Chapter 51
Chapter 51
Chapter 51
Challenge for a Leap (2)
Sonya's shout, filled with anger, struck his eardrums.
"Quit the academy immediately and report to the Tower of Fire starting tomorrow. I'll assign a vice tower master as an instructor until I prepare a proper curriculum!"
'Whew! How generous of her.'
Rudian whistled inwardly.
A vice tower master wasn't cheap labor either, yet she was planning to assign one to a novice who was trying to enter magic as a full-grown adult.
From the vice tower master's perspective, it might feel like crap, but the opponent was the substantial owner of the Fire Tower and the head of the Bellatrix family who wielded influence over all four major towers.
If told to do it, they'd have to do it.
But that was that, and Rudian raised his hand to stop Sonya.
"Ah, just a moment."
"What?"
"I'm planning to be away for about a month, so I'd like to receive that education after that."
"...A month?"
"Yes, and for now, I have no intention of quitting the Knight Department. I plan to handle the curriculum while doing both simultaneously."
"......!"
Sonya's expression twisted sharply.
Her anger was so evident that you could clearly see her inner thoughts: 'Just how far are you planning to humiliate me?'
At that sight, even Gray flinched and poked Rudian's shoulder.
"Brother? I'd prefer if you didn't provoke my mother any further?"
"I'm being serious though."
"That makes it more dangerous...."
From Gray's perspective, Rudian would look like he'd gone insane.
What?
7th class in 10 years?
Even for a considerable prodigy, 10 years would be 4th class at most.
That was also the maximum estimate, and if someone actually achieved 4th class within 10 years, their treatment would change from prodigy to genius.
"Fine, anyway a promise is a promise, so I'll keep it as agreed."
Grind!
Sonya glared at Rudian as if she would devour him, with ghostly flames burning in her eyes.
"I'll personally design that curriculum too."
"I'm grateful for your consideration, Your Grace."
"But you know. Since I'm personally getting my hands dirty... If you fail to keep up even a little... A very painful situation will be waiting for you. You can definitely look forward to at least that much."
"Since I brought this upon myself. I should account for that much."
"Good, very good. That confidence. Indeed, if you're young, you should show that kind of spirit."
"Uhhhhh...."
Beside them, Gray and the Bellatrix retainers trembled while looking back and forth between Sonya and Rudian.
In their eyes, Rudian's current behavior was nothing more or less than diving naked toward the maw of hell.
"Good, I'll look forward to a month from now, truly."
Sonya licked her upper lip slightly and smiled with a smile full of affection.
.......
With that, the main topic was finished and what remained was a rough discussion about future matters.
"Alright, setting that aside... Why a month? Are you thinking of filing for a leave of absence?"
"Yes, I have some things to prepare and obtain."
"Hm? Is that something that would take a whole month?"
"Yes, since I'm thinking of leaving the capital for a while."
"...Hmm!"
Sonya looked slightly suspicious.
"That's your personal matter, so I don't particularly intend to question it. But according to what you said, in this situation where demons are lurking within the capital, is there really a need to leave the capital? Weren't you the one who made a temporary non-aggression pact with the demons?"
Her words continued.
"I honestly don't find your words very trustworthy. Dark magicians have existed like cockroaches since long ago, and if you look through history, you can easily find cases of one or two demons popping up here and there. But a demon king?"
"Don't play dumb."
"...You bastard!"
At Rudian's rude remark, the retainers behind Sonya let out angry shouts along with murderous intent.
But their momentum was restrained by Sonya's gesture.
"There's nothing to gain from trying to shake me."
In fact, until recently, Sonya hadn't really believed in the existence of demons, especially demon king-class ones, within the capital.
This was because she had tremendous confidence that no being could escape detection by their family, a prestigious house of magic.
But the situation changed after Gude Belstad's death, when information from his secret study began to be shared through Delphione.
"If Your Grace is so wise, you should know that it makes no sense for just a few demons to orchestrate such a conspiracy."
