Academy’s Barbarian

“Lost again…? This time it’s a total wipeout?!”

Alvheim was thrown into chaos.

“The Guardians are dead! The Guardians!”

“Six of them at that! How is this even possible?!”

The panicked cries of the elders echoed loudly. A catastrophic defeat beyond words. In the history after Carolus, there had never been such a massive loss in a single battle.

No, even in Carolus’ era, deploying seven Guardians at once and losing six in one go was unheard of. They had died one by one under the relentless assault of the Twelve Knights scattered across the battlefield.

“How will you take responsibility for this, Lunafoncius?!”

Naturally, all the blame fell on the elder fairy, Lunafoncius, who had proposed the operation to eliminate the Empire’s greatest swordsman.

In the face of such a historic defeat, the elders, desperate for a scapegoat, had long forgotten that they too had readily agreed to Lunafoncius’ plan.

Under the relentless interrogation of the elders, Lunafoncius could only bow his head in despair.

With such losses, no matter what excuses he made, his fate was sealed.

The roots of the World Tree awaited new nourishment.

—

Sacrificing the elder who devised the subjugation operation to the World Tree didn’t solve all the problems.

What to do about the captured Guardian, Ereneisia, who was clearly a prisoner of war? How to respond if the Empire declared war? How to fill the void left by the lost combat power?

The meeting room buzzed like a marketplace as countless discussions ensued.

“Do we even need to retrieve her? If she’s a prisoner of the humans, she’s as good as dead. Retrieving her would be no more than a decorative piece.”

“We need to prevent our information from leaking. We should negotiate to get her back, claiming it was a misunderstanding in command—”

“Nonsense! The Empire would never agree to negotiations. We should declare a state of emergency and replenish the Guardians and patrols immediately!”

“Don’t worry about a full-scale war.”

The hawkish elder slammed the table, insisting on preparing for war. A young councilor, who had opposed the Ha-shal-leur subjugation operation from the start, shook his head and interrupted the elder’s rant.

“According to my spies, the Empire won’t be able to move its forces for a while. They’ve suffered massive losses from Baraykruz’s invasion, Ka`har’s advance, and monster uprisings.”

“You have spies in the Empire? How?”

Alvheim’s intelligence capabilities were far from impressive. Fairies, both in appearance and temperament, were ill-suited for espionage.

Their long ears and striking looks made blending into human society nearly impossible.

Thus, Alvheim had relied on Ferneythia, sent as a special student to the Empire, and rumors that trickled back. But after Ferneythia’s betrayal, gathering intelligence had become a struggle.

Until now.

“It wasn’t that hard. We have those ‘half-elves’ locked up in the internment camps for a reason.”

Half-elves. Hybrids of fairies and humans, despised by fairies but kept as slaves.

Most half-elves in Alvheim were the result of some fairies’ immoral dalliances with human livestock in the camps.

Fairies despised half-elves but saw value in them as slaves, breeding obedient ones in the camps.

The young councilor had found a new use for them: as spies to gather intelligence from the Empire.

The method was simple.

Humans hated fairies but secretly lusted after their beauty. So, throw them some half-elves to satisfy their desires.

Even if they were useless, their looks were close enough to fairies.

The young councilor set up a half-elf brothel, secretly luring in Empire nobles. Satisfied nobles would invite others with similar tastes, expanding the network.

Burning the World Tree’s leaves, nobles addicted to the pleasures provided by half-elves began spilling Empire secrets without hesitation. A satisfying result for the councilor.

But it wasn’t just the brothel.

A few pure half-elves were sold as ‘maids’ to some nobles.

Since the Empire’s greatest swordsman, Ha-shal-leur, kept a half-elf maid, half-elf maids had become a popular status symbol among nobles.

Though kept secret from the imperial family and upright nobles, nearly a third of the Empire’s nobles were already accustomed to caressing half-elves in their beds.

As if they had already forgotten the great fire in the capital caused by the rebellion of beastmen slaves, who bore a strong resemblance to humans.

Regardless, thanks to this, the young councilor had gathered a wealth of information, albeit limited to what the Empire’s nobles knew.

“Hoh… I never thought those half-elves could be so useful.”

“Thank you.”

Enjoying the elders’ admiration for his fresh idea, the young councilor laid out the information he had gathered.

The state of the Imperial Army, the number of masters and heroes, Ha-shal-leur’s abilities, common knowledge to the Empire, and the fact that she had been chosen as the Saintess of the Astraea Church.

“Astraea… that paladin goddess. To bestow a holy mark on a Ka`har half-breed.”

“Then, the ‘Wedge of Order’ the World Tree spoke of…”

“Yes, it must be her.”

The councilors nodded, recalling the World Tree’s oracle. The oracle to break the Chains of the Sky and the Wedge of Order, to release the Swallowing Wolf.

The fairies interpreted this as an order to kill Elpinel’s Saintess and Astraea’s Saintess.

Lacey Elmain Staldorf, whose name had reached Alvheim, and the unknown Saintess of Astraea. Eliminating them would drive the wielder of the ‘Embodied Life Force Technique’ into a frenzy.

But with the Saintess of Order revealed to be Ha-shal-leur, this interpretation was bound to be controversial.

“Then what does ‘wolf’ refer to? I was certain it meant Ka`har…”

“Could it really be Vanargand…?”

“Are you drunk?”

“…”

The councilor who had previously argued that the Swallowing Wolf was Vanargand remained silent as another fairy suggesting the same was treated like a drunkard.

“Think about it. What happens if that woman dies? The beastmen who lost their king, Ka`har who lost their leader, would rise again. Especially Landenburg, having lost its lord twice, would fall into chaos. Ka`har would seize the opportunity to march in, aiming to breach the damaged barrier.”

“You mean…”

“Exactly. I believe the ‘wolf’ refers to Baraykruz’s second invasion or Ka`har’s massive army. Doesn’t that make sense? Many beastmen resemble wolves, and Ka`har also reveres wolves, those short-lived beings.”

It was a convincing interpretation.

With the Archbishop Elmain Staldorf, who unified the Empire’s church, and Ha-shal-leur, the core of the Empire’s defense and the next Lord of Landenburg, assassinated, the Empire would fall into chaos.

Baraykruz and Ka`har would undoubtedly seize the opportunity.

“But… as of now, we lack the means to attempt an assassination on either. Regrettably, we can only watch the situation for now.”

That was the conclusion of Alvheim’s council.

If only they could poison them, the young councilor could use the nobles he had brought in to attempt an assassination. But poisoning Saintesses who could use the Blessing of Purification was nearly impossible.

Though Ha-shal-leur had never used the Blessing of Purification and couldn’t even use it… the fairies of Alvheim had no way of knowing that.

Who could have imagined?

That the Saintess chosen by the goddess had not an ounce of faith, unable to even use a simple healing miracle.