The Academy’s Ankle Reaper

Irina Panta, the daughter of the Chief of the Blue Cat Tribe, arrived at Parker.

In searching for the Lord, how disrespectful is it to send the chief’s daughter instead of the chief himself?

Upon hearing that they had come to retrieve the warriors who had attacked the territory, Amy stepped forward.

“You’ve come to retrieve the warriors, huh? Do you even know what they did here?”

“Hmph, the warriors only came to investigate. If an attack occurred in the meantime, that just means they found a lead.”

Irina snorted at Amy’s words.

There was an underlying belief that they had done nothing wrong.

I was already planning to check them out, so this was just perfect.

“I intend to return them someday, but not now. We are currently investigating the attack on the residents, so come back later.”

It was rare to see Amy take such a strong stance.

At the Academy, she always tried to avoid conflicts by lowering her head, but here, she wouldn’t back down.

“I said I came to retrieve them, didn’t I?”

Seeing that she refused to return them, Irina showed discomfort.

“Well, I see. I thought this place was full of weaklings, but there are indeed some strong humans. Who was it that took down Wugechi?”

It was I who defeated him, but I didn’t feel the need to say it first.

‘How insightful can she be?’

Beastmen are known for their intuition.

Even if I didn’t speak, they could probably sense it through their instincts.

With nobody saying a word, she squinted and began to survey her surroundings.

“Hmmm… so it’s you.”

Irina looked around and began to walk towards me.

‘She seems to have decent eyes after all.’

But then she simply walked past me and kept going.

“Even if you stand still behind me, you can’t deceive my eyes.”

Irina stopped right in front of Lucia.

“Me…?”

“Yes, you. You were the one who took down the warriors, right?”

Lucia, suddenly singled out, took a step back in surprise.

She had come down with me, but the situation had ended before she could do anything.

“It wasn’t me…”

“Not you?”

When Lucia denied it, Irina shot her an incredulous glare.

So this girl was just guessing based on appearances.

Since Lucia was the largest, she thought Lucia must be the strongest.

It’s a ridiculous assumption, considering there are three above-expert level fighters here, even stronger than Lucia.

“I took down those weaklings. Got a problem with that?”

“You did?”

When I stepped forward, Irina looked at me strangely.

“Really?”

Her eyes were filled with a myriad of emotions.

At first, she wouldn’t even meet my gaze.

She scanned above my line of sight and then lowered her eyes.

Then, she whispered words she shouldn’t have.

“Such a common ploy… But I won’t be deceived. That person was a strong warrior, not someone weak like you could defeat!”

“Huh?”

“Ah!”

At Irina’s cry, her party turned to look at me, startled.

“You called me a weak human?”

“Yes. A small human who is hardly visible if they don’t lower their head, trying to deceive me…”

-Smack!

Irina didn’t get to finish her sentence.

Before she could, my foot swept across her legs, knocking them out from under her.

As her legs lifted off the ground, Irina’s body naturally flew into the air.

“Huh?”

Feeling her body levitate, Irina quickly moved.

She instinctively adopted a fall-back position with her hands down, ready to roll.

Like a cat beastman, her instincts kicked in.

But that was all she knew.

Just when she was about to execute her roll, her senses failed to notice the punch descending from above her head.

-Smack!!!

My fist crashed down atop her head.

As I struck between her perked cat ears, Irina’s face was slammed into the ground.

“….”

“Ah, I’ve really done it now.”

For a moment, silence filled the space.

While my companions wore expressions that said ‘uh oh’, the beastmen seemed to take some time to process what had just transpired.

Clearly, they hadn’t expected to be attacked like this, all staring at the trembling Irina with their faces buried in the dirt, showing disbelief.

In a scenario where neither side had moved, I took the initiative to speak first.

“What’s everyone doing? Aren’t you going to jump in? Then I’ll go.”

With the provocation, ten beastmen warriors charged at me in unison.

“Ah… I don’t know!!”

Seeing them rushing towards me, the others immediately entered battle preparation.

Well, why complicate things?

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.

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A minimum of ten beast warrior experts, all of whom are no slouches around here.

Beastmen who are higher than humans in physical capability are already strong even at the expert level.

But here, there are three high-level experts, two peak experts, and one master.

It wasn’t even a fight; in an instant, the warriors of the Blue Cat Tribe were left in tatters.

“Ugh… ugh… You really think you’ll get away with this? Cough?!”

The last warrior fell while spouting the most predictable line, so I instantly delivered a dropkick.

In under three minutes, the field was filled with downed Blue Cat Tribe members.

“I really messed up.”

“I expected something like this,” Amy remarked, looking at the fallen beastmen with a complex expression.

She seemed to still be overthinking the situation, and I felt a need to help out.

Looking at the fallen beastmen, Casey spoke up.

“What are we going to do now? Isn’t it predetermined what we do next?”

“Everything is supposedly predetermined? Did I just throw punches out of anger?”

River voiced his doubts, questioning whether I really had it all planned out.

No, there’s no way I’m that careless.

While I might have pretended that I swung my fists out of frustration, I wasn’t fully engulfed in a rage.

“If I was truly angry, it wouldn’t have been my fists but rather my sword.”

“That’s… true.”

“Rude brats deserve a beating.”

“Exactly! Atlas was just teaching them some manners!”

Gemma, who had incinerated one right at the start, defended me.

“So… what’s the plan, Atlas?” Amy asked as she looked at me.

“Now that I’ve got momentum, we need to charge into the Blue Cat Tribe’s main base.”

————————

Before we set off, Gemma was looking down, anxious and fidgeting.

“Ugh… do we really have to do this…?”

“Gemma, I’m counting on you.”

Seeing Gemma hesitate, I grabbed her hand and made my request.

This plan absolutely needed Gemma’s cooperation.

Sure, I could manage without it, but it would complicate things.

“… If you’re ‘asking’, then alright.”

When Gemma nodded in response to my request, her body shimmered with a golden light and transformed into a massive dragon, returning to her original form.

A golden dragon descended upon the quiet rural village.

“Atlas, are you… thinking what I’m thinking?”

“I think so. Get on first.”

I began stacking the downed beastmen on Gemma’s massive palm one by one.

As they lay lifeless, one by one they became cargo atop Gemma.

“Thanks, Gemma.”

[Thank you?! No, if it’s this, I could do it as much as you want.]

When I expressed my gratitude, Gemma shook her head vigorously.

As if a mere head shaking was insufficient, with her dragon form, her wings flapped, causing a gust of wind to swirl everywhere.

By the way, she said she could do it as much as she wanted? I’ll have to remember that.

“I’m going to negotiate, so the three of you stay here. We might have reinforcements coming, and we can’t deal with any incidents with just the locals.”

“Just finish up quickly and come back.”

I decided that only me, the cargo-carrying Gemma, and the Lord’s daughter Amy would head towards the Blue Cat Tribe’s village.

I considered going along with Lord Victor, but I felt it would be better with just the three of us.

We weren’t there to resolve the entangled issues between the two villages, after all.

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Looking down from Gemma’s palm, the vibrant blue grass looked just like a green sea.

No, calling it a desert would be a better description.

It appeared to be a life-filled green, but in reality, this place was one of the most gruesome neighborhoods for humans to live in.

All the animals or monsters living around here were savage, and unless one was a beastman, they’d quickly become lunch.

“Did you know this would happen?” Amy asked me.

Did I foresee this?

Wasn’t it a given?

“The warriors went missing; there had to be some reaction. I was ready to talk if the chief came; instead, he sent his daughter. They’re underestimating us.”

“If they underestimated us… then we needed to ensure they won’t do so again.”

“Exactly, that’s the point.”