Chapters 32 and 37 have been revised. Reading them first might help!
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70. Exploration Battle (13)
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Having completed the Exploration Battle, the proper reception awaited them—a celebration for the victors. The empire usually treated its victors well. Even though it was an Exchange Battle, the victors would surely be welcomed appropriately…or so the exchange students thought.
The moment they stepped out of the stone gate, the surrounding landscape abruptly changed, and the familiar sights of the Academy finally came into view. Only then did the reality of their return settle in.
And the Academy staff awaited them to offer their welcome…
“…Why is the atmosphere like this?”
It was Liam muttering under his breath.
The atmosphere was far from welcoming. It was bustling with the members of the Cascata family and the Shaiskeil family, visibly separated and glaring menacingly at them.
“…Congratulations on your victory, Exchange Students.”
It was Lorenzo.
Even though Lorenzo congratulated them like this, Liam asked him what had happened.
Lorenzo did not answer the question.
Instead, he sighed deeply and looked toward Karla.
“…Is this because of Lucas? Or more precisely, is it because of me?”
Karla said with a wry smile.
It was only then that Lorenzo noticed Karla’s left arm and his eyes widened.
“Karla, your arm…?”
“Yes. My arm has regrown. And before you ask, I didn’t kill Lucas.”
“What!?”
The moment those words were spoken, the entire group—or rather, the three excluding Ivan—turned their gaze toward Karla. It was a statement that made one question their own ears: Karla had killed Lucas. The sheer naturalness with which those words were spoken made it hard to believe they had even been heard correctly.
“Karla, I already knew you killed Lucas. I didn’t know the arm had regenerated.”
“There was good reason for it.”
Karla’s expression did not change.
She remained as cold and somewhat aloof as ever. With no visible emotion, she spoke as though breathing through her nose were the most natural thing in the world, declaring that she had killed Lucas.
“First, we need to move somewhere else. Karla, come with me, and the rest of you head to the classroom.”
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Ivan exchanged a glance with Karla, who then followed Lorenzo.
Walking down the long corridor, they headed toward the central hall of the Academy. Lighting up a mana-cigarette and exhaling a long stream of smoke, Lorenzo addressed her.
“…A residue of your mana was found in the hole that pierced Lucas’s chest. There is no doubt that you killed Lucas, Karla. While I’m curious about how your arm was restored, that is secondary now to the matter of why you killed Lucas.”
“It’s true, and I did kill Lucas.”
“Why did you do it?”
“Didn’t I already say? Lucas was attempting to rape me.”
“Did this happen before or after your arm was restored?”
Karla paused, thinking.
What would sound most plausible here—prior to? Everyone knows one-armed Karla wouldn’t stand a chance against Lucas. But after? Unless Lucas was foolish, there wouldn’t be a reason for him to attack her… unless there was.
“Before.”
“Before? You, Karla, with one arm…?”
Lorenzo, who had previously been walking, sat down on a nearby bench.
Karla, unwilling to sit beside him, remained standing a small distance away.
“Lucas had lost his senses, Instructor.”
“Lost his senses?”
“There was a sedative. He was trying to administer it to me.”
“There was a sedative…!? Lucas had a sedative on him?”
“Yes.”
Karla sounded confident.
It was true that Lucas had carried a sedative.
It was also true that he tried to inject it into her.
And it was a fact that due to this, Lucas ended up dying at Karla’s hands.
There were a few omitted facts, but as far as she was concerned, she hadn’t exactly lied.
“A sedative… if it could be used as evidence, your words would carry more weight. But who possessed the sedative…?”
“She said she got it from the woman who cut off my arm.”
“From the woman who cut off your arm? The alchemy mage? You’re saying she approached Lucas? Why?”
“That’s something I don’t know. Isn’t it the Academy’s job to figure it out?”
Lorenzo fell silent at that.
Karla’s words were not incorrect, and with all these unfortunate incidents, the Academy’s reputation was quickly declining.
