Chapter 128
Chapter 128
Academy’s Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Chapter 128
As soon as I called out, the boy backed away, clutching the child tightly to his chest.
His legs trembled instinctively.
This wasn't the kind of shiver kids get from being told by their parents to watch out for strangers. It was a learned fear, one that only came after personally witnessing and experiencing an adult's malice.
Even though he looked no older than elementary school age.
The sight of him trembling like a newborn fawn at just a single word from a stranger was utterly heartbreaking.
'At least the silver lining is...'
Even while shaking like a leaf, he didn't let go of his little sibling.
At that age, siblings usually bickered without a second thought.
Yet here he was, instinctively cradling his sibling protectively, poised to bolt at any momentthe picture-perfect eldest son every parent dreamed of.
Despite eyes that spoke of knowing the world's harsh winds and waves, he was still caring for a sibling who must be nothing but baggage at his age, right here in this remote alley.
He wasn't your average kid.
Unlike other children, his eyes were alive with awareness.
This must be the kid Isabel was talking about.
First things first, let's ease his wariness toward me.
"Why so jumpy? Uncle's not a bad guy."
I put on the face of a kind, gentle adult.
Not a sudden mask swap that anyone could spotinstead, I slowly, naturally softened my expression until it fit perfectly.
The kind of smile that would make most people not just warm to me, but blush.
But kids that age have sharp instincts.
"Bad people usually say stuff like that."
"Do they now?"
"And it's not uncle. You look like a big brother to anyone. Liar uncle."
"...Liars are bad."
"Right? Mary thinks so too, don't you?"
"...Yeah."
Well, going by looks alone, sure.
I might have the mindset of someone jaded by the world, but appearance-wise and by actual age, I'm still a kid myself.
I'd unconsciously started calling myself uncle.
"...But, big bro."
"Mary, what is it?"
"Um... you're not a big brother. You're a big sister, right?"
"... ."
"... ."
Silence enveloped us.
Sure, my face was on the prettier side for a guy, but not so much that anyone would mix up my gender.
The moment my expression stiffened, the boy panicked and bowed his head.
"S-Sorry! My little sister was rude! Mary, apologize right now."
"Apologize...? Sorry?"
"No need to go that far, though..."
Quick to apologize and so polite.
Somehow, the conversation's reins had slipped into my hands, out of nowhere.
Should I be happy about that?
In my confusion, I seized the moment and spoke up.
If I wanted straightforward answers and the truth, better to lay out my demands from the start.
"If you're really sorry, how about taking me to your hideout?"
"?!!"
"What? If you don't want to, fine."
"N-No, it's not that. 'We' were actually short on hands. More people are always good, but I never thought I'd be the one recruiting."
Usually, that's a job for uncles or aunties.
From that, I could infer his revolutionary group had quite a few older members. Of course, I didn't jump to conclusions.
He might just hang around older folks for some reason.
"So you're not a bad guy then, big bro?"
"Bad guy? Why ask?"
"Well... that is... um..."
Bad guy.
I wondered who or what he meant, but his words trailed off and never picked up again.
He turned into a terrified child, trembling wordlessly.
And the person entering the boy's line of sight
"Termiya?"
Why was she here?
Wasn't she supposed to be sticking with the viscount since coming to Frontier?
"Uh, ah, um...!"
The knight captain's sudden appearance.
The boy's mouth hung slack, words failing him at the sight of her. Meanwhile, the girl in his arms grabbed his sleeve with her tiny hand and bolted off to the side.
"...Big bro, hurry."
"Ah, uh, yeah."
"It's okay, big bro. And you, pretty big bro."
"What?"
The girl, doll-still in her brother's arms until now, spoke with crisp claritya strangely unique sight. But that wasn't my concern.
What mattered was what came out of her mouth.
"I'll come back in two hours."
"Here?"
"Yeah. I'll give you the info then. But... make sure that lady doesn't see us leave."
