47. A Place I Miss
47. A Place I Miss
In the Academy Headmaster's office, the Headmaster always worked alone.
It only ever held two people when someone came for a work report, but even then, they never spoke for long.
Morgan, who disliked having his personal rhythm broken while working despite his tremendous skill, hadn't even bothered to hire so much as a common secretary.
It was behavior hard to imagine from an old man who loved surrounding himself with people and buttering them up in public, but it was a habit he had maintained since his days as a professor.
"Professor, you look older every time I see you."
"I didn't... hear you were coming..."
"What's the matter, Professor? A student can visit whenever she wants, can't she?"
But today, strangely enough, two people sat facing each other inside the Headmaster's office.
The person sitting before him was a woman who, unlike the deeply wrinkled old man Morgan, looked to be in her early thirties no matter how generously you estimated.
She was Linda Westhaven.
She was the Knight Commander of the Imperial Knights who protected the Empire, and the Master known as the Empire's Greatest Sword.
The two treated each other without reserve, as if they were old acquaintances.
"I'm the Headmaster now. I envy you Masters who never age. My back's been giving me trouble lately... did you not bring a present?"
"I came in a hurry, so I sent it separately. It should arrive by tomorrow."
"I thought you'd have matured with age, but you're still the same... Once you've risen to that position, could you not at least give word before coming? What could be so urgent..."
"It couldn't be allowed to become known here."
At Linda's words, Morgan's eyebrows twitched.
It unsettled him that someone of the Imperial Knight Commander's stature had to conceal her whereabouts.
"...As I thought, there must be a person of interest among the new students this year."
"You'd already noticed, Professor?"
One student surfaced in Morgan's mind.
A student who was extremely small, and therefore stood out all the more.
He had definitely harbored thoughts of killing Professor Buckingham in the faculty office... his record was quite spectacular, and Morgan knew at the very least that he was no ordinary student.
"Yes, he clashed with the Five Pillars in less than a week — how could I not know?"
"He clashed with the Five Pillars...?"
"You didn't know? He even fought a duel with Lemnos."
"Hmm... I see."
"The world is still full of fools who haven't caught on... it truly gives me a headache... So... has it been resolved?"
"I've confirmed he's well, so it's resolved. Please pretend not to know anything and treat him like any ordinary student. There's no benefit in recognizing him."
Telling him to pretend not to know — Morgan interpreted it as a warning not to even think about investigating further.
If a Master said there was no benefit in recognizing him, he would take that advice.
He had no desire to poke a hornet's nest and get stung for no reason.
"If they learn you've come here... the Five Pillars won't sit still."
This time, however, another worry surfaced.
The poor relationship between the Five Pillars and the Imperial Knights was common knowledge.
They were so extremely wary of the Imperial Knights that they became irritable even at official functions if they crossed paths, to the point where events were arranged to prevent them from ever encountering each other.
The fact that the commander of those very Imperial Knights had come to the Academy carried heavy implications.
Linda grinned at his words.
"Tell them to come on over, maybe hold an alumni reunion. It'd be lively and fun. Things have been so peaceful lately I was getting bored..."
"Aaahh... can't old classmates get along a bit? Still fighting like children... how disgraceful, how disgraceful."
Not having had enough fighting during their school days and still fighting now...
Morgan thought they were nothing more than children in adult bodies.
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"Whoa...!! That's the Empire's Greatest Sword?!"
"Director, I'm your fan!!!"
"Please look this way, just once!!"
Word of the Imperial Knight Commander's arrival at the Academy alongside Andy, who had returned in triumph as a hero, spread like wildfire through the Academy.
To think the Empire's Greatest Sword, who was nearly impossible to glimpse even for those living in the capital, had come to the Academy — everyone had rushed out in droves, skipping classes, just to catch a look at her face.
The fact that several professors had come out among the students spoke volumes.
As if accustomed to such crowds, Linda wore a gentle smile on her lips, waved her hand lightly, and looked around at the classrooms.
Come to think of it, the Director had also been an Academy graduate...
Decades ago, Linda and Wendy, country bumpkins from the western port, had proudly entered the Academy through the exam track, and while enrolled, they reached the realm of the Master and became legends of the Academy.
Even now, a considerable number of students admitted by examination took Linda as their role model.
From freshmen to upperclassmen, everyone had come out to see Linda, forming a massive crowd, and as people emptied out, the Academy became full of empty, quiet spaces.
They would fill up again soon, but a brief moment of vacancy was more than enough for me.
"Aaaaargh!!"
"I got you a medal and you repay kindness with betrayal?!!"
Because in the meantime, I had to crush Andy quickly.
Andy, running in his uniform, showed none of the sluggishness from the first day and was truly fleeing from me with all his might.
Though retired from active duty, he was still a top-tier Expert, even if past his prime.
Using mana to strengthen his body, Andy ran incredibly fast.
Though to me, it was still just the palm of Buddha's hand.
"I told you I wouldn't leave you alone if you got caught!!"
"Help me!!!"
To catch him, I could take one big stride right now, but that wouldn't relieve my stress.
I figured he should at least do some running, tire himself out a bit... no, running just made me angrier.
