The Sword I Wield to Survive (4)
“Oh, you’re finally back!”
Aipman shot up from his seat and greeted Irinid and Talia warmly.
“Old man, you’re still alive?”
“Talia, show the professor some respect. We’ve returned.”
“Welcome back. You two must have worked hard.”
Irinid and Talia had been dispatched to the western and eastern fronts of the empire as representatives of the academy’s top students.
“So, what did you think after seeing the east?”
“What did I think? It was a total stalemate. Parta keeps launching hit-and-run guerrilla attacks whenever they see an opening. The imperial forces are barely holding on.”
“I realized that no matter how strong an individual’s power is, there’s a limit to how much they can change the tide of war.”
Although it was called a dispatch, actually throwing students into combat was not something the academy could demand of them.
It was simply another form of study—observing the world and learning from it.
Both Irinid and Talia had already reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship and spearmanship. It was important for them to understand what kind of impact the paths they walked would have on the world.
That was the true purpose of the dispatch.
“Professor, by the way, what was that about earlier?”
“What do you mean?”
“I heard the professors got into a fight. Something about a duel.”
“What? The professors fought each other? A duel?!”
Aipman’s face flushed with a mix of shock and anger.
“You really didn’t know, old man? Did it just happen?”
Knock knock.
At that moment, someone rapped on the door to Aipman’s office.
“Professor Aipman, this is Grey, the training hall manager.”
“Come in.”
Grey entered the room and delivered his report in a crisp, professional tone.
“Reporting. The duel that took place just now in the training hall between Professor Sebiche, Professor Dolia, and Temporary Professor Erewon has concluded.”
“Temporary Professor Erewon?”
“Yes. Since duels between students or faculty fall under the professors’ responsibility, it was carried out without delay. The victor is Temporary Professor Erewon.”
“Hah… haa…”
While Aipman sank into his chair in utter disbelief, Grey bowed his head and promptly left the room.
“Erewon, was it? Just who is that kid? A temporary professor?”
“I’m curious too. He looked no older than a child compared to us.”
“There’s a bit of a story there. It concerns the two of you as well.”
“Us? Why?”
Aipman carefully recounted the entire tale to Irinid and Talia.
The story of fifteen-year-old Erewon, who had risen from 3-Circle to 5-Circle in the blink of an eye.
And how Erewon had requested a spar with Irinid and Talia as a condition for his entrance exam.
After listening, Irinid spoke cautiously.
“Professor, there’s one thing that doesn’t add up.”
“What is it?”
“It wasn’t 5-Circle. It was 6-Circle.”
“That can’t be. You must have seen wrong. It hasn’t even been a month since Temporary Professor Erewon demonstrated 5-Circle mastery during the entrance exam.”
“I’m certain. I saw it too. He used Sword Gang at the same level as that 6-Circle uncle Dolia.”
“I’ll have to check for myself later. Anyway, I’m sorry for proceeding without asking you two first. If Temporary Professor Erewon requests a spar now, are you willing to accept?”
Irinid hesitated for a moment.
But Talia didn’t.
“Of course we should accept! How fun is it to fight someone strong? Don’t back out, Lini—you accept too!”
“Talia, don’t decide so easily. If he wants to spar with us, there must be some kind of motive behind it.”
“But when I saw him in the training hall earlier, at least the sword he swung didn’t carry any shame. I’ll accept. Old man, make it happen.”
“I agree with that, but…”
Unlike Talia, who had accepted so readily, Irinid still looked reluctant.
“I don’t know. I’ll put it on hold for now.”
“Still, Professor Erewon will probably come find you soon to talk. As promised, he wants to spar with you two. If you don’t want to, come up with a suitable excuse.”
“So Talia Hulin is that kind of person.”
While eating lunch at a fancy restaurant, I learned from Angela that Talia would flirt with any princess she laid eyes on.
At first glance she might seem like nothing more than a playboy, but Talia was also a prince.
Her advances were apparently an attempt to form marriage alliances with other nations for the sake of her weak homeland.
