A Heart That Cannot Be Ignored

The sound of knocking echoed through the room. Is that Ella? Logan pressed the unlock button on the device beside his desk, releasing the lock. The door opened, but the person who entered was not Ella. It was Molga, her black robe wrapped tightly around her. Her eyes were red, and she was biting her lip hard.

Logan froze in surprise, his hand stopping mid-motion. “...Molga?”

Molga entered without a word, her nose twitching slightly. The hot, lingering scent of sweat and semen that still filled the poorly ventilated room hit her square in the face. She took a deep breath of it, then looked straight up at Logan.

“...What exactly did you do in here just now?”

Logan’s body went rigid. He couldn’t speak.

“...Answer me.” Molga took a step closer. Her voice trembled. “The person who just left—was that Layman’s mother? You called a student’s mother into the dean’s office and did something to her? Did you make her offer her body in exchange for her son’s illegal admission?!”

Logan let out a deep sigh. “Your guess is correct. I had physical contact with her.”

He admitted it. But he immediately drew a line. “However, it wasn’t the deep kind of relationship you’re imagining.”

Molga’s voice sharpened. “Not a deep relationship? How far did you go?! Tell me right now!”

After a brief silence, Logan spoke. His gaze didn’t meet hers; it drifted toward the window instead. “She serviced my cock with her mouth. That’s all.”

“Did you have some kind of leverage over her?”

Logan shook his head. “Nothing like that.”

Molga narrowed her eyes. “Then why did you do it?”

“Molga.” Logan called her name. “Whatever her circumstances are, that has nothing to do with you.”

Those words pierced Molga’s heart like a dagger. Nothing to do with me?

Ever since Logan had saved her during the Hero’s Party test, she had been in love with him. The only reason she had stayed on as the head of Lumen Academy’s Magic Department was because of him.

Plop— A hot tear rolled down Molga’s cheek.

“Nothing to do with me?” she asked in a shaking voice. “Ever since the day you saved me, I’ve only ever looked at you! And you’re telling me it has nothing to do with me?”

Logan was caught off guard by the sudden confession. Tears streamed down her face. She roughly wiped her face with the sleeve of her robe, then ran for the door without looking back.

Click—BANG! The sound of the door opening and slamming shut rang out at the same time.

Only then did Logan snap out of it. “Molga—!” He dashed after her. But the hallway was empty. He raced down the stairs all the way to the Magic Department and her quarters, but she had already vanished without a trace.

Logan stood there in a daze, staring at the Magic Department building. “...Stupid woman...”

The next morning, Logan headed to the Magic Department earlier than usual. He stopped in front of Molga’s lab at the end of the hallway and knocked.

Knock knock.

There was no answer. He tried the doorknob, but it was locked. He could sense her presence inside. She was definitely in there.

“...Molga. Let’s talk.”

Still silence. Logan sighed and waited. But the door never opened.

It was the same at lunchtime. Logan waited for her in the dining hall, but she sat in the corner of the instructors’ table with her head down, eating. The moment he tried to catch her eye, she pretended not to notice and quickly slipped out of the cafeteria. It was blatant avoidance.

Even during hallway patrol hours, Logan tried to create opportunities to run into her, but she disappeared from his path like a ghost. He went all the way to her personal lab in the Magic Department building, but every time he sensed her presence, she hid herself immediately.

He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even went to the dormitory where she was staying.

Knock knock.

Once again, no answer. Instead, a small slip of paper was pushed out through the crack beneath the door.

Logan knew her personality well. Molga needed a few days to simmer down her anger and disappointment on her own until her emotions cooled off. He sat down at his desk and opened the next document.

“...Guess I’ll have to wait until she calms down.”

Logan decided not to pay any more attention to Molga’s obvious avoidance. He couldn’t let personal feelings interfere with the academy’s operations.

Before long, a full month had passed. The academy was now wrapped in tension over the upcoming end-of-month evaluation. Logan called an instructors’ meeting, but Molga still didn’t show up.

“Starting today, we will conduct the end-of-month evaluation for second-year cadets—that is, the 5th and 6th classes. There are three evaluation categories.”

“Only those whose average score across the three categories exceeds 70 points will pass.”

The end-of-month evaluation proceeded quickly, and the names of those who passed were announced one by one.

“...And.” Logan’s voice paused for a moment. “6th class, Layman. Total score 70.3 points. Pass.”

Layman clenched his fist tightly and cheered quietly in his heart. His classmates beside him patted him on the shoulder.

Logan closed the list and added, “Layman—Combat Ability 92 points, Mana Control 54 points, Tactical Understanding 65 points. Average 70.3 points. Aside from combat ability, you need to work much harder.”

“Yes, sir!”

“All passers will receive a four-day, three-night leave starting tomorrow. You will each be given 20 silver as leave pay.”

The training ground instantly erupted in cheers. The cadets from less fortunate backgrounds cheered especially loudly.

