The Academy’s Ankle Reaper

In the outskirts of the Empire, bordering the (former) Clover Kingdom and the current Clover Territory, lies the territory of Shimoa, a land that has suffered from invasions by outsiders for many long years.

No territory can claim to be completely safe, but in Shimoa’s case, it was rather extreme.

While humans were manageable, there were specific times when endless monsters would spring forth, devastating the lives of the residents.

Despite having the Clover Kingdom right in front, what the lord of Shimoa needed most was military talent to fend off the monsters targeting only Shimoa.

Even if he couldn’t do anything else, if he managed to withstand the moment of invasion from the monsters that happened once a year without taking too much damage, the residents would praise him as a good lord.

Hamel Shimoa, the lord of such a territory, though somewhat clumsy as a lord, was well-known even among neighboring regions as a person with unmatched skill in dealing with monsters.

As is common for frontier lords, Shimoa placed particular importance on strength, showing a lack of finesse in etiquette.

In this state, bringing home the now-wise noble lady as his wife was the last miracle Hamel acknowledged of himself.

“Ugh…”

Where had Hamel’s usual bravery gone? He was trembling like a rookie soldier facing the battlefield for the first time, his eyes darting and hands unable to stay still.

“So… it’s the Marquess, right?”

I had no idea why he bothered to come, but the terrifying Marquess ruling the Blade Mountain had visited his mansion.

.

.

.

When I woke up in the morning, there had been no trace of such a scene.

Hamel, who had risen to a refreshing morning just like me, received some delightful news from the butler waiting at the door.

“River has returned in the middle of the night? With friends?”

“Yes, Master.”

Hamel was pleasantly smiling as he strolled down the hallway.

As a father, how joyous it was that his daughter, who he had been estranged from, was back!

Until just a month ago, she probably hadn’t considered returning to the territory, but with the Clover Kingdom’s demotion to Clover Territory, all the issues tied to it had been resolved.

It was astonishing that his daughter, who usually never talked much about her days at the Academy, had brought along friends too.

“They didn’t even send a proper letter during the break, so I figured they wanted to sneak back and surprise me.”

“Right?”

Traveling from the Academy to Shimoa took a solid week by fast carriage.

Without any proper communication about when she would arrive, Hamel had assumed that she was just staying at the Academy, so he was even happier to find she had come secretly.

River and her friends were all doing their morning exercises after waking up.

Peeking outside, he saw her and her friends gathered at a designated area behind the mansion, dressed for easy movement.

Getting up early and exercising was an excellent habit.

Hamel had encouraged his daughter to develop the habit of morning exercise since she was young, so he was sure her friends were diligent kids as well.

“Welcome home, my lovely daughter. Why didn’t you just wake up?”

“F… Father?!”

Once River saw her father, she almost spoke like she usually did but quickly corrected herself.

Then she turned to her friends, offering a brief introduction to Hamel.

“This is my father.”

Behind her stood six students, all girls except for one boy.

He was short enough that one might mistakenly assume he was a girl, but he was definitely a guy.

That one boy, Atlas, spoke up after hearing River’s introduction.

“You’re the famous ‘Silver Wolf’, right?”

“Thank you for calling me by that nickname. It makes me feel proud.”

Silver Wolf was a nickname inherited by the lords of Shimoa and a symbol of the family.

Hamel felt pleasantly good about that.

“So, these are your friends from the Academy? Can you introduce them to me?”

“Yes.”

River introduced each one of them to Hamel, starting with Amy, then Casey, Atlas, Gemma, and Lucia.

When Hamel heard the names, he wondered if his ears were playing tricks on him.

He thought he had heard the term “Dragon Lord” in the midst of the introductions, but it sounded too unreal.

However, one final introduction caught Hamel’s ear perfectly.

“This person… well, he’s not a student from the Academy, but somehow he ended up here. Metios Titan… the Marquess.”

“Marquess?”

As soon as he heard that, Hamel’s head started spinning.

It was just that one would find it hard to find someone in the Empire who didn’t know the Titan Marquess, one of the high nobles.

“Does that mean… the one ruling the Blade Mountain?”

“Yes.”

Even though Hamel’s mind was filled with thoughts of martial prowess, he had at least learned to recognize the dangerous types.

The five pillars he had just been introduced to, including Russell, were among them.

