Academy’s Genius Swordsman

21. Blood and Eggs (4)

#21

“Damn it! What the hell is that…!”

The boy in the leather hat sat down. I couldn’t stand up because my legs were weak. In front of him, a monster he had never seen before was flapping his wings and looking down at him.

“Damn?”

“Monster, monster…!”

The four long, black wings made no sound. His red eyes glistened like blood-soaked rubies. The boy’s shoulders shrank as the long tail brushed the floor.

It was reminiscent of a demon or a dragon from a fairy tale. Tears welled up in the corners of the boy’s eyes as he slowly stepped back.

‘You’ve been punished…! I did something bad and the devil came to me…!’

No matter how much money I had, I couldn’t be a poacher.

The boy was a member of the Demire branch of the poaching organization Caribolo. It was his first mission to deliver supplies for the crew who went out hunting with Ley yesterday.

However, there were eight corpses waiting for him. headless.

The corpses, completely drained of blood, took on a dull gray color, like a field of frosty beans. The severed heads were nowhere to be seen.

‘It’s not enough for the hunting dogs to be the captain…’

The wolf weeping was also a cold corpse. He reached the level of Sword Expert and was a veteran who caught the phantom species in double digits.

I had to hurry back to the branch and report the situation. It was the moment the boy had just turned around.

– Aww!

“Aww!”

A monster flew from somewhere and crashed into the tree where the boy was hiding. The twigs and leaves fell with rainwater. Suddenly, a creature with a shaved head approached the boy.

“Bye.”

‘Well, I have to do something!’

The boy hurriedly took his hand with the dagger around his waist. It was the moment my finger touched the hilt. The monster’s eyes, which had been quietly flapping in the air, began to glow red.

“Bye-ah-ah…!”

“uh?”

Suddenly, the boy’s world turned red. The boy who rubbed his eyes with his sleeve took a breath. Red blood was smeared on the dirty cuffs.

“Heyyy…!”

Excessive blood ran down his cheeks. No matter how much he wiped his eyes, the blood didn’t stop. The boy soon noticed that blood was flowing not only from his eyes, but also from his nose, mouth and ears.

“Sa, save me!!”

I felt my body cool down quickly. His legs still had no strength. The boy who desperately turned over, crawled and started to run away.

“Everyone, I will never do this again! Please save me!”

However, in spite of the boy’s scream, a second nightmare unfolded. Suddenly, his body began to be dragged in the direction of the monster.

“Oh, no!! Save me!”

He quickly grabbed the bushes, but to no avail. At the same time as the blades of grass were torn apart, the boy’s body floated in the air.

😃😑😑😑😑 It sounded like the sound of a monster laughing over her blood-drenched auricles. Then a certain dark-haired boy came out of the bushes.

“Yumma! stop!”

Ronan swung his sword vertically. It was exactly halfway between the boy and Sita. dump! The mana that was dragging the boy ran out, and his body fell to the floor.

“Ugh!”

“Bye-ah-ah?!”

Sita widened her eyes. To my surprise, my black pupils almost doubled. The boy was lying on the floor, draining blood from his throat.

“Wow! Wow!”

“Oh fuck. Why is your face like this? Sita, did you do it?”

The boy’s face was covered in blood from his features. Ronan, who was looking at the boy with disgust, raised his eyebrows.

“Eh? Wait a minute.”

It was a familiar face. Ronan poked Sita’s wing, who was still puzzled.

“Sita, wipe this bastard’s face.”

“Damn?”

Ronan pretended to wash his face. Sita, who blinked, used magic. Blood began to well up from the boy’s eyes again.

“Aaaaaaah!”

“Yumma!”

The blade cut through the air again. Ronan, who quickly cut off mana, blew a chestnut into Sita’s nose.

“Pooh!”

“Would you mind if I heard everything you were talking about? I just want you to wipe the blood off your face.”

“Bye-woo-woong….”

Sita, who had lost her spirit, used magic again. The blood that had covered the boy’s face gathered in one place and fell out in the form of drops. The boy who touched his face stood up in amazement.

“Hey, is this…?!”

“That’s right too. Her face has hardly changed.”

“Hey, did he save me?”

Ronan crossed his arms and nodded. He didn’t answer the boy’s question. The face of the boy, whose blood had been washed away, looked exactly like the one he knew.

Ronan pulled out a cigarette. The boy almost folded his waist in half and bowed his head.

“Heo Eok, thank you…! thank you! I really lived thanks to you!”

“With something like this. Is poaching worth it, Valus?”

“···Yes?”

Balus froze. Ronan was watching his whereabouts with interest. I never imagined that we would meet in a place like this.

“Won’t it be great? It’s a job that collects money if you get some blood on your hands, but it’s not human blood, so I don’t feel guilty.”

