Chapter 281: Shadow Part 7

I’m no longer inferior to the other Cradle students.

Just recently, didn’t I manage to claim victory against Bayron?

But Stan is different.

Stan Robinhood, the S-Class sniper, is someone riding the main current of the story.

“You coward! Stop running!”

“There’s a real lunatic here.”

In a head-on fight, I have no chance.

That doesn’t mean I can widen the distance, either.

He’s a monster capable of sniping targets on a city-wide scale. On top of that, his physical abilities and judgment are exceptional.

The only reason I can run like this right now is because Stan has lost his composure.

For a sniper, the most important thing is an unmoving heart.

An arrow fired with a shaken mind follows a predictable trajectory.

Stan’s ignition point is low. He gets angry easily and cools down just as easily.

For a sniper, that would normally be considered a flaw, but in his case, it’s closer to a side effect.

Stan’s ability is [Unwavering Mind].

He doesn’t waver. His body and mind grow cold as ice.

Because of the aftereffects, his emotions are easily stirred in his everyday state.

Is that why?

“Stop running! Face me!”

He really sounds insane.

Does he even realize what he’s saying right now?

What he’s doing?

Watching Stan rampage like a madman after losing his reason sends a chill down my spine.

That’s the backlash of his ability…

It’s more terrifying than me carrying a Demon King inside my own heart.

“Ha! So it’s not like you’ve just been slacking off all this time? Good. Then I’ll treat you seriously as well!”

After I dodged the arrows he fired in rapid succession, Stan let out a scoff, his fighting spirit flaring up.

Then, as if it were hard to believe he’d been fuming with rage just moments ago, he was swallowed by silence.

Don’t tell me this bastard just used his ability?

***

Stan was, surprisingly, someone with strong self-awareness.

That was why he knew what he was about to do was wrong. An irrational act brought on by blood rushing to his head.

But at this moment, Stan was so blinded by anger that it eclipsed all of that.

The side effect of his ability. The instinctive tendency to burn hot in order to thaw his frozen body and mind each time he used it.

It was unfortunate.

You could say the penalties outweighed the advantages of an ability like Unwavering Mind.

For a sniper like Stan, this personality of his was troublesome. It didn’t match his usual temperament, and even he believed it made him seem undignified.

And so, ironically, Stan had no choice but to cling even more tightly to his ability.

Ability.

He becomes aware.

He clearly distinguishes between when he uses it and when he doesn’t.

Since it’s an ability tied to emotion, it requires a kind of trigger.

Unwavering Mind.

To deal with the thief in front of him, he activated his ability.

The hands that had been shaking with anger grow solid as stone, and his blazing heart turns cold as if doused with water.

Ability. Unwavering Mind.

With that power activated, Stan reached a conclusion with a cooled head.

“Killing someone over something like this would be wrong.”

“Y-You lunatic…”

A madman beyond imagination. Not a shred of consistency.

Horrified by the sight of Stan, Johan turned and ran.

More than any enemy he had faced until now, Stan frightened him the most.

***

As if he had become a different person altogether, Stan was calm and composed.

Leaving that version of Stan behind, I decided to get out of there.

If his ability wears off and the heat rushes back to his head, I might end up dragged into that insane chase all over again.

I need to get as far away as possible before he comes to his senses.

After wandering cautiously around the inside of the Cradle for a while, I spotted a familiar face for the first time in a long while.

“Uh, what was it….Hollie?”

“It’s Ollie.”

“Right. That.”

Raven’s girlfriend.

She picked a fight with me once, mouthed off to Yuna, and got completely wrecked for it.

Maybe it’s because my life’s been unusually intense lately, but someone as unremarkable as Ollie had long since faded from my memory.

How should I put it? She has no defining traits. Just an extra who somehow ended up with a name.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but that’s not exactly the expression you show someone you haven’t seen in a while.”

“What about my expression?”

“The one where you’re blatantly looking down on someone.”

“…You’re imagining it.”

“Maybe.”

Huh. That’s strange. I used to be confident in my poker face, but after everything I’ve been through lately, maybe something’s changed.

Not sure whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

“I heard you got into a fight with your friend.”

“Friend? Who? Stan?”

That bastard is not my friend.

No way I’d keep someone that crazy as a friend.

I may not have many friends, but I still choose carefully.

“And we didn’t fight. I was the one-sided victim.”

“You always use the same excuses. Don’t you get tired of it?”

“What did you just say?”

Since when did you know me well enough to run your mouth like that?

If anyone’s going to say something like that, it should at least be someone on Yuna or Ariel’s level.

“Anyway, the Headmistress is looking for you.”

“Haah… I’m not exactly a free man. Why does she keep calling for me?”

“You shouldn’t have caused trouble.”

“I told you, I’m the victim.”

“Same line as always.”

No, this time I’m genuinely a one-hundred-percent pure victim.

That lunatic Stan just snapped and started chasing me out of nowhere.

“Seriously…”

Forget it. What kind of glory or reward would I get from explaining myself to you anyway?

In any case, if the Headmistress called for me, I should go.

The old me would’ve just pretended not to know and run off, but now I’m engaged to Yuna, aren’t I?

I should at least try to stay on my future mother-in-law’s good side.

“Anyway, thanks for letting me know.”

I gave the expressionless Ollie a slight nod and walked past her.

“Oh, right. Where’s Raven?”

Then it suddenly struck me. Those two were usually stuck together so tightly it was annoying.

Strange to see them apart.

