Chapter 104
Chapter 104
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Special Training (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
* * *
***
Ado-Giro was a diligent man.
The notoriously strict mages of the Magic Tower held his diligence in such high regard that they assigned him the task of "secret escort," which said it all.
But his peers—especially those who'd competed with him for the ticket to Earth—had different things to say.
Diligence? What a joke. The old fogeys picked you, who isn't even a proper mage, for escort duty because you're an obedient little bastard.
Unlike the seniors who'd graduated from the Academy and naturalized in America or France, he was the obedient little bastard who returned to his homeland.
Ado didn't argue back. Was it because they were right? No, he simply didn't care about the reason.
For his homeland, he could be that obedient bastard a hundred times, a thousand times over.
Dating the daughter of a senator he didn't even like, sending the Academy scholarship money and the subtle elixirs offered by Earthlings back home...
He could endure it all. For his homeland.
But even Ado couldn't help tilting his head at the latest order.
[After engaging Cheon Yeomyeong in combat, submit detailed combat records and explanations of techniques used.]
[*Note: Provide records of actual combat close to real battle, not friendly sparring.]
Cheon Yeomyeong? Wasn't he the first-year who'd rushed to the forefront during the terrorist attack to save his classmates?
Without him, the homeland's treasures—"the Vessel" and "the Saintess"—wouldn't have made it out alive.
They should be sending thanks, not demanding combat records. What was this about?
It was an incomprehensible order, but Ado was a diligent man.
He prepared for the mission meticulously. He gathered rumors about Cheon Yeomyeong, referenced his personal records, and prepared provocations that were sure to draw him out.
He bought a small special camera for recording the fight and, just in case, acquired a necklace-type magic tool enchanted with recording magic.
The issue was how to meet the first-year Cheon Yeomyeong...
Just then, the principal arranged a meeting with him. It felt like the heavens themselves were granting the opportunity.
It might cause trouble for the principal, who helped his homeland so much, but Ado couldn't let it slip away.
...And so, half expectant and half anxious, the moment he faced Cheon Yeomyeong.
Ado realized something was wrong.
The Cheon Yeomyeong before him was utterly different from what he'd imagined.
There was no heroic aura from battling a dragon to save Manju, no righteous resolve that risked life for classmates.
The teachers' evaluation of him as a diligent student, the students' rumors of him being busy with romance—they were all wrong.
What Ado saw was...
'...Border White?'
Seeing an Earthling and thinking of his homeland's hero. It was as sinful and shameful as seeing Hitler and thinking of a Jewish hero... but he couldn't help it.
The figure of Yeomyeong before him was exactly like the Border White he'd met as a child.
Outwardly feigning leisure and courtesy, inwardly concealing a sharp sword-like aura.
If someone introduced him as Border White's bloodline, he'd nod without a doubt.
'No way? Nah, impossible.'
After scrutinizing Yeomyeong's face closely, Ado swallowed his suspicions.
It was just a similar vibe; the details differed from Border White.
His eyes were darker, his hair a completely different color.
Above all, Border White's body could no longer sire heirs due to nuclear aftereffects.
No way he had a bastard child on Earth.
If you have nothing more to say, may I leave now?
While Ado was lost in those thoughts, the negotiations between Cheon Yeomyeong and the principal broke down.
'...Now's the time.'
He cast aside all hesitation and proceeded with the plan.
In other words, he spat out the prepared insult at Cheon Yeomyeong to pick a fight.
As planned, Cheon Yeomyeong took the bait. He'd only used half the provocations prepared.
'Good... recording started.'
***
The special recording camera first captured Ado's left arm shooting into the sky.
...?
The question mark floated in his mind at the same moment blood gushed from the severed stump.
Pain arrived last. The agony of bone and flesh severed below the shoulder snapped Ado back to reality.
'I'm dead.'
It was the instinct of a superhuman honed over long training.
He hadn't reacted at all until Cheon Yeomyeong snatched his sword and swung it.
An overwhelming gap in skill. He wouldn't react to the next attack either.
"Sav..."
Before he could beg for his life, Cheon Yeomyeong's hand flashed once more.
