Afterglow (2)
Anyone could see the obvious scheme.
A duel with that worthless professor from the Gryan family who had been dropped in by parachute.
If he won, he could easily raise his honor.
Even if he lost, he would have thrown himself forward to protect a weak classmate who was being dragged away and persecuted. His skill might come under some suspicion, but his honor would remain intact.
The other races seemed to know the truth, having heard the details through relatives and acquaintances.
What the Northern Front had really been like. What I had been like there.
Most humans, however, believed the whole war hero business was nothing but a fabricated story meant to inflate my name value.
So it wasn’t strange that they calculated he might actually have a chance.
I had no intention of going around telling anyone whether I had truly accomplished anything or if everything known about me was fake.
No one would listen to me anyway.
The Pope wasn’t about to go spreading the truth either.
From our very first meeting we had pointed blades at each other… and a ridiculous human was far easier to use than a terrifying one.
Still, I wouldn’t lose to the rookie standing in front of me.
I slid the sword I had been about to draw back into its sheath.
There was no need to grant a sword to a bastard like this.
“Draw your sword.”
“...Professor, you aren’t even holding a sword.”
“I can twist a greenhorn like you to death with my bare hands.”
I spoke with a sneer, and he bared his teeth in response, snapping back at me.
“...Don’t come crying later.”
He drew his sword and approached slowly.
It was a textbook stance with no openings whatsoever.
Considering he had been dragged here on the first day, it was almost a waste to compare him to the new recruits who had tried to run away instead of fighting.
Even so, it was a stance that could easily be forced to create an opening.
There is no such thing as a textbook method when it comes to cutting down people.
He closed in and swung his sword downward from above.
But there was almost no real power behind the posture.
On the first day, the new recruits assigned to the front lines had surprisingly struggled with the act of cutting down living things with real blades.
Excluding the lunatics who had been dragged there after slaughtering plenty of people already.
The instant the sword fell from above, I took half a step back and let it flow past me.
Then I stomped down on the flat of the blade. The sword wasn’t cheap; the edge didn’t break, but it slammed straight into the floor.
I had no intention of giving the panicked boy any time.
I feinted a punch, kicked his shin, then slammed my fist into his jaw.
I hooked his leg and threw him down, then looked down and met his eyes as he lay sprawled.
His gaze displeased me somehow, so I kicked his face a couple more times.
It was a familiar motion.
I had forgotten how to gently embrace someone, yet my body still remembered how to do this.
I crouched down in front of the boy as he stared up at me, nose bleeding, his face twisted with a mixture of fear and rage.
“...Got a complaint?”
“...Isn’t it dishonorable for a knight to trample an opponent who has already fallen more than necessary?”
“I’m not tormenting you. I’m simply disciplining a student who doesn’t know his place or his manners.”
I slapped his cheek.
I must have hit harder than I thought; his cheek split slightly and began to bruise.
“Do you understand manners a little better now?”
I struck him again, harder this time.
“No answer? It seems you still don’t.”
“...I’m sorry.”
He finally spoke.
“Then get up. You will personally carry this student to my office.”
He stared up at me blankly for a long time, as if asking whether I was serious.
When I silently jerked my chin, he finally obeyed without complaint. He hoisted the unconscious elf onto his back and began staggering forward.
****
After dragging both students all the way to the professor’s office, I suddenly had no idea what to do next.
I briefly considered pulling out their fingernails one by one… but this wasn’t some prisoner interrogation room, and there was no real need to go that far. Besides, I hadn’t even decided what I was supposed to ask them.
On the battlefield, the answers had always been simple when I ripped out fingernails.
Where the enemy was. When they would attack us next. That was enough.
But now, standing in this cramped office with two terrified faces before me, I no longer knew what the hell I was doing.
I had grown sickeningly used to killing people, yet I was terribly clumsy at extracting information while keeping them alive.
The boy with the swollen face and the dragged-in elf both kept their mouths tightly shut, only stealing glances at me.
That awkward silence grated on my nerves so much that I ended up speaking first.
“Arin, bring the students something to drink. Get some for me and yourself too.”
“...Professor, for me as well?”
It was nice that she kept using formal speech even in front of strangers… but honestly, that also left a bad taste in its own way.
I wished Arin would speak comfortably in front of me and stay a little closer.
She used to burst into bright laughter just from hearing me say her name.
That once-familiar voice now emerged stiffly, trapped behind distant titles.
Anyway, Arin brought out tea from somewhere.
She could summon water with a simple spell, but I didn’t remember stocking any tea leaves.
Had she bought them with her own money?
I accepted the steaming cup and turned to the elf.
