??? : Wake up, Dwener.
A voice echoed in Dwener’s mind.
Though it was a voice he had never heard before, Dwener had a faint sense of who it belonged to.
‘Could it be… Frederick?’
The founding head of the Seigan family, awarded a title and land for subduing the 4th legion commander Balafar.
Even though it was an ancient event, Dwener recognized the voice, despite having only seen Frederick in an old portrait.
He could tell that his ancestor, Frederick, was speaking to him.
— Wake up, Dwener. You are the pride of the Empire!
But Dwener didn’t want to get up. His body felt unusually heavy.
‘Ancestor… just five more minutes.’As the adorable heir of the family, wasn’t he allowed this small request?
Just five more minutes of sleep, he declared, closing his eyes again.
But soon, a sense of foreboding made Dwener open his eyes slightly.
He saw his ancestor, Frederick, running towards him with a spear aimed at him.
‘Eek!’
Dwener screamed inwardly and sprang to his feet, starting to run.
A sudden chase began with the founding head of the family.
Dwener was somewhat talented at running away. However.
— You wicked boy! Take this! Spiral Flash Grand Wheel Fury Scythe Strike!
Whoosh-!
He couldn’t dodge the spear flying at him.
The moment Frederick’s thrown spear touched his back.
“Huh!!”
Dwener woke from his dream.
Realizing what he had just experienced was a dream, Dwener quickly became aware of the pain all over his body.
Giant bolts of lightning were striking everywhere on the battlefield.
Judging by the pattern, it seemed the place he was in had just been hit.
Boom-! Crash!
The sky lit up with white lightning, children each defending against the lightning in their own ways, and a high-ranking demon that looked like a black bull.
Lying on the ground, Dwener fell into thought.
‘Why am I here?’
Dwener recalled the events leading up to now.
The sudden invasion of Carpathia.
Caron tried to dissuade him, saying he didn’t need to go, but he left the academy to protect Zero.
His horse betrayed him, tossing him down a hill with a high-ranking demon.
While moving to find shelter, he slipped and was directly hit by a demon’s spell aimed at Rodelin.
‘That was the beginning.’
Wherever he went, lightning followed as if attracted by his bad luck.
Hit by a total of three attacks, Dwener’s last memory was of a lightning storm striking the battlefield.
‘I thought I was dead for sure… but I’m alive.’
Did he unknowingly use the Seigan family’s hidden skill, ‘Absolute Evasion’?
Probably. After all, he had Frederick’s blood, the blood of a hero, in his veins.
“Huhu, a mere high-ranking demon can’t kill the descendant of the great Seigan family.”
Competent indeed! Perhaps he was a genius in battle.
A seemingly ordinary academy principal, but actually a genius in battle!?
…Or something like that. Anyway, thinking could wait. The important thing now was.
‘Get Zero and the kids and escape!’
Though he didn’t know how it happened, the demon was heavily damaged.
With good timing, they could escape.
Wouldn’t it be better to fight and win?
‘Easier said than done.’
A high-ranking demon with a reverse pentagram floating above it. Though heavily injured, it was still a high-ranking demon.
Running was the best option.
“Ugh…”
As Dwener got up, something fell off his body. It was a pendant. A mysterious pendant filled with pure energy.
He could instantly tell it was something precious, brimming with mystical energy.
“Why is this here…”
“…Ugh, this hurts.”
Suddenly, a voice startled Dwener as he looked around.
A blackened rock. Next to it was something charred black.
‘Is that a person?’
Despite the terrible condition, Dwener immediately recognized the girl.
“Luna…?”
How could he not? She was one of the children he cherished, always with Zero.
Looking back and forth between the pendant and Luna, Dwener soon realized.
This girl had saved him.
“Damn…!”
Dwener poured a potion over Luna’s body.
But that wasn’t enough.
These were lightning injuries. Internal healing was more important than external.
‘That potion…’
Dwener took out a small vial from his pocket. It was a clean bottle without the distinctive mark of the Holy Kingdom.
It wasn’t a potion sold in the Holy Kingdom but one obtained through a special route.
‘Since Caron gave it to me, I don’t doubt its effectiveness.’
When Dwener declared his participation in Carpathia, Caron had pressed this potion into his hand, telling him to use it only in dire situations.
Dwener poured the potion into Luna’s mouth.
After ensuring not a single drop was left, Dwener finally let go.
“Why did you go this far?”
“…A friend asked me to. Though not to this extent.”
Zero asked? Zero told her to protect him?
‘…Who am I, really?’
Luna’s face was charred black. When she opened her eyes, they were slightly hazy.
Whether she could see or not, Dwener couldn’t tell.
“Are you the principal…?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Principals are amazing people, right?”
“…Most of them are.”
Had it not been for himself, Dwener would have answered ‘all.’
From the 1st to the 17th principal, all were remarkable people who left everyone in awe.
The only blemish was the 18th principal, Dwener himself.
That’s why Dwener used the word ‘most.’
“Then you must be amazing too. So strong I can’t even imagine, right?”
No, he wasn’t. He wasn’t strong.
“You stood up as if the demon’s attack was nothing. You’re truly amazing.”
No, it wasn’t true. It was just bluffing, relying on luck and a sturdy body.
He couldn’t possibly defeat that demon.
‘And now isn’t the time for such questions. Is she delirious from the pain?’
