Academy’s Genius Swordsman

＜ 149. Audience (1) ＞

#149

A white mountain mist was flowing along the ridge. The morning air was humid. The spring rain that seeped through the trees was knocking on the raincoat.

The sky was brighter than before leaving Phileon. The mist rising over the wet soil was thick with the scent of blood. Ronan looked around and spat out a swear word.

“Fuck…”

The sleepiness that had remained, even in a small amount, was completely gone. Memories from a few hours ago floated on the water. It was early in the morning when Ronan heard the news.

It was in the middle of a deep sleep for the decisive battle with Schlieffen. Suddenly, the door to the dormitory burst open, and a familiar voice echoed through the room.

– Ronan. get up

– ···Instructor?

Ronan shook his head. Nabirose was standing at the doorway. Looking at her with a dreary vision, she was wearing a combat uniform.

There was no apology for waking up or trespassing. There, Ronan realized the seriousness of the situation. He shook his head to shake off his sleep and opened his mouth.

– What happen?

– There was an intelligence that the Dawning Unit had been destroyed. I’m here to let you know because I think you might be interested.

Ronan’s eyes widened. The Dawning Unit was one of the special organizations of the Imperial Army in charge of Nebula Clazier. The Beast Forces led by Jaifa were also part of it.

– Wait.

Ronan, having finished preparing in one minute, left the room. Fortunately, the site was located not far from the islands. An eerie drizzle still wet the dark campus. Two men in raincoats got on horses…

.

“It’s terrible.”

“ah.”

Nabi Rose, who was watching the scene from the side, clicked his tongue. Ronan’s consciousness returned to reality. He shook his head in agreement.

“Iknow, right.”

Ronan tried to breathe only through his mouth as much as possible. The moment he inhaled through his nose, the smell of blood made him feel dizzy.

There were corpses everywhere. The pieces of meat that had not yet lost their color were spitting out dark red blood. There were ninety or so corpses that looked beyond the trees, filling the void between the trees.

Imperial soldiers in thick armor were carrying bodies on stretchers. All victims were members of the Dawning Unit. Humans made up about 70%, and the remaining 30% were men who doubled in size.

The fortunate thing was that the bodies were in good condition. There was nothing ripped or ripped apart. Thanks to this, there seemed to be no problem in identifying the identity.

‘Damn it.’

Ronan clenched it. The reality of having to be relieved by such facts is even more disgusting. He mumbled as if he was sighing.

“It doesn’t look like you have anything to do with it.”

“Bye-woo-woong….”

Sita, who was crouching on Ronan’s head, lowered her head. I brought it here to see if anyone was still alive, but it was a no-brainer. Those who were not present were the only survivors.

First, I had to figure out the circumstances. Nairobi seemed to have had the same thought. As she looked around, she gestured to the man giving instructions to the soldiers.

“Hey, look at me for a second.”

“Well?”

The man tilted his head. Seeing that he was wearing an officer’s raincoat, he looked quite high in rank. Recognizing Nabi Rose, he took a breath.

“···Ugh!”

A man in a raincoat ran over here. Looking at the pattern engraved on the epaulet, it was a lieutenant colonel. Standing facing Nabirose, he saluted.

“Oh, have you come, Nabirose-sama? If you had contacted me, I would have even gone out to meet you…!”

“done. Rather, I would like to hear an explanation of the situation.”

“Yeah, yep…! I’ll tell you what I know. But we also discovered that it was already finished, so so much information…”

The major continued to stutter. Seeing that his complexion had turned white, he looked quite nervous. Once again, I felt the position of Nabirose.

“It was discovered by soldiers on reconnaissance exactly two hours ago. It is believed that he was ambushed while gathering for a night operation or meeting.”

“That’s plausible. It looks like some of the Jaipa Turgung’s members are mixed in. Where’s that cat? Did it happen?”

“Go, it’s a cat… Swordsman was active separately at the time of the incident. I left the scene a while ago, leaving a message to find the culprit.”

Nabirose frowned upon hearing the word Swordsman. Confused, the lieutenant colonel shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t seem like the type of person who was very good at military life.

Ronan took off the raincoat that covered his head. When I washed my face with cold rain water, my hair seemed to clear up a bit. He said looking back at Nabirose.

“I will look for it myself.”

“Yes.”

“Sita, look for any survivors in the air.”

“Byeah!”

Sita spread her four wings and flew away. I had to find a clue first. Ronan stepped out slowly. With every step he took, the swollen earth was crushed and blood gushed out.

‘Have you just decided to leave? Why did this happen all of a sudden?’

Judging by the gleaming mana remaining throughout the scene, it seemed obvious that it was Nebula Clazier’s work. However, I couldn’t figure out why he suddenly took such an unconventional move. Had I walked twenty steps? A corpse with a familiar face caught my eye.

‘That bear….’

It was impressive that the size of an adult male was doubled up, down, left and right. It was the Wear Bear who brought Asher to the time he encountered Jaifa. The way he was soothing Asher was still good to his ears.

‘It was true that Jaifa’s troops were also involved.’

Ronan licked his lips. It was hard to imagine how angry that tiger would be, who was terrified of its beastly compatriots. Suddenly, his gaze fell on Wearbear’s neck.

A long cut crossed the middle of his neck. If he saw the cut to the neck bone at once, he would have died without feeling any pain. Ronan, feeling a strange sense of dizziness, narrowed his eyes.

‘This···.’

It was such a cold sword that it gave me goosebumps. Even a hundred people who kill cattle for their livelihood were more likely to slash the head of the cow emotionally than this. I don’t know who lived where he did this, but it was clear that he had never laughed or cried in his life.

