An Unbelievable Achievement
I frowned slightly and looked at her. “Hey, Ruby. What does it feel like to become an Aura Master?”
Inside the carriage heading toward the academy, Ruby kept firing off questions nonstop, and it was starting to get on my nerves.
“Do you really have that many things you’re curious about?”
“But—! I finally get to see a Master right in front of me, the one I only ever dreamed about! And you’re even younger than me! How am I supposed to stay calm when a once-in-a-generation genius who reached Aura Master in his teens is sitting right here!?”
At Ruby’s words, I cleared my throat with a small cough and turned to look out the window. It had been a while since I’d heard such mindless praise. Everyone around me had already gotten used to the fact that I was an Aura Master, so they treated anything I did as obvious rather than worthy of praise. But Ruby, who had only just learned today that I was a Master, was different.
This actually feels pretty good.
It felt so good that I even briefly considered revealing my Master status to others. Of course, I shook my head right away. It might feel nice in the moment, but it would be a long-term loss. Sure, I could enjoy being praised and worshipped for a little while, but people would soon start treating me like it was only natural—just like my friends did now. In that case, it was better to reveal it slowly.
“Ahem. So, what does it feel like to become a Master…?”
“Yeah, yeah!”
I began explaining to Ruby the differences in sensation that came with becoming a Master and how the world seemed to expand. Since this was a one-on-one lesson from a Master that money couldn’t buy, Ruby leaned forward eagerly, hanging on my every word.
Meanwhile, the carriage continued on toward the academy without a care.
“Ughhhhh……”
“—Over here! We have injured!”
“Priest! This way!”
Inside the academy, students who had been injured during their first practical training began pouring out one after another. From those with minor wounds to those covered head to toe in blood. As countless injured students lined up, the Knight Department instructors maintained completely calm expressions while taking statements from the partners of the wounded.
“Yeah, so he just charged ahead on his own and got stabbed.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“You failed to properly control your junior. That’s a deduction.”
The instructor said this and checked off the third-year student’s name on the checklist in his hand. The pointed-out third-year made a face like he was rotting from the inside, then quickly bowed his head and hurried into the academy. There wasn’t the slightest hint of worry for the injured student on their faces.
It was a disregard for life born from the Holy Power that could heal any injury short of death. Just as the Dragon Balls that could resurrect the dead had made death itself no longer frightening, Holy Power had turned injuries into something trivial.
“—Instructor.”
“Ah, Cadet Kyle Meyer.”
“I’ve completed the mission. Where should I go?”
“Just show me your mission report.”
“Uh……”
At the instructor’s words, Kyle scratched his cheek with a troubled expression. The mission report had instructions to burn it after reading, and Kyle had secretly burned the paper with his Aura when Ruby wasn’t looking. He couldn’t hand over something that no longer existed.
While he was feeling stuck, Gawain approached from a distance and spoke up.
“Ah, send those two over here.”
“Yes? Ah, understood! Professor Gawain.”
The instructor immediately sent Kyle and Ruby over to Gawain at his command. Gawain jerked his chin at them and asked if they had completed the mission properly.
“Well? Did you finish the job cleanly?”
“Yeah, well… it was a bit strong. If you had gone instead, old man, you might’ve died.”
“This brat. I’m still perfectly healthy.”
Kyle shrugged at Gawain, who seemed to take his serious statement as a joke. If he didn’t believe it, there was nothing he could do.
As they chatted back and forth, Ruby, who had been listening, suddenly poked her head in.
“S-Sir Gawain. I have something to tell you.”
“Hmm. You must be from the Alderica family……”
“I’m Ruby Alderica. The thing is—I’ve become a Master.”
“What!? You became a Master!?”
Gawain’s eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Ruby. Seeing him so startled that it looked like he might stop breathing, Ruby waved her hands frantically, saying that wasn’t what she meant.
“N-No, not me, this guy here……”
“Ah…… Ahem. Cadet Ruby. Throwing jokes at a professor? Are you in your right mind?”
“Huh? No, it’s not a joke, it’s true……”
Ruby said this while glaring at Kyle, as if urging him to prove her words were real. Of course, Kyle, receiving that look, simply shrugged like he had no idea what she was talking about.
