Chapter 234
Chapter 234
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 234
Chapter Title: Beyond Salvation (2)
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“Missing outside?”
Demian asked in surprise, and Jake nodded.
“Yes, and not near the academy either—students who returned to their family homes for vacation or personal reasons have gone missing.”
That explained why the academy was so quiet. It hadn’t happened on academy grounds.
“Could it be Slara’s doing?”
Jake asked Demian. Demian fell into thought for a moment.
In Salik’s memories, Slara had been inside the academy.
Of course, that didn’t mean she couldn’t kidnap students who had gone home. She could just order her subordinates to do it.
Still, he couldn’t conclude it was her. They might have gone missing for entirely different reasons.
“How many students went missing in total? Do you know who they were?”
“I haven’t investigated everything. From what I heard, there were… eight of them.”
More than he’d expected.
“All of them were from noble families. House Philip the Counts, House Glayder the Viscounts, House Ulth the Viscounts, and…”
Jake listed the families one by one.
Demian tilted his head at each name. They sounded familiar, but the memories didn’t come to him right away.
“Ah, all the families I mentioned are famous in the empire. They’re all bloodline houses.”
Demian’s eyes flashed at the word “bloodline.”
There were cases where families inherited mysterious abilities across generations.
Like converting mana into special attributes, or absorbing mana into the body to move faster.
Families like that were said to have been born with “special bloodlines.”
‘Now that you mention it, I remember. Slara was once obsessed with researching special bloodlines.’
The reason Slara was one of the most notorious villains was thanks to the countless experiments she’d conducted.
And among her research was one on special bloodlines.
She had studied families born with special bloodlines, trying to make that power her own.
‘No wonder she infiltrated the academy. It was for the bloodline research.’
The academy drew nobles from every corner of the empire. Even those from special bloodline families were no exception.
The academy was the perfect place for Slara to research special bloodlines.
‘Even within the same family, the strength of the bloodline varies. She probably identified students with strong bloodlines and had her subordinates kidnap them.’
That meant Slara was likely disguised as someone who could meet students freely.
‘Then we can rule out the staff.’
Staff members were busy with academy duties and rarely crossed paths with students.
‘The teachers are out too.’
Even for the same subject, different teachers handled different years. It didn’t fit Slara’s goals.
“I’d like more detailed investigations on the missing students.”
“What should I focus on?”
“Who they met before disappearing. Who they were close to usually. Center it on their relationships.”
“Understood!”
Jake nodded.
* * *
Just before the morning sun rose, the Class 13 students gathered in the dormitory lobby.
All academy students used the same building. That made it easy for Class 13 to assemble in one spot.
“Everyone, follow me.”
“Oliver, you’re sure about this?”
“Just trust me.”
Oliver led the students with a confident expression.
He brought them to a secluded wall in the corner of the lobby.
“Wait a second.”
Oliver pulled an old piece of paper from his pocket.
“I told you, I found this in the library. If you tap the wall as it says…”
“Hurry up and open it already.”
“Who’s showing off?”
Protests rained down from the students. Oliver immediately deflated.
“Got it… I’ll be quiet…”
Oliver tapped a few bricks with his finger. With a scraping sound of stone, the wall rose upward.
“W-Wow…”
“There’s really a passage?”
The students reacted with wonder. Oliver puffed up with pride again.
“But… is that all the way open?”
“The door’s… kinda small?”
The hole revealed as the wall lifted was tiny. They’d have to crawl to squeeze through.
“We really have to go through there?”
One male student asked with a reluctant face. Penelope spoke to him.
“If you don’t like it, stay behind and do training.”
“Th-That’s a bit…”
“Any more complaints?”
The entire Class 13 shook their heads.
“Then let’s go in. Oliver, you’re the expert, so lead the way.”
Oliver crawled into the passage first. The other students followed. Penelope went last.
As soon as Penelope entered, the wall came back down, sealing the door. The passage plunged into darkness, and the students panicked.
“Th-The door closed?”
“I-Is this okay?”
“Don’t worry, everyone. I went through last time. No problems.”
Only then did the students calm down at Oliver’s words.
“Let’s move.”
Oliver crawled along the passage. The others followed.
After quite a long crawl, Class 13 reached the exit.
Oliver pulled out the paper again. He tapped the bricks as instructed.
The wall rose, flooding the space with bright light. Oliver and the students’ faces lit up.
“We’re finally out!”
“Freedom!”
“Demian Haksen! You damn bastard! We’re gone!”
Oliver chuckled as he poked his head out of the passage.
There stood Demian Haksen, blocking the exit.
“…”
Oliver froze solid. With him not moving, the students behind couldn’t come out either.
“Hey! Oliver! Why aren’t you coming out!”
“Move already! I’m suffocating!”
Cold sweat poured from Oliver. Demian pointed to the side with his finger—move aside.
Oliver scurried to the spot Demian indicated. The next student immediately stuck their head out, as if waiting.
“Damn, what were you doing stalling…”
The second student spotted Demian Haksen and froze stiff. Their whole body trembled.
“D-De-De-Demian…”
Demian mercilessly brought his baton down on the second student’s head.
“Squeak!”
With a weird yelp, the male student slumped. The one right behind complained.
“Why are you dawdling too! Get out already!”
Demian glanced at Oliver. Oliver hurriedly dragged the fainted student out of the passage and laid him on the ground.
