The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 395

I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t find the words for a while.

“Did you find me?”

“Why are you here!!”

My master, who I had distinctly heard was missing according to the principal, was perfectly fine at home.

“I thought something happened to you!”

“That’s something I should say! Why should I not worry when you say you’re coming back soon, but something came up and you don’t return?”

“I have no words.”

If I bring that up, I wouldn’t have anything to say either.

We had only intended to ask the Lord for a moment, and yet he ended up completely trapped.

“Ever since we lost contact with the uncle, we solved the incident on our own.”

“You solved it?”

“Are you saying you found out who the dark figure is??”

Hearing that they managed to resolve the incident in such a short time startled me.

Please tell me you didn’t just grab some convenient dragons and cause a ruckus!

“The uncle said there’s no relation between the Dragon Lord and those dragons, so it should be easy to extract answers, right?”

“Yeah, since you came back quicker than expected, you better show what you found out. Follow me.”

My master began leading me somewhere.

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The first place we headed was an unused barn behind the mansion.

Originally, it seemed they used to keep a horse there for traveling to the academy, but since I didn’t use it, it was just left to be repaired during renovations.

However, there was definitely a presence in the barn that should have been empty.

“Ah… welcome, Master….”

“No… who are you??”

In the barn sat a huge man boasting blue hair, looking quite dejected, huddled up.

This wasn’t my first time seeing him.

He was definitely one of the five dragons who came to kidnap Gemma.

The arrogant posture I remembered from our first encounter was completely gone, and he sat there, unable to meet my gaze, like livestock tied to a barn post. It was rather bizarre.

“Warp Gate.”

“Should… should I use that place just now?”

“Yeah.”

My master calmly ordered the Blue Dragon, who obeyed as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The Blue Dragon created a blue warp gate in midair.

“Don’t worry; we’ll raise him a bit here and then move him to the capital.”

“That’s not the problem.”

“Then what is? Don’t worry; he’s already been house-trained.”

You’re treating the dragon like some pet dog!

What on earth happened in that brief moment?

“What happened??”

“Ugh…?! Lady Gemma??”

No matter how threatening one might appear, seeing one’s kin in such a pitiful state naturally stirs sympathy.

“I’m so sorry, so sorry. I dared to harbor ill intentions and did such foolishness..!! I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

The Blue Dragon just repeated those words like a broken toy.

It looks like he received quite a rough training.

“The disappearance of the magicians at the magic tower is no big deal. There’s no longer a reason to keep dragons there. We’ll clean up later.”

My master said that and passed through the warp gate.

As I followed him, a strange sensation enveloped my whole body.

It was the characteristic of the other space unfolding within the magic tower.

“Wow.”

“Whoa….”

And within this vast other space, ‘work’ was currently underway.

About six dragon corpses were being disassembled by numerous workers’ hands.

Each one was a transcendent being capable of destroying castles, and their scales, skins, flesh, bones, and organs were all being processed with a casualness that was shocking.

“D-Dragons… Ugh…!”

“Don’t look.”

Gemma, who followed out of curiosity, was horrified to see her kin being brutally dismembered and began to retch.

They all deserved to die for attempting to harm Gemma, but witnessing the dismemberment of their corpses was an entirely different matter.

Seeing she was in severe shock, I stepped up and cupped Gemma’s eyes, allowing her to lean against me.

With that, I could feel her gradually calming down.

“Master, this is too much.”

“Oh dear… I didn’t expect it to be disassembled so quickly. I must have overlooked that.”

Seeing Gemma struggle made my master feel guilty.

Although Gemma’s complexion was pale, she had already seen everything.

[Ugh… AAAAAH!!! You crazy fools!!! Do you think you’ll get away with this!!]

[You guys… I will have revenge… I swear, I swear!!!]

On one side, a few still-living dragons were thrashing about while watching their kin being dissected.

Their voices were loud enough to resonate all around, so I covered Gemma’s ears.

“Looks like there are more, huh?”

