57 – Mission
Upon arriving at the academy, I first went to where Professor Elysia was.
Clomp, clomp.
The place where Professor Elysia was located was in the same underground area as the special class.
Among the rooms in the underground, only two were in use.
One was the special class, and the other was the office that only Professor Elysia used.
Knock, knock.
“Come in.”
As I knocked on the office door, Elysia’s professor’s gruff voice came from inside.
“Professor, good afternoon!”
I greeted cheerfully as I entered, as if nothing had happened.
Elysia looked up from the papers she was reading and glanced at me.
“Thanks to you, it’s not a good afternoon. I trusted you to be on time after being late once. It’s already lunchtime and you’re just arriving………”
Elysia paused in the middle of her speech when she saw me. She narrowed her eyes and furrowed her brow.
“What happened?”
“Yes. Many things happened.”
I thought Elysia would notice. There was no blood on me, and I didn’t smell of it, but it was impossible to escape the gaze of a dragon with just that.
“What happened?”
“I met a necromancer.”
“What?”
Mana emanated from Elysia’s body as she heard my words.
The ash-gray mana, the same color as Elysia’s hair, filled the space in an instant.
‘This is the mana of a dragon.’
Born with mana from birth, an existence attuned to it.
For a dragon, there wasn’t much difference between their limbs and mana.
Mana influenced the objects around, making things levitate around them.
Yet, it had no effect on me.
“Hoo.”
Professor Elysia calmed the mana with a single deep breath.
Once again, I realized just how formidable she truly was.
Professor Elysia could easily handle a situation like Modor.
She was more than a dragon. Professor Elysia was that kind of being.
“Tell me more precisely.”
I recounted in detail what had happened today.
Starting with the morning, searching for the missing child. The revelation that the child’s parents had sold them to a suspicious group.
Tracking down this group led to discovering them in the sewers, housing a necromancer inside.
And my act of killing the necromancer with my own hands.
Though I knew from the start the group was a necromancer cult, I hadn’t disclosed that.
It was due to a lack of confidence in explaining it.
“You dealt with the necromancer alone?”
Professor Elysia seemed more astonished by that fact than the necromancer’s existence.
“Alongside Senior Johanna….”
“But weren’t you the one who killed the necromancer?”
“That’s right.”
Professor Elysia stared at me intently.
“Hmm. No matter how talented you are in combat, you’re not yet capable of capturing a necromancer…”
After gazing at me for a while, Professor Elysia sighed and spoke.
“Alright. What’s important is that you’re still alive. Don’t participate in class today, just rest in the dormitory.”
“Professor Elysia, I have something to say before I go.”
“If it’s not an important matter, make it brief. I have a splitting headache.”
I told Professor Elysia that I wanted to make that child my servant.
I had the qualifications. I proved it by defeating the vulture.
But whether I could make the child my servant was another matter.
“I’ll take care of that. You just rest.”
I could trust Professor Elysia.
“Thank you! Have a good lunch!”
I bowed to Professor Elysia and was about to leave the room.
“Roki.”
I heard Professor Elysia’s gruff voice from behind.
“You are my student. If something as dangerous as today happens again, contact me immediately for help. I’ll come running to assist you at any time.”
It was a grateful and touching statement.
Unlike the gruff voice, it was warm.
“Thank you for your words. But, Professor?”
“Do you have something to say?”
“I don’t have a way to contact the professor.”
“Ah.”
.
.
.
Having obtained permission from Professor Elysia and confidently playing hooky, I sprawled on the dormitory bed.
Lying on the soft bed, I absentmindedly stared at the ceiling, recalling today’s events.
Unable to talk to Erika the previous day, I had a nightmare. Perhaps because it was a rare occurrence, it felt even more distressing.
And the child was sold, revealing a side of me I didn’t know existed upon learning it was sold to a necromancer.
And then. And then.
“Sigh… There’s no going back. Well, I fell for that aspect of you.”
“……..!”
“Even if I were to die trying to save you, I wouldn’t regret it until the end.”
“Ugh!”
