Silence fell over the Academy Knight School's practical placement-test grounds.
The sand of the training ground trembling in the spring breeze, the target dummies crying out for oil.
And every one of the countless freshmen gathered there could only stare blankly at one place.
At Professor Pontius's wooden sword, which had flown away in a clean arc, and at the person who had sent it flying.
“You said your name was Lloyd Schultz? Yes, with skills like that, I can see why you were so bold at the entrance ceremony.”
Professor Pontius laughed heartily in admiration.
“Did he just disarm him with an upward swing?”
“How strong are his wrists......?”
“He disarmed Professor Pontius, formerly of the Imperial Guard, with a single strike?”
The freshmen gathered at the practical-test site murmured among themselves.
'This bastard......'
I was surprised too.
“Number 22, you pass!”
“......Thank you.”
“The rest of you freshmen, work harder. The Knight School is without question the Academy's finest school!”
“Yes, Professor!”
The moment I swung upward, Professor Pontius had taken all the strength out of his hand.
Professor Stenopoma Pontius of the Academy Knight School had once been a knight in the Imperial Guard.
He had learned to use Aura earlier than his peers, and at a far stronger level, and he was even handsome.
His future had been a wide-open road, smooth as a painting.
Until he was banished to the Academy because of the envy and jealousy of peers who begrudged his talent.
'Is it my fault those losers couldn't seduce the maids at the Imperial Palace?'
Rather than blow his salary in a red-light district where anyone could come and go.
He had merely exchanged glances—and gestures—with fellow Imperial Palace employees whose faces he knew and whose backgrounds were certain.
The heartless commander of the Imperial Guard gave him a choice: dismissal or assignment to the Academy.
He had no noble acquaintances he could rely on if he were immediately thrown out of the Imperial Guard.
Thus, Pontius had no choice but to become a professor of the Academy Knight School against his will.
'I knew people called it a dumping ground, but I never knew it was this bad.'
The Academy was filled with students so severely underqualified it was almost ridiculous.
That went without saying for Classes B and C, but even in Class A, where only the best students were gathered, all but a few were not rewarding to teach.
Naturally, Pontius could practically see himself ten years, twenty years from now.
If meaningless time continued to pass and he reached an age when he could not even teach anymore, it would all simply be over.
He would tip back bottle after bottle because opportunities were not given to him, and opportunities would not come because he kept tipping back bottles.
Like those ordinary peers whom his arrogant younger self had mocked—men who could coat a sword in Aura yet had no way to use it.
His future was to become an apathetic mediocrity waiting only for the day he died.
'But who knew a lifeline would come to me on its own?'
Lloyd Schultz.
That was the name of the golden lifeline that would pull Pontius out of this dumping ground.
When he heard that Lloyd had delivered an unrestrained speech at the entrance ceremony, he simply laughed it off.
Every year, one or two strange freshmen inevitably showed up.
But when he personally witnessed from a distance Lloyd being summoned by the Emperor, and then confirmed that the Lloyd who had been summoned returned unharmed.
Pontius's heart pounded more fiercely than it ever had before.
'He was summoned by an Emperor who would've become a Swordmaster long ago if suspicion were Aura, and he came back safe? There's definitely something there!'
Others might not know it, but as a former member of the Imperial Guard, he could be sure.
Whatever method he had used, Lloyd had earned the Emperor's recognition.
If he could somehow form a connection with Lloyd, returning proudly to the Imperial Guard would not be an empty dream.
The problem was how.
How could Pontius form a connection with Lloyd?
The answer came unexpectedly easily.
'I'm a Knight School professor, and Lloyd is a student.'
He would favor Lloyd with the authority granted to a professor. No, even if it meant abusing that authority!
Fortunately, Pontius was a professor in the Knight School, the Academy's most popular school.
Occasionally, foolish bastards with no sense of coordination would say, “Still, the Magic School produces the Academy's best graduates.”
But that was only because their bodies were bad, so their heads had to suffer.
Since Lloyd was a man too, rather than clutching some dried-up staff and muttering spells like an old man on the verge of choking to death.
(Astonishingly, sometimes they even fail their chants.)
He would surely prefer to don brilliantly polished plate armor, load Aura into a sword, and split a monster's skull in two.
- Number 22, Lloyd Schultz.
Pontius vowed with all his strength that he would bombard him with A-pluses, whatever it took.
If he did, Lloyd would choose the Knight School the instant he advanced to his second year, and Pontius could naturally begin angling for a return to the Imperial Guard.
'The nerve to charge without hesitation at an adult holding a weapon, even if it is only a practice wooden sword......'
Unlike the other freshmen, Lloyd even had considerable presence.
Presence was inborn; it was one of the virtues hardest to teach afterward.
Even if one was born with it, it was an even rarer talent for a weaker person not to lose that presence before a stronger one.
Though that upward swing from a low position was a slightly regrettable choice from the perspective of a knight who had been in the Imperial Guard.
Pontius had resolved to let himself be hit even if Lloyd chose a mindless thrust.
'Lloyd, I'll get you into the Knight School no matter what it takes.'
Suppressing the corners of his lips before they could rise, Pontius completely relaxed the hand holding his wooden sword.
Bang!
The wooden sword flying away with a cheerful sound looked exactly like his own life, about to take flight once again.
'What a beautiful afternoon this is, could it not be?'
Pontius: the magnificent second act of his life begins!
***
They say the lion, king of beasts, gives its all even when hunting a rabbit.
And at the practical placement-test site, Pontius was practically the king of kings, a god among gods.
The freshmen who came out after me were beaten with Pontius's wooden sword so thoroughly that even the word miserable was not enough.
