# 54
Helmut
Episode 54
Chapter 4 Exam Study
“So who are you looking for?”
As soon as I found an inn, I left my horse and took off my cumbersome disguise. At the Greta Academy he immediately visited, the office staff responded to Helmut with an annoyed expression. As the entrance exam got closer, there were more than one person looking for academy staff or students. See preferential treatment or get information. Some even tried to bribe people.
‘He looks pretty and wears high-quality clothes. Which family’s son is he from? Still, you came yourself without asking the servants.’
Helmut named the person he wanted to meet.
“Ethan Kudrow.”
“Are you talking about Ethan Kudrow, the instructor of the swordsmanship department?”
‘You’ve come to the right place.’
I heard it would be in Baden. Although I wasn’t sure if it would be at the Academy. Helmut nodded.
“He is out on the road.”
“When will you be back?”
“Let’s see. You left a message saying you’ll be back in three days.”
“Then come back in three days.”
“What business do you wish to meet him?”
“Do you know my teacher?”
‘Ah, I guess he wants to ask for a recommendation.’
The employee snorted inwardly. But it wasn’t his place to say anything. Ethan Kudrow is a stubborn man. Just because you’re an acquaintance’s student, they won’t give you any convenience even if you’re not skilled enough.
“I convey it that way. “What’s your name?”
“Helmut.”
“Well then. Please come back here in the afternoon in three days.”
After leaving Greta Academy, Helmut headed straight to the inn. I wondered if I would have to sleep on the street because it was so crowded, but luckily I was able to find a room at an inn with a spacious training room. Helmut devoted himself to training for the next three days. Baden, which has good security, is not even touched by the Black Hawk.
He visited the academy again three days later. The same employee as last time greeted Helmut. He immediately recognized Helmut. I remembered him as a handsome boy with an unusually intimidating atmosphere.
“Ah, it’s someone who came a while ago.”
“Is that person back?”
“Yes that’s right. “First of all, I told you… but they said you don’t know Helmut.”
It seems that the name Helmut he left at that time was mistaken for an acquaintance of Ethan Kudrow. Helmut said, thinking that this was a very vague question.
“That’s my name. “I wish we could meet in person and talk.”
Anyway, even if I asked properly, I couldn’t reveal Darian’s name. You must not reveal that you are Darian’s disciple. As long as those who trapped him and sent him to the Forest of Pahe live. Everyone who has ever seen Helmut’s swordsmanship has died.
“Well… well, let me tell you first. “Just wait and see.”
He left immediately. After waiting for about ten minutes, the office worker returned and gestured to Helmut.
“Follow me here.”
Helmut was guided inside the academy. You can only enter the academy, especially the areas where professors and instructors live, with a pass. An office worker standing in front of a tightly closed iron door took out a card from his pocket. Then he held it to the circular indentation in the middle of the door where the pattern was engraved.
Jiing. It seemed as if magic power was gathering, and then a huge door clattered open. The office worker pushed the door handle open and spoke proudly.
“It’s magic.”
He immediately walked down a hallway lined with antique doors lined with portraits and stood in front of a door.
“This is the place. Instructor Kudrow is waiting inside.”
The office worker knocked on the door. A heavy voice was heard from inside, telling me to come in.
“Now inside.”
Helmut nodded, opened the door and went inside. An unfamiliar landscape unfolded before my eyes. It was an old-fashioned room made of mahogany, decorated with carved furniture and fur. Rather than a prosecutor’s room, it looked more like a nobleman’s mansion and looked more like the room of a scholar sitting at a desk leafing through a thick book. The best place he had ever seen was Xenia’s inn, so it was unfamiliar to Helmut.
‘I said Ethan Kudrow Kudrow.’
Is it because he is a nobleman? The quality was extraordinary. In the room, there was a man with a strong appearance, standing with his back to him. Helmut immediately placed his hand on the sword handle. I could feel the serenity of Vis from him. It felt like a deep lake with a still surface. Although it is said to have been stored away, it has been refined and polished by a swordsman who has been training for a long time.
Helmut could vaguely feel it. Ethan Kudrow was not as strong as Darian. But what was clear was that Helmut was the strongest swordsman he had ever encountered.
‘Level 1 mercenary? I wonder if it will be like this at that point.’
A voice came from him.
“I don’t know the name Helmut. “For what purpose did you come to me?”
He turned around slowly. A middle-aged face that looks younger than expected. It was an aristocratic impression where intelligence and sharpness coexisted. A swordsman of high caliber retains his youth beyond his age. Dark green eyes stared piercingly at Helmut. His eyes were as sharp as a hawk.
If things don’t go well, Helmut may have to fight this guy. I was confused as to whether I wanted that or not. The desire to easily achieve the goal, yet the desire to fight. As I face a strong person whose victory I cannot guarantee, my stomach trembles and a chilling shiver runs through me.
the man urged.
“Speak.”
Those words brought Helmut back to his senses. It was not the time to fight.
“Do you remember the oath you made 26 years ago?”
“The… oath I made?”
The man’s eyes changed. Speech sounds became blurred. The man looked at Helmut with suspicious eyes.
“Every time I remember. “I have never forgotten it for a moment.”
“Darian Differt, that’s my teacher’s name.”
“Oh my god. “Are you alive?”
“No, he passed away recently at the end of his life.”