A sword too fast for the eyes to follow. Guessing its target, Ado squeezed his eyes shut.
He lacked the courage to face death.
'Sister, sorry.'
As Ado pictured his protectee's face one last time.
Someone grabbed his nape.
***
The instant Yeomyeong snatched the sword from Ado's waist.
Corvus and Rime moved almost simultaneously.
Rime launched herself out of the break room and seized Ado's nape.
A precise judgment. The soaring black sword was plummeting straight for Ado's face.
Without hesitation, Rime yanked Ado's nape, and he barely escaped the blade's range.
"You lunatic! You planning to kill someone at school?!"
Rime, having barely pulled Ado to safety, shouted. But the response wasn't words.
Thud—clang!
A heavy impact like crumpling metal plate.
The source was Corvus. Now transformed into a massive beastkin, she kicked Yeomyeong in the side.
Yeomyeong floated up, then steadied himself midair and landed.
Tap.
A light footfall for withstanding such a massive attack.
Yeomyeong dusted off his clothes with a calm expression and asked Corvus,
"Corvus. What do you think you're doing?"
Corvus clacked her beak!
"And what do you think you're doing? You nearly killed him."
"..."
Yeomyeong didn't answer. He pressed his lips with his fist, pondering something, then furrowed his brow sharply.
"...Can't I kill him?"
Corvus's jet-black pearl-like eyes dimmed.
"Of course not."
"He provoked me first."
"...No one in this world should die for running their mouth. Otherwise, Earth's population would halve in a week."
"..."
"Cheon Yeomyeong. Look me in the eye."
Their gazes locked in midair, and Corvus spotted something hidden beneath Yeomyeong's golden eyes.
She sighed and said,
"Last time, I asked about your style. Remember?"
"...Yes, you asked if it was Juga Shibili Style. I said again, I have no connection to that style."
"No, you do."
Corvus cracked her shoulders and continued.
"In the past, Stalin and the communists were obsessed with efficient martial arts. Arts to kill stronger, faster."
"..."
"Focused solely on killing, they birthed martial arts devoid of philosophy or ideology—just pure murder. Even knights beyond the dimensional gates feared them. That art was..."
"...Not interested in history lessons."
Yeomyeong cut her off, but Corvus waved it away and kept talking with her beak.
"Come on, hear me out. You can't mass-produce martial arts. The communists' arts naturally had side effects."
Side effects? Yeomyeong looked at Corvus's beak with confused eyes.
"They built killing intent without teaching control, so practitioners easily killed. First enemies, then annoyances, finally anyone in sight."
At that moment, Yeomyeong subtly furrowed his brow. As if understanding something.
"Juga Shibili Style was created to suppress that killing intent. It's nearly extinct now... Do you know why I'm telling you this?"
"...I can guess."
"Yeomyeong, your current state is like a pre-Juga Shibili communist. Killing intent uncontained, on the verge of bursting."
Yeomyeong said nothing. He just fidgeted with the hand gripping the sword, quietly listening to Corvus.
"Reasons vary, but my guess is this. Among the arts you learned, some were purely for killing opponents."
Without being told, Yeomyeong recalled Pasun's arts. Techniques that emitted mirage-like mana to strengthen the body and applied palm winds as crude sword qi.
"You used them indiscriminately for efficiency... probably unaware of their true intent, or uncaring. And when emotions flared, you bottled it up instead of releasing."
"..."
"Am I wrong?"
Yeomyeong couldn't think of a retort. It was all spot on.
As he fell silent, Corvus concluded with conviction.
"Left like this, killing intent will consume you. Like the old communist superhumans."
Yeomyeong glanced between Ado's severed arm on the ground and the sword in his hand, then bit his lip.
"...What should I do?"
"Surprisingly simple solution. Since I've agreed to be your master, I'll teach you now."
Corvus cracked her fists and neck to loosen up. She bounced on her legs, then suddenly opened her beak toward Yeomyeong.
"First, vent some killing intent."
How? As Yeomyeong moved to ask, Corvus leaped from the ground.
The massive crow beastkin soaring into the sky...
Plummeted straight at Yeomyeong.
"By taking a beating."
* * *