The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 189

The end of the semester was approaching.

With the tests over and the upcoming vacation, the students were buzzing with excitement from the morning.

Caught up in that atmosphere, I found myself reflecting on this first semester.

“It was a successful first semester.”

No matter how I looked at it, there was really nothing more to say other than that I did well.

At this point, I alone had warded off the desperate future of this world three times.

The original objective of the Elixir of Growth had also taken shape to some extent… and I had seen a bit of its effectiveness.

I couldn’t uphold my younger sibling’s advice to take a break, but what could I do?

If I had just been lazing around, this world would have fallen into the clutches of demons.

During this summit, the Masters from various countries also agreed to further press the power of the Demon Churches, so their threat would diminish.

That means I can truly devote myself to supporting Professor Praha’s research now.

That wall of 150, which I thought I couldn’t surpass, was approaching.

Besides that, I had pending matters like visiting my uncle from the Nemea family or attending Prigia’s party.

With the vacation starting, I should also try to find the scattered members of the Snow Country Exploration Team.

Recently, I had been entangled with Hoenheim, so I needed to update him on that.

“I keep finding things to do.”

It’s not like I wanted this, but it was kind of annoying how it just kept piling up like a snowball.

After contemplating for a while, I suddenly recalled the scene I had seen this morning.

“No matter how I look at it, that wasn’t okay.”

In the end, Lucia had insisted she was fine and adamantly refused to stay.

Covering her face with her bandaged hand, I couldn’t see clearly, but her eyes were swollen.

If she could enter at any time when I knocked, waiting at the front gate shows she was hesitating to come in.

“Should I have stopped her?”

Even after that, her figure continued to linger in my mind.

I was so flustered that I couldn’t follow her, but I felt like I should have grabbed her then.

Wondering if something had happened while I was away yesterday, I asked around.

“Was there an incident at the Academy yesterday?”

“Do you know something?”

Amy tilted her head, seeming genuinely clueless.

“Right… you weren’t here yesterday, were you?”

“Umm… Yes, I was going to mention that this morning, but I forgot.”

“What could have happened overnight?”

River, with a pouty face, spoke up.

It seemed something had indeed occurred.

“Well, it’s about that…”

Just as more questions were piling up, the classroom door opened, and Lucia walked in.

“…..”

They say the tiger comes when you mention it; I had thought maybe she wouldn’t show up today since she hadn’t come for morning exercises, but thankfully, she did.

However, the reactions of the others were somewhat strange.

No student had ever hesitated with Lucia’s arrival before since they were all familiar with her. But as soon as Lucia entered, the chatter stopped abruptly.

“…..”

Seeing their reaction, Lucia lowered her head.

Lucia’s typical behavior pattern in the classroom I had observed before was as follows.

Immediately upon entering, she used her high vantage point to locate my position.

At this point, two paths emerged: she would come near me or watch from a precarious distance just within her line of sight.

It didn’t seem conditional; it looked like it varied based on her mood that day.

Upon entering, Lucia looked around and met my gaze.

Normally, this would mean she would join me, but…

“….”

She abruptly turned her head away, heading to a far corner of the room where I couldn’t see her at all.

“What the…”

I was about to ask more when Andy walked in.

Everyone had been watching Lucia, but as soon as Andy returned, the atmosphere shifted back to normalcy as if nothing had happened.

Damn, what is going on?

Beside me, Amy and River exchanged wry smiles, suggesting they wanted to discuss it after class.

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“Breaking news. The eagerly awaited grades have been posted. I put them up on the bulletin board while coming here, so check it out after class.

Although it seems everyone is more interested in something else right now… but still, this was the one major test of the semester.”

It seemed the results of the final skills test had been posted.

I was indifferent, but the tension among the students who had poured their lives into this test surged.

It looked like only the students with excellent grades eligible for scholarships were listed, so everyone would rush to look.

‘… More interested in something else?’

But there was a strange remark mixed in.

Everyone supposedly had another interest besides grades; was there anything that could possibly be more interesting than the results now?

In terms of vacation, it should be a sense of ‘anticipation,’ not curiosity, so it sounded odd.

“… I get that you’re curious about grades. I am aware of them, though.”

“Can’t we just see? It’s not like there’s more to say anyway right now.”

“Seeing it sooner won’t change anything. But I’ll wrap this up as quickly as I can, so don’t worry.”

Andy tapped the chalkboard casually as he continued speaking.

“Now that the semester is ending, I get that everyone’s excited for the vacation, but don’t get into too much trouble. Don’t gamble too much either.

Be careful with the alcohol at the taverns; there was a lot of issues with drunks causing trouble before the Academy even had to suspend all liquor sales… okay?”

There were no significant lecture contents.

Although they didn’t show it, it was evident that even the professors were wishing for the semester to end as soon as possible.

The growing curiosity could only be resolved without satisfaction in the end.

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The moment class ended, Lucia fled like a bolt and sought out Shaara.

I could have asked River or someone else, but I deliberately chose to hear it from Shaara.

It seemed serious enough to require detailed information.

As soon as I arrived, Shaara wore a look that said, “Well, something’s come up.”

“Excuse me, but did Atlas happen to be outside the Academy yesterday?”

“Yeah. I went out on some errands and just returned this morning. Was there a problem?”

“No, excuse me.”

Upon hearing that I hadn’t been at the Academy, Shaara held back her words.

If I had used a regular method to leave the Academy, there should have been all sorts of records, but since I had used teleportation and returned with a rule, there’d be no record she could find.

Shaara’s reaction was strange as well.

“I thought you would be out organizing traffic yesterday.”

“Me? Traffic organizing?”

The conversation kept getting weirder.

