Academy’s New Guard is Unusual - Chapter 33

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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 33
Sudden Quest, “Demon Knight Squadron” cleared! Record time achieved! Remarkable feat accomplished! Rewards granted!
Warning! Growth has reached its limit! Unable to grant Stats!
Additional Stats unlocked! Please select the Stat of your choice!
A series of pleasant notifications chimed in my ears.
I immediately selected an option.
Strength
Agility
Intelligence
Stamina
Lifespan
Charm
Appearance
Luck
Obviously Luck. I’d already experienced the Fortune Box’s effect in the Rift, so there was no need to deliberate.
Then a new notification appeared.
Congratulations! Your Luck has reached a certain threshold!
As a reward, a Fortune Box has been granted!
A loud notification erupted, and a golden box popped out of thin air with a soft twang.
‘A Fortune Box?’
I’d never seen one before either.
It made sense. In the original game, I’d been too busy dumping points into other Stats. I only discovered just now, after arriving here, that Luck was available as an additional Stat option.
I examined the box. It was a straightforward golden chest—the kind you’d expect to see in some cheap gacha game. For some reason, anticipation welled up in me.
I opened the box without hesitation. Golden light poured from within.
Poooot! A loud trumpet fanfare sounded from nowhere.
The golden glow grew more intense, then shifted to rainbow hues. A deep drum beat was added to the effect.
‘This is it.’
Jackpot effects, no question about it.
Right—ever since the possession, all I’d been doing was rolling around.
Naturally, there had to be a reward like this.
For the first time in a long while, I felt a genuine flutter of excitement.
Soon the light began to fade slowly. The dazzling rainbow vanished, and the box’s interior became visible.
I peered at the contents with eager anticipation.
Inside the box was—
“Kuga!”
A tiny, rat-like creature with an upper-body resemblance to something.
I’d seen one before—at the Zoo, before the possession. I think its name was…
‘A quokka?’
The quokka sprang up from the box, brought its front paws together at its belly, and offered a bow. An oddly formal greeting.
Ding!
Kuga the Quokka
A quokka that eats well and excretes well.
My eyes crinkled at the lazy name and lazier description.
I hastily checked the contents again.
There was nothing else. Just the quokka.
At that moment, Mailo suddenly burst in.
“Whoa, what’s this? Precious! It’s so adorable!”
Mailo’s eyes sparkled as he shouted upon seeing the quokka.
There were seven corpses rolling around nearby, yet Mailo’s gaze was fixed entirely on Kuga.
“What’s its name?”
“Name? I’d throw it out if I could.”
“How could you throw away something this cute! Absolutely not!”
It was admittedly cute. A polite, grinning upper-body quokka offering courteous bows.
It couldn’t possibly be any cuter than this.
But what I needed wasn’t a mannerly quokka with etiquette.
Kuga! Kuga! The quokka waved its stubby arms urgently. It seemed to want to say something.
“What is it?”
The quokka extended its paw. It clearly wanted something.
I snatched Mailo’s Guard Baton and offered it. Kuga grabbed it without hesitation. Then it opened its small mouth wide and swallowed the baton whole.
Kuga! Having cleanly swallowed the baton, the quokka spread both arms wide like a magician.
Kuga was about the size of my two fists. A baton longer than its arms should’ve been physically impossible to swallow.
Yet it had swallowed it in one gulp, and its belly didn’t even bulge.
“Oh, impressive.”
I found myself applauding Kuga’s showmanship.
“Hey! If you lose that, we’re screwed! Spit it out, quick!”
Mailo cried out urgently.
The quokka wiggled its stubby fingers. As if to say: wait.
Soon Kuga grabbed both sides of its mouth and stretched it open.
Kuuuak! Kuuuak! With a loud sound effect, the Guard Baton emerged again from the quokka’s tiny mouth.
‘A Pocket Dimension.’
The Pocket Dimension is spoken of as proof of an Arch Mage—the highest-tier magic.
And this quokka had one.
“How much can it hold?”
Kuga! Kuga! The quokka spread both paws wide. Though its arms were too short for the gesture to register properly.
Then Kuga pointed at Mailo and spread all ten fingers.
“Ten times this one’s size?”
Kuga! Kuga! The quokka nodded enthusiastically.
A quokka with a Pocket Dimension ten times the capacity of Mailo—
This wasn’t a dud.
This was a hit. A major jackpot.
“Well then, I think Kuga is the perfect name.”
“Didn’t you say it wouldn’t have a name—”
“Who said something that stupid?”
“That… well, isn’t the name pretty thoughtless? Using the same sound as its cry for its name—wouldn’t something like Adna or Gwen be cuter—”
Kuga! Kuga!
Kuga gave two thumbs up and beamed.
“Kuga seems to like it just fine.”
Kuga!
The quokka nodded eagerly. An oddly perceptive little creature.
I took Kuga with me carefully. Mailo’s eyes twitched as he watched.
“What?”
“Ahem, nothing. So what about these, then?”
Mailo gestured to the side and asked.
I turned to look, and there were seven corpses scattered about. They were so grotesquely disfigured that you didn’t need a description to know they were Demon Knights.
“Leave them.”
“…Pardon? Why leave them? If we report these Demon Knights to headquarters, they’ll reward us handsomely. You might even become the youngest unit commander!”
“Not necessary.”
I meant it. I’d chosen to be a Guard Corps member precisely because it let me meddle in Academy affairs without drawing unwanted attention. I had no intention of earning commendations to climb the ranks.
If I’d wanted a high position, I would’ve stayed at the Grand General’s side.
