No Escape for the Skill Thief
Hundreds of students had gathered with the sand island at the center. This is probably only part of them. It was a reassuring sight, but I knew this couldn’t be everyone. Most were likely students who had been nearby, and it would take more time for those farther away to join. Of course, we couldn’t simply wait around doing nothing.
“Namgung Min.”
“Your Highness, thank you for coming.”
“When a classmate needs help, it’s only natural. So, what do you suggest we do?”
…Hmm. I had planned to casually hand command over to the instructor or the prince. But with students from every nation gathered here, the title of Crown Prince of the Korean Empire didn’t carry quite as much weight as I’d hoped. And since the instructor was absent, it looked like I—the one who had issued the summons—would have to take charge. It was a little outside my expectations, but it shouldn’t be a major problem.
I nodded and swept my gaze across the assembled students. Every one of them had different personalities, abilities, and classes. Commanding all of them directly was obviously beyond my capabilities, so I would simply divide them into appropriate groups.
“First, Lucas. Please lead the magic-type students and search the surrounding area.”
“What should we prioritize?”
“Ordinary methods won’t work for extracting the Skill Thief. Carrying it by hand is out of the question, and since the entire area is sand, luring it to dig through the ground is impossible. That leaves……”
“……Magic, huh.”
“I suspect spatial teleportation. We don’t know exactly how much time has passed since Lane lost her skill, but it hasn’t been long. Unless it’s a space mage, the creature should still be nearby.”
“I’ll track the remnants. Magic department, follow me!!”
“““Yes!”””
Even among regular class holders, magic-types were known for their pride and arrogance. But ever since the entrance ceremony maze, Lucas had firmly established himself as the leader who unified the entire magic department. He spent so much time with them after classes that I barely saw him anymore.
Whether it was his Mage class, his position as eldest son of the Arthur family, or the combination of leadership and charisma, he commanded the magic students with the same skill he had shown during the survival test.
Good. That side was taken care of.
“Manderick, it’s been a while.”
“For me as well. I’m always benefiting from the artifacts you provide.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Manderick, take the fighter students and sweep the entire vicinity of the Great Lake.”
“The entire area…?”
“Exactly as I said. Of course, there’s no need to check underwater or inside the sand itself. The Skill Thief can’t remain underground for long, so if it moved by digging, there will be traces. Report any hole roughly the size of a tree trunk.”
“Understood. Everyone! You heard him! Let’s move!”
“““Ooooooh!!”””
For Fighters with quick feet and sharp senses, brute force was the best approach. More students would join them soon, so no matter how vast the Great Lake was, the search wouldn’t take long.
“Sasaki? Please pass the message to the Swordsmen as I mentioned earlier.”
“Leave it to me.”
And while I was at it, I’d include the Swordsmen as well. Like Lucas, Sasaki Ito enjoyed considerable respect among the swordsman students, so things should go smoothly.
Once the magic, fighter, and swordsman students departed, the majority of the crowd dispersed at once. I assigned the remaining non-combat and minority classes simple support tasks.
“Support… you mean?”
“Yes. Even if I handle the students in this immediate area, the main search will ultimately be conducted at the academy level. You understand how valuable class holders like yourselves will be, without me needing to explain it, correct?”
“Of course we should do at least this much. Still, it’s a little regrettable to be a non-combat class at a time like this.”
“Please don’t say that. Society functions because of people like you. Ah, and please pass on the search guidelines I’ve set as well.”
“I will.”
Just as the words implied, non-combat classes might not be flashy or eye-catching, but they were truly high-quality personnel. Architects, Explorers, Chefs, Painters, Blacksmiths, and so on. Every non-combat class possessed its own domain where it exerted overwhelming power. This was an academy, but after graduation there were countless cases where they became even more renowned than combat classes.
After sending off the non-combat students as well, only a handful remained. These were the key members.
“Saint, can you locate the Skill Thief?”
“………It will take some time, but it is possible.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
“Very well. For my comrade… or rather, for Lady Lane.”
