Chapter 18
I headed straight for the Count’s manor. However, it was so collapsed, as if it had been hit by a bombing raid, that it was hard to even recognize its shape.
“Ugh, how do we find any clues here?”
“It’s t-too messy…….”
The two of them sighed as soon as they saw it. The Margrave’s manor was typically three times larger than a Count’s manor. I also sighed involuntarily, but I began to search for clues, clearing away the debris step by step.
“Hey, Student Martin von Targon Ulvhadin. This looks like it will take too much time… How about we find another way?”
Bord von Ludin Tauforos suggested, but I silently rummaged through the manor’s wreckage.
“……Th-Then we’ll look for clues elsewhere. There should be a Hall of Knights near the manor.”
Bord von Ludin Tauforos and Mary von Airi Deminiyan moved away. I silently searched the manor and barely managed to find a lead.
- Wild Instinct (Lv 1) searches for traces to find a way out.
Most of the Margrave’s manor had collapsed, but several areas corresponding to the first floor still remained.
Among them, I succeeded in finding a small religious facility inside the manor. A chapel where six marble statues, sculpted in the likeness of great prophets, stood facing forward.
‘Is this it?’
The meaning embedded in the chapel’s layout, a small note left in the priest’s room, and the scuff marks on the floor were caught by Wild Instinct. As if waiting, Know-It-All analyzed it and uncovered the secret.
‘So, manipulating the six marble statues opens a secret passage to the shelter.’
I couldn't escape alone. It was obvious it would fatally affect the team score.
‘I have to find them.’
* * *
Bord von Ludin Tauforos and Mary von Airi Deminiyan, who were searching the Hall of Knights, were ambushed by barbarians hidden throughout the hall.
“Empire! Kill!”
“Hypocrites!”
“Greedy legislators!”
It was unclear from which Time Chaos Dungeon these dregs had emerged, but clad in animal hides, they repeatedly engaged in guerrilla warfare from a distance with bows and arrows.
“Mary! Are you not done yet?!”
“I-I’m still working on it…! But there’s too much cover, and it’s too thick……!”
Bord von Ludin Tauforos couldn't leave his spot, if only to protect Mary von Airi Deminiyan from the arrows flying relentlessly from all directions.
In the meantime, Mary von Airi Deminiyan conjured a fierce rainstorm that could pierce human flesh, but the barbarians, hidden beneath the building’s debris, suffered no damage.
“Keuk! Perhaps because it’s the Hall of Knights, the building is very sturdy!”
Then, when the rainstorm stopped, they came out again and shot arrows.
They seemed very accustomed to fighting in this place.
Bord von Ludin Tauforos, parrying an arrow shot from behind with his shield, quickly turned and parried another arrow aimed at his new rear.
‘This won’t do!’
A momentary mistake could lead to an injury. Since it was an artificial dungeon, it wouldn't be a real injury, but it was a major demerit factor.
‘Should I use Frontkeeper?’
Frontkeeper, which released mana to envelop the body in a giant form, was a secret technique of the Tauforos Ducal Family and an invincible shield, but its wastefulness was so great that it couldn't be maintained for long.
‘But I can’t just stay here endlessly!’
The moment he hardened his resolve, a barbarian appeared directly in front, openly aiming an arrow.
Forget about techniques; he had to raise his shield immediately.
‘Their checks are sharp! At this rate, it’s hard to even use a skill!’
The moment he tried to raise his shield to block, blood spurted from both sides of the barbarian’s head, and he collapsed.
“No way!”
Bord von Ludin Tauforos, intuiting the gunshot hidden by the sound of the downpour, gave up on escaping and began to focus entirely on defense.
Every barbarian who poked their head out to shoot an arrow got a bullet lodged in their head. It was like a hunter hunting hunters.
Realizing there was a sniper of ghostly skill, the group of barbarians began to flee.
“Hoo, we’re saved.”
“We’re saved…….”
From afar, Martin von Targon Ulvhadin gestured. Come quickly. When they followed, he silently returned to the ruined Margrave’s manor.
“Hey, Student Martin von Targon Ulvhadin. Thanks for saving us earlier.”
“…….”
“Did you perhaps find something?”
“…….”
No reply.
‘At first, he at least explained the situation….’
He wondered if his actions of going to the Hall of Knights to search for something had caused trouble. Thinking about it, it wasn't just that it might have been trouble; it was a nuisance itself.
Meanwhile, we arrived at the chapel. Martin von Targon Ulvhadin silently began to turn the statues. When all six statues were turned, a secret passage was revealed.
“Uh, uh uh, uh uh uh……!”
“Wow……!”
The Time Chaos Dungeon was conquered like that.
When Bord von Ludin Tauforos came out of the artificial dungeon and looked around, more than half of the teams were still calculating the time distortion rate.
‘……Is he a monster?’
He looked at Student Martin von Targon Ulvhadin with newfound awe. Just what could a person go through in half a semester to change this much?
He tried to say something, but gave up because Instructor Hectia approached them. The conquest score on the scoreboard created by the artificial dungeon was 78 points. It was a B- grade.
‘Ugh… I think this is the result of Mary and I acting separately….’
He hadn't trusted his team member, searched another place, got ambushed, and even received help. His contribution to the escape converged to 0%. Considering he was a hindrance, it was closer to negative.
Sure enough, they received a mouthful of harsh criticism.
“Student Bord von Ludin Tauforos, Student Mary von Airi Deminiyan. You two were of no help at all in this conquest. Rather, you were closer to dead weight. Student Martin von Targon Ulvhadin found the way to the shelter alone and even saved you when you were in crisis. At this point, it’s doubtful whether this is a three-person team or a one-person conquest team. Did you let your guard down because it was a Grade 2 Time Chaos Dungeon? Still, to leave your comrade behind and act in a dangerous area where even the surrounding search wasn't finished is by no means a correct action. If this had been the Academy entrance exam, you both would have failed.”
