Chapter 278

Chapter 278 – I Was Wronged. Sincerely.

As dusk began to settle, right in the center of the campus grounds.

This was hardly the most suitable place or hour to go sneaking around, yet Aster paid no mind to such concerns.

He had gained a valuable piece of wisdom from his recent, devastating confrontation with Aeviron.

‘If someone appears dangerous, neutralize them in a single blow.’

Reflecting calmly on his bout with Aeviron, he understood that while losing might have been inevitable, the discrepancy in their skills shouldn’t have been so staggering.

To put it differently, he must have exposed a vulnerability somewhere to Aeviron.

Moments later, the internal core rotated violently, blending his personal mana stores with the natural energy around him to detonate an outward strike.

“……!”

The shock was only momentary. The cloaked attacker reacted with blinding velocity.

It was an unthinking action ingrained purely into his muscles—devoid of deliberation or hesitation.

The razor-sharp edge swiped toward Aster’s throat instantly, but Aster proved swifter.

Clang!

A sharp elbow drove directly into the opponent’s ribs.

The instant the hidden foe lost his footing, Aster pivoted sharply and unleashed an explosive blast right against his chest.

Crash—!

A thunderous boom shattered the quiet, causing the nearby branches to tremble violently.

A strike of that magnitude normally would have torn a person apart, but Aster’s expression held nothing but dissatisfaction.

‘Not deep enough.’

That meant he had no choice but to settle in for a prolonged engagement.

As a dense cloud of dust swirled upward, Aster dropped into a focused combat stance.

Though his vision was completely blocked, it didn’t trouble him. Martial artists of his caliber had long moved past relying on mere sight.

His spiritual awareness expanded to an absolute peak.

A profound stillness enveloped their immediate surroundings.

Faint rustling—

Could it be the sound of gravel settling? Tiny vibrations echoed subtly through the air as Aster focused his senses onto the concealed predator.

Neither individual could precisely pinpoint the exact coordinate of the other.

Was it possible to track him through pure intuition? Not quite.

Aster was exceptional, of course, but the attacker was likewise a master of concealment pushed to the absolute peak of the craft.

Thus, they remained motionless within the haze of dust, both trying to estimate the other’s position for a long, quiet interval.

Snap.

A small branch fractured.

An ordinary warrior would have taken that noise as the cue to launch an assault.

Yet Aster remained perfectly still.

He merely spread his hyper-focused perception across every inch of the immediate environment.

His ears twitched, and his eyelids stayed shut to eliminate the distraction of vision. His bare skin registered the subtle shifts in wind currents, absorbing the raw sensations without any mental filtering.

Small bugs disturbed by the sudden violence burrowed deeper into the dirt, while rodents and avians scattered in a frenzy.

Aster mapped every single one of those panicked movements with perfect clarity, patiently biding his time.

Plop—

Had the enemy’s edge managed to scrape his flesh?

A thin line of crimson seeped from a small laceration on his neck, winding its way past his collarbone down toward his torso. Annoyed by the wet trail?

Aster knit his brows and dragged his sleeve across the wound—doing so with enough irritation that several stray droplets flew into the surrounding space.

That very instant, the lethal shadow made his move.

He erupted from the dusty veil without making a single sound. No footsteps, no friction of fabric, no inhalation or exhalation.

Not even the whistle of steel cutting through the dense air.

The assassin harbored zero doubts.

His weapon was destined to tear right through the youth’s windpipe.

However.

“……!”

The attacker shuddered as the boy’s eyes suddenly flared open. Even so, the point of his weapon never strayed. The final result would remain identical regardless.

That was his firm belief.

Right until a splash of red suddenly spread through the open air.

Spread? It was more like an unfolding phenomenon—resembling a silk cloth that had been tightly bunched up, only to snap outward like a capturing net with incredible speed.

And piercing straight through that bloody curtain came a lunging hand.

“……!”

A merciless grip clamped directly onto the assassin’s visage. Following that… smash!

His skull was driven violently into the hard earth below.

With that single motion, the skirmish concluded.

Aster offered a small smirk as he looked down at the assailant, whose limbs shuddered briefly before losing all tension. He rolled his neck from side to side to loosen up.

“Hmph, who gave you permission to act so arrogant? Arrogant, my foot.”

