I Can't Keep Attending This Academy
The fact that Kyle was an Aura Master spread widely throughout the academy, but the students couldn't immediately accept it. A Master was that kind of existence. Even if you scoured the entire country, they were so extremely rare you could count them on two hands. How could anyone believe that a mere student currently attending the academy—not some renowned senior graduate—had achieved it? It was as absurd as hearing that your high school friend had suddenly won a Nobel Prize. No, it was even more ridiculous than that.
“Kyle! Kyle—!”
“Yeah?”
“Is this really true!?”
Still, not everyone simply dismissed it as a lie. Humans are creatures of curiosity. It didn't cost money to go ask, so there were plenty of students who wanted to confirm it themselves.
Kyle nodded when he saw the newspaper Maya from the same department shoved in his face. It was today's paper, clearly stating that he was a Master.
“T-then—can you show us an Aura Blade just once?”
“No.”
“W-why?”
“Because it's annoying.”
Upon hearing Kyle's words, Maya began stomping her feet as if she couldn't believe it. But Kyle firmly rejected her request. The girl who had been whining in front of him only carefully returned to her seat after the professor entered the classroom.
The professor who walked into the classroom glanced once at Kyle's face, then quietly turned his head to look at the other students and spoke.
“Everyone, prepare for morning training.”
““Prepare for morning training—!””
While the students changed into their training uniforms and gathered at the training grounds, Arthur crept up beside him and asked a question.
“Um, Kyle. Can I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“Why did you reject the other kids' requests?”
“Because I felt like it.”
“But still, wouldn't it be faster to just show them once?”
Hearing Arthur's words, Kyle let out a small chuckle as if the kid really didn't know anything. Arthur only tilted her head in confusion at the laugh, not understanding why he was laughing.
After changing and gathering on the training grounds, Kyle felt the gazes flying toward him. These guys had eyes and ears too, so they must have heard the rumor that he had become a Master. But they were acting like this because they couldn't tell if it was true or not.
Well, even I wouldn't believe it if I were them.
Becoming a Master in your teens? It would be more realistic to believe someone became president in their teens. Besides, presidents get elected every five years, but in the worst cases, there might not be a single Master for a hundred years.
Whether he sensed that the children's attention was focused on Kyle, the instructor clapped his hands loudly to draw everyone's focus.
“Alright, alright! Don't let your minds wander. We'll start with a simple warm-up. Spread out into formation.”
Training began. After simple stretching, running, and strength exercises, the students were given a short break. In other words, it was time for them to whisper and chatter among themselves.
Perhaps thinking this was their only chance, one of the students who had been talking noisily with his group approached Kyle.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“You… is that rumor true?”
“What rumor?”
“The one about you becoming a Master or whatever…”
The guy let out a hollow laugh, as if even he found what he was saying ridiculous. Kyle looked at him and casually replied.
“It's true.”
“Then—can you show me? An Aura Blade.”
“No.”
“…Yeah, figured. Alright, got it.”
The guy, who had given such a lukewarm reaction, immediately returned to his group. But Kyle could clearly hear what he muttered as he went back to his friends.
…Like I thought, it's a lie—
…What the hell does that guy know about being a Master.
At best—
…He's friends with Prince Bellion, so it's probably a fake rumor the imperial family spread—
“Hey.”
At Kyle's call, the guy who had returned to his spot and was chatting with his friends jerked his head around. He looked at Kyle with a casual expression as if asking what was up. Kyle opened his mouth.
“Do you act like that even after seeing a Master?”
“…What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“There's a Master right in front of you. Is it right to act so rudely like that?”
Hearing those words, the guy let out a snort and walked up to Kyle. He got right in his face, leaning down toward Kyle who was sitting on the ground, and shrugged his shoulders as if asking what he was going to do about it.
“No, you're acting like a Master when you can't even show an Aura Blade?”
Watching the guy's arrogant attitude, Kyle turned to look at Arthur, who was sitting beside him.
“—Arthur, earlier you asked why I was dragging it out when I could have just shown them once and ended it quickly.”
“Huh? Y-yeah.”
“Is that what a Master is? Some clown who pulls out an Aura Blade every time these punks come asking, going 'Here you go!'?”
“H-how long are you going to keep pretending to be a Mas—!”
The student who had been talking back suddenly felt an unknown power pressing down on him and slammed his head into the ground. Kyle lightly extended his hand and looked down at the student.
“A Master isn't such a light existence.”
Thud—!
