Chapter 234


    [Trantor – Kie]


    [Proofreader – Kawaii]


    —————–


    Chapter:234 The Unbreakable (2)


    ***


    “They disappeared from outside?”


    Jake nodded in confirmation.


    “Yes, and it’s not just near the academy. Students who returned to their homes for vacation or family reasons have also disappeared.”


    This exined why the academy was so quiet. It wasn’t something that happened at the academy.


    “Do you think it’s ’s doing?”


    Jake asked Damien. Damien fell into thought for a moment.


    In Salik’s memory,  was inside the academy.


    Of course, that didn’t mean she couldn’t have kidnapped the students who went to their homes. She could have just ordered her subordinates to do it.


    But it couldn’t be determined for sure that it was ’s doing. The students could have disappeared for different reasons.


    “How many students are missing in total? Do you know who’s missing?”


    “I haven’t been able to investigate everything. I’ll just tell you about the students I heard about… there were eight in total.”


    It was more than he had thought.


    “They were all of noble birth. Count Philip, Viscount der, Viscount Wools, and…”


    Jake mentioned the students’ families one by one.


    Damien tilted his head at each family name. He had heard them somewhere before. But the memory didn’te back to him right away.


    “Ah, the families I mentioned are all famous families in the empire. They are all families with special bloodlines.”


    Damien’s eyes shed at the word ‘special bloodlines’.


    There are cases where mysterious abilities are passed down through generations.


    For example, the ability to convert mana into a special attribute, or the ability to move faster by absorbing mana into the body.


    Such families were said to have ‘special bloodlines’.


    ‘I see why ites to mind. I heard that  was once devoted to research on special bloodlines.’


    The reason  was one of the strongest giant evils was thanks to the countless researches she had conducted.


    And one of the researches  had done was on special bloodlines.


    She studied families with special bloodlines and tried to make their power her own.


    ‘I wondered why  was hiding in the academy. It was to study bloodlines.’


    All the nobles of the empire gathered at the academy. Nobles from families with special bloodlines were no exception.


    The academy was the perfect ce for  to study special bloodlines.


    ‘Even people from the same family have different levels of bloodline. She probably found students with strong bloodlines and had her subordinates kidnap them.’


    In that case, there was a high probability that  was disguised as someone who could meet the students directly.


    ‘Then I have to exclude all the staff.’


    The staff had no asion to meet the students as they carried out their academy duties.


    ‘Instructors should also be excluded.’


    Different instructors taught different grades for the same subject. It didn’t fit ’s purpose.


    “I would like you to investigate the missing students in more detail.”


    “What kind of things should I focus on investigating?”


    “Who they met before they disappeared. Who they were close to on a regr basis. Investigate their rtionships.”


    “I understand!”


    Jake nodded and said.


    ***


    Just before dawn, the students of ss 13 gathered in the lobby of the dormitory.


    All the students of the academy used the same building. So it was not difficult for ss 13 to gather in one ce.


    “Everyone, follow me.”


    “Oliver, are you sure about this?”


    “Just trust me.”


    Oliver led the students with a confident expression.


    Oliver then led the students to a wall in a corner of the lobby.


    “Just wait a minute.”


    Oliver took out an old piece of paper from his pocket.


    “Didn’t I tell you I found this in the library? If you tap the wall ording to what’s written on this paper…”


    “I get it, so hurry up and open the door!”


    “Who are you trying to act cool for?”


    The students’ protests rained down. Oliver immediately became discouraged.


    “Okay… I’ll be quiet…”


    Oliver tapped a few bricks with his fingers. Then, with a scraping sound of stones, the wall rose up.


    “Wow, wow…”


    “There was really a passageway?”


    The students all reacted with wonder. Oliver became cocky again.


    “But… is this all open?”


    “The door size is… a bit small, isn’t it?”


    The hole that appeared as the wall rose was very small. It seemed like they would barely be able to pass through by crawling.


    “Do we really have to go through here?”


    A male student asked with a trembling face. Penelope then spoke to the male student.


    “If you don’t like it, you can stay here and train.”


    “Th, that’s a bit…”


    “Anyone else have aint?”


    The entire ss 13 shook their heads vigorously.


