Bang-!
As the building collapsed, the criminals inside scrambled out like cockroaches fleeing into the streets.
Kail slowly approached the lagging criminal and quietly unsheathed his sword. Upon seeing the glowing blue Aura Blade, the criminal screamed in fear and rolled on the ground.
“Sh, Shit-! What did we even do!”
“You guys?”
Kail paused for a moment at the criminal’s words, thinking about what they had done. Rape, kidnapping, murder, organ trafficking, human trafficking.
They spread drugs in the slums, increasing addicts to exploit, and used some of them as tools to assassinate people.
“You’ve done a lot of things.”
There was no need to spare such trash. Sleung-! The sharp Aura Blade grazed the guy’s neck, and just like that, he died with his head still attached.
There were no heads flying off or blood spurting from gaping throats. The swordsmanship of an ultimate Aura Master was capable of fine-tuned power control, cutting without wasting any strength.
“Cockroach-like bastards. Why are there so many of them?”
Kail sighed as he watched the criminals flee far away. These were the low-ranking members of an organization that once ruled the Empire’s underworld.
In other words, they were the scum of the earth.
A while ago, Kail successfully wiped out the organization’s leaders, but these low-level members hadn’t caught wind of it yet, gathering somewhere to plot more crimes.
So he cleaned up.
“—Ah, they’re heading that way.”
Kail informed the Empire’s soldiers of the escape route using a magical communication device. The soldiers who followed him blocked the retreat paths and began stabbing the fleeing members one by one.
Sharp screams echoed through the back alleys. But no one came to help them. The residents of the back alleys knew all too well what it meant when such a large force mobilized.
The back-alley residents didn’t want to get involved in unnecessary trouble. They were trash too, but trash that hadn’t committed evil.
‘I should probably leave now.’
Kail had already dealt with any strong foes, Experts or higher. The remaining minions could be handled by the soldiers themselves.
After sheathing his sword, Kail leisurely left the scene. A short walk would bring him to the city’s bustling area.
The faces of the people walking through the bustling streets were filled with smiles. They likely had no idea that dirty crimes were happening behind their streets.
“Hmm… Is this how heroes feel?”
Kail tried to raise the corners of his lips upon seeing the blooming smiles on people’s faces but stopped when a beggar boy tugged at his sleeve.
It wasn’t just that a beggar dirtied his clothes that wiped the smile off Kail’s face. In the boy’s hands was a fruit bag as big as his own body.
“What is it?”
“It’s delicious. Buy one.”
“…How much?”
“A thousand cash.”
“They’re ripping me off.”
Hearing Kail’s stern tone, the boy thought Kail might resort to violence, squeezed his eyes shut, and started trembling.
Casually handing over a thousand-cash bill and taking the fruit, the boy, surprised, opened his eyes wide and dashed off somewhere.
Kail doubted the boy would keep all the money. The boy was likely being exploited by someone else.
And in Kail’s eyes, exploiting children like that was evil.
‘Should I kill that person too?’
He couldn’t. If the boy was surviving off that exploitation, sacrificing one boy just to satisfy his moral superiority wouldn’t make sense.
Not all bad things were harmful to everyone. Kail needed to solve this problem.
The seed of evil he left behind had come to target his life.
“Damn, this tastes terrible.”
Fwip- After taking a bite of the fruit, Kail threw it away and returned to the Academy.
* * *
“—Kail, something on your mind?”
During equestrian class, Kail tilted his head at Arthur’s question as he rode alongside him.
“No, why?”
“Just… you look worried?”
“Worried? Of course not.”
Kail said this while stroking the mane of the horse he was riding. As his hand touched it, the horse began to tremble in fear.
“Is this horse afraid of me?”
“Haha, can’t be helped. Horses are sensitive animals…”
Arthur said this while gently stroking his own horse. Immediately, the horse he was riding started convulsing as if to throw him off.
Seeing a stronger reaction than his own, Kail chuckled.
“You’re the same, huh?”
“Waaah…! Hey, calm down!”
