Chapter 37
Heart-stirring tales of adventure. Even the greatest epics tend to have humble beginnings.
Heroes aren't made overnight.
The young knights who chose to challenge the impossible naturally had to face countless hardships and trials.
"How did you even get in here?"
"Kid, the older students are having an important discussion right now. Could you step aside for a moment?"
The students failed to make the connection between the grandiose title of Mercenary King and the ditzy girl before them.
Even when the Administrative Head showed them newspaper photos to explain the situation, they still had to placate the thoroughly miffed Chairperson of Lionne Academy.
Fortunately, the girl quickly brightened up after receiving some praise.
Everyone worked together to squeeze out words of admiration, and after reluctantly getting five autographs including ones for family members, they managed to get through the first hurdle, but...
The next trial descended upon them without pause.
The Administrative Head who had comforted Karin posed an obvious question to the excited students.
"You'll clearly need to wander far from the Academy for quite some time, but how exactly do you all plan to handle that?"
Come to think of it, they were all Academy students.
With demon attacks already frequent lately, if a large number of students suddenly went missing, it would surely cause an uproar.
Someone suggested just dropping out, but that was immediately rejected. If all of his students withdrew at once, it would definitely draw attention.
Professor Ryan was already in critical condition.
If demons sensed something amiss and attacked, humanity would lose its great messiah that very day.
Therefore, there was only one option they could consider.
"I'll go talk to Professor Ryan."
Cain declared this while looking at everyone.
Even the Primordial Dragon had been controlled by demons.
Besides Professor Ryan, there was no one they could trust to cooperate with without risking information leaks.
Cold sweat naturally ran down his back.
The professor would surely be angry when he heard about their plan. He would scold them for not knowing their place and recklessly attempting what amounted to suicide.
Cain was certain of this.
"So, you're saying you want to leave the Academy for a while and freely wander around searching for treasures?"
"...Yes."
"You want me to lie to Lady Primordial Dragon, make up some excuse so you can skip all your classes to play outside? Even stake my teaching career on it?"
But something felt off about the situation.
Though his words were scolding, Professor Ryan smiled as if he couldn't contain his pride.
With a curve to his lips, he declared:
"I accept that proposal right now."
Cain was taken aback by this unexpected response. Looking at him, Ryan spoke in a bright voice.
"A professor's job is to guide their students. If you want to travel in pursuit of your dreams, how could I stand in your way?"
Seeing this, Cain finally realized.
The terrible aftereffects were still eating away at him even now. That genius professor, renowned for insight surpassing even the Primordial Dragon's, hadn't even seen through their plan.
Students suddenly wanting to explore labyrinths - he couldn't even connect it to his own injuries.
Though concern naturally welled up at the professor's state,
"I will always be on your side. Whatever dreams you pursue, I will support them, and even when everyone else doubts you, I alone will believe in you."
The professor spoke with eyes that held not a trace of deception.
Though illness was eating away at his body and clouding his mind, his declaration of faith in his students was filled with conviction.
And so, the professor remained undefeated by his affliction.
Even if his physical body was approaching death, his beliefs remained unbroken.
...They couldn't betray that faith.
If he believed his students could accomplish anything, then they had to accomplish anything.
"Go. Go and achieve your dreams, my disciples."
And so Cain pressed forward.
To achieve impossible dreams, endure unbearable pain, fight unbeatable foes, and grasp unreachable stars in the sky.
He conveyed the professor's words to everyone and steeled their resolve.
They strengthened their determination and began their battle with impossibility.
Of course, reality was always merciless, and countless trials and hardships continued to block their path, but.
None of that mattered anymore.
Professor Ryan had dispatched his students.
Demons attacking to take hostages after hearing this?
They would overcome it together. No matter how many times they fell, they would rise again to face their foes - there was no losing. They elevated their master's name by achieving justice.
Running out of food during dungeon exploration.
A situation where everyone would surely starve to death?
