༺ Lunia Arden (2)༻
The so-called swordsmen loved moving around in groups.
Groups of gangsters holding swords would follow their captain while calling themselves the pursuers of the path of sword before suddenly naming themselves as a sect.
60 years ago, Garrand the Sword Emperor opened the new era of swords and thanks to the current family head whole-heartedly spreading their family’s swordsmen across the continents, the Arden family became the most-renowned swordsmanship sect of the world.
But at the core of the Arden family, there were still remains of the hierarchy system of gangsters which had been in place ever since they started off as a group of mercenaries.
“Light this up.”
“Yes! Captain!”
One sentence from Lunia was enough for the instructor of Merkarva’s Arden dojo to dash up in a fluster and light her cigar on fire. The position of a head disciple of the main family was not something that could be compared to the likes of a mere instructor.
Besides, the instructor was just here to teach the swordsmanship of Arden to normal citizens unlike the main family which focused on fostering guardians. It was natural for them to be leagues apart.
‘W, what is going on?’
The trainees of the dojo were flabbergasted and flustered from the sudden appearance of celebrities.
The head disciple of the main family and the captain of the 1st Sword Squad, ‘Sword Master Lunia Arden’ and the Five Swords had visited the Arden dojo in Merkarva City.
It was a sudden visit but it was the best opportunity for people that were aspiring to become swordsmen. They shed tears of joy after having personal spars and receiving guidance but the problem was the day after that.
That day, Lunia was sitting on a shabby wooden chair of the dojo but her presence made people think of that as a dignified throne. Prostrating in front of her was someone who should not be on her knees like that despite the floor being cleaned everyday.
“G, Grade 2 sword disciple of the Arden main family, Alicia Arden, greets the 1st Squad Captain.”
Alicia Arden.
She was a disciple of the main family herself, and was also the granddaughter of the Sword Emperor, Garrand. She was a direct disciple just like Lunia Arden, so seeing her kneeling on the wooden floor without daring to move a single inch made the onlookers feel uneasy.
‘Ughh… I need to do missions though…’
On the other hand, Alicia was finding this time to be wasteful because it was a precious weekend where she had to run missions and earn money, but she was too scared of her older sister to voice any complaints.
Plus, Lunia even told her to bring the records of all the missions she had completed thus far…
“Patrol mission, merchant escort, Grade 4 demonic beast subjugation… How pathetic. What’s with this cafe helper mission?”
“Umm… it’s about wearing a uniform and giving out… promotional fliers.”
“…Were you helping your acquaintance?”
“T, the uniform was pretty so…”
“…”
Lunia showed a rare reaction of closing her eyes and letting out a groan.
Of course, there was nothing wrong with these simple missions that were primarily given out to the students of the Academy. They were an extension of their prac lessons for the students to polish their skills before undertaking their jobs as a real guardian.
The problem was that Alicia was already an official Grade 2 guardian.
“That is utterly disappointing. Alicia Arden. The guardian license that you received thanks to the help of the main family is not there to be used for things like this. Are you trying to disgrace the Arden household?”
“S, sorry…”
“Every one of these missions are against low-grade demonic beasts are they not? Were you intending on pretending to be a hero just from killing these pathetic beasts?”
Lunia Arden gazed down at Alicia with a cold look in her eyes. Her gaze that seemed to be reminding her to not forget the true essence of a sword was so heavy that Alicia ended up lowering her head.
………
……
…
Alicia powerlessly got on a magic carriage to go back to Merkarva Academy.
Going down the rail, the girl took in the entire view of the city. This city, which was praised to be the safest and the most beautiful city in the entire world, was the place she had been dreaming of.
For a long time, Alicia had been eagerly looking forward to escaping from her family.
A little bit of degradation and disappointment. Even though she didn’t receive the due treatment of a successor candidate, she was still treated as the young miss of the family and had been living without any concern for food.
It was possible for her to live in contentment with what she was given without working hard for anything else.
But how about now?
Without receiving a single cent as a support fund, she had to earn a living for herself. Because she was by no means good at saving money or planning a budget, she pretty much used up all the money she earned in food, drinks and clothes.
