The Sword Demon's Love Special Lecture
What the hell…?
It was an entrance I truly couldn’t have imagined.
I’d kept telling myself I needed to visit Erde, but with so many things demanding my attention, I never found the time.
Without any way to contact her, I couldn’t even send a simple greeting.
So how had she known to come here? And why did the timing have to be so eerily perfect?
I was still turning these questions over in my mind when the judges’ seats grew noisy.
“Th-the Sword Demon…!”
“What kind of mess has she come to cause this time!”
The professors’ faces had gone deathly pale. Even the dean squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Only Seah broke into a delighted smile.
“Ethan! You’d better brace yourself for a scolding once this is over.”
Erde completely ignored the professors and stuck her lower lip out in a pout. I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.
“By the way, the empire’s really gone rotten while I was away, huh?”
Erde narrowed her eyes.
“Never mind the Sword Demon nonsense. How dare that wretched woman mock the imperial family!”
“Hmm. This looks fixable.”
“The one who needs fixing is you, you hag!”
Kalian bellowed at the top of his lungs and leaped from the observation seats. Forgetting he was a mage, he closed the distance toward Erde.
My condolences.
That was meant for the prince.
“Hehe.”
“Die!!!”
“One, two.”
Clang!
“Yap.”
Erde smacked the prince’s head with her scabbard.
“Urk!?”
Kalian staggered from the blow and collapsed unconscious on the spot. The entire audience fell deathly silent.
The professors gaped in horror.
“Sword Demon, you—!”
“Your Highness!”
Any trace of professorial dignity vanished as they tried to rush from the judges’ platform. Or at least, they attempted to.
“Enough.”
The dean’s low murmur stopped them in their tracks.
“Have you all forgotten you’re professors?”
“B-but Dean, an outsider just committed violence inside the academy…”
“Yes, it was violence. But even violence has its exceptions.”
The dean jerked his chin toward the prince.
“Ugh… ugh…”
The prince clutched his head and staggered upright.
“Feeling sharper now? Consider it a special remedy.”
“…I made a disgrace of myself.”
“It was certainly one of the most disgraceful displays I’ve seen from any royal.”
Erde had never learned the art of softening her words. She always spoke her mind with brutal directness.
It could be poisonous at times, but—
“I will… keep it in mind.”
—in moments like this, it was perfect. The prince ground his teeth audibly and slunk back to the observation seats.
As expected, it looks like the World’s Will has been meddling again.
The sudden change in the prince’s attitude only confirmed my suspicions. The person I’d seen earlier hadn’t been himself. I’d caught glimpses of the same madness I’d witnessed in the rebels.
“We will resume the trial.”
The dean raised his voice once more. He glanced at Erde several times but made no move to expel her, treating her as if she had been part of the audience from the start.
Erde, for her part, ignored every stare around her and sat down beside me.
“You are in for it. Thoroughly.”
With that muttered promise, she fell silent.
The trial continued as though nothing had happened. My plan to stir their emotions had failed, but the prince—who had been vehemently demanding Isana’s punishment—remained quiet. Katrina seized the opening to voice subtle opposition to any punishment for Isana.
The professors kept glancing between her and Erde before finally offering noncommittal answers that essentially meant do whatever you want. Seah, of course, took my side.
“I will now deliver the verdict. The defendant, Isana Sivtant, was charged with treason. However, due to insufficient evidence, I declare her not guilty. Nevertheless, as the daughter of a treasonous family she cannot fully escape responsibility for that crime. Yet under the unanimous judgment of all seven adjudicators present, having already fulfilled her duty in that regard, I hereby declare her not guilty once more.”
The dean struck his gavel.
Somehow… it worked out.
I let out a long breath of relief. The trial had unfolded nothing like I’d expected, but the outcome was exactly what I’d hoped for.
Erde’s sudden, chaotic entrance had been the deciding factor. Without her, the manipulated prince would never have allowed Isana to walk free.
“Sword Demon. What brings you here?”
The dean approached as the professors filed out of the courtroom.
“Hmm. What do you think?”
“I cannot begin to guess your intentions.”
“An old friend sent me a message. Asked for help.”
“And you answered?”
“Everything has its cause and effect. The time has come.”
“In my long life, no one has been harder to understand than you.”
With those parting words, the dean left. I had to agree with him there.
Why is she so strong?
I was once again reminded of how limited my perspective used to be. Seeing Erde’s level now, I could truly feel the weight of her power.
She’s on the dean’s level…?
In pure strength she seemed comparable, yet something about her felt fundamentally different.
With the dean, I had sensed his approximate power the moment we met. That first encounter had felt like standing before an impossibly high wall.
But Erde was different.
An unknown power. An endless abyss.
I still couldn’t measure her properly.
“Ethan. Come here for a second.”
