The Birth of a Hero (1)
“No matter what, a mob is still just a mob.”
Of course, numbers could never be ignored in battle. It was only natural that a larger force held the advantage over a smaller one. But there were always exceptions. Before overwhelming power, armies of dozens or even hundreds would fall like reeds before a gale.
“Hup…!”
Elia swallowed a breath and swung her sword three times through the empty air. Once to the front. Once to the right. Once to the left. Thin lines were etched in the wake of her blade, like scars carved into space itself. Golden Sword Qi bled through the cracks like blood, then slowly faded away.
“Pffft!”
When nothing happened, the Fiend sneered at her. It waved a hand, issuing commands to its illusory minions. Ten phantom bodies charged at Elia all at once, swinging their greatswords with wild abandon.
Elia simply lowered the tip of her blade and strolled toward the Fiend with leisurely steps.
The illusions let out laughter-laced roars and leaped into the air.
In that instant, their upper and lower bodies separated. The torsos dropped to the ground while the legs, still mid-jump, crashed down on top of them.
“??”
The Fiend’s eyes widened into perfect circles.
“I don’t know how many souls you’ve stolen, but…”
Elia stood before the Fiend, tilting her head up to meet its gaze.
“In their place…”
She placed her hand on the Fiend’s solar plexus as it blinked in confusion.
“In the name of God, I punish you.”
The Fiend roared as if to say What nonsense is this? and raised both greatswords high above its head.
Then its waist slid backward, and its upper body was severed cleanly in two.
It had been dead from the moment Elia swung her sword through the air.
Elia dusted off her hand, still feeling the Fiend’s rough texture, then clasped both hands over her chest in prayer. She offered it for everyone this monster had killed.
The barrier that had spread like fog dissolved, and sunlight poured down over the woman’s head. Pure white light flowed along her golden hair all the way down her back.
When she finished praying, Elia slowly opened her eyes and looked behind her.
“You understand, don’t you?”
She raised a finger to her lips. There wasn’t a single person who failed to grasp the meaning. The two who had been watching the entire scene nodded vigorously.
The next day, the third exam was naturally suspended.
The appearance of a Fiend. An unprecedented incident had thrown the entire academy into chaos. An emergency meeting was called. Every professor at the Imperial Academy was summoned.
In its hundreds of years of history, the academy had never once allowed an intruder inside its grounds. This was the Imperial Academy. The gathering place for the most talented individuals from every nation. Security was managed with absolute rigor.
To enter the academy, one needed an official pass. No one without permission could step foot inside—be they imperial or royal blood.
Sneaking in was also impossible. The academy was surrounded by a grand barrier, a masterpiece of magical engineering formed from thousands of intricately connected magic circuits. Forcing it open? Only one person in the world could do that: the Grand Magician who had created the barrier in the first place.
Therefore, it was impossible for the Fiend to have entered by opening the barrier.
A search party had been dispatched to confirm. After scouring the entire forest and inspecting the barrier, they found it completely intact. There were no signs of external intrusion, nor any traces of an attempted breach.
Then how in the world had a Fiend appeared inside the forest on academy grounds?
“The results are in.”
The professor from the Department of Magic adjusted his glasses as he spoke.
“After performing an autopsy on the Fiend’s corpse, we have determined that it was an assistant professor from the Department of Swordsmanship.”
The conference room began to stir. The commotion was especially loud from the swordsmanship side. They had been worried about one assistant professor who had gone missing a few days ago, but they never dreamed it would turn out like this.
“The exact details are still under investigation. We will inform you the moment we uncover anything.”
A Fiend. Originally ordinary people who became monsters after making a contract with the demon race. In other words, there was a very high chance the demon race was involved in this incident.
“How will we proceed with the entrance exam, Headmaster?”
Kroto, headmaster of the Imperial Academy, let out a low groan and pressed hard on his temples. His head was pounding. There weren’t just one or two problems to deal with. The Fiend issue needed resolving, and so did the admissions issue.
The third exam had been about halfway through, but now they had to decide whether to select students based on what they had or hold another test.
“We believe the current information is sufficient.” That was the stance of the Department of Swordsmanship.
“We still find it lacking. We believe we will need to conduct a separate exam.” That was the stance of the Department of Magic.
“What was last year’s third exam pass rate?”
“The Departments of Swordsmanship and Theology had a one hundred percent pass rate. In the Department of Magic, thirty out of two hundred failed.”
Although the content of this year’s third exam had changed, the standards of evaluation remained the same.
