Chapter 215: A Tale of the Past, The Pied Piper of Hamelin - 1
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 215: A Tale of the Past, The Pied Piper of Hamelin - 1
Youthful faces stood at regular intervals across the vast training grounds.
A thick log rested like a bridge on the narrow shoulders of the students, who were lined up in perfect formation. Enduring the log’s heavy weight as it pressed down on their waists and legs with sheer grit, their faces flushed red as they stared straight ahead. The moment the student in the lead blew the whistle, they stamped their feet in unison.
-Hall of learning on a gentle hill. Oh, the embrace of Hamelin.
Small, deep footprints pattered endlessly onto the sandy ground as the children, shouldering a log several times their size, began to run in their military-style school uniforms. They clenched their fists and shouted, feeling a strange sense of camaraderie born from their shared suffering.
-Burning our blood and sweat to vanquish our foes…
But that was fleeting. The physical agony soon made them forget everything else.
The whistle's blast wavered with each step, and the heavy log bore down on the children even harder. Adding to the pressure that felt like it was crushing their very flesh, the children squeezed their lungs dry to scream even louder.
-For our glorious nation, we charge forth and offer our lives…
The run was nearing its end. The strained voices gradually lost their strength. The children, having nearly reached their limit, approached the finish line in lockstep.
-Forward, forward.
They marched to the rhythm of the song.
And just as the leaders crossed the finish line, the song ended.
-Into the future of the Military State.
“Damn! I'm out of breath!”
I tossed aside the whistle I’d been holding in my mouth, gasping for air. My sweat-soaked clothes clung stickily to my body. It was hard to tell where my skin ended and the fabric began.
The log run, one of the training curricula at the secondary military school.
It was meant to build the stamina and unity of students who had not yet matured into soldiers… or so they said. In reality, it was more like a petty power trip the State was putting us through.
“Teamwork, my ass. This will just teach them how to play politics.”
Everyone has a different height. A different stride, a different shoulder height, a different gait, even a different breathing rhythm. Nothing matches. But since the log forced the students together, they had no choice but to use every ounce of effort they had to sync their breathing.
If they didn't, the log would tilt or fall, and someone would face harsh punishment.
“Agh, my shoulder. Ugh. If I stop growing or my shoulders get lopsided, it's all this damn school's fault…”
I had just collapsed to the ground, groaning, during the short break.
The light sound of footsteps crunched on the ground. I didn't even need to look to know who it was. While everyone else was groaning on the ground from the torturous training, there was only one person who could walk so lightly.
Historia approached me without a single drop of sweat on her, looking more bored than tired.
“Ria. Perfect timing. Come give my shoulders a ru—AAAAAAGH! I take it back! I surrender!”
Such immense pressure! Heavier than the log!
Only when I bent my knees in agony and declared my surrender did Historia release her grip.
“Huey. You remember our promise, right?”
“What prom—AAAAH! I remember! I remember, so stop!”
The hand threatening my shoulder disappeared. I rubbed my shoulder and looked at its owner.
Historia alone was an anomaly on the dusty training grounds of Hamelin. Her breathing hadn't quickened in the slightest, and not a speck of dust had settled on her long hair that swayed at her waist. I couldn't check right now, but if I were to push aside her collar, the proof would be even clearer.
The shoulders that should have been covered in red pressure marks would be completely unblemished.
To an onlooker, it was as if she had skipped the run entirely.
“Thanks for joining the log run. We were a bit short on people today, so it was getting risky. Thanks to you, no one fell behind!”
“Cut the flattery. So. The promise. You're going to keep it, right?”
“…Uh, about that.”
“If I filled in for the missing person, you would be my sparring partner for an hour. That was the deal, wasn't it?”
In truth, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say she had carried the log by herself today.
Historia, if not the strongest being in the Military State, was certainly its strongest student.
Born with an exceptional talent for Qi Arts, she had already mastered Heaven and Earth and even grasped the principles of Water by the age of eighteen. Her power already surpassed that of field-grade officers and was comparable to a general's. The only reason her star didn't shine was that she still lacked the 'light'.
