Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: The Shameless Bastard to the End (2)
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Dieter Rissner, a 5-star knight, was in no way lacking as a professor for the Cradle, both in skill and experience.
The problem was his age.
He was only thirty-two.
There was no need to compare him to the old knights who had served with distinction in the war thirty years ago.
Even among the other relatively young professors, he was exceptionally young.
Here, he was the youngest, the rookie.
In short, he was in a position where he had no choice but to take on the tedious chores.
That was why he had been in charge of educating the new students who hadn't yet shed their Lower World habits.
Grasping each student's disposition, gauging their skills, and selecting the team leaders.
And countless other tasks.
Handling the grunt work, so to speak, was always his job.
This time was no different.
The Eunsuri class, which included many direct descendants of prestigious families, including the Eight Families.
“They'll surely come in acting like they're still in their family mansions, ordering people around with a tilt of their chin. Make sure to break them of that habit.”
“Show them that the Cradle isn't such an easy place.”
As he fretted before the first class, the other professors chattered on, offering their two cents.
Telling him to teach them the lesson that no background meant anything in the Cradle.
“Ugh. I can't stand being the youngest. Seriously.”
It was easier said than done; it wasn't a comfortable task.
Especially not for Dieter Rissner.
The old professors, who had retired from knighthood and considered educating their juniors here to be their final calling, had long since transcended the hierarchy of the Lower World. The other professors, who pushed him to show the students a lesson, were themselves from prestigious families or backgrounds of similar standing.
Either way, none of them had to worry about what would happen after they descended back to the Lower World.
But his case was different.
His future was still wide open, so he didn't know what might happen.
If he were to ever leave the Cradle and return to the Lower World, his actions now could become a burden.
“Be firm. Be firm.”
As he grumbled, exhausted from playing nanny, the director came to him and spouted some carefree words.
“Selecting team leaders? Worried that the ones who don't get picked will resent you?”
The director was rarely helpful, but this time was different.
“Why are you bothering to do it all yourself? It's simple if you just let them fight it out amongst themselves.”
It was a brilliant move.
He accepted the director's advice without a moment's hesitation and organized a team leader selection tournament for the first class.
The effect was tremendous.
He had merely set the stage, and the new students chose their own opponents and settled the scores among themselves.
All Dieter Rissner had to do was stop the duels at the right moment to prevent the atmosphere from overheating and causing injuries.
Even that was only necessary for the first duel.
The director told him to keep an eye on number 99, a kid named Yan.
Even without that advice, he had heard the rumors that there was a Mage Slayer among the new students.
Since it wasn't an achievement accomplished with a sword, its significance was somewhat diminished, but the fact that he had killed a mage as a mere squire was noteworthy in itself.
But after seeing him, he couldn't help but be disappointed.
A height that barely reached the chins of the other new students.
For a kid like that to be a Mage Slayer, it was obvious that a considerable amount of luck must have played a part in the process of killing the mage.
Still, his swift swordplay, which gave his opponent no time to react, was quite useful.
It seemed the boy had received specialized training in dealing with mages.
Unlike heavily armored knights, the armor and defenses of mages were generally nothing to write home about.
Even a flimsy strike like that, carrying almost no weight, would be effective as long as it landed.
Dieter Rissner paid more attention to the other students.
Amelia Justice of the Judgement Knights was one of them.
“From the Judgement Knights…”
When people spoke of the Judgement Knights, there was one thing they always mentioned first.
The right of summary execution.
The public imagined the Judgement Knights as merciless judges who used the immense authority granted by the emperor to execute criminals on the spot.
The reality was completely different.
In practice, they rarely used their authority for summary executions.
In most cases, they preferred to capture criminals alive and imprison them in the fortress's underground dungeons rather than execute them on the spot.
There was only one reason.
To study the swordsmanship of vicious criminals that even the provincial knight orders couldn't handle.
It was an open secret among those in the know that these techniques became the nourishment for the two sword styles practiced by the Judgement Knights.
The Sword of Judgement, a style of offense and defense based on the shield.
And the Sword of Execution, which prioritized attack over defense.
Both were excellent sword styles, but the Sword of Judgement was always held in higher regard by the public.
The reason was that the Sword of Execution, which was extremely offense-oriented compared to the stable Sword of Judgement, had its limits.
But to Dieter Rissner, that was just nonsense from those who had never faced the Sword of Execution.
It was true that the forms of the Sword of Execution were primarily offensive.