Erde puffed her cheeks and folded her arms.
Flick!
She delivered a lightning-fast forehead flick.
“Ow.”
My forehead burned. I’d picked up the forehead-flick habit from her, but the master’s technique was on another level.
The original really is different.
Rubbing what was surely a bright red mark, I bowed my head like a guilty sinner.
“I’m sorry, Master.”
“Ethan, what did I tell you when you left the mountain?”
“That you’d always be waiting. That if I felt lonely I should come find you…”
“Exactly. So why didn’t you send even one message?”
“I was busy.”
“If that ‘busy’ meant seducing girls and learning magic, I’m very disappointed.”
Erde turned her head away with an indignant huff.
“I’m sorry.”
“Is sorry all you have to say? Come here.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I wrapped my arms around her. She patted my back exactly as she always had.
“Ethan, I missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
I’d been the one doing all the hugging lately. Being held like this felt strangely new.
“I’m jealous, Master. You told me you were in the magic department when you attended the academy, didn’t you? I feel betrayed.”
I spoke in a teasing tone.
“That’s true.”
“Yet you kept calling magic a ‘magic wrapper’ and badmouthing it to me.”
“I never told you not to learn it.”
“You literally just complained about it when I started.”
“I was only pretending to be angry. How could I possibly criticize the path you chose?”
Erde stroked my hair with a gentle, familiar touch. For a moment it felt like I’d returned to those old days.
I smiled and leaned into her—until I noticed Seah fidgeting nearby.
“Professor. Just come over already.”
“I-is that really okay?”
“Yeah.”
This time the answer didn’t come from me. Erde released me naturally and turned to face Seah.
“It’s been a while.”
“…Erde.”
Seah’s voice carried a complicated mix of happiness and melancholy.
“I honestly didn’t think you’d actually come.”
“My disciple was in trouble. Of course I came. Besides, the time is approaching anyway.”
Erde gave a bitter smile and stepped closer to Seah.
“You’re still involved with magic…”
“Let’s talk about that later, Seah.”
Erde pressed her forehead against Seah’s.
“E-Erde?”
“We used to do this all the time.”
“After that day, I thought…”
“Seah.”
Erde cut her off firmly. Whatever the topic was, she clearly didn’t want to continue it.
“I heard you stole my disciple?”
It was a clumsy change of subject, but Seah broke into a nervous sweat.
“Th-that’s…”
“Then I suppose I should take something precious from you too.”
Flick!
“Kyaa!?”
Seah let out a shriek that didn’t suit a woman in her thirties. Tears welled in her eyes as she rubbed her forehead.
“I took your forehead flick.”
“Thank you…”
Seah sniffled, then flashed a bright smile—before noticing our stares.
“Ahem. Hem.”
She quickly tried to reclaim the dignity of an older woman.
“Kids? Please forget what you just saw.”
“You mean forget how your friend flicked your forehead, you screamed ‘Kyaa!?’ like a little girl, wiped away tears, and then tried to act all composed in front of the students?”
“Don’t describe it in such detail!”
Seah swatted my arm with a weak, cat-like punch. It somehow carried power comparable to Linea’s sulking mode level three.
“A-anyway, I have work to do, so I’ll be going.”
Seah hurried off after a quick farewell.
“Erde, was it? Let’s meet separately sometime.”
Katrina spoke with clear interest.
“The imperial family isn’t completely rotten after all.”
“You’d make an excellent conversation partner.”
“I was thinking the same.”
Despite it being their first meeting, the two seemed to form an instant, strangely deep bond. They made plans on the spot.
“Good work, Ethan.”
Katrina patted my shoulder and took her leave.
Only three of us remained.
“Darling!”
Isana came running over with light, graceful steps.
“Is she your master, darling?”
“She calls you darling?”
“Yes. I’ve received so much from my darling…”
Erde smiled modestly and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“Ethan. I have one question. There aren’t any more women, right?”
“Uh… well…”
“How many?”
“…Three?”
I wasn’t sure whether to count Ray, but with Linea, Seris, and Ray it came to three.
“This won’t do! Where’s the training hall?”
“I’ll show you the way.”
Isana answered softly before I could speak.
“I need to give a special lecture on romance!”
“Why would a romance lecture be held in the training hall?”
“It’s a special lecture. Therefore it must be held in the training hall.”
“Master. Have you ever actually dated anyone?”
At my question, Erde froze solid.
“I-I was incredibly popular, you know.”
“Be honest. Have you ever been in a relationship?”
“…No. I never saw the need to…”
“Then why are you giving a romance lecture?”
“B-because correcting her disciple’s relationships with the opposite sex is a master’s duty…”
Erde, who didn’t even know the way, strode ahead of us.
“Master, that’s the wrong direction.”
“Ah…”
Erde’s face flushed bright red.