"......"
"I decided to share this information because I trust the Bellatrix family. If that weren't the case, I wouldn't have thought to treat you as more than simple business partners."
It was lip service because he needed their cooperation rather than trust, but he needed to cater to their feelings by saying this.
"Well, setting all this aside...."
Rudian smiled provocatively.
"Are you lacking confidence?"
'Would the great Bellatrix really get scared just because I'm not in the capital?'
Meeting such a gaze, Sonya looked at him with a blank expression for a moment, then burst into loud laughter.
"Right, I apologize for testing you once. Certainly, turning away from clearly presented data is not befitting of a magician."
"Isn't it rather the greed of a magician trying to gain something more while pretending not to know?"
Judging from Gray's behavior, who was her son, this was obvious.
Sure enough, at those words, Sonya pouted and grumbled.
"...I hate perceptive brats like you."
As expected.
***
After the conversation ended, before parting, Sonya asked this.
"Why don't you share this information with the imperial family?"
"Because demon forces are attached to the 3rd prince's side. The information could leak at any time. For the same reason, I haven't conveyed information to His Highness the 2nd prince either."
Rudian continued while looking toward where the imperial palace was located.
"I'm concerned about the situation where the emperor and 1st prince are remaining silent. They must know better than anyone about the capital's abnormalities, yet they're taking no action and remaining silent."
"That's certainly true. When Gude died, and even now when others are pressuring the 3rd prince, those people show no particular movement."
Now that the Delfione ducal house had turned their backs, the 3rd prince was politically caught in a dilemma.
Currently, the 4th prince and 1st princess factions, who were in underdog positions in the imperial succession struggle, were relentlessly hammering the 3rd prince while aiming for a reversal of the situation.
"Come to think of it, it's been quite a while since I've seen His Highness the 1st prince on an official stage. This seems worth investigating...."
"I'll leave that to Your Grace."
"Hmph, information isn't free, so don't think you'll get it for nothing."
"Of course."
After Sonya left, Rudian muttered to himself while looking out the window from inside the room that Gude had used as his office.
'Indeed, change is necessary.'
One thing Rudian had been thinking about lately was that he was growing at a steeper pace than he had expected.
Of course, it wasn't beyond the range he had anticipated, but the problem was that he was growing to the point where there was no need to be bound to the academy.
WHOOSH!
Rudian created an aura sword with his hand and smiled bitterly.
Sword Master upper class.
It was unbelievable growth to have achieved in just a month.
'Is the body being influenced by magic?'
Part of the energy that Adi and Diablo had devoured was transforming into pure magic and accumulating up to the maximum that the body could accept.
Rudian recalled yesterday's sparring match with Elvin.
***
About a day ago.
The Belstad family's training ground.
CLANG!
Elvin's sharp attack aimed at the shoulder was blocked by Rudian's defense and came to nothing.
Rudian immediately counterattacked by slashing his blade diagonally downward, and Elvin quickly retreated to avoid Rudian's attack.
"Where are you running!"
Rudian's sword didn't just let the retreating Elvin be.
SWISH! SWISH!
With sharp sounds cutting through the air, the sword tip rapidly rushed toward Elvin.
"Damn it!"
Elvin's expression twisted at the incomparably sharper and more accurate attacks than a month ago.
SLASH!
Whether his defense wasn't complete, Elvin eventually had to give up part of his arm to Rudian's attack and suffered a laceration.
"This monster bastard!"
"Aren't you being too careless just because it's morning sparring?"
"Don't talk nonsense! I'm giving it my all!"
Elvin held his head and let out a sigh mixed with self-loathing.
Just one month.
Elvin, who had encountered the completely unknown and mysterious swordsmanship called Adora-style sword fighting, felt increasingly strained trying to handle Rudian's power as he acquired techniques and developed day by day.
In the early days when he couldn't even properly digest the basic forms, Elvin could easily subdue him.
