The Birth of the Hero (3)
1. Within the Academy, All Are Equal
Regardless of social status, everyone is simply labeled a “student.” But it isn’t truly equal. Nobles receive noble treatment, commoners receive commoner treatment. No matter how equally they are called students, an unspoken class system still exists.
Perhaps that was why.
“If the Saintess is willing to help, we would be most grateful.”
Thanks to those words I was able to enter the assistant professor’s room at the center of the incident without any difficulty. They had strictly barred all other visitors, yet opened the barrier immediately on the grounds that I was the Saintess. The two people who had accompanied me, incidentally, were not permitted to enter with me.
“Hmm……”
I scanned the room. It was an ordinary dormitory. Bed, desk, and mountains of lecture materials and research notes stacked everywhere.
“A Comparative Study and Analysis of Spear Techniques from the Five Kingdoms, huh……”
It was my first time at the Academy, so I wasn’t familiar with the curriculum, but it seemed the Swordsmanship Department didn’t limit itself to combat training. They also performed theoretical research, organizing sword techniques from across the world.
“By the way, have you discovered anything unusual so far?”
I asked the Magic Department assistant professor who was investigating the room.
“We haven’t found anything yet.”
“Did you check for demonic energy?”
“I did that the moment I arrived. No demonic energy was detected.”
“Hmm……”
Still, how could I describe this sensation? From the instant I stepped inside, an unpleasant prickling crawled across my skin. It felt exactly like standing at the threshold of the Demon Realm, when the thick, heavy demonic energy in the air brushes the tip of your nose. Yet, just as the assistant professor had said, there was no detectable demonic energy in the room.
That was when something caught my eye.
“This is……”
A single dagger lay beneath the bed. It looked perfectly ordinary. But the feeling it gave off was wrong. The moment my fingers closed around it, a stinging sensation stabbed through my entire body. I drew the blade from its sheath and examined the edge. No engravings. It was nothing more than an utterly commonplace dagger.
“Have you examined this as well?”
I showed the dagger to the assistant professor.
“Isn’t it just an ordinary dagger?”
“I sense a strange energy coming from it.”
It was only intuition, but the instincts I had forged across long years on the battlefield were rarely mistaken.
“Could you check whether this was used in sorcery?”
“Understood.”
The assistant professor tilted his head at the weapon that looked like it could have been picked up from any training ground, then began his examination. He drew a magic circle on the floor and placed the dagger atop it.
“Reveal.”
The magic circle blazed with white light. The dagger drank it in. Moments later, black wave patterns rose across the blade like flowing blood.
“Th-this…! These are traces of sorcery!”
The assistant professor’s eyes widened.
“I don’t know what kind of sorcery was used, but… it’s clearly high-ranking. Just look at how many lines there are……”
The assistant professor carefully stored the dagger.
“I must report this at once. Thanks to the Saintess, we’ve found a vital clue.”
“……”
“Saintess?”
Ah…! It came back to me. I had seen a dagger like this once before. To be precise, it was back when I was still the Sword Saint—before my reincarnation—when I had been wounded on the battlefield and was receiving treatment in the temple.
Kyaaaaaaaah!!
The scream that had echoed through the temple. Just remembering it made the sound ring in my ears again. A fiend had appeared inside the temple. The bastard’s true identity was an officer who had been on the verge of discharge. A dagger almost identical to this one had been buried in his back. And the owner of that dagger was…… the Demon King’s Army Commander known by the alias Puppeteer. The lich, Mortis.
Of course, that bastard never moves personally. He sends his subordinates to handle his dirty work. It wasn’t certain yet, but if this really was one of Mortis’s daggers, then one of his underlings was somewhere inside the Academy. And the fact that they were inside the Academy meant they were not a demon.
“Please investigate every person who normally associated with this assistant professor.”
“What exactly should we look for?”
“It seems one of them may be colluding with the Demon King’s Army.”
“Pardon? Is that true?”
“It’s not certain. Merely a possibility.”
“Understood. I will begin the investigation immediately.”
The assistant professor gave a deep nod. Was it because the words came from the Saintess? Whatever I said seemed to carry absolute weight with him.
2.
Assistant Professor Mark took the dagger and returned to the Magic Department.
Knock knock.
