Chapter 162
Chapter 162
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 162
Chapter Title: Enlightenment (1)
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The relief was short-lived.
Hrist, who had briefly paused at Professor Navian’s appearance, was charging toward us again.
“Professor!”
I had to tell her about the dark clouds that completely blocked the use of Blessings.
“In this area, Blessings are—!”
I shouted urgently.
*Swish.*
Before I could finish, I heard the sound of something being severed.
*Crash.*
The wolf tumbled to the ground, its forward momentum carrying it into a roll.
*Thump.*
Almost simultaneously, the rider kicked off the wolf’s back and leaped into the air.
*Thud.*
Hrist landed some distance away.
But the Valkyrie’s balance was off as she dismounted the wolf.
Her shoulder was starkly bare.
Her left arm, which had held the gleaming brass shield, was gone.
*Fwoosh.*
A moment later, blood spurted from the stump of her shoulder like a fountain.
“What about the Blessings?”
A languid voice entered my ears then.
I turned my head to find the source of the voice.
Professor Navian was looking at me.
“Uh…”
I was at a loss for words.
She hadn’t brandished her sword dramatically, nor had she delivered some grand strike.
She was just standing in the same spot as when she first appeared, looking at me.
The only thing that had changed was the jet-black sword she now held in one hand, though I had no idea when she had drawn it.
I looked beyond her.
The headless wolf was convulsing.
Behind it, I could see its now one-armed master.
The infamous Valkyrie known as an Apostle of Chaos, who had slaughtered countless knights, had lost her wolf and her arm to a single sword strike.
It was absurd.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, even as I watched it unfold.
“Heh.”
A dry laugh escaped me.
I had forgotten.
I had forgotten what a 9-star Knight truly was.
Even after spending ten years on the battlefield with Roman, it seemed I had forgotten.
They were walking catastrophes, living, breathing disasters.
The presence or absence of Blessings was of little importance to those who had transcended humanity.
*Whoooosh.*
I couldn’t contain my disbelieving laughter and was cackling like a madman when a series of tremendous roars echoed.
A meteor shower was falling from the sky.
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*
Explosions erupted across the battlefield.
The non-humans caught in the blasts were obliterated without a trace.
“Thankfully, we weren’t too late.”
A dignified voice followed.
“I’ve never in my life seen anyone make an entrance like that.”
In each of the craters, which looked as if meteors had struck, stood a fully armed knight.
“It wasn’t a descent; it was more like a divine advent.”
“More importantly, it’s been a while since we’ve been on a battlefield, hasn’t it?”
“It feels like it’s been a while since we’ve been on the mortal plane, let alone a battlefield.”
They surveyed the battlefield with an ease that was completely out of place.
“It’s our professors!”
The kids, who had been standing there dumbfounded, finally let out a cheer.
They were all professors from the Cradle.
“Where are the instructors? Why are there only cadets here…?”
“I can tell at a glance that your suffering was beyond words.”
Enemies still swarmed all around, yet not a single one of them seemed concerned.
Their attitudes were as relaxed as if they were out for a stroll.
*Grrrrr.*
A few of the more hot-tempered non-humans and wolves bared their teeth at the professors.
“Tsk. We are not your opponents.”
No sooner had the words been spoken than sticky masses began to fall in various spots.
*Thump, Fwump.*
The masses instantly expanded.
The deployment of descent cushions.
*Slap, slap.*
Cadets began to land one after another on the expanded cushions.
“Black Lions, thirty of thirty! All members have landed safely with no dropouts!”
“White Phantoms! Twenty-one, all safe.”
They were the senior classes of the Cradle.
“Tsk. How many combat drops have you done? Still so sluggish.”
“Demerits for all of you.”
The professors clicked their tongues.
I’d wondered why I hadn’t seen these professors before; it seemed they were in charge of the senior classes.
“Black Lions, your combat evaluation begins now. You’ll have to move diligently to make up for those demerits.”
“Cadets with fewer kills than their juniors will receive additional demerits.”
The professors’ stern warnings were the signal.
“Black Lions, engage!”
“Don’t lose to the underclassmen!”
The senior classes drew their swords in unison and began to rampage.
They were different from the kids of the Silver Eagles class, who hadn’t even had their coming-of-age ceremony.
Their bodies were fully developed, their swordsmanship honed to perfection.
The White Phantoms, in particular, were powerful enough to be considered low-ranking knights, having only not yet taken their Oaths.
Ferocious non-humans were being cut down left and right.
“Since when did the 13th Legion become cowards who stand back and watch others fight!”
“Form up and advance!”
The Imperial Army, finally snapping out of its stupor, joined the fray.
The battle resumed.
There was nothing to see.
The battle was overwhelmingly in our favor.
The Valkyries, who could have tipped the scales, didn’t move an inch.
To be precise, they didn’t dare to move.
“Your years of experience seem a bit much to be mingling with these green children.”
“It’s beneath your station, but you seem a little better.”
“After all the trouble I went through to get here, you’ll have to be my opponents.”
Each of the Cradle’s professors was a high-ranking knight, a rare sight in the world.
Even the expressionless faces of the Valkyries showed a hint of tension.
The professors began to move.
“You can’t use Blessings where those dark clouds are!”
At my warning, their eyes widened.
“So that’s why this fortress is in such a state. There was a reason for it.”
