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A century has passed since the establishment of the Awakener education system, and it is likely that only the most naive dreamers still believe in the academy city’s grand slogan of being the “cradle that nurtures future heroes.”

As long as Ether, magic engineering, Aetherium, and the invaluable resources flowing from dungeons are intricately linked to the industry, educational institutions could not escape the circumstances of adults.

The most cynical critics have bluntly labeled the Awakener academies as mere places where young Awakened Ones strut around in front of ordinary people, obtaining qualifications to head towards less dangerous battlefields.

However, it would be an overstatement to solely define the Awakener academies as diploma-printing machines.

In the end, this place was a melting pot where the most aggressive and proactive members of humanity—or those who would soon become so—gathered.

Moreover, with Awakened Ones seizing wealth and power from humanity, the role of the academies became even more complex. The academy became a high society social club and a gateway to joining the new upper class.

Within it lay a maze of politics, and even the students couldn’t escape the whirlpool of this complex politics.

Starting with duels against classmates, they had to face family assignments and learn the art of politics alongside their studies, figuring out how to resolve them through personal experience.

On the stage of politics, a banquet of blood is always to follow.

The day after the midterm exams at Aegis Academy ended, Irene Solstice was swinging her sword in a dim dungeon, and this was precisely the reason.

Despite having gone through several purges, the internal politics of Helios were still quite rough.

“Planning to ambush the academy to target my neck was the worst possible choice.”

– Crack!

As gunfire echoed from the hill, a fallen enemy thrashed beneath my feet as the spearhead dug into flesh.

Although sword energy and magical power clashed and sparks flew, the moment the barrier that couldn’t withstand the power of the sword was torn apart, a golden spear penetrated my chest.

“The Special Operations Division has immediately detected suspicious movements. The academy and the Board of Directors quickly grasped the situation. The Headmaster and the Student Council President were horrified, and the families and clans affiliated with the academy demanded that I ‘teach a solid lesson to the damned intruder who stepped in with muddy shoes.'”

An enemy who appeared to be the captain crawled toward the sword, groaning with a broken leg.

“This fucking whore…”

Irene coldly replied, kicking the sword aside.

“Why didn’t you ambush me when I came to the central region instead? It was clever of you to lure our rival clans, but that’s as far as it goes. You have essentially signed your execution warrant yourself.”

Thanks to that, while it caused some inconvenience to the academy, the hunt became significantly easier. Location tracking was swift.

Even if it hadn’t been an ambush, there was no one willing to listen to the words of these defeated soldiers from the start.

It rather made it more uncomfortable for even those who had no business with the situation.

The incompetent grievance forces, which had pretended to be part of Helios’s ‘Pro-Rigel faction’, disappeared again.

They had tried to rally a bunch of miscellaneous clans to pull some tricks with their interests, but it was a futile effort.

The gap in combat power between elite hunters and cheap mercenaries was far too great.

“Director Morgan, Area A-9 has been completely cleared. How’s the progress on A-14?”

Stepping next to Violet, a member of the Special Operations Division, who was casually sipping from a cup filled with ice, hesitated momentarily before speaking.

“We’re clearing it smoothly, but the resistance is not trivial! This place seems to be their stronghold—”

“I’ll move immediately… Let’s go.”

Following Irene’s orders, she dashed over the hill, and the soldiers silently followed her.

“Irene! I can’t stress this enough, this Radio Special Operations Division member is truly useful. Not to mention laser communication, it’s far better than those expensive, magic-powered flare communicators or quantum communication arrays.”

Radio Violet chattered incessantly. Soon, Viktor’s voice echoed.

“Artifact Recovery Division, stop the chit-chat! Irene, I’ve cleared Area A-5 too. It’s just a bunch of lousy mercenaries here. I’ll join you shortly!”

As soon as she nimbly jumped over the third hill, Irene faced shabby armed forces stationed in a small forest.

Morgan, wiping the sweat from his bronze skin, shouted upon seeing her.

“You’re here! Look over there! It seems like all the leftover Rigel faction that slipped away is hiding here.”