"...Got it."
The girl nodded at my reply, then left with her brother.
To keep the siblings heading into the narrow alley out of Termiya's sight, I approached her.
As I drew near, Termiya glanced at my face and clicked her tongue.
She really must hate my guts.
But what could I do? It was my job.
"Hey, Knight Captain."
"...What is it, fox teacher?"
"Doesn't that weird speech pattern make you uncomfortable?"
"You stopped me during my patrol just to ask that?"
No, not really.
"Nah, I had something else to ask, but your speech just bugged me."
"What's wrong with my speech?"
"I remember how you curse me out, and this prim-and-proper act doesn't match."
"P-Prim-and-proper...?! This noble speech was taught to me by the previous captain...!"
"No wonder you give off elder vibes."
"E-Elder!? You damn punk! Think you can get away with it just 'cause you're the viscount's guest?!"
"What, gonna swing that sword?"
"Exactly!"
Shing!
The time it took for her sword to slip from its sheath and aim at my throat.
1.7 seconds.
A mere instant to a criminal.
Fox Fire
Ting!
But to those who've built their own realms of mastery and enlightenment, it was more than enough time to react.
The moment her blade targeted my neck.
Sparks flew from the sword, along with embers.
"That was close."
"That flame again...? No, I remember it wasn't that ominous color back then..."
"Wanna put some distance between us?"
"This is!!!"
Boom!!
A small explosion sounded, creating space between Termiya and me.
The epicenter was right between usmore precisely, from the tiny mark I'd secretly etched on her sword at the moment of clash.
Of course, Termiya, oblivious to it, couldn't comprehend what trick I'd pulled.
"...What was that just now?"
"Magic."
"Don't talk nonsense. You think I'm knight captain of this territory for nothing? That explosion didn't have a speck of mana."
"Then maybe sorcery or divine power."
"Nonsense. Sorcery and divine power are relics of forgotten gods, long gone from this land. No mortal can wield them."
"Guess that means I'm no ordinary human."
"What...?"
Ordinary human.
A term worlds away from me.
Before possession or now, my life was never 'ordinary,' and now I wasn't even 'human' anymore.
A fox beastkin closest to human, surebut the more days passed, the more I realized I was shedding the ordinary humanity I'd once dreamed of.
"What are you babbling about...?"
But to her, it must've sounded like mockery. Makes sensein this world, they say there are others like me in the southern great forest.
Our perspectives might differ.
By then, the siblings' presences had faded far away.
The two surface signatures had burrowed underground. Their movement continued, so this should suffice.
Now then.
"Shall we call it quits?"
"...You're the one who started it."
"Come on, but you show up in the slums armed to the teeth with that scary sword and armoranyone would get edgy. Right?"
A plea for agreement without real logic.
In normal circumstances, she'd charge with a "What does that matter?!" But with all the slum kids' eyes on her as she brandished her sword and stirred up a fuss...
"...Tch, fine... suppose so."
She had no choice but to hold back.
The knight captain was the head of knights who maintained order and protected the territory.
Even before slum dwellers or children, she had to uphold her nobility and honor to the end.
No matter how annoying the yapping fox, she couldn't suppress with force that harmed bystanders or wield power recklessly.
Her actions directly tied to her lord, the viscount's, honor.
"Fine, this isn't the first day. I'll graciously overlook it from my end."
"...Still, that speech pattern sounds so weird no matter how many times."
"Mind your own business. It's my speech!"
"Glad you let it slide so easily. If you'd refused..."
"Refused what?"
I had a line prepared for that.
Namely
"Refusal is refused."
"...What?"
"If you'd refused, I was gonna refuse you right back. Ended up one-upping you anyway."
I declared it boldly.
A line from some book I'd read.
But the lukewarm reaction made me think.
Hm, too outdated?
I'd loved novels and comics since childhood, but it had been ages since I picked them up. Only the worn-out tropes and lines lingered in my mind.
