Chapter 28: The First Letter (28)
Chapter 28: The First Letter (28)
The exercise of force always required caution.
Power, by its very nature, possesses an inherent drive to privatize force. From the perspective of authority, any strength it cannot control is deemed evil—nothing more than an obstacle to be eliminated by any means necessary.
Only then can order be maintained.
The order of the Empire originates from the Emperor; the order of the Southern Kingdoms from the leaders of each realm; and the order of the Holy Kingdom from the Heavenly God Arus. What they all share is their position at the absolute pinnacle of their respective national powers.
Therefore, all 'legitimate violence' belongs solely to those in power. This held true even at the Academy, which was meant to nurture the talents who would carry the future of their nations. If anything, the Academy was a microcosm of the power struggles of the outside world.
In most cases, violence is not permitted. However, everyone knew that violence was carried out within the Academy behind closed doors. The reason such incidents rarely became issues was that this violence generally followed the regulations of power.
A noble is tolerated for exercising a certain level of violence against a commoner. Unless it happens in a public place, most commoners do not make an issue of it.
The period one can spend as an Academy student is a mere four years. Once they step out into the world, the gap between noble and commoner becomes starkly apparent once again. They have no choice but to endure.
In exchange, it was customary for nobles to overlook most things that happened within the Academy. The flip side of this unspoken rule was that the punishment for those who truly crossed the line became all the more severe.
It was a strategy the nobles used to secure dominance within the Academy.
Thus, while the Academy appeared to champion equality on the surface, the deeper one looked, the more impossible it was to deny the hierarchy established by power.
That was why Teahn’s gang couldn't react properly when I struck the man of noble bearing in the face, nor when I gripped the sword hanging at my waist, still in its scabbard.
Their reason simply couldn't process the reality unfolding before them. It was understandable.
Though I was a noble myself, I was merely the second son of a rural viscount.
In contrast, even if they were from the Southern Kingdoms, Teahn’s gang was a collection of children from high-ranking noble families. The man I had struck first even appeared to be from the Empire.
They likely never imagined I would launch a preemptive strike. That naive assumption gave me a powerful advantage.
I moved past Teahn and struck the face of one of his lackeys who was awkwardly trying to stand up.
Whack! With a satisfying sound, the man was sent flying. Since I hit him with the scabbard, he wouldn't be dead, but he had just been struck in the face with metal. It would be enough to knock him unconscious at the very least.
That left six. My eyes sank coldly as I searched for the next victim.
It was only then that Teahn’s gang snapped out of it.
Two white teeth flew into the air from the mouth of the man I had just hit. Seeing this, one of the gang members let out a scream-like shout.
"You—you crazy bastard! Ge—gack, ugh?!"
That was his final line. His attempt to point a finger at me without even drawing his sword had drawn my attention.
The following movement was concise. Teahn’s gang was clustered together, meaning my next target was standing within arm's reach.
I twisted my lead foot and slammed the hilt of my sword into the man’s solar plexus. He let out a sound like he was gasping for his last breath, but before he could even release that stifled groan, my scabbard slammed into his neck.
Thud. The sound was like hitting a solid block of muscle. A dull vibration, like compressed air exploding.
The light faded from the man's eyes.
Thump. The large man collapsed. Now there were five left—a manageable number.
I took a deep breath and looked around. I could hear the sound of weapons being drawn from all sides. It seemed the man of noble bearing I had taken down first was the only mage among them.
The rest were drawing swords. That made things simple.
Facing the gang members who were hesitantly leveling their blades at me, I smirked.
"Come on, you bastards. What, are you scared?"
Unable to endure my provocation any longer, one of the men shrieked, the veins in his neck bulging.
"Kill him! He's alone!"
Yet, in the eyes of the man shouting, there was an unmistakable flicker of fear and tension.
In an instant, three out of the eight had been taken down. And that was despite me intentionally avoiding Teahn, who was their strongest combatant.
In truth, attacking Teahn first would likely have only put me at a disadvantage. Unlike these nobodies, Teahn possessed top-tier skills even within the Swordsmanship Department.
No matter how much of a surprise attack it was, he wasn't an opponent I could finish in a single blow. More importantly, he was surprisingly cautious and commanded a certain level of respect within his group.
