Stealth Arts
Thief School generally sorted its classes into two categories.
One covered subjects that could be handled with a decent amount of brainpower—things like Understanding Basic Hand Techniques.
The other was pure physical grind, the kind of training you had to beat into your body through sheer effort.
Stealth Arts belonged squarely in the latter.
“But where did everyone go?”
“…”
“I heard today’s Stealth Arts orientation was supposed to be in Morning Star Hall.”
The empty air shimmered faintly, and a voice laced with Qi rang through the vacant classroom.
“Aww, pretty one. Why are you late?”
“Hic! Where’s that voice coming from?”
A moment later, a pair of slender, delicate hands materialized out of thin air and casually tossed a log chair down right beside Sera, placing it with perfect precision.
“G-Ghost!?”
“It’s the professor. The professor.”
The floating right hand pointed its index finger at the chair.
“If you don’t sit, I’ll mark you absent. Hurry up and take a seat.”
“Y-Yes, ma’am!”
Sera sat down with a pout.
The floating hands seemed to be conversing with something that looked like black smoke.
“Hmm… so we’ve got one absence today?”
“…”
“What are you talking about? Did you even count the heads properly?”
The hand clenched into a fist and smacked the black smoke once.
“Dammit. Check the attendance sheet—someone’s missing right now.”
The hand vanished with a soft whoosh, and the classroom rippled again.
Sitting alone with Ethan in the completely empty room left Sera with a strange feeling.
“Hey, Ethan, about that…”
Unable to bear the awkwardness any longer, Sera started talking to him—
“…Huh?”
The flow of air inside the classroom suddenly changed.
The spacious room undulated once more, and then—
Sssshh.
As if a veil had been lifted, the forms of the seated cadets appeared before Sera and Ethan’s eyes.
Ethan could not hide his astonishment at the incredible technique.
So the professor had been hiding the students all along.
Wide-area stealth.
An advanced art that perfectly concealed not only the user’s own form but the forms of others as well.
The professor had been applying Stealth Arts across the entire space.
Click. Click.
The sound of high heels echoed from empty air, accompanied by a sly voice.
“What is this? I definitely didn’t sense anything.”
“…”
“You felt the same, right? Of course you did. My Qi sense doesn’t make mistakes.”
“…”
“Yeah, this is way too weird.”
The students began to murmur among themselves.
“Isn’t that Ethan?”
“How long has he been sitting there?”
“No idea. He wasn’t around when class started.”
A woman’s voice drifted out of the empty air and landed right beside Ethan’s ear.
“Cadet… are you a repeater, by any chance?”
“No, ma’am.”
“What’s your name?”
Ethan stood and bowed his head.
“Ethan Cass.”
A fangirl-like squeal erupted from up ahead, and then—
Ssshhhk.
A woman in an unorthodox outfit appeared right in front of his nose.
A hybrid of a Japanese kunoichi’s garb and a classic fantasy female rogue’s attire—half and half—worn by a striking beauty.
“Whoa!”
The male cadets erupted in admiration the moment she dropped her stealth and revealed her looks.
“What kind of professor has a face like that…”
“Seriously, between Professor Lena and the rest, the candidates for the empire’s greatest beauty aren’t just one or two people.”
“She’s gorgeous. I want to get close to her.”
Faint ritual markings traced her slender neck and delicate wrists.
She was the professor in charge of Stealth Arts at Thief School.
Yuzuha Serdik.
Long dark hair with a subtle purple sheen fluttered around her head. She possessed sharp, beautiful eyes and pale skin.
Even the cloth mask that covered her up to the nose could not hide that beauty.
“I’m your biggest fan, Ethan!”
“Uh… excuse me?”
While Ethan was still turning his gaze, Yuzuha was already right in his face.
“Mmm… your eyes are so clear, cadet. Yes, yes. I like that a lot!”
“Professor, you’re too close.”
“Ah! Was I overdoing it?”
Before he knew it, Professor Yuzuha had grabbed both of his hands and was swinging them back and forth excitedly.
Watching the scene, Sera’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Ugh, what’s with a professor acting that friendly with a student…”
She pouted, looking thoroughly displeased.
Whether she cared or not, Professor Yuzuha kept chattering away with bright enthusiasm.
“What class did you have this morning?”
“I took Understanding Basic Hand Techniques.”
“Ah, Professor Felix? That pain-in-the-ass who even submitted a proposal asking whether professors can give demerits to other professors. You must’ve had a hard time listening to that stuffy old man’s lectures!”
“I-It wasn’t like that. I learned a great deal.”
Ethan broke out in a cold sweat at the sudden assassination attempt on a colleague.
If I agree with a professor trash-talking another professor, I’ll just get marked down on the spot.
He couldn’t exactly deny it either, so he let it slide with a noncommittal answer.
“Professor Felix is fine, but more than anything I really wanted to take Stealth Arts.”
