92. Transfer Student
92. Transfer Student
The next day, right after waking up in the morning, Lucia caught the first boat and dragged me back to the academy.
I had gotten stabbed just as the sword had foretold, but I hadn't died.
If I'd been an ordinary person, I would have died the moment I got stabbed, so the prophecy could be considered nearly fulfilled.
As soon as we arrived at the academy, Lucia dragged me to the hospital, insisting I had to be admitted.
I still had to settle things with Casey, but for now, I decided to do as Lucia said.
"Hmm... your condition doesn't really warrant hospitalization. Still, let's keep you under observation for a few days."
I had boosted my body's natural healing overnight to heal all internal and external injuries, putting me in the best possible state, but Lucia still trembled anxiously.
She looked like she'd cry if I refused, so I decided to quietly stay hospitalized for about a day.
"Atlas!! What on earth happened??"
"You're really hurt??"
Emy and Liber heard the news and were the first to come find me.
Knowing that I was a Master, the two of them were extremely sensitive to the news of my injury.
They couldn't help but be shocked that someone who hadn't taken a single scratch against Masters or Great Demons had suddenly gotten a hole in his gut.
"It's really nothing. Look, I'm perfectly fine now."
"Nothing my ass..! You bled so much!"
I wanted to brush it off as nothing, but Lucia, who had been with me, flared up in anger.
In her hands was the golden bear doll, still stained with dark red blood.
When she mentioned a hole in my stomach, the two of them began taking the situation very seriously.
"Atlas was overpowered... the culprit had to be at least a Master... no, could some sort of Great Demon have appeared??"
"Exactly! There's no way it's nothing if you got hurt! Is another huge incident unfolding again??"
"Ugh... uuuugh..."
I was too embarrassed to say anything.
How the hell was I supposed to tell them I'd let my guard down and gotten stabbed by an Expert?
Perhaps because I had a track record of winning without a scratch against Masters and Great Demons, Emy seemed to view the situation as extremely serious.
"There was no Master or Great Demon or anything like that. ...It really was nothing..."
"If it was nothing, there's no way you'd have been overpowered..!"
"You told us to tell you if anything happened, but then you just hedge like this... I'm really disappointed."
It was too embarrassing to say I let my guard down and got stabbed, but I couldn't just not give them a proper explanation either.
After I'd been telling the two of them all this time to tell me if anything happened, if I didn't tell them when something happened to me, our relationship of trust would crack.
"...Anyway, there's no running away from this..."
I decided to swallow my embarrassment and tell the truth.
"I let my guard down and got stabbed by my student. That's all."
"...Your student? What did you do to make someone so mad they'd pull a knife on you in broad daylight!"
"Hmm.. Well, maybe I said I'd be back soon and then vanished without contact for about three years?"
When I said I hadn't contacted them in three years, Emy made a dumbfounded expression.
"That's... you did mess up there... But that's no reason to stab you with a sword, Atlas."
"Don't worry about it too much. We were like family to each other, so I want to resolve this through talking."
"...Do family members pull knives on each other..?"
"Isn't it common? Everyone's had that one moment where they fought with their family to the death with real swords, right?"
"It's not common. Atlas... sparring and knife attacks are different things. Are you sure you guys were family..?"
Everyone looked at me with cold eyes.
"What, am I the only one??"
I fought my father with the intent to kill the night before I joined the knight order, though..?
Even if I couldn't kill him, that is.
I thought all martial families were the same since everyone seemed to have a personality like their heads were stuffed with rocks.
—————————————
The next day, I attended my lectures perfectly fine.
Lucia was worried, but since I was completely healed, staying in the hospital only made my body feel more uncomfortable.
"Wow, it feels like I've been attending lectures every day, yet it seems like ages since the last one. That just means there's been a lot going on."
Now well-acquainted with the class students, Andy joked around before the lecture even started, and everyone laughed.
In that instant, Andy's gaze flitted over to me.
Why was he doing that?
Thinking about Andy's pattern so far, it meant he had done something that required him to gauge my reaction.
Before, he'd acted that way after getting caught by the Director leaking that I was at the academy.
He was making me anxious for no reason.
"So... today we have a transfer student. It's not too late, so everyone help them out so they can adjust."
"A transfer student?"
"Transfer students do come in, huh..?"
"The exam's already over, but if you have a recommendation letter, it's easy to get in."
Given the academy's structure, as long as you held one of the recommendation letters the Headmaster scattered, it wasn't that strange.