He rapped on the door. A reply soon came from the other side.
“Come in.”
Mark opened the door and stepped inside.
“Pardon the intrusion, Professor. I have a report.”
A middle-aged man sat at the desk. His fountain pen glided smoothly across the page; he had been deep in paperwork. His name was Etel. He taught summoning magic, served as Mark’s supervising professor, and was overseeing the current incident.
“A report?”
Etel paused his hand and looked up. His face carried a gentle, benevolent air.
“This……”
Mark placed the dagger they had found in the room of the assistant professor who had turned fiend onto the desk.
“We discovered it in that room. It bears traces of sorcery.”
Etel gave the dagger a cursory glance. He channeled mana into his fingertip and tapped it lightly. A faint wisp of demonic energy leaked from the blade.
“It’s true. There are clear traces of sorcery.”
Etel shook his hand, dissipating the mana.
“Where exactly did you find it?”
“It was in the room of the assistant professor who caused the incident. It had fallen under the bed. The Saintess noticed it immediately and recognized that it had been used for sorcery.”
Mark recounted everything that had happened earlier.
“The Saintess herself?”
“Yes. She offered to help locate clues and came in person.”
Etel tapped his fountain pen against the paper a few times, then nodded.
“I see. I’ll take this to Professor Mayan for a more detailed analysis.”
“There is one more thing.”
“What is it?”
“It isn’t about an object. The Saintess instructed me to investigate everyone who was close to that assistant professor. She suggested one of them might be communicating with the Demon King’s Army.”
Etel’s expression twisted. One eyebrow twitched.
“In other words… there is a traitor inside the Academy?”
“She said it wasn’t certain.”
Mark relayed every word the Saintess had spoken. Etel listened in silence.
“Very well. I understand.”
Mark bowed and left the office.
Now alone, Etel picked up the dagger and shook it lightly. The benevolent mask melted away, leaving a completely expressionless face.
“The Saintess, hmm……”
He pictured the golden-haired woman. She had only been officially recognized as Saintess for less than a year, yet she had displayed overwhelming talent from the second test onward. They said she had completely filled the Giant’s Cup. During the third test, when the fiend incident occurred, she had been present at the scene. Although the southern kingdom’s young man was credited with defeating the fiend alone, the Saintess’s assistance must have been decisive. He had not yet measured the full extent of her abilities, but the holy power she displayed in the second test proved she possessed extraordinary strength. The fact that she had yielded all the credit to the young man was likely because she disliked the spotlight. He had heard she had refused the position of Saintess multiple times. The exact reason was unknown, but she had apparently shown a passive attitude, claiming she lacked the necessary qualifications.
Even after entering the Academy she remained shut inside her dormitory all day. It was easy to see how much she disliked attention and how timid her personality truly was.
That was all well and good, but.
“……There’s no need to kill her, is there?”
The wave patterns on the dagger shifted and reformed themselves. Sticky demonic energy wriggled like earthworms across the back of Etel’s hand.
What would happen if I turned the Saintess into a fiend?
3.
“Hup…!”
Elia sprang lightly from the window. Today she executed two full mid-air spins before landing stylishly.
“Ughhh… Haaaa……”
She stretched vigorously, breathing in the crisp dawn air. Wearing nothing but a robe over her pajamas, Elia headed for the forest behind the dormitory.
Her daily routine always began with sword training in the woods before morning prayers. The other students believed she spent the entire day cooped up in her room, but the truth was she frequently slipped out the window to explore the Academy or train in secret. She had nearly been caught sneaking out a few times, yet she had never actually been discovered, so she continued to enjoy her window escapes without worry.
“Oof… Guess I overdid it yesterday?”
Elia patted her shoulders. She had pushed herself too hard on the bed the night before. Right before sleep she had suddenly felt the urge to move and exercised, leaving her shoulders tight. Still, it seemed she was finally starting to build some muscle these days.
Elia rolled up her robe sleeve and flexed her right arm. A cute little bicep rose up round and proud. She could now do two consecutive push-ups.
“Heh!”
She retrieved the wooden sword she had hidden in the undergrowth and moved deeper into the forest. A small clearing perfect for sword practice lay ahead.
Just as she reached the clearing, she realized someone was already there.
“That girl is……”
A silver-haired girl was swinging her sword.