    “Then let’s go in. Oliver, since you’re the experienced one, go first.”


    Oliver crawled into the passageway first. The other students followed behind him. Penelope went inst.


    As soon as Penelope went in, the wall came down again and the door closed. The students were suddenly startled as the passageway became dark.


    “Wh, what? The door closed?”


    “Is, is this okay?”


    “Don’t worry, everyone. I went through thisst time. There was no problem.”


    It was only then that the students were able to regain theirposure thanks to Oliver’s words.


    “Then let’s move out.”


    Oliver crawled slowly through the passageway. The other students followed Oliver.


    After crawling for quite a while, the students of ss 13 were finally able to reach the exit.


    Oliver took out the paper again. And he tapped the bricks as written on the paper.


    The wall rose up and a bright light poured in. Oliver and the students’ faces brightened.


    “Finally out!”


    “Liberation!”


    “Damien Haksen! You fucking bastard! We’re leaving!”


    Oliver poked his head out of the passageway and giggled.


    Then, he saw Damien standing blocking the exit.


    “…”


    Oliver froze immediately. Since Oliver was not moving, the students behind him could not go out either.


    “Hey! Oliver! Why aren’t youing out!”


    “Move! I’m suffocating!”


    Oliver broke out in a cold sweat. Damien pointed to the side with his finger at Oliver. It meant to move out of the way.


    Oliver stood coldly at the ce Damien had pointed to. As soon as he did, the student behind him poked his head out as if he had been waiting.


    “Damn it, what are you doing standing there…”


    As soon as the second student saw Damien, he froze stiff. The second student trembled all over.


    “Da, dada, dadadadam…”


    Damien mercilessly struck the second student’s head with his club.


    Bonk!


    “Kweeek!”


    With a strange scream, the male student copsed limply. Then the male student right behind himined.


    “Why are you standing still? Hurry up and get him out!”


    Damien gave Oliver a wink. Oliver then coldly dragged the unconscious male student out of the passageway andid him on the floor.


    As the students came out, Damien swung his club and Oliver diligently pushed the students aside.


    “Phew, I thought I was going to suffocate.”


    Finally, Penelope came out. And she met eyes with Damien.


    “…”


    Too surprised, Penelope couldn’t get the words out properly.


    Damien ignored Penelope and asked Oliver.


    “Is she thest one?”


    “Y, yes, she is.”


    As soon as he got the answer, Damien swung his club down.


    Bonk!


    Penelope lost consciousness with a pain that felt like her head was splitting open.


    ***


    After a while, the students all regained consciousness.


    “I’m so disappointed in you all.”


    Damien gathered the students in one ce and started lecturing them.


    “I clearly told you yesterday that if you ran away from training, I would show you hell… but you can’t evenst a day and you’re doing this?”


    Damien clicked his tongue and shook his head vigorously.


    “I wonder why this happened. I thought about it seriously for a while. The only conclusion I coulde to was…”


    Damien held out his club in front of the students. The students backed away in fear. But he didn’t hit the students with the club.


    “This was the problem.”


    The students all looked bewildered at the meaningless words.


    “If you try to rule people with violence, there’s bound to be bacsh.”


    The students couldn’t help but be confused by his words. He had beaten them up like that, and now he was ming violence?


    “The more you bury a seed, the more determined its roots be to find the sun. That’s the human heart. I didn’t understand your hearts. I apologize.”


    But the students’ hearts changed with the next words. A sincere apology moved the students’ hearts.


    “Um… teacher… that’s…”


    “We… that…”


    The students opened their mouths hesitantly. They didn’t know what to say to apologize.


    “No, don’t say anything. I already realized it. What you need is…”


    Damien raised his club high as the morning sun began to rise in the sky, creating an ovep between the sun and the club.


    “I needed more violence.”


    In an instant, the students doubted their ears.


    “Half-hearted violence will achieve nothing. It will neither subdue you nor save me from looking foolish.”


    [PR/N- If violence doesn’t solve all your problems, you’re not using enough of it.]


    A chilling gleam shone from Damien’s eyes. The students swallowed dryly.


    “T-Teacher…? We, we never looked down on you, n-never.”


    “If that were true, you wouldn’t have tried to escape like this. I clearly warned you yesterday that I wouldn’t let you go if you skipped training and ran away.”