The freshmen who were broken that way returned to their places looking at me as though I were a monster no less terrifying than Pontius.
Except for one person.
“......Whew. Thank you for your instruction.”
“Good. Freshman Number 37, you did well too.”
Only a female student who had pulled her long hair into a tight ponytail barely managed to pass the test.
For some reason, she glared at me for a moment before turning her gaze away.
No, I thought it was strange too, you know?
Though my software had received the (forced) Strong Friend Republic of Korea Army patch.
Lloyd Schultz's hardware was not all that different from Academy freshmen who were, at most, middle- or high-school age.
If anything, it would be fair to say he was inferior to some freshmen who had likely trained as knights since childhood.
Even I could not easily guess why Pontius had deliberately let me win.
Me, integrity itself, getting tangled up in something resembling private-school corruption? It was unfair, unfair!
There may be unprovoked attacks in politics, but there is no unprovoked favoritism.
If one happens, it is a trap. Jang Pil-woo had not taken off his watch in front of the secretary who brought him just anything for nothing.
Therefore, either it was a trap, or he wanted something from me.
One of the two was certain.
“Then, the next fresh— What? We're all done.”
No matter how generously I tried to think of it, I had no choice but to view Pontius's intentions through dark-colored glasses.
Even if I formed a sound “cooperative relationship” with him, I had to be the one leading it; this arrangement would be a problem.
It seemed I would need to make time later and speak with him privately.
“Hm....... Normally, the test would end here, but.”
While I was briefly thinking.
Pontius lightly clapped his hands to draw the freshmen's attention.
“Unexpectedly, two of you passed, so I will conduct an additional evaluation.”
“An additional evaluation?”
“What? The Knight School placement test has two evaluations?”
The training ground rippled at the sudden announcement of an additional evaluation.
Unconcerned, Pontius picked up a blunt-tipped practice spear.
“You all know that the purpose of the practical placement test is to rank freshmen.”
Screeeeech.
He began drawing a suitably sized circle in the sandy floor of the wide training ground.
“The fact that two people passed is a most fortunate occasion, but which of them ranks higher has yet to be decided.”
At last, a circle slightly smaller than a Korean wrestling ring was completed.
“Therefore....... We should have a one-on-one, shouldn't we?”
Pontius pointed his practice spear at me, and then at Freshman Number 37.
“Ooh......”
Sighs of relief at not having to see Pontius's merciless evaluation twice spread among the freshmen.
“I think Number 22 will win.”
“Come on, honestly, Number 22 just got lucky. Judging only by the swordsmanship he showed, Number 37 has the advantage.”
“Hehe, certainly, every other school uses relative evaluation. So the Knight School filters people once by absolute evaluation, then conducts relative evaluation.”
Before long, they gathered in little groups around the circle and started predicting the outcome of the match between Number 37 and me.
Of course, I was not aiming for first place in the first place.
'From what I saw just now, her movements weren't ordinary......'
I had just witnessed the martial prowess of Freshman Number 37, who had deflected left and right Pontius's sword strikes as he half-butchered freshmen with his wooden sword, and even succeeded in counterattacking from time to time.
“Professor Pontius, I am a kni—”
I immediately raised my hand to withdraw neatly, but.
“The rules are simple!”
“Pardon?”
“As in the previous evaluation, the winner is the person who disarms the opponent or knocks them out of the circle.”
For some reason, Pontius hurriedly added the rules and cut off my words.
“But remember that, since this is only a placement test and a mock duel, injuring your opponent will also result in disqualification.”
He added a safety clause of his own, then gave me a light nod.
“......?”
From the fact that he had deliberately let me win the placement test to his attitude that seemed to subtly favor me.
While I stood still for a moment, trying to gauge Pontius's intentions.
“......”
Freshman Number 37 silently but solemnly took her place on the opposite side of the circle first.
“Maya, fighting!”
“Number 22, don't lose! I bet today's lunch money on you!”
“How about a thrilling draw to split the pot?!”
“Send Number 37 flying just like you did the professor!”
The freshmen surrounding the circle began letting out irresponsible cheers.
And because of that, my instinct, which had been asleep for a moment.
'Ah, is that it.'
The greedy beast of an instinct called “politician,” which craved the cheers of voters, woke up.
I liked their voices.
Whenever the orchestra of the crowd chanted my name, my spine trembled and my heart throbbed.
I loved the wealth, fame, and power they would give me.
And above all.
This desire was the driving force of my life.
It was a solid anchor for my soul, holding my selfhood against the terror of death that was the pancreatic cancer slowly eating away at me.
So what was I to do?
I had no choice but to meet their expectations.
But I must not give them everything they wanted all at once.
Then they would no longer cry out my name.
Politicians did not fail to keep promises because they were shameless, but because keeping them would leave voters “satisfied.” The principle was the same.
“Professor Pontius. I ask just in case.”
“Hm?”
Therefore, if what they wanted was my victory.
I would never show them a complete victory.
“May I use any weapon here?”
“Well, yes. Whether it's a wooden sword or a wooden spear, use whatever you please.”
At the same time, I was not without some curiosity.
How much was possible with this body now?
As a proud warrior of the Sacred Light Orphanage, I could distinctly feel my competitive spirit stirring my heart like fading embers.
“Thank you for confirming that.”
When I moved into position, the freshmen fell silent as if they had made a promise.
Refined stillness inside the small circle on the training ground.
Wind carrying both the scent that announced spring and the dusty taste of sand.
And Freshman Number 37, who aimed her sword at me without wavering.
The moment my eyes met hers in those calm eyes.
“Mock duel, begin!”
Pontius's hearty declaration shattered the silence.