Episode 129 Admission to the Academy (4)
A dark night.
Several mercenaries were smoking cigarettes in front of a large and shabby warehouse.
They talked dirty talk and giggled.
“I’m relieved because I don’t hear the children whining.”
“These days, the warehouses have been full of kids.”
“But where did they all go? Where did they all disappear in one day?”
“At dawn, a wagon came and took everything away. I didn’t ask where they were going. I have to live a long time.”
Not too long ago, there were many orphans who had no ties in the warehouse.
But now the warehouse is empty, and after a few days, new children will be transported somewhere.
And it will disappear without knowing when and where it goes.
“I want where the kids come from and where they’re going.”
“Arthur is going to the goal while wondering about useless things.”
“From what I’ve heard, it sounds like you’re going to some kind of nursery in the center of the ecliptic.”
“That’s right, they say it’s a nursery school run by Quo Vadis, a religious chant. Don’t worry.”
The mercenaries stretch or yawn while having trivial conversations.
at that time.
For a moment, the mercenaries all shut their mouths.
It was because a large man who seemed to be 2 meters tall appeared next to them.
Guard Captain Ron Bartison.
A ferocious mercenary from the north. Nicknames pointing to him include bloody things such as ‘The Flesh Crusher’ and ‘The Butcher’s Hammer’.
“Don’t make a fuss, stand up straight as a sentry. If you want to take a few coins with you for that damned life.”
“…”
“Things like crap.”
Bartison clicks his tongue once and continues on his way.
He laughed inwardly at the mercenaries who couldn’t say a word at his size.
What kind of defense could low-level mercenaries without even mana make against themselves who had risen to the level of graduates?
……but?
The mercenaries who were standing were not silent.
Kung-
A man collapsed from his seat.
And after that, the other mercenaries also fall pik pik.
“What!?”
Bartison quickly pulled out the hammer strapped to his waist.
Before long, a long shadow is cast under the glow of a blazing bonfire.
“What is it?”
Bartison was horrified.
On the roof of the warehouse, something was looking down this way.
An ominous stork beak mask with a black cloak covering the face of a hat.
“……Are you Ron Bartison?”
An eerie voice continued.
Bartison involuntarily swallowed dry saliva.
Tsutsutsutsu…
An aura dwelled in Bartison’s hammer.
An aura blade, symbolizing the liquid aura gradienter that only those who reached the highest level could use, wrapped around the hammer.
“What are you doing!”
He swung the hammer with all his might.
……No, I tried to wield it.
However, the only thing he could wield, even if it was short, were his two wrists, which had been cut off before he knew it.
thud!
The hammer flew with the same momentum as it had been lifted up and landed behind it, scattering the aura it carried.
“……uh?”
Bartison staggered back.
No blood came out. Because the amputated side of the wrist was immediately cooked in the scorching heat.
“Uh huh?”
Bartison opened his mouth and tried to scream.
But it didn’t.
An ominous shadow had crawled down from the roof of the warehouse and peered into his face.
“Ron Humbert Bartison. Four years ago, he killed a 13-year-old girl who lived next door after being molested and offered it as a sacrifice to make his first contract with the devil. Since then, he has steadily extracted information from the Northern Guild Alliance and supplied it to the devil. At the end, he belonged to the 5th Corps of the Human Alliance, 75. Betrayed the 1st Platoon, 4th Company, 1st Battalion, 207th Regiment of the Division, and conveyed the location of the platoon’s encampment to the enemy with a hand mirror during the guard duty. Leading our platoon to destruction. Is that correct?”
The shadow’s question was hard and cold.
Bartison responded hurriedly.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu000uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu00uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! of the first one of the incident of 4 years ago, but what about after that!? I didn’t do them!”
“Yes. It’s something we haven’t done yet.”
“What what?”
Bartison hurriedly stepped back.
But I couldn’t.
This time because his ankle was amputated.
“Keep it off!?”
Bartison was now unable to even scream.
