The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 91

I found Casey not long after I started operating as a shadow.

There were suspicious movements of Devil Worshippers different from the Demon Church, and the Inquisitioners were on the move.

I belatedly checked the materials they investigated and concluded that this wasn’t an ordinary incident, so I hurried to the scene, but it was already too late.

What unfolded at the site was a hellscape.

Monsters, seemingly transformed by some experiment merging demons and humans, with their bodies twisted into shades of purple, filled the facility.

It seemed the Inquisitioners had bravely fought back, but there were too many foes, and they had been overwhelmed.

I quickly started dealing with the monsters.

The only ones that moved were monsters, while the unmoving forms were all humans.

A fire broke out, filling the facility with the smell of soot and blood, and amid the black smoke, only my Aura Blade shone clearly.

In the midst of despair that no more lives would survive, I found a small child covered in blood.

Kneeling in front of two corpses that looked like their parents, the child hung their head in dazed silence, not reacting at all even as monsters closed in.

I had no idea what happened in this place before I arrived.

It was something that occurred before I got there.

The child sat there quietly, waiting for death, neither crying, laughing, nor angry, resembling a broken doll.

A broken doll that couldn’t even react to the death before it— that was Casey.

——————————————

Instead of lying in a dusty alley, I was now in a proper room.

After Lucia arrived, we checked into a hotel away from downtown.

It was all a mess because of the dust, but since most people in downtown were in the same situation, the hotel staff didn’t say anything.

They merely glanced at the brooch on our chests, which proved we were Academy students.

“Much better now.”

“Really… Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m a bit hurt, but I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

I was in the middle of bandaging my wounds, with my shirt removed.

I washed the area around the wounds with clean water and cloth, applied disinfectant, and used a recovery potion on the injuries.

The wound from the thin rapier wasn’t too deep, but sewing it up would prevent it from reopening and would be better in the long run.

The fortunate thing was that there was living magic in this world that could achieve effects similar to sewing up wounds.

Once I finished treating everything, I would secure the wounds with magic one last time and wrap them in bandages so they wouldn’t get contaminated— that would cover the basics.

Each time something touched the wounds, it brought pain, but since I wasn’t new to this, I carried on with the task quietly.

Lucia watched me anxiously from the side, looking as if she was about to cry.

Unable to stay still, she kept gesturing as if to ask if she could help, but besides bringing water and towels, there was nothing else she could do.

“I… I didn’t mean to suggest going to such a place…”

“It’s not your fault.”

“If we hadn’t gone out today… this wouldn’t have happened…”

Lucia said that if we hadn’t gone outside today, this wouldn’t have occurred, but I disagreed.

Casey had chased after me, coming all the way to the Academy’s threshold, so it was bound to happen sooner or later.

It was only a matter of whether it happened outside the Academy or inside it.

“This kind of thing heals quickly. It looks worse than it is.”

“…But!! I’m hurt like this… how can you not care!!”

Beside Lucia were the two teddy bears she had bought from the last place we visited, tired and leaning against each other.

Once shiny, their fur was now covered in dust, and my blood stained them here and there.

The bloodstain on the golden teddy bear looked just like me, making me chuckle softly.

The wounds were stitched nicely, and the bandages were well secured.

“I’m feeling better. Let’s go out again soon.”

Now that the wounds were stabilized, I felt much more comfortable.

If I could just meditate and maintain my body like this, by tomorrow morning, my wounds would heal.

The penetrating wound to my abdomen typically would require serious treatment at a hospital to heal within a week.

The wounds on the surface could heal in a day, but internal injuries would take a week to recover.

However, for an expert at the highest level of mastery, it was a different story.

Even a penetrating wound to the abdomen could be healed faster than a simple cut if they just set their mind to it.

“No way… let’s just rest today.”

But as soon as I said I would go out, Lucia nervously blocked me.

“We need to buy clothes. They’re all ruined from dust and blood.”

“That’s something a person with a hole in their belly shouldn’t say…!”

“It’s closed for now…”

“Anyway, today’s done! The moment the sun comes up tomorrow, I’ll go straight to the Academy for treatment. Got it?!”

“I understand, so just calm down. I really am fine.”

“Don’t say such things… Atlas, would you still feel the same if I had a hole in my stomach…?”

“That might be a bit tough.”

“…I can’t forgive that person…”

Lucia glared at my bandaged abdomen in anger.

