I won.

The mastermind behind the 2nd Arc, Fermack Daman, who had been living as a professor for 10 years while deceiving the Merkarva Academy.

If I remember correctly, the users used to call Fermack the Traitor as one of the Elite Four.

[H, help me!]

[I dont want to die! I dont want to die!]

[Korin! Help me!]

Closing my eyes, I could still hear the screams and cries of that time. When we met Fermack Daman again, whom we couldnt catch at the end of the 2nd Arc, we were imprisoned in a world of nightmares.

A hell called Paradise that was inhabited by beasts of the shadow.

We lost a lot of my teammates.

A lot of innocent people had been killed.

Fermack Daman. One of the four executives of the Evil King the Strongest Rune Mage, Tates Valtazar who tries to bring Paradise to this world.

Killing him early was incredibly meaningful, because with the support of the Precept and the Shadow Paradise, his power could even reach the level of a Unique Grade. And

I knew it He doesnt have it yet, huh.

I rummaged through the body of the heartless Fermack but couldnt find what I wanted. It was to be expected though, because he would have used it already if he had it.

One of the 4 great treasures protected by the druids, the Destiny Stone of Falias, Lia Fail. If he was in possession of that item, which he would have later received as a prize for retrieving the Primal Rune, my chance of victory would have fallen below 40%.

Found it.

But nonetheless, I managed to retrieve the Primal Rune that he stole so that was still okay.

Primal Rune

This stone with the rune was one of the eight Primal Runes that could lead one to the Paradise of Erin.

The Advent of Paradise was the goal of the final boss of Heroic Legends of Arhan, Tates Valtazar, and he needed to have all the 8 pieces of the Prime for it.

Just for something like this

Just for something like this, they had massacred countless people. Well, I could understand their hatred and anger at the world but their method was terribly wrong.

Huu

I threw my body over the parched land.

Fighting while taking in all the damage of the Golden Mandrakes scream and the solar runes with my bare body was quite a crazy thing to do for sure.

The Mandrake, the runes and the Shura-mode were all great ways to ruin your body. Honestly, I was only doing it because I had my regeneration ability and I would have long died without it.

But it was thanks to that that I was able to come out on top. Fermack Daman had to be in a rush the whole fight after being pulled into my tricks.

Hmm

My eyes were very heavy.

My entire upper body was scorched by the runes of the sun and my left eardrum was also ruptured because of the Golden Mandrake. Plus, my right one wasnt normal either.

What was worse than these injuries, which I could just disregard, were the wounds I gained during the fight against Fermack.

There was a piercing pain in my liver and my right shoulder bones were also crushed. The strike to my chest crushed my sternum and shook my organs.

The only things I could barely move were my left arm and my two legs and even those were hard to move because of the backlash of Shura.

I thought I was used to pain but

Despite everything, it was still hard to withstand the pain of having twisted organs.

Huu Huup Huu

While straightening my mind and my breath that could fade away at any given moment, I took a hold of my consciousness. If I lost my consciousness here, the rune stone and my goldie would be

You have successfully defeated Fermack Daman. You will now receive the reward of your Precept.

A faint message appeared in front of my dim vision.

No, thats not the important thing here

My vision turned dark.

My eyes slowly closed by themselves. It didnt take long for my consciousness to escape from my grip.

****

By the time Korin woke up, he found himself going down a familiar path.

Of course, he wasnt the one voluntarily moving his body his body was still in a mess and was bleeding down the track.

Is this Alicia?

Korin vacantly perceived the identity of the girl carrying him by seeing her hair.

You woke up

Alicia was walking down a pathway with Korin behind her back. She was probably heading to the infirmary.

Her martial uniform, which conservative adults would consider as having too much exposure, was revealing her skin that was covered in blood. Even though it should be very uncomfortable for her, Alicia was still walking forward while carrying Korin on her back.

Working hard arent you

Not as much as you, Mr. Korin.

His body was still very numb. Since she was a knight, Alicia should be fine carrying a male adult on her back, but Korin was feeling a mental burden from the fact that he was being carried by a girl.

How did everything go?

However, its not like he could turn her offer down so he gratefully accepted her help.

Professor Deina has started cleaning everything up. She did seem very sad though. Mr. Dorron went back while everyone else, like Ms. Yuel, were looking for you.

Dorron that freaking unloyal friend

He said dont expect anything more than that from a business relationship. Also, he said you need to pay him the remaining payment for this incident by next week.

Hah. Seriously

Korin gave an empty smile while thinking about how that was exactly what he would expect Dorron to say. However, he didnt hate it being honest about ones greed was an adorable thing in comparison to everything he had seen.

Alicia Did you

Do you mean the Rune Stone and the Golden Mandrake? I took both of them.

Youre surprisingly quite sharp today arent you?