“I’m moving in immediately.”

With backfire support, Irene surged forward, leading the team. She easily dodged small caliber bullets and deflected arrows and bolts charged with magic. A large caliber round struck her chest but rebounded, crumpled.

“Here they come! Shoot!”

An enemy who appeared to be their commander shouted out as his throat threatened to burst.

Pathetic trash that claimed to be the Rigel faction. Fleeing over embezzlement, and now plotting assassination.

At the moment right before the breach, as the enemy’s eye clearly caught sight of her, a smile spread across the shouter’s lips.

Just as she was figuring out the meaning, the cleverly concealed camouflage was lifted.

Right before the shot fired, Irene discerned its true identity.

A large caliber artillery piece from the Era of Great Wars.

“You’ve fallen for it! Irene! Die!”

Flames burst forth right in front of her, and as the intense golden magical power enveloped her, Irene unhesitatingly grasped her spear and swung it.

With a metallic clang, she almost lost grip of the spear due to the rough impact, but the projectile hit her swung spear and exploded over the hill.

“…Huh, huh?”

Facing the dumbfounded enemies, Irene thought it inconsequential.

“If I’d hit straight on, I would have had to submit an absence report.”

She thought back to how in the past, such a crude projectile would have posed a threat to her. Yet, with how much she had grown, such oversized ammo seemed pathetic.

As their last option was neutralized, the panicked enemies were swiftly overwhelmed by Helios’s strike team.

The last Rigel faction soldier, caught in Morgan’s strong grip, thrashed about.

“Fuck! You guys must be insane! It would have been better if Rigel—”

The Helios soldiers next to him scoffed.

“Starting from Cascadia, we’ve witnessed financial deficits disappear as we received various investments, and every project that we’ve recently engaged in has been overflowing with funds. To us, his screams are merely the excuses of an embezzler.”

“Ugh, a guy claiming to care for Helios brings in other clans?”

“How will you explain the fact that you’ve been eating into our paychecks?”

With taunting remarks came the beatings.

When the kicks kept coming, Morgan raised his hand to stop them.

“The loser is blabbering too much… So, do you want to do this yourself?”

Morgan turned his head. Irene, nodding, raised her spear. The man’s face distorted with fear.

“Ahhhh! Fuck! Open your eyes wide! See the truth! That girl you’re following so happily! She’s the one who smashed her dad’s head into a robot to secure the clan president seat—”

The head rolled on the floor. A smirk decorated Morgan’s lips.

“The truth is that our clan is flourishing. Don’t worry too much about what that guy said behind.”

While the soldiers continued to casually clean up as if they were out for a picnic, Irene sighed.

Thanks to having revealed themselves, they could finally clean up the remaining trash lurking inside Helios.

Now she could fully concentrate on work matters.

“I’m tired…”

Juggling both school life and company work was undoubtedly a challenging task, even for her, known as an honor student.

Most tasks were handled remotely, but she was still returning to headquarters to manage important matters, continuously learning as she went.

Out of personal pride, she couldn’t abandon her studies.

Although it would likely be a lively friend who loved bombs who took the top spot in grades, she needed to diligently work to at least stay right below.

Still, Irene resolved to take things easy for a while.

First, let me start with a sweet cup at the café.

“How was the exam? You seemed pretty busy lately.”

During noon at the academy, while Irene sipped coffee, Violet confidently answered Daphne’s question.

“Yeah! I think I did well!”

Hearing that she did well, it was certain that she’d get a perfect score.

A smile crept onto Irene’s face. Lucian would probably be furious again.

Even though she had seen her train and study hard, nothing felt as disappointing as the effort to overcome an insurmountable wall.

“Did you really do well? You probably cheated again. To be honest, that’s not studying.”

“No, Kalia! This should be called big data learning!”

“Sigh…”

Yeah, this light-hearted bickering atmosphere. I like it.

For someone like her, who straddled both school and clan, such rare moments of daily leisure were precious.

“Oh, right. Irene! Buy me something to celebrate the end of the exam!”

“Violet! What do you mean all of a sudden?”

