Skolhart (2)

1.

“……O, O-Oppa.”

Yuriel, her voice trembling slightly, called the tall, handsome man with abundant hair “Oppa.”

His name was Eric Van Skolhart.

The eldest son of the Skolhart Family in the North, and the top student of the Imperial Academy’s Swordsmanship department, 4th year.

Almost all the students, regardless of their grades, had applied for Elia’s temporary professorship’s Basic Swordsmanship class this time, but he was one of the few students who didn’t pay attention to her, even after hearing that she had defeated a Legion Commander alone.

He had a strong sense of self and great pride in his family’s swordsmanship.

He didn’t really want to enter the Academy, but he had to graduate from the Imperial Academy in order to lead the family in the future, so he enrolled.

“I heard you came in second in the entrance exam?”

Eric’s cold voice pierced Yuriel.

“……I, I got first place in this midterm exam.”

It was a small retort born of courage.

But, as if to say, “So what?” Eric said.

“That doesn’t erase the fact that you came in second. The Skolhart Family must always be first. I thought you would have learned that’s how we survive?”

She didn’t want praise.

She wanted a little recognition.

She had heard about being first place so much that she just wanted him to pass by quietly.

“As if tarnishing the family name wasn’t enough, you’re even having an affair.”

“T, that’s not…”

“Don’t talk back.”

“Yes…”

Yuriel was completely intimidated.

She hunched her shoulders, which never flinched even when she was bullied by the other students.

Her eyes, always full of strength, drooped like a rain-soaked puppy.

“We’re not dating.”

As a chilling aura swirled between the two, Yohan stepped in.

Eric’s eyes turned to Yohan.

“We were just going to lunch together as friends.”

Yohan put his arm around Yuriel’s shoulders in a friendly manner.

Eric’s gaze grew even colder.

It was the look he gave to insects.

“Who are you?”

Yohan introduced himself confidently.

“I’m Yuriel’s friend, Yohan.”

“……We were friends?”

Yuriel, her eyes wide, blinked and asked.

“We take classes together, we train together, so we’re friends. And we’ve mixed bodies several times.”

Yuriel’s eyes widened even more at Yohan’s answer.

“W, w, when did we mix bodies…?”

Her pale skin was flushed with crimson heat, as if she had a fever.

Yuriel frantically waved her hands.

“N, no, we didn’t. We really didn’t, Oppa.”

“Are you trying to pretend that never happened? How disappointing.”

“I’m not trying to pretend it never happened, it just didn’t happen…!”

Yohan tilted his head as if he didn’t understand.

“We sparred several times, didn’t we?”

“……What?”

“We did during the entrance exam, and during class.”

“……Sparring?”

“Yeah, sparring.”

Yuriel’s face turned even redder.

She had made a big mistake.

When he said they had mixed bodies, she naturally thought he meant the kind of act between a man and a woman.

It’s not my fault…!

It’s Yohan’s fault for making such a misleading statement.

“Anyway, we’re friends.”

Yohan stared straight at Eric.

A coldness flowed across Eric’s face.

His naturally pale skin, a trait of his family, was even paler.

“So, I’m going to butt in a little.”

Yohan’s eyes, which were smiling brightly, narrowed.

“Can’t you give her a word of praise? I heard she got first place on the midterm exam?”

“Why should I praise her?”

Eric took a step closer and looked down at Yohan.

“First place is natural for the Skolhart Family’s bloodline. Do you praise someone for doing what’s natural?”

“I guess Seonbae has only ever been in first place his whole life.”

“Yes, I have always been in first place. That’s natural, and that’s what Skolhart is. On the other hand, that half-wit is just a shameful person who only tarnishes the family name.”

No matter how fiercely Yohan glared, Eric didn’t even blink.

In his eyes, Yohan was just one of thousands of insects.

Why would he be afraid?

He was just a pathetic insect.

“I don’t know what the Skolhart Family’s motto is, but I know that Yuriel is not a delinquent student enough to tarnish the family name.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying stop looking down on Yuriel.”

They weren’t really close friends.

Calling them friends was something they had just decided.

Even if trying to protect an outcast now seemed hypocritical, Yohan couldn’t stand seeing Yuriel being insulted.

He had been watching her train for the past few days.

How hard Yuriel worked.

How seriously she held her sword, as if training with the sword was everything to her.

She had a sharp tongue and an unsavory personality, but after watching her work so hard, he wanted to get to know her.

“What does it matter to you whether I look down on her or not?”

“Because we’re friends.”

“Does being friends mean you can interfere in other people’s family affairs?”

