༺ Korin Guardians (1)༻
“Kuhum…!”
These days, the Academy was in an uproar. The attack of the Red and the Black Cults of the Tower of Mages – it had only been 2 weeks since that shocking event which had put the entire kingdom at unrest.
Elder of the Red Cult, Admelech, ambushed Senior Professor Josephine while the mages of the Black Cult tried to kidnap some freshmen students. Added on top of that was the unprecedented case of the assassination of the chairman, and it was therefore obvious for the Academy to raise a formal complaint at the Tower of Mages.
The Lord of the Tower, Adelene, said it was completely unrelated to them, and that it was the abrupt rampage of a group of mages, but everyone knew that couldn’t have been further away from the truth.
It was a case concerning 2 elders, and there had been over 50 mages following them.
However, the Academy couldn’t do anything apart from a formal complaint because of the absence of their chairman.
The next chairman, who would be replacing Eriu Cassar as the central figure of the Academy, hadn’t been decided yet. They had to decide on the future chairman before they could proceed with raising action against the Tower.
“Who do you think will be the next chairman?”
“It has to be Lady Josephine, right?”
The strongest candidate for the position was, as expected, Professor Josephine, who had been acting as one of the crucial pillars of the Academy ever since it was founded. Josephine had been leading and guiding the Academy as one of the key figures as the Senior Professor from the beginning for longer than any other professor, but…
“She has never nominated herself for the position yet. I would assume she would pass on it like always.”
“Then…”
Glancing at each other, the professors swallowed their words. In normal academies, it was highly likely that the next chairman would be chosen from one of the senior veteran professors, which meant there were only a few candidates.
The biggest pillar of the Knight Department, Professor Haman Welsch,
And Professor Edgar Linton of the Magic Department.
However, it was hard to choose someone from the two of them. Both of them seemed very distant from the position of a chairman, and besides, Professor Haman Welsch was supposed to retire next year on top of that.
“It’s hard to tell who it’s going to be. Chairman Eriu was young and healthy, after all.”
“Who would have known that he would pass away just like that? It’s always the Tower and the crazy people there.”
“Hmm. I suppose it would have to be Lady Josephine, who’s currently serving as the temporary chairman then…”
The next chairman, however, was someone none of them had been expecting.
………
……
…
“Hmm… Hmm, hmm~~”
The position of a chairman of a guardian academy was a lot busier than it might seem.
In the Academy, they had to deal with documents, confirm and carry out events and meetings, and in regards to external matters, they also had to work in collaboration with the royal family, nobles, the Alliance, Tower of Mages, the New Faith and other organizations that had to do with the future careers of the students.
Because of the assassination of Chairman Eriu, the Academy went through a period of confusion and stagnation.
Someone had to step up and settle it back down.
“Are you really going to do it again?”
“Yes. There is no other option, is there?”
The young, blonde beauty, Josephine, said while looking at the founder of the Academy who finally came back after a few weeks… or rather, 80 years.
Erin Danua.
She, the founder of the guardian academy, who had been leading the academy with clones ever since she was exiled by her disciple, put a stop to watching over the world from the Shadow Palace of the Paradise, and finally descended onto the real world again.
Josephine knew exactly what that meant.
“I still disagree. Valtazar was by himself 80 years ago, but now…”
He was even stronger and had countless forces at his command.
The Old Faith, the Tower of Mages, and… the Northern Kingdom.
The land of the barbaric people ruled by the Frost Giants; the evil land containing the corpses of the gods… According to the boy who knew about the future, that was where Tates Valtazar had settled his lair.
The battles henceforth will concern the Advent of Paradise and the attempt to reenact the glory of the past… and will be a big war between the supporters and remnants of the old gods and the descendents of humanity.
“I need to raise disciples and heroes. That is my job as the Danann of Justice, the teacher of heroes.”
Teach disciples and raise heroes. Now was the time that called for heroes the most, and it was her job to nurture them.
