Chapter 142
“Huff, huff, huff. Damn it… you… your damn defense hasn’t rusted a bit.”
“Thank you for the complint.”
“Ugh, your calm face makes it even more annoying.”
Sara swung her rapier at
again, flas flaring around her.
In response, I made full use of the power of the Water Rune.
Water layered over the blade of Mistcatcher.
Just like during the midterms, I coated the sword with water to block Sara’s attacks.
Ssshhh—! Hissss—!
“Alright. That’s enough, both of you.”
At Luke’s words, Sara and I stopped our sparring.
It had been a week since the start of the new sester after sumr break.
After all the afternoon Swordsmanship Classes were over, Luke had been personally training
and Sara.
The reason, of course, was the Academy Tournant coming up in October.
“Gideon. I’ve said this before, but Eisen’s flas are much stronger than Sara’s. So for now, focus on strengthening the power of your Water Rune. With that in mind, practice alone for a bit… Sara.”
“Yes, Instructor.”
“I don’t have much advice to give about your flas. But when it cos to your swordsmanship… I do have so.”
Luke drew his sword and approached Sara.
“To be blunt, your swordsmanship is inferior to Eisen’s.”
“…Yes. I know. Eisen oppa… is an incredible genius, unlike .”
“Right. You’re not talentless, but as you said, Eisen is an extraordinary genius. And you’re in a position where you have to challenge that genius.”
Sara bit her lip slightly in frustration.
“What do I have to do… to defeat Eisen oppa?”
“Let’s start by refining your family’s swordsmanship.”
Luke raised his sword, taking the opening stance of the Isrinbloom Ducal Family’s sword style.
“Unless you learn a different sword style, you’ll have to face Eisen using the sa techniques. So rather than focusing on your fla magic, it’s better to polish your swordsmanship. You’ll need to at least surpass him in swordsmanship to have a chance.”
“…A different sword style, huh.”
“Hmm? Why? Do you want to try learning another one?”
“That’s sothing I might have to… think about.”
With that, Sara raised her rapier and followed Luke’s stance of the Isrinbloom Family Swordsmanship.
“But for now, I’ll focus on my swordsmanship. As you said, Instructor, if I want to beat Eisen oppa, I should start with that.”
With those words, Sara and Luke began sparring.
Both of them displayed the Isrinbloom Ducal Family’s signature graceful and elegant swordplay as their blades clashed.
‘Sara’s improved quite a bit. But… Luke’s still a step ahead.’
For Sara to win against Eisen, she would first have to surpass Luke—
At least, when it ca to the Isrinbloom Swordsmanship.
Well, Sara seed to be handling things just fine on her own, so I decided to stop worrying and…
‘I need to train more too.’
I coated Mistcatcher’s blade with water.
Just as Luke said, Eisen’s flas would be far stronger than Sara’s.
At this level of water flow, I might not be able to block it.
Which ant I needed to strengthen the Water Rune engraved on my body—to summon greater volus of water.
But there was one problem.
‘How was this Rune supposed to be strengthened again?’
Each Rune had a different thod of enhancent.
And I had never once strengthened the Water Rune in the ga.
‘The barrier from the Water Rune didn’t get much stronger after enhancent anyway. I only got it for its healing ability, so I never thought it was worth the trouble.’
But now, things were different from the ga.
I wasn’t just using the Rune’s healing ability anymore.
‘What was the enhancent thod again? I think it involved going into water and doing sothing…’
I’d probably have to imrse myself in water soon and experint a bit.
But that could wait—right now…
‘I still can’t maintain the Rune’s power for long.’
Keeping the water flow around my blade, and on top of that, controlling my aura—
Both demanded intense concentration.
For the ti being, I needed to focus on training that.
‘The goal is to use these powers as naturally as breathing, without exhausting my mind. That’s the target, so first, let’s refine the aura...’
Leaving Luke and Sara’s sparring behind, I continued my own preparations for the tournant in my own way.
After training until evening, I was about to head off with Lisa to handle Disciplinary Committee duties when—
“Whoooosh!”
“Hm?”
While I was focusing alone, an owl suddenly flew in through the gym window.
A white owl—rare and nearly impossible to find within the Empire.
“Oh, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“Hoot.”
“Ah, thanks.”
The owl handed
the letter it carried, then perched naturally on my shoulder.
I chuckled softly and patted it once.
Then, I checked the letter it had brought.
“Gideon. What’s that owl?”
A white owl appearing out of nowhere—Luke stopped sparring with Sara and approached , curiosity in his eyes.
“It’s Instructor Kara’s owl.”
“Instructor Kara’s? Ah, if it’s from her… then that letter’s from her too?”
“Yes. She says she wants to et during lunch tomorrow.”
Now that I thought about it, it had been quite a while since I’d last seen Kara.
I’d been aning to talk to her about sothing anyway, so her timing was perfect.
“You want to learn to control water?”
“Would that be possible?”
“It’s possible for
to teach you. Possible, yes… but not easy.”
The next day at lunch, after receiving Kara’s letter, I t her again by the lake deep in the forest—the sa place where we’d always t for lessons during the first sester.
“Water-elent magic is the hardest among all elental magics. Most magicians only learn it last.”
“Would learning it within a month… be impossible?”
“A month? Hardly. It took
quite so ti to learn even the basics. But why within a month…? Ah, you’re representing the Academy in the tournant, right?”
Kara nodded in understanding.
“It’s because of Eisen, isn’t it?”
“Wouldn’t water be the best way to counter fire?”