A transfer student coming wasn't strange at all, but Andy's constant sidelong glances at me were grating.
"Alright, come on in."
Even as he spoke, Andy glanced at me several times.
I was wondering why he was acting that way, but the moment the 'transfer student's' beautiful silver hair entered the lecture hall from outside, Andy's attitude made perfect sense.
"!!!"
The moment she saw the transfer student, Lucia shot up to her feet.
She too recognized the transfer student's appearance.
The silver hair with the luster of a well-honed blade, the eyes like the deep sea, the small but red lips—they were unforgettable.
She seemed like she wanted to say something, but perhaps she was too dumbfounded, as she couldn't utter a word and just silently glared at the transfer student who walked into the lecture hall.
The transfer student walked right up next to Andy, looked at the students she would be partnered with in the same class from now on, and spoke brazenly.
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Casey."
Why is she here?
—————————————
As soon as the lecture ended, during a free period, we all gathered together and headed to a garden where we could talk quietly.
"Atlas... that transfer student.. she's the one, right..?"
"Seems like it."
Judging by Andy's reaction, it was Casey herself.
The fact that I had raised Casey was a famous story in the Imperial Knights, so Andy, who had been an ordinary member, would have known too.
"How is that person here... You don't think she followed you all the way here targeting you, Atlas..?"
Lucia was wary of Casey.
Even if I said I was fine, she couldn't seem to just accept it.
It seemed she couldn't forget seeing me bleed right before her eyes.
"...That could be the case. That's good for you, Atlas. You said you wanted to resolve things through talking. Since she came all the way here to find you, resolve it well."
"Don't get caught off guard and hurt this time."
"I won't ever get hurt again, so don't worry."
Rather than how she managed to transfer into the academy, I thought I should start worrying about how to soothe her anger.
Just then, a presence was felt nearby.
Casey had been passing by and discovered us.
Everyone flinched in surprise and looked at her, and Casey stared back at us as well.
In the awkward standoff, Lucia was the first to move.
"D-don't come near me... I won't let it be like yesterday again..!"
Lucia shot to her feet and spread both arms, taking up a protective stance in front of me.
"I don't know what you mean by that."
"Don't play dumb! Yesterday you stabbed Atlas..!!"
"I came here for other business besides that, so don't worry. If you'll excuse me then.."
Bowing politely at Lucia, who was bristling with caution, Casey tried to move off to another spot.
"...It was Casey, wasn't it?"
Liber called out to Casey, who was trying to leave quietly.
"If you came for other matters, does that mean you won't take any threatening actions against Atlas?"
Casey didn't answer the question and instead looked at me as she spoke.
"...Surrounded by much younger female students... you seem to be living the good life."
With those words, Casey turned her back entirely and left.
'You seem to be living the good life..?'
What bothered me most was that she had used honorifics with me.
She suddenly started using honorifics now, when she'd never done it no matter how much I told her to?
---------------------------------
Casey's academy transfer process was made easy with Linda's help.
When I asked if it was really okay to leave the knight order empty for so long, she said she'd just process it as her being on a secret mission.
And separately from that, she'd left a message saying to stay on high alert, as some sort of incident might erupt at the academy in the near future.
Casey, having finished the transfer procedure overnight, had already decided what to do when she saw Atlas.
She was going to apologize for stabbing him and talk.
She thought that while Atlas had clearly wronged her, stabbing him with a knife had been too much.
On the first day after the lightning-fast transfer procedure, Casey walked into the lecture hall, thinking over what to say to Atlas.
But what Casey saw was an Atlas surrounded by even more girls.
At that sight, the words wouldn't come out.
The things she had planned to say when she saw Atlas wouldn't surface.
Instead, clingy, hot, jet-black emotions stung at her heart.
'So this is what you wanted to do, mister...'
A stunningly beautiful person with blonde hair and amber eyes... A cute person with a striking apple-red bob cut...
Even the large person she'd seen the first time—the women around Atlas were diverse.
They surrounded Atlas as if protecting him and were wary of Casey.
Seeing Atlas like that flustered Casey.
The Atlas she knew and the Atlas she saw now were too different in atmosphere.
She got the feeling that Atlas was happier now than when he had been with her.
She was so crestfallen that she ultimately couldn't bring herself to talk to him.
"....Fine. Let's just work."
According to Linda, another demon-related incident could erupt at the academy, so she resolved to just focus on the job.