The Assassin's Gaze
Hey, I'm being glared at, right?
In academy stories, one thing you can say for sure is that whenever there's practical training or a field trip, something always goes wrong.
So I'd been looking forward to it.
"Ughhh..."
What the hell was this mess?
From a good distance away from the testing area, we watched as students formed groups to battle simulated magic beasts.
The practical training up in the academy's mountains had been canceled.
Instead, they'd substituted it with mock training inside the Swordsmanship Hall.
Groups would fight convincingly lifelike illusions conjured by magic, earning scores that way.
Oh, and by the way, I couldn't even join in on this.
Apparently, being a Sword Master made exams like this pointless, so they exceptionally excluded me.
Whether Ern and Cecilia had pulled strings for it... who knows. But I decided to blame them anyway.
Something told me those two were up to something.
Every time I stepped up, incidents exploded, so they probably blocked me from participating altogether.
Seeing this, I realized just how much special treatment I was getting.
And instead of shrinking, the privileges kept piling up—Reinhardt's guts must be rotting pitch-black with envy.
Our Crown Prince isn't an idiot, so I get it on an intellectual level, but there's a subtle difference between head-knowledge and heart-acceptance.
I vaguely hoped Reinhardt might someday try to assassinate me.
I kinda wanted to experience something like that at least once.
"Cough."
Letting out a light cough—more frequent lately—I perked up my ears toward the instructors.
I was curious about their grading criteria, at least.
"Posture... minus 3 points. Teamwork, minus 20. Sigh. I clearly told them to cooperate."
They even scored posture?
Amazed by that for a moment, I let out a bored sigh.
This was boring me to death.
The illusory magic beasts were pretty sophisticated, but they were still just for training.
No blood spraying, no emotions running high.
If it'd been real sparring, I might've gotten some drama-like entertainment out of it.
"You look bored, Ilisha."
Ern sidled up beside me, putting on that chummy act.
"Yeah, bored to death. Yawwwn... Should've brought a pillow if I knew it'd be like this."
Ern let out a dry chuckle at my attitude, then asked if that wasn't a bit much.
"The academy's the one being too much. If they were gonna bench me, they could've said so beforehand—instead of making me show up first."
Ern shrugged wordlessly, like he couldn't defend that one.
"Grouping with a Sword Master would skew the scores too high—it's unfair."
"Then shouldn't you be benched too, Ern?"
By that logic, Ern should've been excluded as well.
This guy's skill was at least Sword Master level.
His body just couldn't keep up fully yet.
Of course, I didn't point that out.
Ilisha wouldn't know.
All Ilisha knew was the ridiculous technique I'd shown slicing that dagger punk, and the prowess against the demon worshippers.
Maybe he hadn't expected a counter—Ern awkwardly rubbed his chin and muttered.
"Is... that so?"
You just got official recognition for your achievements alongside me at the academy, dude.
Though yeah, I hogged most of the spotlight.
Officially acknowledged as the empire's youngest Sword Master who'd repelled the demons.
The stares people shot back then... kuh.
Ern was little more than my sidekick.
Impressive in its own right, sure.
And here that impressive guy was, swinging swords with the first-years.
Had he lost his conscience along with his regression?
Lost in such trivial thoughts—
The outside suddenly grew a bit rowdy.
Couldn't make it out even straining my ears, but something.
Sounded like shouts of "block it."
Block what? A pickpocket? Some rule-breaking student on the run?
That very moment—
Something like black mist burst through the outer wall of the Swordsmanship Hall.
At first, I thought my crappy body was finally giving me hallucinations.
But Ern's reaction said otherwise.
His face went rigid—he'd seen it too.
And the others reacted the same.
"W-what is that?!"
"Is that an illusion too?"
As the instructors froze, Ern threw himself in front of me and bellowed.
"Everyone, fall back!!! That's no illusion! It's a magic beast!!!"
A magic beast.
Hm.
Come to think of it, there might've been one like that... or maybe not.
I remembered the protagonists somehow, but I hadn't memorized every random beast they carved up.
Doubtful but whatever—I drew my sword.
Whatever it was, I'd end up the star of the show again.
Might as well enjoy it.
"Ilisha, get back!!!"
The black mist left footprints in midair as it charged straight for me.
Ern lunged to block it, but the mist just phased right through him.
Only then did it click.
Ah.
Right, that. The so-called unblockable assassin beast.
Materializes only when it wants to strike—the one that even gave the late-game monster protagonist a moment's trouble.
...And it was gunning for me.
Hm.
The demon worshippers were really out for my blood.
Failed to summon their demon, so they were pissed.
Laughter bubbled up.
At this point in the story, they couldn't even mass-produce these assassins properly yet.
Squeezed every last drop from their meager resources.
They wanted me that bad.
Too bad for them.
I knew the counter.
Ern, Reinhardt—even Yeon, watching the upperclassmen's exams from afar.
All charging toward me at once.
Hm. Fast, sure.
But slower than that.
In my accelerated thoughts, I steadied my stance.
The black mist was nearly on me now.
Still.
The instant before it touched me—
The mist condensed in a flash, taking the shape of a beast.
Now.
My aura-infused sword whipped from its sheath, tracing a blue arc.
Black blood-like ichor sprayed as the beast-form dissolved back into mist.
The assassin beast's counter.
Strike the moment it materializes.
Easy, right?
Watching Ilisha wipe the black blood from her hand, I thought:
What the hell?
What just happened?
Ilisha had slashed the assassin. I saw it clear as day.
But how did she know?
Before my regression, I'd been tormented by those things endlessly—I knew exactly how to counter them.
Strike back in that split-second just before it attacks, when it materializes.
That was the most textbook method.
If you didn't know it, even someone at the pinnacle would get hit.
And even if you did, nailing that razor-thin timing was brutally hard.
Yet Ilisha did it without a hint of hesitation.
As if she'd known all along—as if it was the most natural thing.
Yeah.
As if she'd known.
More than wondering why it appeared now, or where and how—that gnawed at me.
How the hell did she know?
Some beastkin instinct?
But I'd never heard of beastkin having instincts like that.
Questions piled on questions.
But I kept them inside.
The assassin wasn't dead yet.
It had just reverted to mist form from the shock of the wound—it was still alive.
Probably the first time it'd ever been hit like that.
That's why it wasn't rushing in recklessly now.
"Everyone, fall back! Evacuate in an orderly fashion! Don't confront it rashly—that's a monster beyond your skills!!!"
Reinhardt's voice boomed across the training grounds.
Chaos should've reigned, but he'd seized control in that brief window.
Yeon stuck close to Ilisha, grilling her for intel on the assassin.
"Well... hit it right before it lunges?"
And there—Ilisha knew it too.
She phrased it uncertainly, but her actions screamed confidence.
Made me even more curious.
How?
At the end of that question floated an absurd delusion.
What if she was a regressor like me?
That's why she was acting differently from the previous timeline.
...I knew it was just a delusion.
And not the time to dwell on it.
I gritted my teeth.
In this space, the one in greatest danger was Ilisha.
The assassin ignored the other students, the instructors, Reinhardt—even me.
Its eyes were only on her.
Nothing else mattered.
Assassins targeted one mark at a time.
The magic beast moved again, leaving footprints in the air.
No solid form to its black-mist clump, but its trajectory was crystal clear.
No confusing motions, no feints, no hesitation.
Just arrowing straight for Ilisha.
And Ilisha...
Was smiling.
"It's only got eyes for me, huh?"
As if she found that fact delightful.