The Sword Saint (1)
The blue pearl.
The moment Yulia saw it, she knew exactly what it was.
Hint might not have noticed, but to her, the faint blue mana radiating from it was unmistakable.
It was the Binghwandan, a secret treasure passed down only through legend in her family.
She remembered that the recipe had been lost long ago, and her house had been searching for it desperately. With only three pills left in their possession, the entire family had poured every resource into restoring the formula.
And yet something like that had been sitting here at the academy.
“Here you go. The blue pearl. Take it.”
“Right. Thanks. As for the reward…”
“Now that I think about it, I’m not really in urgent need of money. How about you grant me one favor later instead?”
“…As long as it’s reasonable.”
“Hehe. Perfect. No matter how shameless I might be, I don’t have the guts to rip off a young lady of the duke’s house. You don’t need to worry about that.”
“Thank you for handing it over. Then I’ll be on my way.”
“I received fair compensation. There’s no need to thank me.”
Yulia expressed her gratitude and quickly left the room.
She must have been eager to try it right away.
With Stelle gone too, the classroom had grown quiet. Hint sank deep into the sofa.
He had originally planned to pick up one of the academy’s quests and clear it today, but after staying up all night rummaging through every seafood crate at the docks, he was completely exhausted.
Binghwandan
In the original game, it had been a sweet hidden piece that popped out if you clicked every single dock crate. But now that this was reality, it had turned into backbreaking labor.
The faint smell of seafood still clung to his fingertips. It didn’t seem like it would fade anytime soon.
“For now… I’ll just take a quick nap…”
The moment he tried to close his eyes, an absurdly powerful presence surged from beyond the door.
Was this what killing intent felt like? The kind he had only ever read about in books or comics?
Hint instinctively shot up from his seat and pressed himself flat against the wall.
The unidentified presence vanished as quickly as it had appeared, but he remained frozen, cold sweat dripping down his back. He didn’t dare take a single step.
A razor-sharp tension stretched between them, separated only by the thin wall of the old storage shed.
Just as Hint reached into his pocket for something—
Clap, clap, clap.
“Hmm. For someone with so little experience, that’s a pretty good reaction.”
A round of applause shattered the tension.
It was a man’s voice he had heard many times before. Hint’s face twisted.
Whether he liked it or not, the unidentified man opened the F-class door without permission and stepped inside.
A face that instantly brought to mind the words free-spirited and innocent.
His height, far shorter than Hint’s, revealed that he belonged to the halfling race.
But don’t be fooled. Behind that innocent face and adorable frame lay an achievement no one in history had ever surpassed.
He was the true master of the student council president, Hina Lionhart.
The man who had become the first of the halfling race to earn the title of a Star.
The greatest warrior in history, who had beheaded three of the seven great demon lords.
One of the seven Stars protecting humanity from annihilation across the entire world.
“Nice to meet you, F-class Hint. I don’t need to introduce myself, do I?”
The Sword Saint, Dio, had entered the F-class room.
▶
There was probably no one at this academy—no, if he exaggerated a little, no one in the entire world—who didn’t know the name Dio, the Sword Saint.
If Hina Lionhart was the strongest swordsman in the academy, then this man was the strongest swordsman on the planet.
“Whoa! I didn’t expect much since it was F-class, but this is S-class furniture? What the heck? I heard you guys got first and second place—did you remodel the whole classroom?”
“Well, we couldn’t stay in that trashy storage shed forever. They even give us meals now.”
“Meals? Oh, you mean these snacks? Hey, hey, stop right there. Growing kids shouldn’t eat stuff like this. You need meat and rice to build muscle.”
But why on earth was this man here?
That single question filled Hint’s mind completely.
“That’s the face of someone wondering why I’m here.”
“To be honest… yes, that’s correct. I can’t imagine any reason why the Sword Saint would visit F-class.”
“That’s ridiculous. There is no F-class in this academy right now.”
Hint let out a small groan and nodded.
The F-class students from the second and third years had already dropped out, been expelled, or proven themselves and moved up to higher classes long ago.
That left only the first-years. And among the first-years, there was now only one person left in F-class—Hint himself. Even he had refused the offer to enter S-class and chosen to remain here of his own will.
