All-Master Player Of The Academy [EN]: Chapter 34

17. The Price of Truth – 2

As soon as class ended, Ian headed to the Temple of the Sun for his volunteer work.

Willis greeted him with a smile upon his arrival.

“Welcome. I would like you to clean the Shining Star Unit with Priest Rakid.”

“Won’t we just end up arguing if we work together?”

“I don’t think that will happen. Ah, and the reward for this task…”

“Anything holy will do.”

“I will request a good holy artifact from the main temple.”

Having achieved the feat of defeating a demon, it was only natural to reward him.

Willis smiled gently and showed him a list.

“Which one would you like?”

Ian scanned the list and grinned.

“I would like the one with the most divine power.”

After saying that simply, Ian left Mya-ne in Willis’s care and headed to the Shining Star Unit.

When he arrived, he found Rakid, a priest in humble attire, already holding cleaning tools.

A priestly robe instead of armor.

Rakid, holding cleaning tools instead of a sword, looked at Ian rather awkwardly.

“President.”

“I’m not the president anymore.”

“Then I’ll call you senior.”

“There’s no such thing as seniors and juniors in the Academy.”

The Academy determines one’s position based on skill.

Even a freshman can be ranked higher than a graduating senior if they are more skilled.

So, how can you distinguish seniors and juniors by year?

He shook his head, looking troubled.

“Then I’ll call you Prince.”

“The kingdom will try to exclude me because of that. Then I won’t be a prince either.”

[The Scarlet Kingdom is heavily influenced by the Temple of the Sun.]

[King Korza Scarlet will respect the judgment of the Temple of the Sun.]

‘And they will try to get a lot from the Temple of the Sun. They showed how much they respect the Temple of the Sun by entrusting the punishment of the prince.’

“Then what should I call you? Rakid?”

“…Just call me Priest.”

“Yes. Anyway, let’s clean.”

“Let’s.”

Together, they began wiping the windows.

While cleaning, Rakid blurted out.

“I wanted to meet you one more time.”

“Do you want a rematch? Fine. But if we fight again, I will kill you.”

He burst out laughing at Ian’s confidence.

Just like when he was confident despite the pressure from the senior instructors, he was still fearless.

“I envy you. I won’t be able to be confident anymore.”

“You’ll be able to be confident again after you’ve been punished.”

Ian picked up a rag and wiped the window.

“Spilled water can’t be put back, but you can wipe it up and refill the container.”

Rakid sighed.

Ian grinned at him.

“And when catching those guys, there’s no need to borrow the power of demons. If you had made a contract and this had just been glossed over, the problem would have only gotten bigger.”

This could be used as a pretext and become a weakness to attack Rakid.

Perhaps he would have become a pawn of Hastings throughout his time at the Academy.

No, even after graduation, he might have been manipulated to his liking.

“Haa. Then Ian, how would you have responded to this?”

“There are many ways.”

You can use the Academy’s rules or other connections.

“I would announce their actions and pressure their families. Then I would reduce their standing.”

“And?”

“Also, by publicizing the testimonies of the victims, I would reveal what kind of lives they led, and then, through continuous monitoring, I would drive them to their limits… Well. There are other ways too.”

Ian grinned at Rakid, who ended up like this because he made a deal with a demon.

“Using violence like you did isn’t a bad method either. If they don’t listen to words, you have to beat them.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes. But if you’re going to use that method, you should at least do it without getting caught, or without any repercussions even if you do get caught. Otherwise, this kind of thing might happen again.”

Ian didn’t think Rakid was wrong.

He just thought the method was wrong.

Rakid couldn’t say anything to his confidence.

Ian also continued cleaning without saying anything else.

When the cleaning was finished, Rakid stopped him.

“Anyway, you did find the culprit of the incident.”

“Yes. I wanted to tell you that.”

“The Sunstone is in my room in the A class dormitory. Take it.”

Rakid took out a pendant from his neck.