“Thanks to the headmaster’s intervention, I don’t intend to escalate the matter about the sedative. Speaking of which, what happened to Kiara, Lucas’s maid? She must’ve broken all her limbs, right?”
“Maid…?”
With my arm back, has my temper returned too?
Lorenzo scratched his head as he lit another mana-cigarette.
“Kiara indeed had all her limbs broken. It appears that was your doing… she’s currently hospitalized. Once she recovers, we’ll need to take her testimony. But why do you ask about Kiara?”
“Well. One thing’s for sure—Kiara wasn’t brought down by me.”
She wasn’t lying.
Kiara had been defeated by Ivan.
All Karla did was break the unconscious Kiara’s arms and legs.
Lorenzo’s gaze turned cold, but Karla remained calm despite it.
She hadn’t told any lies.
“Lucas’s death, and Kiara as well. Plus, Lucas had sedatives… but there’s no evidence.”
“Looking into Kiara won’t yield anything either. She was fighting Ivan.”
Karla adjusted her tone and said firmly.
“…Ivan was also there, obviously. Understand. And, as it’s not my job to conduct investigations, I’ll leave it at that.”
With that, Lorenzo said nothing more. He just inhaled deeply on his mana-cigarette, stood up, and headed toward the central hall. Karla followed silently behind.
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“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
Mercurio nodded, massaging the area near his eye, marked by the demonic eye.
Such piercing coldness.
The chill emanating from Ivan during this Exchange Battle was markedly different from the one he had exuded when entering the territory earlier.
His gentle smile or his usual conversations with Regina seemed typical of the Ivan everyone knew, but Mercurio could clearly perceive the sinister aura rolling off him.
“Should we consider this as an awakening?”
“It’s more than enough to call it an awakening.”
“Then I must report this. And the other matter…”
Veneri thought about the retreating back of Karla, who had moved farther away from Lorenzo.
The left arm she had personally obliterated—destroying it beyond any possibility of treatment—had inexplicably returned to Karla. Somehow.
“…The automatons stored in Abzetti Cave must have rotted away by now. There’s no way they could have been used to restore her arm.”
The locations where she stored those mechanical bodies were scattered. The eastern Abzetti Cave, which contained the relatively usable ones, was quite distant and had been in storage for too long. Their condition must’ve been poor. But since her arm grew back after visiting there, it was something that couldn’t be ignored.
“Hey, Mercurio.”
“Hmm?”
“About that remnant of the old royal family. Was he truly a genius at magic?”
“Umm.”
Mercurio stroked his chin, lost in thought. He had heard about the man’s genius, but how far did it stretch?
“Blooming to 33 points—they weren’t normal geniuses. We also get called geniuses, but none of us have reached that level, right?”
“Thirty-three blooms… sounds absurd.”
Anyone surpassing 20 was called a genius, and anyone over 30 was seen as divinely gifted. Word was that Ivan, the commoner with 31 blooms, was an unparalleled genius.
And yet 33… could someone with that level of talent even master alchemy?
Judging from Karla’s reacquired arm, Mercurio doubted it.
“Anyway, we should report to Lord Cascata. It’s certain now that the awakening has occurred. We must prepare the annihilation operation next. If the awakening has taken place, he’s already beyond our control.”
“Do you think the empire even knows how hard we’re working?”
“It’s not like we’re asking to be recognized. We just need to do it quickly. The longer he stays awakened, the more dangerous things will get.”
Getting up from her squat with a groan, Veneri heard a crack in her knee, which slightly unsettled her, but stretching made her feel refreshed.
“Hmm?”
At that moment, Veneri tilted her head, sensing something strange.
From a considerable distance, even as she was looking far away, her gaze seemed to meet Ivan’s.
Not only that, but she also felt as if Ivan gave her a sly smile upon making eye contact.
“It’s probably just my imagination.”
Though she felt unsettled, Veneri decided to ignore it.
