Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Mad Dog Aron (2)

The next day, in the Faculty Office of Necropia.

Instructor Dave had Aron summoned separately and seated him in front of his desk.

“Cadet Aron, your final evaluation was decided unanimously by the instructors, including myself. You surpassed Lloyd and took first place. Let me congratulate you first.”

“Thank you.”

“…Is that all?”

“Is there a problem?”

“No, nothing in particular.”

The instructor, who had shown his puzzlement at Aron’s indifferent attitude, soon shook his head.

Yesterday, Aron had overwhelmingly crushed Lloyd and claimed the position of valedictorian.

Normally, given Aron’s usual temperament, he would have sneered that the other cadets were no better than that.

‘He must have been shaken quite a bit by the letter from his father yesterday.’

As an instructor, he had already been given a hint about what was written in the letter sent by the Lord of House Bayonel.

That no one wished to take Aron as a disciple, and that he intended to send him to Saengterminum Academy instead.

The instructor had agreed with the lord’s decision as well.

…At least, he would have, if Aron had not defeated Lloyd in the Graduation Spar and even revealed that he had reached the realm of Triple Class.

“Cadet Aron, have you decided on your future path?”

“Can it really be called a path?”

Aron began to repeat exactly what had been written in his father’s letter.

“……?”

The instructor could not help but be surprised by Aron’s attitude.

Even after hearing that every Black Mage was reluctant to take him as a disciple.

And yet the person hearing those words was simply stating the facts in a flat, emotionless tone, as if he felt nothing at all.

“…For that reason, my father recommended that I enroll in Saengterminum Academy. I also intend to follow his decision.”

“Aren’t you bitter about it?”

The Lord of House Bayonel still did not know what had happened during the Graduation Spar.

If news of what had happened there reached his ears, the way he treated Aron would change drastically.

But even at the instructor’s question, Aron merely shrugged.

“Not really. In fact, I think it worked out well.”

“It worked out well?”

“I have heard that Saengterminum Academy was founded to deal with demons and monsters.”

His reputation had already fallen into the gutter as Mad Dog Aron anyway.

Aron decided to make the most of that fact.

With a faintly cold smile curling at his lips, he said,

“I was curious myself, you see. About just how effective my Black Magic would be against demons and monsters.”

In my previous life, I had been the kind of man whose eyes lit up whenever Black Magic was involved.

If I said it like this, it should keep needless suspicion away.

“It sounds to me as though you are saying you have no need for a master to teach you. Is that correct?”

“That is correct.”

A master, my ass.

What? 

My body might be like this right now, but when it came to handling Black Magic, I had the confidence to say I would not lose to any Black Mage alive.

Having said that much, Aron thought there would be no more annoying discussions about masters.

That was, if only the instructor had not said what he said next.

“Though in that case, someone who wishes to become your master is already on the way here today.”

“…Excuse me?”

The corners of Aron’s lips, which had been faintly rising, froze stiff.

“When I informed them that you had reached the realm of Triple Class, they said they would come at once.”

Wait a second, Instructor.

What did you just say?

“Isn’t… the graduation ceremony tomorrow?”

Necropia’s final rankings were only revealed after the graduation ceremony ended.

That was why he had thought he still had some time.

Unaware of Aron’s inner thoughts, the instructor rubbed the scar on his face with a proud look.

“I may not look it, but I’m a man who survived the war. Let’s just say I still have connections with a decent superior I served under back then.”

How very kind of you.

Aron suppressed the urge to press a hand to his forehead.

This instructor was a veteran who had survived the war that had broken out fifty years ago.

Even now, after all that time had passed since the end of the war, he still maintained ties with the superior he had served under back then.

The problem was that this former superior was no ordinary Black Mage.

“May I ask the name of the person who is coming?”

“You’ll be surprised when you hear it. It’s someone even you would know.”

The moment he heard the name of the Black Mage from the instructor, Aron let out a sigh in his heart.

…Damn it, it really is.

That old hag.

Then Aron casually asked his next question.

“This may be a somewhat delicate question, but could you tell me anything about the ‘Sacred Mark’ that the Holy Empire is keeping strictly confidential?”

“What?”

The moment the words left his mouth, the air in the room turned heavy.

