Chapter 64

Chapter 64. Terror Attack (1)

“……Thus, for hundreds of years, the countless graduates of the Royal Academy have become a sturdy pillar supporting the kingdom and the royal family. You, too, must devote yourselves fully to your education and follow in the footsteps of your parents and seniors who graduated before you…….”

In the movies and comics I had seen in my previous life, a white-haired old man wearing a pointed hat would usually appear as the headmaster and deliver a magnificent speech. Unfortunately, the headmaster here was not such a splendid old man.

The headmaster of this academy was a tired-looking man somewhere between middle age and old age, with a slight paunch.

They said he was a fairly famous noble in the capital, but at a glance, he was clearly the typical parachute bureaucrat.

Even now, he was continuing an incredibly drowsy speech without end. If he had given this speech at the training ground, dozens of new students would already have fainted.

Some of the students were nodding off, and even the little princess sitting beside me was clearly pinching her thigh.

After quite some time had passed, the headmaster’s speech finally ended, and the people gave him a loud round of applause. Everyone was clearly deeply moved by the fact that the long speech had finally come to an end.

Then came the introductions of the teachers.

A Sage from somewhere came out and introduced himself as the teacher for the common subjects of history and etiquette.

After a royal knight appeared as the teacher of a subject that might have been physical education or military training, the teachers in charge of awakened-ability training introduced themselves.

Men and women who looked like nobles at a glance came out and introduced themselves.

After teachers from some viscount’s house and baronial house gave their greetings, a familiar face came forward and introduced herself.

“This is Lady Katrine de Ratenhamar, who will be in charge of physical awakening.”

At the host’s introduction, murmurs rose from the crowd.

There was no one who did not know House Ratenhamar, and there was no one who did not know that the count’s house was the princess’s maternal family.

Everyone’s gazes turned toward the princess sitting beside me, then swept over the area around her.

Many people’s eyes lit up when they saw Manuel sitting near the princess, but there was not a single person who did not look puzzled when they saw me.

Their gazes poured down on me again. I was dying here. Please, just let this end quickly.

Since suicide was out of the question for the moment, all I could do was pray for the entrance ceremony to end as soon as possible.

After that, there was also a new-student representative pledge and other such procedures, but I sat there blankly, waiting only for the entrance ceremony to finish.

Time passed, and the entrance ceremony that had seemed as though it would continue forever finally ended.

The people cheered, and the students rose from their seats.

And then—

A chill ran up the back of my neck.

“Demonic energy!”

The headmaster, who had been sitting blankly after his speech, shouted, and several of the teachers standing on the platform sprang to their feet and examined the surroundings.

Startled cries rang out, and I felt mana surge from the rear.

At the same time, Katrine threw herself toward us—no, toward the princess—and I reflexively raised my mana.

‘What is this?’

The moment I raised my mana, I understood why I had felt that chill.

The auditorium was filled with a strange energy.

An energy different from mana—no, an energy that seemed like mana strangely transformed—was spreading throughout the hall.

I could not tell where it had begun or when it had reached this point.

No, I did not have time to think.

The moment the headmaster shouted, Katrine launched herself forward, and I raised my mana—

BOOOOOOM!

The energy filling the hall erupted.

A brilliant light filled the hall.

The light turned into heat. A storm of heat filled the hall. I could see the expression on Katrine’s face change as she flew toward us.

I felt the princess flinch.

But all of it was crushed in an instant.

The sensation of my entire body being torn apart and burned.

‘No one inside here can survive this.’

That was the thought that came to me in my final moment.

Then darkness. Then light.

[You have died. Restarting from the autosave point.]

---

When I opened my eyes, I saw the back of the little princess.

And I was just entering the entrance ceremony hall.

The ‘autosave point’ that had just been created.

‘Have I come back to life?’

The moment I realized it, my expression twisted violently. My hands trembled, and I could not breathe.

I stopped at the threshold and braced myself against the wall.

“Fuck, this is awful.”

A curse burst out in Korean for the first time in a long while.

The aftereffects of the terrible pain I had felt when I died still covered my mind completely.

It was because I had not died in any ordinary way.

Fortunately, the princess and Manuel, who had been walking ahead, did not notice. The princess’s attendants and the butler looked puzzled at my signal for them to keep going, but they simply followed the two of them.

That was a relief. Being ignored was useful at times like this.

After entering through the doorway, I leaned against the wall and drew in deep breaths.

In any case, it was phantom pain. It was only mental suffering. I had to calm it down as quickly as possible and focus on the present situation.

It was a method I had learned in my own way while dying over and over. I took deep breaths and circulated a small amount of mana.

The pain gradually subsided. I could not quite tell whether it was truly fading or whether I was simply growing accustomed to it, but either way, it was slowly becoming bearable.

Once I came to my senses, another curse slipped out.

Thanks to the absurd save point that had been created a few hours before my death, there was not much time left until the moment I would die.

Right now, I did not even know what had happened or what kind of situation this was.

‘A natural disaster? A bomb? A mistake? An experiment? A terror attack?’

For now, I could not tell which it was.

‘In any case, this happened inside this building, so if I get out of here…….’

