085

Qantaii was a soldier on the run after killing his superior.

Somehow, he got caught in Goldline's network and ended up here.

That was already half a year ago.

'Normally, the rumor wouldn't have spread, but……'

Among the new students who entered this first semester, there were too many from the Empire.

And in the case of Class A, it had left a strong impression on those students from the Empire.

After all, they had showcased excellent strategies against the Harpy Queen flock and took second place in the inter-class competition.

When they returned home for vacation, they would have told their parents about the teacher they met, and in the process, they might have naturally talked about their teacher.

“I'm just asking in case, but Qantaii isn't your real name, is it?”

“That is correct. I am revealing this now, but Qantaii is a pseudonym.”

I thought so.

“You must have disguised yourself, too. That mustache, for example.”

At my指摘, Qantaii flinched and looked at me.

“Wh-wh-wh-what are you talking about?”

“Am I wrong?”

“……You are correct.”

That awkwardly floating mustache.

At first, I just thought the mustache was strange, but the more I looked at it, the more peculiar it was.

It didn't grow longer, nor did it grow shorter.

Its appearance was constant, and it remained neat even in various combat situations.

It was hard to believe that Qantaii was so obsessed with grooming his mustache with such concentration.

If so, there was only one answer.

That mustache was fake.

Qantaii looked at me with trembling eyes, as if he never expected his disguise to be discovered.

“But why are you coming to me to ask about this?”

A sudden question arose, and when I asked, Qantaii looked around.

It was a movement as if he was checking for surveillance.

Could the Empire have sent someone already?

“C-can we go inside and talk for a moment?”

Qantaii, who had entered the dormitory, looked at the interior and couldn't close his mouth.

“I heard the advisor had pushed for you excessively, but…… truly.”

Built-in bookshelves furnished to the level of a small library, a cozy and spacious room.

I still couldn't get used to it every time I saw it.

“So. What did you want to say?”

“……You are also avoiding the Empire, are you not, senior?”

“Me? I am?”

I have never served in the military, nor have I ever killed a superior officer.

When I sent him a look of confusion, Qantaii made a face as if he knew everything.

No, he made that face for a moment, then it changed to a 'could it be?' expression, and then to an 'ah!' expression.

“Senior, do you perhaps not know that the Empire is looking for you?”

“They're looking for me?”

It was the first I had heard of it.

“Ahem…… do you still remember where you were planning to go, senior?”

How could I not?

The place I was planning to go was the Duchy of Crownhardt.

[Wherever the Empire's territory expands, there will be Crownhardt.]

The vanguard in all of the Empire's wars, and the strategic brain that handles all fronts, large and small.

That was the Duchy of Crownhardt.

A man who held the title of Duke, yet was on the front lines instead of in the center of politics.

A sword whose loyalty to the Emperor was unquestioned, to the point of holding supreme command of the army.

Besides that, it was a family with many legends and dignities.

“I applied to be an administrator there.”

“The Duchy of Crownhardt has always been short of civil officials. Do you know why?”

“Because they always die in war.”

To military officials, being on the front lines might be a source of fame.

But to civil officials, the Crownhardt space was a place where it wouldn't be strange to die a violent death at any moment.

There were only two types of civil officials who went there.

One. Those who were confident in their own martial prowess and sought to achieve merit.

Or those who had nowhere else to go because of external enemies.

'I was the second reason.'

For some reason, because of a few things I did in my youthful indiscretion, the Duchy of Defnos had completely blocked my path to employment.

My record-breaking grades of top admission and top graduation from the Imperial Royal Academy were meaningless.

Barons, viscounts, marquises, counts… all of them rejected my resume.

It was a stark contrast to the messengers from noble families who came to visit my friends who were about to graduate.

So I deliberately sent a carrier pigeon to the Duchy of Crownhardt.

Crownhardt welcomed with open arms the top student who was willing to go to the front lines where no one else would go.

It wasn't just because they had gained a good talent.

Crownhardt and Defnos were political rivals.

And I had given Crownhardt a sword to stab Defnos with.

My very existence.

One or two illegitimate children might not be a flaw for a noble, but a flaw could be created.

“But you never took the appointment in the end, senior.”

“Yes. I've explained the reason for that before.”

“Then do you know that the Duchy of Defnos and the Duchy of Crownhardt have been looking for you since then?”

Me?

It was the first time I had heard of it.

“Why me?”

“I do not know for certain. But I, too, served in the military, did I not? I overheard it when my superior was talking to a knight from Crownhardt.”

That's a bit of a serious story.

I think I know why the Duchy of Defnos is looking for me.

The guy who had been making a fuss about being an illegitimate child had disappeared overnight, so they probably wanted to track him down.

But the case of the Duchy of Crownhardt was a completely different story.

They had no reason to look for me.

'There's no way they would have looked for me just because I didn't take the appointment.'

I found out later through investigation that many administrators like me had died in attacks by bandits during their appointment.

That's why I decided to create a manual that not only swordsmen could use, but that anyone could read and learn the sword from.

Because I didn't want to create more people like me.

