The Academy’s Ankle Reaper

“What brings the busy knight captain all the way to the Academy?”

Linda paused for a moment.

The reason she made an unannounced visit to the Academy was Atlas.

As the Empire’s third Master and the Shadow of the Empire, he had finally found a clue about his whereabouts after being missing for years, and so she came secretly, keeping it all under wraps.

I felt a twinge of worry.

Unlike Wendy, Atlas was a Master who listened well and took responsibility.

The timing of leaving the Order was impeccable too.

As urgent incidents were resolved and the workload quickly diminished, he left as if he’d been waiting for the moment.

Until then, Atlas’s life could be summed up as just the Titan and the Order.

Born in Titan, trained, and ultimately joining the Royal Knight Order due to family issues, his life was notably short with little experience.

I worried that he might get caught up with bad people after heading out.

I’ve had instances where I went on missions and ended up bringing a kid home.

Since his essence is good-hearted, I feared he could easily fall into the hands of bad women trying to take advantage of him.

‘… Has he already been caught?’

Having observed his life at the Academy, I thought it was quite odd that the friends he got close to were all girls… Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any odd vibes.

He looked healthy, seemed to have no major issues with his relationships, and he wasn’t running off somewhere abroad for no reason.

“I heard that the level of this year’s new students is quite high, so I was curious.”

“I didn’t know you were so concerned about the Academy…?”

“How could I not be? There’s a chance that someone like me could emerge from among them.”

Edward grimaced at Linda’s confident proclamation about the Academy entrance exam but soon flashed a sly grin.

“Well… it looks like you see a Master in the making.”

“Oh really…?”

At Edward’s words, Linda narrowed her eyes.

‘Did he catch on that Atlas is the “Shadow”? He’s sharper than I expected.’

“A future Master who will illuminate Lemnos…!”

I briefly considered whether he suspected Atlas was a Master, but instead, he spoke something entirely different.

‘… Was it a boast about his son?’

The excitement fizzled out.

“So does that mean he will obviously win this duel, right?”

“Of course..! I’ll take care of some random kid I don’t even know with a single blow…!

Edgar is already aiming higher. He’s much stronger than I was at that age… Yes, he will definitely become a Master, unlike me.”

Linda knew that Edgar had lost to that kid once before.

There was no way Edward wouldn’t know that… But seeing him deliberately not mention it and maintain his confidence made me chuckle.

“I hope that’s the case.”

“Why are you laughing…?!”

“Well… it’s just that seeing your affection for your son like that is amusing.”

Edgar Lemnos will lose.

His opponent is a Master, and he explicitly told him not to think of losing, so he will definitely win.

What kind of expression will Edward have if his boasting son loses in front of everyone?

Will he be able to brag as he does now?

Either way, Linda was looking forward to that moment.

“You’ll understand once you have a child yourself… Such a rude comment… Oh right, you’re still unmarried, aren’t you?”

Edward laughed boastfully.

It’s well-known that Linda is still unmarried.

He seems to think he’s scored a point, but it didn’t affect Linda at all.

“Well, Masters are busy, you know. You wouldn’t understand.”

“Th…that’s not fair!!”

When Edward tossed his own words back, his face turned red again.

But the mention of marriage was a sore spot.

In this age, the only ones among her peers who weren’t married or dating were herself and her younger sibling… Both of them were Masters and didn’t easily show signs of aging, so physical issues were irrelevant.

Now that she was a Master, she didn’t care about others’ opinions anymore.

As for love or marriage… it was simply that no man had caught her eye.

Being busy with work was indeed a part of it…

She did have a rough idea of the kind of man she liked.

She hoped he’d be obedient and skilled too.At least to the top level… a Master, perhaps?

She didn’t want someone stronger than her, but Masters tended to think a bit differently from ordinary folks, making communication easier between them.

She preferred not to have any annoyances, and finding someone cute was a plus.

Big men all had high pride and didn’t listen well.

‘… No, this is getting ridiculous.’

Someone popped into her mind, but she quickly shook it off.

Wendy thought of her like a little sister, and Linda found it absurd to be thinking that way about someone she frequently hung out with.

“You fools… Why can’t you pay attention or just fight properly with me around?!!”

And as their tussle intensified, the Principal, who had been caught in the middle, finally exploded in anger.

———————————————————————-

I wanted to wrap this up quickly, but the duel was dragging on longer than expected.

The reason was simple.

My physical condition was rapidly deteriorating, and strength was seeping away, but if I put in too much effort, Edgar could end up dead.

I needed to lessen my strength, but since I was losing it extra, balancing that ambiguous feeling was extremely challenging.

And it was true that Edgar’s skills had improved quite a bit.

He managed to dodge attacks that I had thought would end the match in one or two strikes.

Failing to regulate my strength was a major factor, but if Edgar hadn’t shown any skill improvement, it would have already been over.

Within a short time, he had really come a long way.

“How about it! My sword?!”