“Pointy-ears. The reason you came here is…”
“The derogatory term ‘pointy-ears’ was banned during the reign of the Great Emperor 638 years ago. While a few uncultured individuals still use it to refer to us elves, those who deserve such a label are outdated traditionalists on the empire’s borders who oppose the empire. I am a member of the Brunnhain family, which has proven its loyalty to the empire for generations by burning the World Tree. Therefore, no matter what, Professor, you should at least show me the minimum respect…”
I had intended to hear him out since I had dragged him here by force… but it was far too long.
“Enough. You know better than anyone why I called you.”
“You called for me?”
“I sent this friend here.”
“...Who would believe the words of a mere adventurer?”
I almost scolded him, but since Arin had called me Professor, I let it slide.
“Then you should have come to confirm it yourself.”
“That’s…”
“Did you avoid me because you guessed why I summoned you?”
In truth, I didn’t even know why I had called him.
I didn’t know what crime he had committed.
The only thing I knew was that his name had been at the very top of the list.
If I wanted, it would be simple.
I could crawl back to the Gryan family, kneel before the head, flatter him, and beg for recognition as a Gryan now that the worthless trash had learned to swing a sword. Then I could tell him how the Pope had threatened me into taking this position. I could quit this ridiculous professorship immediately.
But I hated that idea more than death.
The whole reason I had come to the capital was to survive somehow without relying on the Gryan family and to find Arin.
...So if I had only given myself a little more time before meeting her.
Maybe I wouldn’t have spat those thorny words at Arin yesterday.
While I was lost in thought, the elf continued avoiding my eyes, fidgeting for a long time.
Then he finally spoke in a voice as small as a mosquito.
“I… I was just a little curious about the black magic that was forbidden in ancient times, so I looked through some books. That’s all.”
When I simply stared at him without speaking, he hurriedly continued as if making excuses.
“In the past, devil worshippers who released monsters here, or the time when the other races who had infiltrated the capital were purged and pushed back to the empire’s borders… those records are strangely obscured!”
I didn’t care about such stale old stories.
The Pope had ordered me to root out the heretics hiding in the academy and the other races who had turned their blades against the empire.
When your superior gives an order, you carry it out.
Whether it was possible or not could come later.
There was no reason for me to roll up my sleeves and work hard.
I wasn’t a lecturer or an instructor; I held the position of professor. Couldn’t I just make the students handle all this trivial work?
“Anyway, you researched black magic and did those things.”
“...I didn’t cross the forbidden line.”
“You’re probably dancing right on it. In that case… as a student, you would know better than anyone who did cross it. Isn’t that right?”
And there was no need for me to find them myself.
“...If we’re being precise, yes.”
“Go back for today. I’ll call for you again soon. Oh, and don’t go alone. Take this friend with you.”
The pointy-eared elf bowed his head and tried to slip away by himself.
Typical of a race without faith.
The knight department student’s face was badly swollen from the beating.
Especially around the eyes; it looked like he could barely see.
I told the elf to take even that boy with him.
I watched blankly as the elf supported the staggering boy and left through the door, then drank the tea Arin had given me in one gulp.
It had gone completely cold and tasted only of bitterness.
With the students finally gone, only Arin and I remained in the office.
“Did you send the letter to your mother?”
“...Thank you for the words, but you don’t need to worry about my mother.”
“I went to see her alone this time, and she gave me a huge amount of food. She was worried because your letters had stopped coming.”
“...You went to see her?”
“Just. Because I wanted to see you.”
“......”
Arin silently gathered the cups that the students had barely touched and set them aside. Then she quietly sat down across from me.
Her sunken expression felt ominous instead.
I looked down at my empty cup for no reason.
Arin spoke calmly.
“Lihen.”
“Yeah.”
“I definitely liked you before.”
Arin’s voice broke as she spoke. She stood up and slung a bag over her shoulder.
Then, wiping away the tears that spilled down her cheeks, she fled the room and said,
“But… if I said I still like you now, would that even sound sincere?”
I understood the context.
She meant that since I had turned out far more impressive than expected, saying such things now would only make her seem cheap.
But there was no way I would think of her that way.
Anyway, as I chased after Arin who had run away as if escaping… I collided with someone.
I tried to shove them aside and keep going, but the other person grabbed my wrist.
“I heard some professor beat up a kid who was supposed to join our knight order like a dog, so I came to check… and it was you, brother?”
“Hey, you fucking bitch, why the hell are you here……”
“You disappeared without a word that day in the first place, so why are you……”
“Shut up and get out.”
I pushed past Lione, who was wearing the uniform of the knight order she had once desperately wanted to join, and tried to chase after Arin.
But this fucking… this worthless bitch who had never done a single helpful thing in my life was getting in my way again.