episode_0057

Upon arriving at the academy, I immediately went to Professor-nim Alicia’s location.

Thud thud.

Professor-nim Alicia’s office was in the basement, just like the special class.

There were only two places in the basement that were in use.

One was the special class. The other was the faculty office used solely by Professor-nim Alicia.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

When I knocked on the faculty office door, Professor-nim Alicia’s blunt voice came from inside.

“Professor-nim, good afternoon!”

I opened the door and entered, greeting her brightly, as if nothing had happened.

Professor-nim Alicia tore her eyes from the paper she was reading and looked at me.

“Thanks to you, it’s not a good afternoon. I believed you because you were only late once and never again after that. But you arrived only at lunchtime…”

Professor-nim Alicia stopped speaking as she looked at me. She furrowed her brow. She squinted.

“Something happened.”

“Yes. A lot happened.”

I knew Professor-nim Alicia would notice. There was no blood on me, nor any smell of it, but such a small thing couldn’t escape a dragon’s eyes.

“What happened?”

“I met a necromancer.”

“What?”

Mana burst forth from Professor-nim Alicia’s body upon hearing my words.

Ash-colored mana, identical to Professor-nim Alicia’s hair, instantly filled the space.

‘This is a dragon’s mana.’

Beings who wield mana from birth.

To a dragon, mana was no different from their hands and feet.

The mana affected surrounding objects. Items nearby floated into the air.

But it had no effect on me.

“Huu.”

Professor-nim Alicia calmed the mana with a single deep breath.

I realized anew how powerful she was.

Professor-nim Alicia could easily kill someone like Mordor.

A dragon. No, Professor-nim Alicia was such a being.

“Tell me in detail.”

I recounted the events of today in detail.

How I started searching for the child in the morning because they weren’t there. How the child’s parents sold them to a suspicious group.

How tracking the suspicious group led me to discover they were in the sewers, and upon infiltrating, I found a necromancer inside.

And how I killed the necromancer with my own hands.

I had known from the beginning that the suspicious group was a necromancer cult, but I didn’t mention that.

Because I wasn’t confident in explaining it.

“You handled a necromancer alone?”

Professor-nim Alicia seemed more surprised by that part than the fact that necromancers were alive.

“Together with Senior-nim Johanna…”

“But you killed the necromancer alone, didn’t you?”

“That’s true.”

Professor-nim Alicia stared intently at me.

“Hmm. No matter how talented you are at strategic thinking, you’re still not at the level to capture a necromancer…”

Professor-nim Alicia stared at me for a long time, then sighed and opened her mouth.

“Haa… Right. What’s important is that you’re alive. Don’t participate in class today; rest comfortably in your dormitory.”

“Professor-nim Alicia, there’s something I want to say before I go.”

“If it’s not an important matter, speak briefly. My head is throbbing.”

I told Professor-nim Alicia that I wanted to take that child as my servant.

I possessed the qualifications myself. I had proven it by defeating the scum.

But whether I could take the child as a servant was another matter.

“I’ll handle that. You rest comfortably.”

Professor-nim Alicia is reliable.

“Thank you! Have a good afternoon!”

I bowed to Professor-nim Alicia and was about to leave the door.

“Loki.”

Professor-nim Alicia’s blunt voice came from behind me.

“You are my student. If something dangerous like today happens, contact me immediately and ask for help. I will rush to your aid anytime.”

It was a grateful and touching remark.

Unlike her blunt voice, it was warm.

“Even your words are appreciated. But Professor-nim?”

“Is there something else you want to say?”

“I don’t have a way to contact you, Professor-nim.”

“Ah.”

.

.

.

Having received permission from Professor-nim Alicia and boldly skipped class, I let my body fall onto the dormitory bed.

Lying on the soft bed and staring blankly at the ceiling, today’s events came to mind.

I had a nightmare because I couldn’t talk to Yerika the day before. It was harder because it was the first nightmare in a long time.

And then, the child was sold, and knowing the child was sold to a necromancer, my original personality surfaced.

And. And.

‘Haa… There’s no turning back. Well, that’s what I fell for about you.’

“……..!”

‘Even if I die saving you, I won’t regret it until the very end.’

“Ugh!”

