Ch.321EP.69 – The Knight Cheers on the Youth (1)

Winter had passed, and it was time for green leaves to gently tap the ground as they emerged.

The warm sunlight and refreshing breeze carrying the rich scent of spring served as a key to open the Academy’s thick doors, prompting it to welcome students once more.

Spring. The season announcing the start of a new semester.

Just like last year, numerous freshmen who had passed the difficult entrance exams with countless dreams and hopes took their first steps into the Royal Academy. They were followed by students advancing to their second or third years, and the sight left the freshmen gasping in shock.

“Only 200 third-years?!”

“And just 500 second-years…”

“I heard there were many dropouts and withdrawals… It was true.”

Each year, about a thousand freshmen crossed the Academy’s threshold, but they say only 10% graduate—and it seemed to be true.

Wasn’t the meager number of upperclassmen proof enough?

The freshmen displayed various expressions mixing fear, anticipation, and confidence, but they all shared the same goal.

Graduation!

They were determined to survive at all costs to achieve this.

Pendragon Royal Academy.

A place where graduation guaranteed success, a hall of learning where not only commoners but even nobles exerted tremendous effort.

Moreover,

“…I wonder if they’re here?”

“They said they’d be noticeable… Ah, there they are!”

It was also an ideal place for building connections…

The students’ eyes, especially those of noble sons and daughters, were fixed on certain individuals.

Wasn’t it said that the reason for the highest number of applicants in nearly a decade—five hundred more students than last year—was to establish connections with those people?

As if to prove this wasn’t mere rumor, the freshmen’s eyes gleamed uncomfortably.

‘Black hair! That must be him. It can’t be anyone else. No one but the heir of Lionel could have such presence!’

‘…Lady Windler.’

‘Is that Lady Jeanne d’Arc? The protagonist of the rumor who was adopted by the Marquis who was impressed by her talent…’

‘That’s the grandson of the Sword Master… Oh, a Barbarian! Mystical races really do exist!’

‘Hmm, I wonder where the Mercenary King’s disciple is.’

After blood ties came regional connections, followed by school connections.

This saying was common throughout the southern region, no, across the entire continent. Among the freshmen, many wanted to establish connections with those people using school ties as an excuse.

Some had entered the Academy solely for this purpose, including many upper-class children whose success was already guaranteed.

It might be considered opportunistic behavior, but since they had all passed the difficult entrance exams, such dedication deserved admiration even if somewhat calculating.

In that sense…

‘If I join the Swordsmanship Department, could I get to know them?’

‘Sigh, to think I have to personally go to the Swordsmanship Department… But why do they attend so diligently? My brother clearly said that by second year, one should only take liberal arts classes and learn swordsmanship from the family knights…’

‘How peculiar. Well, it’s an unexpected stroke of luck for me.’

The very fact that those influential figures were diligently attending the Academy was a blessing and good fortune for the freshmen.

They had assumed that some would stop coming to the Academy altogether once they became second or third-years, but here they all were, gathered together!

The first-years assigned to the Swordsmanship Department dreamed of a brilliant future.

A future where they would mingle with those people.

…Of course.

“I’m Damian, the teaching assistant of the Swordsmanship Department, in charge of first-years starting today.”

“…?”

The problem was that things never go according to plan in this world.

“I don’t like doing this on the first day either, but I’m simply carrying out the instructor’s orders. Please don’t blame me, blame the instructor.”

“??”

“Now, run exactly one hundred laps. Ranks 1 through 30 pass, 31 through 50 are on hold, and the rest get demerits. Now, run.”

“Um, excuse me, what is this about…?”

“Excuse me?”

“…Yes?”

“Is that how you address your senior, and a teaching assistant at that?! Do you think this is your living room?! Can’t you use proper titles! So disrespectful.”

“……”

The first-year who had asked the question was terrified.

The intensity and ferocity emanating from the second-year who called himself a teaching assistant made his legs tremble.

The other first-years felt the same way, and among those overwhelmed were sons of knight families.

‘Da-Damian? Damian Pollet? The second son of the prestigious Pollet knight family?’

‘Was this Damian always like this? Such intimidating presence…’

Despite being only a year or two older, his aura completely dominated them.

But whether they were surprised or not, Damian Pollet didn’t care.

Rather:

“I’ll give you ten seconds. Anyone who doesn’t start running after that will be considered insubordinate and receive demerits. For your information, three demerits puts you on the list for potential expulsion.”