“She nearly died today, so it seems her mind isn’t working properly right now.”
“Hmm. I’ll forgive the joke. Go inside and rest well, Cadet Ruby.”
“N-No— There’s a Master among the cadets right now…?”
She looked at Kyle, who was shrugging as if to say ‘what are you talking about,’ and her face gradually fell into a gloomy expression, like a great army that had just lost its greatest allies. Wondering if she had really seen it wrong, she staggered back toward the dormitory. Watching her retreating figure, Gawain carefully turned to Kyle.
“You used it, didn’t you.”
“I told you. It was strong, okay? If you had been there, old man, you would’ve died.”
“I thought you were talking nonsense…… but that chimera could really become that powerful?”
Gawain fell into thought, unable to understand how something like that was possible. Before long, he recalled the Magic Department that had created such a monster and then casually dumped the mess onto them.
“Those sons of bitches…… passing their own shit over to us?”
“Anyway, the mission was a success, right?”
“Yeah, good work. Wipe your feet and get some proper rest.”
“Got it.”
Kyle swung his arms as he headed toward the dormitory and made eye contact with students from other departments who were walking down the hallway for their moving classes. The other students, seeing Kyle covered in sweat and bloodstains from head to toe, frowned and quickly walked past him.
Among them was Izna Hella, the one who had fainted after seeing him not long ago. Kyle was about to move away from her, thinking she would probably faint again, when Izna looked at him with an expression of utter disbelief.
“……Hi.”
“—Hiiik!”
“Tsk.”
Kyle had greeted her lightly since she didn’t seem startled at first, but seeing Izna still recoiling in terror, he scratched the back of his head. Then, looking annoyed, he walked straight past her toward the dormitory. Izna’s eyes continued to follow Kyle’s back as he disappeared down the hall.
“Lady Hella?”
“Ah, yes. I’m coming……”
Izna Hella walked down the hallway surrounded by students who protected her like bodyguards. As she did, she recalled the Kyle she had just encountered.
This can’t be.
Main Stream Breaker
Hero
Playable Character
Information about Kyle floated up in her eyes. Everything he had done and everything he had been through appeared as detailed data. And that information had just been updated.
If the person who had been updated was an ordinary cadet, it wouldn’t have been so shocking. Most cadets were far too young to possess fixed titles. A title was something you might earn only after devoting your entire life to it.
It updated……?
But Kyle Meyer already possessed an unbelievable number of titles for someone in his teens, and those titles had been newly updated. Of course, what had updated wasn’t the second shadow that made one question if he was even human, but Kyle Meyer himself.
A change had occurred in that status window that had already been filled with things like Sword Saint and Aura Master.
Main Stream Breaker……?
Not only that, but incomprehensible titles like Hero and Playable Character had appeared all over it. When even possessing a single title was enough to leave one’s name in history, suddenly gaining three new ones was an unbelievable event.
What was even harder to believe was that none of the newly acquired titles were bad ones.
How is this possible?
Kyle had already accumulated far too much evil karma. Just as a doctor who had brutally murdered dozens of people wouldn’t become good simply by saving hundreds of lives, and just as a saintess who had saved hundreds wouldn’t become evil for ignoring a single life. The evil he had piled up was beyond description, to the point that even if he truly saved the world, his intentions would be doubted.
Yet in just a few days, he had washed away that evil karma and received new titles? And not just any titles—the kind that only beings filled with good deeds could receive?
“Kyle Meyer……”
“Yes?”
“It’s nothing. Let’s go.”
Izna Hella murmured the name carefully as she moved toward the classroom. Her followers trailed behind her.
“A tournament to determine the strongest cadet by grade level will be held.”
Gawain, standing at the lectern, began explaining the tournament schedule to the students. It was a competition where only those who wished to participate would fight to test their strength against each other. There would be no penalty for not participating, but the winner would receive various prizes.
The moment I heard that, I immediately looked at Gawain and expressed my strong desire to participate. When our eyes met, Gawain began cursing me with his gaze.
You want to butt into a fight between kids? Have you no shame?
Hearing the hallucination ringing in my head, I carefully lowered my hand.