Could it be the upcoming scent of spring in March, or the warmth of everyday life now distant from the smell of blood?

Feeling quite uplifted, Irene decided to grant her friend’s request generously.

“Daphne, it’s okay. After everything Violet has given me, so what do you want?”

“Just buy me a single aircraft for the Special Operations Division! A fixed-wing aircraft! A jet fighter!”

A deep smile settled on Irene’s face.

Sure, lately all profits had turned into black instead of red, so why not?

“Is it going to be for self-destruction?”

For a moment, a gloomy look crossed Daphne and Kalia’s faces, but Violet quickly looked around, then answered.

“Maybe that’s a possibility!”

With her signature cheerful expression, Irene smiled back.

“No.”

Violet’s face, once filled with anticipation, quickly turned sullen.

**

Fortunately, Irene did not oppose our words with ethical grounds.

“That’s too expensive.”

“Huh? Hey, I think you’ve omitted a more important reason…”

“You all secretly acknowledge it, don’t you? That for Violet, self-destruction is a rational choice. It’s better to discard the reluctance.”

Irene gently smiled and pulled a tablet from her pocket.

When the screen changed, a list of names glowed red with check marks.

“Uh, that’s…”

“Oh, don’t mind it. I haven’t sent it yet, so I’ll take care of it soon. Just wait a bit… Here.”

On the tablet appeared a catalog showing a website that sold vehicles and planes, much like used car dealerships.

Violet’s eyes widened in amazement.

“W-Wow… I’ve never seen anything like this before…”

“This suddenly turned into work talk,” one student chimed in.

“Wow, they sell all this?”

As her friends gazed in astonishment, the screen shifted.

“That can’t be helped. This is a platform accessible only to clans, you see. Individuals won’t receive access codes.”

She manipulated the screen to display the aviation section.

“Planes are more expensive than vehicles. Even helicopters are quite costly, and a jet fighter? As you can see, the numbers differ by orders of magnitude.”

On the tip of her delicate white fingers were credits ranging at least from nine to ten digits.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but using expensive combat jets for disposable purposes is out of the question.”

“Wha?”

“Then how about this?”

The display on the clan vehicle platform revealed countless kinds of fighters arrayed.

With a swift flick, she tapped one, and an image popped up.

They looked like somewhat clunky biplanes.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on this for ages. It’s for you, how’s that?”

I was somewhat disappointed. A toy straight out of the Great War era.

“This is an outdated fighter!”

Irene glanced at my face and began to explain patiently, seemingly like an aunt observing a nephew.

“Still, it can carry 500 kilograms of bombs and fly at a maximum of 600 km/h. It’s pretty cheap since it’s a second-hand model from over half a century ago.”

When I looked at the price, it was nothing in comparison to the previous jet fighters seen. It made me think that perhaps something like this might even just be better if it were single-use.

Irene showcased a different plane next. This time, a transport aircraft.

“How about a transport aircraft? It can accommodate a maximum of 12 passengers or carry 5 tons of cargo…”

Unconsciously, I started muttering the cargo capacity.

“5 tons?”

Irene wore a somewhat dazed expression before twitching her lips upward.

“Yeah, 5 tons of cargo.”

Kalia let out an ambiguous sigh, caught somewhere between smiling and frowning.

“…You’re getting weirdly fixated again. You’re not planning to crash it into a building or something, right?”

“No! It’s for dealing with bad monsters!”

“Then that’s a relief…”

Irene promptly made a purchase agreement on the spot.

“For now, I’ll order three combat jets and two transport aircraft for experimentation.”

“Is that okay?”

Looking at it this way, funds seemed to leak like water. I felt even more apologetic for asking so carelessly.

“We have confiscated assets, so if we redirect part of the budget to the Special Operations Division, it won’t be that much of an issue. Some of the categories the scholarship officer mentioned are doing well too.”

Daphne and I unwittingly spoke up.

“Confiscated assets? That sounds a bit scary.”

“Why is the scholarship officer involved?”

Irene paused for a moment, then scrutinized us with an awkward expression.

