When people think of an Academy, they tend to imagine youth, love, effort, and passion. The Diaros Academy implemented in the game was no different.
Players could do anything they wanted. They could become a knight, a sorcerer, a soldier, an artist, or even a civil servant.
In the process, you could seduce royalty, befriend street urchins, or even buy slaves from a slave trader to build a slave harem.
Naturally, I imagined something similar would happen in real life. I thought the Academy would be full of dreams, hope, and love.
The Knight Department wasn’t like that at all.
“Next!”
Piiiiiii─!
As the instructor blew the whistle, the cadets who had been catching their breath immediately raised their wooden swords and aimed them at their opponents. These training wooden swords were much heavier than real swords due to the heavy metal embedded inside.
Of course, if struck properly, bones could break, and if handled well, it could even kill. Despite this, the cadets pointed their wooden swords at each other without hesitation and swung them.
There was no hesitation in their movements because this training was meant to prepare them for real combat where hesitation was not an option.
Baaaang─!
“Aaaah-!”
“……Are you okay?”
Using wooden swords instead of real blades lessened the guilt when swinging them. Though the cadet struck by the wooden sword screamed in pain, nothing broke, and he didn’t die. As long as he didn’t die, the Academy would use every resource available to heal his injuries.
Glancing over at where the cleric cadets gathered, one of them reading scriptures cautiously approached and examined the fallen cadet rolling on the ground.
“Are you alright? Where….”
The cleric cadet recited a prayer over the reddened swelling wound. Compared to experienced bishop-level clerics who had spent years on battlefields, the healing process was excruciatingly slow, but the injury gradually began to heal little by little.
After finishing the prayer and completing the treatment, the cleric smiled brightly, left some words of encouragement to train hard without worry, and returned to their place. Watching this, I couldn’t help but wonder if these clerics were psychos.
‘They’re practically asking people to get hurt….’
Looking at the healed cadet, I shrugged as if to ask if he wanted to continue. The cadet, whose bone had just been broken and reattached, gave me a sour look, sighed deeply, and then stood up.
“……I’m counting on you.”
“I’m counting on you too.”
The next moment, the cadet struck in the solar plexus collapsed and rolled on the floor, eventually passing out cold. After donating the completely unconscious cadet as a human experiment subject to the clerics, I returned and waited for my next turn.
After the instructor blew the whistle again, the cadets who had been enthusiastically swinging their swords exchanged light bows with each other, then moved one step to the side to prepare for sparring with another cadet.
Approaching me was a blond-haired fellow pretending not to have mastered Aura yet—still acting like a commoner.
“Ah, hi. Please take care of me….”
“Yeah, sure.”
Standing close to him, I noticed his eyelashes were surprisingly long. What kind of guy has such delicate features?
While scrutinizing this unnecessarily handsome guy, I realized I didn’t even know his name.
“Hey, you—what’s your name?”
“Huh, me?”
“I’m Kail Meyer.”
“Arthur, Arthur.”
“Got it, Arthur.”
Grasping my sword, I smirked at Arthur.
“You—why are you hiding it?”
“……!?”
Arthur looked at me in shock, as if wondering how I knew. I simply smiled back at him.
A moment later, at the sound of the instructor’s whistle, I swung my wooden sword.
Watching Arthur struggle to block my strike, I continued to swing my sword.
Let’s see how long you can keep hiding it.
* * *
Arthur stared at Kail in disbelief. He had seen through his secret.
‘How… how did he know?’
This secret was something he hadn’t told anyone—not even the Academy’s Headmaster suspected it.
For a classmate he met today to uncover his secret? It was difficult to comprehend. How was this even possible?
‘Could it be—this guy.’
Arthur remembered the words of the man who sent him here before coming to the Academy.
“They will come after you for your body.”
He had warned Arthur that organizations would chase him, and that he needed to become strong before they targeted him.
Did that mean Kail was part of the secret organization the man mentioned? Was he an agent targeting him?
‘……And he reveals it now?’
Even Arthur himself found that odd. If he was being targeted, why would he warn him beforehand?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to lower his guard and disarm his suspicions?
While Arthur pondered this suspiciously, Kail spoke, looking at him.
“Hey.”
“Huh, what?”
“Not focused?”
Kail frowned as if annoyed, then swung his sword slowly and deliberately toward the dazed Arthur. The sluggish arc of the blade made it clear his intention was to snap Arthur out of his thoughts.
Blocking the sword, Arthur snapped back to reality and realized he was in the middle of a sparring match. Had Kail swung his sword without caring whether Arthur moved or not, he would’ve been severely injured by now.
‘Is this his way of lowering my guard?’
Slightly disappointed in himself for remaining suspicious, Arthur faced Kail squarely.
“Sorry. I’ll focus.”
“Good. Lose focus, and you’ll get hurt.”
“……Phew.”