The shadow stretched out its right hand, and a dark red sword came out and pierced his neck.
Bartison struggled and died.
“…”
Bikir. night hound.
He looked down at Bartison’s corpse in front of him.
just as expected.
As time passed, Bartison’s corpse began to rot in an instant.
Just like Set Baskerville did.
“Your sense of smell is still the same.”
Bikir frowned slightly.
Those who make a pact with the devil give off a rotten smell from the soul itself.
A stench that gets progressively worse according to the degree of corruption.
Veteran swordsmen who have gone through the era of destruction used to recognize the smell like ghosts, but people of this era will not be able to smell this smell yet.
So for now, only Vikir knew how to smell it.
Tsutsutsutsutsu…
Bartison’s face melted like ice under the scorching sun, and soon he disappeared leaving his skull exposed.
It was unusual that only the face decomposed faster than other body parts.
“Is this the ability of the ten people who signed a contract with this guy? I need to investigate this point.”
Bikir took an owl from his bosom and wrote a letter detailing the current situation.
It was a message sent to Xindi Wendy, who is running numerous secretaries and informants.
Eventually, Bikir, who opened the letter, turned his head.
A few bottles of alcohol were scattered in front of a blazing campfire.
Bikir picked up the bottle of the strongest rum and poured it over the blood stains on his cloak.
KolkkolkkolkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkQl…
strong alcohol washes away the dirty blood.
Bikir tore up a page from the list of names written in the kill book that read Ron Bartison and tossed it into the bonfire.
The page turns black in an instant and rolls in, then turns to ash and floats into the sky and disappears.
……yet.
“Turn it off.”
“Oh, it’s the back of your neck.”
“What? Did I fall asleep?”
The mercenaries standing in front of the warehouse began waking up one by one.
“Yes?”
But when they woke up, all they saw was a dying bonfire that had lost most of its firewood, and a faceless corpse lying on its side.
* * *
Dang-Dang-Dang-Dang-Dang-Dang-Dang-Dang-Dang-Dang-Dang-Dang-Dang-Dang-Dang-
From the clock tower in the center of the academy, a magnificent bell rang twelve times.
A little past midnight. Today’s work ended earlier than expected.
Bikir visited a variety of places, including a mansion in an upscale residential area, a warehouse on the outskirts of the city, a glitzy club in the basement of a gambling den in a slum, a derelict brothel on the shore of a lake, and slit twenty-nine heads that night alone.
What the dead had in common was that they were all suspected of conspiring with the devil, and that their faces melted immediately after they died.
Unfortunately, Vikir had almost no clue about the whole process.
This meant that his assassination campaign would be quite long and arduous.
‘I didn’t expect that there would be a harvest from the first step.’
Today is literally just the first day.
Bikir returned to the academy, remembering the page of the killing department that still remained thick.
…chin!
The way to climb over the outer wall of the academy, which is as high and solid as a castle wall.
Climbing up to the top, you can see that the buildings of the academy are really big and magnificent.
The dormitory, sunk in the darkness far away, is extremely quiet.
Bikir flew towards the lecture hall.
On the other side, from the windows of the distant lecture hall buildings, bright lights and boisterous laughter leaked out.
‘……Is the OT freshman welcome party still going on?’
Bikir pondered for a moment.
Should I go to the dormitory and sleep, or should I attend the freshman welcome party at the latest?
After thinking for a while, the answer came quickly.
‘Let’s come with only the face illuminated.’
It wasn’t to build relationships with seniors or classmates.
Just to make up an alibi in case of an unexpected situation.
He was also slightly worried about Piggy being alone.
Bikir took off his mask, put it in his arms, and landed on the roof of the lecture hall.
Eventually, when I was about to go down the stairs leading down.
…Peeing! Ooooh!
A single firecracker was shot high, brightly embroidering the night sky.
For a moment, Bikir could see two men and women standing by the railing of the rooftop stairs.
‘……!’
Bikir’s eyes narrowed.
