The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 28

Demons are evil spirits that come from a world other than ours.

They deceive humans and lead them down a wicked path, keeping them in a daze.

Since demons don’t belong in our world, you can’t even scratch them with regular methods.

However, there are three ways to kill these demons.

First is Holy Power.

Second is pure Substance.

And the third is…

————————————————-

There have been many ups and downs, but life at the Academy has already hit the two-week mark.

It’s terrifying to think that after all that chaos, it’s only been two weeks…

I’ve been slashing away like there’s no tomorrow for an entire week.

The problem with the Academy is that there are too many pampered brats who think they’re hot stuff just because they were spoiled at home.

In a communal living situation, instead of trying to step on each other’s toes, we should be thinking about getting along nicely.

My duel has been quite the topic of discussion, but like River, who had already dueled right when the semester started, there have been countless tiny duels that occurred during this one week at the Academy.

With all these high-and-mighty brats gathered, it’s no surprise that it doesn’t make sense for them to get along.

Before long, they’re bumping into each other, fighting, and dueling, leaving a few limbs behind, and the hospital is always packed with patients.

Even in the first week, there were fools who looked down on me and tried to pick fights, but lately, it’s been quiet.

Seems like the results came through after I’ve been consistently slicing people up for a week.

Living quietly is not an option.

Clearly, mutual respect among people stems from a palpable fear.

Rumor has it that I even barged into the Newspaper Club and smashed everything to bits, which seems to have added to the buzz.

It’s spine-chilling that I physically destroyed the Newspaper Club, which students wouldn’t dare touch, and I’m still strolling around the Academy like nothing happened—makes you wonder if there’s something behind it.

Of course, those are thoughts only the somewhat clever kids would have, because there are still those who haven’t grasped the situation.

But with Russell having my back, I felt like the shackles were loosened a notch.

Everyone they dealt with ended up in the hospital, not the dormitory.

Aside from those exit points, the vibe has been pretty calm lately.

Though there were some incidents, nothing really major.

I think this calmness is the quiet before the storm.

In the second week of the Academy, clubs will officially start recruiting new members… and there will be a dungeon exploration event.

That’s when the Devil Worshippers… the Demon Church will begin to show their faces.

River and Amy really need to step up now.

“Ugh… I couldn’t win even once today.”

“Your skill is improving. You’re lasting longer, aren’t you?”

“You’re still going easy on me.”

“If that bothers you, then you need to get stronger.”

I’m sticking to my morning workout routine as always.

After finishing the usual morning exercise with the knight squad, we follow up with sparring using wooden swords.

River hasn’t landed a single effective hit on me yet, but thinking back to the first day when the match was decided in an instant, I’m at least glad that the rounds are lasting longer now.

Every time we finish sparring, I make her think about what movements would have been better and how the psychological battle might have factored in.

While her improvement isn’t glaringly obvious, her fundamentals are becoming stronger.

‘If she keeps following along like this, it’s about time… I should give her a noticeable power-up.’

What she is doing now is laying the groundwork.

At her early Expert stage, the Aura Blade she creates is just a shimmer of bright light swirling around the sword, enough to slice through rock, but it’s faint.

Considering the incidents that are about to unfold, she needs to become stronger.

The basic difference between early Expert and upper-level is the output of the Aura Blade.

The Aura Blade is a technique that symbolizes a swordsman, manifested when the three elements of spirit, energy, and body are harmonized; if one part is out of sync, it can’t exert its power.

No matter how strong someone is, or how much mana they have, if their technique and spirit are weak, it’s impossible to form a strong Aura Blade.

While magicians can mimic the Aura Blade, they can’t use it properly for this reason.

River is quite determined, so as long as her energy and body support her, she’ll quickly reach the upper Expert level.

As for the next level, that’s something she’ll have to realize for herself.

Her technique will improve steadily with consistent sparring, but for her physical ability… like her physical strength and mana capacity, I’ll help her out with elixirs.

I’ve got a few on hand, and there are some I can scrounge up at the Academy.