“Having seen her in person, it does seem true that Senior Talia is quite attractive and capable. I’ll admit that much…”
When I praised Talia, Lua’s expression soured.
“It looks like she doesn’t sit well with Lua at all.”
“Probably because she called Professor a little kid.”
“Exactly!”
Lua stabbed her fork into the meat with considerable force.
“My brother is still young, that’s why he hasn’t grown much yet! He’ll get much taller in the future! He’s already grown a lot in the past few months.”
In my previous life, I only grew tall after being exiled, but recently I had grown quite a bit.
It was probably thanks to my master reshaping my body.
‘My muscle mass was forcibly increased, which helped me grow. But somehow, in this life…’
I had a strong feeling.
I would grow even taller than I had in my last life.
Right now, eighteen-year-old Angela was still taller than me.
“I understand the circumstances, but I still can’t forgive her.”
“You can’t forgive her? What are you going to do about it?”
“This is perfect. I was planning to fight her anyway.”
“You, Professor? Against a student?”
Angela didn’t know that I had requested a spar with Irinid and Talia as part of my entrance exam conditions.
“Sparring with those two was an additional condition I requested during the entrance exam.”
“I don’t think you would lose, Professor, but those two are the strongest in the academy. You could even say they’re the best here.”
There was only one professor in the academy who had surpassed 7-Circle—Professor Renia, who taught magic. No one else.
When people were at the same mana level, the next factor in determining superiority was pure skill. Irinid and Talia’s unique sword and spear techniques surpassed even the professors’.
That was why they were fifth-years, simply waiting to graduate.
“Why do you want to fight those two seniors?”
“I’m curious. And it’s only a spar. By crossing swords and spears, we can fill in each other’s shortcomings. Originally there would have been no grudge, but…”
“But?”
“Against Student Talia, it seems I’ll have to swing my sword with just a little bit of resentment mixed in. How dare she think of laying a hand on our precious princess Lua.”
“Brother, crush her!”
I could feel Angela, stuck between us, looking increasingly uncomfortable.
“Still, I’m worried about what those two returning seniors will do from now on.”
“I thought they were just waiting to graduate. What exactly are you worried about?”
“Formally, they were attending Professor Akan’s swordsmanship lectures. In Talia’s case, since there wasn’t a separate spearmanship class, she joined that one too.”
“Why would those two attend lectures? There shouldn’t have been anything left for them to learn.”
“They needed to fulfill a set number of credits, so they trained as they wished and simply asked the professor for advice.”
I had a feeling I knew why those two had chosen Professor Akan’s class.
Professor Sebiche’s advice would have been completely useless, and Professor Dolia used twin swords, so their fields didn’t overlap.
Besides, Professor Akan emphasized fundamentals, which made his class suitable for their independent training.
“It sounds like they might end up joining my class if things go that way.”
“Yes. But from what I can see…”
Angela hesitated for a moment.
“After that duel just now, way too many students are going to want to take your class. You’ll have to make a choice soon—whether to increase the number of lectures or not.”
It was certainly a troublesome problem.
I had only taken the temporary professorship because they offered to let me fill my credits and gave me special treatment. I had never intended to take on such serious teaching duties.
‘There’s so much I need to do in Reichland for the future. If I stay tied down to academy work like this, it won’t be good.’
Since I had become a professor—even temporarily—I had refrained from making any big moves in order to stabilize things for the time being.
But just as Angela said, the time had come to choose.
“I need to meet Professor Aipman. There’s a lot I have to discuss with him.”
The reason I had asked for a spar during the entrance exam was both to show off my ability and to give those two some guidance.
I needed to teach them the greatest purpose behind the sword I wield—the fact that the strongest thing of all is survival.
In the future, Irinid and Talia would trust in their own strength, charge ahead, and lose their lives to the demon army.
To prevent that from happening, they needed to become even stronger so they wouldn’t die.
The biggest thing I wanted to accomplish in this life.
It was preparation.