“I think I can offer advice.”

Eric shook his head.

“You’re not even worth talking to.”

Eric turned his body.

The students who followed him like followers turned in the same direction.

“Are you running away?”

Eric, who was about to go on his way, stopped.

“Run away? Who’s running away?”

“You are, Seonbae.”

Eric scoffed.

“This isn’t running away, it’s avoiding. You have to avoid dirty things.”

“Before you go, just say one word of congratulations to Yuriel. She got first place on the midterm exam. It must have been hard to get first place this year, especially with the rumored new student.”

The rumored new student.

Eric had heard of him too.

There was a student who had defeated a Demon alone this year.

The hero of the Academy, or something like that.

He had actually seen him.

The moment he jumped off the clock tower and defeated the Demon.

Eric was there too, so he saw it.

He was a man with a different kind of spirit.

The sight of him holding a hand axe and standing on the Demon was more demonic than the Demon itself.

He was one of the few students in the Academy that he could acknowledge.

“I see you don’t understand when I tell you with words.”

Eric placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

A long sword hilt that could be gripped with both hands.

The moment he did, the blue blade rushed towards Yohan.

Before he could even recognize that the sword had been drawn, the blade was about to cut off Yohan’s shoulder.

A surprise attack with a long sword.

He couldn’t keep up with his eyes.

Yohan’s right arm was cleanly cut off.

“How dangerous.”

If the Saintess hadn’t caught it in the middle.

“Isn’t it against the rules to use a sword against a student on campus outside of class?”

The Saintess was holding Eric’s sword with her bare hands.

Even though the blue blade was digging into the flesh of her palm and blood was flowing down, she was calm.

She even seemed relaxed.

“What are you?”

Eric glared at the Saintess.

“I’m just an ordinary Saintess.”

There was nothing ordinary about her.

Not her position as a Saintess.

Not the fact that she caught Eric’s sword with her bare hands.

The fact that she caught the fast sword, which no one in this place could follow with their eyes, was the biggest problem. It wasn’t just that she caught the blue blade with her bare hands.

-Thud

He felt a murderous aura on the back of his neck.

“Get your sword away from the Saintess.”

When he turned around, a student with a murderous look on his face was holding a sword as if he was about to cut off Eric’s neck.

It was the Holy Knight, Rael.

He hadn’t felt his presence until three steps ago.

He could feel the aura of a skilled person from him too.

“Brother Rael, put your sword away.”

Rael glared at Eric before sheathing his sword.

“I won’t tell the Papal Authority.”

The Saintess released Eric’s sword.

“We should avoid making things noisy.”

She spread out her palm and showed it to Eric as if to show off.

A clear wound across her palm.

The deeply cut wound was staining her white sleeves with blood.

A divine light bloomed.

The wound healed immediately.

It was a healing power that could be called a miracle.

Eric sheathed his sword.

“Ah, and.”

She said to Eric’s back as he was about to turn around.

“Please don’t look at my students like they’re insects.”

Eric looked at the Saintess.

Blood-red eyes with a smile on her face.

It had been a long time since someone had looked him straight in the eye.

Even Yohan from earlier looked at him with trembling eyes.

He didn’t feel any fear from the Saintess.

She was relaxed.

“Students?”

“They’re my students because they’re taking the Basic Swordsmanship class that I teach.”

She was giving them personal training, but she didn’t bring that up.

There was no reason to bring it up.

There was no need to bring it up.

“Do you understand?”

The Saintess looked at Eric with a smiling face.

A sense of pressure.

It was as if a huge being was looking down on him.

Even though she was clearly much smaller than him.

He had never felt this much pressure even from his father.

Grandfather.

Yes, she reminded him of his Grandfather.

He had stepped down from the position of head of the family, but he was still the strongest Knight, teaching the Skolhart Family’s Knights.

He was a man who had stood shoulder to shoulder with the Sword Saint in the past.

He could feel the aura of such a person from this girl.

“……”

Eric nodded his head once and turned around.

He instinctively felt that he shouldn’t provoke this girl.

After Eric and his gang disappeared, the Saintess slapped Yohan on the back.

“You’re really picking fights, aren’t you?”

“…I’m sorry.”

“But I like the way you stood up for your friend. Good job.”

Hmm hmm, camaraderie is important.

The Saintess nodded her head, thinking of Yohan from earlier.

“Let’s go get lunch. Brother Rael will pay, right?”

“Huh??”

“Tell me everything you want to eat.”

The Saintess took Yohan and Yuriel to the restaurant.