My old comrades mostly hated them.
As I resigned myself to Termiya's response
"...Refusal is refused. More... no, a bit cool of a line. Gotta write it down so I don't forget."
She turned her back, pulled a notebook from her armor's gap, and scribbled with a fountain pen, murmuring softly.
She thought it was too quiet to hear.
It was so clear I couldn't even pat her back or say anything.
And more importantly right now...
'See? That line hasn't aged a bit.'
I'd been the youngest in my division, spouting cool lines from novels and comics now and then, even after growing up.
My comrades and peers would scold me.
...Your Excellency, that lineno way you said it in front of others, right?
As if.
Phew, good thing I'm first. Scrap that line from your head pronto...
Already told Sis.
...Pardon?
Ah, Sis won't ring a bell. . My swordmaster.
H-Ha... At least she's family more than colleague, so...
And Eve, Teacher, the 27th Division's lion uncle, that spear-obsessed pervert from Jin family grandpa, um... excluding them, about 15 more?
...Damn, you wrecked all our faces.
Huh? Blunt faces that crumple at that weren't built up anyway. Would've crumbled ages ago.
Spouting ancient lines like that crumples even solid faces! Ah, already crumpled?
That bad?
Please snap out of it, Your Excellency!
My adjutant especially hated it.
A master of floating swords that danced freely across battlefields, her sharp tongue matched her skills.
Sharp enough to bite her direct superiorme.
Well, she'd grown under me, so self-inflicted.
Still a genuinely cool line, so I tried it again now.
But none of that old thrill stirred in my chest.
My hollow heart echoed with silence, utterly still.
* * *
Midterms, day 7.
The final day.
By afternoon, the 6-student teams with one proctor each returned from the dungeons one by one, wrapping up their exams.
Among them were promising talents guilds had their eyes on, and some teams took near-fatal damage, getting disqualified and zeroed out en masse.
Yet even in that, some hadn't conquered their dungeons and failed to return.
Baek Seung-woo's team.
Everyone took it in stride.
His team had three hot prospects, and proctor Baek Seung-woo himself had rocked the industry lately.
But the Hidden World's walls were too thick for a mere rookie TA from a non-S-rank guild to breach.
Still, the academy's dungeon management team saw it differently now.
"Senior, this is weird."
"What? The progress rate here? Whoa, really cleared 44.7% of the Hidden World in a week? 50% is basically conquestpossible?"
Week or month.
The Hidden World demanded steady steps to its scripted end. Clearing this much in a week?
The team lead found it wildly irregular.
The junior who'd spotted it first felt the same, calling her overand she was sure of it now.
"No, senior, not thatthis."
The junior's face was pale.
Her expression stirring unease, the team lead eyed the screen she pointed to. It showed...
"Capacity exceeded? Forced difficulty hike and safety failsafe error? What the hell?!"
"How should I know if you don't?"
"You're the observer! You figure it out! Heyno, not now."
"...Pardon? Then?"
"Hey, call every single one downstairs. Last day of midtermsdrag in everyone lounging after their shifts. Check the system logs."
"...For real?"
"Think I'm joking?! Get 'em now!!!"
"Yes! Right away!!"
The junior rushed off, soon returning with dozens of staff in tow. They grumbled back to work, but their faces soon twisted in shock.
"Hey, why the scared face?"
"S-Senior..."
"You called, so spit it out."
"...A demon infiltrated in there."
"After last time, again?"
Soon, they realized no one could end midterms carelessly here or there.
Something like a firewall blocked the bridge between reality and the Hidden World.
Mess up, and it could harm the students and Baek Seung-woo inside. Aid was tricky. Word spread fast to sharp-eared industry insiders.
[Chilseong Academy allows demon infiltration again. All we can do is watch and cheer.]
[World's top 5 academy? Really?]
Little by little, the demons' beasts and schemes spread their tendrils.