Academy’s Genius Swordmaster - Chapter 51

[ 51. Express Adventure Club (3) ]

#51

I saw it clearly. The magic that Ophelia initially tried to use was the same kind of blood magic as Sheeta. Ronan opened his mouth as if possessed by something.

“…pass.”

I didn’t even think to ask an interview question. Hearing that she had passed, Ophelia slowly turned her head. Her white skin contrasted with her red eyes, so pale that it felt transparent.

The moment he saw the contrast, a certain race came to Ronan’s mind. One of the three beings predicted to have influenced Sheeta. A race that failed to achieve coexistence with humans in the past and eventually left the Imperial Territory and established their own kingdom.

“Ophelia. Perhaps…”

Ronan, unable to overcome his curiosity, was about to ask a question. Ophelia’s voice echoed in Ronan’s head.

[…You saw it as well.]

It was transmission magic. It was heard only by Ronan, not by Adeshan. Ophelia continued.

[You’re right…but keep it a secret for now.]

Even the tone was cautious. Ronan nodded slightly. Ophelia let out a sigh of relief.

[Thank you.]

After replying, she approached slowly. Sheeta was staring at Ophelia with her eyes wide open.

“Did you get it?”

“I…then can I touch it?”

It was like a child asking if he could eat the candy he was holding in his hand. Ronan looked at Ophelia’s face and shook his head. He now had a perfect idea of what kind of people Sheeta liked.

“Yeah…you’ll probably like it.”

“…lol.”

Ophelia smiled bashfully and reached out to touch Sheeta. Sheeta didn’t show any rejection reaction and immediately rubbed her face against the back of her hand.

“Daddy~”

He was a consistent guy. After completing the interview, Ronan left the first arena with Ophelia. There were so many things to ask.

After leaving the Gallerion Coffin, they moved to the Great Plaza. There were no passers-by and the wind blew strong, making it a suitable place for confidential conversations.

“Can I speak here?”

“huh.”

“Haven’t all of your species left the Empire?”

Ophelia did not answer. The wind took the place of silence. After walking for a few more minutes, an electric tone resonated in Ronan’s head.

[…not all of them.]

“Okay. If you don’t want to talk, you don’t have to.”

[no. Although there are very few, there are still vampires living throughout the empire. I am the only one who entered Phileon Academy.]

“Does the other people not know anything about it?”

[I don’t know, except for Principal Kratyr and a few faculty members. If I got caught, nothing but trouble would happen.]

Ophelia kept her mouth shut. She did not explain the circumstances or background of her coming to Phileon. Ronan didn’t ask anymore. Sensing that the atmosphere would become heavy, Ronan changed the topic.

“Honestly, you came because you were interested in Sheeta, not because of the club, right?”

[Yes.]

“It’s nice to be honest. I don’t think it’s just because it’s cute, but what’s going on?”

[My race’s magic…that’s why I felt the energy of blood magic.]

Ophelia raised her index finger with those words. A rose made of blood appeared on her slender fingers. Sheeta, who was riding on Ronan’s shoulder, pulled her head out and her eyes twinkled.

“Damn it!”

Suddenly, Sheeta’s eyes shone brightly. The shape of the rose collapsed and was reconstructed into a bird resembling Sheeta. The blood bird was absorbed into Sheeta’s feathers as it was. Ophelia smiled as she stroked Sheeta.

[As expected.]

“I guess that monster scab-like magic is called blood magic.”

[huh. It’s so amazing… It’s been a while since I’ve felt the mana of blood, but a non-vampire uses blood magic… what’s the principle?]

In her tone, there was a spirit of inquiry that could only be felt in conversations between scholars. Somehow, I felt similar to the werewolf blacksmith Didican. Ophelia, who was suddenly stroking Sheeta’s wings, tilted her head.

[By the way, what kind of animal is he…? It has four wings, just like Orsay.]

“It is a fantasy species called a dream bird. I don’t know how it happened, but he knew how to handle blood.”

Ronan told the story of the dream bird’s characteristics and how he met Sheeta. Ophelia opened her eyes wide when she heard that she was not yet two months old.

“Two months…?”

“yes. Are there any problems?”

“Wait a minute…but did you just manipulate the shape of the blood…?”

“…was that a surprise? They say they do even greater things.”

Ronan told about Sheeta’s activities. In the battle with Dolan, he made a gap by making the bleeding worse. In Gran Cappadocia, the blood of survivors was extensively manipulated to create a locating pillar.

As the story progressed, Ophelia’s face gradually hardened. Pointy fangs glittered between Ophelia’s parted lips. Sheeta, who was looking at her worriedly, suddenly brightened her eyes.

“Subtract.”

Suddenly, a rose made of blood appeared in front of Sheeta’s eyes. It was exactly the same shape as the one Ophelia had made. Sheeta bit off the bloody rose and held it out to her as if giving her a present.

“oh my god…!”

“What’s wrong?”

“This… is really great. Did you say your name was Sheeta…?”

Ronan nodded. An excited voice escaped from Ophelia’s mouth. Emotions were slowly showing on his expressionless face.

“Maybe…maybe this child might be able to do it. Can I ask you a favor…?”

“Tell me at once.”

“Can you give me this child’s blood… or just a few feathers?”

“A feather?”

Ronan shrugged his eyebrows. Suddenly, he remembered that he had followed the feathers of Marfez, the dream bird, to Baren. Ophelia said as if pleading.

“Originally, I was only going to do research and not be active, but I will participate really hard. So three no…just two…”

“Calm down. Where are you going to use it?”