However, she was still relatively satisfied with her life. Here, she wasn’t a Junior Sister nor a young miss, and she was ‘Alicia’.
Although it wasn’t the normal life that she had been dreaming of, she could still spend her life like a relatively normal female student.
Demons were the only ones that needed to be cut. There was no need for her to practice killing people in the pretext of a ‘spar’.
Her life at the household might have been luxurious, but she had constantly been forced into bloody and vicious fights, so Alicia was very satisfied with enjoying the relaxed campus life at this Academy.
That was why seeing people that were endlessly serious at learning martial arts was both awe-inspiring yet repulsive.
Her older sister was an example.
Alicia was uncomfortable with those who unhesitatingly stepped forward into ‘that place’. She was afraid of that black ocean which looked like it would drag her into the depths of the abyss and drown her to death.
She didn’t like practicing with swords. She didn’t like those calluses that would be formed in her hands.
Safe missions against weaker demons were more than enough. That was enough to earn her a living.
She did not like the bloody world of sweaty warriors. She wanted to spend her youth in the luxurious resorts next to the beach.
Alicia Arden was an extremely normal girl in her teens.
『Do not forget it, Alicia. You will never be able to escape from your true nature.』
“…That senile old man.”
While uttering a mutter that was savage unlike her normal word choice, Alicia rested her chin on her hand and waited for the carriage to arrive at the Academy.
Her face was heavily gloomy and dark like that of a sinner heading to the scaffold.
****
It was the interim test period.
People might expect guardian academies to have fights and massive duels for the evaluation of the students, but surprisingly enough, this academy was quite serious about the academic assessment of its students.
“Ahh… I didn’t study at all for the tests though…”
10 minutes before going into the test, Jaeger wiped his face in remorse.
“That’s why I said we should study at the library…”
“No! You’re not supposed to procrastinate for a test! Tests are there to assess your abilities, not your procrastination skill!”
“…”
Lark shook his head a few times while looking at Jaeger before turning his gaze over to me.
“Did you study for the tests?”
“Huhu…”
“Hnn?”
I’m sorry, Lark, but you have no idea about my true capabilities.
“Huhuhu… Huhahahaha!”
“What the heck is wrong with you…”
“O you pitiful humans. You lambs of this generation – overly immersed in pathetic things like studying for tests!”
“What is this guy even talking about?”
“It’s probably the same retardism kicking in.”
“He’s a nice guy but…”
“Huhahahahaha…!”
They could say anything they wanted to say, but there was a fact that these guys weren’t aware of.
This wasn’t my first time taking this test.
I had already sat through this test in the last iteration. As long as I went back through my sea of memories, getting high marks was a piece of cake!
“I am Professor Lulara. We will now begin with the elementary Alchemy interim exam. Write your names and your ID numbers on the papers in front of you and—”
Huhu. It would be eye-catching to get super high marks, so maybe I should be content with getting 90% correct!
………
……
…
I have no idea.
I seriously had no clue.
Why? I had seen these questions already, so why were they so unfamiliar like it was my first time seeing them?
Didn’t I solve these in the last iteration…
“Ah.”
I didn’t.
I didn’t know the answers in the first place because I didn’t check the wrong answers after getting the test papers back. Why? Well, they were wrong anyway so why would I bother looking at the answers?
Whether I solved them in the previous iteration or not, I had no idea what these were.
It’s like how someone who had been sleeping through differentiation and integration lessons would not be able to solve them even after regressing to their high school days.
“Crap.”
Yes, I do know what potion the bile of an owlbear is used for, but who the hell remembers the number of drops that goes into it?
Just buy it for 5 silver coins. Why bother making it yourself?
Knights only needed to know about practical information like first-aid potions… We don’t need academic knowledge…
“I’m Professor Fermack from Aura management. You can copy if you dare but let’s not get caught, okay.”
『If Z is 85 and the inertia of Motion X is Y, what value should Y be?』
Umm… enough to put half the soles of your shoes into a dry ground of dirt?