    Damien tapped his club on his hand as he spoke.


    “Let’s start by hitting you a bit to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”


    The students’ faces turned pale.


    The time when the darkness that covered the sky receded.


    Bonk! Bonk! Bonk! Bonk!


    On one side of the academy, the sound of clubs being swung could be heard incessantly.


    ***


    After beating the students for a while, Damien dragged them to the training ground.


    “Start running.”


    As soon as they arrived at the training ground, Damien made the students of ss 13 run just like yesterday.


    “The ten who fall behind will die by my hand.”


    However, the only difference from yesterday was that the punishment was more severe. The students of ss 13 had no choice but to run for their lives to avoid Damien’s club.


    “T, teacher! M, master! I think I’m going to die! No, I think I’m already half dead!”


    “Don’t talk nonsense and get up.”


    It was no use copsing even if they couldn’t take it anymore. This is because Damien was constantly injecting his divine power into the Dawn that he had ced in the training ground.


    Thanks to this, the students’ injuries and stamina were recovered in real time.


    In this way, the students were forced to work themselves to the bone until lunchtime.


    “It’s almost time for lunch. Let’s stop the morning training here.”


    At Damien’s words, the students all copsed to the floor. The floor was soaked with sweat, showing how much they had sweated.


    “Pathetic! You’re copsing after just running this much.”


    Just as Damien was watching the students, there was amotion at the entrance of the training ground.


    “Oh my…”


    nca was sticking out her tongue as she looked at the training ground.


    “What’s going on here?”


    “I heard that the students of ss 13 were training, so I came to check it out. I thought it was a ridiculous rumor when I first heard it, but… it’s true.”


    nca looked at the students with a curious expression.


    “What kind of magic are you using? How are these little frogs listening to your orders?”


    “I persuaded them sincerely, and they all understood.”


    At that, the students all red at Damien. They looked as if they were going to kill him with their eyes.


    “You’re really amazing… No one at the academy has ever been able to handle these kids. If you keep this up, They’re sure to get good grades in the exam.”


    “It’s still a long way off. I don’t know what will happen even if I try my best to train them like this.”


    “By any chance, do you need any training equipment? We recently purchased new training equipment, so we’re going to get rid of the old stuff.”


    “I would be grateful.”


    As the two of them talked, the students couldn’t help but feel terrified. They were already dying from the hard work, and if they were also included in the knight training equipment, they might really die.


    ***


    While conversing, Damien slyly observed nca.


    ‘It’s highly likely that  is someone who can freely interact with students.’


    The White Blood Knights Order was in charge of the academy’s security. However, that didn’t mean they only stayed within the academy.


    They would often go outside to deal with external threats such as thieves or monsters, and sometimes even escort students to distant regions.


    ‘Moreover, she’s approaching me a bit too frequently.’


    Sinceing to the academy, no one hade to visit Damien. Everyone disliked him, after all.


    Only nca had been visiting Damien. In many ways, it was suspicious.


    “Sir Damien, it’s mealtime. Shall we go together? I know a good restaurant.”


    nca said to Damien. Since Damien was already suspicious of nca so he readily nodded.


    “Sounds good. Let’s go.”


    Before leaving the training grounds, Damien said to the students,


    “Everyone, finish your meals and return here. We’ll have sword training in the afternoon.”


    ***


    After that, Damien went to the restaurant nca had rmended and had a meal.


    During the meal, he continued to observe nca, but couldn’t find anything suspicious.


    ‘I suppose I have no choice but to use a crude method.’


    The best way to uncover ’s disguise was to actually fight her.


    No matter how perfect ’s disguise was, she couldn’t imitate the movements of a Master ss.


    However, it wasn’t a method that could be used carelessly. If person wasn’t  who he thought, Damien might end up getting bacsh in his ns.


    “I’ll wait for an opportunity to challenge nca to a duel.”


    Thinking that, Damien returned to the training grounds, only to witness a bizarre scene.


    “Even pathetic guys like you know how to make an effort, huh?”


    “Why is everyone so quiet? Why don’t you say something?”


    Two students were mocking ss 13.


    ***


    [Trantor – Kie]


    [Proofreader – Kawaii]