177
That evening.
Pan ca to my dormitory.
"I feel it every ti I co, but your dormitory is like a noble's manor, Teacher."
"It is not quite that grand."
The new faculty dormitories at Akarind Academy City were exceptionally luxurious.
Every instructor had been given their own private residence, and each residence was on par with the mansion Avril had given .
Thanks to that, I could decorate my residence freely without feeling self-conscious.
Before, I had possessed a fine dwelling because of Avril, but I had been uncomfortable about the other instructors' stares.
I had asked Abrahal to collect various old texts for , and I had set up a writing study for authoring my teaching materials.
On top of that, I had a private training ground outside, perfect for practicing swordsmanship.
Thanks to Sihan's alchemy, the training ground boasted durability capable of withstanding a reasonable application of Aura.
"The student dormitories are nice too."
"They are. Seriously."
The students had all been assigned two-person rooms.
The building was a full eighteen stories tall.
Sihan called it a hotel-style dormitory, and the structure looked as though a Magic Tower had been converted into a dormitory.
Inside were cafés, cafeterias, laundry rooms, baths, and every kind of convenience imaginable.
So much so that when students at Akarind Academy were asked what was the best thing about attending, the first answer was the level of education, and the second was the dormitory.
Satisfaction was particularly high among orphans from the orphanage and talented commoners.
"So why the visit?"
Because of all that, students rarely ca over to where we instructors lived after classes ended.
If he had co to find like this, it ant he had sothing on his mind.
Pan looked at with a serious expression.
"Teacher. Can you erase my swordsmanship entirely?"
"Your swordsmanship? It was built around your traits, and they say that with this swordsmanship you eventually reach Grand Sword Master and can even cut through ti."
"That may be true, but."
Pan closed his mouth as though choosing his words.
In the anti, I looked carefully at his face.
About a year and a half ago.
A small, frail boy whose face had been shockingly handso was now two years older, growing into a young man.
In the beginning, Pan had ambition and talent for the sword, but his body had been too weak to control that talent.
He had resembled , so I had given him my affection and taught him, and he had understood that sentint and given his best.
And in a place I had never reached, he had beco a master of the sword and nearly saved humanity.
"I think that is wrong."
But Pan rejected that future of his.
"You said it yourself, Teacher. That was only an experience of those who ca back to this point — the future we must reach is one that we have not yet experienced."
"That is right."
"Then I, too, want to learn a sword in this future where you exist, Teacher — one I have not yet walked."
Pan's eyes shone.
"Even if that ans giving up the certain path of a master who could cut through ti?"
I asked knowing full well what Pan would answer.
"Who knows? Since I was able to cut ti, maybe this ti I will be able to cut through space? Whatever it ends up being, the walking forward from now is stronger than the of back then."
Pan smiled.
"Because you will be with , Teacher."
Still handso, a smile so bright it seed to glow.
***
The next day, at dawn.
Rozalin ca to see .
"Teacher!"
"Uh-huh."
Rozalin and the guard team had also received good accommodations thanks to the Academy City construction.
The guard captain's office was decorated on par with a decent noble's manor, and the guards — the rcenary guild mbers — had been given top-tier facilities for their physical training and rest.
Thanks to that, the Firestorm rcenary Guild mbers' satisfaction was also reportedly very high.
In other words, Rozalin too would have no reason to co find at this hour without so particular business.
"I want to abandon Vürhelm Swordsmanship!"
It was business beyond anything I had imagined.
"Vürhelm Swordsmanship? Why?"
Vürhelm Swordsmanship was a superb style — excellent enough that I had used it when training students in the basics.
It had such clear direction and purpose that it was ideal for soone who did not yet understand the concept of Sword Intent to grasp it.
The completed form of the swordsmanship was also excellent.
Vürhelm Swordsmanship pursued the lofty refinent befitting nobility.
Thanks to that sense of purpose, the techniques were straight and clean, and their power was strong.
It was a swordsmanship that could crush half-baked styles with pure technique alone — the very essence of high-level swordsmanship.
"Oh, co on. I abandoned my house ages ago, why would I cling to that swordsmanship?"
"But your swordsmanship is sothing you refined through long experience."
Rozalin had lost one of her arms in her past life.
She had explored a dungeon and lost an arm in the process.
Then, in that state, she had wandered among barbarians and rcenary guilds, adapting Vürhelm Swordsmanship to her own style.
No matter that she was called a swordsmanship prodigy, it was the swordsmanship that had carried a young teenage girl from rcenary captain all the way to Grand General of an entity that rivaled the Empire.
"But that is not your swordsmanship, Teacher."
Rozalin smiled as though stating the obvious.
"I am your head disciple. So it is only right that I learn the Cassian-style swordsmanship."
"But......"
"Besides, this swordsmanship is not really mine anymore either — you refined it, Teacher. Rather than keep making tiny revisions like that, I would rather use your swordsmanship."
Rozalin laughed brightly and turned her back to .
"As long as I have you, Teacher, I can give up everything else. My house? Already gone. My sword? I am going to throw it away now too."
Under the morning sunlight, her snow-white skin shone translucently.
"After all, the path you will show , Teacher, is bound to be the better one."
A bright, beautiful smile.
Exactly that kind of smile.
***
"I need to abandon my swordsmanship."
"......Shut up."
"What?"
