The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 273

I entered Amy’s dormitory with a map in hand in the evening.

“Ah… Atlas?? What brings you here?”

Amy was dressed quite simply, and her eyes widened in surprise upon seeing me.

“Next, we should visit your hometown. Can you mark it on the map?”

“So that’s the reason…”

I had always been curious about where Amy’s hometown was.

It was the hometown of the original protagonist.

All I knew from the novel was that Hayden’s hometown was just a rural backwater in the southern corner.

By the time the main story started, Parker had already been destroyed due to the machinations of the Demon Church, and he didn’t return to his long-destroyed hometown.

“Here it is.”

According to the description, Amy’s hometown was indeed located in the south.

As soon as I saw the point marked on the map, my jaw dropped in shock.

“Wow….”

“Uh… please don’t react like that….”

Seeing my mouth open wide, Amy shyly covered her face with her hands.

“I know it’s really just an empty countryside… you don’t have to say it.”

“No, that’s not it.”

I stepped forward and reached out, ruffling her hair.

“W-what are you doing??”

Amy’s voice rose in surprise at my sudden action.

Ignoring her, I continued to pet her; her voice gradually faded away.

“You must have had a really tough time coming to the Academy.”

“… It wasn’t that hard.”

Amy murmured softly in response to my words.

It was indeed a challenging region to reach the Academy.

The Academy, while relatively close to the capital, was quite far from Amy’s hometown.

Of course, there were people who came from even further away, even from foreign lands, but they were mostly children of well-to-do families, making it easier and quicker for them.

Many students arrive by ships equipped with Orion engines, using the sea route.

This was one of the major reasons the Academy was situated near the port.

But Amy made her way to the Academy solely by land, without any means of rapid travel.

I couldn’t help but admire her determination.

While I hadn’t spoken much about it, I was sure that it must have been tough.

Having traveled the area for missions, I could empathize.

“It’s okay. In the end, I arrived, enrolled, and made friends….”

“Yeah, the important thing is that you made it.”

Amy pretended to be fine, but her voice was filled with emotion.

“Are you on good terms with your parents?”

“… Yes.”

“Let’s show them that you’re doing well.”

Amy nodded silently.

Time passed, and as we recalled those tough days, Amy, who had gotten a bit emotional, returned to her usual state.

“I’m going to be traveling all over the place, from the northwest to the southeast and even southwest.”

It was amusing to think about how I would be visiting various places across the Empire during this break, but when I was actively moving as a Shadow, I had done even more.

Looking over the map, I noticed the plains where the Beastmen lived were nearby.

‘If it’s over here… it won’t be an absolutely peaceful place.’

This area was one I had been to several times for missions.

Although designated as the territory of the Beastman Alliance, they do not use the land very efficiently.

Vast empty lands without anyone’s touch truly resembled a desolate wasteland.

The wide, sparsely populated plains were ideal for demon worshippers to nest and convenient for thieves or slave traders hunting Beastmen.

As I stared intently at the marked map, Amy spoke.

“Uh… please don’t react in surprise. I mean, the territories of Atlas, River, and… ours aren’t as prosperous, so there might be a lot to be disappointed about.”

“Don’t worry about it; that won’t happen.”

Eventually, it was time to leave Shimoa.

Having learned all I was curious about and said all my goodbyes, I had no regrets.

But the parents who hadn’t seen their child in a while felt differently.

“You could stay a bit longer.”

“We have the next time.”

It had been months since they last saw each other, and the fact that I would leave after just four days seemed to leave them feeling a bit dejected as they continued to chat with River.

“…”

“Why? Are you envious seeing that we’re a happy family?”

“Of course not.”

While watching River say his farewells to his parents, Casey asked me if I was envious.

In my second life, thanks to terrible parents, I hadn’t felt such emotions, but I did have the memories from my first life.

The memories of having lived well in a proper family were etched into my soul.

So, I wasn’t envious.

Watching them bid farewell made me realize just how much River had grown up receiving love from his family.

“And there’s a happy family here, too.”

“… Are you okay, mister?”

Once I said something parental after a long time, things started to get chaotic.

“Make sure to come visit again next time. It would be great if you could stay for over a week then.”

Rina waved at us as we left.

If I were to travel by carriage from Shimoa to Parker, it would take more than three weeks, but with teleportation, we arrived in an instant.

“Here we are.”

“I’ve seen this many times, but it’s truly convenient. Can you teach me that too?”

“Learning this is less important; it’s faster to start studying magic and get the basics of teleportation down.”

I outright refused since I couldn’t teach her that.

