The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 199

Daily life in the newly built mansion wasn’t drastically different from that in the dormitory.

I woke up before dawn to get ready for the day and prepared for my usual morning exercise routine.

As I finished getting ready to work out and stepped into the hallway, I heard a sleepy voice.

“Good morning, mister…”

Kasey, in a disheveled pajama getup, yawned with half-closed eyes as she stumbled into me in the hallway.

Looks like she just got up.

She has a habit of looking like a total mess until she splashes some water on her face, but once she does, she’s all good again.

If someone asked how she ended up in this mansion after staying in the girls’ dorm…

“I’m going to live here from now on.”

“Go ahead.”

A short while after the mansion was completed, Kasey naturally came over and claimed an unused room for herself.

Since there were still quite a few empty rooms, it wasn’t a problem.

During our time in the knight order, we had shared a room, so it felt perfectly normal.

Once Kasey finished her wash, I grabbed a comb and started brushing her long hair.

She was a bit flustered since it had been a while, but she quickly calmed down.

Lost in thought, reminiscing about old times, a sudden question popped into my head.

“Kasey, what are you going to do during break?”

“…I don’t know. I was planning to stay at the academy.”

“You were close with Dorothy, right? Aren’t you going to do anything with them?”

“They’re all going home.”

She always seemed gruff, but she looked a bit pouty right now.

“If you have nothing to do, why not come with me?”

“Are you going to ditch me midway?”

“I’m going to the Blade Mountain, and it’ll definitely be more fun than staying at the academy. We’ll be dealing with some demons and cleaning up bandits along the way.”

As soon as I tied up her hair, Kasey sprang up.

“…Fine.”

She still struggled to express her emotions.

I was getting used to the life in the new mansion, but I felt sad that I had to leave it for a bit.

Once this week ends, the first semester for new students will be over.

Break would begin.

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My morning exercises gradually intensified with each passing day.

After finishing the usual routine, River, Lucia, and Amy would all join in for sparring.

Since we’d dropped any pretense of hiding our skills, it became easily manageable to face all three of them at once.

Sometimes, Kasey would come and help out too.

With her top-tier skills, she easily played around with the three who were just crossing into advanced levels.

After the morning workout, I headed towards the academy building, even though there were no classes.

Some of the professors had already left the academy, and everyone was just hanging out.

Just when I was thinking about the impending break starting the day after tomorrow, someone showed up unexpectedly.

“Atlast~ Long time no see~!”

Nina, the half-elf, waved her arms in greeting.

We were in different classes and taking different courses, but she always greeted me brightly whenever we bumped into each other in the hallway.

Sometimes she would stop by just to hang out, so I didn’t think much of it and stepped out, only to find someone else waiting.

“Hey~”

“Hey, no hey.”

Nivas Perda, hiding behind the wall, appeared and flashed a grin.

He probably figured I wouldn’t respond to him directly, so he used Nina as bait.

“So, where are you going to head during the break?”

“Why do you want to know?”

Perda grinned and asked me.

Why was he curious about my break schedule?

“I was thinking of offering you a ride.”

“A ride?”

“Several of us are going to take the airship together.”

“Nivas’s airship is amazing! It’s got everything inside!”

An airship.

Literally a ship that sails through the sky.

Unlike the fantasy ones you’d see in movies, it actually looked like a ship, but amazingly, the principles were similar.

The airships from the movies would cut through the air with their streamlined bodies, using lighter-than-air gases to float up, but this place’s airships used a special synthetic mineral called Icarotite that generates buoyancy through injected magical power to rise into the sky.

Once the airship gained buoyancy, it would use an Orion engine for propulsion, allowing it to navigate the skies as easily as water, but naturally, the mentioned Icarotite isn’t created naturally; it has to be synthesized, making it incredibly expensive.

It’s a refined hobby for the wealthy.

“Those elfs used it quite often.”

In the dense forests inhabited by elves, it’s difficult to build proper roads due to thick tree roots, making air routes with airships very developed.