Using Holy Radiance among the saint’s general skills, tracking a single monster would be child’s play. The only issues were the time it required and the side effects… but with church-affiliated students present, they should be able to manage somehow.
After that, I turned to the most crucial trio: Crown Prince Kim Seong-il, Princess Kim Eun-ha, and Liu Yen.
“The three of you, please contact the airports immediately.”
“Airports?”
“There are six airports in this floating city. The two largest belong to the Korean Empire, and I understand that Liu is the major shareholder of two of the remaining four.”
“……How did you know that? A reading?”
“Something like that. In any case, contact them and halt all flight operations.”
“W-wait a moment. Namgung Min, the losses from that would be……”
“It’s fine.”
“O-oppa!?”
“It’s currently a slow period for flights anyway, and more importantly, this much is worth enduring for the Arthur family.”
“……Understood. I’ll make the calls.”
“Liu?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Stop every single flight right now. What? Damn it, I’ll cover all the interim losses myself so just do it! It’s pocket change anyway! Are you ignoring the words of a major shareholder!?”
“………Hmm.”
She was already on the phone. Incredibly fast.
“But even then, two airports will remain. What will you do about them?”
“The academy has likely already issued a suspension recommendation. It’s only a recommendation, so they could ignore it, but with every major airport shutting down, what kind of nerve would they need to keep operating?”
“Hoo, that makes sense.”
The remaining two airports were relatively small compared to the four that had already ceased operations. Naturally, they would have to watch their step around the academy and the larger hubs. If they continued flying and ended up being used to smuggle the Skill Thief, they would be evicted from the floating city and face every kind of backlash the next day. Anyone with common sense would stop.
While they contacted the airports, I called Instructor Charles.
Click.
It would probably be difficult to get calls through now. In this modern age of well-established wireless networks, using students as messengers seemed ridiculous, but the criminal who had stolen the Skill Thief might be listening in. On the other hand, class holders who could run faster than most cars were able to deliver news at speeds that defied common sense.
“……Good.”
With everything arranged, only three of us remained: the still-expressionless hero, Lane, and me.
I approached the prince.
“Your Highness, I’d like you to command the students heading this way.”
“You’re moving separately? It seems you would be better suited to command than I.”
“You flatter me, but I am ultimately a Fortune Teller. It would be inefficient for me to remain in command in a situation like this.”
“……That’s true.”
“Your authority as prince should suffice in most cases, but if you say you are acting as my proxy, that will be enough.”
“Haha, the next Emperor of the Korean Empire acting as proxy for a fortune teller?”
“Does it offend you?”
“Perish the thought! On the contrary, it’s so delightful I can hardly contain myself. I was right to come to the academy.”
…No matter how many times I thought about it, the prince really had it rough. He was competent, had a good personality, and was perfectly normal—yet of all people, he had terrible taste in women and had fallen for Lily.
As expected, the only normal ones are me and the prince.
With that conviction firmly in mind, I gestured to the hero and Lane.
“Hero, Lane. Let’s go.”
“…………Where……?”
“………”
“I have a place in mind. I read the fortune.”
“………Good……”
“…………”
“……Um, Lane? If you’re still not feeling well, you can wait here—”
“No.”
“—is also……huh?”
“I’ll follow you. Anywhere. No matter where you go……”
“Ah………yes.”
Why was she acting like this again? Was it the shock? The light had completely vanished from her eyes, and it was honestly terrifying. This wasn’t her deciding to target me now that I had revealed myself as a weakling, was it? She wasn’t going to get her superpower back and immediately take revenge after I had helped her like this, right? I was really trusting her here.
“………Real strong one……”
I really do trust you, Lane!
*Thud.*
“Damn it.”
The man who hurled the Skill Thief—wrapped in white cloth—onto the ground spat a curse. The damned monster was not only large but disgustingly heavy; even as a class holder, he couldn’t transport it easily. He had fled as far from the Great Lake as possible, but sirens had begun blaring a short while ago and search teams were swarming everywhere.