As for the exact number… umm… I had no idea. It should be done automatically though – why and how would you calculate that every single time?
………
……
…
“Haaaahm~. Is that it for the tests?”
“…I knew you’d sleep through it, Jaeger. What about you Korin?”
“I’m dead.”
“???”
“I am… dead inside.”
“That’s why I said we should go to the library together…”
“Hahaha! That’s my buddy!”
“Idiot. At least Korin was training in the training rooms instead of studying unlike you.”
“Listen! The only thing a knight needs to know is how to write their name!”
“You stupid knights…”
Hmm. My tests were doomed.
Oh well, knights only needed to know how to write their names. Things like this were useless after graduation.
You think high school math is going to be relevant in society? Do you think the major you studied at university will be your career?! There are plenty of comedians that graduated from political studies!
It’s all meaningless!
****
I was 90% sure that my marks for the written exams were below average but I could still make up for them in the practical exams.
Even though Merkarva Academy was unexpectedly quite serious in the academic side of things, they still did not forget their origin as a guardian academy so most of the marks still came from prac exams.
At the center of the campus was the so-called festival hall.
This enormous building that resembled a large baseball stadium was used for various events like the athletics carnival, musical performances and festivals, but it was also used as an arena for the practical assessments of the interim exams.
It was what would mark the true climax of the interim exams. This practical assessment was also a playable event back in the game, and was the perfect opportunity for me to make up for the marks that I lost in the written exams.
The interim exams would be handled by the professors of the Knight Department or temporary instructors that were invited from outside.
By showing the instructors what they were capable of, the students would receive marks from their respective professors.
‘Since I’m officially a Grade 5 Knight, the instructor shouldn’t be that strong. Plus their expectations will also be low. Getting high marks will be a piece of cake!’
If I remember correctly, there were extra marks for defeating the instructor, right? It was the best chance to raise my average marks which had gone down the drain already.
Tightly gripping on the test ID slip that I received which had the words ‘Team B’ written on it, I was walking to the center of the stadium when roaring cheers echoed from the audience seat.
“Good luck, freshmen!”
“My monthly expenses are on you! Good luck!”
In the audience seats were 2nd year and 3rd year students… in addition to several 4th year students who had already completed their exams. I could understand up to 3rd year students but… wasn’t it time for the 4th year students to start looking for jobs?
Anyway, it was true that watching people fight was the most exciting thing in the world.
Ah, in the crowd, there was also a named character from the 3rd year students – Nene of the Black Market. That was someone who often appeared in events like this and encouraged gambling to earn money.
“Korriiiiinnnnn~!”
I turned towards that faint source of sound and found Marie enthusiastically waving her hand. Naturally, she was waving her hand at me.
“Good luck! I’ll be cheering for youu…!”
Next to her were the 2nd year students who often roamed around with Marie. I unknowingly grinned after seeing how she was doing fine with everyone in her surroundings even after the vampire incident.
“W, what the hell. You…”
“Are you friends with Senior Marie?”
“Hnn?”
Jaeger and Lark sent me gazes of astonishment.
“Iiiikkk…!”
“That’s impossible… I thought you were the same as us!”
Leaving behind the young brats that were letting out tears of blood, I waited for the practical assessment of Team A which would be held before ours.
Since it was just an interim exam, the fancy functions of the stadium weren’t used but the large stage was already enough to overwhelm the students.
“Team A. Dorron Warsky! Alicia Arden! And—”
15 students from Team A walked up to the stage. The students took their tests in groups like this because it would take too much time otherwise.
– WAAAAHHHH!!
The crowd gave a thunderous roar. That was to be expected because even aside from their strength, both Dorron and Alicia were famous celebrities among the freshmen students.
Dorron Warsky.
As the vice captain of the Warsky Mercenaries, he was a specialist who was proficient at hunting demons in the outskirts. Most of the senior students would have heard of his name at the very least.
He was a powerhouse who was believed to soon become the next captain of the Warsky Mercenaries.
On the other hand, Alicia was more known for her background rather than her individual strength.