“Ah~. I want to see my disciple.”
“Sorry?”
“Aht? Uhh, I meant…! I meant I wanted to see my new disciples!”
“…”
****
Today was finally the day that Alicia was going to remove her bandages. Even though I say that, she had been moving around just fine these days, and she had no trouble taking the interim exam either.
In any case, to commemorate her removing her bandages, we decided to have a barbeque party at the garden of the newly constructed Guardians Office.
The invited members of the party were the people of our dormitory except for the royal princesses, and whichever friend they wanted to bring.
“Korin! Can you flip the hash browns over there please?!”
Because of that, Marie and I were working at the extravagant kitchen next to the garden to prepare enough dishes for the guests.
“Sure. What happened to that thing that we put in the oven?”
“Doggo should be taking care of that!”
“Hmm, maybe we should have set a plan beforehand. I don’t think we have enough ingredients.”
“Should I bring some more bags of potatoes from the warehouse?!”
“No. These are enough dishes with potatoes. I had to hold myself back from cooking a potato stew as well, you know?”
“I was looking forward to that though.”
“You look forward to anything with potatoes, don’t you, Senior?”
“That’s not… Well, yeah but…”
Marie replied while intentionally puffing out her cheeks. When I poked it with my finger, the air slowly seeped out like a deflating balloon.
“Hmph.”
She tilted her head away, but she didn’t seem that displeased. I was staring at that adorable pout and that was when I noticed that some of her hair was about to touch the fire.
“Senior.”
“Nn? …Aht?”
Before she could say anything, I gathered her hair from behind.
“K, Korin?”
“Stay still. Let me tie your hair.”
Bringing her fluttering sky-blue hair to one, I took out a rubber band from my pocket and tied it into a ponytail.
“W, why are you so good at it?”
“My hair’s pretty long as well, right. I just learned it over time.”
One of the things that I was happy about after coming to this world was that I had long hair. Going through middle and high school which had regulations about hair length, and having to shave my hair through the military and the physical education college, I had been dying to grow my hair.
“It feels good cooking together like this.”
That was when Marie said that with a bashful smile while leaning her head on my shoulder.
Recently, her show of affection was becoming more and more explicit but… I couldn’t hate her for that.
“Umm… you know? Do you feel… tired these days?”
Stealthily gazing up into my eyes, she said with flushed cheeks while adjusting the hems of her robe.
“Uhh… a little bit?”
Whenever I closed my eyes I could still see remnants of those big mountains. I had been working hard all morning to prepare the dishes so a little bit of…
– Grip!
“Uhk.”
That was when someone pulled my clothes from behind. Turning around, I saw Hua Ran looking at me with an indifferent look on her face.
“………”
You’re just ‘looking’ at me, right? You’re not giving me a death stare or anything, right?
“Uhh… What’s up, Hua Ran.”
“I brought all the tables.”
“Already? That was quick.”
I asked her to bring out the tables and chairs from the storeroom, and she seemed to have finished that already.
“What about the chairs for the guests?”
“…”
She hasn’t done that yet, huh.
“Can you do that too? The people are going to start coming anytime soon.”
Hearing that, Hua Ran rolled her eyes. After looking behind me at Marie for a split second, she replied.
“…No.”
It was a short and curt response.
“Umm… Why not?”
“I want to cook.”
“Do you know how to cook?”
Hua Ran, the honest girl, shook her head in response to my question, but continued before I could say anything.
“Ran said she knows how.”
“Hmm.”
I couldn’t trust Hua with cooking but Ran was a different story. She did cook from time to time, and her dishes weren’t too bad.
“Then you two can work on the remaining dishes. I will finish setting up the chairs outside.”
“Huh, K, Korin?”
“Nn. See you… See you later~ oppa!”
“Ugh…”
“Sister~. It’s going to be so fun cooking together, right?”