Most of them won’t do me any good anymore, so I’ll just hand them all over to River.

As I was planning out River’s curriculum, old memories came flooding back.

One of the biggest reasons I’m strong now is that when I was younger, at the Titan, I was forced to consume terrible-tasting medicinal tonics every day to grow taller and to go through torture-level sword training under the pretext of learning Vision Swordsmanship.

If I were an ordinary person, I probably would have broken down halfway through, but I knew the structure of this world.

It felt like I was dying, but I wouldn’t die from it.

The pain that couldn’t kill me made me stronger.

The Titan wanted me to grow tall even if it meant killing me, and I wanted to grow taller too, so I gritted my teeth and endured that torture, which made my spirit and body unusually strong.

Of course, it didn’t make me taller, though.

“…”

Amy, who handed River some water, is still keeping her distance from me.

She needs to get stronger too, but it’s hard to encourage her because of this strange gap.

She’s turned me down a few times already.

She seems hesitant about getting too close, but it doesn’t feel like she’s severed ties.

I need to focus on River for now.

After finishing the morning workout and while River was drinking water, she seemed to notice something and suddenly stood up.

“Atlas, what’s that?”

Did she catch sight of something?

She has sharp eyes, as always.

River was pointing at a large tree.

At first glance, it looked like an ordinary tree, but upon closer inspection, there were two neat scratches carved in the middle.

It was too symmetrical to have been caused by just any old chipping away, which caught my attention.

“That’s my height.”

“Your height?”

“Yeah, right now, that’s my height.”

There’s a mark on one in the dormitory too.

I would rise once before sleeping and check my height once in a while.

Most kids stop that when they grow up, but I still do it.

“There are two marks. Did you grow after entering?”

“The one above is my current goal.”

River looked at the marker above and remarked.

At a glance, it does seem that way.

But no, the issue is that the mark above is exactly 150 cm.

“Then this one is…?”

“The one below is my height.”

The mark right below mine is exactly at 149.5 cm.

That’s my current height.

“When did you start measuring?”

“You probably didn’t see because I started as soon as I got here. I did it today too.”

“You measured again today? Without a scratch… ah…”

As River realized what I meant, she stopped talking.

“Yeah, since it’s always the same, it isn’t increasing.”

“… Sorry for asking foolish questions.”

Realizing she touched on a sensitive subject, River apologized.

But it’s alright.

I didn’t mock or ridicule her for it.

I appreciate that River is a polite, kind girl.

“What’s small is a fact, and it’s true that I’m making a fuss about wanting to grow.”

It’s true that I’m small.

It’s also true that I’m making a fuss about it every day.

As long as they don’t mock or tease me about it, I’m fine.

“Just wait and see, I’ll grow until I’m at eye level with Russell one day.”

All this talk about the Aura Blade and demons is trivial compared to my priorities.

My goals are still far from being fulfilled.

I am still famished.

——————————————

At the Academy, classes are divided into those taken together per class and elective courses that each can select on their own.

While I try to loiter in the relaxed classes, Amy and River are hard at work filling in what they lack, so we rarely overlap in elective courses.

This has inevitably resulted in the three of us being apart each time we attend an elective class.

The elective I’m currently attending is a course on the History of Different Races.

It doesn’t go in-depth and is designed to pique interest without delving into specifics, making it a well-received subject.

In reality, the classroom has a mix of not just humans but also elves, dwarves, and beastmen, the very races discussed in the class.

At least their history is included, making it an easy ride for them.

While moving on after the lecture, I stumbled upon an astonishing scene.

‘Amy..?’

Three female students I’ve never seen before are walking ahead of Amy.

Amy is shuffling along under the weight of two thick books and large teaching materials, presumably theirs.

The class I heard was definitely the Theory of Magical Engineering.

No matter how you look at it, they don’t seem like friends.

Amy’s expression looks quite troubled.

I can’t tolerate that.

“Hey, what are you guys doing?”

“What…?”

