Chapter 104
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Necessary Sacrifices
“I'll be heading out for today.”
“Alright. Come back tomorrow on your own.”
“I won't be late.”
Gaion simply nodded at Allen's farewell, as if telling him to do as he pleased.
Allen watched him disappear over the rooftops before turning to leave.
“So, what do you think?”
「About what.」
Vestla's sullen voice echoed in his ear. Allen gave a bitter smile, recalling how she had spent the entire training session shouting about finding an opening.
“Do you find his teaching lacking?”
With fewer cadets, the academy felt quieter and emptier than usual. The spirited shouts from the training grounds were softer than usual, and the absence of students in the halls was palpable.
「…Honestly, not really. No. His methods are different from mine, but… he certainly lives up to his grand reputation.」
She admitted that much honestly, then trailed off as if it pained her to praise him any further.
“He seemed accustomed to teaching, too.”
「That was certainly surprising. He was more meticulous than you'd expect from an old geezer like him.」
“Even more than you?”
「I'm better, of course!」
It was a joke, why was she getting so worked up? Even after Allen apologized, she kept shouting about how she was better and how he could dare compare her, his first master, to someone else.
Allen continued walking, her nagging fading into background noise.
As evening fell, the reduced number of students became quite noticeable.
It wasn't just the first-years who had left for the deserted island; the other years were also taking their exams in sequence.
Because of this, the less crowded streets felt strangely unfamiliar to Allen.
As he was heading back to the dormitory, he heard someone shouting.
—Doesn't know his place, talking to me...
Normally, he would have ignored it.
Was it because there were fewer people around, or was he just curious about what someone was doing at this hour instead of studying for exams?
Allen changed his course from the dormitory toward the source of the sound.
As he got closer, the shouting became clearer.
—You dare challenge me just because your sponsorship is gone?
—...bunch of trash.
—Serves you right! This is where you belong!
As he got closer, the shouting became clearer.
When Allen reached what seemed to be the source of the noise, he was met with an unexpected sight.
“You're the one who started with us. And now what? You're the victim?”
“We would have let it go, too, if you hadn't started those weird rumors first!”
“Please… getting expelled is too much. I'll overlook everything you instigated, just please… not expulsion…”
Three male students, covered in bandages, were arguing with a single female student.
But what Allen found unexpected was that it was the male students, not the female student, who were on the losing end.
“‘Please, not expulsion?’ Don't give me that crap! You came at me the second my sponsorship was cut.”
“That's because you used the fact that you were sponsored by Lord Zaqnir's family to instigate things first!”
Enraged by her words, the large male student shouted.
“Instigation? Ha.”
But the female student's reaction was simple.
*Slap—*
The head of the male student, who looked to be twice her size, snapped to the side.
“Yes, I instigated things to increase my influence. So what?”
*Slap—*
The student's head snapped to the other side.
“What are you going to do about it?”
The male student trembled with rage, but when she glared at him, he hung his head.
Instead, the shorter male student beside him answered in a trembling tone.
“…But expulsion is too harsh. What did we even do…?”
“What did you do? You made demands of me.”
“We were just demanding an apology for what you did…!”
She sneered and mentioned the incident that had occurred a few days ago.
“Is that really it? You perpetrators who bullied a female student.”
“You're the one who spread that rumor!”
“Once it spreads through the academy, it becomes the truth. Isn't that right?”
Listening to them, Allen finally recalled the incident from a few days ago, when Acandus and Soned had come here.
*'I thought Julius had done something again…'*
But seeing it for himself, the roles of perpetrator and victim were completely reversed.
The supposed ringleaders who had bullied a female student were just meek boys who couldn't even throw a punch in a dark alley, while the female student, publicly declared the victim, seemed to be the one tormenting them.
*'Expelled because of Julius, and they seem to hold a grudge…'*
They're perfect recruits for Sköll. Allen wondered why there was no sign of Acandus having approached them, even though several days had passed since the incident.
For now, Allen watched to see how the situation would unfold before deciding whether to intervene.
“See, why couldn't you just leave me alone when my sponsorship was cut? Why did you have to provoke me?”
“Is it a crime to want a single apology, just one word?”
“It's not a crime, but…”
She grabbed the collar of the male student who had been silently glaring at her and grinned.
“Lord Julius happened to show up right at that moment, didn't he?”
Allen felt his gaze repeatedly drawn to the student whose collar she was holding.
*'…Why does he look so familiar?'*
But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't place the face. He'd have to think about it later.
“We have a plan, too. If you don't get our expulsion rescinded, we'll expose everything you've done.”
“You will? Pfft…”
Allen prepared to step in. He'd seen enough. It was time to hand them over to Acandus.
Just as Allen was about to move.
“Because Lord Julius said he'd personally keep an eye on this situation.”
*Halt—*
Allen froze mid-step. Julius was personally keeping an eye on them? Then if he took them from here and their circumstances changed, or if they disappeared…
*'He might pick up our trail.'*
In the end, Allen couldn't move.
She scoffed in disbelief and shook her head.
“You'll expose me? Ha. You won't be able to set foot here anymore.”
“Why are you doing this, why! We came from the same city…”
She answered their desperate question without much thought.
“Just because.”
“What?”
“I just felt like it.”
She tapped the ground with the tip of her shoe and stared at them. The male students' faces twisted as they looked back at her.
“Being looked down on for being a commoner, I needed something for myself, didn't I? I was lucky my sponsor was from Lord Zaqnir's family, so of course I had to use it.”