Eeeek! You know youre on my back right, Mr. Korin? Do you want me to shake you!?

Wait wait. Dont My organs are going to shake as well

Realizing once again that Alicia was such a nice girl who wouldnt even talk about throwing him away even in the heat of the moment, Korin gave a grin.

Im alive thanks to you.

Its nothing much.

Alicia smiled widely as she continued walking down the road. Riding on her back, Korin forced open his eyes that were still threatening to close and tried his best to keep himself conscious.

Say something. I might fall asleep again.

You can just take a nap and rest. It wont take long.

No. If I sleep my regeneration speed will also slow down.

His regeneration was based on the tenacious spirit. In other words, it was better for him to tenaciously stay conscious for a better regeneration.

Okay. Then Why did you fight by yourself?

Her voice was a lot lower than usual, as if she was trying to rebuke him.

Because it was necessary.

Hearing his ambiguous response, Alicia slowed down her steps. Because of that sudden reduction in speed, her fluttering strands of hair tickled his cheeks.

Honestly, I have no idea how much you know and what you are trying to accomplish, Mr. Korin.

She started off with the question that had constantly been on her mind, but Alicia wasnt going to delve deeper into that now.

Isnt it alright to fight together until the end?

Haha

Korin looked back on the past with a bitter smile on his face as he reminisced in the memories of the last iteration.

People with a good personality that risked themselves for the right things the so-called heroes always looked like they were in a precarious spot for the ones watching them from the side.

Korins old friends used to ask something similar in the past.

Even when he gladly offered his neck to the girl that just awakened as a vampire, and even when challenging the great evil of the world that he would stand no chance against without the support of his Precepts

He simply did not look after his body, and that was very evident for everyone watching him from the side.

I am aware of it myself. I will ask for help next time.

Of course you should. Because we are umm, ehem!

While Alicia was hesitantly thinking about her next words, Korin regained a bit of strength so he lowered his legs back on the ground.

Mr. Korin?

Thats enough. Lets take a rest at that bench over there.

Shouldnt we go to the infirmary for a

Resting at a bench is more than enough.

Okay.

His voice was still energyless but Alicia noticed the firm resolve in his tone, so she headed to the nearby bench and laid him on top. Seeing him lying down on the bench, Alicia was fidgeting her hands when Korin opened his mouth.

Aliciaaa

Aht, yes?

My head hurts

Haht!

She quickly lifted his head and sat on the bench where his head used to be. Only after resting his head on her soft thigh did Korin heave a small sigh of comfort.

He slowly reopened his mouth.

If you werent there we wouldnt have been able to kill the King of Iron Mountain.

All I did was swing my sword once.

The action itself is important, but what you achieved with that action is just as important.

Youve been preparing for this fight, right? Mr. Korin?

Alicia had felt her breath coming to a stop after seeing the aftermath of the fight at the empty plot of land. Back when they borrowed the land to boil Mandrake into a stew as well as when they were practicing spearmanship for the group assignment Alicia could still remember him carving runes across the land whenever he had time.

Hundreds of rune letters on the ground and the pebbles of rune that he gave to Marie it was extremely evident that he had been arranging a lot of things for the fight for a very long time.

Yes. I did prepare for it.

She didnt ask him how he knew about this beforehand. Instead, Alicia quietly gazed at Korin resting beneath her chest before carefully raising a question.

Why?

Plenty of time had already gone by. There was a scorching red sunset on the horizon and the light from the setting sun was shining brightly on Korins figure on this inhabited bench. Revealed by that spotlight were traces of burns all over his body despite his seared skin, his eyes were still burning as brightly and clearly as the sunset.

So pretty.

This persons eyes are always clear, thought Alicia. They were endlessly clean and tough. Even though he was stepping on a puddle of his own blood, his eyes were chasing after something remarkably beautiful.

She wondered where his strength was coming from. Were adults all like this?

My eyes

Ah. L, let me cover your eyes!

Its fine Lets just, stay like this for a while.

As if he sensed her silent gaze resting on him, Korin mischievously opened his mouth.

Geez How blessed of a mom am I to have a daughter like Alicia?

Youre treating me like a kid again.

Didnt you say I was like a mother?

It was just a figure of speech.

Haha

The silly smile on his face and his heartwarming gaze that were looking at her like an adorable baby were a sign that he was considering her as a young child.

Mhmm!

Pinch! She gently pinched on the nose of the annoying boy.

Aiya my bad, my bad. Ahh, Im starving.

The boy easily glossed over her response and changed the topic.

Due to losing a lot of blood, his mind was going back and forth. His next remark that reached Alicias ears was probably an unconscious one.

Its better for less people to die.

That was very sudden.

Why is everyone so insensitive?

Was he talking about the mastermind of this incident? Or was it someone else that Alicia wasnt aware of?

