The Sword Demon Tears People Apart

On the day of the academy’s opening.
Zeron rolled off the bed onto the floor, and without even thinking of lifting his heavy eyelids, he somehow crawled to the bathroom and washed himself.
After washing, he felt a bit more capable of moving.
He put on clothes, hung a sword at his waist, and after a moment’s hesitation, drank just one glass of alcohol.
“Phew…”
Spring.
Hazy cigarette smoke spreads in the still cool air.
Leaning against the window frame, Zeron looked down at the busy scene outside and fell into thought.
The recent dreams were too unsettling to dismiss as mere nightmares.
The bandits’ ambush that happened in the exact same place as the dream he had this time.
If he hadn’t gone to pick up the kid, would he have encountered the same scene as in the dream?
Tsk-, he clicked his tongue and stubbed out the cigarette butt.
It might be meaningless speculation, but it wasn’t something to be taken lightly.
The intuition of a strong person like Zeron is never unfounded.
A fairly reliable guess that hits the mark about two out of three times.
Suddenly, he recalled the dream he had before coming to the academy.
What was that?
Who was the woman crying in front of me?
Who was killing me?
All sorts of thoughts tangled in his head.
“Well… it’ll work out somehow.”
After pondering, Zeron just shrugged it off.
There’s no point in thinking about it now.
Even if he were to die… he didn’t have many regrets.
No, maybe it would be a bit regrettable to die without seeing the daughter who resembled him?
Grinning, he tossed the cigarette butt into the ashtray and started walking.
The opening ceremony was not far off.
It seemed he was a bit late from organizing his thoughts, so he should hurry.
*
Zeron sauntered towards the magic department building.
Entering the main hall, students were already in a fluster, showing signs of nervousness.
Rolling his eyes to scan the students, he spotted a noticeable red hair in the distance.
Had she already made a friend?
The kid was chattering away with some girl.
Ah, their eyes met.
After staring for a moment, the kid stuck out her tongue.
Still a rude kid.
He casually raised his middle finger as he headed towards the stage.
“Oh my, are you the new lecturer I’ve heard about?”
An unfamiliar woman approached him.
Whore-like pink hair and eyes of the same color.
Despite being only about chest-high, her breasts were so large they’d be hard to grasp with one hand.
“Yes, and you are?”
“I’m Iris, the homeroom teacher for the swordsmanship department. Iris de Polwhyan.”
She extended her hand, so he shook it.
Overall soft, but with calluses here and there.
He was surprised by how unexpectedly well-trained her hand was.
“I’m Zeron.”
“Yes, nice to meet you. By the way, I saw your lecture plan… are you serious?”
“Hm?”
What did I write in the lecture plan again?
I think I just wrote something carelessly because it was bothersome.
After thinking for a moment, he vaguely remembered.
Probably… something about teaching the basics first since none of them would have proper foundations.
There’s nothing strange about that content, is there?
“I’m serious, is there a problem?”
“The students will strongly object. There might even be complaints from parents.”
Zeron laughed as if finding it absurd and casually sat down on a chair.
Who cares if they object or complain?
What are they going to do about it?
“Well, if I think their basics are good enough, I can teach something else. Though I doubt that’ll happen.”
“Hmm…”
Iris’s eyes narrowed strangely.
She soon smiled brightly and sat down in front of Zeron.
“Alright then. Let’s do our best for the year.”
*
The academy’s opening ceremony wasn’t much to speak of.
The cold-looking middle-aged man who served as both the dean of the magic department and the overall dean just droned on and on.
About the Kingdom of Zepheron, about Zepheron Academy, about the boundless grace of His Majesty the King who is the school’s principal.
As is typical of such moralizing speeches, it was a boring lecture devoid of any nutrition.
“Yawn…”
Zeron yawned as he scanned the heads of students packed tightly like bean sprouts.
Red… red…
Ah, there she is.
The kid was listening intently to the dean’s speech with her eyes wide open.
Listening so diligently to that won’t be of any use.

Next came the introduction of the faculty, and when it was Zeron’s turn, he stood up and pondered for a moment.
He didn’t have anything particular to say.
He didn’t even understand why they were doing this in the first place.
“Um… I’m Zeron, a term lecturer. Combat department students might see me again. That’s all.”
As he quickly sat down, bewildered gazes rained down on him.
What more did they want him to do here?
The lecture descriptions would have been written when they signed up for courses anyway.
While the students were hesitating whether to applaud or not, a small clapping sound rang out from somewhere.
Clap clap clap, a cute applause.
It was the kid who had been glaring at Zeron with dissatisfied eyes.
Taking that as a signal, mechanical applause followed.
Having safely passed his turn, Zeron felt a sting on the back of his head and glanced around.
The professors were glaring at him with displeased eyes.
Well, that’s to be expected.
While term lecturers might be different, most professors were nobles.
They wouldn’t look kindly on a mere commoner like Zeron acting arrogantly.
If anything, that Iris woman smiling brightly was the strange one.
Well, it wasn’t particularly his business.
*
The academy’s classes begin immediately after the opening ceremony.
Many students couldn’t help but sigh, but rules are rules.
The students were divided into the swordsmanship department, magic department, and academic department, and headed to their respective buildings, then sat down in their assigned classrooms.
Medea was in Class A of the swordsmanship department.
Despite being named Medea after the great sorceress, her magical talent converged to zero.
From the start, although it was called the swordsmanship department, it was actually closer to a combat department.
Sword, spear, axe, whip, gun, etc.
Whatever was close to combat, all those subjects belonged to the swordsmanship department.
For reference, since all three departments dealt with guns to some extent, related classes were separated as general education, but that was fine.
“Hey, did you see that lecturer earlier? Wasn’t he just dozing off?”
“Ah, that Zeron guy? I saw. Pfft, he’s a commoner, I wonder if he has the skills to teach anyone.”
Medea sat in the front row, trying hard to ignore the conversations coming from behind.
These people who don’t know anything.
Of course, he probably was really dozing off, and I’m not sure if he has the skills to teach… but still, uncle was a good person in his own way.
Anyway, that’s how it was.
As she was pouting and mumbling her lips for no reason, someone approached her.
“Ah, we meet again? It was Medea, right?”
“Flone. You’re in Class A too?”
“Hehe, I got lucky and did well on the entrance exam. Anyway, nice to meet you!”