It was enough to know who it was from the light of the brief moment when the firecracker exploded and then disappeared.
That beauty, tall and with distinct features, was definitely ‘Usher Bianca’, a freshman in the class of 20.
Isn’t she a super rookie who is gaining popularity after tying for first place in the Cold Weapons Donation Test?
On the other hand, the male student’s face was not particularly memorable, seeing as Bikir did not remember it.
Their mood was mysterious.
The boy shouted at Bianca with his eyes tightly closed.
“I… fell in love at first sight the moment I saw you!
Perhaps he was a sophomore student.
But Bianca was adamant.
“Haa…”
With a deep sigh, she brushed her bangs back and narrowed one eyebrow.
“Senior. Did you call me to that rooftop to say that?”
“Uh huh? Uh huh. That’s right?”
“I’ll first say I’m sorry. I’m dating a guy right now and I can’t afford to do that. I just entered school today.”
“Ha, but! There’s nothing to lose by going out with me! I’m a member of the student council, and I’m also in the Naphtali club…!”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
Before long, Bianca turned away, mercilessly kicking her confessor.
Bikir thought, standing behind a stone pillar on the railing.
‘Good times. Well, it’s a story that has nothing to do with me.’
Watching the fresh love play of children 20 years younger, somehow the tip of my nose itched.
Bikir soon left his seat and took his back from the pillar.
right at that moment.
“……!”
Bianca’s head suddenly jerks.
“Who’s there?”
Bianca asked in a cold voice. She wanted to take a step, but soon a quick shot was fired at the stone pillar where Bikir was hiding.
‘this. Maybe it’s because she’s from the Princess Princess, so she has a good eye.’
Bikir shrugged once.
Tarak!
Bikir immediately kicked off the wall and jumped down.
You don’t even have to walk up the stairs.
Bikir kicked between the railing and the railing post and post and quickly disappeared in the direction of the lecture hall.
And Bianca, who caught up with Bikir a few days later, had no choice but to open her eyes wide.
“……what? I must have felt the presence, right?”
Bianca looked again at the stone pillars and railings and stairs that had just been kicked in.
But something there disappeared as if it were a ghost.
”
Did I see it wrong?
” Superhumans of ‘ can see and hear things several kilometers away.
Also, it is not an exaggeration to say that there is no one who can overcome their speed of movement, especially the pursuit technique, as they are strong and boastful bodies, befitting masters of archery.
Bianca, the eldest daughter of such a family, was chasing someone and lost it?
That was something that couldn’t happen, at least in this academy
. Was it too sensitive?”
Bianca looked between the stone pillars and then turned her head away.
It was time to go back to the freshman reception.
……Just then.
“!”
Bianca stopped walking as she turned
around . The smell that brushes the tip of the nose.
It was definitely the scent of strong rum.
It’s not a smell you would expect from this rooftop emergency staircase, where there’s nothing except the gentle night breeze and the moonlight. In
other words,
‘someone was there.’
Bianca hardened her expression.
Someone was here just a moment ago.
But it didn’t matter now.
It mattered that someone who was here ‘disappeared
.
‘ ……Nonsense!’
Someone must have been there when Bianca felt the presence,
but now that there is nothing in front of Bianca’s eyes,
it means that someone has escaped at a speed that ‘far’ exceeds her speed
. A senior in high school or a professor?’
However, if you are a high school senior or professor, there is no reason to run away from Bianca’s pursuit.
Moreover, Bianca was confident that she would not be inferior to seniors and professors in terms of speed.
In fact, she sufficiently showed off such achievements in the practical evaluation.
“… ..But who?”
Who in the academy could unilaterally ostracize her and disappear?
Bianca sniffed at the smell of rum that was slowly disappearing in the night breeze, confused.
Then.
“Hey! Bianca! Hurry up! It’s time for the freshman talent show soon!”
From the window below, I hear the sound of classmates waving and calling.
“…”
Bianca then had no choice but to turn around with a puzzled look on her face
. Leaving the bay behind.