But Rudian absorbed Elvin's private lessons and the academy professors' teachings like a sponge, and while secretly eating who knows what, he changed like a different person day by day.
'I dug my own grave!'
Where could there be a situation that fit the phrase "reaping what you sow" so perfectly?
'That guy... Is truly a genius!'
While Rudian was acting modest as if it were nothing special, Elvin's position of experiencing that growth firsthand was different.
'If he didn't deceive about his level from the beginning, then that guy really possesses talent comparable to that 'Crux'.'
Was it because he was too deeply absorbed in his thoughts?
"...Huh!"
Elvin, who had been receiving Rudian's attacks, failed to read the twisted attack direction for a moment and exposed a weakness.
And that fatal mistake soon returned as terrible pain.
STAB!
"...Ugh!"
"S-senior?"
When the blade lodged in Elvin's shoulder, Rudian hastily withdrew his sword.
"Are you alright?"
While hiding his expression twisted in pain, Elvin calmly pushed Rudian away.
"N-no, even if it's sparring, it's my fault for getting distracted during a real sword match. Don't worry about it."
Although he had allowed a sword wound to his shoulder, judging by the depth, it wasn't a fatal injury.
It would have been dangerous if it had penetrated, but Rudian had clearly reduced his strength at the last moment.
'...Monster bastard!'
Being able to reduce strength at the last moment like this was only possible when the opponent was several levels below.
But this was still a guidance sparring led by Elvin.
Moreover, in such a situation where he had been distracted, it wouldn't have been strange if his arm had been cut off.
Elvin skillfully stopped the bleeding and smiled bitterly.
"I can't do guidance sparring anymore."
"No. I still have much to learn."
"Don't talk nonsense, man. In terms of swordsmanship, you've now reached a level equal to mine. To think this happened in just a month, it's unbelievable."
"......"
"I wonder if there's anyone in this empire who can handle you. Damn."
"Well...."
Even at Elvin's extreme praise, Rudian looked slightly skeptical.
"Senior, how do you think I should grow further from here?"
"What, you crazy bastard?"
"The reason I could push you this far was entirely due to physical growth rather than technique. But that's also slowly reaching its limit. I'll probably hit a wall soon."
"......"
Elvin glanced at Rudian's body.
'What? Did he get a bit taller?'
It was a fact he hadn't easily noticed while living together every day, but looking at it this way, something was definitely strange.
His height hadn't grown much, but the density of his muscles had become incredibly thick.
'...Is this even possible?'
While he had certainly been rough with his body to a degree that would make others gasp, it was nonsensical for the effects of physical training to show this much in just a month.
Without noticing Elvin's shocked expression, Rudian asked.
"Technique is technique, but I want to achieve greater growth in a short time. Isn't there some method?"
While thinking this crazy guy was being too greedy, Elvin still faithfully answered that question.
"Then, of course, it would be real combat."
"...I suppose so?"
"But why is real combat called real combat? Because you can lose your life if you make a mistake, that's why it's real combat."
Even if you don't lose your life, losing a limb or two is common in real combat.
Just look at the current situation - wasn't his arm almost cut off in a real sword sparring?
"Aiming for a higher level by falling into a state of selflessness through real combat is certainly the fastest shortcut, but if it were easy, the world would be filled with Sword Masters everywhere."
"Then... If there were an environment where you could die and still come back to life intact, could you gain the effects of real combat?"
At the nonsensical talk, Elvin couldn't help but let out a hollow laugh.
"Are you talking about the legendary Valhalla where the Einherjar were said to rampage? Of course, if you knew you could come back to life, your mindset might weaken a bit... But still, if such an environment actually existed, it would have great effects."
"......"
"Of course, in the mythical age when magic and science reached their extremes, such a place might have existed. But that's literally a place that could only have existed in the mythical age. In this current era when magic studies have declined, even a Great Magician who has reached the 9th class couldn't make it possible. So wake up from your dream."
Elvin walked toward the treatment room with those final words.