Taking a deep breath after hearing Kail’s warning, Arthur felt his heart pounding. The Aura generated by his dragon heart spread throughout his body, invigorating him.
Inside Arthur’s body lay the Dragon Heart. That was his secret. The Dragon Heart continuously generated a significant amount of Aura with every breath.
“─Here I go.”
The Dragon Heart heated up intensely, propelling Arthur forward.
Even if an Aura User poured out massive amounts of Aura indiscriminately, the efficiency would still be minimal.
In other words, if one ignored efficiency and unleashed Aura recklessly—then an Aura User could unleash power surpassing their usual limits.
“Hyaaaaa─!”
Overflowing with Aura, Arthur charged at Kail. Though Kail seemed skilled with the sword, with this much Aura reinforcing him—
“Hey.”
However, Kail effortlessly matched Arthur’s reinforced speed and blocked his sword strike.
After blocking the wooden sword, Kail snatched Arthur’s wooden sword away and frowned.
“Aura is prohibited during sparring.”
“Oh….”
Realizing the rule too late, Arthur fidgeted nervously, unsure of what to say.
Seeing this, Kail looked at Arthur and spoke as if asking what he was waiting for.
“Aren’t you going to apologize?”
“S-sorry.”
“Oh, good. Be careful next time.”
Watching Kail laugh it off cleanly with just an apology, Arthur sighed in relief. So he wasn’t some bad guy trying to kill him.
‘But.’
Arthur glanced down at his hand belatedly. His body, inefficiently pumped full of Aura, was moving at a speed even an Aura Expert might struggle to match.
‘……How did he snatch it?’
There was no time to dwell on it. Kail, seemingly unwilling to waste any more time, tossed the wooden sword back. The moment Arthur caught it—Kail swung his sword with the intent of revenge.
Unable to react, Arthur took a direct hit to the jaw, feeling dizzy as he glared at Kail.
‘Damn, this bastard….’
* * *
“Hahaha! I said I’m sorry!”
“Do you think this is funny? My ribs are broken!”
Men always bond after a fight. Having grown closer to the cadets through sparring, I headed to the bathhouse with hearty laughter.
The bathing facility within the Academy was first opened to the Knight Department after exercise. In truth, regardless of priority, no one except the Knight Department cadets rushed to bathe right after classes ended.
On the way to the bathhouse with the Knight Department cadets, I spotted Arthur hesitating in the distance and quickly sidled up to him, throwing an arm around his shoulder.
“Arthur! What are you doing?”
“Huh, what?”
“Not coming?”
Dragging the reluctant Arthur along to the bathhouse, he resisted weakly but couldn’t match my strength. Look at those thin arms.
Arriving at the bathhouse, I chuckled seeing Arthur sneak peeks at the women’s bath.
“What, you trying to sneak into the women’s bath?”
“N-no!?”
“Then why are you peeking? You’ll get expelled, you know?”
“…I’ll wash later.”
“Tsk, nonsense. If you walk around stinking, you’ll embarrass the entire Knight Department.”
Forcing Arthur, who was strangely reluctant to enter the bath, into the changing room, he turned his head as if he’d seen something he shouldn’t have.
Wondering why this kid was acting so weird, I quickly stripped off my uniform and waited for Arthur to undress.
“…Arthur, don’t tell me─.”
“Wh-what do you mean ‘don’t tell me’?”
“Are you too embarrassed to show your body because it’s pathetic? Hmph… I guess it can’t be helped. Compared to my physique, everyone else’s does look subpar.”
With that, I posed in front of the mirror, flexing my muscles. Arthur, watching my display, looked exasperated but slowly began to undress.
Though I thought he looked skinny from the outside, Arthur’s body was even thinner than I expected. It was baffling how someone with such a frail frame could possess such monstrous strength.
Clapping my hands on Arthur’s shoulders, I trembled slightly as I spoke.
“Arthur…!”
“Huh, what!? What’s wrong!?”
“─What’s with this scrawny body? It’s practically just skin and bones holding together…!”
“…Don’t scare me like that!”
Teasing him lightly, Arthur swatted my hand away and walked into the bath. Following behind, I entered the large bath area and smiled in satisfaction at the Academy-worthy spacious facilities.
Before entering the bath, I moved to the shower area to clean myself. Arthur, sticking close to me, cautiously asked,
“Uh, Kail?”
“What?”
“Um… aren’t we supposed to wash each other’s backs or something?”
“……What?”
I stared at Arthur incredulously. His face was slightly flushed for some reason, and as I watched, a lightning bolt of realization struck me.
The reluctance to enter the bath and his shy demeanor flashed back in my mind, and I began to roughly understand why Arthur had been acting so strangely.
‘You little….’
So he was gay.
I took a step back from Arthur. Ignoring his puzzled tilt of the head, I washed myself while carefully keeping my back turned to him.
The misunderstanding cleared up only after the bath, when Arthur, noticing I was still keeping my distance, sensed something was off and approached me.
