Chapter 243
Chapter 243
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Academy Dispatch (5)
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“Hmm, so you were today’s instructor….”
The grand duke’s face darkened.
He kept staring only at me, avoiding his gaze as if something lurked behind me.
“Yes, I heard some club shelled out a fortune to bring me here.”
I fixed my cold black eyes on the parents clinging tightly to the grand duke’s side.
They gulped deeply in unison, struck by an inexplicable chill.
“I came ready to teach diligently out of gratitude, but then you single out just the five you sponsored for a private session.”
I openly exposed the club members’ dirty laundry.
At that, Coldman glanced at the other parents, apparently hearing this for the first time himself.
“And you ask me to teach sky-splitting to kids who can’t even handle mana properly yet.”
I let out a deep sigh and shook my head.
Now I saw it wasn’t just the kids who were the problem.
“N-No, Lord Veil. We just meant that since you’ve come all this way, give the children a valuable experience.”
“Exactly. They can train basics at home anytime, but then what are we who went through all this trouble?”
The other parents nodded in agreement.
I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity.
“Their basics are a mess. I’d have to start with how to hold a sword for your kids.”
Thanks to becoming a marquis, perhaps.
Now I could raise my voice even at the almighty powers.
“You should be grateful to me instead. If you’d taught mana-unstable kids those techniques so mindlessly….”
I pointed to my temple with my index finger.
Then tapped it hard as a warning.
“They’d have exploded their hearts from mana overload and died.”
Stuff them with spirit pills to bloat mana they can’t control.
Overuse techniques, and that’s what happens.
Just like Richard, who rampaged fighting me at the appointment ceremony.
That’s why, ten years in the future, I faced so many shoddy swordmasters.
With the empire revived now.
To truly protect the nation, this ignorant pre-learning culture had to change first.
“D-Die? What do you mean….”
“Your words are too much, Marquis….”
The white-haired principal looked hurt, his words choked off.
Edgar sulked too.
These men called the empire’s dragons wilted and looked only to their leader, the northern grand duke.
Eyes pleading for him to say something.
To them, Coldman was the only one who could stand against me.
“Haa….”
But he knew.
This situation was like pushing him off a cliff.
If I were just a grand master by title, he might have tried pressuring me with his grand duke position.
But this time, he’d learned of my ties to the emperor and Irina.
“Lord Veil…. Still, you’ve come this far. Wouldn’t passing on the principles of those techniques be better for the children’s future?”
So the grand duke chose appeasement over pressure.
“Especially since you’ve traveled so far for this.”
Desperate eyes begging me to preserve his dignity.
A smile tugged at my lips at his sparkling gaze, one I’d never seen before.
“Hmm—.”
But that was all.
The grand duke was once the man who backed the crown prince to build his own kingdom apart from the empire and me.
“No thanks.”
I grinned like a sly fox.
Then dusted off my waist, preparing to leave.
“Learning techniques they can’t even use won’t help them.”
Remembering Richard, I shook my head sharply.
“Train with the method I showed you consistently for five years, then call me back. I’ll reconsider then.”
Still, thinking of the students who trained diligently, I left the door open.
Just as I was about to call Senior Mia and depart—
“Hold, Marquis.”
In the end, he made one choice.
“I understand your intent, but this ending feels disappointing.”
Subtly saving face.
“Since I now know you had no intent to slack off today, I’ll let it pass.”
Passing it off as resolved with worldly cunning.
“But I hope there’s no next time.”
“….”
The parents watching live from the side.
Laughter vanished from their faces at the grand duke’s disappointing handling.
No matter how much of a grand master he was, it was still personal might.
By rank, Coldman outranked him by far.
The empire’s dragons found his attitude odd.
Leaving those parents behind, I quietly approached Cynthia, the only one left in the arena.
“Cynthia.”
“Yes, Master.”
Amid everyone collapsed from the unfamiliar extreme upward strike training.
The lone knight candidate standing in the arena.
I gave her a bright-eyed smile and said,
“Before I go, one last demonstration.”
Upward strike.
The parents, tired of hearing it, glared at us trembling with rage.
“Understood.”
Cynthia handed me her wooden sword.
I took it, stroked her head, and stood alone in the arena.
“Before leaving, I’ll show you the technique you wanted.”
I said indifferently to the parents obsessed with flashy secret arts.
Finally thinking they’d gotten something, the empire’s bigwigs.
They smiled and urged their kids to watch and learn well.
But the moment I swung the wooden sword gripped firmly in both hands—
―――.
Only a short, dull sound rang out.
No monstrous sight of cleaving the sky unfolded.
“What’s this…?”
“That’s just an upward strike.”
Principal Damon and Edgar muttered in cynical tones.
Frowning as one, they seemed to think I was mocking them.
“….”
Ignoring their complaints, I set the wooden sword down.
Then switched weapons.
“This time, a real sword.”
Former division commander Edgar sensed something off first.
Then Coldman, who’d been to the front lines with the emperor.
“Lord Veil’s aura has changed.”