They cooked the demon beasts they caught into dungeon meals. What did it matter if the food was disgusting and revolting? For his sake, they would gladly roll in the mud.
...And finally, the current situation.
After conquering double-digit dungeons but still not finding medicine to save their master, they challenged an impregnable demonic realm.
One of the Four Great Labyrinths - the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang.
In the underground ruins of an ancient emperor obsessed with immortality who searched for the elixir of life, they faced the brink of annihilation.
An undying corpse emperor. The Mercenary King who fought at the frontlines to protect everyone finally lost consciousness, leaving only Cain able to fight.
The immortal king's eyes gleamed as he swung his sword, but this too was just another trial they could overcome.
The boy quietly closed his eyes before his enemy.
'I think I finally understand what the professor was trying to say.'
He had thought it strange. Though the boy named Ciel trusted the professor more than anyone and followed his teachings, why hadn't he reached the Heart-Sword realm?
But perhaps following the professor too closely was the problem.
He had been so fixated on executing the professor's instructions without missing a single detail that he failed to grasp their intent.
Don't be bound by the form of swordsmanship.
Forget flashy techniques and see the essence.
After erasing everything but the essence, one shouldn't be satisfied with emptiness but think about what to fill it with.
Swinging the sword with the heart, not the hand.
Therefore, what must be imbued in the sword is human will.
Never yielding. Cutting down everything that stands in his way. Even if the enemy was impossible to kill, it didn't matter. They would simply create possibility.
He made that resolve his sword. And so the boy swung his sword without swinging it.
An enemy originally impossible to defeat.
Death was forcibly carved into the immortal being.
Cain finally showed how to cut the world with his heart.
An unprecedented realm. It was the moment a boy left his footprints in a domain no one had ever reached.
*****
[Empire's Worst Demonic Realm Conquered!]
I put on sunglasses and lie down on a sun bed.
Casually scanning the newspaper's contents while sipping bubble tea bought nearby under the sunlight.
The Empire was being completely turned upside down by this sudden major incident, but my expression remained nonchalant as I watched.
'This is how people should live - relaxed.'
Normally I would have been trembling in fear, wondering if this was related to the original story, and if so, how the plot would develop and what threats would come my way.
But now I have no such urgency.
This time my plan has succeeded perfectly.
Helping delinquent students skip school.
Even falsifying reports to encourage it - what kind of student delinquency is this? There are limits to how corrupt one can be.
And above all, the most excellent thing is the situation in this training hall.
Look at this beautiful scenery.
Though it's class time, everyone chose to self-cancel rather than attend my terrible lectures.
The empty lecture venue. Just seeing the group of students urgently running in makes my heart...
"...Huh?"
An incomprehensible sight suddenly enters my view.
I rub my eyes in confusion, but that doesn't make the students rushing toward me disappear.
A group of muscular knights who haven't bathed in 3 weeks, decorated in mud and blood, approached me. Seeing me lying on the sun bed, they shouted with pale faces.
"The professor has collapsed! There's not much time. For now, stuff in anything that might help!"
Students spouting incomprehensible words.
I wanted to take off my sunglasses to prove I was wide awake, but impossible. Several students lifted my body and held me from behind.
My mouth was forcibly opened by students' hands.
An amount of medicinal herbs impossible for my mouth to handle.
That massive thing mercilessly invaded my insides.
Threatened to swallow it all without spitting, I tearfully forced it down my throat.
Students cheering after making a complete mess of me.
Hugging me intensely while crying.
But my misfortune didn't end there.
"Is it true you reached the Heart-Sword realm?"
"They say you turned a student who'd never learned swordsmanship into a Swordmaster in just an hour - how exactly did you do it?"
"Please share your thoughts on being simultaneously nominated as head of the Adventurers' Association and candidate for Second Sword Emperor of the Empire!"
The numerous reporters descending upon me.
My head spun at their incomprehensible questions.
...Something had gone seriously wrong.