“All passers, leave for your vacation immediately. All failures, come forward.”

Out of the combined 61 cadets from the 5th and 6th classes, 11 had failed. The failures quickly read the room, ran forward, and formed two neat lines in front of Logan.

Logan uncrossed his arms and slowly stepped forward. His expression turned fierce as he roared, “You bastards! Do you want to die on the front lines?!”

His voice was low, yet it reverberated across the entire training ground. All eleven cadets straightened their backs in tension. The instructors standing beside them joined in the shouting.

“You think you can act like this on the front lines too?!”

“You think the front lines are a joke? If you slip up even once, it’s not you who falls—it’s the guy next to you who trusted you to have his back!”

“The front lines are a mud pit! A hell filled with corpses, blood, and disgusting demonic beasts! Are you so scared that you want to die there because you can’t control your mana?!”

Logan stepped forward again and glared at all eleven of them at once. “I don’t want to send you off to die. If you can’t score over 70 on the next test, I will expel you. Anyone who would tarnish the name of Lumen Academy should get out now.”

Logan gathered the instructors and spoke to them. “Take a thirty-minute break, then begin mental re-education.”

“Yes, sir!”

A short while later, the sound of the failures shouting could be heard echoing from beyond the auditorium.

On the first evening of his leave, Layman invited his mother Ella to a modest but clean restaurant near the academy.

“Mom! Sit here.” Layman spoke in an excited voice as he pulled out a chair for Ella and opened the menu.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Ella sat across from him, watching her son’s bright expression. His face was full of vitality. It was the reward for enduring a month of grueling training. However, a heavy sense of guilt weighed down on Ella’s heart. Her son’s passing was a tower built on top of her own choices.

“Layman, this money… you earned it through so much hardship.” Ella fiddled with the coin purse on the table. It was the leave pay Logan had given him.

“It’s fine! It’s a passing bonus. I’ll pass next month too and bring back more. Then I’ll buy you something even better.”

Layman spoke with determination. His eyes were filled with a firm resolve to make his mother comfortable.

Ella forced a smile as she looked at her son, then suddenly remembered something and asked in surprise, “Your… mana control and tactical understanding scores were low, but your combat ability score was incredibly high. Was that thanks to your experience working as an adventurer before?”

Layman shook his head. “No, Mom. Honestly, my mana control and tactics are still the same. But my combat ability score shot up thanks to the dean over the past month.”

“Dean Logan?”

“Yes. The dean called me out at night for special training. He taught me how to fight exactly like real combat, and it worked perfectly on the evaluation.”

Ella recalled the scene where she had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠asked the dean for a favor. “Ah… so the dean… kept his promise to me…”

Her voice trembled subtly. “Yes. But it feels like the dean is paying special attention to me.”

Ella hurriedly smiled and fell into thought. She was thinking about the debt she owed Logan and how she should repay it.

Ella took a sip of her lemonade and said, “I see. Then we can call this meal a gift from the dean.”

She answered Layman gently. At that moment, a strange look flashed across her face. The physical satisfaction she had felt while servicing Logan mixed with the justification of ‘for her son’s safety,’ allowing her to rationalize it to herself.

Layman didn’t miss the change in his mother. “Mom?”

He called out in confusion. “Why did your face suddenly… get so red?”

Ella quickly touched her cheeks with her hands. She was afraid her son might have read her thoughts.

“I-it’s nothing. The wind outside is cold, that’s all. Let’s eat quickly before it gets cold.”

The meal continued. Ella confirmed that thanks to Logan, the possibility of her son returning alive from the battlefield had taken one more step closer to reality. She began planning how to express her gratitude to him.

“The meat is really delicious! I’ll definitely pass next month and bring back more leave pay. Let’s come here again!”

Layman shouted with determination. Ella felt happy watching her son smile brightly as he put the meat in his mouth.

With the 5th and 6th class cadets away on leave, the academy was quiet. All they had to manage were the 4th class cadets and the eleven failures.

Logan sat in the dean’s office, receiving real-time reports from the instructors.

“One more has passed out. There are more who are holding on than we expected.”

Listening to the Combat Department instructor’s report, Logan answered with satisfaction. “Good. Let’s make sure everyone passes the next test.”

At that moment, the head of administration entered and placed a new stack of documents on the desk. It was the front-line service report for the academy’s graduates. Logan treated these documents with more importance than anything else. Every time he opened one, his desire for them all to be safe came first, so he always turned the pages with extreme care.

Logan closed the report. Zero deaths during the three-year mandatory service period was an incredible achievement by front-line standards. It was data that proved the academy’s curriculum was correct.

He pushed the report aside and picked up another document that had been underneath it. It was an envelope stamped with the seal of the Alderan Kingdom’s king. The content was short. Logan read the letter with a cold expression.

Logan neatly organized the invitation and placed it in his drawer.

One month from now, right after the end-of-month evaluation, I’ll have to leave.