The Regressed Son of a Duke is an Assassin

Twenty members of the academy had come to Nodeli.

Among them, six who had participated in the ruins exploration were not from Kaeram Academy but were magicians belonging to Auram Academy, who had aimed to kidnap Luna.

Including Caron Rains, the person in charge, four of those I had killed without leaving a trace.

That means there are still two academy members who had left the ruins earlier and caused trouble.

Did they act first out of fear their identities would be discovered?

It’s likely that the two who fled first weren’t the only ones.

There must still be Auram Academy members hidden in the village.

Now that they’ve shown their hidden fangs, they won’t leave this village quietly.

“Did you know about Caron’s true identity?” Luna asked me as we hurried towards the village.

“Weren’t they from an academy opposed to yours?”

“That’s right. To confess, I’ve known for quite some time. Despite knowing, I’ve kept silent within the academy.”

“Why is that?”

“Back then, I didn’t care what happened to the academy, I was truly without any will of my own. I thought it was none of my business and didn’t even look their way.”

Does that mean she now harbors a different sentiment?

“I never trusted anyone while I was at the academy. Especially not Caron. He tried to indoctrinate me more than once, claiming that magic was a privilege only for those with talent. Each time, it made me so sick I could vomit…”

“What about your grandfather? Did he just watch these scoundrels run rampant in the country?”

“He dismissed their futile struggles as the floundering of those ignorant of the truth. Only after my recent kidnapping did his attitude change. If this situation spreads to the academy…”

“If it spreads?”

“I guess about half of them might get their heads chopped off.”

She said it eerily, with a flicker in her eyes, though plainly.

Whether their heads get chopped off or something else, it’s none of my business, but I don’t like the situation escalating any further.

It seems we’ve already strayed from our initial goal of a quiet visit.

“There’s someone ahead!”

Luna, running in front, shouted as she saw someone ahead.

A man in a blue robe was collapsed in the middle of the sand-swept road, unmistakably a magician from Garam Academy.

“Hey! Wake up!”

The academy member barely lifted his head to meet Luna’s gaze.

“Luna? You’re safe. Thank goodness…”

Though he smiled as if he had found a savior, he seemed too badly injured to be saved.

“The Auram Academy members were hiding among us… This place is dangerous. You must evacuate quickly…”

“Don’t speak! Hurry, ‘Heal’…!”

She attempted to cast a healing spell hastily to treat him, but after only a moment,

-Thump

The academy member struggled to lower his head and eventually breathed his last.

“……”

She was not weak enough to cling to the dead.

Calmly closing his eyes, she immediately stood up and with a hardened gaze said,

“I never dreamed I would feel this way.”

In life, there is a clear difference between living with a goal and without one.

To have no goal means to have no reason to live in this world.

Then, no matter what happens around, one simply does not care, becoming naturally indifferent to everything.

That was exactly how she seemed when I first saw her in the royal capital.

But not anymore.

In Luna’s eyes now, I could see various emotions that were not there before.

Among them, the most prominent was,

Anger.

The anger towards the Auram Academy, which caused the current situation.

This feels like things are going to escalate…

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The unease soon became reality.

With a loud noise, a sandstorm was rising from the center of the village.

It was clear that it was Set’s power, who had run to the village ahead of us.

Is that guy planning to destroy the whole village?

“Let’s hurry, senior!”

Following her, we entered the village.

For the time being, there were no people on the streets.

However, through the windows of houses, anxious gazes could be felt here and there.

Most seemed to have gone inside and locked their doors, waiting for the situation to pass.

After a while, we arrived at the center of the village.

The first thing that caught my eye was Set, emitting a murderous aura with his eyes fiercely narrowed, in the middle of the sandstorm.

Beside him, three academy members were barely maintaining a barrier with exhausted faces,

On the other side, many mages wearing the same robes but clearly not on the same side, were present.

At a rough guess, there were more than twenty of them.

That meant most of them were not originally from the village.

Their gazes all turned towards us.

“Luna?”

The academy members maintaining the barrier exclaimed in relief upon seeing Luna.

“What? Why are they?”

On the other hand, the opposite mages were full of surprise and questions.

“Could it be Caron?”

The leader was nowhere to be seen, and they seemed quite flustered by our appearance in good condition.

“Don’t get distracted, you bastards!”

Regardless, our angered prince was intensifying his power, ready to sweep everything away at any moment.