Granted, he hadn’t engaged in much stealth operations as of late, but he remained a seasoned expert when it came to raw brawling like this.

If the fellow assumed a blade pressed to the throat would cause him to panic, he was severely mistaken.

“In any case…”

Aster stretched out his tense, perspiring muscles while observing the unconscious target.

‘Now, where exactly did this character come from?’

He had neutralized him on sheer instinct because the man had initiated the violence.

But looking back on it, things felt rather bizarre—multiple details, in fact.

To begin with.

“……He isn’t wearing a mask.”

Was the man truly that proud of his facial features?

It wasn’t a terrible face, strictly speaking from an objective viewpoint.

Furthermore.

“What is the deal with this weapon? Why on earth is it so ridiculously long?”

Infiltrators usually preferred short daggers for a clear purpose. Complete control over close-distance fighting.

Yet this individual carried a standard knightly longsword, which perfectly accounted for his sluggish response to the initial counterattack.

He displayed several other clumsy tendencies for a supposed professional covert operative…

‘Well, I suppose I should just investigate myself.’

Aster finished his mental critique and began sorting through the man’s attire.

The guy seemed like a concealment specialist who didn’t strictly limit himself to nighttime activities. Perhaps he carried some token of identification?

He searched the pockets for a good while.

“What do we have here?”

Aster extracted a small, hand-sized emblem and lifted it to get a clearer view.

The silver coin-like object glinted in the fading daylight, decorated with an engraving of a blade, a volume of text, and a dragon roaring directly above them—a design that felt strangely recognizable.

‘Let me recall… where have I encountered this emblem before…?’

It certainly did not belong to the house of Decullan. Nor did it correspond to any other prominent aristocratic lineage. Yet, why did it feel so incredibly familiar…

Just then, reality clicked into place.

“Assassin.”

Aster’s forehead creased slightly as a voice echoed right beside his ear.

Had the physical strain following his internal trauma dulled his perception? Allowing someone to walk up so openly simply due to exhaustion.

Be that as it may.

‘……Who exactly are you?’

He spun around only to discover a young woman accompanied by an elderly gentleman.

The senior individual was someone he recognized instantly.

‘The elderly Headmaster.’

It made perfect sense.

His private quarters weren’t very far from this location.

The real complication was the young lady standing at his flank…

‘……She looks faintly familiar.’

Crimson locks, a complexion resembling pristine white jade—obviously raised in absolute luxury. The formal academy attire marked her clearly as a fellow pupil.

Had there been a female student fitting that description within the institution?

Right at that moment, his eyes caught the necklace resting against her chest.

To be precise, the crest stamped onto the metal.

A memory suddenly surfaced.

‘……Ah, the Third Princess.’

How could that have slipped his mind?

It really hadn’t been that long since he had… well, essentially tricked—no, established a connection with—the Third Princess.

It was likely because the recovery mission and the sheer pressure from Aeviron had completely consumed his thoughts.

Hold on, if that was the case… it couldn’t be.

Aster looked back down at the still-twitching warrior on the ground.

“……Hmm.”

A quiet grunt escaped past his lips.

He shifted his gaze toward the Third Princess.

“Greetings…?”

Her expression suggested she was in no mood for pleasantries. The glaring elderly Headmaster didn’t look any more welcoming either.

An uncomfortable quiet dragged out between them. Evaluating the tension in the air, Aster remarked to himself:

‘……Am I completely finished?’

It was highly probable.

Putting the background reasons aside, he had just brutally beaten her personal bodyguard.

Aster contemplated his options, then parted his lips to speak.

Or rather, he attempted to.

Schweitz interjected before he could utter a word.

“Quiet.”

“……I beg your pardon?”

Hold on, I haven’t even uttered a single sentence yet?

Aster pressed a hand to his sternum in absolute, genuine distress, but Schweitz kept talking over him.

“I am asking you, whatever explanation you were about to offer, simply remain silent. Do not… do not escalate this situation any further. I am imploring you.”

“No, hold on a moment…”

Aster found himself utterly at a loss for words.

He was the one who had been ambushed, yet now he was being treated like the malicious perpetrator.

It was completely ridiculous—he stood there with his mouth agape, until Schweitz gave him his marching orders.

“Depart from this place. I shall call for you at a later time.”