“That is an interesting thing to ask. Have you suddenly taken an interest in the Sacred Mark?”

Wow, just look at those murderous eyes.

Though it hardly needed saying, the relationship between the Dark Empire and the Holy Empire was still just as bad as it had always been.

“It is nothing serious. I was asking from an academic perspective.”

“I suppose that would be the case. The Sacred Mark is treated as top secret even within the Holy Empire……”

The instructor mulled over Aron’s words before speaking.

“Do you know the principle by which the Holy Empire uses Holy Magic?”

“I have heard that Holy Magic can only be cast by refining the mana generated in the heart into holy power.”

“That is true in ordinary cases. But if the one using holy power is a bearer of the Sacred Mark, then it is different. I have heard that the Sacred Mark can provide the bearer with pure holy power directly.”

“Then that means……”

“A bearer of the Sacred Mark can use not only the mana generated in the heart, but also the holy power generated by the Sacred Mark itself. It is because of this absurd characteristic that even the Holy Empire does not reveal who the bearer of the Sacred Mark is. As far as the world knows, only one fact has spread—that there is only a single bearer of the Sacred Mark.”

“Hmm……”

Thinking he had laid enough groundwork, Aron moved on to the main point.

“Then if, by some chance, a bearer of the Sacred Mark learned Black Magic… what do you think would happen?”

Aron phrased his own situation indirectly, and the instructor looked utterly dumbfounded.

“It is hard to imagine such a thing ever happening, but if someone like that truly appeared, would they not have a difficult life in many ways? The Holy Empire treats Black Magic as forbidden magic, and Holy Magic is the natural opposite of Black Magic.”

The instructor stroked his chin and continued.

“They would likely be rejected by both the Holy Empire and the Dark Empire. Depending on the circumstances, their very existence might even be erased.”

“Haha, that is one pitiful bastard.”

Aron laughed hollowly.

‘…That’s me.’

It was the answer he had expected, but hearing it out loud made it sink in all over again.

Whoever it was, he thought, they would have to hide the fact that a Sacred Mark had appeared on them at all costs.

‘If anyone finds out I have a Sacred Mark, I’m seriously screwed.’

***

After saying his goodbyes to the instructor, I walked down the corridor.

The grounds of Necropia, including the hallway I was walking through, were quiet overall. 

Since the graduation ceremony was tomorrow, there were no classes today, so most of the cadets had gone out to enjoy themselves.

‘…Up to this point, things are still similar to the past.’

According to the instructor, the Black Mage who wanted to take me as a disciple would visit Necropia and seek me out sometime today.

‘Things are changing too much from the past. I really do not like the thought of meeting her.’

Originally, I had intended to quietly enter Saengterminum Academy and try learning Holy Magic.

True to its nature as an academy founded to combat demons and monsters, Saengterminum Academy was unusual in that students from the Holy Empire and students from the Dark Empire attended classes in close proximity.

For someone like me, who wanted to learn Holy Magic, it was the ideal place.

‘But will that old hag really let me go so easily?’

At the rate things were going, she would definitely show up before the day was over.

Given her personality, there was no way she would stay still after hearing that I had shown Triple Class during the Graduation Spar.

I was pondering what I should do about what was to come when— I saw a woman walking toward me from the opposite end of the corridor.

She was not wearing a cadet uniform, so she was not a student here.

Step, step, step.

Her light, unhesitating footsteps echoed through the hallway.

Snow-white hair with a soft sheen, and bright violet eyes.

At a glance, she looked about the same age as I was now.

…At a glance, anyway.

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

I knew immediately who she was.

Rienna.

Rienna Baroness.

‘She really got here fast. Damn old hag.’

I turned my back.

‘…Let’s just go.’

There was no need for me to greet her first.

It would be much easier on me in many ways if I simply acted as though I did not know her and passed by.

“Aron Bayonel?”

Damn it.

I had tried to slip past quietly in case she had not noticed me, but no such luck.

I turned my head toward Rienna.

“How hurtful.”

A sudden gust of wind swept past, sending her bangs fluttering.

And before I knew it, she had already come right up in front of me.

…As fast as ever.

So fast that my current self could not even follow her movement with my eyes.