It hasn’t been long since he woke up from an absolute coma, yet he has already recovered so much strength. If he were to go berserk, the entire village could be blown away without a trace… It’s no wonder the villagers were worried.

“How dare you cause trouble in the village while I was away? If you have any gods you believe in, pray to them briefly, for you will all die by my hands today!”

Set roared like a wild beast and charged at the magicians.

“The grace of the holy light will protect me!”

-Thud!

At that, some of the magicians immediately manifested mana to create a wall of resistance.

Blocked suddenly, Set shouted in derision, “This pathetic wall, with my fist…!”

Just as he was about to smash the wall with his fist,

“Cough!”

He suddenly coughed up blood alarmingly and collapsed on the spot, his legs giving out.

“Argh!”

He tried to get up quickly, but his body no longer moved according to his will due to overexerting his strength so soon after waking from the coma.

“Judgment of Thunder!”

Seizing the moment, the magicians cast an attack spell.

-Crack

The thunder caused a loud noise and a big shockwave, but it didn’t reach the foolish prince.

In front of Set, another wall appeared, showing a flawless white surface without a single crack.

“That was close.”

Luna let out a sigh of relief and strengthened the wall.

Her intervention caused the expressions of some magicians to change noticeably.

With an indifferent look, Luna asked them, “In the name of Luna Rainriver, members of the Auram Academy, why have you come here?”

The red-haired magician in front responded, “What happened to Caron, who was supposed to be your protection?”

He answered with another question instead

“He’s dead.”

Her reply was instant, without a hint of hesitation.

“You jest too much. That man isn’t someone to die so easily…”

“Do I look so frivolous to you that I would make such a senseless joke in this situation?”

Taken aback by her unexpected boldness, he swallowed hard.

“If you follow us quietly, no major incidents will occur.”

Changing tactics, he revealed their true purpose, attempting to persuade her.

“Don’t listen to them, Luna! Come this way…”

Then, magicians from another direction urgently protested.

However, judging by their state, heading their way didn’t seem likely to resolve the situation favorably.

“Are you confident you can handle this? Now that the Auram Academy has openly shown its fangs, we won’t just stand by and watch.”

“That’s not important. What’s important to us is only Luna. We are here to rescue you from the ignorant pit known as the Garam Academy.”

Hearing such blatantly obvious rhetoric was becoming tiresome.

Deciding to see how the situation would unfold, I naturally moved closer behind her.

“There, the boy behind you is none other than Cyan Vert!”

At that, a mage with a relatively familiar face pointed at me and declared.

At his words, dozens of eyes that had been on Luna suddenly turned towards me in unison.

“Cyan Vert?”

The surprise on their faces was comical, their eyes wide open like startled fish.

It must have been incomprehensible to them.

Why I, who should be holed up in the Academy, was here with Luna.

“Let me make a proposal.”

Just as silence was about to fall, she spoke up again.

“Drop all plans and leave this village quietly, as if nothing happened.”

“…?”

The moment her mouth closed, honestly, the eyes of everyone around us went wide, mine included.

What is this junior of mine talking about?

“Luna, that’s a foolish thing to say. What will you do if we don’t back down?”

“You’ll die. All of you… including myself…….”

As she spoke, she formed a mana sphere in her hand.

The sphere gradually sharpened into a form, soon shaping into something resembling a dagger.

Just as I wondered what she intended to do with it.

-Thunk

“…!”

The sound of the blade piercing flesh rang out clearly.

She had stabbed her own neck.

It was not deep, merely a scratch as if pricked by a needle, but the blood that flowed from the wound suggested it wasn’t merely for show.

“Luna!”

“What, what are you doing?”

The academy members exclaimed in shock, but she continued with an unfazed expression.

“You only want me, but I have no intention of going with you. If I’m gone, there would be no reason for you to stay here. And if I die, my grandfather will certainly not stand by idly.”

Was she using her life as a bargaining chip?

Others might scoff at such posturing, but not her. She was seriously contemplating it.

It’s not like I’m unfamiliar with such situations, but she really does surprise me time and again.

“Put it down.”

Unable to watch any longer, I grabbed her wrist and pulled it down.

“This is my issue. Don’t worry about it, senior.”

“That’s not it. It seems unnecessary, that’s all.”

“Excuse me?”

It seems we’ve been discovered.

That I’m not in the Academy, but in some random place.

-Swish

The familiar presence carried by the rough sandstorm.

Though expected, the allies who were rushing towards us were not particularly welcomed by me.

(To be continued)