12. Anyway, It Doesn't Seem Like My Fault?
12. Anyway, It Doesn't Seem Like My Fault?
Riber, who had fled mindlessly to the opposite side of the dormitory, eventually circled back and returned to the dormitory before long.
Whether it was from running frantically for so long, or for some other reason, her face was as red as a carrot.
"What do you mean disciple..!"
After moving so violently, her clothes were soaked with sweat and uncomfortable.
When she threw off all the sweat-drenched clothes, Riber was left in just her underwear, bare skin exposed.
Looking at her damp skin, the events from a little while ago came to mind.
'You smelled nice though...'
Atlas's eyes, which she had faced at close range, were a clear blue like a limpid sky that didn't lose its color even in the sunset glow.
Even after moving like that, unlike Riber, Atlas hadn't shed a single drop of sweat, his skin still ivory as at the beginning, so pale it looked like a statue.
"Crazy, crazy! And why the hell are you smelling sweat!!"
To erase Atlas's face that had surfaced in her mind, she even threw off her underwear, entered the shower booth in the room, and turned on the water.
-Sswaaaa
Water poured fiercely from the showerhead, washing Riber from head to toe.
Hit by the water, her agitated heart seemed to settle down a bit.
Riber recalled the events of today.
The Simore family always taught that the strong have the right to choose.
They always said that to seize the initiative in life, one must first become strong.
Atlas was strong.
It had been a long time since she had felt like she had hit a wall through skill alone.
Simply put, a fight is a method of securing your own safety while inflicting damage only on your opponent.
And the easiest way to achieve that is a long reach.
Atlas had the disadvantage of a short attack radius due to his small stature, but precisely because of that, he displayed a high-difficulty technique—aiming for the moment his opponent attacked and countering.
If Atlas had launched a preemptive attack, could she have withstood it?
Perhaps they wouldn't have even managed to produce anything resembling a spar.
It wasn't just his skill that was remarkable.
The monstrous strength and instantaneous power bursting from his small body were greater than any knight Riber had ever seen.
'Perhaps... even more than Father..?'
It wasn't a duel, but... according to what they had agreed on beforehand, it was correct for Riber to become Atlas's disciple.
She had no complaints about his skill.
She didn't know why rumors hadn't spread, but having crossed swords with him, he was at least stronger than S-rank.
Top-tier Sword Expert... perhaps that was the realm Atlas had reached.
If she became his disciple, there would certainly be things to learn.
As he said, if she reached the peak of Expert within the year, her growth would be tremendously rapid...
But when she tried to become his disciple, something bothered her.
It was an emotion she was feeling for the first time.
A strange feeling... that wouldn't let her heart settle down.
"...Tomorrow morning... I'll see him again, right?"
She didn't know what this feeling was right now, but she would find out if she met him a little more.
———————————————-
The moment he saw Atlas covered in blood from head to toe, Andy's trauma switch flipped on.
His apprentice days came to mind.
Even Atlas hadn't started cutting ankles from the very beginning.
He had simply pummeled all the seniors and peers who looked down on him and insulted him with his fists... but at some point, Atlas made an expression as if he had realized something, and started cutting off his opponents' ankles.
The sight of all his peers—who had banded together to teach Atlas a lesson—becoming cripples without ankles, writhing and screaming on the floor, still remained a trauma for Andy.
"You... y-y-you-you what is that state!!!"
"Sunbae, don't panic and listen carefully. I just..."
"Killed them??? You killed them?????"
"Let me finish, I didn't kill them, I just cut their ankles a bit."
"Haa, thank goodness.. I thought you had killed them again."
"Do you think I'm some crazy serial killer? I don't just go around killing people indiscriminately."
"No, then why cut their ankles!!!!"
But he couldn't just keep trembling anymore.
Andy was now a guidance instructor belonging to the academy.
"...Where are they right now."
"Follow me."
Andy, who had changed into work clothes, followed Atlas.
Just in case, he tried to grab a shovel from the warehouse, but Atlas stopped him.
"I told you I'm not burying corpses. You don't need any tools, so just come."
The blood-soaked Atlas and Andy in his sturdy work clothes began to climb the hill in silence.
It was a hill near the dormitories.
A shallow hill, not very high, where a short walk quickly brought you to the middle slope...
The sun had already set, and under the hazy moonlight, they couldn't see an inch ahead properly, but the two, who had belonged to the Imperial Knights—a group of superhumans—climbed the wild hill without hesitation as if they could see clearly in the darkness.
And as soon as they reached a specific spot, Andy frowned.
"Ugh... uuuu..."
"I'm... sorry... I'm... sorry..."
"My... legs... legs..."
"I want to go home..."
"........."
"Me... too... wanna go home..."
Students with faces drained pale blue lay in a neatly arranged single-file line.
In front of them, like shoes neatly taken off, each of their ankles was lined up in order, and because the length of the severed ankle varied according to height, it was easy to tell who had been the tallest.
The sight of people with their ankles cut lying fallen was shocking, but what was even more shocking was that despite such injuries, none of them had any particular life-threatening issues.
There was no continuous bleeding occurring... and no sign of infection in the wounds.
Whatever secret method he was using, Atlas was extremely proficient at injuring people to the point they wouldn't die.
Should I call him the Master of Half-Death... it was artistic skill.