“I see.”
Mailo nodded as if he’d figured something out.
His eyes grew uncomfortably bright as he looked at me—like the way a common soldier looks at someone on the battlefield.
“What’s with that look?”
“It’s classified, isn’t it?”
“What?”
“Now I understand completely.”
“Understand what, exactly?”
“It’s fine. I know. That it’s classified.”
Mailo nodded firmly, clearly having made some serious misunderstanding.
“So should we leave the Carriage as well?”
Mailo gestured toward the Carriage that Colin had been driving.
“Yeah, it’ll be useful elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere?”
Caw!
Just then, a crow brought me a Guard Uniform.
“Why would a crow bring a Guard Uniform—it really is classified, isn’t it.”
Whether Mailo was rambling or not, I changed into the uniform and headed back toward the Rear Gate.
The Rear Gate was finishing its inspection and preparing to leave for the day.
Volcan stood alone a little ways off.
I glanced at Volcan briefly, then spoke to Vex.
“We have a problem.”
“…A problem? What kind?”
“That Colin who passed through earlier—he was a Demon Knight.”
“Ah, so Colin was a Demon Knight. …What?”
Vex’s brow furrowed deeply. Then he let out a hollow laugh.
“Ha, that’s quite the cruel joke.”
He seemed to think it was a prank.
A natural reaction. Demon Knights aren’t exactly household names.
“I’m serious. If you don’t believe me, go see for yourself.”
“See for myself?”
“They’re over there.”
???
I started walking. Vex, a few Guard Corps members, and both Volcan and Mailo followed behind me.
We soon arrived at the location of the Demon Knights. The corpses were so horrifically disfigured that no explanation was needed to confirm they were indeed Demon Knights.
“Th-these really are Demon Knights?”
“Fresh-caught Demon Knights.”
“…What?”
“That part’s a joke.”
Vex stared at me as if he’d seen a Demon Knight himself, then quickly composed himself and asked.
“Wh-who caught them?”
He clearly didn’t suspect that I’d be the one. Understandable enough.
I was a rookie Guard Corps member. Even if I claimed to have caught them, no one would believe me.
Exactly as I wanted it.
“Professor Leon caught them.”
…Leon?
Vex muttered dumbly.
* * *
As this year’s enrollment surged, Elysium Academy paid special attention to its faculty.
They assembled the finest professors to match the rising caliber of incoming students.
Newcomers talked daily about the faculty.
Yet the most frequently mentioned name wasn’t the Knight of Radiance or the Twin Mage Sisters, the rising tower lords.
The hottest professor at Elysium Academy right now was—
“Professor Leon, here’s your course request form.”
Leon stared gravely at the towering stack of course applications.
‘Where did this go wrong?’
Leon was an Elysium Academy alumnus. The moment he graduated, he headed straight to the Frontline.
He’d gone to the Frontline with lofty ideals about defending the Empire, but the Frontline was nothing like his imagination. Filthy, dangerous, damp, and terrifying.
When endurance reached its limit, an offer came from Elysium Academy to teach. Leon accepted immediately.
During his time at Elysium Academy, he hadn’t stood out as much as he’d hoped, but this time he was confident. He had the years spent groveling in that wretched Frontline to show for it.
But reality diverged from Leon’s expectations.
Elysium Academy’s faculty was too dazzling. Leon’s name didn’t stand out at all.
Leon was frustrated. He’d suffered on the Frontline for years—how could they not recognize his worth?
Did that thought trigger this?
One day, strange rumors began to circulate.
Rumors that he was an Unofficial Imperial Swordsman, or a secret weapon of the Magic Tower Coalition.
At first, Leon dismissed them as a mischievous prank. After all, the Empire’s officially designated swordsmen were the Imperial Ten Swords—an “unofficial” version didn’t make sense.
The rumor about being the Magic Tower Coalition’s secret weapon was equally absurd.
The Coalition loved to boast and inflate their achievements anyway.
How could such an organization be capable of cultivating a true secret weapon? It didn’t add up.
Leon decided the rumor wasn’t worth addressing. In fact, he’d initially enjoyed it.
Thanks to the strange rumor, Leon’s name circulated here and there. He was confident in his actual ability, too.
For a while, Leon enjoyed the attention.
‘I should have stopped it then.’
Once a rumor spread, it didn’t shrink—it ballooned rapidly.
When Leon regained awareness, he’d somehow become an Unofficial Imperial Swordsman, a secret weapon of the Magic Tower Coalition, and the Holy Sword of the Realm all at once.
Contradictory titles piled up on him.
Students and even professors gossiped about Leon endlessly. Wherever he went, eyes fixed on him.
Only then did Leon grasp the severity. He tried to clarify, but the rumor was already spreading like wildfire.
Besides, how was he supposed to deny it?
‘An unfounded rumor will die down on its own.’
Or so it had to.
Leon drew Signs of the Cross repeatedly and prayed, however weakly.
Then he heard voices outside his door.
“Professor Leon is supposedly an Unofficial Imperial Swordsman.”
Yesterday you said he was an Unofficial Imperial Swordsman! Did another rank get added in the meantime?
Leon stifled the scream that threatened to escape his throat.
“All of this is just groundless rumor. I don’t believe any of it.”
A cool voice cut through.
Finally, a voice of reason! Leon cheered inwardly.
Then he heard a soft laugh.
Leon grew uneasy.
“Ah, you haven’t heard then.”
“Heard what—”
“That Professor Leon caught seven Demon Knights.”
…Me?

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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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