But to say its defense was weak would be incorrect.
It was just that the concept of defense in the Sword of Execution was different from that of conventional swordsmanship.
A formless aura.
Once a Judgement Knight began to use the Sword of Execution, an invisible aura would envelop the surroundings.
An opponent caught within that domain would be suppressed by the aura, losing their freedom of movement.
Even if they managed to counterattack, they wouldn't be able to display their full strength.
The Judgement Knight would then claim victory by landing a fatal blow on the opponent, whose movements were thus restricted.
The Judgement Knights claimed this was an aura that manifested by drawing upon the causality of their past evil deeds.
To Dieter Rissner, the idea that a tremendous amount of killing intent had been infused into the style during the process of studying and absorbing the swordsmanship of villains was far more realistic than such pie-in-the-sky talk.
Whatever the case, it was clear that the Sword of Execution needed no defensive forms.
Once the sword was drawn, the opponent could do nothing but watch the blade fly toward them.
The name Sword of Execution was also said to have been given because it resembled taking the head of a condemned prisoner who, having given up in the execution ground, accepts their death.
Of course, Dieter Rissner didn't think that Amelia Justice, who had yet to be formally knighted, had reached that level with her Sword of Execution.
Unlike the aura of the Judgement Knights, which could make one lose the will to fight before the battle even began, the aura she projected was merely at a level that strongly pressured the opponent.
But that didn't mean it could be taken lightly.
It was more than enough to bind the body of a single pipsqueak who was small in stature, not yet fully developed in strength, and likely unaccustomed to killing intent.
This was especially true now, before their bodies had adapted to the unique pressure of the satellite city.
So, when the first form of the Sword of Execution was unleashed at the start of the duel, he naturally expected her victory.
But.
“…He dodged that?”
The pipsqueak had evaded the first form of the Sword of Execution with far too much ease.
“Her mastery and mindset are still clumsy.”
It was an unexpected result, but he figured she couldn't face a classmate the same way she would a villain, so her lack of mastery combined with a hesitant heart must have produced this outcome.
Dieter Rissner judged it as such.
Amelia Justice herself seemed to have reached a similar conclusion.
She frowned for a moment, then took a long breath, and her eyes changed.
“Hoh.”
Seeing that impassive yet transparent gaze, Dieter Rissner was impressed.
It seemed his previous judgment had been hasty.
Amelia Justice had already reached a stage where she could wield the sword in her heart to some extent.
A formless aura emanated from her body.
Normally, it would have been invisible, but to the 5-star knight Dieter Rissner, it was plain to see.
Exactly five steps.
It was a far cry from the mastery of other Judgement Knights who could turn an entire training ground into an execution ground, but it was a sufficient range to decide the outcome of a duel between squires.
“No. I’m telling you, it’s a misunderstanding. I really didn’t mean it like that…”
The short new student stammered in panic, but she paid him no mind.
*Swoosh.*
In an instant, five slashes cut through the air.
It was a textbook combination.
“Wow. Are you for real?”
But this time, too, her sword failed to touch even a single hair on her opponent.
“Is this how you treat a classmate? Are you really going this far?”
Dodge, deflect, dodge. Dodge, dodge.
The whole series of movements, right up to his hasty retreat to create distance, was so natural that Dieter Rissner's eyes widened.
It was a clean evasion, as if he had predicted the path of his opponent's sword in advance.
“Uh, um…”
But Dieter Rissner couldn't just be purely impressed.
How should he put it?
It was clean, a perfect response, but…
“A squire is backpedaling…?”
It was hardly a praiseworthy sight.
“Booo! Coward!”
“If you're just going to run away, just admit defeat!”
Indeed, the other new cadets jeered.
“Have you no shame?”
“I’m embarrassed to even be in the same class.”
It was only natural.
Though they hadn't been knighted, the values squires pursued were not so different from those of knights.
Among them was the conviction to never retreat.
Considering it a disgrace to fall back before an enemy was the same for knights and squires alike.
Was a duel any different?
To those who considered even being pushed back due to a lack of strength a disgrace, the response shown by the kid named Yan moments ago was nothing short of shocking.
Dieter Rissner had never seen anyone backpedal so blatantly.
He looked at Amelia Justice.
In such cases, the opponent usually felt insulted.
Whether it was a duel or a formal challenge, it was proper etiquette to give one's all once swords were crossed.
If one failed to do so and didn't take the opponent seriously, the other party would inevitably feel deeply insulted.
