Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: To the Academy (3)
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To cut to the chase, I was assigned to A-Class.
With Freya and Bergil here anyway, it was pretty much a given, but the important part wasn't their influence—it was that I'd earned my spot in A-Class through my own merits.
I mean, if a former Sword Saint couldn't make it into A-Class, who could?
It'd actually be weirder if I hadn't.
"Master...! I-I'm in A-Class too!?"
"I told you I'd be in A-Class."
"H-How!?"
How what? She might not realize it herself, but Cecilia's talent for spirit arts is unparalleled.
Her character concept from the start was the beloved child of the spirits, after all.
"You've got talent in spirit arts."
"Even if you say that... I can only handle basic spirit arts, you know?"
Cecilia created a small orb of light in her hand as she spoke.
Truly the most rudimentary level of light spirit art.
But her talent simply hadn't blossomed yet.
'The conditions for it are brutally tough.'
In the Fairy Forest where there's no reason to go, she has to meet the Fairy Queen—one who appears once every thousand years among the already rare fairies.
It's so high-level that it'd honestly be better to help out another heroine instead.
Of course, spirit arts scale incredibly well in the late game, so once her talent awakens, its value is beyond words.
"Well, I'll prove you've got talent before the year's out."
"...Eh? You're not pushing yourself too hard again, are you?"
Cecilia, who knew about what happened up north, shot me a worried look.
"Don't worry about it."
I patted her head to reassure her.
She seemed to let go of her concerns, gazing up at me with brighter eyes.
"By the way, who's our A-Class homeroom professor?"
Cecilia changed the subject.
Fair enough—even I was curious about A-Class's homeroom professor, just like she said.
Whoever was qualified to teach a class full of geniuses among geniuses had to be a big name in the Empire.
I had some expectations since my own reputation was nothing to sneeze at.
Would they be someone whose fame even surpassed that of a former member of the Seven Stars?
"I'm a little curious myself."
The moment I replied to Cecilia—
—Rumble.
The door slid open, and a hulking man stepped in.
He was easily over 2 meters tall, with a massive build to match.
And he couldn't care less about formalities—buttons undone on a Hawaiian shirt, paired with shorts.
He looked just like that old Russian president from way back.
"Uh, yeah. Nice to meet ya, kids."
The man yawned lazily as he scrawled his name on the blackboard.
His handwriting was atrocious, but I could still make out the name.
'Phil Evan Kani Stasis.'
A half-breed of barbarian and Imperial blood.
A hermit whose records had faded from memory decades ago—but surprisingly, I knew this guy.
"...Master? Do you know him?"
Cecilia tilted her head at my expression.
I reflexively blurted it out in response.
"...The former Spear Star."
The man who'd swept through the East alone while Bergil and I ravaged the North.
How the hell was this lazy, booze-obsessed slob here?
"Mm, you kids probably don't know me... Yawwwn~."
Kani kept yawning as he continued.
And as he said, aside from a few students, no one seemed to recognize him.
"Well, makes sense. It's been a long time, and talking about that era's pretty much taboo anyway."
Mentioning the Empire's conquest wars was an unspoken rule not to bring up.
It was undeniably a glorious time when the Empire rose to power and showcased its might.
But it was also a painful, ugly chapter in the Empire's history.
The older generation who remembered it tended to avoid the topic.
"...Hm. If you don't know me like that, then this oughta ring a bell."
Kani wrote huge letters on the blackboard.
By the time he finished, the words "Spear Star" were scrawled there.
"Professor! Isn't the current Spear Star Lord Dord?"
"Right. Dord's the Spear Star now. I'm not the current one. I'm the former Spear Star."
Kani put weight into his voice.
A powerful pressure that silenced the crowd.
The aura of a man who'd stood alone against the East.
"Anyway, looking around, this freshman class seems pretty high-caliber."
Kani swept his gaze over the A-Class students and grinned.
Fair enough—this protagonist generation was stacked.
From the protagonist dozing in the corner to Karin, the peak-realm swordsman who hadn't appeared yet.
Plus a heroine heir to the Magic Tower, saintess candidates, and Eastern martial artists.
Frankly, they were way beyond freshman level.
No wonder the original story called them the Generation of Salvation.
"Well... there's one freak who's way too good for this level. No idea why he's here."
Kani's eyes lingered on me for a moment.
A look that screamed he genuinely couldn't figure out why I was here.
Yeah, I get it.
If a wartime comrade you fought alongside suddenly showed up as your student, I'd make the same face.
He was probably thinking I'd lost my marbles.
"Anyway, that'll do for introductions. Class dismissed for the first day. The rest of the time's free."
Kani smiled contentedly, wrapping up the academy's first day.
True to A-Class's reputation for hardheads, most students hadn't even shown up, but he stayed positive.
I'd probably be pissed and trash the place.
"Ah... you there, black-haired kid. Stick around a sec."
Kani pointed at me as he headed for the door.
There were plenty of other black-haired students, so I figured I could slip out... but no such luck.
"A one-on-one?"
"Yeah... something like that."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Yuri, summoned to the back of the academy's main building, was already pulling off the feat of a private meeting with his homeroom professor on the very first day.
Of course, there was ample reason for it, but to onlookers, it must've looked plenty strange.
"...So, you know why I called you out here, right?"
Kani sighed deeply as he looked down at Yuri.
Even this eternally laid-back, optimistic guy was frowning now.
"Why'd you call me?"
Yuri dropped the formal speech, unlike before.
Kani didn't bat an eye, just gave him a look like you really don't know?
"You really don't know?"
"I really don't."
Of course, Yuri knew full well.
A fellow former Seven Star showing up as a student? It'd pique anyone's curiosity and discomfort.
He was just feeling a bit playful seeing an old comrade after decades.
"If you really don't know, I'll spell it out."
Kani sighed again, staring at Yuri.
Seeing Yuri's innocent eyes, he finally spoke.
"Why are you here?"
That single question summed up everything Kani wanted to say.
From why a former Sword Star was at the academy as a student...
To why this hermit who'd skipped Seven Star gatherings for decades had suddenly appeared.
A pure, straightforward question: why was Yuri here?
Yuri grinned and opened his mouth toward Kani.
"Eh, just here to learn a bit more swordsmanship?"
The same simple line he'd fed Bergil and Freya.
Like them, Kani's eyes went wide.
"You... gone senile in your old age?"
A question born of pure concern for his comrade, no malice.
Yuri shook his head.
"No way. And aren't I in better shape than you guys anyway?"
"...Can't argue that."
As Yuri said, if he was in better shape than Bergil or Kani, it was natural—not weird at all.
His transcendence had always outpaced the other Seven Stars.
Of course Yuri would be stronger and healthier.
"...What I said earlier was a lie, anyway. Just got bored in my old age."
Yuri smoothly lied to Kani without missing a beat.
Tricking old friends was the most fun, after all.
"If you're bored in your old age, just teach like me."
"No talent for teaching."
Not that Yuri—who'd raised a peak-realm disciple in under a year—had any room to say that.
But Kani had no way of knowing.
"...I see. Come to think of it, you never had any official disciples."
"Yeah, pretty much."
Only then did Kani start to buy it.
Growing old with nothing to do at home, no desire for disciples.
Too spry to sit idle.
So he'd chosen the academy to relive his youth.
Kani nodded in understanding, but sighed thinking of the rough road ahead for his teaching career.
"Ah. Wanna spar after so long?"
All while wondering if this jerk in front of him got how he felt.