Ch. 29

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The other reason was that I wanted to convey something to him, since he'd shown up here in Jane's place.

After regressing, Aden formed connections with countless organizations outside the academy in his effort to stop Silver Ring and build up his strength, but several of those organizations had already fallen under Silver Ring's control, or were about to, which frequently caused problems that hindered his growth or put his life at risk.

So I wanted him to know that recruiting strong allies from within the academy could be just as good a method as reaching out for outside strength, if not better.

Sometimes, seeing and feeling something firsthand carries more weight than a hundred spoken words.

Besides, thanks to the Tower Master's protection, the academy was, in effect, one of the safest places from Silver Ring, and it was also a place where strong individuals, or people striving to become strong, naturally gathered.

Most of the students here also happened to come from well-connected, wealthy noble families.

Even bringing in someone who wasn't particularly strong themselves as a companion meant potentially gaining access to the strength of their entire family.

"So why are you suddenly asking about that kind of thing?"

"Ah... I don't know, I just got curious all of a sudden. How you'd act if you found out the world was on the brink of destruction because of someone."

"Is that so? Destruction, huh... if that were the case, I think I'd bring you into my group first."

"Me? Why?"

"Because you're strong."

"Huh...? Am I supposed to say thanks for the compliment?"

"Since coming to the academy, I've seen pretty much every first-year worth mentioning, but you and Luna are the only two I've genuinely wondered if I could actually beat. If you want to stop the destruction, you need as many people stronger than yourself as possible."

I said this somewhat pointedly, hoping Aden would end up wanting to recruit me when he eventually formed his own group.

Since I had a connection with the Tower Master, and the Tower was already moving to hunt down Silver Ring.

On top of that, it would give me legitimate grounds to get involved in his movements going forward.

"It's about stopping the world's destruction. There are surely dozens, hundreds of dangerous things ahead. Do you really think someone like you... no, someone like us, kids this young, could actually handle all that?"

I looked at Aden quietly for a moment.

Reading through his life, I'd assumed the reason he'd relied on outside strength rather than help from within the academy was simply that it made it easier to interfere with their operations, but seeing this now, it seemed there had actually been a completely different reason behind it.

Consideration.

I'd briefly forgotten that he'd carried the deaths of young students as his own lifelong burden.

He'd probably avoided approaching people within the academy simply because, even if it made things harder for himself, he wanted to keep the other children from getting dragged into it while working to stop the world's destruction.

Which was probably exactly why he'd ended up utterly battered and broken, and ultimately failed in the end, too.

Even so, that mindset of his was genuinely admirable.

Damn it, no wonder women fall for this guy.

"But Aden, think about it. If you keep hesitating over this and that, and end up failing to stop that future, doesn't that mean everyone here, and everyone in the entire world, dies?"

"Even so, we can't just expose young kids to danger."

"Then are you old? And if you're going to weigh things, you should weigh ability, not age. Frankly, can you even say with certainty that you could beat me?"

"Well... it might be tough, but..."

"No? You should really think about this more carefully. Unlike you, I'm a Magic Department student, and in the sparring match you watched, I didn't use a single spell."

Of course, I felt confident.

Confident that I'd lose cleanly.

Of course, now that I had a cursed sword, I wouldn't go down looking pathetic, but ultimately, I would still lose.

His talent was overwhelming enough to render everything about me utterly meaningless.

But since he still didn't know much about me, he probably wouldn't sense it as bravado.

"Seeing you dispel that spell earlier, I don't think I'd actually win against you... but what I want to say is that ability and mindset matter more than age."

"I get the ability part, but... mindset too?"

"Right. Because when you find out the world is about to be destroyed by someone, your response is going to depend entirely on the mindset you personally hold."

I took a deep breath and continued.

"There will be people, like me, who want to stop the destruction, but there will also be people who think, well, the world's going to end anyway, so why not just live wild? And there will be people who follow the one causing the destruction, believing that if they help him, maybe they'll survive."

Aden would surely be able to tell that the followers I'd just mentioned referred to Silver Ring.

Since this was a time when allies and enemies needed to be clearly distinguished, I couldn't emphasize it enough.

"Differences in mindset have nothing to do with age. No one can ever really know whether that mindset came from one's own parents, from one's own personal choice, or from being forced into an unavoidable decision because of someone else."

In reality, Silver Ring's ranks included not just ordinary civilians, but a fair number of children as well.

"So how exactly can you confirm someone's mindset?"

"Well... I guess you could just ask, exactly like we're doing right now? Something like, 'if the world were about to be destroyed by someone, what would you do?'"

"Ngh..."

Deliberately mimicking a solemn tone as a bit of a tease, I watched his face flush slightly, apparently sensing what I was doing.

"Alright, we're here now, so let's drop this topic for now. First, go get that arm treated. I'll cover the cost."

Having arrived in front of the Order, I gave his back a firm push, shoving him inside.

"You're a commoner too, aren't you overdoing this a bit?"