“We only met briefly when you were little, but I had hoped you would still remember me.”

“…….”

Seeing her face from so close up, I blinked in a daze, surprising even myself.

I could not acknowledge her immediately.

Now that I had returned to the past, I knew that woman very well, but from the perspective of this point in time, I had only met her once when I was a child.

Rienna placed a hand over her chest.

“Rienna Baroness. Including you, there is no one in this Dark Empire who does not know my name.”

That statement was not an exaggeration in the slightest.

Honestly, if it had been some other cadet rather than me who learned her identity here, they would have instantly looked like a fan standing before their role model.

“I heard that you have reached the realm of Triple Class. And I was told that you are also highly proficient in handling three different types at once?”

She leaned toward me.

“And for that reason, I would like to make you an interesting offer.”

Her faint violet eyes stared straight at me.

“Become my disciple, Aron Bayonel.”

Her appearance carried a trace of youthful innocence, but the truth was far from that.

A War Hero who had stood at the forefront more than anyone else in stopping the war known as the Argent Great Rift fifty years ago.

The pinnacle among Black Mages, a woman who had reached Master Class through her own strength despite not belonging to one of the Four Houses.

A living legend who, after contracting with the Demon of Eternal Life, had reached the age of two hundred despite being human.

This woman, the one I had called an old hag, was her.

And she was also the person most likely, at present, to realize that I possessed the Sacred Mark.

Even fully aware of that danger—

‘Become my disciple, Aron Bayonel.’

“…Haha.”

Hearing the exact same offer as in my previous life, not a single word different, I felt the corners of my lips curl upward without realizing it.

“It really… is exactly the same as back then.”

“Oh ho, so now you remember me at last? I suppose my face does stay the same no matter how much time passes.”

That was not the reason for my smile, but I nodded as though it were.

Let me introduce her properly again.

Rienna Baroness.

The woman I had called an old hag, and once, my master.

***

On a street near Necropia, with the bitter winter wind blowing.

With only one day left until Necropia’s graduation ceremony, the street visible beyond the window was packed with cadets and visitors, their breath misting in the cold air.

Clink.

I took a sip of the warm cocoa the waiter had brought and glanced back and forth between Rienna and the instructor seated across from me.

“This is astonishing. I had heard your esteemed name many times, Lady Rienna Baroness, but I never imagined you would have such a youthful appearance.”

I already knew that, of course, so it was not all that astonishing, but there was no need to invite suspicion.

“For someone saying that, you seem remarkably calm. After all, you only met me once when you were little.”

“…….”

This is exactly why that old hag makes me uncomfortable.

Having lived for over two hundred years, she had long since mastered the art of seeing straight through other people’s thoughts.

Of course, since I was someone who had returned to the past, I had already prepared an excuse to deflect her suspicions.

I ran a hand over my face.

“Haha, does it look that way? I suppose I am somewhat mentally exhausted after receiving a scolding letter from my father yesterday…….”

“Your father… Rondo Bayonel?”

“Yes. He said that since there was no suitable master to teach Cadet Aron, he would send him to Saengterminum Academy.”

The instructor answered Rienna’s question politely.

Outwardly, they looked like a father and daughter, yet the direction of the honorific speech felt reversed. It gave off a strange impression.

“That fool really did send such a pointless letter. Heh heh, if he learns that his son is about to graduate as Necropia’s valedictorian after reaching Triple Class, he will fall over in shock.”

“Once information about Aron’s Graduation Spar is made public after the ceremony, other Black Mages may try to recruit him as well, but……”

“Is that even worth discussing?”

Rienna smiled as if the idea were laughable.

“I, who have not taken a single disciple in two hundred years, have declared that I will take him as my disciple. What Black Mage would dare object?”

As I watched the instructor and Rienna continue talking, I stared out the window with hollow eyes.

‘I already learned everything there is to learn from you…….’

When it came to Black Magic, I had already learned more than enough before my return, so I had no real need for a master. 

More importantly, there was also the danger that she might discover my Sacred Mark.

…I suppose there is no helping it.

I would just have to make her dislike me.

Clink.

I set down my teacup.

“I am sorry, but Lady Rienna.”

After a brief pause, I continued.

“I have no intention of accepting you as my master.”