Having finished her scolding, Hectia turned away.
“……You are free to act as you wish until the afternoon class.”
I also turned my body. It seemed clear I was about to leave somewhere abruptly.
“Hey, Student Martin von Targon Ulvhadin!”
He called out, determined to speak to me this time, but as expected, no answer came back.
My reaction was consistent. So maybe he thought too simply and acted.
“Hey, Student Martin von Targon Ulvhadin! Let’s talk for a bit……!”
Eventually, he reached out and grabbed my hand.
In that moment.
He was roughly flung away. Even though he had grabbed lightly, it was to the point where his own wrist, that of a shield bearer, ached.
“Ugh?!”
The gazes of the students taking the test, and the attention of Instructor Hectia who was returning to her seat, were drawn.
However, he couldn't even properly feel that. Because, right in front of his eyes, fierce eyes resembling an angry hound were glaring at him.
People, especially nobles, liked to make comparisons using their family. When Bord von Ludin Tauforos’ sturdy physique and magnanimous personality stood out, people around him would praise, ‘As expected of Tauforos! The guardian of the forefront!’
It was the same. Bord von Ludin Tauforos found Student Martin von Targon Ulvhadin’s eyes impressive. Wary, pushing away, strong, and precarious… those eyes were like a solitary hound.
Even without going through the information network, the rumor that Martin von Targon Ulvhadin had run away from his family was famous.
It wasn't as if he had completely cut ties, as no request to modify the family register had come to the administrative office that managed the imperial nobility's genealogy, but even so, look at those eyes.
Ulvhadin, wasn't it the family of the angry hound? Even if one left the family, blood couldn't be denied.
Overwhelmed by that atmosphere, Bord von Ludin Tauforos could no longer stop Martin von Targon Ulvhadin, who turned and left alone.
* * *
A week after the midterm exams ended, three large, floating vessels, airships, departed from Imperium Academy. They were travel ships carrying students from different grades.
[This is an announcement from the Airship Stewardess Line. This airship is heading to the capital of the Petrak Kingdom. All passengers on board, please check if your sensation preservation patches are attached.]
I raised my hand and gently brushed behind my ear. An alien sensation confirmed the patch's attachment.
[Inside the airship, combat, magic demonstrations, mana emissions, etc., are prohibited due to concerns of property damage. We will repeat the announcement once more.]
I closed my ears to the repeated announcement.
Wordlessly, I took out a piece of jerky from my waist and let Sebastian bite it. Even while chewing the jerky, he didn't stop slobbering all over my hand.
‘Petrak Kingdom….’
I only knew it as a nature-friendly kingdom. A kingdom of peace and harmony where rivers flowed throughout the capital, trees and bushes grew, and animals frolicked among them.
Even at Imperium Academy, where talented individuals from all over the world gathered, there were many from the Petrak Kingdom.
‘Matthew von Yulha Animas, who was called by Elisha von Tresha Harmadun.’
He was the unlucky student pointed out by Elisha von Tresha Harmadun for the demonstration team calculating the time distortion rate. Because he just stood there like a folding screen before going in.
Thinking about it, Elisha von Tresha Harmadun herself was no different from a folding screen.
Student Matthew von Yulha Animas’s ability was ‘Animal Communion,’ passed down through his family for generations.
I remembered it because there was a chapter where it was used exactly once in the original work.
The abilities of nobles from the Petrak Kingdom were mostly nature-friendly.
‘It’s a peaceful place.’
That was why it was an even better place for the darkness lurking beneath the surface to smile.
If the villains the protagonist party had faced so far were things I felt sorry to even call villains, like the Martin von Targon Ulvhadin I was possessing, or the performance evaluations and midterms, this time was different.
The capital of the Petrak Kingdom, the kingdom of peace and harmony, was the first chapter where the chaos leading this world to its end reared its head.
‘……Actually, the protagonist party will handle it well on their own, but… wait a moment.’
I stopped thinking and closed my eyes. My insides were boiling. Whenever the protagonist party was involved, emotions that weren't mine threatened to explode.
‘Damn this body.’
One thing I learned while possessing Martin von Targon Ulvhadin’s body and living at the Academy was that when dealing with the protagonist party, an excessive amount of anger was involved.
Not Kim An-hyun’s emotions, but Martin von Targon Ulvhadin’s emotions. It was quite bothersome.
In other words, it meant that Martin von Targon Ulvhadin’s soul, or remnants of his emotions, remained in my body.
Sighing, I managed to shake off some of Martin von Targon Ulvhadin’s old emotions.
Returning to the main point, as per the original story, if I left most things alone, the protagonist party would take care of them. But this time, I couldn't help but intervene.
‘Lina von Tullin Ivlin loses an eye here, right.’
Protagonist Gilbert Offer Cosmos’s escort knight. A beautiful yet cold woman, like an iron rose.
She was a potential powerhouse who would later grow into a Sword Queen alongside the protagonist Gilbert Offer Cosmos when he became a Sword Saint.
However, she suffered a period of stagnation after losing an eye here, so if I prevented that, wouldn't she be better prepared for the apocalypse?
I squeezed my eyes shut.
‘It’s not because I have lingering feelings for the protagonist party. It’s just to raise the chances of surviving the apocalypse, even if only a little. You could even see it as the best possible move I can make right now.’
If anything, my feelings towards protagonist Gilbert Offer Cosmos or his escort knight, Lina von Tullin Ivlin, were better. It was fine. At least those two were pitiful fellows who had a history of losing everything they had.
However, when I thought of the children of the Four Great Ducal Families, to whom the disciplinary committee had connections, an uncontrollable malice occasionally surged.