I was sure that while I had become a Master and learned teleportation, some people would never be able to master it even in their entire lifetime; however, with studying basic magic starting now, she could likely grasp at least short-distance teleportation within 20 years.

“Is this the place?”

“Yes.”

The place we arrived at was Parker’s Forest, which Amy had confirmed multiple times during our trials.

It was known that people often came to chop down trees here.

“Of course, nothing has changed. If we walk a bit further this way, we’ll reach our house.”

Evidence of many footfalls indicated that the path had been frequented multiple times.

I could use teleportation again, but… let’s take a quick walk.

“I’m curious about what it looks like, so let’s walk.”

I indeed wanted to see what it was like.

If Shimoa was a relatively prosperous rural town, Parker would definitely be aptly described as a countryside.

Both areas relied heavily on primary industries like agriculture, but there was a monumental difference in the strength held by the territory.

Firstly, the land itself was less vibrant.

It wasn’t difficult terrain, yet there seemed to be a lot of unproductive land.

“Oh wow… it really is empty.”

“Haha, it truly is empty, isn’t it?”

When I voiced exactly what I saw, Amy laughed.

The roads were rough, and there were many broken facilities, with weeds growing wild.

There was no one to maintain it.

“Although it looks rough, it’s still livable.”

Judging by the signs, it probably wasn’t as disheveled as it appeared now.

Before, the Demon Church had attacked and claimed the lives of all the children in the territory.

“That house over there is ours. You’ll definitely be surprised when we get there.”

Amy pointed at the mansion visible in the distance, her voice somehow lacking confidence.

Though it was the Lord’s mansion, it was quite large.

However, the poor maintenance showed traces of wear and decay, suggesting that there were better days in the past.

Perhaps after visiting the much wealthier Titans and Shimoa, she felt that her hometown seemed quite shabby.

While I told her not to worry about it, that was easy for me to say since I wasn’t the one living it.

“… Mister, do you see that?”

“It’s the plains.”

As we walked towards the mansion, from a small hill, I could see the expansive plains that opened up beyond Parker’s wheat fields.

The southern plains belonged to the Beastman Alliance.

‘… This terrain looks familiar…’

As I quietly surveyed my surroundings I felt something strange.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had seen this place before.

‘Have I been here once?’

It was possible.

After all, I hadn’t checked each name of the places I had visited.

As Casey and I gazed at the plains, Amy filled us in.

“It is a plain, but Beastmen don’t come here. The closest tribe would be the Blue Cat Tribe, and they only come to buy wheat sometimes.”

The Blue Cat Tribe isn’t made up entirely of blue cats.

The tribe’s name is similar to how nobles name their families; the inheritor of the chieftain is a blue cat, hence the name Blue Cat Tribe.

The Beastmen living in the plains have many skilled warriors but lack agricultural techniques.

Consequently, there are tribes that interact with humans to acquire grains.

“It seems the Cat Beastmen have visited often? Like from Volté… no wonder they didn’t seem surprised when they saw them.”

“If you say that in front of Volté, there’ll definitely be a fight.”

“I know.”

Naturally, the conversation shifted to stories about the Beastmen.

Though we had seen a few Beastmen studying abroad at the Academy, we didn’t really know how their nations operated.

While we did study history separately, I was the only one who delved into such niche subjects when there was nothing else to do.

As we chatted about the living conditions of the Beastmen, a bell suddenly rang out from somewhere.

“Is that the sound of a bell?”

“I… this is a bell that rings in emergencies…?”

As the bell rang, Amy looked toward the residential area.

The ringing of the bell caused people to rush out of their homes and wander around the streets.

What could possibly be happening? The reason quickly became clear.

“The Beastmen have invaded!!”

“N-no way!!”

Looking down, I couldn’t see the Beastmen anywhere.

It seemed like they had discovered some villagers hiding.

Though the loud bell echoed in the village, there were mostly middle-aged people around forty, and hardly anyone capable of fighting against the Beastmen.

At this rate, a horrible massacre would play out.

“Why would the Beastmen…?”

And then Amy’s eyes shook as she witnessed the scene.

“… No!!”

With that, she drew her sword and began to rush down the hill.

“Whoa?!”

Everyone was shocked by Amy’s speed.

In a frenzy, she raced down faster than I had ever seen her before.

Her speed was truly like the wind.

“… Let’s follow her.”

“Right.”

“Yeah….”

If we left her alone, who knows what might happen.

So we all decided to chase after her.

Just then, Gemma quietly asked from behind.

“I’m a bit reluctant to kill the Beastmen… would it be okay to just subdue them?”

“That works.”

Since the Beastmen worshiped dragons, it seemed they were hesitating to kill them directly.