Academies Are Meant to Be Breached
The raid on the hideout ended smoothly. There was nothing inside but a bunch of nobodies, so calling it a fight would have been pointless. I’d half-expected as much when I used the word “hunt” instead of “battle,” but it still left a hollow feeling. At least the loot we pulled from the place had fattened our wallets, so that was something.
We finished the job in less than half a week and celebrated with drinks, enjoying the rare moment of leisure. Arash and Neon blew through their earnings on materials that had trickled in from other regions. Anel and Coco spent a happy afternoon sampling desserts that were currently popular in the Central region. Neon and Adela wandered wherever their curiosity took them. To any outsider, it looked like perfect peace.
Yet only one person among us wasn’t relaxed.
“Argo! Spar with me today!”
“Argo, sir! Let us hold an academic discussion on summoning magic theory—!”
“Hey! You’re sparring with me today!”
The students of Orbis Academy were exceptionally talented. Each one had been hailed as a genius back in their own territories or kingdoms, and even when their skills lagged behind those from other regions, their drive to improve was just as fierce. Considering how heavily the mid-term evaluations emphasized practical combat, the Northerners were nothing short of a fresh stimulus for students whose growth had begun to stagnate.
Since it felt awkward to ask complete strangers from the North, the students instead pestered Argo—someone close to the Ruin siblings—every time he sparred, begging to watch and then requesting matches of their own.
Adela tilted her head, watching Argo surrounded by the crowd from a distance.
“Neon. Why do they fight when they’re just going to lose anyway?”
“Because they can grow through the experience.”
Neon answered kindly. Thanks to his contract with Krisnain, he had no choice but to stay with Argo. Now that they were comrades, he had decided to play the role of guide for Adela, who knew little about the human world, partly to make a good impression.
“I see. You know a lot, Neon.”
“Haha! Did I ever mention I used to train new recruits at the Blue Tower?”
“Still, don’t draw out black mana near me. I might reflexively extend my claws.”
“Come on. I survived this long on nothing but instinct. I’m not making that kind of mistake.”
They would probably never become truly close because of the inherent tension between a black mage and a monster, but Neon was satisfied as long as they weren’t hostile.
I pushed through the crowd and dropped onto the bench between them with a sigh, feeling like an outsider watching a distant fire.
“I’m exhausted.”
“No fights today?”
“Tomorrow’s the festival. I’m not planning to spar until the very last day.”
I enjoyed fighting, but I wasn’t a battle maniac like the Ruin siblings. For the students it was a single match; for me it had already been dozens. I’d humored them for a while before slipping away.
“I’ll fight in your place!”
“Ah. Runa, maybe not.”
“You don’t know when to stop.”
“What did you just say?”
“Lady Runa is the best!”
“Long live Lady Runa!”
I let out a relieved sigh as Runa cheerfully dragged the students away, their faces a mix of smiles and tears.
“Looks like everyone wants to fight. Shall we go too?”
“Us? Fight as well?”
“Of course. I prepared some techniques specifically to use against Argo, but I’ll show them to you first as a special treat.”
Neon clicked his tongue as Ruin led the rest of the group away. He had seen enough of their skills over the past few days. He couldn’t understand why people of that caliber were still academy students when they could have crushed ogres with ease.
“At that level, they could operate in the North, couldn’t they?”
“Normally, yes. Most people learn the basics at the guild without ever coming to the academy.”
“Then why are they here?”
“To learn things beyond combat.”
The Ruin siblings’ talent was dazzling. After just a few days of sparring, they had already absorbed my fighting style and made it their own. What they needed wasn’t a teacher to instruct them in martial arts, but one who could temper their minds. In that regard, Orbis Academy was the perfect place.
“True. If siblings that strong went astray, it would be a disaster in its own right.”
“Considering their personalities, it’s probably an unnecessary step, but you never know. Besides, there’s an ideal professor here to teach them.”
“You mean Professor Veronika.”
Neon nodded, fully convinced. Objectively speaking, Orbis Academy was an excellent place to study. They could receive mental guidance from the professors and martial instruction from Veronika. In fact, the students’ overall level had risen noticeably in recent years thanks to her teachings. The fact that the academy infirmary had expanded several times over was something we could quietly overlook.
Just as I was about to move on, thinking that sparring with the Ruin siblings was beneficial for everyone, one of the passing students spotted Neon and looked surprised.
“Huh? Neon?”
“Keh. Shinshia?”
Neon’s expression turned openly uncomfortable at the sight of the woman with long silver hair, and he quickly averted his gaze. It was obvious they knew each other.