When he pressed it, a key appeared.

“My room is on the 4th floor of the upper dormitory A building. And I heard your sword was broken.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll give you my sword. I don’t think I’ll ever hold a sword again anyway.”

“I’ll use it gratefully.”

Since it was a sword used by a master who was also a prince of a country, it would be better than Karza’s broken sword or the Academy’s sword that breaks after one use.

As Ian had expectations, Rakid sighed.

“Ian. Thanks to you, I am…”

“Then I’ll be on my way. Good luck.”

“…Huh?”

He raised his head as he was about to mutter to himself.

Rakid blankly muttered as Ian left.

“What? That guy.”

Ian had no interest in Rakid’s situation or his thoughts.

The important thing was that he got what he wanted.

“I got the Sunstone, and I also got a holy artifact from the Temple of the Sun.”

“And I also acquired a decent sword to use for a while. I got a lot from catching one demon.”

“I think so too.”

After the service, Ian headed straight to the upper dormitory.

The A building of the upper dormitory, which looked several times better than the middle dormitory.

As he entered Rakid’s room, which occupied an entire floor, Kirke reported.

“Myaa~ Myamya~.”

Mya-ne also felt the energy of the Sunstone and ran towards it.

As Mya-ne scratched the drawer with her front paws, Ian opened it.

Inside was a luxurious box from the Temple of the Sun.

“If I absorb the energy of the sun here, the balance will be broken again, right?”

“Then I should just keep it for now.”

After taking the box, Ian looked around the room.

In the corner of the large room filled with luxurious furniture were a sword and armor.

Ian looked at the sword and nodded.

It was a decent sword.

He put the sword in its scabbard, wore it on his waist, and said.

“Is there anything else to take?”

There were no remaining holy objects or weapons.

In the first place, there were hardly any of Rakid’s personal belongings in this room.

Ian looked around the luxurious but desolate room and turned around without regret.

* * *

Most of the events organized by the student council were canceled due to Rakid’s incident.

From the preparation to the external handling and the relationship with the Imperial Academy.

The Academy was in great chaos due to various matters.

In the meantime, time passed, and the Hero Festival was just around the corner.

During the Hero Festival, the largest event at Fredon Academy, countries, knight orders, and families that support the Academy visit.

Graduates or those scheduled to graduate.

Or to attract talents who show promise.

“They come to scout even though each of us has a family…”

“The students of the Academy are not always welcomed by their families.”

Considering the reason why students are sent to the Academy, it would be even more so.

Rather, they would welcome them going to another family.

It would remove an obstacle to succession and strengthen ties with other families.

Graegin explained a simple case and said in a subtle tone.

“That’s why I’m telling you not to do anything complicated like being a noble and become an adventurer.”

“I still have a lot of time until graduation.”

“You don’t necessarily have to learn everything at the Academy, do you? And you can do almost anything, right?”

That was true.

The only reason to stay at the Academy was to efficiently and quickly obtain information and knowledge to grow Kirke.

In addition, the internal energy of yin and yang had grown to some extent and achieved balance, so there was no reason to stay at the Academy.

But there was nothing particularly good about going somewhere else now.

And since he had a promise with Aranse, there was no need to leave now.

When Ian was reluctant, Haryun said.

“Can you stop saying that? If you’re a noble, you should associate with nobles.”

“Think about Ian’s skills. There is a limit to how high you can go in any noble family or knight order.”

But adventurers are different.

Just become an S-class adventurer.

You can live a life no less than a noble of any country and have freedom.

“Adventurers don’t belong anywhere. There are no restrictions, and you can go anywhere.”

“That also has its disadvantages. You’re often viewed with suspicion when entering territories, and some places don’t even accept you in the capital.”

“Those above A-class are welcomed with just a few procedures.”

“Isn’t that welcome just to use you?”

“Aren’t nobles the same?”

While the two mages were arguing, Kirke reported.

Hearing that, Ian grabbed his sword.