“Hmm… I will leave the decision regarding the third exam to the deans of each department. Please announce your results within two weeks. Professor Etel, if you discover anything related to this incident, report it immediately. Also, please organize and submit all materials pertaining to the case.”
“Understood.”
“By the way…”
Headmaster Kroto looked down at the report and asked,
“Who exactly is the child that defeated the Fiend?”
He couldn’t help but be shocked that one of the examinees had taken down a Fiend. When he first heard the story, he hadn’t believed it. Even now, it was hard to accept. Even if it hadn’t been a complete Fiend, a Fiend was still a Fiend. It normally took a company-sized force from the Imperial Knight Order to bring one down. Yet this child had done it alone…
Without a doubt, this was a talent who would one day become a hero.
A week passed.
The results of the disastrous entrance exam were finally released. The Departments of Swordsmanship and Theology had selected their successful applicants based on the limited data gathered during the third exam, while the Department of Magic held an additional test.
I had, of course, passed. I hadn’t even worried about it.
What I had spent the past week thinking about wasn’t whether I had been accepted to the academy, but the Fiend.
The fact that a Fiend had appeared at the testing site could be interpreted in two ways. Either it had been trying to kill a specific person, or it had been trying to kill anyone it came across.
If it was the former, who had it been trying to kill? The first person who came to mind was naturally the Hero’s disciple. From a future perspective, he would become the greatest threat to the Demon King’s army. Cutting the bud early would be the easiest solution for them.
If not him, then the Saintess. Maybe it had been trying to kill me. After all, I had been the first one to enter the Fiend’s barrier.
The reason for wanting to kill the Saintess was the same as wanting to kill the Hero. I would only get in the Demon King’s army’s way.
“Or maybe both were targets.”
If it wasn’t any of those, and it was the latter reason, then what was the purpose? Indiscriminate slaughter. It probably wasn’t simply to cause damage to the academy. To learn more, an investigation would be necessary.
From what I’d heard, the assistant professor from the Department of Swordsmanship had turned into a Fiend. If I searched his room, I might find some kind of clue.
The academy had probably already investigated, but I wasn’t sure if they were keeping quiet because they had found something or because they hadn’t found anything yet.
“…Should I go take a look?”
I had been rolling around in bed, but now I sat up. I straightened my nun’s habit and neatly combed my messy hair with a brush. Then I pulled out a robe from under the bed—the one I wore when sneaking out.
I slipped on the robe and headed for the window. Just as I was about to leap out—
Knock knock.
The sound of knocking stopped me in my tracks.
“Hic…!”
I let out a startled hiccup and grabbed the windowsill. I had nearly slipped and fallen instead of jumping on purpose.
“Saintess, it is Lael.”
I quickly yanked off the robe and stuffed it back under the bed.
“Yes, come in.”
I sat down on the edge of the bed just before the door opened. I kept my legs together and placed both hands neatly on my knees.
“What brings you here?”
“You have a visitor.”
“A visitor?”
“It is a student from the Department of Swordsmanship who formed a party with you during the entrance exam.”
The face of one man immediately came to mind. Blond hair and tanned skin. His passionate demeanor had been quite pleasant to watch.
“What does he want?”
“I am not certain. It seemed he had urgent business with you, Saintess.”
I hadn’t even officially enrolled yet, but students were already lining up to see me. Some came for healing, others for counseling. For all sorts of reasons, they wanted to see the Saintess’s face.
It was difficult to meet outside the academy, but inside, everyone was equal. If they wanted to meet, they could.
Tsk… I was just about to go investigate.
“I understand.”
I stood up from my seat and followed Lael down to the first floor of the dormitory. As we descended, every student we passed greeted me.
“Good morning, Saintess.”
“Saintess, have a wonderful day.”
“You look beautiful today as well, Saintess.”
I responded to each and every greeting. My face felt like it was going to cramp up. Smiling and answering one by one was truly exhausting.
When we reached the first floor, I saw Hort standing by the entrance, fidgeting nervously.
“Ah…!”
The moment Hort spotted me, he came running over. Lael placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, just in case.
“Sister!!”
Hort threw himself flat on the floor and clung to my ankle. Every eye in the room turned toward me. My already eye-catching figure drew even more attention.
“What are you doing?! Get away from the Saintess at once!”
Lael tried to pull him off, but Hort stubbornly refused to let go of my ankle.
“Please…! Please save me!”
Haha. What the hell is this nonsense?