Chapter 211
Bee-beep— Beep!
"Littering will result in demerits!"
"Unhealthy opposite-sex relationships will also result in demerits!"
Demerits! Merits! Demerits!
Having completed another fulfilling day, Rodelin returned to the dormitory.
As she was about to change her clothes to take a shower, suddenly, a full-length mirror caught her eye.
"Hmm..."
Rodelin posed this way and that in front of the full-length mirror.
Thanks to Zero's scheme(?), her skirt was now 1 cm shorter than before, making it a full 2 cm shorter than allowed by the regulations written in the Annwood Academy handbook.
'To think I'm walking around in something this short. I can hardly believe it.'
Rodelin's face reddened at the thought of her improper appearance, yet nobody else seemed to notice.
It was indeed a strange affair.
"It seems too short, but there's nothing to be done. It’s a promise, after all."
A secret deal with Zero: if she shortened the skirt by 1 cm, he would keep quiet about her having previously shortened it.
Worried about being noticed by other students, she wrapped her face in a scarf when visiting the tailor.
She wrote her requirements on a note and handed it to the shop owner.
A perfect operation without even a trace of her voice left behind!
However, she couldn't avoid being teased by Zero.
'Kekeke, very pleasing to see. Of course, I mean it as praise for leading by example. Definitely not talking about the skirt.'
Though Rodelin gave Zero demerits for 'inappropriate praise,' it wasn’t enough to alleviate all her frustration.
'But what if... What if Zero uses this as a pretext to demand I shorten the skirt even more?'
The secrecy Zero promised was only regarding the initial 1 cm.
If... If he threatens to have her shorten the skirt again in exchange for keeping quiet about this latest 1 cm, and then keeps making further demands...
'An endless cycle!?'
It might even end up shorter than the miniskirt Lucia once wore.
"Not likely. If he makes such a demand... I'll have no choice but to assert my seniority."
Guiding juniors onto the right path was also a senior’s duty!
It was just when she was thinking she needed to set a date to give a proper lecture.
A group photo was lying on the desk.
Suddenly, Lucia’s blushing face in that photo caught her eye.
"Speaking of which... It's almost her birthday."
Instead of giving a present, she had promised to go on a trip together.
Rodelin pulled out her diary from the drawer and began to jot down notes.
It was something she had to do during the summer vacation.
"To go on a trip... with my big sister..."
Putting down her pen, Rodelin recalled Lucia’s always cheerful smile.
And before leaving, the warmth of Lucia’s hug.
Rodelin clasped her hands in prayer. Hopefully.
"May you be safe until the day we meet again."
...Unwittingly, Rodelin was building up a death flag for Lucia.
***
"AAARGH!!"
Lucia screamed. Or rather, she screamed as she ran.
The tailbone of a genuine dragon was swinging towards her.
It looked like a whip, but was incomparable to one.
The sheer size made it so.
'I can't dodge this!'
Just as Lucia was pulling up her mana to protect herself, someone kicked her. Or rather, tripped her.
"Kwoah!"
Thud!
Lucia had no choice but to roll to the side, and the dragon’s tailbone whizzed past overhead.
"Pant, pant, I almost died there!"
"Dumbass. Didn’t you consider the size of your opponent? You should have calculated the time to escape after the attack!"
The one who saved (or scolded) Lucia was none other than Caron.
"No, something weird just happened! It felt like all the energies of the continent had conspired to bind me!"
"A unique spell of the genuine dragon, huh? We need to be cautious."
Lucia, who had narrowly escaped Rodelin's curse(?), shook her head.
She thought it was just a huge lizard, but fighting it was no joke.
As they were positioning themselves for the next attack, Caron spoke up.
"Decided to fight, did you? Stupid but a sound decision."
"Is that a compliment or an insult? Pick one!"
"Let's just say it's both."
"What kind of response is that? Do you want me to do that too?"
"Do as you please."
"That guy? Did you kill him?"
"...Just brought back one arm."
"Even the mighty Caron is getting old. Maybe it's time you retired alongside the old folks."
"...?"
Wasn't that two insults rather than one mixed with a compliment?
Caron clicked his tongue. He was the fool for ever expecting anything from Lucia.
"Enough! We'll talk later. Focus on the battle!"
"Yes~. I understand."
Caron's eyes quickly scanned the battlefield.
The formation against the genuine dragon was as follows:
Elester was disrupting the dragon's magic casting.
Lucia was in charge of the attacks.
And Adonis was taking on three roles: disrupting flight, drawing attacks, and evading, all while counterattacking.
'I should join Lucia in the offensive.'
The dragon twisted its body, attempting to take flight.
It wasn't easy to attack while avoiding its massive legs and wings.
'We must prevail somehow!'
Crack-crack-crack!
Caron's dagger sliced through the dragon's leg bone.
Considering the creature's massive size, it was a hit that inflicted mere 0.01% damage.
But Caron knew well that accumulating such minor damages would eventually yield a significant impact at a crucial moment.
'Moreover, the more it focuses on us, the easier it is for the others to strike.'
Crack! Crack-crack-crack!
Shk-shk-shk!
Caron and Lucia kept moving nonstop.
