A Depressed Kendo Player Possesses a Reckless Aristocrat

Founding (2)

Roughly fifteen days before the memorial service.

I was fiddling with the status window, which had returned not long ago, and going about my daily life.

Whether it was a system revamp during the time I was gone.

Some things like the controls and settings were changed.

To utilize the status window in emergencies, I had to be familiar with these aspects.

Now, there was no longer ‘that guy’ on the other side of the screen who would answer with snappy retorts.

So, I had to go through the trouble of figuring things out myself by tinkering with this and that.

“It’s annoying. Before, it would just take care of things if I said a few words…”

I was acutely aware of someone’s absence while tapping away at the blue screen, when.

I noticed something strange.

“Wait… what is this?”

The issue was in the quest section. More specifically, the contents of the ‘sub quest’.

Dazed as I read through it, I couldn’t help but mumble dumbfounded.

-Ding!

[Sub Quest: Faceless Hero]

Secretly save the academy from an attack!

※Warning※

If more than 3 people realize your identity, the quest will automatically fail.

{A portion of the Main Quest rewards will be altered.}

1. 7000p Points

2. Acquire the title ‘Devotion’

3. Acquire the title ‘Faceless Hero’

4. Acquire the skill ‘Sanctuary’

[This quest has already been completed.]

Yeah, that part was normal.

Because it was exactly as I’d last checked, right before I dove headfirst into the invasion.

The weird part, I mean, that was in a different place…

“…Why does the quest say it’s successful?”

The word ‘Achieved’ was stamped proudly right under the sub-quest section.

The achievement mark was only given when a quest was completed perfectly, fulfilling all the conditions.

It didn’t make sense.

I could understand the main quest, which had been focused simply on ‘Defending the Academy’.

But why was even the sub-quest marked as achieved?

I had clearly failed to meet the conditions.

The ‘helper’ who had saved me during the invasion, the Saintess, Alan and his group, Maharet.

My identity had been exposed to far more people than the given limit of three.

“Show me the rewards I got from the sub-quest.”

-Ding!

[Quest Rewards]

1. Points 7000p

Resources that can be used within the system.

2. Title ‘Devotion’

Possesses a noble will to care for others. When the title is activated, your physical abilities increase proportionally to the number of people standing nearby.

(Duration: 30 minutes)

3. Title ‘Faceless Hero’

The realization of good without seeking reward. You gain subtle favor from those who have been the recipients of your grace.

(Duration: Always active)

4. Skill ‘Sanctuary’

Deploys a divine barrier with a radius of 10 meters based on the skill activation point. The barrier has the effects of ‘Purification’ and ‘Regeneration’.

(Duration: 10 minutes)

“Huh…”

I had a hunch, but I let out a dry breath.

It wasn’t just the words ‘Sub-quest Achieved’ plastered on the screen.

The rewards that were supposed to be given were actually there, all of them.

What the hell happened?

Chewing over those worries, stewing alone in my thoughts, I finally couldn’t hold back the question.

“Status window. Check the sub-quests that have occurred so far, their completion, and reward processing. See if there’s anything unusual.”

– *Ting!*

[Checking.]

[Scanning…]

The screen flickered slowly.

Not long after, it regained its original blue glow.

– *Ting!*

[Everything is normal.]

The answer came back without hesitation.

Groaning again, pinching the bridge of my nose, a hypothesis suddenly struck me.

In the setting, the system’s core foundation was divine power.

At least, that’s how it was for the status window Alan used in the original work.

As it was a system personally crafted by the Goddess of Joy, it was bound to have a strong scent of the divine.

Divine power fundamentally reacts negatively to demonic energy.

Being forces that stand in opposition, they were said to cause unexpected errors if they mixed.

There were even instances of this happening in the original story.

‘Come to think of it, during the invasion… I was struggling with the demonic energy Lexus injected all over my body.’

It seemed that the two powers were clashing internally and causing a backlash.

That would explain why the status window’s screen had been strangely glitching back then.

The demonic energy caused an error in the system.