‘Damn, what are you doing?’

Ronan hurriedly began examining the other corpses as well. In most cases, only one wound remained on a single body.

Ronan, who was examining the forty-third corpse, frowned. All the sword marks had an extremely similar feeling. Even if they were all wielded by the same person, it was believable.

‘One person killed so many people? No… it’s subtly different.’

However, if you look closely, you can see very small differences. Yes, there were two or three people, so it was shocking, no different from one person.

However, there was something even more shocking. The basic shape of the sword marks was too familiar.

Ronan smirked as he held his face until his hair pricked his cornea. It didn’t take long for him to figure out the true nature of the sense of dizziness.

“under.”

it was undoubtedly It was a sword based on the savior’s swordsmanship. However, the feeling was different from that of a savior or a robber. Should it be more concise and emotionless? Rather, it felt similar to the swordsmanship of Nabirose.

‘Something is definitely going on.’

Ronan did his best to find further clues. However, with the exception of sparkling mana, nothing worthy of being called a trace remained. After some search, he carried the body along with the soldiers.

“Your face is familiar… Ho, isn’t it Ronan-sama who just finished winter?”

“Right. Can you pick me up over there?”

“No, it’s an honor to meet you!”

“I want you to pick up my head.”

The wind blew from the bottom of the mountain swept through the wet forest. The search for the body was finished at noon. The spring rain had already stopped. Ronan said as he lit a cigarette lighter.

“In the end, I couldn’t find anything.”

“Stop smoking.”

“Look just once. How can you endure seeing something like this?”

Ronan rebelled against Nabirose for the first time. She didn’t say anything more, to some extent understandable. Nabi Rose, who looked at the bloodstains with her hand in her pocket, grabbed Ronan’s cigarette and put it in her mouth.

“Uh, Instructor?”

“Haah… damn it.”

Nabi Rose took a sip and exhaled smoke. It was clear that his posture was unusual, and he lived with it in his mouth when he was young. White smoke was scattered in the air. After taking three sips and spitting it out, she returned the pipe.

“Northern Hartawei Army. What are you doing while you are still young?”

“It’s my only luxury. I don’t have any other money to spend.”

“Good job. It’s the most disappointing thing about the lack of results compared to other things.”

Nabirose clicked his tongue. The clouds receded, revealing a blue sky. There was still a thick smell of blood coming up from the bloodstains that remained along the slope. Ronan said looking back at Sita.

“Sita.”

“Bye!”

Sita spread her four wings. All the blood that had percolated on the ground rose in the form of drops and was absorbed into Sita’s body. The absorption capacity seemed to have increased almost several times compared to two years ago. The soldiers shed admiration over and over again at the amazing sight. By the time most of the blood had been absorbed.

“…?”

“what’s the matter?”

Suddenly, Sita tilted her head. A red magic circle was drawn in front of Sita’s snout, who was quickly looking around. Ronan’s eyes widened.

“This···!”

A red path was creeping in front of the magic circle and was being created. I remember seeing it in Gran Cappadocia in the past. Clearly, it was a magic that chased after the survivors by chasing bloodstains.

Sita and Ronan’s eyes met. Sita spread her wings and took off. At about the same time, Ronan got up and started running down the road.

“Damn it, I’m coming!”

“Ronan?”

Ronan ran without looking back. Twigs and leaves brushed his cheeks. The splashing mud soiled the trousers.

The road didn’t last as long as expected. Sita stopped in front of a huge old tree. It was a really big tree. A sobbing sound could be heard from under an old tree that looked like it had been lying down a hundred years ago.

The red road was cut off in front of the old tree. Apparently there were survivors down here. Ronan rolled up his sleeves and pushed the tree.

“Ugh!”

it was terribly heavy. In the end, Ronan, who switched the power source, used Baren’s aura. A golden energy rose above his arm, and his muscles expanded.

Everything was good, but the problem was that my strength had improved too much. Aww! Ronan’s body leaned forward at the same time as it flew away like an old tree.

“Huh?!”

Ronan’s eyes widened. A huge pit was dug under the old tree. Ronan rolled down the slope as it was.

Whoops! He stopped as he bumped into something soft and damp. A mixture of the smell of animals and the smell of blood wafted out. Ronan raised his head and frowned.

“you are···!”

“Ah…aa…

A wear lion was crouching to its fullest. It looked like a lioness because it had no mane. A moan was coming out of her mouth.

“Bye.”

Sita landed on Ronan’s head. Recognizing Wear Lion, Ronan raised an eyebrow. It must have been Major Nemea, who served as the lieutenant of Jaifa.

“···it’s okay?”

“Ahhh.”

She didn’t seem to notice Ronan was here either. I’ve never seen a Wear Lion so terrified. The shiny hair was wet with blood and rainwater and turned into a mop.

“Damn, this is not the time. Come here.”

Ronan, who was hastily rummaging through his pockets, pulled out a glass bottle. It was Baren’s special potion that he carried for regular expenses. If it was combined with Sita’s healing, it would have been able to cure any serious injury.

Ronan was approaching cautiously. At that moment, the major, who felt his popularity, raised his head. The two’s eyes met. Suddenly, the major pulled back the hairs all over his body.

“Wow, snow! Those eyes…!”

“Yes?”

“Kuh-huh! Don’t come any closer!”

The major let out a roar. Ronan tried to calm him down, but in vain. Back to the dead end, she raised her nails and started scratching the wall. I could hear people approaching overhead.