“Yeah. All the ones that increased are from the hunts I did, so they’re my share.”

“You didn’t even target them.”

Jokingly, I quipped back.

“Did you ambush that beggar?”

“Yeah. I isolated all five and interrogated them separately to uncover the backers. Then, after getting the information out of them, I cleaned it all up. Together with the magicians, I collected all the dragons and was delayed because I was handling the contracts for the dragon corpses I brought.”

I can claim great assertiveness in my actions, but my master is no slouch either.

Right after I confirmed that those dragons had no connection to the Lord, he set everything in motion the next morning.

Seeing this made me curious about one thing.

“Which side are you on?”

“If we’re talking about the backers, they’re over there with the living ones.”

Observing the trapped dragons, I noticed one that seemed a bit larger among them.

A Black Dragon, roughly 1.5 times the size of the others, showed no visible signs of injury despite being thoroughly beaten by my master; he still appeared quite spirited.

“Are you going to interrogate him yourself?”

“No. I think it’s better to leave him alive unless we’re killing them all.”

“I was going to do that anyway. The Dragon Lord would buy him at a high price.”

I was going to suggest that turning him over to the Dragon Lord was a good idea, but it seemed my master had that planned already.

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I thought it wouldn’t be helpful to stay any longer as it would only distress Gemma further, so I returned to the mansion.

“Ugh… ugh….”

“You should go in and rest.”

Gemma, who seemed so lively just a moment ago, was now bedridden due to the horrific sights from the tower.

I tried to lay her in her room and leave, but she grabbed my hand.

“Please… don’t leave me alone right now….”

Seeing her trembling hand with a fever, it was clear that the events in the magic tower had deeply shocked her.

And I could hardly blame her.

Even just seeing the corpses of her kin would leave psychological wounds, but witnessing them being meticulously dismembered would undoubtedly leave scars in her heart.

Had I known it would be such a place, I wouldn’t have brought Gemma along.

“Alright. I won’t go anywhere today.”

To keep her from feeling anxious, I brought a chair and sat it beside her bed, and Gemma looked up at me with her trembling eyes.

“What’s this, are you not coming out?”

“Tomorrow, tomorrow. Thanks to my master, she’ll be having nightmares tonight.”

“How boring. Then you have to tell me everything tomorrow.”

After saying that, I thought I would soon leave, but my master, noticing her condition, had come looking for me, and now it seemed I needed to be here.

“…I’m always grateful. I feel like I’m always a burden to you. Even since we first met… and even now.”

“Well, you really bring along quite the incidents and accidents, don’t you?”

Thinking about it, it’s quite true.

When we first met, I was fending off thieves trying to collect tribute, and now I’m embroiled in a conspiracy related to the Dragon Lord.

As a result, I almost got caught and risked going to war with the dragons, and came close to fighting the deranged Dragon Lord.

But it’s not really bothersome.

Considering what happened just before with Leviathan throwing everything into disarray, the events surrounding Gemma feel more like a chaotic spectacle than anything serious.

It’s not normal to say that fighting against dragons is no big deal, but from the Master’s perspective, it’s just a small commotion.

While I’ve had my share of troublesome events, ultimately, having Gemma by my side has never harmed me.

I wasn’t expecting any of that in the first place.

There’s really no reason for it.

It’s just that I could and wanted to help, so I did what I could.

“But if we’re talking about causing trouble around, wouldn’t I be the one doing it the most? Don’t worry about it too much.”

“…Atlas.”

Suddenly, I felt a strong grip from her hand.

“Ugh?!”

In an instant, I found myself floating through the air.

By the time I regained my senses, I was lying on Gemma’s bed, and she was on top of me, looking down.

“I thought about various things. I was pondering how I could repay you… I thought about what I could provide that might help you, but this is all I can give.”

“I didn’t do it expecting any reward.”

“No… that’s too uncomfortable for me. Please let me repay you for the kindness I received.”

Gemma’s golden eyes sparkled.