The First War (1)
After Monday's classes ended, I entrusted my master with the sale of the precious metals and relics I'd brought back from the Demon King's Castle, and asked her to use the proceeds to procure elixirs on my behalf.
Selling them would take time, and tracking down elixir listings too, so I expected the whole thing to drag on for a while — yet barely a day passed before I got a call back.
The meeting place was a park in front of the dormitory, in the dead of night.
"You would be Choi Gangjun, correct?"
"...Uh, yes."
I blinked up at the pink-haired elf before me.
Assistant to the Vice President of the Student Council, Eliana Andersen. A student who had never once slipped out of the academy's uppermost tier, and a talent my master Lee Chung trusted implicitly.
I ran into her a time or two in my past life, too.
We hadn't exactly parted on good terms back then, so meeting her like this stirred up a strange feeling.
Or maybe the awkwardness came from the fact that hair which should naturally have been blonde was dyed hot pink.
The moment I kept staring at her head, Eliana cleared her throat and answered.
"Ahem. As the duly appointed aide to the Vice President, you see, if word got out that I was meeting someone in secret at night, it would tarnish the Vice President's reputation."
"...So that's why you're in disguise."
"That is correct."
With the representative battle falling on Wednesday, the sooner I had the elixirs, the better — that much was true. But there was no real need for same-night express delivery.
Well, either way, it was a kindness. There was no reason to sour her mood over it, so I kept my mouth shut.
All I owed Lee Chung and Eliana, who had gone out of their way for me in so many ways, was gratitude.
"Sorry to put you through this at night."
"Think nothing of it. Now — these are the items the Vice President instructed me to deliver. Let's confirm them, shall we?"
At the sight of the box emerging from Eliana's coat, my heart finally began to pound.
Right, so this is what they call a secret rendezvous. What was all that about secret rendezvous, anyway?
Granted, it was closer to smuggling than to a tryst between lovers — but nothing here was actually illegal, so my conscience was perfectly clear.
For the Vice President's faithful right hand, however, apparently it was not.
"S-someone's coming!"
The instant she sensed movement in the distance, Eliana yanked me into an embrace.
The soft warmth of an elf wrapped around my whole body. Having ended up holding her like a lover, I widened my eyes in protest.
What if you damage our elixirs?!
...My apologies.
We relocated, leaving behind a rustling patch of bushes, and only then could I finally face the box of elixirs in full.
"...Ohhh!"
And that, truly, is the whole story — how I received my elixirs through perfectly legal channels.
Still, remembering the effort Eliana had gone to, hot pink wig and all, I wondered if I could really dismiss it so lightly. She had been taking that part very seriously, after all.
After a moment's reflection, I reached a decision.
"...Why is our unnie... why would you lay a hand on our unnieee..."
I had to somehow deal with the elf sprawled on the ground, sleep-talking to herself, and get out of there.
She'd clearly misunderstood something, and if I left her like this, a very strange rumor was bound to spread.
I pulled out my phone and made the call.
"Yes, yes, is this the emergency room? There's a student unconscious behind the dining hall—"
The second I confirmed the ambulance was on its way, I ran.
Having thus disposed of the unconscious Elenor, I returned to the dining hall and finished my meal with Cheon Yuha. She naturally asked where Elenor had gone, and I brushed it off, claiming the elf must have had a bout of anemia.
After sitting through every remaining afternoon lecture, I at last returned to the dormitory.
Somehow, the day had felt unusually long. Plenty had actually happened, but I suspected it was because of the thing sitting in my drawer.
I'd been waiting all day for this one moment, when I'd be left alone.
Taking the wooden box out of its hiding place in my bedroom drawer, I swallowed dryly.
"...It'd be more efficient to do this in the training room, wouldn't it?"
But I no longer trusted myself to hold out, so I compromised on the training room inside the dormitory.
Cross-legged on a mat, I set the wooden box down on the floor. Swallowing one more time, I opened it, and the distinctive fragrant scent of elixirs wafted out in every direction.
At last, I picked up what the box had treasured within: the Shaolin sect's Lesser Restoration Pill.
"...Master, I love you."
My master had said she'd send a mid-to-high grade elixir, and true to her word, this was the most storied pill worthy of that 'mid' label. The fact that Il-jin, whom I'd fought recently, was a Shaolin monk meant absolutely nothing to me.
How great a realm would this grant me? That, and that alone, was all that mattered.
I glared at the Lesser Restoration Pill for a long moment, then placed it in my mouth, chewed it thoroughly, and swallowed.
Then I began the Grand Circulation, so that the elixir's energy could course through my entire body.
How long had passed after that?
"...Aaah!"
I had reached the Peak Realm.
Wednesday. The long-awaited day had arrived.
"So this is the final lineup, then?"
Every member of the 101st Korean Hometown Association — myself included, having just slogged through another worthless class schedule — gathered at the student council building. It was time to end the dispute, however long or short it had been.
The representative battle. A duel format in which each club selected three representatives to fight one-on-one.
Our lineup went as follows:
Rank 3 of the Combat Department — Co-Heir of the Heavenly Demon Cult, Cheon Yuha.
Rank 12 of the Combat Department — the future Sword Saint, Kim Gabsu.