The strongest Unique-Grade Knight who overpowered the entire era with no equal – Sword Emperor Garrand. Even aside from how she was his granddaughter, the name value of the Arden family itself was already ridiculously massive.
They were aggressively expanding their forces and every big city had a dojo built by the Ardens. Besides, they also regularly dispatched instructors to the military to teach anti-demon swordsmanship and strategies.
It was said that the El Rath Kingdom paid the Arden family tens of thousands of gold coins every year for the training fees alone, and that was proof of how enormous their name value was.
There was even the Sword Master Lunia Arden following the tracks of the Sword Emperor and thus the Ardens were currently at the height of their fame.
Even within the Knight Department of Merkarva Academy, there were probably quite a few knights that were learning the Arden swordsmanship.
And because Alicia Arden was the direct granddaughter in line of that renowned household, she was bound to be at the center of attention whether she wanted it or not.
“We have special guests for the instructors of this exam. They are the elites of the family renowned for their swordplay – the Ardens! Please welcome the Five Swords of the 1st Sword Squad!”
Five swordsmen walked up the stage to stand off against the 15 students of Team A.
Jennie, Sirin, Lena, Milia and Mei.
They were the swordsmen that were directly under Lunia Arden that followed Lunia around everywhere. The reason Lunia Arden visited Merkarva City was because she would soon take office as one of the official instructors of the academy.
In this event, Alicia would be totally demolished by Lunia and she would focus whole-heartedly on swordsmanship out of frustration… huh?
“Where is Lunia?”
“Mate, call her Lady Lunia. She’s not your friend, is she?”
I couldn’t see her. The only instructors that were on the stage were the Five Swords. What was going on?
– Ding!
The prac exam began while I was looking for Lunia Arden.
“Attack!”
Although the Five Swords were all at the level of a Grade 2 Knight, the students also had two Grade 2 Knights among them and they also tripled their enemy in numbers.
It wasn’t a wrong approach and the students of Team A simultaneously rushed towards the Five Swords.
“Do we need to hold back?”
“They’re students so yes.”
“Be careful of the one with flying swords. He is strong.”
The five female swordsmen formed a formation while pulling out their aura. It was the group formation that could only be used by the swordsmen of the Arden family.
❰Arden Sword Formation. Condensed Aura of Five Swords❱
The five swordsmen scattered the aura within their swords towards the ground at the same time. The aura strike of five swordsmen that shared the same swordsmanship gathered together to form an enormous sword aura.
It was like a jab on their end, but it came like a natural disaster to the students.
– Kwaang!
Fortunately, their sword strike wasn’t targeted at the students. After landing on the ground, the aura quaked the ground and created a massive layer of dust.
“Uahk!”
“I can’t see anything!”
When outnumbered, block the sight of the enemy. Their well-seasoned response was something that was possible not because of their individual strength but because of their accumulated experience.
“Kuahkk!”
“W, what?!”
The students couldn’t respond in time, not because they were weak but because they were inexperienced. If I were them, I would have made everyone retreat to the back of the stage and reorganize the formation or look for ways to remove the dust.
“Tch.”
Unable to watch them any longer, Dorron manipulated his magic swords.
Backed up with his telekinesis, the swords rotated at a fearsome speed. Like the propellers of a helicopter, they created a gale that raised the dust.
That was when… someone jumped towards him through the layer of dust.
“Hmm?!”
It was one of the Five Swords – Milia of the Illusionary Sword. She had jumped in immediately after seeing that Dorron had moved his magic swords away from his body.
– Kaang!
Milia’s two scimitars collided against Dorron’s spare sword. Dorron was a veteran himself and wouldn’t be defeated that easily but he would be at a disadvantage until his magic swords returned to him.
“Mr. Dorron!”
“I’ll be your opponent, young miss.”
“Uhht?!”
Another one broke through the layer of dust. She was the Rapid Sword, Jennie, who used her lengthy blade to press down on Alicia’s demon-slaying sword.
“Ugh, a, are you marking me?”
“Well… 3 of us will be enough to deal with 10 students.”
– Besides, we also need to properly evaluate you, young miss.