I continued that thought up to that point, then had no choice but to let out a sigh.

If I avoided the incident alone and everyone in the hall died—

‘That means I will have to handle the horrific aftermath by myself.’

Manuel would die, countless nobles and noble children would die, and it would become the academy’s first large-scale bombing incident.

On top of that, the biggest problem was that the princess had just gone inside.

Everyone in the royal palace would surely know that I had been summoned by the Queen and had met the princess. The Queen certainly knew.

But if I alone survived after that—

Naturally, I would be accused of murdering royalty.

The ducal house would also be thrown into chaos, and even if the charges were cleared, suspicion would be unavoidable.

At best, I would be assassinated. At worst, I would be hanged.

‘Damn it. Running away is out.’

Even in the worst-case scenario, I had to save the princess and bring her out.

No, I had to save Manuel as well.

And Katrine too…….

Haah. It seemed easier to just find the cause of the explosion and stop it.

Escaping alone was the last resort. First, I had to find the cause.

At the same time, a sigh naturally slipped out.

“It will be difficult to get through this without dying.”

There was far too little time to finish it in one attempt.

---

The strange energy that had blown up the entrance ceremony hall. It had definitely been similar to mana.

‘The headmaster noticed it first.’

He had looked like an ordinary stuffy middle-aged man, but it seemed he had the ability worthy of being headmaster after all.

I had noticed it in a similar way as well.

However, before I raised my mana, all I felt was a chill on the back of my neck.

‘So I can feel it if I raise my mana…….’

I had raised it too late, so I had not noticed when or where it began.

‘Then all I have to do is raise my mana ahead of time.’

Oh, a decent idea came to me right away. I might be a fake genius, but it seemed my head was not entirely bad.

“Are you all right?”

When I sat beside the princess a little late, she looked at my face and spoke quietly.

It seemed my expression had been rather stiff.

I rubbed my face once with both hands.

“I think I am a little nervous.”

I answered with a smile.

At my words, Manuel looked at me with a strange expression, but I ignored him and slowly raised my mana.

If I raised too much, the knights and nobles would make a fuss, so I did it little by little and kept it faint.

As I focused on mana like that, the ceremony began.

Several procedures passed, and after the headmaster’s address ended, the teachers were introduced.

After several teachers had been introduced, Katrine came forward.

TAP.

A hand settled on my shoulder.

I flinched.

Who? I had not sensed any presence.

I heard breathing near my ear, followed by a low voice.

“Did you not hear the precautions? Your manipulation ability is excellent, but using it during the entrance ceremony is discourteous. That is a demerit, Student Alex. Receiving a demerit during the entrance ceremony is quite rare.”

It was a quiet voice. It sounded ordinary, but a chill ran down my spine as I listened.

There was power contained in his words. I did not know whether he was an ability user or a knight, but he was clearly no ordinary person.

And he could give a student a demerit. He was definitely a teacher.

I felt the teachers and the headmaster looking at me. Even Katrine.

Mm. I was marked. Definitely marked.

To think there was a teacher who could sense such faint mana. Unexpectedly, this academy might be a terrifying place.

Manuel clicked his tongue, and the princess’s expression also looked displeased.

At this rate, whether things went well or not, I might have to restart again.

The teacher who had warned me walked away.

Perhaps he was not a teacher who taught classes, because he went to a corner of the auditorium and stood there separately.

He was an ordinary man in his thirties with blond hair.

Another person I was curious about had appeared, but now was not the time to pay attention to him.

Since things had already turned out this way, I reduced my mana a little more and raised it again.

I immediately saw the blond-haired teacher’s eyebrow twitch.

Mm. At this rate, if things went well, I might be expelled right after the entrance ceremony ended.

Still, he did not come back to me. I did not know whether it was because he had already warned me once, or because it was not enough for him to come and warn me again.

Either way, it did not matter. This time, I had already resolved to die.

‘It hurts terribly, though.’

Frowning at the pain that was to come, I examined my surroundings.

The movements of mana. The appearances of the people.

Time passed, and eventually, the moment when I had died came again.

“With this, the Royal Academy entrance ceremony comes to an end.”

The moment the host’s words ended—

I found it.

I was able to discover the place where the strange energy that had caused the explosion was pouring out.

---

[You have died. Restarting from the autosave point.]

The back of the princess was visible before my eyes.

Once again, I had returned from death.

I leaned against the wall and inhaled.

‘If this repeats a few more times, my mind will not be able to endure it.’

The pain of dying was too great, and the intervals were too short.

After only two deaths, I was already feeling my limit. If this happened only one or two more times, I might have no choice but to give up on dying.

‘Still, it was not a useless death.’

Shortly before the explosion occurred, I had learned where the energy that created the explosion had begun.

It was an unexpected place, and it was a moment that once again made me feel that this world was different from my previous one.

Phew. The pain gradually subsided.

I came to my senses and looked around.

There were a few people watching me with strange expressions. However, most people were not paying much attention to me.

‘Then, shall I move?’

I straightened myself, concealed my expression, and headed toward the seats where the princess and Manuel were sitting.