The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 77

River learned about his engagement ten years ago.

The young River didn’t know the details, but later he heard that the territory had been in a very dangerous situation back then.

The Sword Master had helped, making the condition that he would get engaged to the Seymour family’s only daughter.

He only faced the Sword Master for less than a week.

They stayed in the same mansion for about a week for the engagement ceremony and then never met again after parting ways.

His memories of the Sword Master were short but intense.

“Ah, you must be River. Nice to meet you.”

The first time he saw the Sword Master wasn’t at the mansion in the Seymour territory, but at the border between the Empire and the Kingdom.

The Sword Master, smiling like a nice guy while introducing himself, seemed like a pleasant uncle at first glance. However, young River sensed something dark and mysterious lurking deep within his eyes.

But back then, he didn’t really understand what that was.

He just thought he was shy around the new uncle he had never met before.

Being engaged to this uncle, who looked to be over 60 years older, was shocking, but at that time, he didn’t hate it that much.

The Sword Master resembled a hero from an old tale.

With a sturdy physique that made you strain your neck to look up at him and a smile that never left his face.

His impressive swordsmanship and cultured speech depicted a truly heroic figure, like something out of a painting.

In reality, the Sword Master was a living hero from the Clover Kingdom’s old tales.

He had many achievements, vanquished monsters, and protected the Clover Kingdom… Back then, River clearly admired him.

That was, until he realized it was all a facade.

It was an incredibly hot day.

To cool off, River went for a walk near the stream, and that’s when the incident happened.

With hardly anyone around, the Sword Master slaughtered three serf children playing upstream.

They hadn’t done anything wrong.

The biggest reason was that there were no other people around.

The next reason was that it was annoying that muddy water was flowing down since they were playing in the water upstream.

As he dashed in like lightning, killing the children his age, River trembled in fear watching the Sword Master come down with a face flushed from the snowstorm, still smiling like before.

When he saw River trembling in terror, the Sword Master looked around at his own body for a moment and remarked,

“My clothes got dirty.”

After that, until the engagement ceremony ended and he returned to the territory, River couldn’t bring himself to meet the Sword Master’s gaze out of fear.

“Next time we meet, you’ll have grown up so much. Stay healthy… and keep your promise. You’re my precious treasure.”

The Sword Master laughed while touching River’s abdomen with his large hands.

It was a gesture he had done every day for that week, but now it felt creepily frightening.

As River got older, the fear he had felt from that one encounter with the Sword Master loomed larger.

And when the day of their promised meeting approached as he became an adult, River ran away to the Academy.

His opponent was a Master from the Clover Kingdom… even if he wanted to go to another country’s Academy, he couldn’t get permission to enter.

At first, the goal was to buy time for three years there.

Next, he aimed to become strong enough not to be swayed by the Sword Master.

At the Academy, he met Atlas, who promised to help him elevate his skills to the expert level within a year.

During that time, he found out that people from Clover Kingdom were coming to the Academy.

Even if they came from Clover Kingdom, the Master Sword Master wouldn’t be able to enter the Empire.

He couldn’t imagine what would happen, never thinking they would be allowed entry.

But the sight of the Sword Master confidently entering the Academy was suffocating.

He swooped in on River like an eagle snatching its prey.

“How did you get here…?”

“Is there a reason I can’t come to see you? Or did you not think I would?”

As he was lifted off the ground, River trembled in fear while the Sword Master laughed heartily.

Running away to the Academy turned out to be nothing much, as he laughed jovially and landed in an abandoned building detached from the Academy’s main building.

“Don’t act so stiff. It was annoying, but it was bearable.”

As soon as River’s feet touched the ground, he pulled away from the Sword Master’s hand.

The Sword Master narrowed his eyes as he saw River trying to distance himself.

“I heard you got yourself a cute boyfriend… I never knew you had that kind of taste. So that’s why you disliked me so much?”

At the mention of Atlas, River’s expression hardened.

He recalled his last memory.

The small hand that had held his while he trembled in fear gazed up at him, trying to hold on when the Sword Master lifted him into the sky.