It was unfamiliar to say about Darian’s death with one’s own mouth. It was really a while ago. Helmut was in the forest of Pahe and was taught in Darian’s hut. But now Helmut was standing in a room at the Greta Academy.
“I see.”
The man had a sad expression. If it wasn’t acting, I knew that that facial expression meant sadness. However, the man’s eyes soon changed to determination.
“What is the proof that you are his disciple?”
“This sword. “They said you’d know if you showed me.”
Helmut drew his sword. The prosecutor can recognize the true character of the sword. An extraordinary atmosphere arose on that day. It is a famous sword that is too good for a young boy to have.
“I remember. “It must be his sword.”
The man nodded.
“It’s been over twenty years since the sword saint, Darian Defert, went missing. When I was young, I owed him my life and said that I would repay it with my family and name one day. He said he would remember my name. But the opportunity never came. He passed away, and today only that disciple stands before me.”
If he is missing, it means that Darian Differt’s honor and status have not been damaged. It also meant that those who sent Darian to the Forest of Digging had no justification.
“Now tell me. “What is the reason you came to see me?”
Helmut answered without hesitation.
“I want to enroll in Greta Academy.”
That was Darian’s will. He hopes that Helmut will enter the academy and learn about human life. The Kudrow family, which carries on the lineage of wise men, has devoted itself to Baden for generations, and Ethan Kudrow was an assistant at Greta Academy when he met Darian. Still, there was no guarantee that he would still be here twenty years later, but I was lucky.
“And Darian asked me to tell you that he wants you to take care of me? “I don’t know if it’s right to say this.”
‘I’m not even a child, so why do I ask you to take care of me? I’m still taking care of myself.’
Helmut was still a minor, but he was an adult by Farhe Forest standards. And the forest standard of digging was Elaga’s standard. At the age of fourteen, a leopard has had enough to eat.
“…It probably means you need a guardian.”
“Is that what you mean?”
“Why are you trying to enter Greta Academy? You are a disciple of the Sword Saint. There is no better teacher than him in the academy. “There’s no need to learn swordsmanship, right?”
“At the academy, you don’t just learn swordsmanship.”
A life of belonging to the knowledge and academics needed to live in harmony with students of the same age with different personalities. It was no exaggeration to say that everything human was condensed in this academy. Darian hoped Helmut would learn how to live with people. And he said it in a very direct way.
“I grew up alone and had poor social skills, so they told me to go to the academy and become a better person.”
“…Okay, I see what you mean.”
The man nodded.
“How old are you?”
“Fourteen years old. “I’ll be fifteen soon.”
As the year changes, I turn fifteen. And there is only one month left until the year changes.
“Then it would be better to take a transfer test rather than an entrance test. “It’s better to start at my age.”
Helmut was slightly surprised by the unexpected sound.
“Do I have to take the test?”
Test is an unfamiliar word. I think Xenia said she was taking the entrance exam. Did she say she studied a lot? Of course, since Xenia would not enter the academy for swordsmanship, the content of the exam would be different, but it felt like a task had suddenly been thrown at her.
And Ethan interpreted Helmut’s reaction differently.
‘Are you saying that a student of the Sword Saint has to take the academy exam?’
The energy and standing posture that can be felt at first glance are unusual. Geomseong is the boy who chose to pass on his sword. You have the right to show such arrogance.
“…No matter how much I am an instructor, Greta Academy is the most prestigious among prestigious schools. I can’t put you in just by recommendation. That’s strictly prohibited. Of course, exceptions are allowed under the principal’s line.”
The man thought deeply and said.
“If you reveal that you are a student of Sword Saint Darian Defert and I guarantee your skills, the principal will allow your transfer.”
“I won’t reveal that I am Darian’s disciple for the time being.”
“Why is that?”
“The reason Darian disappeared was because he was betrayed.”
Helmut concluded his speech firmly.
“So it wouldn’t be good for it to be known that he has a disciple.”
“That… what do you mean?”
The man looked at Helmut with astonished eyes.
“You were betrayed? How on earth could anyone harm the Sword Saint? I didn’t hear anything at all. No, that fact has never been known to the world.”
“I’m not asking you to help me with that, so I don’t know. Darian doesn’t want revenge. “I don’t want me to take his revenge.”
Helmut decided to refrain from saying anything for now. Darian may have introduced this man because he trusted him, but Darian has already been betrayed by his trust. So you cannot absolutely trust his insight.
‘is not it? ‘If only the person who had been betrayed could trust it.’
On the other hand, if Darian, who was deeply distrustful of humans, asked him to visit him, wouldn’t Ethan Kudrow be a very trustworthy person? Helmut was worried. At that moment, Ethan Kudrow asked.
“It’s something I can’t be involved in, but are you saying you’re going to leave it like this?”
It was an angry face that seemed to say that it was unfair. If he can keep the oath he made 26 years ago, he is a person with strong convictions and stubbornness. There was a hint of the thought that whoever the other person was, they would have to pay for their sins. Helmut shook his head.
“It would be a different story if they were targeting me. But not right now.”
My current skills are not enough to deal with the enemy who defeated Darian. Helmut couldn’t even reach Darian’s feet. It is not too late to fight after gaining more experience and strength. It would be difficult if it were too late and all the enemies died of old age.