Aster had been terribly wronged.

In all sincerity.

Ultimately, I concluded my interaction with the elderly Headmaster under incredibly frustrating circumstances and turned around to make my departure.

My destination wasn’t the Rapiter Library, however.

‘Senior Teheman… there are still far too many suspicious details surrounding him.’

If I returned there at this moment, I would be inundated with a massive pile of remedial schoolwork to make up for my prolonged absence. I simply lacked the mental energy for that today.

To describe the feeling accurately.

‘It feels as though the entire universe is conspiring to wear me down.’

Fine, I can accept dealing with two members of the Seven Mages. But having Aeviron suddenly burst into the picture out of nowhere?

Alright, I can move past that too.

But during this single day—just how many individuals are going to breathe down my neck?

• Aster, I genuinely hope you possess a spectacular justification for this. Otherwise, the reputation of Professor Perina—who practically begged me to show you mercy—will be utterly ruined.

The intense scrutiny from Jeira had commenced from the very break of dawn.

Was that the extent of it?

‘Damian… right. He doesn’t really think deeply about these things.’

However, Chenbi posed the actual dilemma.

She was so incredibly furious that she ignored my existence entirely throughout the day, yet she absolutely refused to let me move around unsupervised.

Whenever we changed locations, I would intentionally linger around awkwardly, and she would simply fix me with a silent glare until I moved along—in certain aspects, she was far more terrifying than Aeviron.

Furthermore, there was the official tribunal inquiry to worry about.

And the issues didn’t stop there.

‘I managed to substitute Chenbi with Evelin. However… Evelin isn’t someone who can be managed easily at all.’

Normally, I don’t succumb to psychological pressure, but this particular brand of sheer exhaustion was completely draining me.

The reason? It was primarily because I usually resolve my problems by using my fists.

Consequently, what I truly required today was a bit of tranquility.

I desperately needed it…

“For what reason did you request my presence once more?”

Rather than winding down after departing the academy grounds, I directed my steps toward the study inside Parun’s estate.

The cause?

He had explicitly sent for me.

“Ah, you have arrived.”

“This situation feels incredibly repetitive, doesn’t it? You are constantly summoning me over here.”

“It is unavoidable—our methods of contact only work in one direction.”

That was a reasonable point.

Regardless.

I adjusted my untidy attire, which had gotten messed up during my hurried wardrobe change, and instinctively took my place in the primary armchair at the head of the table.

Granted, Parun had cleared that spot out for me at some point in the past, but I no longer paid attention to such formalities.

If there isn’t a designated place for me? I will simply establish one.

“So, what is the issue?”

Parun watched me drop heavily into the stone seat as if he found my behavior entirely irredeemable, letting out a brief shake of his head. But it lasted only a second.

He manifested a separate chair for himself directly across from my position and initiated the conversation.

“Pola passed along the information. You managed to liberate the mercenary leader?”

“Correct.”

“Did you secure the territory?”

Ah, that was right—I had completely neglected to brief Parun regarding the outcomes of the operation.

Thus, prior to diving into the main topic, I provided him with a summary of the current circumstances. Once I concluded my explanation, he offered a slow nod.

“Establishing an educational institution, I see…”

“Yes, that is essentially the plan.”

“The timing is absolutely ideal. That happens to be precisely what I wished to converse about.”

“……?”

I tilted my head in confusion.

Right then, Parun made a statement, and that single sentence caused a cold shiver to run straight down my backbone.

“The moment you officially launch that academy, I intend to participate fully.”

“Participate… fully?”

“Indeed. I shall hand in my resignation to the institution and carry out my work entirely under the banner of the Magic Tower.”

A long-buried recollection suddenly forced its way back into my mind.

The precise future timeline I had witnessed back in Baharmut.

I had been under the impression that we had successfully shifted away from that trajectory recently, but a sharp spike of anxiety hit me—could it be happening anyway?

In that specific vision of the future, Parun had severed ties with the academy to relocate entirely to the main headquarters of the Magic Tower.

So was this sense of dread merely an overactive imagination? Or perhaps…

“Why do you remain silent?”

I ran a hand through my hair in response to Parun’s inquiry.

Should I attribute this to how completely chaotic this entire day had been?

My stomach began to twist in a highly unusual and uncomfortable manner.