The dense smell of mint leaf extract and antiseptic potion was the first thing to greet my sense of smell, attempting to mask the lingering stench of blood and burnt flesh still deeply etched in my memory.
I opened my eyes slowly. This room felt cold, quiet, and completely isolated. Windows barred with thick iron grilles indicated that I was not in an ordinary medical ward, but in a detention ward or high-security treatment room.
I tried to take a deep breath to fill my lungs, and instantly, my body punished me without mercy.
Ugh!
It felt as if I had just swallowed sharp glass shards that tore through my airway. My ribs felt as though they were being pierced by dozens of needles heated over glowing coals.
The "glass cup" inside my body was truly on the verge of shattering. My Sanguine Core pulsed weakly. If I dared to pump my blood magic again within the next few weeks, my heart would explode before my weapon even had a chance to touch an enemy.
The Veteran was now trapped entirely within the physical limitations of a nearly paralyzed teenager. The vulnerability I had felt for ten years crept back under my skin, forcing me to realize that in the next battlefield, I could only fight relying on my brain and chess pieces.
BAM!
The ward door was kicked open without any hesitation or knock. Head Instructor Alric Stormvale marched in with echoing heavy steps. His hard face looked incredibly exhausted, clearly lacking sleep, and the scar on his forehead twitched violently holding back an anger ready to explode.
Alric slammed the door behind him and turned the lock from the inside.
"A charred corpse," hissed Alric, his voice trembling with suppressed wrath as he walked quickly toward my bed. "A charred corpse with a Black Tower tattoo on its neck, found on the roof of the south dormitory. Half of that roof is completely destroyed, and I found a Basic Class outcast cadet and a Middle Class female cadet lying right in the center of the destruction."
Alric leaned his massive body toward me, bracing both his hands hard on the edge of the bed. His eyes glared at me as if wanting to split my skull open right then and there.
"Now, explain to me, Kael Draven," he growled. "How could two wet-behind-the-ears kids blow up a dormitory roof and kill an elite assassin?! What kind of illegal artifact are you hiding here?!"
I held back a grimace of pain in my ribs and forced a cold, thin smile onto my lips. On any political battlefield, the most panicked and emotional person is the easiest to manipulate.
"Good morning to you too, Instructor Stormvale," I greeted casually, my voice still sounding hoarse and heavy. "Kill? I think you are overestimating me far too much. I am just a weak Basic Class cadet who happened to be seeking some fresh air on the roof."
"Fresh air?!" Alric slammed the iron bedpost until it vibrated. "Do not you dare play games with me, Draven! I could throw you into the academy dungeon right now on charges of bringing a deadly threat from outside the safe zone!"
"An outside threat?" I raised one eyebrow, looking straight challenging his eyes. "Sir Alric, aren't you the one fully responsible for the security of all these academy gates? Then please tell me, how could an elite Assassin from the Black Tower infiltrate and relax on the dormitory roof without triggering a single alarm at your proud gates?"
Alric's face paled slightly. His jaw tightened stiffly. I knew exactly which piece I had just checkmated.
"Last night, the Mana Fluctuation Alarm controlled by the Student Senate blared at maximum to an emergency level," I continued with a calm and highly calculative tone. "That means, the academy's security was breached, and you, the instructor council, totally failed to detect it before those sirens wailed."
"Shut your rotten mouth," hissed Alric, yet his tone had lost its threatening fangs.
"I know nothing about explosive artifacts," I said, twisting the facts very smoothly. "That Assassin ambushed us on the roof. But when the Senate sirens howled, he panicked. He tried to cast high-level shadow magic to escape, but lost concentration due to the noise of that alarm. His magic became unstable, clashed with my friend's earth defense magic, and finally he blew himself up. The two of us are purely just lucky victims."
Alric stared at me intently. This man was no fool. He knew exactly there were a hundred illogical holes in my story. However, he was also an academy politician who valued his position.
"Do you think I will swallow that nonsense whole?" he asked cynically.
"It does not matter what you believe, Sir," I countered decisively. "The most important thing here is what will be written in your official report. Try to imagine if the Student Senate, or the ruling Duke Faction, knew that the Black Tower could infiltrate and kill cadets inside the dormitory without being detected by the guard knights... how much longer would this prestigious Head Instructor position be yours? Or, should we call Miss Selena Lune here to help verify the report?"
Hearing the name of the Morcant envoy mentioned, Alric's broad shoulders slumped slowly. Alric was well aware that if he insisted on exposing this case to punish me, his head would roll far earlier than mine due to extraordinary security negligence.
Alric took a deep breath, forcibly swallowing his ego whole. He straightened his body, then smoothed the slightly wrinkled collar of his knight uniform.
"A foolish unknown intruder tried to rob the dormitory treasury," mumbled Alric flatly, reciting the script of lies he had just fabricated in his brain. "The intruder panicked due to the mana alarm, and his magic exploded uncontrollably on the roof. Cadets Draven and Ashryn are eyewitnesses who happened to be there and were lightly injured by the explosion. The intruder's corpse has been burned to ashes to prevent the spread of a plague."
"A very brilliant and extraordinary deduction, Instructor," I praised with a mocking smile.
Before turning to leave, Alric looked down at me with a gaze as cold as winter ice. "I do not know what kind of monster you truly are, Draven. But listen closely... you are now under my direct supervision. Make one more mistake in this academy, and I myself will snap your neck."