Running away was the best decision.
As Dwener tried to lift Luna, tears started falling from her eyes.
“I am powerless.”
“…”
“Because I’m powerless… Zero might push himself too hard. Please, help him.”
Dwener couldn’t understand.
“Why… why are you going so far?”
Fighting a high-ranking demon was already a significant feat, but to heed a friend’s request that could endanger her life.
Rather than saving herself, she asked him to help her friend.
Dwener couldn’t understand. Running away was undoubtedly the best choice.
Something gripped Dwener’s sleeve tightly.
It was Luna’s hand. Charred black, it seemed barely functional.
But it was firm. Impossible to shake off.
“Protecting a friend… that is… my pride.”
Pride. Pride.
It had been so long since he heard that word.
These days, not even knights, let alone nobles, often spoke of pride.
To hear such words from a young girl was unexpected.
“…”
He once had it too. Dwener had a time when he lived with pride.
‘Not anymore.’
The reason he was here. The reason he became the 18th principal of the great Annwood Academy.
‘Because I abandoned my pride.’
In this harsh world, a world full of evil, he wanted to live with virtue.
Here, ‘evil’ didn’t refer to demons or black wizards. There were such beings among people too.
Those who prioritized trampling others, considering virtue worthless.
And the overwhelming number of people who chose the easy, comfortable ‘evil’ over the burdensome, weak, and vulnerable ‘virtue.’
But Dwener didn’t want that. He wanted to lead the world down the right path with virtue.
Because his ancestors lived that way, Dwener wanted to live that way too.
Though the Seigan family gradually grew impoverished, his predecessors did not pursue ‘evil.’
As a result, in Dwener’s generation, the Seigan family faced imminent ruin.
‘I tried to find a job somehow, but…’
The world had long been steeped in evil. A person like Dwener was needed nowhere.
He felt pain.
Scratches, cuts, and burns.
The pain from wounds stung and hurt, but it was bearable.
But living alone in this vast world, living without any role, that pain.
It was truly unbearable.
A quill pen had its purpose, but Dwener did not.
He couldn’t find a reason to live, a purpose for his life.
No one needed him.
‘Then I met Duke Aziz.’
Wandering a party looking for a job.
Duke Aziz approached him, and drunk Dwener passionately promoted himself.
About the importance of virtue, the wrongs of the world.
And his necessity.
The next day, Dwener woke up in the principal’s office of the academy.
With an appointment letter appointing him as the principal of Annwood Academy.
‘At first, I thought I was recognized.’
He thought his value, which aimed for virtue, was recognized.
But it wasn’t. Duke Aziz was closer to ‘evil’ than virtue.
And the act of placing an incompetent person like him in such a position was clearly ‘evil.’
Leaving the academy would be ‘virtue.’
But Dwener chose to stay.
‘Proving his worth was the only chance.’
A chance to prove his value.
A chance to revive the declining family.
Though it was committing ‘evil,’ he couldn’t miss this opportunity.
‘Just this once. Just this one time…’
That’s right. The first person in the Seigan family to pursue ‘evil.’
It was Dwener himself.
Thus, Dwener abandoned his pride.
Recalling memories he tried hard to forget, Dwener clenched his fist.
“Principal… Zero…”
Luna’s voice grew slower. She couldn’t finish her sentence.
She was enduring with her mental strength.
This request might be her last request before death.
But Dwener wasn’t someone who could grant such a request.
‘I am incompetent.’
A foolish man who abandoned his pride.
But for this dying child, Dwener could tell a small lie.
‘Because I’m a bad adult who abandoned my pride.’
Dwener placed the pendant around Luna’s neck and whispered.
Young girl, a girl with high pride. From now on.
“Leave it to the 18th principal, Dwener.”
Finally, Luna’s head tilted to the side. She had lost consciousness.
She wasn’t dead. But her life was hanging by a thread.
“Luna!”
Victoria ran frantically towards Luna. Dwener, holding his spear, passed by her.
Step by step.
As Dwener walked forward, he fell into thought.
Suddenly, memories from after he became principal resurfaced.
Though he was an appointed principal to keep the Emperor’s faction away, Dwener tried to be a good principal.
He tried to make a good academy, made various adjustments, and prepared means to prevent exam leaks.
— The principal should remain steady. Just stay still. Your role is sufficient as it is.
A letter from Duke Aziz. Dwener realized then.
That he had no role here either.
‘…A puppet, huh.’
He knew, but he never imagined being told to stay still.
The end of one who abandoned pride. It was fair to see it that way.
After all, it was strange to appoint an incompetent person like him as the principal of Annwood Academy.
‘Being incompetent. That was also one of the reasons I was appointed.’
Yes. Dwener knew he was incompetent.
No matter how incompetent, he wasn’t so incompetent that he didn’t realize he was incompetent.
The reason he praised himself as competent?
‘Like a matchstick self-esteem.’
It was an act to save it.
A life without any assigned role.
So perhaps. Dwener was in a precarious state like a candle about to go out.
Praising himself as competent was a struggle.
‘Because without it… I felt I would collapse.’
After that, Dwener was essentially imprisoned in the academy.
With nothing to do, he wandered the academy, killing time.
He planned to endure for two years, then find another job after gaining experience.
One day, about two weeks after the freshmen entered.
“Keke, good day!”
A lost student found his pond.
–TL Notes–
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