More than attacking, avoiding the dragon's wild thrashing was crucial, giving them no moment to rest.
"Huff... Huff..."
Caron gasped for air.
His exhaustion was due partly to injuries but more so to his age.
Caron was now sixty-two years old.
Decline came faster and steeper than one could imagine.
In his twenties, he never tired, no matter how many sunrises and sunsets he saw. But at some point, he began to feel fatigue.
In his thirties, with each passing year.
In his forties, every six months.
In his fifties, every month.
From sixty, he felt his body age every week.
Perhaps from seventy, he would feel it every day.
"Old man! You can't stop attacking now!"
"Huff... I know that...!"
"Grandpa is still spry! When are you going to collapse?"
"..."
Caron felt it was unjust.
Adonis. The two of them were different right from their origins.
While he had been a vagabond before the Emperor took him in, Adonis was a descendant of the esteemed Cassel family, known for their spear skills.
From a young age, Adonis was trained in various disciplines and grew stronger with the help of various elixirs.
Moreover, he was currently injured.
But Caron didn't want to make excuses. Above all...
'I really don't want advice from you, Lucia...!'
A brat from the battlefield thinking she's grown up enough to be saucy.
He imagined Lucia shouting 'I am stronger!' after they defeated the dragon.
Caron absolutely did not want to see that happen.
And Lucia felt the same.
"UWOOOOOOOO!"
"AAAAAAAHH!"
The two competed with each other as they attacked the dragon.
"Hmm?"
Elester, who had successfully stopped the dragon's magic casting, cocked his head, puzzled.
It was because Lucia and Caron had begun to rampage, apparently with no thought of conserving their energy.
'Well, it doesn't matter. We're just meant to draw its attention, after all.'
Ending the dragon was someone else's job.
KWARUNG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Adonis, known as the Thunder Emperor.
His spear shattered one of the dragon's wing bones.
Before being called the Thunder Emperor, Adonis had another nickname.
'Dragon Slayer.'
One of the few dragons left on the continent, thought to be extinct.
Adonis was the one who had caught a dragon on his own.
'It was just past the hatchling stage, but...'
Fighting a dragon alone was an incredible feat.
Above all, Elester knew his capabilities well.
'Both nine-stars, but fundamentally different.'
When Elester had reached the eight-star level and was known as a magic prodigy, he had neglected his training using his studies as an excuse.
This got worse after he got involved in politics.
He was busy undermining others by finding faults, not appreciating the value of people, easily manipulated by sycophants.
Elester, who had spent his life accumulating knowledge, ended up being a toy for these flatterers.
'I did realize the error and gave them a good thrashing afterward...'
But the fact that he had neglected training for over a decade was undeniable.
Unlike him, Adonis had persistently wielded his spear.
Even after reaching the nine-star level, known as the limit for humans, he continued to wield his spear as if he had a personal vendetta against it.
However, his side was always brimming with people.
In politics, it's common to forge numerous connections and engage with many individuals.
Though it was strange that Adonis, who merely wielded a spear, had more people around him than Elester himself.
'Well, that's probably why I'm not called a hero.'
However, this was not the time to dwell on such distractions.
Creating an opportunity for Adonis, paving the way to strike down the dragon—that was his duty.
"Hmm?"
Something caught Elester's eye.
The dragon's movements were off.
It steadied itself and began to inhale deeply.
'That's...!'
Elester immediately cast 'Force Hammer.'
An ethereal hammer created by consuming 80% of his remaining mana.
"Ugh!"
As he swung the Force Hammer, veins bulged on Elester's face.
It was heavy, but he couldn’t give up.
Right now, the dragon was preparing its 'Breath,' a power unique to dragons.
KWAHHHHHH!
A dark purple magical energy burst forth from the dragon’s mouth.
Elester's swing of the Force Hammer and the dragon's release of its Breath happened almost simultaneously.
BOOM!
Elester’s Force Hammer struck the dragon's neck.
The Breath meant to hit the extermination squad veered off course.
SCREEEECH.
Crowley’s bones melted away in an instant.
Had it hit a person?
The outcome was obvious—they would have dissolved immediately.
'The experiences from the great war came in handy...'
The fact that a past hellish experience was useful was indeed ironic.
CRACK!
Adonis’s spear pierced through another part of the dragon’s wing joint.
As the creature shook its wing joint as if annoyed, a spell Elester had been preparing for a long time activated.
Restraint!
SZZZZZAP!
Giant blue chains wrapped around the dragon’s two wings and one leg.
It was clear that the dragon was having difficulty thrashing about.
"Adonis! Finish it! Before my mana runs out!"
GRRRRRRUMBLE!
Elester clenched his fists desperately.
He was frantically preventing the chains from breaking.
The dragon struggled to break free.
Watching this, Adonis retrieved his spear.
'Elester... always an impressive fellow.'
Then and now. Truly a remarkable person.
It was always strange to Adonis that he wasn't called a 'hero.'
Regardless, he couldn't waste the opportunity Elester had so difficultly created.
No signs of a black mage nearby.
Meaning there was no worry about information leaking to the enemy. He was...
"Open your eyes, Durandal."
The bearer of the second Holy Sword—this information was...
--TL Notes--
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