It was such a pity that I ended up like this just from going out for fun.

——————————————

“Haah… Haah…”

In a dark alley, Casey gasped for breath.

She lifted her rapier and examined the thin blade.

The white blade, which had just pierced Atlas’s body, was unblemished.

That was because the fierce aura she had burned away any trace of dirt on the blade.

But elsewhere, it was different.

On the cross guard and grip connected to the blade… sticky blood stained the hand that gripped it.

Though it had dried, to Casey’s eyes, it still appeared vividly red.

“Liars…”

Casey was filled with hatred for Atlas.

Not just a mild dislike, but deeply, immensely hated.

Though he had a habit of disappearing without a word for no reason, it was rare for him to be gone for over two months.

He had said without a word that he’d be back within 100 days, yet Atlas had never returned.

That 100 days turned into 200, and 200 turned into 300.

When 300 days passed without any contact, Casey resolved to search for Atlas herself.

She didn’t entertain the thought that something might have happened to him.

The image of Atlas dying alone in some unknown place never crossed her mind.

It had now been two years since she began searching for Atlas without any word from him, the first news she heard was that he had formed new companions and had become quite famous among adventurers.

He had supposedly traversed the Magical Realm known as Snow Country alongside a dozen comrades, a place where no living creature could survive.

It made sense in her mind that he would gather a team to seek the Elixir of Growth.

‘The Royal Knight Order’s members are stronger than those adventurers… why hasn’t he said anything to us…?’

The Royal Knight Order was filled with strong individuals, nothing like the rag-tag adventurers.

Casey began to doubt if Atlas was trying to abandon the Order and live a second life.

Fearful of being abandoned again by someone she trusted, she struggled to sleep at night.

After all, even when she bravely went to find the Snow Country expedition, Atlas had already found the elixir and left them behind.

That thought made her even more furious.

Why hadn’t he returned to the Order after completing his tasks?

Her mind was filled with all sorts of negative thoughts.

In a fit of rage, she had declared she would kill Atlas, but she never truly contemplated it.

It was just an expression of how angry she was.

Three years of being left behind by Atlas made her resent him, but at the same time, she missed him dearly.

The letter from the Order summarized the terror that had unfolded in the Clover Kingdom at the Academy.

It mentioned that Shadow had dealt with the terror in the Clover Kingdom that had occurred at the Academy.

Reading that made Casey sure that Atlas had been at the Academy, and she headed there immediately.

Though Atlas had never said it, and Casey hadn’t dared to ask, having lived with him in the same dormitory for years, she had vaguely sensed that he was one of the Shadows.

“Did the Commander unexpectedly make a visit to the Academy…? So, did he receive a secret mission…?”

It was quite a plausible notion.

If he had been on a secret mission, he wouldn’t have been able to contact anyone.

The picture began to fit together; Linda must have covertly sent Atlas after realizing the Clover Kingdom’s plot.

‘Then… I was just the one who received a secret mission… Yeah, Uncle wouldn’t just abandon me.’

Piece by piece, the information gathered in Casey’s mind fit together in a way that made sense to her.

While it made sense, the fact that Atlas hadn’t contacted her for three years was unforgivable.

If they ever met, she’d be sure to be angry about that.

Really angry.

As she was about to enter the Academy to search for traces of Atlas, a voice that was all too familiar reached Casey’s ears.

“Talking swords— isn’t that interesting?”

It was none other than Atlas, whom she had been searching for endlessly.

He looked just as he had last seen her, even though she had heard he found the Elixir of Growth last.

“Uncle…!!”

So happy that she nearly ran out, but the words just wouldn’t come.

“…Stop saying unpleasant things… Let’s just go to the next place…”

Beside Atlas stood a very large woman, clinging close to him.

She was a beauty far taller than Casey, even taller than Atlas.

The two appeared to be very close.

“Uncle, what are you doing over there…?”

Though she desperately wanted to leave, her body wouldn’t move.

Her head was spinning too much.

Her feet felt glued to the ground, making it hard to distinguish up from down or left from right.

She couldn’t grasp the situation.

Why was Atlas, who had disappeared for three years, acting like that with another woman?

Bad feelings began to rise within her.

Someone was whispering in her ear.

After that, she didn’t remember much.

It felt as if someone else had taken control of her body.

When Casey finally regained her senses, she found herself stabbing her rapier deep into Atlas’s abdomen.