“There are many people in the world who need your help. But I need you more than all those countless people.”
“Ughhhhh!”
“So, if you were to risk your life for others, I would do everything to stop you. Even if hundreds of people die as a result, I wouldn’t care.”
“Ughhhhh!”
What did I say to Johanna?
This is an outright confession, isn’t it?
Thump! Thump!
I kicked the blanket with my foot.
I wanted to kick my past self out of frustration.
I might think, “Why am I embarrassed after saying it myself?”
But earlier, I was being my true self, not the clown I usually am.
Even my true self wouldn’t say something so embarrassing. But earlier, my suppressed emotions burst out.
In other words, I was half out of my mind.
There was no lie in what I said to Yohanna.
But…
“Who in the world can truly speak their mind completely!!!!!!”
No one in the world would say exactly what comes to mind.
As I continued to kick the blanket and feel embarrassed…
Hm.
I felt a sense of unease.
Shrrrk.
From Noble mtl dot com
I drew a sword from the space. And took a stance to wield the sword at any moment.
Someone had just invaded my dorm.
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue. My body and mind were not fully recovered yet.
Should I break the window and ask for help?
While pondering on what to do.
“The Emperor summons.”
The intruder revealed themselves. They were so dark, it felt like they were enveloped in shadows.
Every time I come to the palace, it’s always the person who kidnaps me.
I always faint, so I’ve never heard their voice or seen their appearance before, but I could tell.
“Hello. It seems like it’s the first time I’m seeing your face. I’m Loki!”
“……………….”
I greeted first, but they didn’t say a word. After thinking for a long time about what to say, I opened my mouth.
“Please gently make me faint.”
.
.
.
To cut to the chase, Loki didn’t faint.
But that doesn’t mean they came leisurely by carriage; they were carried by the person who came to fetch Loki all the way to the palace.
“Your Majesty, long time no see. How have you been?”
Loki bowed their head to the Emperor in front of them. There’s no one who meets the Emperor this often.
“I enjoyed teaching you. Back then, I could leave the work to Jea-sang and take a break.”
“If Jea-sang hears that, he’ll be truly sad. Although it doesn’t concern me.”
The Emperor tapped the desk lightly.
“Roki, what happened today?”
The weight of the words was different from when he had just told Jea-sang that he could take a break.
Roki felt as if the Emperor’s words were piercing his brain. It was the dominating trait that only the nobles possess, which he had experienced a few times before.
“Your Highness, if I may speak freely, could you please take care of this? I had a lot to do today, and I’m feeling tired.”
The Emperor looked at Roki, who seemed unfazed, and raised the corner of his mouth.
“He’s become much stronger.”
He seemed much stronger than when they first met, as if he hadn’t hidden his strength at all.
“Come to think of it, the shadow was spotted by Roki, too.”
If the shadow, skilled in infiltration and concealment, was caught, it meant that Roki had become much stronger.
Normally, he would have wanted to test Roki by using his domination more aggressively, but he didn’t have time to do so because of what he had seen and heard.
“It hasn’t been long, but Your Highness seems to have already noticed.”
Roki spoke of the events from this morning: chasing a suspicious group while looking for the child and coming across a necromancer.
“What did you do with the necromancer’s body?”
Elysia was amazed that Roki had killed the necromancer alone, but the Emperor was more concerned about the current situation.
“Just to be safe, I burned it all.”
“Good, well done. I’ll reward you later.”
“Your Highness, the necromancer mentioned that there are others besides himself.”
The Emperor narrowed his eyes upon hearing Roki’s words.
“Go on.”
Loki conveyed information about Death Heaven to the Emperor without exaggeration. Revealing too much information would seem odd.
“I see.”
The Emperor nodded as he listened to Loki.
The more he observed, the more he liked the kid. It was impressive for someone of that age to have killed a necromancer alone, and the fact that he calmly gathered information in that situation made it hard to believe he was just a student.
At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange for him to become a bodyguard right away.
But he’s a bodyguard for the Emperor’s daughter. It’s not something to decide lightly.
‘I should check him out in the upcoming hunting competition.’