The only reason she, who could lift the log from a seated position, had participated in a run she didn't need to was because of the condition I had set.
“Agh. I'm going to get the shit beaten out of me again.”
“Don't be so dramatic. We agreed not to use Qi Arts, remember?”
“Doesn't change the fact that I'll be the one getting beaten up without using Qi Arts. Why don't you find someone else who's actually good with them?”
“No. The others are just flailing around with their own power. The instructors hold back. You're the only one who can actually trade blows with me.”
It wasn't so much trading blows as it was me using my mind-reading to predict her moves and dodge. And even that wouldn't last long. Once Historia started to get excited, I'd get beaten senseless.
But what could I do? A promise was a promise.
“Sigh. Fine. I'll take a beating today. If you want to hit me that badly.”
“Besides, if you hadn't wasted your time and had actually applied yourself to learning Qi Arts, you would have been a worthy opponent for me.”
“I doubt that.”
The difference in our talent was immense, considering I was getting beaten one-sidedly even with my cheat-like mind-reading ability and the condition that she wouldn't use her Qi Arts. I doubted learning a little Qi would change anything.
Dissatisfied with my lukewarm attitude, Historia took the opportunity to vent her frustrations.
“You're strange, too. Why are you wasting your time on useless things like the log run?”
“Useless? The log run is a great help in fostering cooperation and building stamina.”
“Stop with the insincere platitudes and listen to me. Huey, I'll say it again.”
As if lecturing me, who was still sitting, Historia enunciated each word clearly.
“You're the top student. You don't need to sacrifice yourself for them.”
Historia ran a hand roughly through her hair and glanced at everyone else. It was a different look from the one she gave me—the same indifferent gaze one might give a stone on the side of the road.
The most prominent emotion was annoyance.
Ever since enrolling in Hamelin, the endlessly weak and childish classmates had been nothing but a hindrance to Historia. I was about the only one she considered an equal.
And while I faithfully played the part of the class president, Historia believed that they were holding me back from achieving my full potential.
Perhaps that was why she spoke as if to me, but loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Leading a pack of rabbits will only make you the alpha rabbit. Hanging out with failures and future failures will only drag you down. Please, I'm begging you, save your time, Huey.”
Her words cut the other children to the quick.
Yet, not a single one of them refuted her. Their emotions were their own, but none of them could even meet her eyes.
They could only grit their teeth and turn away.
Historia didn't even bother to mock them, simply dismissing them, which only deepened the other students' sense of defeat.
“Your time is far more precious than that of these future failures who have neither courage nor spirit. Please, stop wasting your attention on useless things.”
One strong individual can overwhelm a thousand. Historia was a living example of that. An overwhelmingly powerful person.
Literally. During a joint combat training exercise, Historia had defeated every single student in Hamelin… with just one exception.
…With just one exception.
A boy who had been reading in the shade, not even participating in the run, scowled at the sound of Historia's voice and approached.
“Try using your brain for once.”
The boy with fiery red hair and an academic yet irritable air walked toward us. He snapped his thick book shut and tapped his forehead.
“Still don't get it? You can't solve everything in the world by just smashing it. Huey, the top student, class president, and model for all, is currently scoring points to look good for the Military State.”
At his sudden appearance, Historia let out a short sigh, as if expecting him. “Ha.”
“I wasn't asking you, Lankart.”
“I, the second-best, am answering in place of our dear top student, who's so busy with his image management. So listen up.”
Flick. His finger pointed toward the instructors. On the platform, the instructors who had ordered the log run were watching Historia and me, discussing something intently.
Glancing at the instructors whispering so we couldn't hear, Lankart sneered.
“Our greedy top student here intends to become ambidextrous. He wants to show the instructors that he can handle not only the abnormal left-handers like you and me, but also those ordinary right-handers. That's what this is about.”
If Historia was the master of Qi Arts, Lankart was the master of magic. A man who stood at the exact opposite extreme. The sole Arcane of the Military State.
Lankart Spendry.