While chatting with Flone for a while, someone opened the door and came in.
It was a beautiful woman with noticeable pink hair.
“Hello everyone! I’m Iris de Polwhyan, who will be the homeroom teacher for 1st year Class A this time!”
She was an energetic homeroom teacher.
She chattered away so well that before Medea knew it, 30 minutes had quickly passed.
“Oh my, time has flown by already. Well then everyone, you’ve all signed up for courses in advance, right? From now on, just go to the places listed in the notice and attend your classes! So everyone, let’s do our best for the year!”
Cheers mixed with half goodwill and half bewilderment poured out towards Iris, who was demanding applause and cheers with her arms wide open.
Medea also grinned and clapped before gathering her things.
Now it’s the second period… practical swordsmanship, a general education class.
I should go to the training ground behind the swordsmanship department building.
The lecturer is… Zeron.
It’s uncle.
*
Zeron walked sluggishly with a frown on his face.
He had closed his eyes for a moment during his spare time, and sure enough, he had that fucking awful dream again.
A dream where the sky split open and all sorts of horrible monsters came pouring out.
Many people died.
He had been saying it’s the end of the world without much meaning, but is the world really going to end?
Maybe it really is just a stupid dream.
“Oh.”
Arriving at the training ground and looking around roughly, the facilities were quite good.
First of all, it’s spacious.
And there were both indoor and outdoor training grounds.
He didn’t want to have classes while getting rained on, so this was good.
He nodded with satisfaction and headed towards where the students were gathered.
Let’s see…
A total of five students?
A lecturer they’ve never met before and with no accumulated data.
It was rather surprising that there were as many as five people.
Maybe they just put this in because they failed to register for other courses.
Anyway, fewer students meant it would be easier for Zeron, so it was fortunate for him.
“Oh, what’s this. The kid’s here too.”
“…Don’t act like you know me during class time.”
The kid lowered her head, seemingly embarrassed about something.
He thought about vigorously patting her head to see her reaction but decided against it.
She might get upset for no reason.
“Let’s see…”
The student composition… first, one kid.
One annoying-looking girl who kept grinning.
One guy with dead-looking eyes.
One empty-headed looking guy laughing boisterously.
And… one gloomy-looking kid.
Two girls and three boys, huh.
Not bad.
It doesn’t really matter anyway since they’re all just kids, even the girls.
“Right, class. We should have class.”
Zeron first unfolded the folding chair he had picked up on the way.
Then he sat on it, almost lying down, staring blankly at the sky before putting a cigarette in his mouth and speaking in a voice filled with obvious annoyance.
“First… let’s do 1000 vertical cuts.”
*
Zeron…
Dark emotions rippled in the regressor’s eyes.
Out of the past 13 lives, Zeron had directly slaughtered most of humanity 4 times.
4 times confirmed before his own death, so in reality, it was probably more than that.
Of course, his combat prowess was outstanding enough to be quite helpful in the future battle against the Void.
But that was all.
Even after victory in the war against the Void, Zeron was like a bomb that could go off at any time.
In fact, in the 12th life, they successfully eliminated the Void.
But later, when Medea was assassinated and David committed suicide due to the shock, Zeron turned to the dark side.
Humanity was annihilated.
Even if Medea hadn’t been assassinated, it would have happened eventually.
Zeron’s turn to the dark side can be considered inevitable.
In other words, there are two conditions for a peaceful life.
First, eradicate all Voids.
Second, eliminate Zeron.
However, quickly eliminating Zeron is not easy.
The number of times he failed to eliminate him was 4.
The number of times he was killed by him was 10.
He had long given up on eliminating the guy through direct force.
The guy is a monster.
Of course, he has one clear weakness… but he’s a crazy bastard who overcomes even that through sheer tenacity.
Yet his mental state is surprisingly fragile, making him turn evil at the slightest provocation, like some simpleton.
If he were to accept the power of the void… there would be no future to speak of.
The regressor’s eyes gleamed.
A red energy rippled between his irises.
This time… for a happy ending.
The regressor resolved.
It was a blood-red resolution.