Chapter 48: Chapter 48

Like most noble children, Bronn’s family meant everything to him.

To the aristocracy, their house was an honor and an identity that represented them. That didn’t change even if they entered the academy. This was especially true since he was the eldest son of the prestigious Count Sauer from the West.

Such pride sometimes collapsed.

Like right now, for example.

‘Count… Sogres…?’

House Sogres.

No matter how much House Sauer was called the ruler of the West, they couldn’t compare to the fame of House Sogres.

The war hero, Arken Sogres.

His fame extended not only to the West but also to the remotest corners of the Empire.

He couldn’t believe it.

Why would the young master of House Sogres hang out with that idiot Ernest?!

It was a completely incongruous combination, but everything that had just happened pointed to it being true.

That silver hair.

Overwhelming strength that subdued him with just a bladeless pole.

Then Dane approached and aimed his pole at Bronn.

Bronn’s body trembled instinctively. Only a fool wouldn’t realize the fact that he was no match for Dane.

‘I have two cores but I’m losing…’

Fourteen years old.

It was amazing to have two cores at this age.

The reason Bronn was called a genius and was able to reign like a king among the noble children of the West was thanks to his talent.

But not anymore.

A greater genius was before his eyes.

The genius named Dane Sogres, who subdued him with just two strikes.

“What should we do now?”

“…”

“You pulled out a real sword and lost like this.” Dane continued speaking nonchalantly. “Normally, I think I could take your life.”

Bronn looked up in surprise and asked, “What… what are you talking about?!”

“Isn’t that the case? Well, it’s not a fair duel from my perspective… but you pulled out a real sword.”

Bronn felt a chill up his spine.

The other boy didn’t seem to be joking. The look in his eyes was not one he had ever seen before.

Of course, Bronn couldn’t know, but Dane’s expression right now was no different from the one he had when he cut down his enemies as Argrik in his previous life.

“I’ll give you time to get up.”

Dane stepped back again after saying that.

Then Bronn shouted urgently, “W-wait a minute!”

He was dizzy from being hit in the stomach and the pain of a broken arm.

The moment their eyes met, he knew.

He could really die if he did something wrong.

The boys who had treated him like a king were watching from the side, but that wasn’t what mattered now.

“Wait, what?”

“…”

“If you have nothing to say, get up.”

Bron finally shut his eyes tightly and shouted, “I… I will apologize…”

Had he ever been this pitiful before?

Probably not.

He was begging for forgiveness more pitifully than when he was caught smoking by his father, Count Sauer.

Of course, it was only Bronn and his group who felt it was pathetic. It was only natural to apologize.

But the direction was wrong.

“To whom?”

“You… you! I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you. I never dreamed you were Dane Sogres…”

Dane, who had been quietly listening to the answer, shook his head and mused, “You really can’t be saved.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?”

Dane spoke as he started to approach again, “Think about it carefully.”

Bronn’s head spun like crazy.

What did he do wrong? For drawing a real sword? Or for picking a fight with House Sogres?

“Who should I apologize to?”

Only then did Bronn vaguely realize something.

Ernest behind the approaching Dane.

Pow!

“Ugh!”

Dane struck Bronn’s chest with the end of the pole. It wasn’t a bone-breaking blow, but it was enough.

Bronn, who had fallen to the ground again, shouted urgently, “Keeek, ugh! Ugh, I’m sorry! Ernest! I’m sorry!”

Dane tilted his head and said, “You don’t seem very sorry.”

Then he gestured to Ernest.

“Ernest. Can you come here for a moment?”

“Uh, uh… yeah.”

Ernest’s feelings were complex. He was surprised by the sight of Dane doing something he had never imagined.

And it was amazing. The most terrifying being in his world had become so helpless.

Honestly, he felt refreshed.

On the other hand, it was disappointing. Why didn’t he even think of resisting in the past?

“You know what I mean, right?” Dane turned to Bronn and asked as Ernest approached.

Bronn shuddered and stammered, “E-Ernest. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for bullying you…”

Dane told Ernest, “It’s up to you.”

“Huh?”

“Either you beat him until you feel better, or you accept the apology and call it a day. Do whatever you want.”

Dane added, “No matter what, I don’t think he will bother you from now on.”

If he did and got caught, no one could even imagine what would happen.

He was a friend of the young master of House Sogres. He was someone that Bronn would never even think about touching.

Ernest thought about it for a moment. He really wanted to hit him once or dozens of times and let out some steam, but…

For some reason, he didn’t want to do that.

So after much thought, he said, “Next time, fight me on even ground.”

Ernest continued speaking with a determined expression as Bronn looked up blankly, “I will fight you and win.”

Each person overcame trauma differently. Even with Dane’s help, Ernest didn’t want to end things uncertainly. As Dane had said, he couldn’t remain like this forever.

‘That’s good.’

Dane grinned. He thought Ernest was weak, but he was stronger than he thought.

Well, he guessed you needed this much guts to explore historical sites and travel to various remote places, as befitting of a student from the Exploration Department.

Thanks to this, Bronn was even more humiliated. It was crazy enough that he had to go through this, but now the boy he had treated worse than an insect was declaring a fight.

It would have been better to just get hit until he passed out.

‘Shit…’

Bronn swallowed his anger and Ernest turned around. Dane patted Ernest on the shoulder.

“Good job.”

