/
It was also only for a short moment that the young duke’s gaze followed me, who was pulled back.
Zen blocked his gaze to me by perfectly standing in the direction of my position.
I stared at the familiar back blocking my sight.
Don’t say anything.
Don’t provoke him.
Unlike my desperate mind, it was a familiar voice that broke the quiet of the drill hall.
“I thought there might be a crazy bastard who pulled out his sword on the first day, so I came to catch him, but I never expected that a professor would be ‘threatening’ a student.”
“It is an acceptable measure.”
The low voice answered.
The young duke’s voice still sounded the same.
However, it didn’t mean it was fine just because he didn’t look angry.
Because he could slice through someone with an expressionless face.
“Ze-”
As I was unconsciously about to call his name, Rany shook her head.
The moment the voice stopped flowing from my dried lips, he spoke.
“Move away.”
“But I don’t want to.”
Can’t you at least speak formally?
My head spinned hearing Zen was completely oblivious that the one in front of him was a young duke before he was a professor.
The whispering sounds kept going louder.
I, who at least out of attention, quickly scanned where Jeremy was.
He’s not there.
I wondered if he could safely leave.
It wasn’t Zen or Young Duke Bolton who broke the silent in the bloodthirsty atmosphere.
It was an old man who pantingly pushed in through the students.
“Professor Ardin! What are you doing now?!”
Ardin.
While I was questioning the unfamiliar nickname, Zen turned his head and answered as if he was the owner of that surname.
“I’m here to take a look at the swordsmanship lesson. I remembered the advice to observe and refer to other professors’ classes before I start my class.”
Rather than the unfamiliar name Ardin, I was more troubled with the professor title.
Only then did I realize the robe Zen wore was from the magic tower.
The man who came late and asked Zen, flusteredly approached Young Duke Bolton.
“I’m sorry about this, sir. This gentleman is dispatched from the magic tower this semester, so he still doesn’t know much about the academy’s situation. I think he is interested in your class, Professor.”
“Although I didn’t see anything worthy of being called a lecture.”
Zen, who was next to the man who was trying his best to smooth over the conflict, kept making the situation worse.
It felt like Rany’s grumbles that he would die from being stabbed if he kept living the way he did wasn’t just nonsense.
If he spoke any more, not only the young duke, but the knights behind him would be ready to charge with their swords.
“That, let’s just think of this as a misunderstanding between professors.”
“A mage from the magic tower, huh? But I have never seen him before.”
The words of the man drenching in sweat was ignored once again.
“It seems as though you know all the mages from the magic tower. I thought you only knew how to use a sword, but it turns out you’re also very interested in magic, sir.”
Don’t be sarcastic.
I wanted Zen to leave. Even if I had to make him faint.
The man, who probably felt the same as I did, asked Zen while grabbing his own hair.
“Why on earth are you being this?”
“I hate swordsmen.”
“. . .”
“. . .”
“. . .”
Not only the young duke, but also the students and the man who was trying to mediate the situation closed their mouths.
Rany grabbed me and whispered.
“I don’t know what’s happening, but I think Zen will be safe. While he’s being a stubborn fool in front of the young duke, the academy is rather mediating now. Let’s leave for now. You’re in more danger right now.”
Before I could refute her, Rany already pulled me.
When I escaped from Zen’s back, I saw the young duke’s eyes chasing after me again.
Until I disappeared from his sight, he didn’t see Zen who was picking a fight with him, but me.
* * *
“Rany.”
As I called her after leaving the drill hall, Rany finally stopped.
Her face looking back at me was also toned with confusion.
Rany brushed her hair back and heaved a sigh.
“I really don’t know what’s happening now. Who brought him here? That stone head?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“I mean, is there nothing else that he could say? What the hell did he mean by disturbing the lecture because he doesn’t like swordsmen? His best friend is a swordsman.”
I was half out of my mind, but then I returned to myself as I heard what Rany said.
“What about Bertin? Does he know about this?”
Rany, who had been silent, squinted her eyes then nodded.
“I don’t know what has Zen done to enter this place, but there’s a high possibility that bastard knows about this.”
I worriedly stared at the drill hall, then I stared down at the quiet pendant.
I thought I couldn’t reach him because he was busy, but how did he think of showing his face here, and in front of a lot of people to boot.
The heart beating hard wasn’t only used when the heart was fluttering.
The fear that suffocated the whole body also made the heart beating hard.
“What should we do if someone recognizes Zen?”
“There won’t be anyone. This is the academy, and most of the people here are students.”
“. . .”
“And looking that the trace related to that incident is almost non-existent, even people involved in that accident know of Zen’s face also . . .”
Rany stopped talking, but then added in a low voice.
“Won’t the possibility of their deaths be very high?”
I turned silent at the possible guess.
Whether her guess was right or wrong, I still felt uneasy.