“…”
………
……
…
The luxurious Guardians Office, which in the end was left up to Marie, was as big as an enormous mansion having several buildings and large plots of land.
Once I finished setting up the garden, the garden was full of expensive chairs and tables which were the same ones that we used during my conferment to a baron. They looked very familiar, and looked the same as the expensive furniture I saw in the game.
“Haa… These all cost several gold coins each, don’t they…?”
The housing system of ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱ was one dedicated solely for the end-game experience, with every piece of furniture requiring tons of materials.
Players could use up materials to construct furniture, and I remembered Mr. Park made quite a few of them in the last iteration. It was super interesting to see him use the crafting window to change materials to items in a flash.
‘I might be a sub-player, but I’m also technically a player, so why can’t I do that?’
Or maybe I can do it now?
We were quite far into the storyline, and I should have leveled up a few times as well so… Thinking that, I shouted out loud just in case.
“Crafting Window!”
『Access denied due to insufficient qualification』
“Ah, shit, for fuck’s sake!! Do you want to be uninstalled!?”
Using uninstall as a threat and having nothing happen was something that recently became a habit of mine.
“Y, you surprised me there! Why are you swearing?”
“Kuhum. Alicia?”
Turning around, I found Alicia standing at the entrance of the garden, carrying a bag bigger than her own body.
“Alicia… What’s with all that stuff?”
“What do you mean? Didn’t you tell me to buy the ingredients for today’s party?”
“…”
I did remember giving her a pouch full of money. Everyone was still growing up and needed to eat a lot, and although I didn’t enjoy buying luxury goods, I wasn’t the type to save out on money for food. But even so…
“Isn’t that… a bit too much? Are you preparing for a campaign or something?”
“It might be a lot, but everyone eats a lot, right!? Doggo can finish it if we can’t, so it’s fine!”
“Don’t treat someone else’s dog as a ration tiger1Ration tiger = A name given to stray cats, or cats raised in the military, in the Korean military that eats leftover rations. .”
“What’s a ration tiger?”
“…Don’t worry. Can you unpack your bag? Let me see what you bought.”
“Okay!”
Alicia immediately opened her bag, revealing a whole load of ingredients. They ranged from eggs to chicken, beef and noodles, which was a part of the staple diet here.
“Wow, what a sight. How much did it cost?”
“1 gold coin and a half.”
“Gold coin?!”
How can you possibly spend 1,500 dollars on ingredients?!
“Buddy, why is it so over-budget? Wasn’t 50 silver coins going to be more than enough?”
“Uhh, you see, there is a reason for this, okay?”
“…Let me hear it.”
Alicia took out a dozen eggs and started introducing it after a ‘tada’ gesture.
“Apparently these eggs are from chickens that grew up drinking green tea! Interesting, right? Chickens like green tea as well!”
Eggs of a chicken that drank green tea… As expected of a Korean game…
“What about that chicken over there?”
“They said it died after leading a happy life!”
“And… how does the happy life of a chicken matter to me?”
“Wouldn’t it taste better if it lived a happy life?”
“That makes us sound like heinous killers that destroyed a happy family of chickens.”
“Hmm… Not wrong, though.”
“Anyway… Okay, so an organic chicken that lived happily in freedom, and those eggs, huh. What about that beef? The marbling on that is on an absurd level.”
“Apparently it grew up drinking beer and listening to classical music. They said it got a regular massage as well!”
“What a damn happy life for a domestic animal.”
So why were they so adamant about telling us about their happy life? Was it to make us feel more guilty for eating them?
“Alright. Let’s just say we’re treating everyone to a good meal with nice ingredients. Sorry for making you go out and buy all that stuff even though you just recovered from your injuries.”
“It’s okay. It had been a while since I went to the city and had a look, so it was good. Huaah~!”
Alicia said with a big stretch, seemingly enjoying the fresh air outside.
Her stretch accentuated her bodyline and fully revealed her armpits in a sensuous manner.