Annoyed, she replied, but the moment she saw my face, she struck a theatrical pose.

“Ah~ The Master has arrived; we should run before we get in trouble. Give it back.”

With their clique snickering, the three take back their things from Amy as if nothing happened and try to walk away.

“Ha ha…”

Amy is giving me a bittersweet smile as she looks at me.

Various emotions appear in that smile.

‘Didn’t I see them acting sneakily towards Amy behind River and me?’

Could this be the reason Amy has been keeping her distance from me?

Thinking that a possible third party could have caused that stance made my temple throb.

“Atlas..?”

I darted past Amy and started chasing after the three fleeing girls.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I delivered a low kick to the shin of the girl turning her back to me.

–Thud!!

“Ahh!!”

The girl with her leg knocked out dropped to her knees in the hallway.

The plush carpet cushioned her knees, but her shins swelled, making it hard for her to regain her stance.

“Calling me a ‘foul mouth’ like that.”

“Ahh, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!!!”

I grabbed the fallen girl’s hair and yanked her up.

While she was taller than me, bringing her to her knees put me at a higher vantage point.

“Do you know who I am…?”

“Who are you that you’re greater than Lemnos?”

“That’s not it, but…”

“Of course it’s not; what makes you think you can act like that, huh?”

I felt my anger boiling over.

Not only was it infuriating that they were doing such trashy stuff, but the mocking words pushed me further.

What exactly do they think gives them the right?

Did they think that just because they’re in the same group as River and me, they could treat Amy like a pet?

“Where do you brats think you’re going?”

“L- let go…!”

I walked towards the two trying to sneak away.

The girl whose hair I was holding screamed as she was dragged along.

“Still can’t wake up, huh?”

“W- we didn’t do anything!!”

I shook the girl whose hair I was holding roughly, and she screamed in pain.

The other two students were making excuses, but they were all trash talk.

“Yeah, but you didn’t stop it.”

I strode up, kicking their shins down, knocking them over, and slapped each of them boldly.

Terror filled the faces of the three girls, who had been so cocky.

“If I see you pull a stunt like this again, I’ll shave your heads bald.”

“Y- yes…”

“Answer me!”

“Y- yes…!!!”

The three girls, trembling with fear, shouted loud in response.

Just as they were about to bolt, I spotted the things Amy was carrying.

“Take this, you garbage!!”

“E- eek?!!”

I hurled the teaching materials and books that Amy had been holding at the three students.

Some of them hit their faces or arms, but with me grinning, they scooped everything up and ran off.

After the situation had calmed down, Amy cautiously opened her mouth.

“Senpai… They said it’s normal for a new student to carry the bags…”

I have no idea what kind of nonsense that is.

They probably thought I looked weak and took a shot at it.

“That’s all lies. If that happens again… No, I’ll just come around often.”

“Thank you for helping me…”

Amy smiled sweetly in gratitude.

It was just a simple ‘thank you’ with a smile, but I sensed an unsettling feeling from that gratitude.

The sense of alienation I had felt from Amy since day one.

The bizarre gap between us that exists.

I don’t know what caused it, but I felt like I couldn’t just part ways like this.

It was just an intuition.

“I don’t know. You might have your reasons.”

“Eh?”

“Just when I thought things were getting better, you’re slipping away while still staying nearby… I have no clue why, if you’re having a situation, it’s understandable.”

“I’m… sorry…”

“You don’t need to apologize. I don’t know how you see me, but my opinion hasn’t changed.”

Amy is taller than me.

Standing before her, I tilted my head slightly to meet her gaze directly.

“If you ever go through something tough, let me know. If it’s something I can help with, I’ll help as much as you need. If it’s too hard to talk about… that’s fine too…”

“… Thank you for saying that.”

There’s that expression again.


The same bittersweet smile that isn’t the bright one from our first day.

“I’m… I’m sorry… but it’s not what you think…”

Amy said that and turned her back on me.

But I could see it.

She was biting her lip so hard it was bleeding.