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The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 188

The two Masters opened their eyes in the bed of their mansion located in the capital.

“Ugh… my head…”

“The empire isn’t anything special! You’re just being dramatic.”

I clearly remembered falling asleep exhausted on the third floor of a tavern, so waking up in the mansion felt strange. Especially considering I was properly dressed in the clothes that had been a tangled mess.

I wondered if I had just had a ridiculous dream on my own, but quickly realized that my twin, Wendy, wouldn’t have slept in the same bed as me.

“…That guy just left without saying anything…”

“Are you sure you aren’t relieved he went first?”

Wendy, smirking, said something that left Linda unable to retort, and she pounded on the innocent pillow out of frustration.

Right now… I was perplexed about how to face this situation.

Should I address her as the Commander of the Royal Knight Order, or as the mischievous Linda from the western port?

Unlike Wendy, who always showed her true self to Atlas, there were still many sides of Linda that Atlas had not seen.

“Still, I won’t do that again.”

“Really? Didn’t the courage from the alcohol help a lot?”

“Ugh…!”

My face flushed crimson at the reminder of last night’s events.

I had spouted vulgar words that I usually wouldn’t utter and had acted like a beast. The strongest weapon in the continent, the Imperial Black Sword, didn’t exist there. Only a female without any masks had been present.

“No matter what… those crass words… what if Atlas thinks I’m a light woman?”

“What unnecessary worries are you having?”

If other knights saw the current Linda, they would be shocked and fall backward.

The image of the always confident and relaxed Commander of the Royal Knights sharing an intimate moment with a subordinate made her pound the innocent pillow even harder.

It was her bare face that only came out in front of her family.

“This is all… all your fault!”

“What did I do? I only helped you because you were struggling!”

“You made such vulgar comments!! The mood just got carried away!!”

“It was fun, wasn’t it? You should be more honest. You need to have ways to release your stress.”

Though frustrating, everything Wendy said was true.

The stress had been piling up significantly lately.

Even though I was said to be the strongest on the continent, I couldn’t just kill everything carelessly. Finding a ‘pretext’ to moderate and crush the opinions of those weak beings that could die from a mere finger tap was extremely exhausting.

Originally, I used to relieve stress by demolishing the landscape with my sword, but lately, the mountains I frequently wrecked had been reduced to a point of no return.

Those who knew nothing claimed it was a sign that the gods were angry.

This way of relieving stress wasn’t very healthy for her as a Master.

Most things would break if hit just enough to feel better.

That’s why Linda actually wanted to have a child.

Watching families form around her, having children grow up; at first, she thought nothing of it, but as time passed, she grew envious.

The biggest trigger was when her supportive parents passed away.

She felt an acute sense of loneliness, realizing that only her twin sister Wendy remained in this world.

As the best sword, Linda had to show a strong image to everyone, but it was too painful to know that her family, who knew her flaws, was gone.

She needed a family she could rely on without reservation.

But it wasn’t just anyone she could choose as a partner.

Finding a ‘good man’ according to a Master’s standard was very challenging.

Linda had quite high standards for people.

In her position as the Master of the Empire and the Empire’s best sword, many high-status, strong males surrounded her, but none met her criteria.

Some were foolish and had no thought for the future, others were clever yet pitifully stingy, some had messy personalities, and others were too weak… there were various issues.

Her attraction to Atlas was never an impulsive decision.

It was something she had thought about for quite a while.

Atlas came from a prestigious noble family, the Titans, had a decent character, good skills, and determination.

It was getting harder to find a suitable partner anywhere else.

When she first saw Atlas, she didn’t think that way.

He had seemed cute, like a little dog barking at anyone, with a face full of hidden sacrifice.

Her perspective changed after Wendy took him under her wing and turned him into a Master.

Though he hadn’t lost the defiance, he had developed a very deep expression, and seeing him care for a child named Casey showed a kindness she had never seen before.

From then on, she unknowingly continued to watch Atlas.

His determination to break the world’s prejudices with his small frame was both adorable and reliable.

If she were to have a child, she wanted to raise a son like him.

Realizing this, Linda already desired Atlas.

But due to her status as the Commander, she just hadn’t articulated the thoughts she had buried deep within her heart.

Still, when Wendy nudged her with alcohol, those reservations shattered completely.

“By the way, Wendy, you seem quite familiar with this… when did it start?”

“Didn’t I mention it?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Let’s see… around three months after Atlas officially became a member?”

“That’s almost immediately! You said you were just teaching, and you truly devoured such a naive kid?!”