“……”

“Counting, 1, 2, …8!”

“What the-!!”

They wanted to protest why the count suddenly jumped from 2 to 8, but already overwhelmed, the freshmen couldn’t muster the courage to object and simply began running.

One hundred and thirty freshmen in the Swordsmanship Department.

It was the largest number since the department’s establishment, and Damian was burning with desire to reduce this formidable figure.

‘They just increase my workload like crazy, damn it!’

The instructor did nothing anyway, and as the one tasked with handling everything, Damian found 130 students far too many.

Besides:

‘More than half, no, over 70% of these are just trash, trash!’

Having unwittingly developed an eye for talent over the past year, Damian could see that many strange individuals were mixed in.

They were clearly either spies or people cultivated by certain factions.

Such people would only muddy the waters, and Damian had absolutely no desire to witness that.

He already had enough work to do, and wasting time on such people seemed pointless.

‘Just half, 65 people, no, a clean 60 people should remain, please.’

Even fewer would be better.

Damian. Two years remained until the end of his teaching assistant (slave) life.

For a peaceful remaining two years…

‘Don’t ruin my path, you trash!’

He would gladly become a demon!

Hammer Knight Damian glared at them mercilessly while fondling the spare hammer in his pocket.

“Hooh… The teaching assistant seems to have found his calling, hasn’t he?”

Meanwhile, Ihan, watching this entire scene from a high hill, couldn’t help but admire.

He was handling them perfectly.

The way he overwhelmed them with his presence and words to seize control from the start, plus that look in his eyes calculating how to torment people most effectively.

It couldn’t be anything but innate talent, and he was doing naturally what had taken Ihan eight years of military service to master.

“That’s talent, incredible talent. He was born with it.”

“Is, is that also considered innate talent?”

“Of course, not just anyone can handle people like that. Seeing how well he does it from the start, we can leave all the first-year classes and tests to him.”

“……”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…Nothing. I just think I know who helped Damian discover his talent.”

“?”

“He probably excels at it because he learned through firsthand experience of being handled himself…”

“Handled? I treated him humanely, you know.”

“……”

The gray-haired boy, Derrick, was speechless with shock.

If that was humane treatment…

‘How much worse could inhumane treatment possibly be?’

Derrick swallowed his words and remained silent, lacking the courage to peer into that abyss.

Sometimes, there are truths better left unknown.

* * *

To be clear, Ihan hadn’t delegated the freshmen to the teaching assistant out of laziness.

It was simply because…

“Why are there so many strange ones?”

Most of this year’s freshmen were suspicious characters swarming about.

Ihan could see it immediately.

The teaching assistant seemed to think about 70% were suspicious…

‘Except for about twenty, they’re all suspicious.’

Over 80% were strange individuals.

Ihan had been too busy lately to pay attention to Academy matters, so today was his first time seeing the freshmen.

Yet to think they had admitted so many suspicious characters…

‘…What’s that smell.’

Some even smelled of blood.

Not quite criminals, but people who belonged in mercenary groups or intelligence organizations rather than a hall of learning.

Seeing such unpleasant individuals scattered about made his brow furrow involuntarily.

‘Who admitted them?’

He didn’t know what criteria were used to accept them into the Swordsmanship Department, but he had absolutely no intention of accommodating people who would clearly cause trouble.

He had even less desire to teach them.

‘Should I just overturn everything?’

Just as Ihan’s expression turned cold…

“Please be patient, Instructor. This happened because of your reputation.”

“What reputation?”

“Didn’t I mention that the video of the battle in Modred has spread? Although your fame hasn’t reached the general public yet, there’s hardly a notable noble or merchant guild that doesn’t know your name. Those suspicious individuals are probably here to monitor you or attempt to win you over. So please don’t be too angry. It’s like the fate that comes with being famous.”

“…Are you mocking me?”

Ihan slightly clenched his fist as he looked at the dark-skinned fellow, and Roen immediately raised both hands in surrender.

“Please forgive me. If I get hit even in jest now, my head might explode.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“…It’s not an exaggeration.”

Roen refuted with a serious expression.

It was the absolute truth, not a joke.

As if announcing the start of the new semester with the scent of spring, the cries of freshmen echoed like an orchestra across the Swordsmanship Department’s training ground.

…For quite a long time.