"I had no choice!! She already knew everything!! I didn't answer a single question!!!"
"Whatever excuse you make, she just said she'd tag along to the Academy — what was I supposed to do!!!"
So in the end, the Director had known everything from the start, and he was saying he couldn't do anything about it...
Did I tell him to stop the Director from coming?
"You should have at least contacted me!!!"
"There was no time..!! I got caught right after receiving the medal, I tell you..!!"
"The contract was that you'd try your best in that kind of situation!! What's the point if you take everything you can get and then shut your mouth tight at the crucial moment!!"
The chase came to an end.
I had been running leisurely, but I finally caught up.
Now that I had caught him, there was no reason to go easy — I leaped toward Andy right in front of me.
"Kyaaak!!"
-Kudangtang!!
Andy, tackled in the back at waist height, tumbled forward and slammed his head into the hard stone floor.
An incredibly loud sound rang out, but I wasn't particularly worried.
If a top-tier Expert died from something like this, I wouldn't even bother writing his affiliation on his gravestone.
"Hey, hey, hey!! Looking at you with all your limbs intact, it seems like things ended well with the Director, so can't you cut me some slack?!"
"Yeah, yeah~ that's one thing, and this is another. Since I almost died too, let's just go right up to the brink of death."
While doing this, memories of my days as an apprentice surfaced.
Back then, I was angrier, more violent, and didn't banter with opponents, but the experience of running through a corridor with my head boiling with rage stood out most vividly from that time.
Though for Andy pinned beneath me, it seemed like a memory he'd rather forget.
"Aaaaarrrgh!!!"
My fist rose.
Andy's screams and the exhilaratingly resonant drumming sound echoed chaotically through the empty garden.
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"Ah~~ that's refreshing."
I beat him to the point where I felt refreshed.
Though past his prime, Andy, as a top-tier Expert, was incredibly sturdy compared to the Academy students, so I could beat him to my heart's content.
I only beat him to the point where he wouldn't need to go to the hospital, so if I shoved him into his quarters, he would recover soon.
"You've learned well. Your skill at beating someone just short of crippling them is quite something."
Suddenly, the Director descended from the sky.
Stepping on the crossguard of her sword and gliding down smoothly — she looked just like Mary Poppins.
Even if I said so, the Director wouldn't know what I was comparing her to, and she would definitely beat me up for being impertinent, so I kept it to my thoughts alone.
"I learned well from Teacher. Did you enjoy your tour of the Academy?"
"Yes, it wasn't much different... It feels like time has only stopped here."
In the distance, I could still hear the clamor of students gathered and chattering.
She slipped out of that crowd in an instant... If they scattered and started searching, this nearby spot would be discovered quickly, so it seemed best to move somewhere else in a hurry.
Still, thinking I had to toss him into his quarters, I hefted Andy onto my shoulder and stood up. The Director was quietly surveying the classrooms.
She wore an expression lost in some memory.
"Atlas, it seems you've been living quite an entertaining life at the Academy."
"Entertaining... there's too much that rankles me for that. May I ask what business brings you here?"
"I heard you fought a duel with Lemnos's young master? Keeping something that fun a secret... how impertinent, truly."
The Director grinned and ruffled my hair mercilessly.
Though she had become a Master, it seemed she still thought of me as a puppy.
Teacher did it, the Director did it — it was a habit from when I was young.
Didn't they say they'd stop if I grew taller than them... It pissed me off that there was only about 0.1 difference between then and now.
How did she find out about the duel?
I thought I'd get scolded for beating up brats as someone who was a Master and all, but seeing her in a good mood made it even scarier.
"We decided to fight one more duel."
"Then I suppose I'll watch that before I leave. When is it?"
"It'll likely be settled either today or tomorrow, but... if the Director comes to watch in person, won't it cause a commotion?"
A duel witnessed directly by the Imperial Knight Commander would draw even more attention from other students.
It wasn't a favorable situation from my standpoint of wanting to stay quiet and lie low, but judging by the Director's expression, she seemed to want exactly that.
"I'd like that even better. The current head of Lemnos, Edward, and I... have a bad history. Did I ever tell you?"
"I've never heard it."
"My sister and I... the current heads of the Five Pillars were our classmates at the Academy... and we fought an awful lot. In the end, only we became Masters."
The Director gazed at the classroom, lost in reminiscence.
Though the full information had never been disclosed, the current heads of the Five Pillars, the Director, and Teacher had all been Academy students together.
In the end, those two became Masters and rose through their own efforts, but what happened during their enrollment was known only to them.
Judging by her expression alone, it seemed it hadn't been entirely pleasant, but...
"Do you know what expression Edward wore when I became a Master? It was truly... truly cathartic.
Fufu... Edward's son and you, dueling..."
The Director's expression, which had been wearing a meaningful smile as she reminisced about old times, grew terrifying.
It seemed some unpleasant memory had surfaced.
"I've come to want to see that expression again after all this time... don't even think about throwing the match."
"...I absolutely must not lose, then."
Seeing her intensity, it seemed like if I lost on purpose, she had every intention of beating me to death or killing me.
Goodness, she was fiercely serious about a kids' duel, this one.