"You... you!! You said you'd live quietly!! Why are you doing this from the very first day!!!"
"Ha... sunbae, do you think that's my fault? These insects were begging me to kill them, coming at me!"
There wasn't a single trace of guilt visible on Atlas's face as he spoke shamelessly.
Rather, he seemed like his anger hadn't fully subsided yet.
A throbbing headache struck Andy.
The reason he had left the Imperial Knights, where he risked his life in exchange for high wages and the highest honor, and come to the academy, was to live quietly, far away from death.
But ever since he encountered Atlas, everything felt like it had shattered to pieces.
"Does it make sense for a knight to immediately make half-dead wrecks out of some brats just because they provoked you a bit?!"
"Six beasts who swarmed together to try a night ambush just to screw over one woman don't qualify for human treatment."
So that was why it had come to this... given that reason, he thought it was well-deserved.
"Well... they deserved to die... but still, how are you planning to handle the aftermath..."
"Don't worry about that. I already got their stories straight before you came, sunbae."
As Atlas said that, the students lying on the ground spoke mechanically.
"I won't... say a word... I want to go home..."
"I-I... we.. deserved... to get beaten.."
Parched, withered sounds came from the mouths of the collapsed students.
Their eyes, imprinted with terror, trembled, unfocused.
Their spirits were completely broken.
At this level, as long as he left their bodies intact, there wouldn't be any future trouble.
"Then why did you call me?!"
"You should know about it. If any rumors come up later, sunbae, block them for me a bit."
"I... just got hired as a newbie this time...!"
What could a newbie like Andy possibly do no matter what rumors came up?
He wanted to argue, but Atlas ignored Andy and picked up one student's ankle.
"I really don't want to do this... but it'd be easier to handle if I just reattach these ankles, right?"
"Is that something you can just say?!"
"I think it'd be more effective if I attached them differently on each side..."
"I'm begging you, please just attach their feet..!!"
First, the students needed to look like both their legs were properly attached for him to be able to handle anything.
Grumbling, Atlas took out medicinal herbs and potions of unknown origin and began attaching them one by one, in order, to the ankles placed before them, returning each to its original owner.
-Chiiiiiiii
"Guu... uaaaargh...!!"
Clearly, he was only using medicines and herbs to attach the ankles and legs, but a sound like searing live flesh with a branding iron rang out.
Hearing the screams, it seemed the pain felt matched the searing sound.
The students screamed in pain, but the effect was outstanding.
The ankles, which had been rolling around severed, were cleanly attached, leaving only minor scars.
"This is actually reattaching... why don't you become a doctor, what are you doing here.."
"I didn't come here because I wanted to be here either."
Reattaching severed legs on a mountain at night, lit only by moonlight, made Andy feel like a criminal disposing of corpses in the dead of night.
The night grew deeper and deeper.
.
.
.
.
.
Some time later, 6 new students simultaneously submitted withdrawal forms, throwing the academy into an uproar.
———————————
After the 6 new students suddenly submitted their withdrawal forms, a middle-aged man with a stubborn look barged into the Headmaster's office, flinging the door open.
It was an extremely discourteous action, but he was Professor Buckingham, one of the established powers at this academy, a professor who could rival Headmaster Morgan in terms of pure career experience.
And he was in charge as the guidance professor for this year's new students.
Specifically, the guidance professor for the class of the 6 who had submitted withdrawal forms this time.
"Headmaster..! 6 of them submitted withdrawal forms simultaneously.. 6 new students!!"
"I am well aware of it all without you needing to shout so loudly."
Ignoring Buckingham's voice, which was yelling with veins popping on his face, Morgan sipped his black tea.
Seeing that leisurely attitude, Buckingham's insides seemed to burn even hotter.
"Headmaster, do you intend to just connive at this situation?!"
"Hmm... well, the academy bears no responsibility for individual student duels. This is a basic principle, and it remains unwavering this time as well."
The reason the 6 had withdrawn was simple.
They lost a 1-on-1 duel and were utterly defeated in a 6-on-1 duel. They were too ashamed to continue attending the academy.
Although their hands trembled as they submitted their withdrawal forms, just listening to the reason itself, it was quite a plausible one.
Whether new students dueled amongst themselves, lost, and withdrew, or whether someone died, it was not the academy's responsibility.
That was what a duel was.
"No matter how I look at it, it wasn't a normal duel! No, I doubt whether it was even a proper duel in the first place. A proper investigation is necessary!!"
But as if he couldn't accept such an outcome, Buckingham shouted once more.
"Eiiing, you sly bastard, I know you're close with Earl Frazier, but it puts me in a difficult spot if you come at me like that. Two years ago, you just handled the students who withdrew after losing duels too!"
"That was...! A legitimate duel!"
"This is also a legitimate duel, who says it isn't.. It wasn't even just a duel, it was 6 against 1.. They say so themselves, so what do you want me to do about it!"
"But..!"
"There is nothing uglier than a third party interfering with the results of a duel. If you're unhappy, let the parties involved resolve it themselves directly!!"
Morgan shouted like that and used magic to throw Buckingham out of the Headmaster's office.
As if he had experienced it more than once or twice, Buckingham got up quickly and began to think deeply.
"The parties involved... resolve it themselves directly?"
Something popped into Professor Buckingham's head.