It’s quite the opposite of the dwarves, who built extensive railway systems for mining.

Anyway, a grand airship… Sounds like Nina was talking about an ultra-luxurious one.

Since Perda’s territory is far from the academy, I’m sure it’s filled with great rooms and various amenities.

“I don’t need it.”

While the airship isn’t slow, the distance from the academy to the Blade Mountain is rather far.

I’ve got plenty on my plate to take care of over break, so I didn’t want to waste my time.

If I moved on my own, I could reach there in a single step; is there really a need to take the airship?

And it’s Perda we’re talking about.

I doubt he’d just give away a favor for free.

He must have some kind of ulterior motive, and I feel like once I step on that airship, I’ll get caught in some trouble.

I already had a mountain of things to deal with, and I didn’t want to get dragged into more.

Just then, I heard a voice from behind, sounding somewhat disappointed.

“Are you not taking the airship?”

“Wow… Even the five pillars have airships.”

“???”

When I turned to the side, River and Amy, who had been eavesdropping, were now listening in on the airship talk.

From their faces, it seemed they were quite curious.

What’s so special about an airship? You just go out onto the deck, enjoy the open sky and the tiny scenery, and then come inside for luxurious meals and fun… that’s all of it.

Damn, it does sound fun though.

Seeing Amy’s awkward smile struck a chord in my heart.

“Alright, let’s go. Where are we heading?”

“Wow, Atlast is going too?”

“Of course, the final destination is our territory, but we’ll stop by the capital on the way. That should be fine, right? You can get off somewhere along the route.”

“I’m bringing my companions too, so it’s no problem, right?”

“That’s totally fine.”

I turned my back to the two, who were secretly thrilled, and approached Perda.

“So… what’s the catch? You’re offering rides on such a luxurious airship; it seems suspicious.”

“There’s no ulterior motive. I just want to be friends with you~ Right, Nina?”

“Exactly! Atlast is fun!”

Fun, huh… What does he think people are made of?

————————————

As soon as break started, Amy’s heart raced with anticipation upon hearing they’d be riding Perda’s airship.

She had seen it from afar, but it was her first time actually boarding one.

“An airship… Sounds fun.”

-Don’t let your guard down.

Her companion had also relaxed quite a bit.

They weren’t scolding or pushing her like before.

In the past, they would randomly show up and bark orders without explaining anything, sending her off to who knows where.

The places they ended up were usually either clues for acquiring useful artifacts or locations where the Demon Church operated.

Now, thanks to Atlast working so hard, Amy felt the diminished influence of the Demon Church, leading to fewer errands involving them.

Last time, there was even a proposal made in a master meeting to directly attack the Demon Church’s strongholds across various countries.

From his perspective of hating demons, he had much less to worry about.

Even so, there were still plenty of threats in the world, and there was no reason to let her guard down.

No matter how hard Atlast worked, he was still human, and Hell is a colossal place that can’t be warded off alone.

‘It should be okay to hang around Atlast during the break, right?’

-Currently, Atlast has a grip on the ‘flow.’ It’s better to stay close to him.

Amy felt like a few burdens had been lifted off her shoulders.

Before coming to the academy and meeting Atlast, Amy had lived under a suffocating sense of pressure.

Though she pretended to be okay while forcing smiles, it always felt like the terrifying threats of demons were only known to her, leaving her in a constant state of anxiety.

-But an airship… Especially Perda’s airship… It must be extravagant.

‘Is something wrong?’

Her companion, who had been speaking positively about the airship, suddenly fell into thought.

-You might be worrying too much, but… there are creatures in the world that love nothing more than to soar through the skies and shine brightly.

‘Such creatures… actually exist?’

-Yes, but they’re not common sights. They didn’t just take off on their first flight; they’d hopefully made it to the academy without incident before.

‘… It should be fine, right?’

Although she hadn’t heard what kind of creature it was, she could only hope nothing would happen.