Alric marched out, slamming the door again and leaving me in a silence that was starting to feel familiar. I exhaled a long breath holding back pain. The instructor pawn had been secured.
Night slowly descended replacing the afternoon, darkening the entire room. The full moon's light slipped shyly through the iron grilles of the ward window.
The ward door opened again, but this time with a very slow and hesitant movement.
Virelith Ashryn sneaked in. The edge of her gray robe still bore pitch-black stains from the soot of last night's explosion. Her thick glasses were slightly crooked, and under her eyes were dark, blackened bags.
The atmosphere in the room instantly felt incredibly heavy and stiff.
Virelith stood frozen at the foot of my bed. She did not ask how I was or engage in small talk. The girl only looked down, staring at her own two palms which were still trembling faintly.
"How..." Virelith's voice broke, sounding almost like a stifled sob. "How can you close your eyes and sleep after doing something like that, Kael?"
I stared at her in silence. This was a crucial moment for my subordinate. The trauma of a first kill.
"I... I burned someone alive last night," whispered Virelith, wringing her own hands so tightly her knuckles turned white. "My magic triggered that vortex. The smell of his charred flesh... the sound of his screams tearing through the night before his throat burned away... Oh Gods, that sight keeps spinning inside my head. I killed him."
Many foolish commanders in my past life would try to comfort their new soldiers with sweet words. 'You were only defending yourself', 'He was a bad person', 'It is not your fault'.
I did not believe in such nonsense. War does not need pampering pity.
"You feel nauseous?" I asked flatly without emotion.
Virelith nodded slowly, tears beginning to pool in the corners of her eyes. "My stomach feels like it is being churned. I want to vomit every time I remember the smell."
"Good," I stated firmly.
Virelith looked up, staring at me with a shocked expression and a wounded gaze.
I tried to sit up, gritting my teeth holding back the pain in my chest so I could look her directly and equally in the eyes. "The nausea, the trembling hands, and the nightmares you will experience... those are proof that you still possess a human side, Virelith. It proves that you have not become a crazy monster like the nobles who oppress you, or like the assassin who tried to behead you."
Virelith swallowed hard, a tear finally falling to wet her dust-streaked cheek.
"But do you know what else last night's event proved?" I asked, softening my tone into something slightly heavier, akin to a veteran mentor guiding his young soldier amidst a muddy trench. "The fact that you are still breathing and standing looking at me in this room right now... proves that you are a soldier who deserves to stay alive."
I pointed straight at her. "This world will never care about your tears, Virelith. The nobles will continue to destroy your stone walls for entertainment, trample on your pride, and ultimately, take your life if you just stay silent. Last night, you did not just kill a hired assassin. You reclaimed your right to survive."
Virelith fell silent. Her sobs faded slowly, replaced by long, trembling breaths. She absorbed my every word, letting the cruel reality of this world wash away her innocence and fear.
Slowly, the despair on the girl's face faded. Her eyes, previously filled with traumatic horror, now began to radiate a cold and highly pragmatic firmness. Her trembling hand moved down, feeling the side of the belt at her waist.
Her fingers touched the thick leather pouch containing dozens of gold coins I had given her yesterday afternoon. Initially, she might have intended to return those bloodstained coins. But now, she actually tied the pouch string much tighter to her belt.
Virelith lifted her head, adjusting her glasses steadily. She looked at me straight on without hesitation.
"My earth wall," said Virelith, her voice no longer trembling, but filled with a dark vow, "will never again be destroyed for free by anyone. And starting from now, this earth magic of mine is not for mockery."
I smiled thinly. The agonizing pain tormenting my entire body felt completely worth it seeing the birth of sparks in her eyes.
"Welcome officially into the ranks, Engineer," I said, officiating her position. "Prepare yourself well. Once I manage to get out of this ward, we have a lot of dirty work that must be finished immediately."
Virelith nodded stiffly, wiped away the rest of her tears using her robe sleeve, then turned and sneaked out of the ward, leaving me in a silence that grew dense once more.
I leaned my head against the pillow, staring toward the full moon through the window grilles.
Inside my head, the messy chessboard began to rearrange itself. I evaluated the formation of my current troops. I had Ragnar as a fearless Vanguard on the front lines, and now I had Virelith as a Support and pragmatic Tactical Engineer.
My Deck Hound squad was slowly rising from its grave.
On the opposite side of the board stood Orvelis Nightbane. The Duke's Heir had just lost his pawn (Vane), wasted tens of thousands of gold coins hiring the Black Tower for nothing, and most crucially, he had lost his sky-high pride.
An arrogant noble with a wounded ego will soon discard all elegant rules. They will no longer play safe behind the scenes. They will become extremely reckless and dirty.
I raised my right hand, looking at the pale reflection of moonlight on my fingers still adorned with scratch wounds. With a body condition that was still shattered and strictly forbidden from using blood magic, fighting physically head-on was tantamount to courting death.
The only way to kill a giant with a paralyzed body is to sever its veins slowly from the inside. I had to start destroying the Nightbane faction's financial resources, political allies, and reputation within this academy one by one.
Guerrilla War.
My lips curved forming a calculating smile as cold as ice. The battle of swords and magic might be taking a pause in this medical ward, but the shadow war to seize absolute power at the Aethelgard Academy had just begun.
"Get ready, Orvelis," I whispered to the blowing cold night wind. "This stray dog is going to start biting your neck very soon."