The status window, detecting the virus, entered forced hibernation for recovery.

Until then, the system was still experiencing errors, so the achievement processing wouldn’t have been completed normally.

And by the time it had finished the recovery and returned, the sub-quest’s time limit would have already expired.

Such errors piling up upon errors.

The system must have recognized that the sub-quest was ‘achieved.’

So, in short, the current situation is…

‘I cheesed the quest with a bug exploit, didn’t I?’

Of course, this was just one theory, but no other explanation was coming to mind.

It didn’t feel like the system had simply made a mistake in processing the quest either…

I had to chew on a slightly unsettling feeling.

That didn’t mean I was stupid enough to point out this error to the status window.

I figured, good is good.

If it fell into my lap, I ought to put it to use. That was the proper thing to do.

I wasn’t some leisurely fool so taken by a strange conscience that I could afford to waste time.

After going through so much trouble to fend off the invasion, it would’ve pissed me off if the quest had ended without me getting anything.

“Just perfect,”

I muttered, skimming over the screen.

There were things I’d been planning anyway, and with these, I felt like I could move forward much more easily.

*

“I’m the masked man who defended the back gate…”

After that bombshell, the memorial service had a ripple of unease spreading through it.

They were probably all shocked.

The last invasion had been a massive ordeal for everyone in the academy.

And so, the ‘masked man’ who’d shown such impressive feats at the back gate was definitely someone worth paying attention to.

Because of the nature of the memorial service, there wasn’t a huge uproar, but

everyone’s eyes held a flicker of bewilderment.

I calmly absorbed the flood of gazes and opened my mouth.

“The reason I’ve come up to this platform and revealed my identity… is to convey that the words I’m about to speak are the honest truth, without a single lie.”

My heart kept fluttering nervously, but I forced myself to speak clearly and steadily.

I couldn’t show any signs of wavering.

Right now, I had to implant the image of a ‘trustworthy person’ in them.

I put the mask back on after a long time.

My expression was unwavering, calm and hardened.

“We have been through too much.”

In fact, until a few months ago, I had tried to avoid standing before others like this.

I’d actually vowed to conceal my own power and move quietly.

The swords hanging at my waist were all sharp and dangerous.

I figured I’d be subjected to restraint from those who envied or feared them.

Whether it was ‘Grief’, the artifact with immense value, or my exceptional combat abilities, or my background as a noble, they were all things that the villains of this world would view as thorns in their side.

I was afraid.

That my future would be filled with a dark, fierce intensity.

So I tried to live as hidden as possible, holding my breath.

But now, it was different.

“In the past, we… we lost 5 students.”

They were the ones who crossed the line first.

And they will keep crossing it in the future.

In that kind of situation, to just hide and back away would only earn me the name of a cowardly weakling.

The coward was tired.

I’ve already lived fearing enough things.

Now, I wanted to stand before everyone, to protect the things I loved.

“To others’ eyes, they might be just 5 students… but to us, it’s different.”

The children who were sacrificed in the past invasion.

To someone, they were classmates they’d share silly small talk with.

To someone, they were familiar faces they’d run into a few times at the academy.

To someone, they were pupils within their own classes.

To someone, they were irreplaceable best friends.

Even if that wasn’t the case for me.

They were precious beings to someone.

“One death… one sorrow, it isn’t that simple.”

The death of a person can’t simply be represented by a number.

5 casualties.

Beyond that dry sentence, there exists immeasurable pain.

The victims’ family, friends, lovers, teachers… so many of them shed tears.

For just one person.

“As the one who participated in the back gate defense, I witnessed their deaths closer than anyone else.”

Even with my eyes closed, the scene was still vivid.

The children, brandishing their weapons, charging bravely.

“They left in vain.”

Lecus’s strike was just a single thrust of his spear.

Yet, with just that, severed heads plummeted to the floor.

Not fiercely, not dramatically, not heatedly.

They simply died in vain.

As if the thread of life could be severed this easily.

“They didn’t depart fighting like heroes. It was utterly meaningless. Like powerless livestock being hunted… they were destroyed miserably.”