“They’re here!!”

“Ugh! Let’s catch them!! There are more than ten high orcs!!”

As Blanche and Valla entered the barrier, Graegin held out his staff.

“Astral Laser.”

As he activated the prepared magic, light was emitted from the staff.

The light that passed through the barrier hit the approaching high orcs.

Seeing them take damage, Ian walked out leisurely.

“Blanche! Valla! Support me!”

As Haryun prepared magic and spoke, the two who had driven the monsters reacted indifferently.

“He’ll catch them all by himself, right?”

“Didn’t you see yesterday? Ian caught two trolls at the same time by himself.”

Compared to three-eyed trolls, they were much weaker, but trolls were still strong monsters belonging to class B.

Ian caught two of those monsters alone.

So, would that number of high orcs be a big deal?

“I’ll go out if it seems dangerous. But it doesn’t seem like there’s any need to go out.”

“He doesn’t even seem tired from fighting like that.”

As they said, Ian simply slashed down the high orcs.

Even the blood that burst like a fountain as their necks were cut off didn’t touch his body at all.

Valla rubbed her palms as she watched him overwhelm the high orcs.

“We’ll have the highest score with this, right?”

Inside the barrier that Haryun had set up, there was plenty of evidence of monster kills.

Blanche smiled and agreed as she looked at him feeling proud.

“A party with two mages and Ian. I never thought I would be in such a luxurious party in my life.”

“Thank the god of lotteries.”

As the Hero Festival approached, monster hunting training became more difficult.

The period of stay increased as they went deeper into the Miyal Mountains.

Naturally, the number of party members increased, and thanks to that, they formed a party of five.

And that party composition was determined by lottery.

That’s why two mages ended up in the same party.

“By the way, if we sell all of this, it’ll be over two thousand gold.”

There were quite a lot of materials from the monsters that had been collected so far.

Graegin shook his head as he looked at the organized materials.

“Let’s give this all to Ian. Unlike us, he doesn’t receive any support from his family.”

His main family, the Brandon Barony, had never sent any support money so far.

Even if they were a child disowned by the family, they would usually send some pocket money for living expenses.

It was strange that there wasn’t even that.

Considering Ian’s skills and position at the Academy, they should be taking care of him as much as possible.

However, the Brandon Barony had no praise, let alone support.

“Ian is good enough to be made the successor… Why is it like that there?”

“Isn’t that how nobles usually are? Their own power is their priority even if they die. Don’t you know if you look at the Scarlet Kingdom?”

They abandoned the excellent Rakid and pushed Bominda.

Graegin spoke cynically, and the two nobles frowned.

But they couldn’t refute it because it wasn’t wrong.

“That guy should be an adventurer.”

Graegin stared intently at Ian.

In the meantime, Ian, who had caught all the high orcs, gestured towards the inside of the barrier.

As everyone came out and took the evidence of monster kills inside, he said calmly.

“There was an Arachne’s spider web attached to the leg of one of the high orcs earlier. It seems to be nearby, let’s catch it.”

“Arachne… Wouldn’t it be dangerous?”

Unless you have Aura [a type of magical energy], you can’t break that hard exoskeleton.

Ian was the only one here with that level of skill.

He shook his head as Haryun worried.

“I’ll drag it here.”

“Let’s go together.”

“It’s dangerous to go alone.”

As Blanche and Valla got up, Ian shook his head.

“Rest. You must be tired from driving the monsters.”

The person who just fought would be more tired.

But Ian took only Mya-ne and walked out of the barrier.

“He looks good as an adventurer when he’s catching monsters.”

“He looks good as a merchant with his ability to take care of his people. Especially a place that sells precious things like salt.”

“Doesn’t he look perfect as a warrior with that powerful strength?”

“He seems like he would fight well as a warrior even if he was thrown into a large tribe in the Southern Plains.”

The four looked at each other with cold eyes, even though they were on the same side, in order to get Ian, a talented person, into their hands.