Indeed, Amelia Justice's expression was stiffer than ever.
Her upturned eyes were filled with anger.
But that anger didn't last long.
“You… you have no intention of taking this duel seriously, do you?”
“That's not true. I am being serious.”
“Then why…”
“Look at my body. Do you think it’s possible for me to block your strikes with this physique? I’d be lucky if my arm doesn’t break.”
“…”
“Your sword right now is too strong for me to counter. All I can do is dodge.”
“So you’re saying I’m too strong for you to even think of facing me head-on?”
“Yes. You’re the strongest opponent I’ve met since I… well, you know.”
“Ahem. Indeed, not letting pride get in the way and admitting one’s own shortcomings is an important attitude.”
Amelia Justice’s blazing eyes quickly returned to normal.
Her tightly clenched face had also relaxed.
She seemed to have completely fallen for the words praising her skills.
It was as if she had completely forgotten that her opponent had been completely unaffected by the pressure and constraints of her formless aura.
“Still, if you just back away again this time, I’ll have no choice but to consider myself insulted.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
A moment later.
“Hah!”
“Ugh!”
She once again unleashed the first form of the Sword of Execution, and the kid named Yan, who took the blow head-on instead of retreating, collapsed to the ground.
“It was a good match.”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t be too disappointed. Your lack of strength will naturally build up as you grow.”
“Thanks for the comfort.”
“Don’t mention it.”
A beautiful scene where neither the victor nor the vanquished dwelled on the outcome.
But as Dieter Rissner watched, he couldn't shake off a strange sense of unease.
The expression on the face of the loser, who was dusting off his bottom and turning away, was frighteningly familiar.
It was the very image of someone in the mirror who, tired of playing nanny, would mutter, ‘Ugh, I can’t stand being the youngest.’
“Ah, what a shame. I did my best, but my opponent was too strong. This isn't a matter of motivation, it's just unavoidable.”
When he saw the loser glance his way and say this, as if intending for him to hear, the unease turned into creepiness.
* * *
Amelia Justice, who had defeated me, advanced to the finals to face Bern Vigete.
Since they had both scored 90 points on the entrance exam and were considered rivals in many other aspects, everyone expected a fierce battle.
But contrary to expectations, the match was decided in an instant.
“Bern Vigete is the winner!”
Having used the stamina-draining Sword of Execution in her duel with me and having had a poor bracket draw afterward, Amelia couldn't overcome her physical disadvantage and was defeated helplessly by Bern Vigete.
“Team 1 leader, Bern! Team 2 leader, Amelia! Team 3 leader, Lian!”
Thus, the first to third place finishers of the tournament became the leaders of their respective teams.
Pon and I were assigned to Team 3.
I had to rack my brain to remember who Lian was.
“He was fourth in the entrance rankings.”
It was only after hearing Angelo, who had sidled up to us despite not being on our team, that I remembered who Lian was.
He was a kid from a prestigious family that couldn't match the Eight Families but was still renowned under the moniker ‘Iron Wall Kart.’
Among those conceited noble brats, he seemed to have a relatively decent personality.
“Let’s work well together, team leader.”
I acted maturely and approached Lian first to greet him. Pon, who was beside me, also extended his hand to Lian.
“Sigh. Why did our team have to get stuck with guys like this…”
Lian sighed deeply upon seeing us but reluctantly extended his hand.
He seemed quite displeased with the members of Team 3.
Well, it was understandable.
The professor had divided the teams at his own whim, completely ignoring the results of the tournament.
Even to my eyes, the strength of the resulting teams was far from balanced.
While the other teams had several members from prestigious families, our team had only Lian.
An unfair and incomprehensible arrangement.
Someone from Team 3 went to protest to the professor, but it was not accepted.
“If you keep earning points in the team competitions, you'll earn the right to poach members from other teams. After a few wins, your lack of strength will naturally be filled. So stop whining.”
The only glimmer of hope was that it was possible to exchange members, such as releasing unhelpful ones and poaching promising assets from other teams.
For some reason, I felt a prickling on the back of my head after hearing that, but it must have been my imagination.
“Regular classes end here for today.”
The professor, who had declared the end of the class as abruptly as he had started it, disappeared.
“Wow. That professor didn't even tell us his name.”
Someone remarked belatedly, but the professor had already left.
Anyway, that was the end of our first class at the Cradle, and I became a member of the weakest team, Team 3.