“I plan to use it for research on new blood magic. I got a feeling this time When I come back, I will definitely teach this child… huh?”

“…teach me magic? To Sheeta?”

Ronan’s eyes widened. It was an interesting story. I was feeling it, but the speed at which Sheeta learned and used something was very fast.

‘Yeah, even the average nerd gets smarter when he learns…’

The problem was that there was no one to make him a teacher because the magic he dealt with was so bizarre. In this situation, having someone to teach you blood magic was a very attractive proposition. Ronan asked while stroking Sheeta.

“Is Sheeta okay?”

“Subtract.”

Sheeta nodded. After Ronan finished her ideological examination, she pulled out three feathers. Ophelia accepted Sheeta’s feather with her hands trembling.

“Thank you…By the way, Ahayute…? What do you mean…?”

“It’s the name of a monkey with hemorrhoids.”

“That’s a strange name… Thanks anyway. I’ll definitely come back…”

Ophelia left those words behind and turned her back and walked away. Soon, a silver bat flew up from the shadow created by the Gallerion Crown.

The bat flew westward at a speed almost comparable to that of a bird of prey. Ronan murmured as he looked at the bat, now indistinguishable from the stars.

“…are you okay?”

****

Training continued every day. Fortunately, members actively participated in club activities. Otherwise, I couldn’t help it because Ronan went to catch La Mancha.

They really came to Nest whenever they had spare time and devoted themselves to training. Fundamentally, it was supported by talent and passion, so the speed of growth was fast.

“No, can’t this be? You can just jump in and slash them.”

“ha ha ha! I want to slash your head too! Is that a horse or a donkey!”

“Be patient, Braum.”

“I don’t understand. let’s try again. Swing like this while twisting your back!”

Ronan really did his best to teach them both. Of course, he could not be said to have the gift of an educator even in empty words.

To Ronan, who can copy most martial arts at a glance, Marya and Braum’s sluggishness seemed like a kind of handicap.

“From what I see, it’s all because of lack of effort. Let’s see who wins.”

Eventually, Ronan, who failed to understand, came to introduce a punitive military training system. Get hit until you can’t do it. However, it was impossible to beat and beat the chicks whose heads were still dry, so they replaced the beatings with nightmarish physical training.

“Hey what the hell…! How many laps is it going…!”

“The most important thing is stamina. It’s useless if you don’t have physical strength. And as your stamina improves, you will be able to train longer.”

“Wah ha ha! help me!”

Ronan did not only train his physical strength, but also train his strength. They soon became nest celebrities. No one could find anyone who used the training facility more actively than they did.

As I did that shit every day, a change occurred naturally in my body. One day after training, Marja called Asher.

“Touch the cutie.”

“uh? uh huh?”

“Don’t take it out, come on.”

Marja took Asher’s hand and made him touch her stomach. Through the sweaty fabric, the tactile sensation of touching a stone was transmitted through Asher’s fingertips. Marja laughed, wiping away sweat.

“How do you finish it? I liked the one thing that made my body hard.”

Asher couldn’t sleep that night. Originally, Braum was also the type to show off his body quite a bit, but after about three reports of him mistaking him for a monster at night, he was a little shy.

After about 15 days, Marja was able to demonstrate imperial swordsmanship with her greatsword. She returned the very next day with an early completion certificate for the Imperial Swordsmanship class.

“Cheer up! I saw it!”

“Good job. Now I have to learn martial arts.”

“Aagh!”

The next day, Braum took an early course in Intermediate Martial Arts. He said that he had been praised by the instructor for achieving an overwhelming achievement among the sophomores.

“Wah ha ha! In particular, they say that the toughness stands out! It’s all thanks to you guys. Thank you!”

“It’s quite right, Braum!”

“Gagging!”

Wow! Braum’s legs were loosened by Marja’s habitual fist. But it didn’t fall like the first time.

Seeing this, Ronan nodded his head curiously. I thought that maybe a weapon other than a greatsword would be suitable for Braum. Like a one-handed sword and a huge shield.

‘Anyway, when will that bastard come?’

More than 15 days have passed, but Schlieffen still has not returned. There were only rumors that a large-scale purge was taking place in the Grancia family.

Naviroze delivered the news that the information gleaned from Cirilla and Dolan was being documented and reported to the top of the world.

“It seems that the emperor also found out about this. I heard rumors that a special organization targeting only Nebula Clash was about to be established.”

“It will only get more confusing in the future.”

“yes. Anyway, what are you doing these days, wandering around like that? I heard Baren was worried about me.”

“To be exact, I am preparing to go around. It’s as secret as the instructor’s pajamas.”

Ronan’s scream resounded in the first arena. He became afraid of showing his ears to others for several days.

Ten more days have passed since then. Marja and Braum succeeded in completing two classes earlier each. They displayed their early completion certificates on a cork board in the club building.

“This is the third chapter!”

“I am four!”

“Everyone has suffered.”

Ronan clapped. Now, the timetables of the two are no different from those of Ronan or Asher. After adjusting the timetable, all members of the club were able to vacate for five days, including weekends.

“Finally ready to go.”

Letters were periodically coming from Ophelia. Three days ago, a letter arrived stating that it was in the final stage, but I couldn’t wait forever.

It was time to set off. Ronan immediately contacted the ‘Pale Horse’ guild. It was the only company that could rent a ghost horse that runs on the wind.

While making plans, Ronan learned that he could get to Baidian in half a day by riding the ghost horse.