A man like that shouldn't be defeated through tricks. I had to face him fairly and take him down to truly earn the submission of his gang.
However, no one in this situation could understand my intentions. In their eyes, I was a terrifying monster who had ignored the tempting prey that was Teahn to systematically dismantle three of them in the blink of an eye.
Tension and fear lead to stiff bodies. and the stiffer they became, the clearer their 'signs' became to me.
The sound of my own steady breathing echoed in my ears. Time began to slow down. A dull, heavy flow seemed to press against the pressure points of my skin.
Since my fight with the demonic beast, my heightened senses had opened a new dimension in the way I perceived the world. A sense of time where moments fought against moments.
Virtual trajectories were drawn before my eyes. Four men, excluding Teahn, were rushing me at once. Their paths were complex and looked difficult to evade.
So, I chose an alternative.
The sword path of the first man to reach me was mapped out. A textbook downward slash from the upper right to the lower left. I gritted my teeth and struck his blade the moment the trajectory formed a solid line.
Clang! With a sharp ring, his sword path was knocked askew by the unexpected strike. The spot where his blade was deflected happened to be exactly where another man was charging in with his sword raised.
"Whoa!" In that split second, their sword paths tangled. The swords, carrying the weight of two men, slammed into the ground simultaneously. Two blades left.
I twisted my body, diving into the personal space of another man who had already raised his sword. I caught a glimpse of his eyes, wide with bewilderment.
As if it were the most natural thing in the world, the tip of my scabbard slammed into his solar plexus. With a choked ghack, the man doubled over. It was then that the final sword swung toward me.
I spun my body, moving behind the man I had just struck in the solar plexus. This placed his hunched body directly in the path of the incoming blade.
"Agh!"
Thwack! With a sickening sound, the man who was struck in the back collapsed. The man who had accidentally hit his own comrade looked visibly shaken. I wasn't about to miss that opening.
With a leap, I closed the distance to the dazed man. Snapping back to his senses, he frantically tried to swing his sword down, but my blade was faster.
Tung! My sword struck his scabbard. Unable to withstand the sudden impact, his stance crumbled. I threw myself forward, pinning him to the ground.
A textbook mounting position. But I had no intention of using my fists. Before he could even process what was happening, I slammed my scabbard into his face several times.
Whack, whack, whack. Just three times. That was enough to make his eyes roll back as he lost consciousness. However, the price I had to pay to finish him was also high.
Boom! A heavy impact hammered into my back. I hadn't realized it when I was the one doing the hitting, but being on the receiving end, the sound echoing inside my body was on a different level than the sound from the outside.
My internal organs felt crushed, and my breath was knocked out of me. My muscles tensed instinctively, making my movements stiff.
The two men whose swords had tangled earlier had rushed me. I had anticipated this and twisted my body to minimize the impact, but it still hurt like hell.
I threw my pained, doubled-over body into a roll across the ground. A few more sword strikes slammed into the spot where I had almost fallen.
If I hadn't dodged in time, that would have been my final resting place. At least for this battle.
Having performed a series of intense movements, my breathing grew ragged. Haa, haa. The sound of my heavy gasps filled my ears. Two enemies remained.
Teahn still hadn't moved. But it wouldn't be strange for him to join the fray at any moment. I had to finish these two as quickly as possible.
The two men glared at me with even more guarded eyes. They seemed to have realized who would end up on the losing side if they rushed in recklessly.
My heightened senses were primarily useful for counterattacking. Furthermore, my greatest talents were footwork and horsemanship. I could pride myself on being top-tier in those two fields even within the Academy.
It was a well-known fact that footwork was crucial in close-quarters combat. Combined with my sensitive perception, no one of equal skill could stop me—assuming they were the ones attacking first.
But right now, I was the one in a hurry. The two men were looking at Teahn with pleading eyes, waiting for him to join in. I couldn't let that happen.
My sword shot forward with a whistle. I threw it. The spinning scabbard flew at a terrifying speed.
Never expecting me to throw my weapon, the two men's eyes widened. In their panic, they both swung their swords downward simultaneously.
Thanks to that, my sword, which had been flying at a fierce speed, was driven straight into the ground. But that was enough.
From my crouched position, I lunged off the ground. Before they could fully regain their composure, I had already closed the distance. The two men looked startled, but they quickly regained their calm.
