#29
The principal’s voice gradually faded away, and it was time for the Duke’s congratulatory speech. The Duke, who had come forward, looked around at all the students and then opened his mouth.
“Congratulations.”
It was a truly brief and Duke-like speech. The students responded with loud applause and cheers to the Duke’s back as he returned to the VIP seats after saying just that. It must have been like a ray of light to students tired of the long entrance ceremony.
Unlike the excited students who thought it would soon be over, my face darkened. It would soon be Persis’s turn. Suppressing my nervousness, I looked straight at the platform.
“Now it’s time for the entrance pledge. His Highness Prince Persis Keinan will proceed with the entrance pledge.”
When Persis’s name was called, the students gave him applause as big as they had for the Duke just before. It was exciting to become classmates with a prince of this Empire.
I could see Persis walking out from the building in the distance. As I took in his face, a hollow laugh escaped me.
It wasn’t from disappointment or disbelief.
The tension I had been feeling disappeared like melting snow the moment I saw Persis. Though he had noticeably grown and changed a lot, the man walking slowly was the Persis I knew. The kind and gentle child who was by my side when I was struggling without a single friend, who followed even my unreasonable demands just because I asked.
“You’re completely entranced.”
I glared at Rikin, who casually tossed that comment from beside me.
“He’s grown well, hasn’t he?”
“Did you raise him? How dare you speak of His Highness like that.”
“Hey, now you’re even saying ‘you’ to your senior. My junior, you’re quite bold.”
Trying to flip my mood again. I snorted and ignored Rikin’s words, then raised my gaze again. Persis, who had come up to the platform, looked straight ahead. He faced the students in front of him directly.
For him, the students were both his classmates and subjects he needed to take care of. The Persis from the game and the current Persis overlapped naturally in my mind. The Persis before me, who didn’t consider anyone special and looked up to everyone, seemed so cool. It was hard to believe that when I was young, I had worried that Persis might not become like the Persis in the game.
Persis, standing on the platform, unfolded the entrance pledge he was holding.
“I pledge.”
When his voice resonated, I unconsciously swallowed. Now even his voice was good. Isn’t this too much? I knew Persis was an overpowered character, but seeing him in person made it feel strangely fresh.
In my mind, I pictured Persis standing side by side with Iria, whom I had seen last time. They were truly a perfect match. I tensed my lips, afraid my face would break into a smile without me realizing. I shouldn’t count my chickens before they hatch. The two of them haven’t even met yet.
“It’s okay.”
At that moment, Rikin, who was sitting next to me, spoke in a gentle voice. Wondering what he meant, I looked to the side and saw Rikin examining my expression with a frown.
“Usually, you can’t acknowledge each other in places like this. There are so many people, he probably doesn’t know where you’re sitting.”
He seemed to think I was feeling down because Persis hadn’t acknowledged me after seeing him for the first time in a long time. I never thought that. I’m just a supporting character. Of course, I would be grateful if Persis noticed me and approached me like before, but I know my place.
I could have corrected Rikin’s ridiculous misunderstanding, but right now, seeing Persis in front of me was more important. I wanted to see more of Persis’s well-grown face.
That’s when it happened.
“Aaaahhhh!!”
A sudden scream came from behind.
The scream, louder than Persis’s amplified voice, made everyone turn around. People who couldn’t find seats scattered to the sides, screaming indiscriminately. With so many people moving suddenly, some even fell down. Even those who were already seated all stood up and began running forward.
Yutis quickly lifted me up without checking the situation, grabbed my arm, and ran forward. Rikin also watched the front while guarding our rear.
I was so perplexed by the sudden incident that I couldn’t understand why people were screaming like this. I only felt that Yutis’s grip on my arm was so strong it hurt. At that moment, a dark shadow appeared above my head. When I looked up, I met eyes with something black. It was a creature I had never seen before.
“…!”
A bat’s face with a lizard’s tail. Its skin glistened as if covered with black fish scales. The large wings on its back resembled a bat’s membrane, but they had spots spread here and there like a tattered blanket. It seemed like they might tear and fall right in front of us if something went wrong.
The monster’s red eyes gleamed as it looked at us. Making a loud noise, it seemed ready to fall on us at any moment. Looking around, I saw similar creatures attacking students standing in other areas.
One of them seemed to have flown over here.
Yutis quickly pushed me back, almost throwing me. I misstepped but fortunately didn’t fall. The monster dropped right above our heads. Rikin, who hadn’t brought a sword, kicked a chair, breaking it, and picked up one of the sticks. It was truly tremendous strength. Just kicking it had shattered the chair.
“Kiyaaaah!!”
“Duck!”
At the moment the monster flew toward us, Rikin shouted loudly and threw the stick at the monster. The stick, crossing through the air, received some invisible force and penetrated right through the monster.
The monster’s flesh, split in half in midair, fell to the floor with a thud. Killing one didn’t make the other flying monsters disappear.
“Hey! You servant there! Quickly take your Young Master inside the building!”
“I was going to do that without you telling me.”
Calling someone else’s household employee a servant? I wanted to shout something back, but it wasn’t the right timing. Yutis quickly half-embraced me and tried to get inside.
Unable to adapt to this absurd situation, I was led toward the building by Yutis. This kind of incident didn’t happen at the entrance ceremony I remembered.
A monster I had never seen before. A present different from the future I knew. My heart pounded as if it would burst due to this new incident.
I could check what had happened later. Right now, I needed to do what I could.
“Wait, Yutis. How are the other people evacuating?”
“Don’t worry about that and move first.”
I knew that protecting myself was the priority. However, Iria was among those many people. Iria, who would be standing with others instead of sitting in a chair, was in that crowd of students encountering monsters.
I wanted to check if Iria was okay. Even in the midst of being pushed by fleeing people, I tried to see those standing in the distance, and I spotted the Duke on the platform.
The Duke raised his hand and pointed to the air. The moment his hand slowly drew a straight line as if cutting the sky, the monsters floating in the air began to explode with popping sounds. It felt as if he had sharply cut the monsters with his finger.
“Who’s making all this noise?”
The Duke’s low voice pierced through the chaotic situation clearly. Having someone like him on our side, who would be the most terrifying as an enemy, was like gaining a thousand troops.
I wanted to cheer. It seemed difficult to make them all explode at once like before, so the Duke came down from the platform and directly confronted the monsters one by one. The Duke’s hands and feet were more terrifying weapons than swords. With just a brief swing, the monsters’ bodies crumbled before they could even touch him.
While the Duke was dealing with the monsters, the teachers evacuated the students into the building. Some of them also fought the monsters, and even amid the confusion, a few students could be seen confronting the monsters.
Among such students, Rikin stood out the most. If he could cut a monster in the air in one go, there was no way he couldn’t take down those on the ground. It seemed like he didn’t need a fine sword as he surrounded whatever object he grabbed with sword energy.
The situation appeared to be settling down, but the place where the monsters had first poured out was still in chaos.
“We need to go now.”
When I still didn’t move, Yutis pulled my hand once more.
“Just a moment, really just a moment.”
As I was about to plead with Yutis one more time, I vaguely saw a face in the distance, with tightly tied hair flying as she mercilessly kicked away a monster. Even from afar, I couldn’t mistake who she was.
The person standing on top of a monster, leading people who couldn’t join the fleeing crowd, was none other than Iria.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