Alicia tried pushing Jennie away after seemingly being put in a bad mood from her words but it was in vain. She was instead deceived by Jennie’s feint and soon ended up on the ground after being tripped.
“Your posture is too easy to crumble, young miss.”
“Uhk!”
– Kajik!
Alicia dodged the downward attack of the scabbard by rolling on the ground as Jennie then waited for her to re-posture herself.
– Ohh~
– As expected of the Five Swords. They live up to their name.
– Look. They’re all falling like reeds except for Alicia Arden and Dorron Warsky.
– Tch tch. One of them really should step up and do a counter-attack even if they end up allowing a strike!
The eyes of the audience naturally shifted to Alicia and Dorron.
They were the pride of freshmen students. Their swordplay against knights of the same Grade was so fancy that anything similar to it would be difficult to see in fights between students.
“…”
– Uahkk!
– She’s too fast!
– Do something about it!
On the other hand, the 13 students were being completely devastated by the 3 female swordsmen. Even though the Arden elites were holding back for the watching professors to have time to give marks, the students were still very feeble and looked like they’d be crushed in a matter of minutes.
‘Dorron… looks like he’ll win.’
“Come. Fire spirit sword. Heavy iron sword.”
“Uht…!”
He recalled the magic swords after removing the cloud of dust around him. Milia had been suppressing Dorron with her two scimitars but was now being suppressed instead after Dorron regained his five magic swords.
At this rate, she would inevitably end up losing, because Dorron also had as much experience as the Five Swords.
– Kang!
“Kuhk…!”
Meanwhile, Alicia was on her knees with cold beads of sweat traveling down her cheeks. She and Jennie were right in front of each other’s noses with Jennie’s sword being right underneath her jaws.
‘I told you you need to practice, you idiot.’
As I expected, Jennie was able to neutralize Alicia with ease through close combat. The question was now whether Alicia could fling off the opponent’s sword that was right next to her with only a 10-centimeter gap between them but… Alicia lacked both understanding and theoretical knowledge on how to come out on top from such a close-quarter fight.
“You need to practice more, young miss. At this rate, you won’t even be able to reach the feet of Sir Garrand or Lady Lunia.”
“Uuhhk…!”
– Kaang! Kagang!
Even though anti-lethal spells had been cast on the blades of their swords, their swords still let out a vicious noise with every clash. That was a telltale sign of how their strikes were becoming increasingly more fierce.
“Are you calling yourself a successor of the Sword Emperor with skills like this?”
“I, I…!”
Jennie the Rapid Sword was pretty much harassing her at this point. Even though Jennie should be able to neutralize Alicia with ease, she was using up more time than necessary.
‘Was she told to do that?’
That was something Lunia should be doing according to the original storyline but Jennie was the one doing it now. Did Lunia tell her to do that or something?
“You probably don’t even need to graduate at this point. You might as well quit the academy and return home and train yourself!”
“N, no…!”
It happened in an instant but I did not miss Alicia’s pupils turning into a diamond-shape.
Was she going to see it? The Domain?
Her Eyes of the Boundaries cracked open and right as she was about to see through the gap between the dimensions – as she was about to gaze into that world of suspended time… her body turned frozen stiff as if she was frightened.
– Slam!
After being struck by Jennie’s sword, Alicia rolled across the ground a few times. Despite the anti-lethal spell, the sword had been swung by a Grade 2 Knight and that caused Alicia to stay on the ground for a long time with no signs of standing back up.
“…Not yet, huh.”
Even with her eyes open, Alicia did not gaze into the Domain.
In conclusion, the instructor team had an overwhelming victory in Team A’s practical lesson. Even though Dorron had a splendid achievement of defeating Milia, he forfeited immediately after seeing the four remaining swordsmen.
After that, it was time for Team B where I had been allocated to. The only ones I knew of in this team were Jaeger and Lark.
The instructor that 15 members of Team B had to fight against was…
“Hold up…”
“Have you been well, Korin Lork?”
Lunia Arden.
She walked up the stage by herself.
Hello? But like… why?