They realized I was unarmed. There were limits to what an unarmed person could do to suppress a trained swordsman. It was the difference between being armed and not.
I saw a look of relief in their eyes, thinking they could at least withstand a single blow. But the moment my hand fumbled at my waist, horror returned to their gaze.
I had one more weapon left.
Thwack! It was the sound of an axe biting into wood. True to that impression, it was the sound of a hand axe slamming into someone's neck.
Except the part that struck the neck wasn't the sharpened blade. Held in reverse, the hand axe couldn't bite into the skin, but it was still an excellent blunt weapon.
Another one down. The last man swung his sword in desperation. I pulled the reverse-held axe outward, trapping his blade in the corner between the handle and the axe head.
Skreech! The sensation of two hard objects grinding together vibrated through my arm muscles. His downward strike was powerful enough that I almost lost my grip for a moment, but I gritted my teeth and forced the sword away.
Then, I slammed my forehead into the chin of the last man, who still looked dazed. My slightly hunched body straightened, generating powerful momentum.
Crack. Pain flared in my head. But it was nothing compared to what the man who took the direct hit to the chin was feeling.
The man staggered and collapsed. Now, there were seven men groaning on the ground.
Of course, I wasn't unscathed either. The muscles in my back, where I'd taken the hit, continued to scream in pain. My head was spinning from the headbutt, which wasn't normal.
Staggering, I fumbled for and retrieved the sword I had thrown. Then, I stood tall once more.
Because there was still one enemy left.
Teahn Eitri. Bronzed skin, golden hair, and a muscular body that was the very symbol of a trained warrior.
With a deep scowl, he had been watching the struggle between me and his gang. He slowly opened his mouth.
"…I thought you were a bit smarter than this."
"Then why did you have to mess with someone who was staying quiet?"
With a sigh, he drew the greatsword strapped to his back. At this point, the fight was unavoidable. Both he and I knew that well.
Nevertheless, Teahn clicked his tongue, looking entirely reluctant. His eyes sank deep.
"Ian, your reflexes have improved a lot. And your footwork… how did your skills jump so much in such a short time? Did Yurdina's rude brat give you some kind of elixir?"
Hearing that, I glared at him, trying to steady my ragged breathing. A hollow laugh escaped my lips.
"You creepy bastard… I heard you keep tabs on every student in the Swordsmanship Department, regardless of their grades."
"You're my competition, so isn't that obvious?"
"And yet you still messed with Seria's mother?"
At my growling voice, Teahn merely snorted. A cruel light flickered in his eyes.
"I think you're misunderstanding something…."
And in the next instant.
Whoosh! A hot wind blasted in front of me. Teahn had lunged forward. His massive frame shot toward me like a bullet.
It was a speed that was hard to believe even seeing it with my own eyes. It seemed as if everything except me had vanished from his vision. Such a linear charge would have been impossible otherwise.
A reckless assault that didn't even consider other variables. That made it feel all the more powerful.
My heightened senses had already warned me that Teahn was preparing a surprise attack. So, my reaction wasn't late.
My sword blocked Teahn’s path. But that was all.
Boom! Along with the shockwave, I felt my internal organs twist. A stifled groan escaped my lips. I felt like I wanted to vomit blood.
Teahn’s arm muscles rippled. Deep footprints were carved into the ground where I stood.
"Kugh, ah…!"
"The reason I collect information is to know my opponent's weaknesses. Get it? That includes you, Ian."
And once again, boom! The greatsword slammed down. A strike carrying even more power than the last. My body, blocking the sword, was pushed back across the ground.
My arms were already trembling. And we had only traded blows twice.
I directed a murderous glare at Teahn, but he only gave me a smirk.
"Your mana capacity has increased, but it's still below average. That's why you're no match for me."
Teahn Eitri, the eldest son of the prestigious Count Eitri family of the Southern Kingdoms.
If one were to list his talents as a swordsman, there were many. His innate ferocity and cruelty, his cautious attitude that allowed him to observe a situation for a while, and the robust physique characteristic of the Eitri family.
But if one had to pick just one, nine out of ten would give the same answer.
Mana capacity.
His mana capacity was a gift from the heavens. It was incomparable to mine.