Repeating. If you see the Skill Thief, please report to the academy immediately……
“Why are they responding so quickly?”
Weren’t the airports already blocked? According to the plan, he should have reached the airport by now and escaped on the prepared private plane.
For a moment he considered simply giving up, but the generous reward for this job floated before his eyes.
……Fuck. And if I give up now, the client will try to kill me……
From the moment he had accepted the request, blinded by money, running away had never been an option.
The man caught his breath, glared at the Skill Thief, and hoisted it onto his shoulder once more. Damn student bastard. Being the client didn’t make him all-powerful. If you’re going to use spatial movement anyway, what would it hurt to send it a little farther? The Battle Mage kept saying he couldn’t move it far, blah blah—if that was the case, he should have moved it himself……
“Hello?”
“Uwaah!?”
Just as he was about to step forward while internally cursing the client, a voice suddenly came from behind. The man jumped in fright and whirled around.
There stood a single student wearing a red dress shirt. Seeing the student smile at him, the man clicked his tongue.
“………Tsk.”
Should he kill him? Smuggling this thing and killing an academy student were problems on entirely different scales. There was a reason most criminals avoided touching Romance Academy students.
But to escape the current situation—
“And.”
“……Huh?”
“Have a nice trip.”
Slice.
That was the end of it.
“………Eh?”
Splurt!!
Both of the man’s arms were severed as cleanly as tofu, and the Skill Thief wrapped in white cloth was sliced in half. Blood gushed like a fountain from the stumps as the bisected Skill Thief shrieked.
Kiiiieeeeee!!!!
Slice. Slice. Slice.
Once its body had been cut into eight pieces, it finally fell silent.
The Skill Thief died. Its tree-like outer form melted away, revealing an earthworm-like creature beneath. The moment he confirmed it had stopped breathing completely—
“………Ah.”
Psychokinesis
Teleportation
Telepathy
Psychokinesis × 3
“Ah, aaaaah.”
“Ha, haha! Hahahaha!!!”
What the hell is that?
The man, now collapsed on the ground with both arms missing, swallowed hard. He had become a cripple in an instant, but the female student laughing madly nearby terrified him far more.
The trio that had appeared without warning. One had bought time, another had severed his arms and killed the Skill Thief. Now the remaining silver-haired girl was levitating countless objects—rocks, trees, mounds of dirt, the Skill Thief’s corpse, even the man’s own severed arms. The sight of so many things floating in the air was both mystical and horrifying.
Because the eyes of the girl laughing like a maniac were fixed directly on him.
“Die.”
“………!”
Just before every floating object could rush toward the man—
“Lane, stop!”
“Yes.”
“………?”
At a single word from the male student in the red shirt, the descending objects froze in midair. The murderous glare vanished from her eyes, replaced by a soft, slightly unfocused gaze as the silver-haired girl looked at the boy.
“I did exactly as you ordered……”
“Uh… yes. Anyway, we can’t kill him here.”
“Yes!”
Is he reluctant to take a life? He’s still just a student, after all.
But sparing the man here was a huge mistake. Even without arms, his legs were still intact. In that case, forgetting about cleanup, he could quickly kick off the ground and crush the male student’s head—
“Ah, cut off his legs too.”
“…………Understood……”
“Huh?”
Slice. Squelch.
His legs no longer moved. After the arms, now the legs as well. The blonde male student who had done the cutting was one thing, but the red-shirted boy who had casually ordered the amputation while smiling was something else entirely. That was no ordinary student.
What the hell was he?
“Nice to meet you, Alex Draskin. Or would you prefer I call you by your other title—the serial killer?”
“………You!”
“Well, I’ll only say one thing.”
──This floating city operates under extraterritorial jurisdiction, you know?
Grin.
The boy in the red dress shirt smiled. He gently stroked the silver-haired girl’s head while meeting the expressionless gaze of the blonde boy… and the smile was utterly chilling.