Chapter 46

Chapter : 46

The festival opened.

It was that time of year when people wandered the streets in daylight, buying grilled skewers to eat, then watched fireworks at night and even danced in the square.

When I looked up, the sky was clear without a single cloud, and a soft breeze was blowing. It was perfect weather for spending time outdoors.

From what I heard, Navier had made plans with Kartea, and the rest of them seemed not to care at all whether a festival was being held or not. I was the same.

In a few days, the Academy term would end and vacation would begin. I would be returning to my family.

A great deal had changed in what, viewed one way, had only been a short span of time. I had changed most of all. I had grown much stronger. As long as I kept clear of a few monsters, I was now at a level where I could go anywhere without needing to stare wide-eyed in fear.

And I had gained people I might even call friends. Ian had been one of them before he left the Academy, and I had built friendly relationships with Navier and Agares as well. I doubted I was the only one who saw it that way.

Perhaps he had hidden something delicious away in his territory, because Agares prepared to return home faster than anyone else. Before leaving, he came to my room to say farewell.

“We’ll all be returning to our territories soon.”

“Yes, that’s right. I want to go home as soon as possible.”

“You remember our agreement, I trust? In exchange for my overlooking that mage, you promised to help me.”

“Of course. How could I possibly forget? Naturally I remember.”

“You’ll have matters of your own to deal with in your territory as well, so I’ll give you a generous deadline of one month. Come to the North within a month.”

One month. Just as Agares said, it was generous. I readily accepted the considerate offer.

“Yes. I’ll do that.”

“Then I’ll be waiting in the North. Dress warmly when you come. Even in summer, the snow in the North never melts.”

“Yes. I’ll see you then.”

After Agares left, I began packing my own things.

As I sorted through clothes and various belongings, it struck me that I really had lived diligently all this time. There were only a few simple changes of clothing, since I hadn’t cared in the slightest for social occasions, and a handful of tools I needed for training.

I finished packing quickly, then went out to the training grounds to say goodbye to Katarina. The moment she saw me, she said,

“Don’t just laze around because it’s vacation. Keep training too... No, never mind. It’s vacation, so instead of swinging a sword all day on the parade ground, meet people too, and get some rest. They say rest is training as well.”

“I always rest enough. Enough not to interfere with the next day’s training.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. I mean actually go have some fun. With people your own age.”

“Yes. I do spend time with others now and then. What do you plan to do, Lady Katarina?”

“Train.”

“That’s rather...”

“I’m old, aren’t I? And besides, there’s another lunatic obsessed with swordsmanship, and if I want to beat him, I have to keep training.”

She meant the commander of the White Lion Knights.

In the Original Work, he was a character who appeared only by name and never in person. He existed because if there had only been a single knight who reached Sword Master, it would have made the world feel too sparse.

“I understand. Then I hope you spend the vacation well too, Lady Katarina. I’ll see you after the term begins again.”

“Right. I’ll see you then. Don’t get hurt before you come back.”

And off to one side of the training ground, Leo was swinging his sword. Sweat was pouring off him, yet he paid no attention to the people coming and going around him. I went over and spoke to him.

“It’s vacation now, so what are you planning to do?”

“Ah, I think I’ll stay here at the Academy as I am. Even if I return to my family home, there’s no one I particularly want to see and nothing I need to do there. I’d rather remain here and sharpen my swordsmanship. Ah, if it wouldn’t trouble you, would you spar with me one last time?”

“All right. Let’s keep it short.”

I wasn’t wearing training clothes, and I didn’t want to work up a sweat. I evaded Leo’s sword, knocked it aside, and tagged him, ending things at once.

Leo seemed vexed that he had lost in the blink of an eye. After greeting me, he turned away and pounded the floor several times.

My last stop was the Alchemy Club. Gilbert was out on business, and Bishot was experimenting alone. When she saw me, she only gave me a light greeting with her eyes before focusing on her instruments again.

“It’s vacation. What are you planning to do?”

“I want to make the medicine as quickly as possible. I think I’ll remain here at the Academy and continue my research.”

“You’re working hard.”

“I’m doing it because I want to.”

She looked busy, so I took the hint and left.

It seemed I had now met everyone I needed to see before leaving, so I headed straight for the dormitory. The sun was already sinking. A reddish sunset stained the sky, and looking at it naturally made me hungry, so I filled my stomach in the dormitory dining hall.

By the time I stepped back outside, the sun had set. A few stars glimmered in the darkening sky.

It was then, while I was returning to the dormitory again.

BOOM!

A firework burst in the sky.

It was more plain than the ones I had seen in the modern world. The shell shot into the air, then exploded and scattered sparks in every direction, glittering.

The fireworks continued rising into the sky one after another after that first burst, then exploding.

Navier had probably eaten skewers today, and likely spent the day pleasantly with Kartea. By now, she was probably watching the fireworks with him.

Thinking that made me decide that next time the festival came around, I absolutely had to eat grilled skewers too.

