Hand Techniques (1)

The professor wiped the cold sweat from his brow.

Settle down. You've been retired from the Intelligence Bureau for ages — of course you'd run into every strange thing under the sun.

Even if he had just witnessed an extraordinary talent, a tenured professor couldn't afford the stigma of getting rattled by a mere Novice Cadet.

Act natural.

"Ahem. Ahem! Very good. Have a seat, Cadet Ethan."

"Yes, sir."

Ethan tilted his head and sat down.

They say high-ranking heroes have a sixth sense for this kind of thing.

Is it that obvious that I hate thieves?

Ethan was laboring under a completely baseless delusion.

The professor smoothed the front of his imperial suit and set the chalk dancing.

"My name is Felix Maren."

Tap. Tap.

Mana chalk scraped across the slate board.

"Over the course of this semester, you will learn a variety of hand techniques from me. The deeper you dig into hand techniques, the more vast the field truly becomes."

"…"

"In the broadest sense, a mage drawing a magic circle is hand technique. A priest forming mudras to bestow a blessing is hand technique as well."

He moved toward the panel hanging on the wall.

"But the hand techniques that thieves study can be condensed into four major branches."

Felix wrote the letters inverted so the students could read them properly.

"Not one of these four is unimportant. But once you complete your training, enter the field, and start carrying out real missions, you'll discover for yourselves which path suits you best."

He pointed to the anatomical diagram and architectural blueprints mounted on the wall — illustrations, it seemed, of the human body and of buildings, both marked with every place a person might hide an object.

"My class focuses, above all, on the snatching arts."

Felix raised his voice.

"Snatching is not limited to mere objects."

He cracked the chalk against the panel with a sharp tak.

"Seizing an enemy's weapon. Blunting their offensive power. Neutralizing their rear lines before they ever notice. All of it unfolds at your fingertips. Hand technique is the form that makes it possible — and the art of snatching is the fundamental mindset you must carry."

He stepped out in front of the lectern.

"What the world casually calls pickpocketing — the simple theft of an object — is only the most elementary application among the tens of thousands of techniques you will need to master."

He continued the orientation in earnest.

"What you cadets will learn over the course of this semester is…"

Just as the lecture threatened to stretch on,

"Tch."

A sullen mutter rose from among the cadets.

"Acting all high and mighty over teaching us how to snatch stuff…"

It was Kaion of House Valter.

In the end, the method he had chosen to claw back the attention Ethan had stolen was "provoking the professor" — and after swallowing the humiliation of buying a Sapphire Dormitory entry ticket for a fortune, his inferiority complex was only that much uglier.

Every cadet turned to look at him.

"Hey, Kaion! Is that any way to speak to the professor?!"

"Kaion, what kind of manners is that on the very first period?"

"What's with that guy? Why's he suddenly showing off?"

At the same time, more than a few eyes shone with admiration.

"Are all northerners that full of themselves?"

"Challenging a professor on day one…"

"Ethan of House Cass and Kaion of House Valter — both of them have incredible presence."

Frankly, asking an insolent question in the middle of class would have earned a solid "what the hell is this idiot doing" in twenty-first-century Korea. But in this vaguely fusion-tinged classic fantasy world with a medieval backdrop, challenge-laced remarks like that often found support.

Kaion tilted his chin with smug satisfaction.

"Did I say anything wrong?"

He twisted his lips.

"If you're going to teach me, you should at least be a Master who holds a First Seat in the Empire. Hiring some last-seat nobody just tanks the whole standard."

Professor Felix heard every word and showed not the slightest flicker of emotion.

"Hm."

He had been thoroughly startled when he first saw Ethan — that human dark horse — but there was always one kid every year who charged in just like Kaion.

His fingertips did not tremble by so much as a hair. Two people in a single class had tried to needle him, and his self-control remained remarkable.

He paused a moment, then went on.

"Let me clear up one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠point first."

He raised a single finger.

"It seems all of you are laboring under a rather large misunderstanding."

He snapped the chalk in his hand and flung the pieces in a blur.

"Hiiik!!"

A stick of chalk streaked through the air at a speed no eye could follow — and a second blue stick came flying right behind it.

"Ghk!"

Right in front of Kaion's nose, the two pieces of chalk collided and shattered into dust.

"Cough! Cough!"

Kaion hurriedly ducked his head.

Detonating a follow-up piece of chalk ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in midair with perfect precision so the first one never struck the target's skull — it was a technique worthy of the man once called the King of Hand Techniques.

Gasps of awe burst out all around at that level of skill and accuracy.

"Whoa… so even a last-seat can do that much…"

"Incredible… he blew it up right in front of his nose."

"Professors really are something else."

Felix rolled the remaining chalk between his fingers as he spoke.

"Stealing for private gain because you cannot control an impulse is the work of common thieves."

The lecture hall fell silent in an instant.

"A thief must never be ruled by impulse. A cadet who is swayed by personal greed is no different from a petty criminal. You, on the contrary, must learn to reverse and exploit your opponent's impulses."

He picked up a card.

"Only when you understand human desire — truly know it — can you grasp where a target has hidden something, how carefully they are watching it, and how you ought to take it. If you chain yourselves to the mere name 'hand technique,' you will never advance beyond pickpocketing. A thief must, above all else, possess a wide field of vision."