“The approach isn’t wrong, but the problem is ti. Even if you devote yourself completely to learning Water-elent magic for a month, you won’t be able to overco Eisen’s flas.”
With those words, Kara brought her fingers to her temple.
Then she drew out a single glowing thread from her head.
The thread spread through the air and projected an image.
“This is my mory from last year’s tournant. What I saw of Eisen from the stands.”
A massive arena.
In that arena stood a male student wreathed in imnse flas, unleashing a dazzling sword strike.
He had black hair and bore an uncanny resemblance to Sara.
“I guarantee you, even if you master Water magic for a month, you won’t be able to quell those massive flas.”
“Yes, it does look impossible.”
“It’d be better to focus on preparing your own Fire magic instead. Or maybe I could teach you so Earth-elent magic? In a month, I could probably teach you one or two spells.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound too bad either.”
After replying casually, I turned my attention back to Kara’s mory.
Eisen’s flas were just as magnificent as they had been in the ga—no, perhaps even more so.
Just as Luke had said, Sara’s fire didn’t even co close in comparison.
“To be honest, defeating him will be difficult.”
As if reading my thoughts, Kara smiled faintly and withdrew the mory thread back into her mind.
“You’d be better off just giving up.”
“I’m not the kind of person who takes the easy road.”
“Oh? You’ve got so spirit. Right, only those who endure the hard path can reach true success.”
“Still, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to win.”
Letting out a small sigh, I lightly shook my head.
For now, I wanted to put thoughts of Eisen aside.
“Well, that aside… Instructor, did you have a good vacation?”
“I’ve been incredibly busy since I last saw you.”
“Writing your thesis?”
“I stayed up night after night writing until right before the sester started. But I still have a lot to write. I haven’t even started the section on Elves yet.”
Seeing her lips pout slightly, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“You still look happy, though.”
“Of course I’m happy.”
Dark shadows lingered beneath her eyes—proof that she’d indeed lost several nights of sleep.
But even so, she looked genuinely content being able to write a thesis about other races.
“Being able to study what you love day and night—that’s the greatest joy a scholar can have.”
“Heh. Co to think of it, soone in my class once said sothing similar.”
“Oh? Who?”
“Roy Varbellos…”
“Ah, that boy who loves Ancient Studies? He doesn’t talk much, but he’s a talented magician. I know him well. Speaking of Ancient Studies, though…”
Kara trailed off, glancing around cautiously.
She seed to be making sure no one else was nearby.
“You rember that incident involving your family and the other races? I told you during vacation that it might be connected to the Ancient Beings.”
“Yes, you did. I did so digging into it myself, and I’ve narrowed it down to two—Evil God Bedir and Evil Dragon Suiroti.”
“Bedir? Suiroti? Ooh… I see. I’ll look into it too when I get so ti. Anyway, while I was doing my own research into Ancient Studies, I found sothing strange.”
“What kind of thing?”
“The line of Ancient Studies research suddenly died out about three hundred years ago. Did you know that?”
“Ah, yes. I heard sothing similar once before.”
That was the story Nia had told
before sumr break.
About three hundred years ago… three hundred years, huh…
“So I looked into what happened in the Empire back then… and surprisingly, there was nothing.”
“…Nothing at all?”
“Yeah, and that’s what’s strange. On the surface, it really seems like nothing happened, like that period just passed quietly… but sothing feels off. I don’t have evidence, but my gut tells
sothing’s wrong. The records from that era—everything about the Empire three hundred years ago—are… too clean. Too smooth, too flawless. Almost unnaturally so.”
“Three hundred years ago…”
My family and the other races—
They were attacked by the Ancient Beings centuries ago.
If that ti coincided with around three hundred years ago…
Then it was definitely worth investigating.
“Thank you for letting
know. I’ll look into it myself.”
“How will you do that?”
“I know soone who’s an expert in this kind of thing.”
“You’re asking what happened in the Empire three hundred years ago?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
After eting with Kara at lunch,
During the break in the afternoon Swordsmanship Class,
I t with Jason privately to speak in secret.
“Do you happen to know of any event that took place about three hundred years ago, sothing not recorded in the Empire’s history? Anything at all.”
“Hmm… First, can you tell
why you’re asking
this?”
“There’s a saying, isn’t there? ‘The Hawkbat Family knows everything about the Empire.’”
I answered Jason’s question calmly.
“I’ve heard that the Hawkbat Family possesses knowledge even of events unrecorded in the Empire’s official history.”
“Well, that’s true. But why specifically three hundred years ago?”
“…You probably know I’ve recently taken an interest in Ancient Studies. But when I looked into it, I learned that the study of Ancient History abruptly vanished around three hundred years ago. And the records from that period seem… off.”
As I spoke, Jason’s expression grew increasingly thoughtful.
“So I thought maybe there was a history that wasn’t recorded—and that your family might know sothing about it. That’s why I ca to ask you directly, Sir Jason.”
“…You really are an interesting one, Gideon. I never imagined I’d hear soone ntion the Empire’s three-hundred-year-old history from your mouth.”
Jason smiled faintly as he answered quietly.
He definitely knew sothing.
“Could you tell
what you ant by that just now?”
“To get straight to the point, I don’t know what exactly happened three hundred years ago. More precisely… I’d say we’re not supposed to know.”
I tilted my head in confusion at Jason’s words.
But he continued, unfazed—
And what he said next was completely unexpected.
“I don’t know what happened three hundred years ago… but I’ve heard that all the key mbers of our family were wiped out at once during that ti.”
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