---

On the way home by carriage, I watched the scenery rush past outside through the small window.

It’s finally over.

Life at the Academy had been one long chain of tension. There had been several people there who could kill me, and simply breathing the same air as them was an enormous strain.

After a few weeks, I had removed most of the major dangers, but I still hadn’t been able to relax completely. That was why I had always remained aware of my surroundings and kept watch. I always say it, but one never knows what might happen in people’s affairs, and a single mistake could invite danger.

Now, even that was finally over.

What should I do once I get home? Should I try cooking? Yes, that’s it. I’ll make bright red tteokbokki. It’s not as though chili peppers exist only in Korea.

Back in the Joseon era, people ate pure white kimchi because chili powder didn’t exist. Kimchi only turned red after chili peppers were introduced through Japan. If I could just find peppers, then the rest of the ingredients ought to work. I should ask around the neighboring territories and see if anyone grows them.

There’s no soy sauce, so I’ll make a rich stock with anchovies... and since it’ll be hard to make gochujang, I’ll draw sweetness out of sautéed vegetables... No, would vegetables alone really be enough? Then should I add honey?

By the time I finished wondering how exactly I ought to make tteokbokki, I had arrived at my territory.

My home.

My sanctuary.

As I climbed down from the carriage, I straightened my shoulders proudly. My goal at the Academy had only been to repair my relationship with Bishot and prevent her from ending up with the other male leads. Yet in the process, I had still achieved several things that looked impressive from the outside.

First of all, my grades.

I took first place in the Swordsmanship Department. For a noble who already owned a territory, that would have been no more than a small boast, but House Isaac revered swordsmanship. And if the person who took first place carried the surname Isaac, then it was no mere small boast but something enormously worth boasting of.

Next were my elective grades.

Since I had taken only courses that were easy to score well in, there were full marks everywhere, and by average GPA alone, my record ranked among the best in the entire Academy.

And finally, I had become a Sword Expert.

That achievement made the previous two seem trivial. I still fell short of a true Sword Expert who could wield Sword Aura perfectly, but I could at least use a technique that deserved to be called Sword Aura.

There was no one my age who had reached Expert, and only a few talented people had reached it at an age three or four years older than mine.

To others, I would look like a genius.

That alone was enough to tear apart my formerly narrow footing within the family and my poor reputation. And that was not merely my own impression. Look at Koromang opening the front gate. Wasn’t her face positively shining? She looked as though light might burst from it.

“Welcome back.”

It seemed Koromang had been waiting at the gate, because she greeted me the moment I arrived.

“It’s been a while.”

“Yes. You’ve worked hard all this time.”

Exchanging greetings with Koromang, I stepped inside the estate.

---

“He’s back. What are you going to do?”

“What do you mean, what am I going to do? I’ll have to try. I don’t want to drag this out any longer. I’ll confirm with my own hands whether he’s really become an Expert.”

“And if the article was true?”

At Evelyn’s words, Jericho fell silent. In the past, he would have dismissed it outright, insisting there was no way such a thing could be true, but as time passed, even he had begun to feel that something was wrong.

Katarina valued honor. Yet she had announced through the papers that Raphael had reached Expert. If that article were false, then Katarina’s honor would be stained.

If Katarina had allowed it, then wasn’t it possible Raphael truly had become an Expert?

No. That’s impossible.

Raphael had been a fool. A talentless dullard, slower than others, a worm that never even worked hard. Jericho remembered clearly how Raphael had lived in the manor.

That same man had supposedly been a genius faster than anyone else all along, and at the Academy, he had supposedly worked hard and reached Expert at a young age?

Impossible. Impossible! It can’t be true! It can’t happen!

Jericho had always worked hard. He had been told over and over that he had talent. If one measured by the sweat he had shed, he was confident he had done dozens, hundreds of times more than Raphael ever had. And yet the realm of Expert had remained far away.

You can’t reach Expert before I do!

Jericho had always worked hard.

After hearing that Raphael had taken first place in the Swordsmanship Department, he had worked even harder. After seeing the article claiming Raphael had become an Expert, he had driven himself so fiercely it felt as though he were setting his own body on fire.

“Even if... even if that bastard really has become an Expert, I’m still going to face him.”

At Jericho’s answer, Evelyn rested her chin on her hand and responded a beat late, sounding utterly uninterested.

“Fine. Then do that.”

Evelyn despised those who recognized something was the wrong answer and yet still kept moving toward it. If they knew it was futile, if they knew it was foolish, why refuse to stop?

She truly could not understand it.

And yet, knowing how many years Jericho had poured his effort into this, there was no stopping him now.

If Raphael had become stronger than Jericho, and Jericho simply gave up, then what meaning would all the sweat he had shed until now hold?

“A sword has no eyes. It’s as common as grains of sand for a lesser fighter to defeat a master.”

Evelyn did not bother pointing out that Jericho had already referred to Raphael as the stronger fighter and himself as the lesser.

Instead, she felt that the time had come not merely to watch, but to move herself.