“…Then why us? If that was the reason, it didn't have to be us, did it…?”
When the previously silent student finally spoke, she looked down on them as if they were pathetic.
“You were close by. I figured you'd forgive me for something like this, right?”
Hearing that, Allen turned away.
He needed to find out right now how many others there were like them.
***
Allen hurried to find Acandus.
Acandus was located in a building in the commercial district.
The interior looked unfinished, with construction materials scattered about. It was late, so the workers had apparently all gone home.
He burst through the door to the top floor.
“Acandus.”
“Lord Allen, what brings you here so suddenly…?”
“My apologies for coming so late.”
Allen's voice wasn't loud, but his heavy footsteps and slightly hardened expression hinted that something was wrong.
“I came to confirm something. Do you remember the order I gave you before?”
“Yes, of course. To recruit those who have been harmed by Lord Julius and transfer them to other regions, correct?”
Acandus answered Allen's abrupt question without hesitation. His calm tone helped Allen settle his own turbulent emotions.
“…Hah, yes. Then you must know about the case of the three male students who were recently expelled from the academy.”
“Yes. They were potential recruits for Sköll, so I investigated them thoroughly.”
“Then why…”
He hadn't come to blame him. He was here to understand the situation.
“Have they been recruited? Or is it already in progress?”
“We have no plans to recruit them into Sköll. The decision has already been made, and we have ceased all contact.”
“Why? Why haven't you approached them? They have more than enough motive to devote themselves to Sköll.”
“Well…”
Acandus sighed and took out a file folder from behind him.
The dozens of pages within looked as if they had been written so recently that the ink might still smear to the touch.
“Please take a look at this, my lord.”
“…Who are these people?”
“This is a list of individuals who have sufficient motive to join Sköll but were ultimately excluded.”
Allen flipped through the pages.
*Rustle—*
“Louis, Mark, Noah…”
Besides the names of the students Allen had just seen, there were dozens of others, each with a brief personal profile.
“…Why were they excluded?”
Acandus's reply was so cold it could be perceived as callous.
“Because it is more efficient.”
“More efficient?”
“Yes. We could recruit them, but… the risk in doing so outweighs the potential benefits.”
Allen understood what he was saying.
Even he himself had been unable to act after hearing that Julius was personally keeping an eye on them.
How could he say anything to Acandus?
“One or two might be manageable, but if we bring all of them in, Lord Julius will definitely discover our existence here. Not to mention leaving a trail.”
As if testing him, he asked with a worried expression.
“Will you bring them in, even if that happens?”
Allen was silent for a moment before slowly shaking his head.
“It's an unavoidable part of it, I suppose.”
“You can't save everyone.”
Helping, protecting.
It all required people to do it.
His goal was to gather avengers for his revenge by partially overlooking Julius's actions.
Acandus was simply being faithful to that goal.
So what could Allen say to him?
*'No.'*
It was unfortunate for those left behind, but even to Allen, his actions were entirely appropriate.
*'But even so…'*
The feeling of a heavy weight settling in his chest was indescribably unsettling.
Don't save those who can't be saved.
Really?
*Creeak—*
***
The deserted island survival episode was one Julius hadn't particularly liked.
The story was split between numerous points of view, with backstory for side characters he couldn't care less about.
It was all mixed together, and as a result, the protagonist, Haizel, got very little screen time.
But after being possessed into the novel himself, he realized there was no episode as sweet as this one.
“Food! Give me your food!”
“Get lost! I'm rationing this! It's the first day, where's your food?!”
“Obviously, I haven't eaten it yet!”
Looking down, he could see students already fighting, aware of the seriousness of the food situation even on the first day.
“Tsk, tsk. Such undignified behavior. Let's not be like them, Reina.”
“I'd like that, but… my lord, do we have any more food?”
Julius nodded as if it were obvious in response to Reina's anxious question.
“Not right now… but we'll have some soon.”
Julius smiled and looked behind him.
They were in a cave on a large mountain in the center of the deserted island. He had been lucky enough to meet Reina, who had been randomly teleported nearby.
After joining up with her, Julius had immediately succeeded in securing one of the hidden pieces—the so-called Bear's Rest.
These hidden pieces, scattered across the island, provided not only useful artifacts but also various supplies like food and clothing.
“It looks like we can have one meal a day.”
Anything more than that would require some legwork.
After all, finding one shelter and staying there indefinitely would go against the themes of survival and chaotic battle.
In any case, Julius had knowledge of the numerous hidden pieces he had read about in the deserted island episode.
The events and hidden pieces were revealed through the perspectives of several main characters.
Since Julius knew the locations of all of them, this was practically a free ride for him.
“So what will you do, my lord? Should we ambush the students below? Or…”
With Julius's help, Reina's talent had been raised to orange. Thanks to that, her current skill level was high enough to guarantee her a spot in Class B.
He liked her confidence, but…
“Don't do anything today.”
“Pardon?”
Reina looked back at Julius with a puzzled expression, but he couldn't tell her the real reason.
How could he explain that the academy might be watching them right now, and that thoughtlessly eliminating opponents on the first day would lower their teamwork score?
So Julius had to say something else.
“It's better to rest up for a day and attack the other, more exhausted students than to waste our energy now.”
“Ah…”
She nodded as if his point made sense.
“Then I'll stop for today and prepare a meal.”
“Yes, please do.”
Julius would take his time, as if enjoying a leisurely vacation.
There was still plenty of time, after all.