He no longer flaunted a sword enhanced by the power of a holy sword.

Having realized that I wouldn’t be using the Aura Blade, he maintained reasonable output while carefully gauging distances.

He was attacking cautiously, not pushing his advantage but minding both his range and mine.

Was this originally Edgar’s skill, or had he actually grown that much in such a short time?

“I consider my loss to you… a good thing. Yeah, I admit… I was too complacent.There weren’t many who could match me among my peers… So many stronger than I am, yet I falsely believed I was the strongest at my level.”

Edgar was delighted with how the duel was shaping up compared to before.

In our first duel, he was utterly beaten, but now he didn’t take a single hit.Although his attacks didn’t land either, the fact that he hadn’t received a blow was important.He had definitely improved.

“I will surpass you..!! And prove that Lemnos’s sword is the finest in the Empire!!”

Edgar’s sword grazed my chest.

Although it didn’t hit, the Aura Blade, emitting a scorching heat, left a hole in my clothes.

His attacks became swifter.

Knowing that I could hold my own, I decided to be a bit bolder with my moves.I dodged Lemnos’s attack and said,

“… Don’t you smell something weird, Lemnos?”

“Isn’t the sulfur smell from the volcano?”

It was a different stench from rotten eggs.I realized that a layer of gas was lying heavy in the air beneath us.

Given how difficult it was to move, it must have a paralyzing effect.

I hadn’t noticed it while standing still, but with every move, I had been inhaling just a little.

The layer was about my chest height… around 130 centimeters.

Since it was so heavy, no matter how I moved, its effects only reached down to about 150 centimeters, and I couldn’t rise above that.

Lemnos, who towered past 180 centimeters, had almost no chance of encountering that gas unless he buried his head low or if I were to toss a jar of it at him.

I didn’t know if this was artificial or a natural phenomenon of the volcanic area, but it was extremely unpleasant.

‘So only those above 160 centimeters were completely exempt from this…?’

Anyone below 150 was practically caught in a trap.

Suddenly, rage boiled within me.

It was an environment where both could equally be affected, yet it was solely my height that was causing me trouble?

And without realizing, Edgar was acting all cocky in front of me?

“…This is really pissing me off.”

I tightened my grip on the sword.

“Take this…!!”

Flames erupted from the tip of Edgar’s sword.

Running towards Lemnos wielding the now more flamboyant fiery Aura Blade, his body shimmered like a mirage, splitting into six afterimages that surrounded me.

I recognized that technique.

Though it looked like an illusion, those burning auras were conjured clones getting ready for a simultaneous assault, illustrating Lemnos’s Vision Swordsmanship.

The move, capable of a single blow kill with the Aura Blade, was a special technique that allowed Lemnos to strike in six directions at once.

“Heat Haze!!!”

The six blazing Aura Blades swung towards me in unison.

Dodging seemed impossible, and while I couldn’t see the audience’s reactions, I was sure they were all thinking about my loss.

Towards the incoming flames, I raised my unarmored longsword, void of any aura.Then I swung with all my might.

I didn’t hold back on controlling my strength.

I wanted to end this duel right now, so I swung it with everything I had.

-Crash!!!

“Kraaaaaaack!!!!”

The impact was astonishing.

One single swing, without regulating my strength, smashed all the clones into pieces.

Even without covering the sword with aura, the wind from swinging it shredded through the clones.

Among them, the real Edgar, who had been mixed in, fell alongside them as the clones vanished.

The armor he was wearing shattered completely from the single blow.

“Ah… How did the Heat Haze… get countered…!”

Edgar, rolling on the searing volcanic floor, asked weakly.

But unfortunately, my mind was now filled with a different thought.

“Who the hell created this Other Space?”

I had to deal with whoever set this terrible, height-discriminating trap.

Clearly, Edgar had collapsed, yet this Other Space hadn’t dissipated, and I shouted.

“The duel’s over since I laid him down, so collapse this Other Space! At this rate, he’ll die!!”

“What…?”

Not grasping the meaning immediately, Edgar quickly understood.

“Kuha?!?!!!”

As he collapsed, he inhaled the thick gas that coated the ground, and his complexion turned a shade of purple rapidly.

He didn’t vomit blood or anything, but his breathing slowed, and bubbles formed at his mouth.I knew that was the kind of effect it had, but even Edgar should have been an intermediate expert; his reaction was intense.

“……….”

Edgar’s hurried breathing began to slow down, and he eventually collapsed entirely.

“…?”

No way, right?

There’s no way he’d die from just a few seconds of exposure.“Hey, wake up! Don’t really die!”

I gingerly approached and nudged his unconscious form.Edgar didn’t budge at all.

It was as if he were dead.

……

“Hey!! Hey hey!! Wake up!! Wake up, damn it!! You can’t die!!”

In a frenzy, I lifted Edgar to prevent him from inhaling more gas.

If he died right now, it would look like I was the one who killed him!!!