It was a lie.
Why would I want to learn something this thoroughly thief-like? I’m just twisting myself into knots so I can graduate as fast as possible.
“Really!?”
Professor Yuzuha bounced in place, her long hair fluttering.
“Our little cutie is so adorable I just want to squeeze him tight—seriously, you’re too precious~!”
“Th-That would be problematic, Professor.”
“Oh, stop playing hard to get! Come over here. Take the class from the front row—hurry!”
Yuzuha grabbed Ethan’s hand and dragged him to a seat at the very front of the platform.
Sera trailed after them and sat down beside him.
At the sight of the academy’s greatest beauty professor playing favorites, the male cadets wore expressions like they had bitten into something foul.
“Ethan… from this day forward you are the enemy of every cadet in Emerald Dormitory.”
“Comrade. Topaz Dormitory stands with you in spirit.”
“Sapphire Dormitory seconds that. From now on Ethan gets no shared exam notes or anything.”
Ethan had no time to savor the jealous musk of the defeated males.
What’s that smell…?
A pungent rat-beastman scent tickled his nose.
“It’s Senior Chris, isn’t it?”
Sera turned her head and greeted him cheerfully.
“You’re taking a first-year class too, Senior?”
“Y-Yeah, I couldn’t take it last year…”
“Nice to see you, Senior! Let’s do our best!”
There was one senior cadet present in the room.
What the hell… Yuzuha Serdik, famous for having zero warmth, is treating a student this affectionately?
The rat-beastman who had washed out of Ethan’s senior year—Chris.
“Professor Yuzuha is the type who throws students who confess to her into the alligator pen… she’s that rough…”
He simply could not believe the scene unfolding before his eyes.
“She’s that bad?”
“Ack! You startled me—huff.”
A cascade of brilliant golden hair suddenly pushed into Chris’s personal space.
It was Iria.
“Y-Your Highness Princess Iria! Chris Edmer, at your service… I’m from the southern…”
“I know. You’re from a blacksmith family, aren’t you?”
“How did you—!”
Princess Iria smiled with her eyes and whispered,
“For a member of the imperial family, remembering the names of citizens from allied nations is only natural.”
“It’s an honor, Your Highness…”
“You’re a senior, so speak comfortably. Call me Iria.”
“How could I possibly…”
“Ahaha. You’re an interesting senior.”
Iria looked toward the front, where Ethan was bantering with Professor Yuzuha.
In an instant her expression cooled.
“Ethan Cass…”
As far as she knew, House Cass was nothing more than a rural viscountcy with barely any territory.
“Just what is his true identity…?”
She found herself curious.
What kind of person Ethan Cass really was.
Why he had come to this Thief School, and what thoughts he lived by.
“I’m the type who can’t rest until I possess anything I want.”
“…Pardon?”
“I wasn’t talking to you, Senior. Look ahead.”
“Ah—yes! Yes!”
Iria had decided she would have Ethan.
“I usually can’t stand men who are surrounded by women.”
But to survive in this blood-soaked, barren imperial court…
“Having someone of his caliber as my second sword would be perfect.”
Unaware of Iria’s thoughts, Ethan simply wanted the conversation to end.
“What’s your favorite food? Favorite constellation? Do you have a religion? Have you ever received a revelation from Goddess Vespera?”
“Ah, um… Professor, shall we begin the class now?”
“Ah! I’m sorry. I was playing favorites with Cadet Ethan too much. Hahaha.”
“…”
“Actually, now that I think about it, there’s no problem, is there? If you’re jealous, just become the top student yourself.”
Professor Yuzuha flicked herself into the air.
She crouched atop the long pole planted dead-center in the training ground.
“Listen up, everyone. If you study hard, I’ll dote on you the same way I dote on our Cadet Ethan, understood? You need to at least succeed at erasing your presence in a single semester, just like Cadet Ethan.”
Of course the new cadets had no idea.
That Professor Yuzuha dismissed anyone who couldn’t digest a two-year curriculum in a single semester as a “dullard.”
“What the hell is even going on…”
Chris still could not wrap his head around the situation.
“…Is the Hundred Years’ War about to start again?”
For someone as sharp-edged as Yuzuha to act like a fangirl…
“Ethan Cass… just how far do you intend to go!?”
Thanks to Ethan’s naturally handsome features, not only the female first-years but even senior cadets had been visiting the Ruby Dormitory annex just to catch a glimpse of his face.
With even the female professors now falling for him, the male cadets could hardly help feeling jealous.
“I won’t lose to you either, Ethan.”
Meanwhile, Carson Valerius, sitting in the front row, slicked back his hair with greasy confidence and rose from his seat.
“When it comes to masculine charm, I’m pretty confident.”
Back on the frontier he had received countless confessions and gifts from the village women, after all.
Getting friendly with the legendary eastern thief Yuzuha will be as easy as pie.
