Academy’s New Guard is Unusual - Chapter 31

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 31
‘Stubborn fellow.’
Volkan conducted the secondary inspection with unshakable resolve.
Instead, Volkan increased the already rapid pace of his inspections even further. By now, his hands were a blur.
Impressive speed, though it still couldn’t match the click of magical detection.
The carriages backed up, congestion growing by the minute.
Even Volkan faced a predicament—the secondary inspection yielded nothing.
Naturally, the guards grew increasingly sharp-edged.
Their resentment toward Volkan deepened steadily.
One of them even began cursing him to me directly.
Then—.
Beep! Beep!
A shrill alarm sounded.
The headmaster’s Magical Circle had activated.
The bricks of the back gate cracked open. Hundreds of Magical Devices burst through the fissures.
Hundreds of lethal, high-grade Magical Devices trained their barrels on the carriage simultaneously.
‘Ah, so that’s how it is.’
Even I was startled, so I could only imagine the others’ reactions.
The coachman of the problem carriage had already soaked through his breeches.
“I-I’m sorry!! I-I smuggled in liquor illegally!”
The carriage owner screamed, hands shot up in surrender.
“Search it thoroughly!”
At Bex’s shout, the guards swarmed the carriage. They practically tore it apart in their inspection.
Tightly wrapped bottles came tumbling out from the carriage floor.
“……What is this, contraband liquor?”
Liquor, especially Contraband Liquor, was clearly forbidden goods. However, compared to the hundreds of dazzling Magical Devices bursting out during the inspection, it was a rather trivial violation.
The guards’ faces fell in disappointment.
Then Bex raised his fist and bellowed.
“This is what Magic proves—it filters out even liquor!”
Bex carried himself as if he personally had found the contraband, striking an extraordinarily triumphant pose.
At Bex’s cry, the disappointed guards brightened.
“Liquor is hard to catch in regular inspection, but Magic did it!”
“Magic!!”
The guards cheered for Magic.
Then, among the waiting carriages, figures began to flee. The Magical Devices that had burst from the back gate were simply too menacing.
As they ran in droves, the already high trust in the guards soared even higher. Bex, the squad leader, began calling me by the title of leader.
“Though the inspection isn’t quite finished yet—.”
“Never mind! Let them through!”
Volkan’s treatment could only worsen.
Though Volkan continued the secondary inspection with stubborn persistence, he couldn’t detain all the incoming carriages. One by one, they passed Volkan and entered.
‘It’s about time.’
Then a melancholy voice reached my ears.
“Haha, a new face, I see.”
A handsome youth removed his hat and offered a greeting. His smile was perfectly even, his manner thoroughly polite.
Upon seeing the youth, Bex’s face warmed into a smile.
“Ah, this lad is Colin. He handles supplies for the Elite Guard Corps. How’ve you been?”
“I’ve been running about diligently as always, sir.”
Bex chatted warmly with the youth. Given Colin’s apparently good standing, the other guards regarded him with warm eyes.
I took a casual look at the carriage Colin had brought.
It was an utterly ordinary supply carriage.
Nothing to find fault with anywhere.
The problem was that my right heart had been pounding roughly since the moment he appeared.
‘Finally showed up.’
Elysium Academy came under attack nearly every day.
An Oracle prophesied that a hero who would save the continent would be born among this year’s freshman class.
It made sense. If they killed everyone at Elysium Academy, no hero would be born.
That’s why all sorts of unsavory types were targeting the academy daily.
The first was the republic’s terror attack during the entrance ceremony, and the second assault came today.
‘It was the Demon Knight Order.’
The Demon Knight Order was an order of knights who had made contracts with demons.
By contracting with demons, they blocked curses—a knight’s fatal weakness—and received power from those demons as well.
Demon Knights felt no pain. Moreover, they didn’t die unless they suffered lethal wounds like decapitation.
At least, those below vice-commander rank had mediocre auras and mediocre Dark Magic.
Or so it should have been—.
‘Properly reinforced.’
My right heart pounded roughly. These were men who’d contracted with proper demons.
The level of those who should have been mediocre had shot up sharply. The cause was obvious.
‘Damn Hard Mode.’
Hard Mode’s influence didn’t seem limited to just the Rifts.
In a way, it made sense. If Rifts appeared earlier and difficulty increased, the entities spawned from them would grow stronger too.
At least the composition hadn’t changed—that was some mercy.
“Don’t worry, the inspection won’t take long.”
Bex said, placing a hand on Colin’s shoulder.
Elysium Academy was truly absurdly vast. How vast? So many students got lost that warning signs reading “Do not stray from the path” were posted everywhere.
In a world without CCTV, vast grounds were fatal to security. If someone disreputable wanted to hide, finding them was nearly impossible.
The Demon Knight Order had targeted precisely that. They’d hidden within the academy to hunt students and offered them as sacrifices to their demons.
Worse, they left no trace, making pursuit extremely difficult. They were like cockroaches.
The way to stop Demon Knights was to prevent them from entering the academy in the first place.
I tapped my Guard Staff with my finger.
If I left mana on his carriage, the headmaster would appear.
The headmaster was the witch’s mother and one of the world’s supreme mages. Summoning her would handle this cleanly.
Then our eyes met. A flicker of tension appeared in his gaze.
I moved my Guard Staff. Light scattered from its tip, enveloping the carriage.
However, unlike before, the light didn’t touch the carriage.
It covered the carriage from a distance, so it wouldn’t touch.
Preventing the headmaster’s Magical Circle from activating.
“Go through.”