Titan Marquess, one of the high nobles ruling over the vast Blade Mountain, was rumored to even have ties to the royal family if one dug deep enough into history.

What on earth was such a high noble doing in this backwater?

Especially since Shimoa and Titan’s Territory, Narni, were at least a month apart by travel.

He even said he wasn’t an Academy student, so why was he here?

‘Are the Sword Master and the Giant next?’

Hamel felt like his head was about to spin, but for now, avoiding mistakes was what mattered.

Seeing Hamel in a fluster, Metios approached with a calm expression.

“I apologize for coming so suddenly. I will impose for just a moment, Count Shimoa.”

“No, Marquess! It is I who is honored to meet you!”

Hamel’s words flowed out naturally, filled with respect.

—————————

Though it wasn’t his intent, he had become incredibly uncomfortable.

Sending Metios back alone in the middle of the night didn’t seem right, so he decided to have him stay at the Shimoa mansion for the night and send him off in the morning. However, it happened that he had the opportunity to greet Shimoa’s lord—not only River’s father.

When he arrived, Hamel had looked perfectly fine; now, he seemed pale as a ghost because he had to deal with the sudden arrival of the Marquess in the middle of the night.

Certainly, it was no surprise.

“Hah… haha! Since we have esteemed guests, we must hold a grand feast!”

Hamel Shimoa struggled to gather his composure and awkwardly smiled.

He seemed like a decent guy.

He appeared close to River, too.

“He’s a good man.”

“… Yeah.”

He was the kind of person who, even when threatened by a master swordsman, would do whatever he could to buy time for a way out.

Just based on how much River trusted him, there was little cause for concern.

River secretly grabbed my hand.

Feeling that touch, I turned and saw River with her head down, whispering in my ear.

“Atlas. Make some time for me tonight.”

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.

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“Well then, shall we return to Narni now?”

“Already?”

Hamel barely got back and only warmed up a little, yet everyone was surprised.

But with Metios around, they had to hurry back.

“Things must be chaotic there. We’re missing the head of the house in the middle of the night.”

“Right…”

“And you all should be going too. You said you were heading to the training ground.”

“Yeah… right.”

Now that I had warmed up a bit, it was time for some serious training.

“Let’s say we’re just going out for a bit, and then let’s head straight there.”

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.

.

After dropping off everyone at the training ground and returning to the mansion, it was just as I had anticipated.

“It’s in chaos.”

Titan’s Mansion was in a state of panic.

So much had happened overnight.

During the day, a Black Dragon had appeared from the mountains and was slain, nobles injured from treason were convulsing and were taken for treatment, and by night, to top it all off, the lord Metios had vanished.

This was all happening just one night after I’d declared that if I didn’t properly assist Metios, I’d come back and kill everyone.

All sorts of people had sprung into action, frantically searching for the missing lord.

The knight order had gathered to form search parties, and there were people wandering around with suspicious artifacts conducting investigations.

“Ugh… I can sense traces of magic. Is it possible that the lord…?”

“Stop with the ominous talk!”

“But the magic feels indeed thick. Even if the poison and the curse were remnants of the Black Dragon that appeared yesterday, there’s magic permeating throughout the mansion. It’s clear that a demon assaulted this mansion last night.”

“The workers didn’t sense anything, and only the lord has vanished. Does that even make sense?”

“Kidnapping a person is nothing for demons.”

Though not entirely wrong, since things were becoming risky, it might be a good idea to cut off these discussions sooner than later.

“Isn’t the lord back? Aren’t you going to greet him?”

“L… Lord?!”

As I appeared among them without any sign, all eyes turned toward me.

I had been running around in such a state of confusion that it was no wonder they hadn’t noticed I was back even when the very person they were searching for was standing right there.

“W… we were really worried! What if the lady was in danger…! Ugh…”

The butler, who usually maintained a dignified posture, rushed from a distance, kneeling as he reached me.

Seeing him in such a disheveled state while calling me by the old title he used to use made it clear he was genuinely worried.

He seemed to feel remorse for the trouble caused by my absence last night, but I felt differently.

“I’m back…”

“Why are you being shy? Hold your head high.”

I addressed the weeping butler.

“And gather the knight commander and the head of the intelligence department and everyone else.”

Of course, even if the intruder was something beyond the normal, it was a problem that they could penetrate in such a flimsy manner.

For the sake of future occurrences, it was indeed right to give them a little grilling.