The principal and Gawein groaned after hearing they were weak. It wasn’t wrong. Hadn’t the two of them failed to subdue Kail despite their combined efforts during the Cultural Festival Ariah incident?
They did have the restriction of not being able to kill each other, but the fact that two Masters couldn’t subdue one person suggested their combat abilities were weaker than expected.
That was indeed the case. One was a sorcerer who mainly stayed cooped up in his room doing research, and the other was an inspector who had been injured in war and could no longer perform at full capacity.
“The two of you won’t do.”
“…Is he that strong?”
“Yes, maybe even stronger than me.”
Kail nodded as he recalled Schwartz from the streets. He looked to be in his late twenties, but his actual age was unknown.
What was certain was that he had lived several decades longer than Kail, and even just considering his career after becoming a Master, he had lived several times longer than Kail.
No matter how much of a genius he was, there were two factors he could never overcome against those born earlier: experience and effort.
“I’m not sure what will happen if we fight. Whether I’ll win or not.”
“That’s why we’re saying we should step in.”
“No, then he’ll run. That bastard.”
He was certain of it. If three Masters approached him, the guy would immediately notice something was up and flee.
And once a Master-level opponent decided to run, they could never be caught – hadn’t they learned that from the Kaines incident?
“We can’t let him get away after harming our academy students.”
“But how?”
“It’s simple.”
With a slightly stiff expression, Kail began explaining his plan to capture him, a Master.
The two listened with rather uncomfortable expressions, but soon nodded in agreement and decided to participate.
Thinking about capturing the brutal murderer, Kail smirked.
* * *
“Ah, oh. Welcome!”
“You’ve come again.”
The young female owner of the bakery blushed upon seeing the man entering her shop. A handsome man with a refreshing yet masculine appearance had walked in.
If he were just good-looking, she might have kept her admiration to herself, but this person had been visiting the shop for several days now.
At this point, she found herself unconsciously imagining he might have ulterior motives due to his frequent visits.
“Oh, are you getting that again today?”
“Yes. The bread here is delicious.”
“Thank goodness! Ah, if you like that, I think you’ll like these too… Let me give them to you as a service!”
“Oh, really? Thank you.”
The bakery owner gave various kinds of bread as a “service.” Schwartz gratefully paid for the mountain of bread and left the store.
The academy territory was a better place than expected. Perhaps because the academy cafeteria received better reviews than the imperial palace meals. The shops in the academy territory couldn’t survive unless their food was at least comparable to or only slightly inferior to the academy cafeteria.
‘Delicious.’
Schwartz nibbled on the bread, savoring its taste. His expression was one that couldn’t be believed to belong to someone who had brutally murdered a student just a few days ago.
While making sandwiches by purchasing ham from the butcher shop to put in his bread, Schwartz realized he was starting to feel hungry.
The battle with Yukson’s monster that had been replaying in his mind all week.
Now he was sick of it. He needed a new fight. He wanted to storm into the academy territory right away.
‘But no, that wouldn’t work…’
However, Schwartz wasn’t a fool. The academy territory was essentially a fortress built by the principal. Storming into a magician’s fortress alone would be foolish.
Moreover, there were two more Master-level fighters there. If he invaded the academy, what awaited him wouldn’t be an exhilarating fight but a one-sided hunt.
That wouldn’t be fun at all. Dying while being overwhelmingly crushed by an overwhelmingly strong opponent would be acceptable, but dying due to being outnumbered like that would be humiliating.
‘I wonder when he’ll show up…’
Crunch- As he took a bite of the bread in his mouth, Schwartz waited for Kail to appear.
Perhaps the whole universe heard his desperate wish, as Schwartz saw Kail approaching from afar and his eyes sparkled.
“Hmm- This is too much for dessert.”
Slowly lowering the bread bag, Schwartz deflected Kail’s thrown letter with his sword. Looking at the letter impaled on his sword tip, he tilted his head in confusion.
“What’s this?”
“Read it. Schwartz.”
“What is it?”
Following the instruction, Schwartz unfolded the letter and became filled with joy upon reading its contents.
The letter was a challenge to a duel arena, guaranteeing a one-on-one fight between the two of them.
After reading the letter, Schwartz smirked and looked at Kail.
