mages of Dante. It always carried an extraordinary aura, but today it was especially ominous.

The black greatsword was strangely twisted, its color unstable.

And that very sword…

Was the only weapon here that could cut down Romuleus.

“Professor, you prepared everything for me—the method, the opportunity. Everything.”

“…”

“Now I’ll do my part.”

Normally, Duatein isn’t a particularly excellent weapon.

But due to its characteristic…

It changes properties by consuming what it cuts down.

And the last thing Duatein had cut was none other than Mul’s avatar.

I had used Duatein to cut down Mul when he visited the Academy.

Since then, Duatein had been continuously changing its form.

Probably, a sword that had consumed the remnants of a god could only be properly wielded once.

It wouldn’t withstand more than that.

But just once.

I was confident that would be enough opportunity for Aria.

“The resistance is getting stronger.”

Luanes, who was leading the way, begins to slow down.

Tyren and Gloria below had stopped advancing long ago.

The closer we got to Romuleus, the stronger and larger the tentacles that came to face us.

“We’ll approach Romuleus from here. Take the left.”

I step to Luanes’s right and swing my hand widely.

[KIAAAAA!]

With Vellica’s boisterous scream from my prosthetic hand, black mana bursts forth, tearing apart the tentacles.

“Archdemon Vellica…”

Luanes hesitated briefly seeing my spirit magic, then emitted even more dense smoke from his entire body.

“I can’t fall behind.”

The white hands made of smoke and Vellica’s black mana roughly clear a path.

For a moment, the sky opens up.

“Hold tight!”

In that gap, Findenai’s Warshoes from behind emit flames and smoke simultaneously.

Dashing forward at maximum output, he grabs Aria’s waist and leaps forward.

“I’ll be back!”

Aria’s cry, gripping Duatein firmly with both hands, echoes far.

The distance between the two of them and us quickly increased.

“Come back safely.”

All I could do was watch the back of my student who had grown so much.