Felix flicked the card into the air and caught it again.

"In other words, if you focus only on what's right in front of your nose the way Cadet Kaion just did, you may end up with a rather large nosebleed."

Kaion had no choice but to shut his mouth.

Professor Felix crooked his short-brimmed top hat at a rakish angle.

"Well then — before we begin, shall we take one question?"

A cadet raised a hand.

"Yes, you there. Go ahead."

The cadet opened his mouth.

"Professor."

"Speak."

"I heard that as long as you don't get caught, it doesn't matter what you steal."

The lecture hall froze for a beat.

Felix's eyebrow climbed a fraction.

"And what maniac told you that?"

"The headmaster, sir."

"…"

Silence settled.

Felix cleared his throat slowly.

"Ahem. Hem. That… was no doubt a joke meant to lighten the mood at the entrance ceremony."

"…"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"I trust no one present took it seriously."

Ethan quietly cast his gaze forward.

…Pretty sure everyone took it completely seriously.

He decided not to mention it to Professor Felix — namely the fact that on the very first day of the term, in the main building of Ruby Dormitory alone, thirty theft cases had already broken out among the cadets.

Basic Hand Techniques… or whatever it was called.

Because the course was a required subject for every Novice Cadet, it had been allotted a full four hours. There was a break in the middle, and cadets spilled out into the corridors of the lecture wing to rest wherever they could find space.

"I wish class would keep going."

Even with that much time, the cadets did not exactly welcome the intermission.

"Professor Felix… his class is going to be fun, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I looked at the syllabus — it says Thief Masters who refine snatching arts to the absolute limit can even snatch souls."

"That's insane. That's basically the realm of magic."

"I want more class. No — I want to get into the field already."

"Same, same. Crescent Hall only has the interesting lectures."

Ethan was parked on a third-floor corridor bench in Crescent Hall, shooting the breeze with Sera.

"So someday when I infiltrate the Western Kingdom for intelligence work, I'll be able to use incredible snatching arts like that, right?"

"Probably."

Sera's eyes sparkled after listening to the course introduction.

"I'm looking forward to it. I was worried during the Dormitory Scramble, but everyone else's eyes are shining too — I think academy life might actually be fun."

Ethan killed the mood with a hard fact.

"Later on we'll be running assassinations of key figures, every filthy conspiracy imaginable, and full-blown intel operations. Better enjoy yourselves while you can."

Sera narrowed her eyes.

"Hey! Don't say things like that while you're drinking the ssanghwa tea I gave you!"

Pouting, she jabbed him in the side.

"…?"

"What? Why is there no reaction at all?"

Ethan slurped the egg yolk from the ssanghwa tea in his hand and said,

"I'm not ticklish."

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"I honestly can't tell whether you have emotions or not."

Just then a pink orc approached.

"Class started. Get inside."

"Right. Let's go."

Ethan set his teacup on the chair and headed back toward the classroom.

"Ethan!"

"?"

Sera pointed at the cup and called after him.

"You can't just leave a teacup anywhere!"

"I stored it on the chair as an emergency weapon."

"That is complete nonsense!"

Grumbling, Sera trailed after him back into the lecture hall.

Ethan glanced over his shoulder. Kaion and his hangers-on stood with their arms folded, glaring daggers in his direction.

"…"

Something annoying was probably about to happen.

Well, if anything did, he could just thrash them once and be done with it.

When the lecture resumed, Felix spoke in a voice even livelier than that morning's.

"Why must we learn hand techniques?"

He circled the words hand techniques on the board.

"Ordinarily, when you employ hand techniques, one of two things occurs. Either you obtain a specific object from your opponent — or you attack them."

Felix surveyed the room.

"Is there a cadet here who can speak to the difference between snatching and attacking?"

The cadets kept their mouths shut.

"No one?"

Then the pink-skinned orc sitting beside Ethan raised a bright pink hand.

"Yes. What's your name, cadet?"

"Dormuut."

"Excellent, Cadet Dormuut. Try answering the question."

Dormuut slipped on a pair of glasses from who-knew-where and continued.

"Snatching is bringing something to you. Attacking is giving something to them."

Silence fell.

"Pfft."

Jeering laughter burst from Kaion's clique in the back.

"What is he even saying?"

"Heh heh, orc-level thinking."

At that simple answer, more and more cadets around them struggled to hold in their laughter. It was the opposite of the definitions ordinary noble combat instructors usually taught.

"Pwahaha… wait, he's not wrong!"

"Classic orc who got schooled by the headmaster on day one."

"I'm embarrassed to be an orc like that guy."

Dormuut slowly lowered the hand he had raised, taking the glasses down with it.

"Mmm…"

Despite the rugged exterior, he seemed surprisingly sensitive to hurt.

"Why is everyone laughing?"

Ethan gave Dormuut's shoulder a light tap and muttered,

"He's right, though."

The room went quiet.

Kaion, who had been sitting with his arms folded until now, fixed Ethan with a stare.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying Dormuut is correct."

Ethan pointed at the air as he explained.

"Snatching is making something the enemy has reach your hand. Attacking is making something in your hand reach the enemy."

He turned his head toward the professor.

"That's the right answer, isn't it, Professor?"

Felix blinked, then allowed a faint smile to curve his lips.