"Don't worry about the money. What's more important than your own body?"

Just then, a priest appeared, laughing heartily, and I handed Aden off to him before heading toward the Order's recovery room.

Because there was someone else I originally needed to meet.

"Anyone home~?"

With a creaking sound, the door opened, revealing Jane sitting on the edge of the bed, reading something.

At the sound of the door, she lifted her bowed head slightly, and the moment she saw my face, she scowled mercilessly.

Well, what a warm welcome indeed.

"What business do you have coming here?"

Her voice was ice cold, to say the least.

Had I provoked her a little too hard earlier?

If I'd known I'd need her to help forge a connection with Duke Snowtier, maybe I shouldn't have thrown in that "your family's got a mixed-up pedigree" jab.

"Mind if I come in for a second?"

"No."

"Yeah, I'll come in!"

I slipped my body through the door and stepped inside.

Contrary to her saying I couldn't come in, Jane made no move to actually stop me, simply watching.

Being a fairly stunning beauty, it would honestly be pretty nice if she just didn't have that "I want to kill you right now" look in her eyes.

But given that, in my experience, a woman only ever smiled at me when she was either trying to kill me or trying to steal something from me, I figured it was better she wasn't smiling at all.

"Why are you laughing?"

Not knowing what I was thinking, she seemed thoroughly bothered by my laughter, looking even more irritated than before.

"You just look surprisingly fine, so I laughed. Or wait, is it just that the Holy treatment's really effective?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I heard you had a match with Aden? Given the state you were probably in from fighting me, I figured you'd be half dead by now."

At my words, Jane bit down on her lower lip, seemingly frustrated.

Having lost twice in a single day to someone her own age must have really stung.

But right now, my priority was tangling her together with Aden into a rivalry, so I needed to resolve this hostile atmosphere somehow.

"Ah, why so prickly? You're not that petty, are you? Relax that scowl a bit."

"...Do you want to die?"

Since our relationship had gotten off on the wrong foot from the very start, it seemed nothing I said was going to land well with her.

Ah, wait, actually, that comment I just made was probably a bit off too, wasn't it?

"I don't want to die, I just have something to say to you."

"...What is it?"

"Want to make a deal with me?"

"...You want to make a deal?"

"Yeah, a deal."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then, well, guess there's nothing to be done."

I gave a casual shrug and turned to leave.

Her refusing the deal had also been within the range of outcomes I'd anticipated.

Simply getting her to become aware that I had something to propose was already, in a sense, half a success.

"...You're just going to leave?"

Just as I reached for the door handle, her quiet question made the corner of my mouth twitch upward.

"You said you didn't want to."

I asked without turning my head, and after a brief silence, her answer came.

"I'll at least hear you out."

With her permission, I dragged over a chair from the recovery room and sat down, gathering my thoughts.

However elegantly it might be dressed up on the outside, the academy was, in the end, effectively nothing more than a military training facility churning out combat forces, not an ordinary educational institution.

Its main goal was to teach students combat skills so they could later help hold the continent together more firmly.

But since the academy's students were still young, there was the issue that any external influence, if exposed to it frequently enough, could easily leave a mark on them.

To prevent this, the academy had chosen to minimize contact between students and the outside world, and no outside organization was permitted to meet with students without proper authorization during their time in residence.

In particular, the means by which students could contact the outside world, especially their own families, were kept under strict control, all to prevent disputes among hot-blooded youths from escalating into conflicts between entire noble houses.

In fact, fights actually broke out more often than one might expect at the academy.

Given that these were mostly children from prominent families, pointless disputes tended to spark conflict fairly easily.

There was even a well-known example of a children's spat escalating into a full-blown family feud: two students had once quarreled endlessly, each shouting "make way!" at the other, neither willing to step aside for the other in a hallway, and word of the incident eventually reached both their families.

The proud, headstrong adults on both sides then got involved as well, and it eventually escalated to the point where political power itself split into two major factions because of it.

Regardless, given all these incidents, it was safe to assume that, as a student, one essentially had no means whatsoever of contacting the outside world.

And I intended to exploit precisely this difficulty in outside communication to approach her.

"Actually, I enrolled at the academy at Duke Snowtier's request."

"...What?"

At my words, her eyes widened with visible shock, trembling excessively.

I hadn't expected such an intense reaction, but her being this surprised would only work in my favor, right?

"What exactly... no, before we get into anything else, why are you suddenly telling me this? What's your motive?"

"There's not really any particular motive, I just happen to like you, I suppose?"

"...You like me?"

At my words, Jane's face scrunched up hard.

What, why is she suddenly looking at me like I'm disgusting?

"Don't get the wrong idea. I mean I liked your ability."

"...My ability?"

"Yeah. You wield a sword just like a ghost, exactly like the Duke does."

Apparently pleased by that comment, she seemed to calm down, and I continued speaking with a smile.

"But that cursed sword you're using... it's not fully yours yet, is it?"