Became an Academy Spearman

80. direction to go

***

“First of all, an apostle of sacrifice, like an apostle with a nickname of sacrifice, can be said to be an apostle who replaces the corpses of monsters or other creatures with his own power.”

I listened to Carly’s voice, which calmly opened her mouth.

“When I met the Apostle of Sacrifice, it was only about half a year after I was commissioned as an officer. I was pretty immature back then. My strength and me as a person are really too much. At that time, even when I faced the Apostle of Sacrifice, I did not properly recognize that he was an Apostle.”

However, when he said he didn’t recognize it, his doubts preceded him.

Apostles have a unique presence compared to other monsters. Most of them were monsters called apostles that they knew right away when they encountered them.

“I’m sorry, Instructor. Aren’t apostles usually able to tell the difference the moment they face each other?”

“right. Cadet Han Chun-seong’s doubts are natural. Do you manage to know how I feel about the apostle?”

“…I thought an apostle would be very different from other monsters.”

“That’s right. If it’s an ‘ordinary apostle’, yes. It’s usually because it’s very different from other monsters. You can feel it with your body from far away, from the appearance you see, the energy you have, and the strength of your existence.”

Took.

Carly, who was talking, suddenly tapped the table lightly, and her gaze went to her hand.

Took.

And the gesture of knocking on the table again.

Looking at Carly blankly at him, she smiled lightly.

“Cadet Han Chun-seong, how did Cadet Han Chun-seong react to my act of knocking on the table?”

“…Even if you say it’s a reaction, my eyes went to the instructor’s hand.”

“right? Even now, you are paying attention to my actions. And all officers and soldiers on the battlefield have extremely sensitive senses. Because your life depends on it. I can’t help but be extremely stressed out. But what do you think it would have been like if my hand gesture on the table, as I did just now, had attracted attention, as did the apostle?”

“If an apostle draws attention, it seems natural that we will have no choice but to look at it. no way… .”

“okay. When the Apostle of Sacrifice appeared, we were already confronting another Apostle. That’s why our nerves were so divided.”

…In an instant, my eyes widened.

The existence of the ‘Apostle’ was like a disaster to the officers and soldiers who would have been on the battlefield.

That’s why Sado was classified as a very threatening monster.

‘There is not one such apostle, but two appeared… ?’

It was like a situation where you had to retreat under virtually any circumstances.

“Seeing Cadet Han Chun-seong so surprised, I’m a bit curious too.”

When Carly laughed as if to ventilate the heavy atmosphere, I awkwardly adjusted my expression.

“In fact, the apostle whose existence was first revealed was in the finishing stage, so it wasn’t a situation that could be said to be desperate. It’s just that it caught our attention that much because it was so desperate to the end. So when the Apostle of Sacrifice appeared, no one noticed at that moment. Now that I think about it… that was the start of the horror.”

…a horror.

At the end, when Carly finished her words strangely, I couldn’t say anything.

I couldn’t dare say that I knew the weight of the battlefield, the space where many people would struggle and confront monsters on the borders of the empire even now.

That’s why I couldn’t even easily accept Carly’s words.

“The time when we finished the apostle with the moniker of superpower. The corpses of the monsters I had killed countless times suddenly began to gather together in one place. And it soon absorbed even the apostle we killed and took on a strange shape. An ogre with a purple appearance. It was like seeing another apostle. In the end, we were able to defeat even the purple-tinged apostle, but we had to make some sacrifices… .”

Seruk.

Carly, who was explaining the time, took a deep breath.

“By the way. That’s because the Apostle of Sacrifices was only an alter ego, not the actual entity.”

Saying that, Carly seemed a little regretful. As if recalling that moment.

And I, too, naturally imagined it.

The signs that Leteia appears in the story.

It was always after a lot of blood had flowed. Never, Leteia never reveals her true identity first.

Even things that reveal their true nature appear in different ways.