“Sorry, I’ve been talking too much about business, haven’t I? Then…”

The conversation topic quickly shifted to exams, the academy, and what to do for relaxation.

From now on, I guess I’ll have to stick to academy topics…

One Violet muttered, almost listlessly. Speaking only of serious matters, it didn’t feel much like an academy.

As they shook off the conversation and stood up, a message came in.

What is this?

The sender of the text was Irene,

[Not sure what you’ll use it for, but be careful.]

In the second message, a photo sent along displayed the fusion ship we had captured.

[Lately, there’s been a lot of talk at sea. Dunhind Security Service’s CEO.]

I was taken aback as I looked at the smartphone screen and quickly turned to look. Irene stared back at me nonchalantly.

“Violet, is there something you forgot?”

Another text came buzzing in.

“Oh, it seems like I got a call. I don’t really care, so don’t mind me.”

[I trust you no matter what you’re doing at sea, just don’t make too big of a splash. (´∪`) ]

“Uh…”

My friend suddenly seemed a bit terrifying. We’d become famous without even realizing it.

Could it be that the scholarship officer knows, too?

**

After finishing exams at the academy, feeling buoyant, my next task took me elsewhere a few days later.

Exiting the central high-speed railway station in the western district, a gloomy sky welcomed us. The March air was still chilly, but our bodies, as accustomed to the warmth inside the high-speed train, felt the difference more vividly.

While heading to the designated location assigned by the university, I took in the unfamiliar scenery.

“It’s my first time receiving a request from a university. Especially from a prestigious one like Eckhart…”

There was tension in Manager Leslie’s voice.

As expected of the manager’s words. Normally, universities tend to request reputable clans rather than scouring anonymous networks to find people like us.

By the way, Eckhart University. This was the second time I’d encountered it directly. It was a term I had never heard of before, so I’d mulled it over several times.

What could it be? I was absorbed in thought, mixed with curiosity and a slight anxiousness.

Upon arriving at the designated location, a man who appeared to be a representative from the university was waiting for us.

A serious-looking man in a suit with sunglasses.

The moment I saw the familiar faces of the plump men standing next to him, I could instinctively grasp the nature of this request.

“You’re here? I was right! They are the Dunhind Security Service!”

“A graduate student! The one from that pirate ship. Has another graduate student been kidnapped? Is that why you’ve called us?”

As the voice modulator hummed, the graduate student shook his head.

“No! We weren’t kidnapped; you all must have seen them. The situation is…”

“Then who is it?”

Instead of the stuttering graduate student, the suited man answered by handing over a document.

“This person here, the professor, right?”

In the photo was a white-haired female professor I had seen a few weeks earlier.

“So the rumors among the students were true, that you knew her. Bernike Broadman, a tenured professor at our academy. Specializing in cognitive neuroscience and Ether neuroscience.”

“Is she a pirate?”

I casually threw out the question, and the suited man sighed deeply and adjusted his sunglasses.

“She’s worse than that. At least that’s the assumption so far.”

The man pulled up a map on his phone and pointed to the south, far from the Rustroom Archipelago.

An image material emerged; it was a pirate base located in the green zone of the ocean.

“A warlord with a faction against the clan. We assume the professor was kidnapped and taken here.”

In one corner, I noticed the federal emblem displayed.

“It’s the Navy, isn’t it?”

“Yes, although they’re pirates, they’re also part of the navy. There’s an important project at stake. We need to get her out quickly.”

I furrowed my brows. The scale of the request was too large.

Such matters shouldn’t be handled too cheaply.

“What’s the reward?”

The suited man confidently replied.

“Our university’s knowledge.”

Dumbfounded, I found myself lost for words. What did he just offer?

“Is that a surprise? Although you might be an obscure clan, we have adequate…”

I interrupted.

“Are you kidding me?”

The man, taken aback, removed his sunglasses.

“What, what are you talking about?”

Immediately tossing around the word knowledge seemed like a scam.

“Shut up and give me money!”

These guys, they looked down on us, aiming to cut prices from the get-go. If they pull off such nonsense, they should be shown a taste of steel.

 

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