He was a mage who had awakened to his own Unique Magic, a scholar of magic, and an unparalleled genius who, despite being enrolled at Hamelin, was already leading Mage Officers. Even the instructors found him difficult to handle.
Of course, that didn't apply to Historia.
“Right-handers, left-handers. There you go again, making up words only you understand. Lankart, isn't it exhausting to live like that?”
“Bitch. Can't even admit your own ignorance, so you try to change the subject.”
The genius of Qi Arts and the genius of magic. The two vanguards expected to lead the Military State's future… snarled at each other on sight. Historia crushed the water bottle in her hand as she glared at Lankart.
“You think Huey is a calculating elitist like you?”
“No. He's a far greater elitist than I am.”
“I guess you see what you want to see.”
“I'd say I'm a lot more objective than you, with your rose-tinted glasses.”
Lankart walked on nonchalantly, even under Historia's sharp aura. He stepped into her range without hesitation and sighed mockingly.
“The Military State has plenty of Qi Practitioners. Boar, no matter how strong you get, the best you can hope for is a seat among the Five Star Generals. You're very important, yes, but you're still just an important component. You'll help the great machine of the State run smoothly, but if it weren't you, someone else would do it. There'd only be a difference in performance, but nothing would fundamentally change.”
Anyone who viewed the world with pessimism and calculation would share Lankart's perspective. To him, everything in the world was a phenomenon that could be explained, an object to be understood and utilized.
With a mindset more befitting a mage than any other, he looked at me as if seeing a kindred spirit.
“Huey, on the other hand, has risen to a unique position. His magic is worse than mine, his Qi Arts worse than yours… but he's proficient in all fields. He can place personnel in the right positions. He knows a lot, so he's popular with the dregs. And he can hold a conversation with unusual cases like you and me. An asset like that is one of a kind.”
“…So you're saying it's all a calculated act?”
“Yes. Huey intends to become the command headquarters itself.”
It wasn't a guess; it was a conviction. Lankart said it without a shred of doubt. Anyone would think he was the mind-reader.
In response, Historia dug a finger in her ear and retorted.
“Spoken like a frog in a well. You think everyone in the world is just like you, so that's all you see. If you'd ever faced Huey directly, you'd know.”
“Ah, I never expected a blockhead to understand.”
“…Why is this underachiever being so confrontational today? You got a death wish?”
Historia hurled the crumpled water bottle at Lankart. Paaang! With a sound that ripped through the air, the water bottle shot out like a cannonball. It had enough force to kill a person on impact.
But neither Historia nor Lankart felt particularly threatened.
The bottle twisted in mid-air as if snatched by an invisible hand, then slammed into the ground nearby, shattering it.
As if he knew from the start that the attack wouldn't reach him, Lankart didn't flinch.
“How barbaric. This is why I hate talking to idiots.”
“…Says the one who's nothing without his magic.”
The two of them, bickering as always. But it never escalated into a real fight. Because I was always there to mediate.
But today, I was tired. And if I stayed, Historia would grab me for that beating. So I let them fight and quickly slipped away. They were so busy snarling at each other they didn't even notice I was gone.
I walked across the training grounds. Amidst the crunching sand and the children struggling to their feet after the log run, I could feel a variety of emotions.
Pain, suffering, jealousy, regret, fear, inferiority, and despair.
And resentment, directed at me.
Unlike the two with their brilliant talents, my own was ambiguous.
Lankart and Historia had reached a level in their respective fields of magic and Qi Arts that no one else could follow. They were so far above that others couldn't even dare to look up at them. But I was only one or two steps ahead.
No one resents a natural disaster. It's difficult to harbor human emotions toward a being of incomprehensible scale.
Even though I was the top student, they must have resented me more—the one who was just barely ahead of them, clawing my way forward right in front of their eyes.
Dark, murky emotions swirled toward me. Instead of the stars in the night sky, which they could not bring themselves to hate, they resented me—the ordinary one who dared to mingle with them so freely.
I walked past the ground swirling with these dark emotions and headed toward the instructor who was calling for me.