“Kuhum…! A grown-up lady shouldn’t be doing that in public.”
“Uing? What was that? That sounded like what one of the elders of the family would say.”
“It might be a bit late for this, but don’t you think you’re showing too much of your skin?”
“Hmm? My skin?”
“Yeah. Umm… I think it’s a bit excessive.”
Like the sides of her breasts and her thighs…
“What about it though?”
“Huh?”
“It’s not like I’m revealing what I shouldn’t. Besides, everyone wears like this, right?”
……Wait, now that I think about it, this much was a default for everyone, wasn’t it? Even Marie and Hua Ran… Huh, what? Was this normal? Did everyone dress like that?
Was I thinking like this was Earth a bit too much?
Considering how there were all sorts of clothings in ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱, this might be a normal level of exposure in this world.
“Anyway, it feels good to breathe in fresh air after so long!”
“You sound as if you were in the hospital for months. Didn’t you still attend all the lectures?”
Although Alicia was injured, it’s not like she couldn’t get out of her bed for that whole period of time. Despite being bandaged up like a mummy, she had still been coming to class.
“It’s different. Anyway! Thank you for hosting a party for me getting better!”
“Do you mind sharing half the budget to prove your gratitude?”
“Hukk! Sorry. I can’t…!”
She immediately turned her tail. We carried all the ingredients to the kitchen and the guests started to arrive one by one right when we were almost done with the dishes.
“Hey, boss. Your new house is looking pretty impressive!”
“…Is this your house, boss?”
“Wow~. Bro, it’s my first time seeing a house this big!”
Renya Claire from the Intelligence guild, and the wolf siblings, Ren and Ron.
“It was supposed to be a short-term contract but… Looking at what you’ve made, I suppose most people would want to stay here forever.”
“Hello. I brought some mushrooms from the forest.”
“…Hi.”
The Mercenary of Flying Swords, Dorron Warsky, Yuel the Druid and the Golem Mage, Kranel Luden.
– Knock knock!
– Open the gates!
The gates opened up following that sonorous shout as five swordswomen entered the garden.
Jennie the Rapid Sword, Sirin the Duel Wielder, Lena of the Rippling Sword, Mei the Sword of True Darkness, and Milia of the Illusionary Sword.
They were the elites of the 1st Sword Squad of the renowned Arden household. The fact that they were here meant…
“Been a while, my dear fiance.”
Lunia Arden, the female hero of the contemporary times. Alicia’s older sister was also here to join the party.
“Welcome, Miss Lunia. It’s been a while.”
“Unfortunately, I have taken a big damage to my feelings due to that event before. You would have to pay a fair amount of interest back before you can fully pay back this debt.”
“Haha…”
I could feel sharp gazes glaring at my back. For some reason, I had a feeling that many were unhappy but… it must be me overthinking things, right?
With this, most of the guests were here. As for the final guests…
– Jiing!
At last, they were here.
“Is it here? Where did the money come from to build such a…”
One of the last guests was Lady Josephine Clara, the Dimensional Witch who could teleport limitlessly as long as it was within the city, who could also teleport long distances as long as several conditions were met. And next to her—
“It has been a while. How have you been?”
She said while lowering the hood of her robe, which revealed her glistening silver hair.
Standing next to the strict-looking blonde-haired beauty in complete contrast was a silver-haired beauty who gave off a gentle impression.
“Welcome, Master.”
She was none other than my master, Erin Danua, who took the position of the new chairman immediately after coming back today.
With this, all my ‘party members’ whom I had built connections with over the past year were in one place.
Now that the threat of Tates Valtazar was looming over us much earlier than expected, there was also the need for me to move quicker than planned.
Today, I was going to reveal to them the truth of this world and strengthen the ‘key members’.
Footnotes:
1Ration tiger = A name given to stray cats, or cats raised in the military, in the Korean military that eats leftover rations.