The youth’s rigid face relaxed, and a cold smile played at his lips.
That sneer transformed into his usual polite smile.
“Thank you kindly.”
The youth seized the reins. The horse whinnied long and moved forward.
“At this rate, I’ll be clocking out by tomorrow.”
I dropped a casual hint to Bex. Bex immediately shouted at Volkan.
“Volkan, take it easy. You volunteered for this. You have no right to stop anyone.”
Bex, having received much from Colin, personally escorted him inside.
With the carriages already backed up and Bex acting like that, even Volkan couldn’t object.
Thanks to that, Colin was able to slip inside safely.
I watched the carriage disappear into the distance, then spoke to Bex.
“We’ll call it a day here.”
“Call it a day?”
“Problem?”
“……How could there be! Haha!”
Bex laughed heartily. He grabbed my shoulder and whispered.
“Why not join our squad? You’re too talented to waste on Unit 42.”
Another recruitment offer.
I glanced at Volkan and spoke casually.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Do! Think it over carefully!”
Volkan stared at me intently.
By now, the guards were openly treating Volkan like baggage.
Not only had a newcomer completely overshadowed him, but he was also being openly disrespected. That newcomer had even questioned whether his parents were savages.
A priest would’ve cursed and thrown punches at such treatment, yet Volkan’s eyes remained transparent as he looked at me.
A truly remarkable saint. It made me wonder what exactly had turned Volkan into a berserker.
In the end, I failed to make Volkan fly into a rage.
But that’s fine.
I found another way.
‘His parents were his reverse scale.’
Attacking that point should work.
But the immediate priority was the Demon Knight Order.
I walked in the direction Colin’s carriage had gone.
Milo quickly fell into step behind me. His face was beaming.
“Wow, impressive! Guards at inspections are usually picky, but you’ve remolded them in just a few hours—. This must be record-breaking inspection speed. And without a single problem!”
Milo raised both thumbs in praise. He seemed thoroughly delighted.
I corrected a flaw in what Milo said.
“No problem? There’s clearly one over there.”
“Huh?”
“There.”
I pointed to the carriage disappearing into the distance.
“……Isn’t that the carriage you inspected yourself?”
“It was.”
“Did you let it through knowing what was in it?”
“I did.”
Milo’s mouth fell open.
“If something goes wrong at the inspection gate, it means your head, sir! Your head!”
“It’s fine. I’ll clean it up right away.”
“Clean it up right away…… Wait, if that’s the plan, why not catch them during the inspection in the first place?”
“Then I’d have to share the credit.”
“……Is the carriage hiding a cake or something?”
“No, knights who made contracts with demons.”
“???”
Milo blinked stupidly before letting out a scream a moment later.
“Demon Knights?!!”
“Yeah, you know them?”
“Of course I do!”
“Your words are short.”
“I’m your… No! Demon Knights are knights who made contracts with demons, right?!”
“That’s right, since they’re Demon Knights.”
“Are you saying Demon Knights are in there?”
“No.”
“Phew, right? I mean, no matter how crazy things get, taking in a Demon Knight—.”
“There are Demon Knights, plural.”
Milo’s mouth gaped open.
He was so shocked he couldn’t even scream.
I glanced casually at the carriage. The supply carriage didn’t go far before stopping.
It had somehow found a spot that was perfectly isolated and overgrown with thick brush.
Colin climbed down from the coachman’s seat and opened the carriage.
The carriage interior was packed with supplies. Colin knocked on the carriage floor in a steady rhythm.
Soon the carriage bottom opened and half-naked men emerged. They looked quite rough.
Like a suicide squad, the men wore grim expressions as they rummaged through the supplies, retrieved their armor, and equipped themselves. In moments, the now-armed men climbed back into the carriage.
Colin sat back on the coachman’s seat.
The entire sequence was remarkably smooth.
“S-shouldn’t we request backup right now?!”
Milo spoke urgently. His face had gone ashen.
Given the Demon Knight Order’s infamous reputation, his reaction was understandable. The Demon Knights were genuinely strong. And these ones were even stronger.
But I had no intention of calling for backup.
Ding!
[Sudden Quest] Hunt the Demon Knight Order
Objective: Slay Demon Knights (0/7)
These men were precious quest material for me.
“I’m enough on my own.”
“What? Don’t you know what Demon Knights are? They’re knights who sold their souls to demons! They even wield curses—.”
“I know well.”
“You know well—.”
“It was my specialty.”
I meant every word.
I knew Demon Knights extremely well.
Before my excommunication from the Church State, my job was catching Demon Knights.
— You are hunting hounds of the Church State, Combat Priests.
* * *
‘……What is this?’
Raven searched Manwol for information on Grave. No matter how much someone changed their face or used aliases, Manwol’s intelligence network could expose them.
Yet even Manwol had nothing on Grave. The only information available was related to the Elite Guard Corps.
‘This man is a professional.’
Professional enough to evade Manwol’s eyes.
Raven didn’t give up and tracked Grave using the clues he already had.
He wielded Divine Power, possessed combat skills surpassing Raven’s own. Tracking that particular combination yielded one result.
‘A Combat Priest?’
Combat Priests were the result of the Church State’s attempt to fuse knighthood with Divine Power.
The project had failed, resulting in something that was neither one nor the other—or so he’d heard—.
[Combat Priests were deemed unethical and discontinued.]
The Church State, centered on faith, justified everything by wielding the divine as a shield.
Even indicting Dark Mages as misguided, yet the Church State had discontinued the program for ethical reasons—.
‘What did they do to warrant that?’
Raven swallowed hard.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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