“……I understand why you think that, but I'm not really hiding or anything. I just didn't know they were looking for me.”

“Is, is that so.”

At my words, Qantaii looked genuinely disappointed.

“I thought you would be able to solve something, senior. Since you have solved most of the problems that have occurred at Akarind Academy so well.”

He wasn't wrong.

But the conditions were different.

“As you said, those were all internal matters of Akarind Academy. The story of being repatriated to the Empire is a matter outside the academy. It's a story that's out of my hands.”

“I understand……. For some reason, I thought that you might be able to solve my worries, senior. There are many strange people around, as you said.”

Strange.

I sighed, unable to deny it.

Rozalin aside, there was Hati, the excellent mercenary captain who was active in the desert region, Avril, the bizarre youngest son of the Goldline Merchant Guild, Yuria with her dead eyes, and now even Ulf.

It was true that all sorts of people had gathered.

“Just wait for now. The new semester is about to start, and if you're gone, there will be no one to teach the Class A students… I'll ask around and try to find a solution for now.”

“I understand. I beg of you, please!”

But I couldn't just leave Qantaii to his fate.

At my words, Qantaii stood up from his seat with a slightly relieved expression.

At that moment, I suddenly became curious about something about Qantaii.

“How did you end up killing your superior?”

The Qantaii I had seen was the type to obey his superior's orders and do his best when he had a job to do.

If such a person had killed his superior, there must have been a reason.

“……He ordered me to massacre civilians.”

I see.

It was a common, cliché story.

When the Empire wages colonial wars, it ruthlessly exploits the natives of the occupied territories.

This was especially true in places like the Otland Islands, where Jessie was from.

Incompetent kings and greedy nobles had indiscriminately conscripted the food of their own people to wage war.

The Empire had killed the king and nobles and occupied the land, but they could not find a single grain of rice.

So they plundered the people's storehouses.

They conscripted military provisions and ruthlessly massacred the people.

When such an incident occurs once, people are replaced.

Cadets who cannot endure it drop out, and knights return to their hometowns.

And very rarely, a superior is killed.

Since it was a common occurrence, I had a good idea of what the punishment would be.

“If you get caught now, it's at least life imprisonment at hard labor, and at most, the death penalty.”

“……I could not massacre thousands of people just to save myself. Even so, all I could do was to help the natives escape for about three days……”

“You did well.”

I calmed down Qantaii, who was about to fall into self-loathing.

At my words, Qantaii opened and closed his mouth several times as if to say something, but in the end, he left the room with his head bowed and without saying a word.

The Empire, the Empire.

It was a night with many things to think about.

'In times like this, is it best to ask Avril?'

The Goldline Merchant Guild is deeply connected to the Empire's military.

That's because the Goldline Merchant Guild's main product was military supplies.

And since it was Avril who had brought Qantaii here and made him an instructor, wouldn't there be some kind of solution?

So the next morning, I went to see Avril right away.

“I have found a new instructor.”

Avril said in a cold voice.

“A new instructor?”

“You seem to have forgotten. Qantaii of Class A was a temporary instructor to fill Sordian's place anyway. He has served his one semester well, and now that a risk has arisen, it is fine to fire him and bring in a new instructor.”

I had forgotten.

Avril was soft on me, but he was ruthless to people he deemed worthless.

He was the one who had gouged out Sordian's eyes.

“But Qantaii's tactical teaching skills are quite excellent, aren't they?”

“Zelta enrolled this semester. He was a staff officer who served Rozalin. He is a talent who can create strategies beyond what is commonly known in the market, even without being taught military strategy. Qantaii's usefulness is over.”

“Usefulness, you say. Did you intend to use Qantaii only temporarily until Zelta arrived from the beginning……”

Could it be, you?

I shut my mouth and looked at Avril.

Qantaii wasn't his real name, and he had even disguised himself to hide his identity.

No matter how much he had shown off his military strategy here, there was no way the Empire's military could have identified and summoned Qantaii in just one semester.

If the Empire's intelligence was that good, they would have caught me by now.

Then there's only one answer.

Someone who knew Qantaii's identity had sold the information.

“It was you.”

Avril's hand, which had been processing documents, stopped.

He slowly raised his head.

His eyes were calmly sunken, as if I were asking the obvious.

“You sold out Qantaii.”

“I judged that it was better to hand over that information and borrow the power of the military than to keep him at the academy. That's all.”

“……You sold out a colleague who had worked hard here for a semester.”

“He uses strategy, but that's it. He is a man who will become a risk when we have to fight alongside the Empire someday. His swordsmanship skills are also poor. He hasn't even awakened his Aura, so in the current situation, he is less useful than Jessie or Sordian. Was there a need to keep him?”

I didn't say anything else.

As he had done for the past few months, Avril was a person who did what he thought was right.

Grit, my teeth clenched on their own.

Somehow, somehow I had to.

As I was thinking that and about to storm out of my seat.

“One thing.”

Avril threw out a strange proposal.

“There is a way to keep him. Can I borrow your strength to do what the army should be doing?”