Every time a student emerged, Demian swung his baton, and Oliver busily shoved them aside.
“Phew, thought I’d suffocate.”
Penelope came out last. Her eyes met Demian Haksen’s.
“…”
Too shocked to speak properly.
Demian ignored Penelope and asked Oliver.
“This one’s the last?”
“Y-Yes.”
At the answer, Demian swung the baton down. Penelope lost consciousness amid pain like her head was splitting.
* * *
A short while later, all the students came to.
“I’m deeply disappointed in you all.”
Demian lined up the students and began his lecture.
“I clearly said yesterday that I’d show you hell if you ran from training… and you couldn’t last even a day before pulling this.”
Demian clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“I wondered why this happened. I thought about it seriously. There was one clear conclusion.”
Demian held out the baton in front of the students. They flinched back in horror. But Demian didn’t strike them with it.
“This was the problem.”
The cryptic words left all the students baffled.
“Trying to control people with violence only breeds rebellion.”
The students could only gape in confusion. After beating them like that, now he was blaming violence?
“The more you oppress, the more people want to break free. I didn’t understand your hearts. I apologize.”
But his next words softened the students’ hearts. The sincere apology moved them.
“Um… Teacher… that’s…”
“We’re… the ones…”
The students hesitated to speak. They didn’t know what to say out of guilt.
“No, don’t say anything. I’ve already realized it. What you all really need.”
Demian raised the baton high. Just then, the morning sun rose in the sky. It aligned with the baton, gleaming.
“Even greater violence.”
For a moment, the students doubted their ears.
“Half-hearted violence doesn’t control you—it just makes me look ridiculous.”
A chilling glint flashed in Demian Haksen’s eyes. The students swallowed hard.
“T-Teacher…? W-We’ve never once thought you were ridiculous.”
“If that were true, you wouldn’t have tried to escape. I warned you yesterday—I wouldn’t let anyone skip training.”
Demian tapped his palm with the baton.
“To make sure this never happens again, let’s start with a beating.”
The students’ faces turned pale.
As the darkness blanketing the sky receded.
From one corner of the academy came the relentless sound of baton strikes.
* * *
Demian beat the students thoroughly before dragging them to the training grounds.
“Run laps first.”
Upon arrival, he made Class 13 run just like the day before.
“The last ten will die by my hand.”
The difference was the harsher punishment. Class 13 had no choice but to run for their lives to avoid Demian’s baton.
“T-Teacher! I-I’m gonna die! No, I’m already half-dead!”
“No whining. Get up.”
Even collapsing didn’t help. Demian had planted Dawn in the training grounds, periodically infusing it with holy power.
Thanks to that, the students’ injuries and stamina recovered in real time.
That was how they were worked to the bone until lunchtime.
“Meal time now. Morning training ends here.”
At Demian’s words, the students collapsed as one. The ground was soaked with their sweat.
“Pathetic lot. Fainting after just this much running.”
As Demian clicked his tongue at them, he sensed someone at the training ground entrance.
“Good heavens…”
Blanca Roshe, captain of the White Blood Knight Order, stared at the training grounds with her tongue out in shock.
“What brings you here?”
“I heard rumors that Class 13 was actually training, so I came to see. I thought it was nonsense at first… but it’s true.”
Blanca Roshe looked at the students with amazement.
“What magic did you use? How are these rebels listening to you?”
“I persuaded them sincerely, and they understood.”
At that, the students glared at Demian in unison. Their stares could kill.
“Truly impressive… No academy teacher could handle these kids. You might actually get good scores in the exam.”
“We’re still far from enough. Even with this desperate effort, I’m not sure.”
“Need any training gear? The knight order just got new equipment, so we’re discarding the old stuff.”
“I’ll gladly take it.”
Hearing the exchange, the students felt pure dread. They were barely surviving now—if knight-grade gear was added, they might really die.
While talking, Demian subtly observed Blanca.
‘Slara’s likely disguised as someone who can freely contact students.’
The White Blood Knight Order handled the academy’s security. But they didn’t stay on grounds.
They went out to deal with bandit groups or monsters, and sometimes escorted students traveling far.
‘And she’s approaching me far too often for it to be natural.’
Since arriving at the academy, no one had sought Demian out. No one liked him.
Blanca Roshe was the sole exception. It was suspicious in every way.
“Sir Demian, it’s mealtime. Care to join me? I know a good restaurant.”
Blanca Roshe said to him. Already suspecting her, Demian nodded readily.
“Sounds good. Let’s go.”
Before leaving the training grounds, he turned to the students.
“Finish your meals and come back here. Afternoon is sword training.”
* * *
Afterward, Demian went to the restaurant Blanca Roshe recommended and ate.
He observed her closely during the meal but found nothing suspicious.
‘Guess I’ll have to resort to the crude method.’
The best way to expose Slara’s disguise was to fight for real.
No matter how perfect her disguise, she couldn’t mimic master-class movements.
But it wasn’t a method he could use lightly. If it wasn’t Slara, he’d face backlash.
‘I’ll have to pick the right moment and challenge her to a spar.’
With that thought, he returned to the training grounds—and witnessed a bizarre scene.
“You pathetic losers know how to put in effort too?”
“Why so quiet? Say something.”
Students he’d never seen before were mocking Class 13.