“Don’t touch anyone else…”

“Why? There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Everyone has different tastes… Liking a smaller, cuter guy isn’t that perverted.

Or maybe it is? Honestly, I’m not that into you either. Let’s be honest with each other.

But that’s not the important part. What’s crucial is whether you kept your promise.”

The Sword Master pulled out an artifact resembling a dagger from his sleeve.

It had a blade of about 17 cm and a wooden handle about 8 cm long, and notably, the blade part wasn’t metal.

In fact, it was strange to even call it a blade.

It looked like the horn of some creature had been affixed to it.

The Sword Master presented it to River.

River flinched, thinking it was a stab, but the Sword Master merely held it close to his face.

“Grip it.”

“…”

As he accepted the dagger, its blade began to faintly glow.

The Sword Master looked very pleased at the sight.

“Hmm… As promised, still a pure virgin… Good, that’s fine. I don’t care who you date, but your purity belongs to me, so you should keep it safe like you have.”

At the mention of purity, River’s face crumpled.

Maintaining his purity was a condition the Sword Master had set when they got engaged.

Did he really believe that receiving a virgin’s blood would rejuvenate him, despite being a Master? River thought he was a very perverted old man.

“With this much rebellion, I’ll let it slide since you’ve kept your promise… But no further.

If you pull any more nonsense, I’ll start with those around you, tearing them apart one by one.”

“…If you touch a citizen of the Empire, the Empire’s number one sword won’t stand idly by.”

Maybe wanting to express even a tiny bit of rebellion, as soon as the words about the Empire’s number one sword came out, the Sword Master’s demeanor changed, and he lifted River by the collar with one hand.

“Cough..!”

“Ha…!!! Do you think that I’d be scared of that woman…? You think you can treat me as beneath her…?!!”

It seemed he was getting angrier, as his breathing grew increasingly ragged.

Being lifted with that brute strength made it hard to breathe.

If he had gripped River’s neck with that strength, it would’ve snapped easily.

“No… Should I just tear you apart right now? You think the Empire’s number one sword will just let it go?? Before that woman arrives, how many can I kill?

If the Empire’s Academy is as well-prepared as they say, I’ve never tested it against a Master before, so that’ll be fun to find out.

I’ll start with your tiny boyfriend. Just pull off his head and toss it around like a baseball, that’ll be so much fun.”

“Stop…”

The enraged Sword Master was terrifying.

His cruel words hammered against River’s chest like a mallet.

It wasn’t an impossible threat.

He was a Master with the capability to do so, and he had no moral qualms about it.

He could massacre innocent children without any guilt, simply because they annoyed him…

The images of the children he had slaughtered by the stream returned as his bloodshot eyes echoed with threats.

The head of the child floating in the blood-red stream overlapped with Atlas’s head.

He trembled in fear at the man before him.

River could endure threats against himself… but he couldn’t bear threats toward those he cherished.

The thought of his loved ones getting hurt because of his actions terrified him too much.

“I’m sorry… I won’t rebel anymore, please… don’t do that… ”

As he begged for mercy while trembling in fear, the Sword Master’s face, which had been twisted with rage, quickly changed.

“See? You should’ve done that from the start. If we’d begun like this, it would’ve been good for both of us.”

“Cough… ha… ha…”

He could hardly believe that just moments ago, this was the same man snarling at him, now wearing a refreshing smile as he set River back on the ground.

As the oxygen he had been missing poured in all at once, River gasped for breath, while the Sword Master gently patted his back, straightening his disheveled clothes.

“As long as you keep your promise like you are now… I can wait as long as it takes until you graduate from the Academy. But don’t forget… you’re my treasure.”

Sword Master Adolf stepped closer to River, roughly touching his abdomen with his rugged hands.

It was a touch he found harsh and disgusting, something he wanted to shake off, but remembering the threats he had just made, he felt he couldn’t pull away.

He could only tightly shut his eyes and wait for the time to pass.

“In other words, you’re my possession.”