My continued assessment.

Was it because the language was too blunt? Students furrowed their brows in various places.

But it couldn’t be helped.

At the very least, to not make their sacrifice futile, I had to speak out strongly.

To rouse these children steeped in peace, a stimulus was needed.

“It wasn’t sacrifice, it was a dog’s death.”

The students were now glaring at me with widened eyes.

As if they couldn’t believe it.

Staring this way with blazing anger.

Yes, this is what I wanted.

You all had no right to wallow in sorrow.

“What drove them to their deaths was…”

I raised my hand.

And with a sharply pointed index finger, I pointed at the students in front of me.

“It is you all.”

A rebuke aimed at the students.

Everyone seemed bewildered by the utterly unexpected words.

I, as if boldly countering the focusing gazes, spoke chillingly with a flash in my eyes.

“They stood there to protect you all.”

They rushed in without a hint of hesitation.

As if it were simply what had to be done.

They stood against the monsters and, what could have been a volatile battlefield atmosphere with just me, stabilized it.

“So, what were *you* doing?”

I asked.

What were you doing, I ask you.

While your classmate was risking his life to defend the academy, what were you doing, I ask you.

“Were you shamefully running with your tails between your legs? Or were you just screaming?”

As if struck by the truth, the students lowered their heads.

“The reason they had to be sacrificed is simple.”

I loaded my voice with emotion, pushing the deflated students.

It was fury and contempt.

“It’s because you were weak. That’s why you couldn’t protect them.”

It was a greatly distorted sophism.

Yet, in a way, it was the correct thing to say.

If only the students had all been strong, the tragedy of having victims wouldn’t have occurred.

“Aren’t you ashamed? By the fact that you couldn’t protect anything? If you had been stronger, had been bold enough to protect everyone, maybe these people could have lived.”

This was also a statement I made to myself.

If I had been a little stronger.

If I had noticed a little earlier.

If I had acted a little faster.

Maybe the situation of burying five kids today wouldn’t have happened.

We had to feel the guilt.

For not being able to protect them.

For not being strong enough ourselves.

-……

The students who had been restless at first were now quiet.

They must have grasped the meaning within my words.

That losing something.

Is the same as not being strong enough to protect it.

You are robbed because you are weak.

“I have stood in this spot today to change.”

I will no longer think about hiding.

If the cruel world does not intend to leave me alone.

I would gladly take up the sword and face it with a confident stride.

If stomped on 100 times, I will shake it off 101.

If broken 100 times, I will bloom anew 101.

With such resolve, I will stand against the surging waves, a breakwater never to crumble again.

-I’m sick of this helplessness… Now, I want to be the one who protects, not the one being protected.

-I want to be like my master.

-I will inherit the will of the guardian.

There wasn’t a shred of falsehood in that vow.

I wanted to become a fence.

A presence that could provide a cozy haven to those weak and trembling with fear.

Like my mother, my master, Rachel.

Like those who supported me through those difficult times.

I yearn for the memory of being saved, lean on it, and move forward.

“Numerous dangers will come to the Academy… no, to the Empire.”

This is the moment I take my first step.

Here, I declare what I aim for.

“I will protect what I love from that darkness.”

So my speech could ignite the children more.

So this tiny spark could ride the wind, reach your vast forest.

So the blaze that spreads could consume us.

So no winter night would be cold again, but illuminated by a burning heat.

“I plan to gather people who share this vision.”

I needed people I could trust.

More accurately, I needed a force capable of facing the ceaseless onslaught of enemies.

I was thinking of creating a ‘group’.

A group that could become a practical axis, like the student council or prefects, protecting the academy.

In preparation for that, I met with Grandmaster.

Ariel, Lucy, Maharet, and other talented people were standing by my side.

“If the flame you hold is the same as the ideal I pursue… follow me.”

I proclaimed calmly.

“Our name is Sentinel.”

The watchers, the Sentinels.

A name given with the meaning of always being vigilant against danger, protecting the weak.

“We are the guardians watching over the academy.”