“I feel it. He means to show something real this time.”
Ordinary knight candidates wield wooden swords more than real ones.
Always prepping for showy, scripted spars.
But from the moment I was sent to the front lines, I fought repeatedly for survival through killings.
So I knew well the weight of this sword in my hand.
Flashy techniques? Learned them, but never needed.
Stand out, and enemies target you.
I obsessed only over slashes, upward strikes, downward strikes—for survival.
To prove that fruit, I stared at the great tree in the arena.
Then swung decisively—
――――――.
A savage sword wave surged toward the massive tree.
Leaves shook like dancing to the echo.
A refreshing wind followed the fierce wave.
The parents watching gaped in awe.
“Wait, this….”
“Yeah, shaking leaves with just sword wind…!!”
But it wasn’t over yet.
I still had one last ‘technique’ to show them.
“This time, with mana.”
I wrapped blue mana around my gripped sword.
The power any official imperial knight could wield.
“….”
But its hue shifted.
First green.
Then gold.
Finally, a brilliant white like light.
My black hair turned white from the powerful aura enveloping me.
At last, I stared at the great tree blocking the sun overhead.
Gripping Hector—the sword bestowed by the emperor—with both hands.
I performed the motion swung millions of times.
The upward strike.
――――――!!
With an eerie wind, gravel on the arena floor whirled up.
A thin, deadly crescent sword aura surged, slamming the great tree.
That instant.
The last fresh summer leaves hanging from the tree.
The white sword aura cleanly passed through, scattering them.
“….”
The parents stared blankly.
And the students collapsed exhausted on the grass.
Everyone gathered at the academy fixed on the unscathed great tree hit by sword aura.
“What happened…?”
“I don’t know. It was clearly grand aura sword aura striking the tree….”
The parents’ brows furrowed more at the seemingly unremarkable upward strike.
But the moment a faint breeze from the sky rustled the branches—
Shaaaa—――.
A beautiful wave sound poured like cascading water.
At that noise, everyone in the arena looked up.
And then….
“My god….”
“What kind of magic is this…?”
They marveled at leaves fluttering down like snowflakes.
The shade over the arena had long vanished.
The great tree, utterly unharmed, had its soon-to-fall autumn leaves pre-cleaned.
Amid the first snow-like shower of leaves, I slowly descended the steps.
Sheathing Hector at my waist again, I addressed the parents.
“This is an upward strike.”
They stayed silent, faces pale and frozen in disbelief.
Then I turned to the students and said,
“It’s the same principle as Lyn the Black Knight Commander’s secret art, Brandish.”
All swordsmanship starts from simple swings.
Hone it to the extreme, infuse mana—that becomes sword aura.
Freely wield sword aura—that’s when it becomes a ‘technique.’
“No sword saint has ever deviated from basic swordsmanship.”
Yet they fill the principles anyone can learn with elixirs and manuals.
They might become a circus act, but never knights.
Magicians, maybe—but not swordsmen.
“Knights swing swords. If you want magic, go to the magic tower.”
Passing them leisurely amid the falling leaves.
The empire’s bigwigs just watched me blankly.
“Cynthia. See you next time.”
“Safe travels, Master.”
Master.
At the word that I was the girl’s master, the kids who’d ignored her till now changed their gazes.
Especially Alfonso and Duncan, who’d shown off that lightning whatever.
“….”
Having witnessed the true power of the upward strike step by step.
They hesitated, then approached Cynthia.
The parents, about to bid me farewell as I walked away.
But seeing their kids apologize to the young knight candidate first, they changed their minds.
They just watched as they followed Cynthia back to basics training.
“Perhaps I was greatly rude to Lord Veil.”
“Indeed…. To think sky-splitting was just a simple upward strike….”
Edgar reflected on his reliance on his family’s taught secret arts.
But one among them couldn’t smile—
The northern grand duke, Coldman.
“….”
The emperor personally invited me to the concert, close with his second daughter Irina.
If such a man reported the academy’s shady lecture request to Leonhardt….
The backlash on him would be severe.
“I have to stop this….”
I’d already confirmed his might at the selection tournament.
So he planned to sway me with money or land and hurriedly chased after me.
“L-Lord Veil, where are you headed?”
“He said he has someone to meet, so he’s going to the main gate for now.”
At Chairman Glenn’s words, the grand duke quickened his steps.
The remaining club members eyed him curiously.
“Of all people, inviting that guy…!!”
Panting roughly, he reached the main gate.
About to call me urgently—
“Th-That person…?!.”
He froze at the sight of who I was meeting first.
“Hey—. Why come all this way?”
“Why? I was nearby, so I stopped by.”
Emperor’s third daughter Lydia.
Famous for not sparing any man a glance, yet fixing my tie like a wife.
“There you go again. Who else would look after you if not me?”
“…?”
I was supposedly about to marry Irina, yet close with Lydia too.
At the sight, the grand duke’s tiger-sharp eyes turned cat-dumb.
“Lea’s coming soon too.”
“Oh, really? I have some ‘business’ to discuss—perfect timing.”