“You two are acquainted?”
“She’s the rival I mentioned before.”
“I’m Shinshia. Neon and I were close when we were children.”
Adela and I both leaned in with interest. Knowing how Neon had become a black mage, we couldn’t help but wonder about their relationship. He had once said he’d turned to black magic out of jealousy toward a genius he could never surpass. After struggling desperately to catch up, only to taste the harsh reality of the North and come to his senses, Neon forced an awkward smile and greeted her.
“Nice to meet you. Have you been well?”
“Ah. Yes. I studied hard at the Blue Tower before coming to Orbis Academy. What about you?”
“Me? I wandered around like a vagrant until I came to my senses in the North.”
With that, Neon pulled a necklace from his pocket and showed it to her. It was the mark of an officially recognized black mage acknowledged by the Holy Kingdom. Shinshia’s expression darkened as she confirmed it.
“Neon… So it really was because of what happened back then…”
“Hey! Don’t look at me with that face like you’re about to cry! I’m perfectly fine!”
Whenever Shinshia’s face clouded over, Neon jumped in to insist he was all right, as if they shared some secret only the two of them knew.
“I was a little out of my mind back then. I pushed myself even when there was no need to rush. Looking back now, I don’t know why I did it. I was especially emotional that day, too.”
Shinshia’s expression brightened slightly at Neon’s continued explanation. Seeing that, Neon quietly exhaled in relief—only to flinch when he felt an intense gaze from beside him.
“Argo. I want popcorn.”
“Me too. But I don’t want to look away from this drama.”
“Kitt.”
“Rata wants peanuts.”
The two of them were watching with sparkling eyes. Realizing that not only they but also the surrounding students had slowed their steps or lowered their voices, Shinshia blushed.
“L-Let’s talk about this later!”
“Y-Yes, that would be best! The academy founding festival is tomorrow, so let’s talk then!”
“Fine by me!”
Shinshia, having also noticed the attention, covered her face with both hands and hurried away. I watched her go, then asked Neon with a sly grin.
“Was she your girlfriend?”
“It wasn’t like that. We were just friends.”
Neon answered in a dry voice. It was true; there hadn’t been any romantic atmosphere between them. If anything, they felt more distant than strangers. The fact that he used the past tense when saying “friends” suggested a complicated history, but I decided to stop teasing before I touched on something sensitive.
“I don’t know what happened, but I hope it goes well tomorrow.”
“Yeah. I’ll talk with Shinshia for a bit tomorrow.”
Adela and I said nothing as a shadow fell over Neon’s usually bright expression. We were curious about what kind of past the one who always set the mood carried, but for now we changed the subject for his sake.
“By the way, about tomorrow. Do you think we can stop it?”
“Stop what?”
“The attack by that organization called the Flame of Doom.”
“Ah. That.”
Neon’s expression returned to normal. He had realized we were being considerate and was managing his face accordingly.
“Now that you mention it, there was an attack plan in the hideout documents.”
“Their plan looked pretty meticulously prepared.”
“Still, they’ll probably give up, right? We already reported the attack to the academy, and the Empire knows about it too.”
Under normal circumstances, that would be the logical conclusion. The academy was the Empire’s pride, a domain managed by Headmaster Germa, who was revered as a sage. Combined with the barrier created by an 8th-circle mage and the Empire’s annual massive investment in defense measures, it was like an iron fortress. Moreover, after several unfortunate incidents last year, the Empire was on high alert. They would pour everything into security during this festival to restore their tarnished honor.
No matter how influential the Flame of Doom was in the Central region, openly challenging the Empire was madness. Especially when hundreds of their members hidden near the academy had already been wiped out. I looked at Adela with a benevolent expression as Neon, a former researcher of the Flame of Doom, spoke.
“Adela, listen carefully.”
“To what?”
“The academy is a public facility. Anyone can use it.”
“The academy gets breached?”
“It always gets breached. It’s a universal truth.”
“Hey, what are you teaching her?”
Neon gave me an incredulous look. Tsk tsk. He still didn’t understand. Academies getting breached was practically a law of the world.
“Make sure you bring your staff tomorrow.”
“Everyone else will be in casual clothes. Why should I carry a staff?”
“It never hurts to be prepared.”
He grumbled, clearly not understanding, but he would see tomorrow whose words were true.
And the next morning—
KABOOOOOM!
“We’re under attack!”
As the brilliant explosion and screams rang out, Adela and I met each other’s eyes.
“Whoa. It really is an attack.”
“It really gets breached.”
Well, I only brought common sense from novels, but what if it actually gets breached?