“There are truly many who use strange and bizarre arts in this world. I am once again reminded of this.”
But that was all.
They paid my warning no heed and advanced fearlessly toward the Valkyries.
And then.
*BOOM.*
The battle between the professors and the Valkyries began.
“Let’s go too!”
The kids, who had been watching blankly, shouted and charged forward.
“Huh? Huh?”
Swept up in the rush, even Rocarno Matiasi disappeared with a bewildered cry.
Only Professor Navian and I remained.
“…”
I glanced around before trying to sneak off after the kids, but a gentle force pulled me back.
“Ah…?”
When I came to my senses, I was standing in front of Professor Navian.
“Looking at you like this, I suppose you have gotten a little taller.”
She bent down to meet my eyes and said.
Her smiling face looked quite pleased.
“But you’re still so small.”
I stared at her blankly for a moment before my face scrunched into a frown.
But I didn’t have the guts to talk back to a Black Knight, so I just rolled my eyes resentfully.
As I did, I saw Hrist glaring at us from a distance.
A person who would become a great source of trouble in the future if left alive.
I pondered how to deal with Hrist.
It was a pointless worry.
“Where are you looking?”
Professor Navian took my cheeks in her hands and fixed my face toward hers.
“Is that little pest bothering you?”
I didn’t even have time to answer.
*Flinch.*
Just as I felt a strange sensation.
*Thud. Roll, roll, roll.*
The head of Hrist, who had been watching us from afar, dropped to the ground.
For an Apostle of Chaos who had been so infamous in my past life, it was an absurdly anticlimactic end.
“I’ve recently had an epiphany, and I’m not sure what you’ll think of it,” Professor Navian’s voice said.
To me, her words, spoken after dispatching a formidable foe that even high-ranking knights found difficult to face, sounded like this:
*It’s not much, but I hope it’s to your liking.*
It was a ridiculous analogy, but what could I do?
That was genuinely how I felt.
Besides, there was something even more ridiculous.
“…Was that a Simgeom?”
The method she used to dispatch the infamous Valkyrie seemed to be a Simgeom.
“What makes you think so?”
“It felt similar…”
“Oh-ho. So you could feel it.”
*You really are the only one.*
Her eyes curved into crescents.
“You’re not wrong.”
I had a feeling, but it really was a Simgeom.
A technique that even the most distinguished knights of renowned families only used to spar without injuring each other.
A trick that even proud high-ranking knights used only occasionally to disrupt an opponent’s senses.
Legends spoke of felling foes with a single sword held in the heart, but those were just stories.
In reality, even the peerless genius, the 10-star Knight Roman, hadn’t believed in the legend of the Simgeom.
And yet, here was someone who had actually done it.
“Wow. That’s amazing.”
To witness the return of a legend and utter something so lame.
What is wrong with my vocabulary?
*Beaming.*
And what kind of mind did Professor Navian have, to be beaming as if she’d received some grand compliment?
*Then what about the contract?*
And what was that witch thinking, spouting nonsense at a time like this?
A wave of dizziness washed over me.
***
The battle ended in our overwhelming victory.
All twelve Valkyries who had appeared on the battlefield, including Hrist, were slaughtered, and the non-humans who had attacked the fortress were repelled.
The elder-class non-human that had been deployed was also beheaded by Professor August and Rangfin Haime.
It was a great victory.
The only thing that bothered me was that the young Valkyries I had fought were not among the slain.
But that, too, was a needless worry.
The Cradle’s professors decided to take this opportunity to wipe out the nearby non-humans completely and marched across the border with the Imperial Army.
That was five days ago.
I had to hear all of this secondhand.
I had collapsed as soon as the battle ended and only woke up five days later.
I hadn’t fainted this frequently even during the Great War; it was truly embarrassing.
It was some consolation that the other Silver Eagle kids were in a similar state.
The only difference was that they had simply collapsed from accumulated fatigue once the tension broke, while I had my vitality thoroughly extorted by a conscienceless witch.
Anyway.
Through the last battle, I could now fully sympathize with Yanick's assertion that the existence of knights had caused the Empire to regress.
The moment the Cradle’s professors joined the battle, the Imperial Army was reduced to mere background characters.
And that was in a situation where they couldn’t even use Blessings.
Of course, a time would come when such a simple fighting style would no longer be effective, but that was still a long way off.
For now, I couldn’t help but feel that all my efforts, racking my brain and running around to drive back the enemy, felt somewhat futile.
Of course, my hard work wasn't entirely in vain.
Ah, that’s just how I feel.
By the way.
“Um, Professor Navian?”
Why was Professor Navian in my room?
Not only the professors from the Cradle who arrived late, but also Professor Dieter Rizzner, who had recovered from his injuries, and even Professor August had all gone across the border.
Even Rocarno Matiasi and Rangfin Haime had gone with them.
“Is it okay for you to be here?”
She nodded at my question.
“…?”
That was it.
I was speechless.
If a 9-star Knight said it was fine, what could a mere squire like me say?
*Stare.*
Professor Navian just kept looking at me.
I wondered how many hours she had been at it.
It seemed she never got tired of it.
After a long time of squirming under her uncomfortable gaze.
“You.”
Professor Navian spoke.
“It’s opened wider than before.”
Her gaze was fixed on the crown of my head.
“Wide open.”