“All right, how do you name my…”

Balus was Ronan’s chastity motive. It was Balus who boasted to Ronan of the arrow that killed the beast and talked about Caribolo’s organizational system without a break.

At the time, I thought he was a bastard from the root, but somehow, the atmosphere of Balus as a boy was very different. In appearance and attitude, wherever he looked, the smell of a freshman who had just started working was full.

The tattoo that almost covered his body had not yet been engraved, and his tone was not vulgar. Above all else, there was still a feeling of guilt in his shaky eyes.

Perhaps there is room for renewal. Ronan lit a cigarette lighter.

“I don’t know about that, kid. You have to choose.”

“Select···?”

“Yeah, ma’am. Whether you become a traitor to the organization or a white, dry stuffed toy. You just started working, haven’t you?”

“Bar, stuffed?! Well, how do you do that more than that…”

At that time, Sita, a monster that had been flapping in the air, landed on Ronan’s shoulder. It seemed that they were quite friendly with each other as they rubbed their faces against their cheeks.

Realizing that the two were one, Balus hesitated and backed away.

“Hey, what the hell are you? What else is that monster…? Hopefully those people too!”

“Okay, Valus. I cut my hair, and the blood was taken out of this tuft.”

Ronan stretched out his index finger and pointed to Balus. Sita turned her head and looked at him. A thin stalk of nosebleed ran down Balus’ pharynx.

“You don’t need to explain how the blood was drawn, right?”

“Hey…!”

“Then let’s start talking.”

Ronan exhaled smoke. Digging through his pockets, he pulled out a piece of parchment. It was a map drawn in the blood of Caribolo’s hounds.

****

After the boys cleaned up until the night, they left Penardo Sam. We had to build a much bigger raft than when we arrived because of the heavy load. The moon was red like blood in the sky.

“It’s a lot more profitable than I thought.”

Ronan didn’t kill Valus. It wasn’t just because he hadn’t gotten his hands dirty yet. He was a talented person who would one day contribute greatly to uprooting Caribolo from the continent.

Having ripped out enough information about Caribolo, Ronan took a blood oath from him.

– Whoa! As long as this demon herald has drank your blood, you cannot hide anywhere in the world!

-Heh heh heh…! I swear! I will keep my oath no matter what!

Report the organization’s information or current status once every fortnight. It was an oath that he would not reveal any information about Ronan and the others until he betrayed everyone and left the organization.

blood oath. A forbidden spell that eats the soul of the devil the moment it is violated.

Of course, it was just a made-up lie, but judging from the expression on Valus’s expression at the time, it didn’t look like he was afraid of breaking the oath.

Balus, who was beaten by Sita, believed Sita as a messenger of the devil and Ronan as an evil warlock.

“You are quite useful.”

Ronan gently scratched Sita’s neck as she looked up at the moon. Sita made a purring noise as she rolled over the floor like a cat playing aegyo.

“It’s cute…”

Asher crossed her chin with both hands and looked at him. I just wanted to bury my face in those fluffy feathers, but it wasn’t easy to try because of what happened.

Asher suddenly remembered something and opened her mouth.

“But Ronan, why did you name him Sita?”

“Why are you Asher?”

“Oh, no, I don’t mean that…”

“just. It’s the name of the dog we used to go with.”

Ronan gave no further information. Asher also did not ask any further questions. I just had my doubts. Has Ronan ever had a dog?

Ronan opened his mouth, gently stroking Sita, who had already fallen asleep.

“I didn’t want to raise animals like that again…”

It was heavier than a memory and a pleasant memory to be regretted. The companion who had been with him for a year as a result of an accidental encounter on the wandering road lost his order at the hands of a poacher.

“Ah, I don’t know.”

Ronan lay down. Sita’s feathers tickled her cheeks were surprisingly soft. The red moonlight and water mist slowly rising over the water was ending this adventure.

****

The two returned to the island in two full days. Ronan went straight to Professor Baren to show him Sita, but he was on a business trip to the jungles of the South.

“I have a lot to say, but it’s a pity.”

Hearing that it would take at least a fortnight, Ronan turned away. They shoved a note under Baren’s office door and headed to the market.

Of course, don’t forget to collect the bounty. All that was left behind by the poachers in Caribolo turned into gold coins and filled the pockets of the boys. Equipment, accessories, and even the blood-drenched head.

“Oh my God, water with such high mana purity…! Where the hell did you get this?”

“secret. I can bring it again, so give it a shot, Duon.”

Duon shed exclamations while measuring the purity of mana. Ronan sold the water he had drawn from the spring to the top of the caravel and to the alchemy workshop.

It was very pure water, so I was able to earn much more money than I expected.