And rank 298 of the Combat Department — Choi Gangjun. Me.
Having a full grasp of everyone's strength, I considered it a thoroughly reasonable decision in every respect — but of course, an objection was raised.
"No way, why is he fighting? The kid's practically dead last! Jisu or I should go out there instead!"
There it was. I regarded the suddenly fired-up male student with cool, level eyes. I couldn't remember his name for the life of me, but his entrance exam scores had probably been middling at best. Given that he referenced Kim Jisu, ranked 167th, they were likely about the same caliber.
I was weighing how to respond when a massive figure strode forward, and I swallowed my words.
Kim Gabsu, the current president of the 101st Korean Hometown Association, spoke with resolute finality.
"Gangjun is strong. Strong enough, perhaps, to stand toe-to-toe with me."
"Hmm?"
"...Ooooh!"
What on earth was Kim Gabsu talking about? The man had never once seen me fight.
Cheon Yuha, who had been stewing in silence beside me, welcomed those words even more than I did — so much so that she could barely contain her excitement.
"Indeed! Gangjun is a master, strong as I am or stronger!"
"Wh-what, even stronger than the Co-Heir?!"
"...So he truly is the Demonic Cult's secret weapon of Korea."
"Oooh, our compatriot after all!"
Stop it, please. Strange rumors are spreading.
Having belatedly caught wind of the "secret weapon" theory, I felt my face heat up for no good reason. Yet even the male student who'd griped at the whole absurd atmosphere seemed to have been won over.
"So he really was a secret weapon!"
"...Haah."
Apparently, I was doomed to live this life as an ordinary person no matter what.
In any case, the lineup for the representative battle was thus settled, and only the duelists were permitted inside. There was no helping it — for the sake of "security" surrounding our martial arts, only the student council officers would be allowed to observe. Unlike the sparring we did in class, both sides would presumably be showing at least a few of their cards.
"Well, if it ain't y'all. Good to see ya."
At that thoroughly grating dialect, my opponent for the representative battle came into view.
The ever-squinting sneak. A classmate from my own class and the 15th-ranked assassin of the Combat Department — Tadano Ansatsusha.
"Yo there! Pleasure's all mine!"
The snake waved cheerfully, and I simply ignored him, eyes narrowed.
"..."
In contrast, a woman in covert dark clothing stood by in silent reserve. Uno Mizuki — another pawn of the future general Kujo Kisara, and a combat operative ranked 16th in her faculty.
Both were Peak-realm martial artists on the cusp of Super-Peak, and there was no question that they were formidable talents in their own right. But in truth, the outcome of this confrontation would not be decided by them.
"At last we meet, you demon wench."
A violet-haired woman seated herself all on her own and surveyed us with languid detachment. The opposing club's leader, rank 4 of the Combat Department, Acting General Kujo Kisara. A daughter of the Kujo family, the foremost martial house of the Empire, and a Super-Peak-realm warrior.
Twisting the corner of her mouth, Kisara drawled.
"Today, at long last, shall be the day the order of the East is set right."
"...What in the world are you even saying."
Cheon Yuha's brow twitched at the unprompted provocation, but she had no room to trade barbs. The door creaked — right after us, someone else had entered.
"Everyone arrived on time, I see."
A clear, familiar voice — one I'd known since who knows when. My former master, bearing the title of Vice President of Seondo Academy's Student Council.
Lee Chung, stepping forward today as both referee and observer of the representative battle, clapped her hands with a smile.
"All preparations are complete, so let's head over at once."
No one had grounds to talk back to the Vice President, so everyone moved without a word. Only, just before we scattered to our positions, the assassin tossed out one last sly remark.
"See ya out there, if we cross paths."
"I'll kill you for certain."
Steelng my resolve once more, I arrived at the final waiting room and loosened up my body. I had already prepared myself, inside and out, long before coming to the student council building — but this was a matter of mindset.
The conviction that whoever stepped up against me would lose. An absolute, unshakable will.
After some time had passed, an announcement crackled from the speaker mounted on the wall.
Student Choi Gangjun, your match is about to begin. Please enter the arena.
"...That voice, though."
It was the same familiar elf secretary. Suppressing a laugh that threatened to burst out of me, I set off down the passage before my eyes.
Past the long corridor, the scene that finally came into view was a cityscape studded with soaring skyscrapers. As expected of a damned elite academy — the arena was of staggering scale.
Craning my head back, I belatedly noticed the display board hanging from the ceiling.
One to one.
It did not refer to the number of duelists each side fielded. It meant that less than ten minutes in, both of the previous two matches were already over.
"...You're telling me two matches finished already?"
Just how one-sided did things have to be for that?
Wait — had Cheon Yuha and Kujo Kisara been seeded against each other and split the matches? Just as panic flickered through me, I sensed movement from the opposite corridor as well.
Reading my opponent's aura, I knew instinctively that this duel would be anything but easy.
Clack — clack — the woman who strolled leisurely into the arena swept her gaze across the panorama, then curled her lips upward. Kujo Kisara, ranked 4th in the Combat Department, said with a sneer:
"Well, look at that. We won."
Her voice was steeped in absolute certainty.