“Thank you, Dane…”

Ernest was sincere. If Dane hadn’t been there, he might have had to struggle through his entire academy life in that helplessness again.

But he gained courage after meeting Dane.

He received such a great gift.

‘I will pay you back, definitely.’

Ernest nodded in affirmation.

“What? Dane! Is that you, Dane?”

In the midst of all this, a voice suddenly called out.

“I waited so long but you didn’t come. You were here?”

The person who came out of the garden corner was Leila.

Leila looked at the four fallen, Dane, and Ernest in turn, then tilted her head.

“What the heck? Did you have a fight?”

“Yeah. There was some trouble. Did you wait for long?”

“Yeah! I’ve never waited like this before!”

Leila approached with a pointed expression and glanced at the fallen group.

“What’s going on all of a sudden?”

“Ah. They started a fight.”

“That’s too bad. Why did it have to be you?”

“Wouldn’t it be better than going against you, Leila?”

Bronn’s eyes lit up at Leila’s name.

‘L-Leila?’

If it was Leila, wasn’t it the young lady of House Thermion that he was thinking of making his just a moment ago?

He was sure. He wanted to deny it, but that rosy hair was proof that it was Leila.

‘This fucking…’

Then Dane drove his pole into Bronn’s chest.

“Oh, right. Leila, he’s in the Swordsmanship Department. A freshman like you.”

“Huh? Who? The one on the ground over there?”

“Yeah. That’s what I heard. Do you know who he is?”

“I don’t know. I’m not really curious.”

Leila turned her head away as if she didn’t even care, and Bronn lowered his head to the floor, his heart breaking.

This was the moment when one more reason was added to why he shouldn’t mess with Dane.

And…

It was also the worst day of his life.

Meeting Leila was a surprise, but the commotion was resolved well.

In fact, it wasn’t even a commotion. Anyone who saw it would be shocked, but the only people who saw it were the people involved.

Why did my mother’s words that if there were no witnesses, it was an assassination come to mind?

Anyway, those boys wouldn’t touch Ernest. It didn’t matter if they didn’t come to their sense and did so.

After all, Ernest had made up his mind.

“I must learn something, whether it be swordsmanship, spearmanship, or magic.”

Judging from his firm determination, it was quite believable.

“But… I didn’t know I would knock him down in one go.”

Oh.

I remembered Ernest knocking down that boy with his fist earlier. It seemed that the two-chain magic suppression spell I learned from Cidrane worked quite well.

Well, I guess I didn’t have to tell the truth. I think that gave him a lot of confidence.

“But who are you?” Leila asked.

It was only then that I introduced her to Ernest.

“This is Ernest. Ernest Dylan, the only son of Baron Dylan. He’s a freshman like us, in the Exploration Department. Ernest? This is Leila. Leila Thermion, the youngest daughter of Duke Thermion. She’s also a freshman, and my friend.”

“N-nice to meet you…!”

It was quite funny to see him being so surprised that he kept on being overly polite. Leila glared at Ernest as she shook his hand.

“I’m not a senior?”

“Th-that’s true…”

“This is the Academy. Can you just treat me like a friend?”

“Y-yes!”

Ernest nodded with an expression that was clearly extremely embarrassed.

On the other hand, Leila showed interest in Ernest’s major.

“But the Exploration Department? What kind of things do you learn there?”

“Uhh. Facts about various ruins and secret places… and places that can be explored!”

I chimed in from the side, “His House is very famous for exploration.”

“Is that so?” Leila’s eyes sparkled. “Oh, Dane. Then wouldn’t it be better if we showed him the map we got?”

“We got it together, huh? I threw the dagger.”

“Why?! I threw it too! Why are you drawing a line between us?”

“Could you have hit that dot?”

“If I practiced, do you think I couldn’t do it?”

“You could. What do you want?”

“Oh, so annoying!”

Ernest asked as he saw Leila and I bickering, “You two look really close. Have you been together since you were little?”

“Not when we were very young. I first met him when we were seven. I went to the South to visit for his birthday.”

“Aha…” Ernest said curious. “If you two stick together, you’ll attract attention wherever you go. You’re both from the best families on the continent. Plus, you’re the top student and second place…”

Now that I thought about it, that was true. Wherever we went, we attracted attention.

Well, that didn’t matter.

If I had worried about that, I wouldn’t have even thought about coming to the academy in the first place.

“Anyway, that’s good. I was going to talk to you about something anyway, Ernest.”

“M-me?”

“Yeah. This is a treasure map.”

When I took out the case and showed it to him, Ernest’s eyes widened.

“A-a treasure map? Oh, no way, that’s…”

“That’s right. I got it from throwing daggers.”

“I just heard about it in passing! So it was you!”

Ernest looked at the case with a dangerous expression on his face.

I was surprised. His expression was like that of soldiers who had been starved for several days looking at food. A kind of crazed look?

“I-I want to see you quickly.”

Map addiction, was it something like that? I hadn’t heard of anything like that.

I hesitated for a moment, then met Leila’s eyes, nodded, and handed him the case containing the map.

“Great!”

Ernest looked at the map case very carefully, with a look of excitement on his face. He was incredibly meticulous, considering the madness in his eyes.

“Why is he like that?”

“I don’t know. He might be like that when he looks at maps.”

“Aha. Is there that kind of taste, too?”

I looked at Leila in disbelief. Was there nothing she couldn’t say?