What the heck was I supposed to be organizing?

Shaara continued.

“Yesterday, Count Russell secretly visited the Academy.”

“Carlos?”

“Yes. He briefly met with Lucia Russell and seems to have left shortly after.”

Carlos Russell, the current head of the Russell family and an expert of the highest caliber.

Like Edward Lemnos, he was known for reaching the pinnacle of the highest experts but hadn’t crossed that wall for over a decade.

Living like the rock emblem of his family, he rarely showed emotions publicly and didn’t enjoy boasting.

So, he probably planned to leave in secret.

“But that implies it wasn’t just a casual visit.”

“…Right.”

Shaara hesitated for a moment before speaking again.

As soon as I heard that, I understood why she had hesitated.

“Carlos Russell announced that he would select a fiancé for Lucia from among the students of the Academy before he left.”

“Isn’t he insane?!”

I jumped up from my seat in disbelief.

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What Shaara had told me was too shocking.

For a while, her words spun around in my head.

“Carlos suddenly said he would allow the strongest male student at the Academy to marry Lucia after graduation. It seems Lucia had no say in the matter at all.”

I wanted to discuss the details directly with Lucia, but she kept avoiding me since then.

When Russell decided to hide and started avoiding me, there was nothing I could do.

Ordinary people would have probably stopped here.

“The other pillars were shocked too. No one expected Russell to say something like that. Only the involved parties know the specifics, but ever since coming to the Academy, it seems Lucia has had some intense arguments.”

But thankfully for Lucia, I am no ordinary person, and seeing her behave like this only made me want to hold on even more.

Judging that she would eventually return to the dormitory, I decided to lurk around the female dormitory, receiving pointed looks from River and Amy.

It was Lucia who was wrong for constantly avoiding me.

No matter how hard she tried to run away, this is the Academy.

In the end, she had no choice but to return to the dormitory.

‘Here she comes.’

Predictably, my intuition was spot on.

As dusk fell, I spotted Lucia cautiously glancing around as she entered the dormitory.

If she goes inside, it would be a hassle to bypass the barrier, so I had to catch her now.

I jumped down from my hiding spot on the tree.

“Whoa!!!”

“Eek?!”

Lucia panicked and swung her fists at the sudden intruder.

Using a rule, I dodged in the air just in time, but the force of her punch obliterated the tree I had just been on.

Thinking about how I could have been hit if I hadn’t dodged sent a chill down my spine.

Fortunately, it didn’t hit me, and her stance was now unsteady; this was my chance.

“Gotcha!! Stop messing around!”

I successfully caught her.

It was more like I was hanging on to her upper body, though.

“Eek! Someone, help!!!”

“Lucia, it’s me—”

Desperate to shake off the weird person clinging to her, she thrashed about wildly.

Considering how close I was to being thrown off, I managed to hold on, but that wasn’t the end.

-Thud!!

“Ugh?!”

Her blind punches, flailing everywhere, hit me.

This was the punch of Lucia, who could uproot the pillars of a three-story building with her strength.

Each hit sent waves of pain pounding in my head.

‘The bandage… she really is wrapped up…!!’

It hurt, but more importantly, I focused on the bandages wrapped around her hands.

It wasn’t just casually wrapped; it looked tightly bound, as if she had sustained burn injuries.

Whatever the case, Lucia was oblivious to my identity and continued to swing her fists.

In this chaos, I doubted she would be able to understand me.

“Ugh..!”

Using a rule, I leaped into the air, fastened my grasp around her, and subdued her.

In an instant, an immense force pressed against my body, but I endured it, finally meeting her eyes.

“Now, open your eyes and look! It’s me!!”

“… Atlas…?”

Only then did Lucia finally stop.

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“Ugh, I’m sorry…”

Lucia sniffled, tears brimming.

Since I had taken the hits without any armor, I had bruises all over my body.

That was some formidable strength.

Even if I was a Master and a bit weaker than the others, I could usually shrug off punches, but I was terrified at the thought of what could have happened if someone else had received those blows.

“Isn’t there more you need to apologize for?”

“….”

She avoided my gaze when I brought up another topic.

It looked like she wanted to escape at any moment.

But facing me, who had taken such a beating, it seemed she didn’t want to flee.

In the first place, it would be impossible for her to escape now.

If she tries to run away again, I won’t just be Atlas the Academy student; I will be an Imperial Master capturing her.

Given how strong Lucia was, I couldn’t go easy on her.

“Why have you been avoiding me today?”

“It’s a misunderstanding…”

She kept looking away.

“Are you still lying?”

“Ugh…”

Not letting her turn her head elsewhere, I held her cheeks to lock her gaze.

“Why are you running away?”

“…It’s nothing…”

“Then why did you stand there all night? You must have wanted to say something, right?”

Getting pushy made her hold back tears, and soon enough, large droplets welled up in her eyes.

“It’s not…! It has nothing to do with you…! Really… I just passed by and stopped for a moment… I have nothing more to say… just let me go…!”

Lucia started thrashing around again, trying to resist.

The way she pouted while struggling was somewhat cute, but…

-Smack!

With how much force she was using, the bricks paving the surrounding ground shattered.

“All of this… it’s all my problem… now that it’s come to this… no matter what you do… it’s useless…”

She was really easy to read.

Was she genuinely trying to reject me with her best effort? Physically, she still acted like a child.

Despite her efforts, all I could hear was her silently begging for help.

In moments like this, I knew just the effective approach.

“You’ve had it rough.”

I pulled Lucia into a hug as tightly as I could.

When calming down a crying child, there’s nothing more effective than a hug.

It would have been better if I could get close enough to hear our heartbeats, but with her size, that wasn’t possible.