“My daughter even sang in the name of the guests. This time, he wanted to follow him too, but he whined so much that he couldn’t go…”

“Then I don’t see it. How about Marya?”

“Oh, I went home for a while. They say goodbye before entering the school.”

After all, once I entered the school, there was no need to go back to my hometown unless it was a vacation period. Because Phileon was a strict dormitory system.

Come to think of it, it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen my sister. The acceptance notice was sent by letter, but I felt something was missing.

“It’s great.”

“Heh heh, that’s right. If it wasn’t for the top job, I would have stopped by once, but it’s a pity. By the way, what the hell is that animal…?”

Duon’s gaze was not on Ronan from before, but on Sita, who was sitting on his shoulder. Still, I once ran a pet business, but I couldn’t figure it out.

“Oh, it’s the kid that came out of that egg last time. I do not know the identity.”

“egg···? Ah, those incredibly hard lumps from last time!”

Duon opened his mouth in admiration. An eggshell harder than a mithril. It was an unforgettable memory.

Sita was constantly tilting her head, looking at the people passing by and the items lined up at the stalls. His unusual appearance and curious red eyes caught people’s attention.

“Hey, can I touch you?”

“sure. But you probably hate it.”

“Fufu, it’s because everyone isn’t careful. Ever since then, I have dealt with animals quite well.”

Duon carefully stretched out his hand. The black and rich feathers looked so fluffy that I thought it was okay. It was the moment his hand was about to touch Sita.

“Kyaa!”

“Aww!”

The four wings spread out with a threatening sound. Duon, who had almost collapsed, stood up from the newsstand. Ronan said, scratching Sita’s neck gently.

“I am right. He was more shy than he looked.”

“Byeah~!”

When Ronan scratched his neck, Sita let out an expression and purred as if it had ever been. Sita was wary of everyone except Ronan and Asher.

“It’s really, there’s no face…”

“It could be. Then I will go.”

“Take care and go back. By the way, congratulations on the 1st place in writing with the Cha-seok. Both of you are amazing.”

“thanks. See you again.”

Ronan waved his hand once and moved on. With each step, the backpack shook and the jingle of coins echoed.

After earning some money, the two headed to the restaurant they had been eyeing before. It was a place where whole 2m-long eels, caught only in Lake Rahniel, were grilled. Asher took a bite and opened her eyes.

“Oh, it’s delicious…!”

“Bee!”

The unique chewy texture of the eel and exquisite salting were the art. It was the most delicious restaurant I’ve ever been to. Sita also devoured her share of meat while chirping with happy cries.

“Asher. What are you going to do with this money?”

“me? I don’t think I’m going to use it mostly to buy magic books or experiment materials? It’s a very expensive study.”

“Is that so? Be proud of it.”

“Are you Ronan?”

Ronan drooled. Originally, I had saved money to pay for my tuition, but because I took a second seat, there was no place to spend the money. I didn’t even get a full scholarship, so I was given a monthly subsidy in the name of maintaining dignity.

It was a happy worry, but a worry was a worry anyway.

“Okay.”

Ronan took a bite of the grilled eel. it was yummy. I don’t know for some reason, but I suddenly thought of my sister who will be at Nimburton.

While he was enjoying the seafood and seafood, Illyl would have stayed at home today, eating potato stew.

‘Come to think of it, my sister has lived in that country all her life.’

Ronan has lived two lives, but this is the first time he’s had a decent life in the city. It was very different from life in Nimburton to the extent that it could be said that everything was different.

‘I grew up changing my diapers by hand.’

Ronan licked his lips. Come to think of it, he only tossed a few coins and came out, but he never did anything. Illyl probably didn’t even know that this kind of cuisine existed in this world.

Ronan was contemplating something and opened his mouth.

“Asher. Was it possible to attend on the day of our entrance ceremony?”

“yes? Ah… yes, it will. I know that it is only possible for guardians and family members.”

“That’s right.”

Ronan shut his mouth again. Seeing his serious expression, Asher lowered the fork. Only the sound of Sita being salty and chewing flesh resounded.

At that moment, a voice that seemed to be shouting came from the kitchen.

“Tomorrow, the Pencia Revue will send you some wagons!”

“How many people are there?”

“Twenty-two! Marbasgo, I asked you to catch the carriage returning two days later.”

“I confirmed it. Twenty-two tomorrow, the location is Marbas.”

It was a conversation between employees working in a restaurant. It seemed that they even sent a carriage if the customer wanted it.

After realizing something, Ronan’s expression brightened. If you can’t go, you can just bring it. Ronan stood up and tapped the employee’s shoulder.

“excuse me.”

“Oh, your guest. What’s going on?”

“Does the wagon even go to Nimburton?”