“Come on… you wouldn’t have been able to contain yourself in that atmosphere either. How is it that twins have such similar tastes in men?”

Linda couldn’t refute Wendy’s words out of frustration.

“…Don’t tell me you two have been doing it every time you trained or went on missions?”

“Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t…”

It seemed they had done it enough for her to forget.

“Ah, but that’s not what’s important now. What matters is from now on.”

Wendy rubbed her stomach.

“With all that, won’t something happen?”

“Having a child isn’t that easy, but if it doesn’t happen, we can just keep trying, right?”

Wanting a child was her true feeling.

————————————————–

Returning to the Academy, the sun was already rising.

It had definitely been dawn when they set off, yet they returned just as the day broke.

“Ugh… let’s not do that again…”

I didn’t even want to remember what happened in the chapel.

The lingering heat felt too real to just be a summer night’s dream.

Alcohol truly was the enemy.

While usually, I wouldn’t dare to act out, I had given in to the atmosphere, and now that my senses had returned, a dreadful sense of self-loathing washed over me.

After all, I was the one responsible for cleaning up everything afterward, adding to my distress.

As I brought everyone back properly dressed and thought about it on the way home, countless thoughts circled in my mind.

‘How will I face them next time… I’m going crazy.’

How should I greet the Commander and my mentor? I could brush it off as a drunken mistake, but it felt terribly unsettling.

What if both of them wanted me to get pregnant… it felt like everything would go dark, but for now, I had to think one step at a time.

First of all, in terms of family, it was obviously a landslide victory for my family, the Titans.

Commander Westharbor’s house was a newly established one when she became the Master, named after the region where both of them were from.

No matter how newly established the Master’s family was, the Titans, owners of Blade Mountain, were feared by all surrounding nobles, easily overshadowing them.

Then… does that mean the Commander will take on the Titan surname?

As I walked along the hallway lost in thought, my musings were interrupted as I reached the front of my room.

“…What is this?”

Someone was inside the room.

There wasn’t any special security in place, but for someone to already be in… I needed to amp up the defenses.

If they were rummaging through, I wouldn’t let them get away with it, so I entered only to find River sleeping soundly on the bed.

The sight cleared my previously confused mind.

“…Uh… did Atlas come back?”

“You said you’d be out yesterday. You could have slept in the dorm.”

“Your bed is definitely nicer than the dorm’s. And… I thought you’d be back by night…”

Raising his upper body and rubbing at his eyes, he opened his arms towards me.

“….”

“Will you hug me?”

“Okay…”

I had recently learned that River, still groggy from sleep, would act all clingy—something he never did when fully alert.

I slipped my arms around him from under his armpits and drew him close.

His heartbeat was warm and very comforting.

River buried his face in my shoulder and started to smell me.

“Sniff sniff… Atlas, what’s that smell?”

A chill ran down my spine.

“I met some other members in the capital, maybe it just stuck to me?”

“…Are you sure it was just a meeting? It smells too strong…”

Though it would be difficult, I needed to come up with an excuse since he was still half-asleep.

.

.

.

I managed to put River back to sleep and stepped out of the bedroom, shaking as I felt a chill.

Even I was confused by my own nonsensical words, but in his drowsy state, River fell asleep quickly.

‘He notices right away.’

River, possessing the essence of the Wolf God, was rapidly approaching his peak physical ability. Not only was his strength increasing, but his senses of smell and hearing had also grown incredibly sharp.

‘I need to spill the beans soon.’

Though I wasn’t yet mentally prepared to breach the subject, I knew that delaying would be bad for both of us.

It was ridiculous to charge in without a second thought to slay Demon Bishops while feeling uneasy talking about a woman.

As I opened the door, someone was standing at the entrance.

I wondered who could be out here at such an early hour, only to realize it was someone I knew.

“Lucia?”

“…Huh?”

Lucia Russell stood at the entrance, her head bowed low.

What on earth was she doing there? I hoped she hadn’t been standing there all night.

“Ah… Atlas??”

“Why are you standing there? No… when did you start standing there??”

As I approached, she hurriedly wiped her tears with her hand.

Lucia had bandages wrapped around her hands, and her eyes were red and bloodshot.

“I… I’m fine. Just out for a morning walk…”

As I got nearer, Lucia shuffled backward.

It was clear that she hadn’t just popped by as she claimed.

“First, come inside.”

The Academy’s Ankle Reaper

The Academy’s Ankle Reaper

Score 7
Status: Completed Type:
I tried everything to grow taller, but everything except ‘that’ didn’t work out. I’m still looked down on for being short. Everyone would understand if they were my height.

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