"No, my mood had been good all morning until you ruined it."
"What is that supposed to an?"
"If you do not know, then fine. No, you should not know. Just go back without knowing."
I shut my eyes tightly and drove away the dreadful sight.
When I waved my hand, Sordian continued as though bewildered.
"Did you not say one becos an Expert by abandoning swordsmanship and erasing one's self-consciousness?! I cannot be the last to awaken this ti either! I will be the first to reach Expert!"
"So please, just leave."
"There is a type of person who is utterly ordinary, without self-consciousness, a plain diocrity of a man! Huh? Soone like is the best match for your swordsmanship......"
I forcibly pushed Sordian out and shut the door.
From outside, I could hear him shouting sothing, but I ignored him.
It was a dreadful afternoon.
***
"Can I abandon the Chestra family swordsmanship?"
When night ca, Bridget visited.
"You can. Viscount Chestra might be a little sad, though."
"In exchange, what I would like is for the new swordsmanship to be sothing I can wield alongside Eleveth......"
"Go to sleep. You know you have class tomorrow, right?"
I sighed and sent Bridget back.
***
Freizia ca.
I sent her back.
Jacy and Shasha ca.
I sent them back.
Old Kantaros ca.
He babbled sothing strange, but it seed to an nothing, so I sent him back.
.
.
.
"Quite a number of people ca to see you, it seems."
"'A number' does not begin to cover it. Every single special-class student ca."
"That is all thanks to your brilliance. If everyone ca, did the old Spear God co too?"
"No."
If the Spear God had co and started talking about abandoning his spear, it would have been sowhat dreadful.
But the old man was cultivating his martial arts entirely through his own strength.
Even when I occasionally offered a thought about his spear, he would treat it as a topic for discussion rather than as instruction or teaching.
Rather than assuming my suggestion was the correct answer, he would take it as a question posed to him and work out a better answer through his own reflection.
The answers he brought back were, for the most part, no different from what I had initially proposed.
But about one in every five tis, the answer the Spear God ca up with was better, and on those occasions it gave great stimulation.
That answer itself seed to tell that the path I still had to walk was vast and stretched endlessly ahead.
"Are you happy that much of the path remains? You are a strange man. If I were in your situation, I think I would feel despair at how much still remained to be done."
"Master Abrahal, are you frustrated by how much money there still is to earn in the world? Does it not, rather, quicken your pulse that so much money remains to be earned and spent?"
"Forget it. I do not particularly like earning money."
It was not the sort of thing one would expect from the next head of the Goldline rchant Guild.
He tossed back his mug of beer in one gulp and let out a satisfied aahh.
"I an it. It just so happened that my father owned the Goldline rchant Guild, so I ended up running the guild without ever having a dream of my own."
"You manage it well for soone who says that."
"I had talent. Blood does tell."
Shockingly shaless.
"But sotis I dream of what might have been. Maybe I would have lived more happily if I had not taken over the guild."
"Did you have another dream, perhaps?"
"Did I look like soone with no dreams? You are rubbing salt in an old wound. I had a dream too. You see — I actually wanted to study properly."
With that, Abrahal suddenly stood up with his cup in hand.
A verse from an ancient historical record flowed from his mouth.
It was the kind of antiquated, musty phrase recited only by aspiring scholars at the Imperial Royal Academy — the ones who did nothing but study.
"I liked things like this. A bit old-fashioned?"
"No. It is romantic."
"Indeed. Because it is sothing I could never have, I seek it out all the more, as a kind of romance."
I emptied my portion of tea and looked at Abrahal.
There had to be a reason he had co to see at this hour of the dawn.
He glanced at my face, smacked his lips as he swallowed a bit of food, and stroked his chin a few tis.
"I found Avril. His movents are a bit strange. He has made contact with the Empire."
"Is Goldline not on hostile terms with the Empire? On top of that, Avril should be suspected of killing my ntor."
"The Empire's political situation is complicated."
He took up a fork and dipped its tip into his cup.
Then, using the fork like a pen, he began writing characters on the tabletop.
"The Empire's intelligence organizations are three in number. Blue Moon, Red Moon, and Dark Moon. All three are Imperial intelligence groups, but they keep each other in check."
"I have heard of this."
"They were designed that way — since intelligence organizations hold enormous authority, they were set up to check one another...... which ans odd situations arise often. For example, right now, when the Emperor's authority is shaky and the Emperor's children have to divide up power."
"Each one supports a different successor."
"Exactly."
Demons had appeared, the Wolf King was ravaging the Empire, and a rural backwater academy was devouring honor.
With internal strife and external threats converging, the Emperor's power could not help but waver.
"Avril t with Red Moon. They are shady, tied to the Magic Tower, and fond of dispatching spies beyond the Empire to run intrigues. And Blue Moon and Dark Moon got wind of it."
"Is Dark Moon trying to et with ?"
Dark Moon surveilled the inside of the Empire.
The corruption and sches of nobles — and even plots of treason.
Red Moon's actions were a clear act of collaboration with a foreign entity.
So if they were trying to check Red Moon by approaching through Abrahal.
"No."
But Abrahal shook his head.
"It is similar, but different. It is Blue Moon."
Blue Moon was the intelligence unit that kept Dark Moon and Red Moon in check.
And.
"They are the Emperor's direct unit."
"That is right. The Emperor wants to see you."
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