Chapter 17
Chapter 17
“Are you kidding me!?”
A knight of the Vieto Viscount family had never seen anything like this in his life.
He was among the more capable knights of House Vieto, and yet what he was witnessing now was beyond absurd.
Taking down multiple escort knights of nobles, one after another, as if it were nothing.
“Th, that retired mercenary is stronger than our active knights!?”
It was unbelievable, but it was happening right in front of him. There was no choice but to accept it.
The man temporarily appointed as a professor was someone they could not possibly handle.
“P-please spare me!!”
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m only going to break one of your limbs.”
“AAAAH—!! NO!!”
CRACK!
“Aaagh—!!”
With that scream, another man collapsed.
Now only one knight from House Vieto remained standing. He slowly backed away, trying to escape.
THUD.
“Where do you think you’re going? You attacked me. That means you were prepared, doesn’t it?”
“W-when did you—!? You were just over there…!”
But he couldn’t escape.
The mercenary who had been breaking limbs just moments ago was now standing right behind him, a hand resting on his shoulder.
CRUSH!
“Gahh!!”
“Answer me.”
“I’ll say anything!! Just stop!!”
◈
“It’s… finished…”
“There’s no lie in this, right? You six.”
“N-no lies… If there were, we were told it would be worse than this…”
“You’ve finally learned discipline. You should’ve used that same discipline on your young masters instead. Tch.”
After dealing with the knights sent for “professor correction” and extracting confessions from them, I forced out the locations of the evidence as well.
“I’ll be thorough just in case. That’s how I work.”
I turned toward the place they mentioned.
As expected, there were guards.
And students.
‘Three knights… and two academy students.’
They were clearly nobles. The kind that carried themselves with natural arrogance and refinement.
‘So even students are involved. Why?’
Usually, knights alone would be enough for something like this.
I lowered my presence completely and observed.
Then—
“Hey, I brought her. That commoner girl I couldn’t touch last year.”
My eyes widened.
‘Yuria Roseshill…!’
She was being dragged here.
This was not part of the plan.
She should have been safely in her dorm.
‘Why is she here?’
I had intended to finish extracting confessions today so I could stay close to her tomorrow.
But this… changed everything.
‘That guy… I recognize him.’
There was no time to think further.
I moved.
Full aura output.
My body surged with power as I pushed into intermediate-to-high Aura state.
In an instant—
CRASH!!
“Guhh!? ”
“W-what the hell!!”
“Don’t look away.”
I struck first.
A knee to the abdomen—one guard down.
A spinning kick—second collapsed.
A second rotation—third hit directly in the neck.
THUD. THUD.
All three knights dropped instantly.
Not dead. Just unconscious.
‘Now then… students left.’
Three nobles and Yuria Roseshill remained.
“W-what is this!? How dare you attack my knights!?”
“Let go of me if you don’t want to be beaten within an inch of your life.”
“Wait! This is the professor we were supposed to deal with!”
“Idiot! Don’t say it out loud!!”
So they were the ones backing the earlier culprits.
Noble heirs from powerful houses.
‘So the testimony was true.’
And now Yuria was in danger.
That alone was enough.
‘No choice. I’ll eliminate them all.’
I activated Aura fully.
And rushed in.
BOOM!!
It was over in seconds.
One by one, they collapsed.
“W-what is this…!? A retired mercenary…?”
“You should’ve picked your targets better.”
Only the students remained conscious.
The leader tried to speak.
“L-let’s make a deal! Money! You want money, right!?”
I paused.
Then—
Pfft.
“Puh… hah…”
And then I laughed.
“HAHAHAHA!!”
Money.
To a man who spent twenty years as a mercenary and retired comfortably?
That was the worst possible offer.
“I see. So you think you can buy me.”
I stepped forward.
“Then let me teach you something.”
THWACK.
“Gah!!”
“One more word like that, and I’ll make sure you regret being born.”
“D-don’t!! I’ll bring everything out!! I swear!!”
“Good choice.”
Moments later, they were all forced to retrieve the hidden evidence.
Then—
“Professor, everything is here!”
“Are you sure nothing is missing?”
“Yes! I swear!”
I didn’t trust them for a second.
So I went in with Yuria Roseshill.
And checked everything myself.
Naturally, I found more hidden material.
“You really didn’t learn your lesson, did you?”
“I-I didn’t know there was more there!!”
“Words are useless.”
CRACK!
After subduing them again, I secured both the prisoners and evidence.
Then I sent Yuria back first.
“I’ll escort you back to the dorm, Your Highness.”
“Ah… yes…”
Something about her expression felt slightly off.
But I didn’t dwell on it.
I had work to finish.