The pressure grew even stronger. The student realized his consciousness was slowly slipping away. The terror of everything being covered in darkness consumed him. He had fainted before, but this was his first time experiencing death approaching so slowly. Feeling as if his mind would break, the student's brain eventually shut itself down to protect him.
Thud.
Kyle finally withdrew his Aura after seeing the student faint with his tongue hanging out. Then he glared at the other students who had been snickering at the fainted one and spoke.
“Take him away.”
“Y-yes—!”
“I told you not to do it…!”
While the fainted student was being carried to the infirmary, Kyle quietly looked at the other students who had fallen silent.
“Hic—!”
One student's hiccup became the signal. The others began making faint noises too—swallowing hard, trembling, that sort of thing. Kyle didn't say anything, but everyone present now understood.
Kyle Meyer really was a Master. And they also realized that a Master was not an existence to be taken lightly. If anyone had gone to a real Master and whined for him to show an Aura Blade, they would have had their head cut off for being rude.
“Instructor.”
“Y-yes—?”
“Please continue the class.”
“R-right. Ahem— Everyone, prepare for technique training—!”
“P-prepare…!”
The students prepared for training as the instructor said, but they remained tense throughout like frogs in front of a snake. Seeing them like that, Kyle let out a sigh inside.
Not just for himself, but for the other kids too.
I can't keep attending this academy.
The news that a mere academy student had reached the level of Master struck the entire continent like a thunderbolt. Naturally, the organizations hiding in the shadows were greatly shaken as well.
“Kyle Meyer… a first-year at the academy.”
The cult leader clicked his tongue as he read the newspaper. He recalled the terror attack they had carried out at the academy. He had thought it was a perfect plan to keep the two Masters stationed there in check, but it had failed for some unknown reason. At the time, he couldn't figure out why it had failed, but now he finally understood the reason.
He must have already been a Master back then and was hiding that fact…
Sending forces that two Masters could stop against a group that had three Masters—it was obvious the operation would fail. Thinking that, the cult leader closed the newspaper and headed to the alchemy lab. The cult's alchemists would be hard at work creating 'items' there.
As soon as he entered the alchemy lab, a huge scream assaulted his ears.
—Gwaaaaaah—!!
“…Tsk, so noisy.”
Frowning, the cult leader walked further inside and revealed himself before the alchemists who were concocting medicine. When he appeared, the head alchemist who commanded the others stepped forward.
“Oh, Cult Leader. You've arrived.”
“Geum Yeon-gyeong. How is the preparation going?”
“Did you come because you were worried about that?”
Geum Yeon-gyeong, also known as Al Kamedi, smiled and guided the cult leader further inside. That was where the source of the continuous screams was.
Dozens of test subjects, their limbs bound, chests split open with their hearts blatantly exposed. They were neither dead nor alive, forced to watch with open eyes as their own hearts were being carved out.
“Huuuuurk, huwaaaaaaaaah—!”
“So noisy.”
“They're quite lively, aren't they? It's a shame that despite being so lively, they don't last long and die.”
“Of course. How could you put a Dragon's Heart into a human body? Although…”
But the cult leader knew that wasn't entirely true. Wasn't the being they spoke of currently at the academy?
“There are exceptions.”
“—Even though they used some heretical magical method, I'm curious about the principle that allows them to stay alive. If we had that, our research could advance further…”
“Just in time, I figured out why the last attempt failed. There's another Master at the academy.”
“…You mean three in total? No, how many Masters does the empire even have to waste them like this?”
“No, not one of the existing ones. It's a new Master.”
Al Kamedi, who had exclaimed in astonishment at the appearance of a new Master, took the newspaper the cult leader handed him and tilted his head. He opened it, read the contents, and began to smile.
It contained the story of Kyle, who had become a Master in his teens.
“—Cult Leader. It would be good to have this one too. A Master in his teens… I wonder just how much talent he possesses…”
“We'll try, but don't get your hopes up. Capturing a Master alive is harder than killing one.”
“Yes, of course. If it can't be helped, a corpse is fine too.”
Geum Yeon-gyeong said this as he closed the newspaper. Then he ordered his disciple to bring the 'elixir' they had prepared in the meantime.
A moment later, his disciple returned carrying a glass bottle filled with bright red fruits. The cult leader's eyes sparkled as he looked at their brilliant glow.
“This is what you requested. We've made as many as possible. With this much…”
“Yes, with this much.”
Looking at the mountain of fruits, the cult leader smiled.
“We could even take down ten Masters.”
With this much, they could overthrow the academy.