At this point, it was fair to say there was effectively no F-class left in the academy.
“I heard you refused to move up to S-class?”
“…That’s right.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t think I deserved it.”
“That’s a lie.”
He couldn’t exactly say out loud that he couldn’t steal the experience and items that were supposed to go to his future S-class companions. So Hint had lied.
But his opponent was the Sword Saint. A man who had honed his intuition—the kind all swordsmen who reached the pinnacle of the blade possessed—to the absolute limit. There was no way such a clumsy lie would work.
Cold sweat ran down Hint’s back.
Neither his usual poker face nor the lies woven with knowledge from the original story had any effect on this man.
Fortunately, it was Dio who took a step back first.
“Well, never mind. You must have your reasons.”
Dio looked straight into Hint’s eyes.
“At the very least, someone with eyes like yours isn’t a bad person.”
Hint tilted his head, not understanding what he meant, but Dio simply smiled.
“It’s called ‘instinct,’ kid.”
With words that somehow reminded him of a certain student council president, Dio straightened his posture.
“Anyway, that’s enough ice-breaking. Shall we get to the real talk?”
Hint answered with a nod.
Dio settled into position and flashed a cheeky grin.
Seeing a face that still looked like it belonged to an elementary schooler smile like that was surprisingly devastating. Not because it was cute—because it was incredibly irritating.
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but right now your name is causing quite the stir among the professors.”
“Why?”
“It doesn’t make sense for someone who came to the academy to reject S-class. Unless you have some other scheme in mind.”
Oh no.
Hint clutched his head with one hand.
Of course. This was Arpia Academy, a specialized institution for training heroes. Countless children came here with dreams of becoming heroes. When the academy itself had reached out first with an offer to join S-class, refusing it and staying in F-class was bound to raise suspicions.
It was as if he had come to this school with some hidden agenda.
Even though he tried to treat this world like reality rather than a game, predicting everything was still impossible. The unexpected variable made his head throb.
“One of the professors is even suspecting whether you’re a demon or not. That should tell you everything.”
“It’s gotten that bad…?”
“Well, that professor isn’t exactly sane, so don’t worry too much. The ‘Apostle’ faction within the Holy Church is basically the realm of true fanatics. Anyway, that’s why I volunteered to be your watcher.”
Who in their right mind openly tells the person they’re supposed to be monitoring that they’re monitoring them?
Still, at least he didn’t seem to harbor any strong hostility toward him. That was something of a relief.
“Ah… I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble.”
“Not at all. Actually, this is perfect for me. I’ve taken an interest in you, F-class Hint.”
“In me? If it’s about Parry… it’s honestly not that impressive of a technique.”
Hint looked uncomfortable.
The student council president had also accepted the bet duel because she wanted to see his Parry. He figured the Sword Saint was probably the same.
But Dio burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! I thought you might say that, but you really have no idea how strong you are, do you?”
“Pardon?”
“It’s like this.”
Tap. Tap.
Something touched his neck.
When he slightly turned his eyes, he saw Dio’s scabbard gently tapping against his throat.
He froze, unable to even breathe.
He hadn’t seen it.
Not the swing, not the moment after the swing.
Until Dio struck his neck with the scabbard, he couldn’t react at all.
An attack at a speed that surpassed human perception.
To swing a sword at that velocity without producing any sound or even stirring the air—it could only be described as a divine technique.
It made him realize all over again that the frivolous little brat standing before him was truly the strongest in the world.
“…I still don’t understand.”
“Just wait a little longer, kid.”
And then, at that moment—
The world stopped.
Or at least, that was the sensation he felt.
It was the same feeling he used to get when watching those techniques through a game monitor.
There was still no sound, and no aftershock of the sword strike remained in the classroom.
It was the exact same speed as the attack he had been completely unable to react to earlier.
But this time—
“How about it? You saw it, didn’t you?”
His eyes had accurately followed the trajectory of the strike.
Watching the dazed Hint, Dio withdrew his scabbard.
“As expected, you have talent.”
Dio stood up.
He reached a hand out toward Hint, urging him for an answer.
“Sorry, but Hint, you don’t have any other options. Either leave, or become my disciple. Choose.”