It takes the form of a small animal such as a squirrel, or a bird as it appeared to Karite, or it disguises itself as another monster to manifest its power by sacrificing various corpses.

A distinctive feature is that traces of purple remain everywhere.

“When I kill an apostle, I usually feel something like this, but that purple ogre really didn’t feel anything. Even the moment of death disappeared like a mirage, so I found out later when I investigated properly. That the Apostle of Sacrifice exists, and rarely reveals its existence. Actually, it’s a very old thing. The shock I felt at that time was great, but there were also too many apostles I encountered afterwards.”

Watching Carly say that, I became aware of a few things I had overlooked.

‘dead body… .’

It felt like I realized the point too late.

Karite is still the first episode. I focused on being sacrificed for the conditions of sacrifice, but the most important keyword related to Leteia was ‘sacrificial’.

If there is no ‘corpse’ that expresses her power, Leteia will never reveal her true identity.

“……”

It seemed to stop breathing for a moment.

There is virtually zero chance that Leteia will reveal herself and kill Karite to manifest her power. No, it can’t be if you think about that habit.

I didn’t know how much trouble Leonhard suffered because of it.

…Then it was very strange.

‘Who the hell killed Karite…?’

It means that the prerequisites for Leteia to appear are not met.

Obviously, Leteia will not appear unless there is a dead body.

Then the conclusion is drawn that the entity that will kill Karite is also not Leteia.

If Leteia doesn’t kill Karite, then there is someone else who will kill Karite.

‘…who the hell?’

The day of the week that will leave the outdoor lecture as a group next week is Wednesday.

Even though Leteia was the culprit who targeted Karite, it had to be assumed that another beast of a beast existed.

“Agar Cadet?”

I raised my head in a daze at the sound of calling me.

“…yes. Instructor Carly.”

“Why suddenly? You’re making such a serious face… .”

He smiled awkwardly at her worried expression.

“Unbeknownst to me, I inadvertently thought of the battlefield… I think.”

As he answered, a cold sweat broke out all over his body.

The first episode in the series, ‘Conditions of the sacrifice’, ends with the sacrifice of a cadet.

As a result, the apostle-like monsters were quickly subdued and resolved by the instructor. That’s all.

The exact cause has not been identified.

Groa’s worldview, which had previously been a calm romance, suddenly becomes tense and even the atmosphere becomes heavy.

Now that I think about it, it wasn’t even something that could be dismissed as simply a gruesome first episode.

‘There is an undisclosed existence in the work.’

There was something connected with the sacrificial apostle Leteia.

I don’t know if it’s the same apostle, or if Karite dies in an accident related to a monster.

Because it doesn’t come out right in the work.

but. I didn’t think of those beasts as apostles or monsters.

‘Outdoor lectures are to be moved under strict instructor control.’

Then, let alone an apostle, there was no way the instructor would not notice the monster’s approach.

Their level is far superior to ours. At least the monsters that will face off against the outdoor lectures will never be the instructor’s opponents.

Then, there is a fundamental culprit called Leteia, but there is clearly an existence to help Leteia.

among human beings. Unless you’re a cadet who will travel with us… .

‘Instructor… ?’

A car where thoughts ran out of control.

snap.

In an instant, I felt a completely different warmth in my hand.

“Cadets of Hancheon Castle.”

I was awakened from my thoughts in a daze by the determined voice.

I feel like I’ve come close to a very shocking truth. At this time, even forgetting reality. She called me back to reality.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but don’t think too deeply. Knowing about the Apostle is definitely a good attitude. But there is no need to be afraid from now on.”

At Carly’s words, I belatedly recognized my condition.

I felt the warmth and moisture from Carly’s hand that held my hand.

It couldn’t have come from Carly’s hand, so of course it was my cold sweat.

I was feeling fear without even realizing it.

“…Instructor Carly.”

“uh.”

“Do you ever run into an apostle during an outdoor lecture?”