‘There are many people in the world who need your help. But I need you more than all those countless people.’

“Uwaaaah!”

‘So, if you ever risk your life for others, I will stop you with all my strength. Even if hundreds of people die as a result, I don’t care.’

“Uwaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!”

What did I say to Johanna?

Isn’t this practically a confession?

Thump! Thump!

I furiously kicked the blanket.

If I could, I wanted to kick my past self.

One might wonder why I’m embarrassed after saying it myself.

But a moment ago, I was myself with my original personality, not my clown persona.

Even with my original personality, I wouldn’t say such embarrassing things. However, earlier, my suppressed emotions had burst forth.

In other words, I was half out of my mind.

There was no lie in what I said to Johanna.

But.

“Who in the world says everything that comes to their mind?!”

No one in the world would say whatever popped into their head.

As I kept kicking the blanket, feeling embarrassed.

He flinched.

A sense of déjà vu.

A soft metallic clang.

I immediately drew my sword from subspace. And I took a stance, ready to swing it at any moment.

Someone had just infiltrated my dormitory.

“Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue. My body and mana hadn’t fully recovered yet.

Should I break the window and go out to ask for help now?

While I was contemplating what to do.

“His Imperial Majesty calls for you.”

The intruder revealed himself. He was so dark, it was as if his body was covered in shadows.

It was the person who always abducted me whenever I went to the Imperial Palace.

I had always been knocked out, so I had never heard his voice or seen his face before, but I knew.

“Hello. I don’t think I’ve seen your face before. My name is Loki!”

“……………….”

I greeted him first, but he said nothing. After pondering for a long time what to say, I opened my mouth.

“Please knock me out gently.”

.

.

.

To cut a long story short, Loki was not knocked out.

However, he didn’t leisurely ride in a carriage; he arrived at the Imperial Palace on the back of the person who came to pick him up.

“Your Majesty, it’s been a long time. How have you been?”

Loki bowed his head to the Emperor in front of him and spoke. There probably wasn’t anyone who met the Emperor this frequently.

“The days when I taught you were good. Back then, I could leave the work to the Chancellor and rest.”

“The Chancellor would be very sad to hear that. Though it has nothing to do with me.”

The Emperor tapped his desk.

“Loki, what happened today?”

The weight of his words was different from when he had just spoken of leaving work to the Chancellor and resting.

Loki felt as if the Emperor’s words were engraved in his brain. It was the domination ability, which only imperial family members possessed, something he had experienced a few times before.

“Your Majesty, I will tell you everything, but could you please remove this? I’m tired, perhaps because so much happened today.”

The Emperor’s lips curled up as he watched Loki speak as if nothing was wrong.

‘He’s become much stronger.’

He had become so strong that it made one wonder if he had been hiding his power when they first met.

The domination he was using on Loki now was the same as when he first met Loki. Back then, Loki had trembled, but now Loki seemed unfazed.

‘Now that I think about it, even Shadow said Loki discovered him.’

If Shadow, whose specialty was infiltration and stealth, was discovered, then Loki must have become much stronger.

Normally, he would have wanted to test Loki by using his domination more strongly, but he didn’t have time for that due to the report he had received.

“Not much time has passed, but it seems Your Majesty has already noticed.”

Loki recounted the events of this morning. How he had chased a suspicious group while looking for the child and found a necromancer.

“What did you do with the necromancer’s corpse?”

Alicia had been surprised that Loki had killed the necromancer alone, but the Emperor was more concerned about the current situation.

“I burned everything, just in case.”

“Good, you’ve worked hard. I’ll give you a reward later.”

“Your Majesty, that necromancer spoke as if there were other necromancers besides himself.”

The Emperor furrowed his brow upon hearing Loki’s words.

“Continue.”

Loki conveyed information about Death Heaven to the Emperor, careful not to overdo it. He knew that giving too much information would make the Emperor suspicious.

“I see.”

The Emperor nodded as he listened to Loki.

The more he saw of this child, the more he liked him. Killing a necromancer alone at that age, and extracting information without getting agitated in such a situation, it was hard to believe he was just a student.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange if he became a bodyguard right now.

However, he was his daughter’s guard knight. He couldn’t just decide it carelessly.

‘I’ll have to confirm it during this hunting competition.’