“Raven is…”

Clink.

Somewhere, I heard the faint sound of metal striking metal.

Not coins, exactly. But something metallic. I couldn’t quite tell where it came from.

“He’s a mercenary.”

“Oh.”

I’d forgotten.

That Raven was a mercenary.

The war started by the Great Warrior had slowed after the deaths of the barbarian tribes, but it wasn’t truly over.

As long as the barbarian forces weren’t completely wiped out, the war wouldn’t end.

Most of the barbarians who infiltrated the Empire had been dealt with, but fighting was still ongoing at the front lines.

Wasn’t Lobelia herself mobilized to deal with the barbarians?

“He must be busy in a lot of ways.”

Raven is a mercenary, and for a mercenary, the battlefield is inseparable from life itself.

No matter that he enrolled in the Cradle, there’s no way he could simply change the way he’s lived.

Well, Raven always seemed closer to Loki’s spy than a true mercenary… but maybe he didn’t want to abandon that identity.

Maybe he wanted to save up more money for the future.

“No. He’s not busy anymore.”

“Huh?”

With that, Ollie quietly walked away.

Maybe it’s just because I haven’t seen her in a while, but was she always that composed?

Or maybe it’s my way of looking at the world that’s changed.

I might need some time to get used to this new version of myself.

“Take care. See you next time.”

“Yes. See you.”

With that, I headed toward the Headmistress’s office.

***

The moment I arrived at the office—

I found Stan in the corner, pressing his forehead against the wall.

Corporal punishment that would be unimaginable in modern-day South Korea. But personally, I think that’s still not enough.

He didn’t just aim a bow at someone…he actually fired it.

“Haah.”

I quietly let out a breath and lined up next to Stan, pressing my forehead against the wall as well.

“What do you think you’re doing the moment you arrive?”

“Isn’t this what you called me here for? I’ll be cooperative.”

“That’s not it. What do you take me for…? I’m aware that you’re the victim.”

“Ah.”

Seems I’d jumped to conclusions, assuming I’d be unfairly blamed like usual.

Well, that’s only natural. All I did was dodge the arrows Stan shot and run. It’s not like I used any violence myself.

Maybe I’ve been too steeped in the Cradle’s way of thinking lately.

“Then may I ask why you called for me? A cross-examination?”

“No. A guest has come to see you. As for Student Stan… I’ll handle counseling him myself.”

“Understood. But a guest? Who would come looking for me?”

And through Olga Hermod, no less?

At that point, I realized that anyone who reached me through her had to be someone significant.

“Let’s talk first.”

Tap.

When Olga Hermod lightly tapped her desk with her index finger, the space around us began to distort.

It wavered, twisted, and inverted.

She’s well-versed not only in illusion magic but spatial magic as well. It seems she intends to partition the space like this.

Just watching it made my head spin, but maybe because I’d recently trained in magic under her, I handled it better than expected.

That said, Olga Hermod really does handle people rather roughly.

Maybe it’s because she used to be in the military?

“This should be enough. Take your time and talk.”

The spatial magic Olga Hermod uses separates space itself.

It partitions and isolates the same space, temporarily dividing it.

Right now, Stan and I occupy the same area, but we can’t perceive each other.

Of course…

“So this is what it feels like.”

I could still perceive Stan.

Probably thanks to having learned high-level illusion magic.

Not perfectly, but I could see a faint, shadowy outline.

At this rate, I might not even be able to properly take something like last year’s class placement exam anymore.

“By the way, who is this guest?”

I stared for a moment at the spot where Stan was pressing his forehead before turning my head and asking.

There was another presence here.

While trying to grasp the structure of the space within Olga Hermod’s magic, I happened to notice it.

“You’re quite perceptive.”

“I take pride in my perception.”

“Then try to guess.”

The guest seemed to want me to figure out their identity.

I’m not particularly fond of these little tests, but unfortunately, the moment I sensed their presence, I had already realized where they came from.

There were other hints, too. Anyone who reached me through Olga Hermod had to be connected to the Imperial family.

After all, there’s only one person who can issue her orders.

Of course, it’s not that the Emperor himself came.

It means someone acting under the Emperor’s command has come to see me.

In that state, concealment at this level, a voice devoid of humanity, thick killing intent, and the nauseating stench of blood.

“I don’t recall doing anything that would put me in the sights of the Guillotine Knights.”

The Imperial family’s direct execution unit.

The Guillotine Knights. That ghost-like existence had come specifically for me.

“You’re too modest, Johan Damus. Did you really think we were unaware of everything you’ve done?”

“……”

“There’s no need to be so tense. I didn’t come to harm you. Since I’ve arrived as a guest, it’s only proper to observe the appropriate courtesy.”

They have no intention of making a move against me within Olga Hermod’s domain.

Which means…

“Become a Guillotine Knight. Johan Damus, you are qualified.”

“Hmm.”

A recruitment offer from a high-ranking Imperial position.

Honestly, after receiving love calls from all sorts of terrorists up until now, this feels strangely unfamiliar.

Still, there’s something I need to clarify.

“I’m actually pretty weak.”

“Hmm? You? For now, perhaps. But I can see the potential for you to grow stronger.”

What should I do? Such high praise. And he says he sees potential in me?

I like the sound of that.

“Just in case, though…what happens if I refuse?”

“You dare refuse the will of His Majesty the Emperor?”

“Aha.”

So it’s not recruitment; it’s forced conscription. I had a feeling…