…In a sense of great crisis, I asked Carly.

I know that this has never happened before. Still, I didn’t know

If this world is different from the Groa I know… .

At my words, Carly smiled brightly and shook her head.

“Cadets of Han Chun-seong. Strictly speaking, there has never been such a case. Having an apostle and a cadet face each other is something that should never happen, and should never happen.”

Carly met my eyes and spoke confidently.

When he said it as if he didn’t have to worry about anything, I nodded blankly.

“…okay. All right.”

“Hmm… I don’t know why Cadet Han Chun-seong is so worried. Did the literature on the Apostle of Sacrifice contain such serious content? It’s obviously a dangerous apostle, but it’s unlikely that a cadet of Han Chun-seong will ever see an apostle of sacrifice. It has been written several times in the literature I have read that an Apostle of Sacrifice never reappeared within 20 years of manifesting its power once. It must be that a great crowd goes to the Apostle of Sacrifice to manifest that kind of power.”

When Carly smiled softly, I just smiled awkwardly.

I was seized with a momentary urge to correct her, but I managed to hold back.

Carly’s reaction like this right now is perfectly normal.

Outdoor lectures didn’t go out of the empire at all, it was just killing monsters that existed within the empire.

It is not clear how and why apostles were created, but there have been no cases of apostles appearing from within the Empire.

It is safe to say that the dangerous species within the territory of the vast empire were subjugated, and right now, the subjugation team was steadily erasing the monsters of the territory within the empire.

But how could I, who is nothing more than a student, say that an apostle would suddenly appear from within the empire and cause an accident?

There is no solid basis or reason for it… .

“Instructor Carly.”

“Say it.”

Contrary to the calm tone of my heart, I smiled lightly.

“Thank you for being so detailed.”

“I’m curious about the Apostle of Sacrifice, is that the end? I can tell you more about the other apostles.”

Looking at her smiling brightly as if I was nervous, I thought there was hope on the contrary.

A world that has changed from what I know.

There are so many variables.

‘Carly is teaching C class cadets now.’

Then, even in the outdoor lectures, she is in charge of ‘supernatural phenomena’. It was a sound that wasn’t too far from the space where I would be.

That alone will make the situation very different from when an accident occurred in the play.

It is one of the axes of the empire. If Kali, who even has the nickname of bloody dawn, is on the scene. It will be fixed soon.

Maybe it can be easily solved.

‘I can’t be optimistic about the situation yet, but there’s no need to be too negative.’

I calmed down slowly.

“I think I’ve heard enough today. Thank you so much.”

“no. Because as an instructor, I can tell my cadets about apostles. Oh, and there you are.”

“yes. Instructor.”

“Can I ask one of the cadets of Han Chun-seong?”

When she suddenly met my eyes, I nodded in a daze.

“Did anything happen to you yesterday with a cadet named Karite?”

“…I just had a little conversation with Karite.”

When she found out about Karite and me, she was shocked for a moment, but didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Conversation?”

“yes. Yesterday, while listening to the characteristics lecture… Karite, who was listening to the same lecture, didn’t look good. I just can’t get past her. I had some conversations with her in person.”

I didn’t avoid Carly’s gaze looking at me while telling the truth.

Her gaze was straight, but not angry or even cold.

A gaze that only looked at me.

“…I see.”

“Just in case, there was nothing that Instructor Carly would misunderstand… .”

“Oh no! I’m not misunderstanding Cadet Han Chun-seong or anything like that! Because I also decided not to view the relationship between students negatively. You don’t have to be so conscious.”

When Carly was more flustered than I thought, I accepted it.

Today, I got a big harvest from an unexpected question, and although I didn’t have an answer, I was able to get a clear direction on what I should do.

—-Protect Karite.

At least I could have been by her side that day. Then it was said that I could protect Karite myself.

That alone seemed like the biggest answer.

The simplest answer is that I just need to become stronger.