Chapter 188: Proof 10
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 188: Proof 10
The academy grounds lay deserted. Everyone had flocked to the auditorium to witness the entrance exam for the Clown Union Club.
In that heavy silence, two men stood in a tense standoff.
Had the other students known about this, they would have skipped the exam just to watch, but no one was aware of the situation unfolding in the shadows.
"Shall we fight like the old days?"
Joden looked at the man boldly leveling a cane at him, even as the air around his clothes began to crystallize into frost.
An enigmatic white mask; a red cloak that was unmistakably an artifact, though its true abilities remained a mystery; and a cane that could transform into a sword at a moment's notice.
Looking at the man pointing the cane at him, Joden was suddenly struck by a memory of the past.
The first time he had met that man.
Back then, the man had worn the same bizarre, smiling white mask and red cloak, and held the same black cane.
But the atmosphere had been entirely different.
* * *
It was the season when the winds first began to bite.
Joden Adelian, the top student of the second year and the Student Council President of Croa Academy, was riding in a carriage bearing the crest of the Adelian Ducal Family.
His destination: the Adelian estate.
Although the distance between Croa Academy in the Imperial Capital and the territory ruled by Duke Adelian was considerable, Joden made the journey every weekend.
However, today was not the weekend.
Joden’s complexion, as he sat inside the carriage, could not be described as healthy even out of politeness.
"Mother..."
Joden’s murmur drifted quietly through the cabin.
For the past few years, his mother had never opened her eyes. She was wasting away in her bed, a shadow of her former self.
— Young Master, the physician says you should prepare for the worst...
— ...I’m leaving immediately.
— What about the Young Lady...?
— For now... for now, do not contact Clara.
Upon receiving the message from the head butler, Joden had cleared his schedule and boarded the carriage sent by his family.
If Mother dies like this...
How could he face Clara? What could he possibly say to her?
No matter how hard he tried to suppress them, only the worst-case scenarios filled his mind.
The carriage, which had reached the estate at high speed, suddenly ground to a halt outside the mansion instead of entering the gates.
"What is happening?"
At Joden’s voice, which was much colder and sharper than usual, the knight guarding the carriage on horseback bowed his head in haste.
"My apologies! Someone is blocking the front of the mansion. I will handle it immediately."
Joden was already on edge, and the delay in seeing his mother due to such a trivial matter made his blood boil.
The knights, sensing Joden’s murderous mood, galloped forward to resolve the situation quickly.
However, Joden’s patience snapped the moment a loud voice echoed from outside.
"I know a way to cure the Duchess of Adelian!"
It happened almost simultaneously.
The moment those words reached the carriage, the door froze solid and shattered like glass.
Shatter!
Joden stepped out through the jagged opening, his eyes fixed on the person blocking the way.
A ridiculous white mask stained with blood, a red cloak, and a black cane in hand.
From the voice he had just heard, Joden could tell this absurd man was around his own age.
This fellow claimed he could cure his mother’s illness—something that even the Empire’s best doctors and the Holy Kingdom’s archbishops had failed to fix?
"Do you know how many people have spouted such nonsense until now? And how many of them do you think left this mansion alive?"
With every word Joden spoke, a chilling frost began to envelop the surroundings.
It was true that neither the best doctors nor the archbishops could cure her, but Duke Adelian would never give up on his wife.
The Duke had staked his honor, promising to grant any wish to the one who cured her.
To a noble, honor was more precious than life, and Duke Adelian never went back on his word.
If they asked for his entire fortune, he would give it. If they wanted to learn his magic, he would teach them. If they wanted his life, he would gladly die.
Lured by this promise, many had knocked on the mansion’s doors.
Acupuncturists from the East, mages, sorcerers, and even priests of forgotten religions.
Various people had come, but they all ended up parroting the same words.
— I am sorry. This is not a problem I can solve.
At first, legitimate experts came, but as time passed, only swindlers appeared. Among the "medicines" one of them had offered, there had even been poison.
"How should I know something like that? All I know is that I’m leaving this mansion alive, and by then, you’ll all be treating me with respect."
A light, playful tone and a ridiculous outfit.
Many swindlers had come before, but none had been this blatant.
Is my mother’s life a joke to a guy like this?
The moment Joden reached out to erase the nuisance before him—
"Young Master, we will handle this!"
A knight who had already dismounted stopped Joden.
Before heading to the Academy to pick up Joden, the knights had been ordered by the Knight Commander to ensure the Young Master reached the mansion without distraction.
Joden didn't want to use magic at the mansion where his mother lay dying, so he lowered his hand and turned back toward the carriage.
The knight breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hmm? For someone with innate ice magic, you're quite emotional, aren't you?"
Please, stop. You crazy bastard.
Realizing that his own head would be the first to roll if this continued, the knight roared.
"What are you all doing! Get rid of him immediately!"
At the command, the other knights and soldiers rushed toward the masked man.
The Adelian family was a prestigious magic lineage. However, that didn't mean they lacked martial strength. On the contrary, their knights were far more skilled and experienced than those of most other houses.
But no matter how experienced a knight was, they had never experienced death.
The knights and soldiers rushing at the man saw it.
Countless daggers were suddenly embedded in their own necks and the necks of their comrades.
They felt no pain, but daggers were buried in their throats, and blood spurted out like a fountain.
"Ugh!"
The moment every knight instinctively clutched their own neck—
The masked man lunged toward Joden.
One of the knights regained his senses and swung his sword, but the blade passed through the man's body as his form vanished.
Like an illusion.
The masked man had already reached Joden.
"What, you don't trust me because of the way I talk? I know my speech pattern is shitty, too. But this kind of talk just comes out automatically."
"You're insane."
"Heh! Yeah, I'm pretty crazy. But that's not what's important right now, is it?"
The masked man remained bold even as his body began to freeze. Instead, he shouted at Joden.
"Stop acting like a petulant child! What do you gain by killing me now? Your petty satisfaction? Are you going to throw away a shred of possibility just because of your mood?"
Even though his lower body was already encased in ice, the man reached out and grabbed Joden by the collar.
"If you're confident you won't regret this moment when the worst comes, then kill me."
"..............."
* * *
When Joden opened his eyes, that same man was once again leveling a cane at him.
That day. The day the man cured his mother's illness.
Hearing his mother's voice for the first time in years, Joden had made a vow.
That he would consider this man his benefactor.
That if the man gave an order, he would set aside his pride and obey, even at the cost of his life.
But what the man was trying to do now had to be stopped.
Unlike back then, the pressure that had overwhelmed Joden for a moment was gone.
However, Joden knew.
The man before him had grown so strong that he was incomparable to his past self.
Before entering the Academy, Joden had won every time he sparred with Loki, but even then, he had been caught off guard more than once.
Furthermore, they had never fought seriously since entering the Academy.
He would not allow any variables.
As Joden reached out, the air began to freeze. Loki shifted his weight, ready to lunge at any moment.
In that hair-trigger moment—
".........................."
".........................."
Joden lowered his hand without a word.
Loki lowered the cane he had pointed at Joden.
A moment later, a student came running frantically from the direction of the auditorium. It was a student wearing a golden badge—the symbol of the Student Council.
"President! The Principal is looking for you."
By the time the student reached them, the chill had dissipated, and the cane Loki had been holding had vanished.
The Student Council member flinched upon seeing Loki standing next to Joden.
"Well, Joden, I'll see you later then."
"Yes."
Joden walked toward the auditorium, and Loki ran toward the direction Clara had gone.