Arthur shouted, and the horse foamed at the mouth before collapsing sideways. Arthur jumped off just in time and looked down at the fallen horse, unsure what to do.
Clicking his tongue at the sight, Kail dismounted and shot Aura at Arthur’s horse. Stimulated by the intense vitality, the horse suddenly opened its eyes and galloped away from the two.
“Ah, ah… It shouldn’t have run away…”
“Arthur, neither you nor I are cut out for horseback riding.”
“Y, Yeah…”
The instructor who later brought back the runaway horse looked at Arthur curiously and spoke.
“Kail, being a Master, it’s understandable for him… but Arthur, why you?”
“Haha, right? Why are they so scared…?”
Unable to explain that the dragon heart embedded in her body made the horse sense the aura of an apex predator, Arthur laughed it off.
Scratching his head in puzzlement, the instructor sighed and told Kail and Arthur:
“The two of you are excused. Nowadays, they make good war golems, so you can take that class later.”
“I don’t need a horse anyway.”
“Kail, do what you want. A Master doesn’t need to attend academy classes…”
Muttering complaints, the instructor left the two behind and followed the other cadets. Suddenly left in the middle of the equestrian practice road, the two moved to the side with sour expressions.
Since there was nothing to do even if they returned early, Kail walked with Arthur, chatting for the first time in a while.
“So? What’s really bothering you?”
“I said it’s nothing.”
“Kail, is it really nothing?”
Srrk- Arthur blocked Kail’s path and leaned forward to look up at him. Despite being transformed into a man, Kail found the sight cute.
Chuckling, Kail shrugged and asked:
“How did you know?”
“It’s obvious with you, Kail. And we’ve been dating for a year now; how could I not know you?”
“Do you know me too well?”
“Why, falling for me again?”
Seeing Arthur smirk and cover her mouth, Kail shook his head. He felt a hint of disappointment from her expression.
Kail carefully considered how to start before realizing he couldn’t articulate his thoughts logically. Rather than hiding or twisting his words and delivering them wrong, it would be better to lay everything out from the start.
With that in mind, Kail began explaining from the first point of his dilemma.
“Do you remember the Barbarian Tribe’s destruction last winter?”
“That thing Duke Grace did? Yeah, it was impressive.”
“Actually, I did that.”
“…Huh?”
“Me, the Duke, and a few other Masters did it.”
Arthur looked at Kail, shocked by the revelation that contradicted everything she knew. However, Kail paid no heed to her gaze and continued speaking.
“We destroyed the Barbarian Tribe, but it wasn’t complete annihilation. There were survivors.”
“Th, That makes sense…”
“One of those survivors enrolled in the Academy.”
“—What? How!?”
“Something about His Majesty’s multi-ethnic integration policy… There seems to be a special admission process for different ethnicities.”
“Shouldn’t they have been denied entry…?”
“They must have received social education in the Empire and were deemed problem-free, hence their admission.”
Arthur could easily predict what came next. Not an enemy of family, friends, or lovers—but an enemy of an entire ‘race.’
If Arthur had experienced such a thing, she wouldn’t have tolerated it. She would have devoted her body and soul to killing that person.
Likewise, the newly enrolled Barbarian girl probably felt the same.
“The worry is…”
“Yeah, to her, I’m the bad guy, right?”
“No! Kail, you can’t be the bad guy!”
“Do you think she sees it that way?”
“…Kail.”
Arthur fell silent at Kail’s words. She immediately understood what he wanted to say. Kail was blaming himself, crushed by his own choices.
She didn’t know how to comfort him, but she did know how Kail usually snapped out of such thoughts.
“Let’s go!”
“Huh?”
“Let’s ask her directly!”
With that, she grabbed Kail’s arm and pulled him along. Whenever Kail was like this, he would charge ahead without overthinking and eventually achieve what he wanted.
Though surprised, Kail let Arthur lead him. That’s how the two went to find the new Barbarian student.
* * *
“I want to kill you.”
Arthur sweated profusely under Kururu’s intense gaze.
T, This isn’t what I expected?