“We don’t need this kind of thing, we can fight right now?”
“Don’t you see that?”
“…?”
Kail pointed behind him, and Schwartz turned to look. In the distance, two Masters were glaring at Schwartz with intense auras.
It was far enough to escape anytime, but close enough to quickly close in and kill him once the fight started.
Looking at Kail’s trickery, Schwartz let out a dry laugh.
“Why should I trust your words?”
“Don’t worry. Those two won’t interfere.”
“They won’t come on the day?”
“No, it means you’ll die by my hand.”
Hearing Kail’s almost arrogant statement, Schwartz burst into laughter. It came from someone at least ten years younger, someone who could be considered inexperienced.
At the same time, it was a statement from a genius that couldn’t be completely dismissed, so after laughing, Schwartz said he’d look forward to it and left waving.
“I’ll be looking forward to it. Don’t disappoint me too much.”
“Write some letters to your friends.”
“Aha, kids these days really…”
Schwartz disappeared while still smiling. It might have seemed like he was leaving for good, but Kail didn’t think so.
He would appear before him again. He wasn’t someone who valued his life. He was the type who wouldn’t hesitate to risk his own life to fulfill his desires.
Now, the only thing left was to find a way to defeat him.
‘Should I ask?’
Without having seen him swing his sword even once, there was no way to know how the opponent fought. Usually, that was the case.
But he had access to a repository of knowledge about everything in this world. Someone who could uncover both the weaknesses and strengths of an unfamiliar formidable opponent.
* * *
“What? You’re going to fight Schwartz?”
“Yeah.”
Kail immediately went to Sera and asked her about Schwartz’s weaknesses. Upon hearing this, Sera promptly explained his weaknesses.
“Just like all inspectors, if you keep shooting magic from afar, they can’t do anything.”
“…Anything else?”
“Anything else? According to the lore, he’s a master of quick-draw swordsmanship. He can swing his sword dozens or hundreds of times in the blink of an eye.”
Schwartz’s weakness was similar to Kail himself. Vulnerability to ranged attacks. So theoretically, if several Master-level magicians shot spells, he would be helpless and die.
The problem was that it was practically impossible to gather several Master-level magicians. Moreover, it wasn’t exactly a weakness. How could being helpless against multiple attackers be considered a weakness?
Therefore, Kail started asking about Schwartz’s strengths instead. A quick-draw master. Kail recalled the state of the corpse that Sir Gawein had mentioned.
– It was torn into dozens of pieces in one go. Master’s work indeed.
‘Ah, I see…’
The bloodstains that soaked the road – he had wondered how so much blood could spill at once, but with quick-draw swordsmanship that could cut a person into dozens of pieces in one stroke, it was entirely possible.
Having grasped Schwartz’s abilities to some extent, Kail nodded and looked at Sera.
“Thanks. I have a rough idea of what to do now.”
“Should I help?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“But…”
“What could I expect from you who isn’t even a Master? Right?”
Hearing Kail’s words, Sera fell silent, thinking he was right. This was as far as she could help. Unless she became a Master with time, there was nothing she could do with her Expert-level skills.
Neither she, nor the professors, nor the principal could be of much help.
‘I have to solve this alone.’
That’s how it had always been, and it would be the same this time.
* * *
[School dismissal time has arrived. All students please return to your dormitories, and residents of the academy territory─]
A sweeter voice than usual enveloped the entire academy territory. Hearing the unexpectedly pleasant voice, Schwartz realized it was time.
‘Here he comes, herehecomesherehecomesherehecomes.’
Was this how it felt right before bedding a peerless beauty? Schwartz calmed his racing heart as he waited for Kail’s arrival.
From afar, footsteps could be heard. The familiar sound of footsteps he had thought about every day. It was Kail’s footsteps.
“Welcome.”
With an expression as if greeting a beloved lover, Schwartz greeted Kail. Seeing Schwartz’s expression as he looked at him, Kail grimaced.
“Damn, he’s not even gay, what kind of expression is that…”
“Aha, haha-! Anyway, does it matter?”
Sleung- A sword was drawn. Holding his sword, Schwartz charged toward Kail.
“Come on-, kill me, Kail♡.”