Carson stepped forward and extended his hand.
“It is an honor to share a class with the empire’s greatest beauty, Professor Yuzuha. If it would not be too forward, might we exchange messenger-bird coordinates…”
“Sit down.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Carson failed at the easy-as-pie part.
The Stealth Arts class was an endless contest of the cadets’ endurance.
“Put in a little more power. How do you enroll in Thief School and still not know how to use Qi? This year’s batch is truly disappointing.”
Not a single student succeeded even at the basic Presence Erasure technique.
Professor Yuzuha’s standards were simply far too high.
“If they could just reach even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of Cadet Ethan’s level, that would be wonderful.”
Ethan was honestly curious about what was being taught, so he told Professor Yuzuha he wanted to participate as well.
“Hm? Our Cadet Ethan has already mastered perception-range stealth, hasn’t he? Then you don’t even need to bother with camouflage. Just sit in the back and rest comfortably! You’ll probably have nothing to do next period either.”
Ethan possessed monstrous talent for Stealth Arts as well.
Without doing a single thing, he had received a perfect score from the very first class.
“Cadet Ethan!?”
“I’m right here.”
“Wah! You scared me.”
The other cadets still could not get used to Ethan constantly appearing and vanishing right before their eyes.
For the record, Ethan was not using any technique whatsoever.
“It’s not that he has no presence… but the second you look away, he’s gone.”
“At this rate I’m starting to find Ethan actually scary…”
“They said Stealth Arts is the hardest discipline for any thief to master… just what is Ethan’s true identity?”
Professor Yuzuha called out,
“Cadet Ethan—perfect score! Go wait in the back.”
“Thank you.”
“Ack! You startled me again.”
Ethan sipped his usual herbal tonic with a soft slurp and watched the class from the rear.
“…They look like they’ve almost erased their presence too… and she still won’t pass them at that level?”
Sera and Carson were crouched in agony atop a baseball-bat-sized pole driven vertically into the ground.
“Haaah… haaah… how the hell am I supposed to erase my presence…”
“If you just stay still, you don’t make any sound, right!?”
“I might have to go learn stealth magic on the side…”
Professor Yuzuha clapped her hands once at the front.
“That’s all for today’s class! Practice the Rank-1 technique ‘Presence Erasure’ before the next session. The bottom five will receive punishment—so work hard.”
She briskly smacked the equipment she was holding against the lectern to tidy it, then slipped neatly into a tiny hole high up on the classroom wall and vanished.
After class ended, the Caion confrontation Ethan had been dreading never came.
If this followed the usual webtoon clichés, he’d pick a fight in the student cafeteria, right?
Caion had glared at Ethan the entire period, then simply clicked his tongue—“Tch”—and disappeared.
Because Ethan’s MBTI in his previous life had been the planning type J, he always prepared for the situations that tended to befall the protagonists of “I Became ○○ in a Webtoon” stories.
“But I didn’t see this coming.”
Standing right in front of him was a golden-haired girl wearing a bright, refreshing smile.
Even in the dark thief attire, her pure elegance could not be hidden.
“Allow me to introduce myself properly.”
The princess lifted the hem of her dark leather skirt slightly and offered a formal courtesy.
“Iria Astravel. The youngest of the imperial family that rules the empire.”
In truth, Ethan was rather glad this member of the imperial bloodline had approached him.
Thief School was under direct imperial authority, and the Fourth Princess would know a great deal about it.
If I talk with this imperial thief girl—no, Her Highness—I can extract a lot of useful information.
Ethan hid his wicked intentions and spoke with proper courtesy.
“Iria. I would like to hear a little more of your story.”
“My, were you interested in me?”
“I have always held a profound interest in the empire’s greatest beauty.”
“Ahaha. You’re amusing as well.”
Ethan thought,
I need to dig out information.
Always keep your enemies closer.
He would absolutely pry the location of the Imperial Seal out of Iria.
Iria thought,
Heh heh.
The mere fact that he had shown interest meant this man was already half won over.
She would make Ethan her sword no matter what.
Meanwhile… Sera watched the two of them exchanging meaningful glances and thought,
These… these human bastards!
Her face crumpled.
Ethan! After you said we should spend our whole lives together!
Misunderstandings about Ethan continued to pile up in Sera’s heart.
She had recently asked a senior merchant what those words meant, and that was how she found out.
‘What does “let’s spend our whole lives together” mean, Elder?’
‘That means he wants to marry you.’
‘Eh? Eng? What!?’
‘I don’t know which bold fellow confessed to our pretty youngest, but heh heh heh—enjoy these good times! Later he’ll bring you a ring for a formal betrothal. I’m envious~’
‘Whaaaat!?’
Sera’s world had collapsed.
She clenched her small fists and trembled.
“Ethan, you playboy!!”
She resolved then and there to spit into the brown fermented-bean stew she was going to give him.