In any case, Alicia soothed his mind.

You have done more than enough.

Yeah This should be good enough. Yeah

Fatigued, Korin completely relaxed his body with his eyes closed. He and Alicia stayed at the bench for quite a while.

****

You have successfully defeated Fermack Daman. You will now receive the reward of your Precept. Many Unspecified

Difficulty: A

Reward: Even distribution of 60 points

Inside the single room of the infirmary, I checked the reward I received for this incident.

It was a bit less than I thought.

Until now, the rewards I had received from the Precept were all from dealing with specific targets. In the case of Marie and Alicia, I had even gotten a specialty along with the stat points.

But as for Fermack, it wasnt as if it was decided that he would be killing a specific good-natured person, so that was probably why it said [Many Unspecified] as the name of the reward.

Its not like I couldnt understand what was going on, but wasnt this still a bit too small considering I killed one of the executives?

You have defeated one of the great evils of this world. You will receive bonus rewards.

Huh?

Findiass Sun

What the heck?

Why is this coming out here?

Findias. That was the name of the mysterious land that contained Claiomh Solais, which was another one of the 4 great treasures just like Lia Fail.

The top epic-graded items, the 4 treasures. From what I knew, they were all supposed to be in the hands of Tates Valtazar.

In fact, Claoimh Solais was the solar sword of one of the Elite Fours, the King of Beauty, Ohad. What I received just then as a reward was the map of the place where that sword was buried. They just drove the location into my mind.

Seriously. That stupid Mr. Park received stuff like this as an item in his inventory and here I am, having these driven into my head.

Isnt this player discrimination?

Anyway it seemed that those ruins would open up during the solar eclipse. I will have to look into that later

Korin! I cut all the apples. Here!

A bright voice woke me up from my rumination. Marie, who was here for a visit, handed me a piece of apple on a fork with a bright smile on her face.

Just like what one would expect from her personality, she had sliced them into bunny shapes. Unfortunately, I had to wear casts because of the broken bones in my arms and I thus couldnt move them. The bones were already fine again, and yet for some reason, it seemed that I still needed to refrain from using them.

Open your mouth. Say Ahh~

A, ahh~

Crunch!

Ehew, good boy~

Marie patted my head after I bit on the apple in her hands.

Mhmm this isnt too bad. Ah, by that, I mean the apple of course.

Jaeger and Lark, who had similarly come over for a visit with packets of snacks in their hands, had unfriendly gazes in their eyes.

What? Whats wrong, huh?

You freaking bastard.

You dont deserve to be worried.

Are you jealous? Huh? You jelly? Why dont you have all your bones fractured like me then, huh!

Korin! Would you like some peaches as well? I can slice them up for you!

Of course~. Anything will be delicious.

It has been 3 days since the King of Iron Mountain incident. Marie was staying in the infirmary looking after me without even returning to her dormitory.

Mr. Korini~! Im here!

Thud!

Alicia pushed the door open with a slam. In her hands was a dessert set which high school girls would love to eat.

Hey. Be careful with the door. You might break it.

Haht! Ill be careful.

But seriously~. Single rooms are great, arent they~.

This room was big enough to hold a lot of visitors, which was definitely a plus. Alicia was opening the box of desserts that she brought when someone started knocking on the window.

Knock knock.

Looking outside, I saw Hua Ran in her nun clothes knocking on the glass. This was the 13th floor though

Please open it for her.

Alicia immediately went to the window and opened it as Hua Ran nonchalantly walked into the room.

Thats not the entrance. We have a functioning door so why do you keep coming in from the window?

While disregarding my words of disapproval, Hua Ran placed a flat fish on top of the table.

Is this a gift for me?

Please cut it.

You want me to cut an 8-inch giant flathead? Where the hell did you even get this from?

Ill do it later.

And you can have the rest.

Lets think of this as something positive. She must be trying to show her goodwill on her part right?

Since we were all together in one place, we spent time chatting and playing some simple games. There was a bizarre combination of food a flathead, a cake and fruits but well, kids their age should be able to digest steel so it should be fine.

Knock knock!

Thinking that we had more visitors, Jaeger walked up to the door and opened it as people I had been waiting for finally showed themselves.

Korin Lork. How is your body?

Coming in from the door were Senior Professor Josephine Clara of the Academy, and a man with an appearance that seemed a bit too young to be the Chairman of the Academy.

Student Korin.

Chairman Eriu Casarr. It was him.

It seems that a lot of things have happened during my absence. My heart skipped a beat when I heard what happened from Professor Clara.

As if. Thats not even your real body.

Hello, Mr. Chairman.

Despite what I was thinking on the inside, I welcomed her, who was officially the Chairman of Merkarva Academy.

I think its about time for us to reveal our hands, Master.

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