The Sword Demon Tears People Apart

A crack appeared in empty space.
Everyone in the training ground held their breath as they watched it grow with cracking sounds.
Zeron’s eyes sank, even his usual smile gone.
A phenomenon he had never seen before.
He couldn’t let his guard down at all.
Soon, the crack grew large enough for a person to easily pass through.
Gulp, the sound of someone swallowing was heard.
Simultaneously,
Crash-!
Something’s front paw protruded through the crack.
It was ash-colored.
Ash-colored claws, ash-colored fur, ash-colored skin.
The front paw of a beast that seemed to be made entirely of ash touched the ground.
Boom-! The earth trembled at the light footstep.
Zeron twisted his waist, gripping his sword more tightly.
Like a drawn bowstring, his body converged elastically.
Then it pulled back its foot that had touched the ground.
As another foot emerged, its figure slowly revealed itself.
A long snout. Then, when those red eyes cursing all living things were revealed,
──────────!

Zeron’s sword flashed.
No one present saw the sword move.
They just instinctively sensed its sharpness, that the sword’s position had changed.
“Hmm…”
As he usually did after cutting something, Zeron searched his pocket and took out a cigarette.
By the time he put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it, the crack had disappeared.
The fully revealed form of a giant wolf.
Its height was slightly taller than a person.
Just as he thought he had made eye contact with those blood-red eyes,
Whoosh────
It turned to ash and disappeared.
Amidst the ash scattering in the wind, only a bead about the size of a thumb joint rolled on the ground.
“Phew…”
Zeron exhaled smoke and closely examined the bead.
Click-, the bead cleanly split in half.
It then spewed out the energy inside and dissipated with the ash in the wind.
“Uncle…, what was that just now…?”
The kid’s eyes trembled as if confused.
Zeron looked at her for a moment, then erased his serious expression and grinned.
“Looks like it escaped from the zoo.”
“…Are you trying to make me laugh right now?”
“I was serious though.”
At those words, Medea pouted.
Then she reflexively rubbed her arms.
Though she couldn’t feel it due to her clothes, goosebumps had risen.
Clearly…, in human terms, it was at the Expert level.
Its aura was close to that of those knights.
Just a bit more, no, incomparably more ferocious.
And uncle had cut down such a wolf with a single stroke.
One could think it was because of a surprise attack, but…
Medea felt it wasn’t the case at all.
She looked at uncle with newfound eyes.
“Well, anyway, the exam is over with this. Kid, know that your score is an A. That’s enough, so everyone go now. I… hm?”
Suddenly, Zeron’s eyes narrowed.
Flames were burning in Colwhir’s eyes, which had always been empty like dead fish eyes.
Anger and hatred.
Burning hot with rough emotions as fuel.
“…I’ll go report this for now. The dean should know something.”
Zeron turned his back, not caring.
It wasn’t his business to know Colwhir’s circumstances.
Thud-, the cigarette butt thrown on the ground was stomped on.
The half-burnt ash stuck to the ground.

The flames in Colwhir’s eyes still showed no signs of dying down.
*
‘It’s faint but… certain.’
Zeron clenched his fist as he walked towards the magic department building.
The sensation that usually bothered him when he exerted force had become faintly lighter.

Pain that wouldn’t go away now due to how roughly he had treated his body in his youth.
He didn’t know if it was muscle damage, bone damage, or damage to the mana channels.
He just knew it was quite uncomfortable.
Even the doctor David had called couldn’t figure it out, so he had thought he’d just have to live with the slight discomfort.
But…, after catching that wolf just now, the pain had faintly disappeared.
Was it because he caught it? Or because of the energy that leaked from that bead?
Lost in thought, he mechanically walked and soon arrived at the dean’s office.
Zeron clenched his fist tightly once more, then sighed and knocked on the door.

-Knock knock
A voice from inside told him to come in.
Zeron opened the door.
Inside the room, a cold-looking middle-aged man was sitting and staring at him.
“Ah, yes… You must be Zeron, who came in as a term lecturer this time.”
“Yes, well.”
Zeron answered casually as he stepped inside.
I’ve become much more mellow these days.
Muttering to himself, he stood in front of the dean and looked down at him, causing the dean’s eyebrows to twitch.

“What business do you have?”
“Something strange happened during the exam.”
“Something strange?”
“Space cracked and some gray wolf jumped out, do you know what that was?”
The dean’s eyes widened.
So he does know.
Zeron looked down at him as if urging an answer.
“A Void…”
“Void?”
“…I’ll explain the details later. First, thank you. We’ll need to have a meeting soon.”
It was an indirect dismissal.
Zeron scratched his eyebrow and then turned his back on the dean.
He said he’d explain, so he’ll probably tell me later.
*
Zeron left the building and pondered for a moment.
“Ah…, I had something to tell the kid.”
Would she be there if I went to the dormitory now?
Is she out wandering somewhere?
It’s a girls’ dormitory to begin with, so I probably can’t even enter, right?
Sigh, he moved his feet while exhaling.
He thought he’d at least try going there.
And as expected,
“You can’t come in here.”
A friendly-looking guard blocked him.
“I just want to pass on a message and leave.”
“Still not allowed. You look like a lecturer, but if you go in and get reported, that’s your neck on the line.”
“Damn it.”
Zeron tilted his head back.
The sky was blue.
I wonder if she’d hear if I shouted really loudly.
“Haah…, then could you pass on a message?”
“Yes, well… I can do that much.”
“Then please tell the ki… no, the student named Medea to crawl out quickly. Say it’s urgent.”
“Medea…. Alright, just a moment.”
The guard went into the guardhouse and fiddled with the communication device.
From what he could overhear, it seemed he was relaying Zeron’s message to the dormitory supervisor.
After waiting for a while, the guard came back with a friendly smile and told him to wait just a bit longer.
About five minutes passed.
Medea came out of the dormitory entrance with quick steps.
“What’s the urgent matter? Is it because of that thing earlier?”
“No, I just told you to come out quickly.”
“…I should have known. You’re always late for appointments yourself.”
“When have I ever?”
“When haven’t you! You should have some conscience.”
The kid grumbled consistently.
He wanted to grab those handle-like twintails and lift her into the air.
She’d probably make a fuss, screaming and flailing about.
But since she’d probably sulk for at least a week if he did that, he suppressed the urge and said,
“Anyway, the exam is over, so let’s go out and play. Being cooped up in here is making me itch all over.”
“Huh…?”
The kid’s eyes narrowed.
She quickly took a few steps back and spoke cautiously.
“Who are you? You’re not uncle.”
“Why are you acting up again?”
“No, it doesn’t make sense for uncle to suggest going out first!”
“It’s not that bad.”
A chuckle involuntarily escaped.
Zeron turned his back, trying hard to resist the urge to give a knock on that tiny head.
“If you don’t want to, then don’t.”
“No, I didn’t say I didn’t want to yet!”
The kid shouted and then went back into the dormitory, saying to wait just a moment.
Her swaying twintails looked like a puppy’s tail.
About 10 minutes passed.
Just as the thought of just going back was starting to dominate his mind, the kid came bouncing out.
“Oh, what’s this?”
The kid was unusually dressed up.
High heels… well, not quite, but fairly high-heeled shoes, a dress with black and white base and red decorations, and even a white hair ribbon with round ornaments.
It was a childish style that showed efforts to look grown-up somehow.
No, if you’re going to do that, at least undo those twintails.
“Hmph, I’m an adult now too.”
But the kid puffed out her flat chest with a haughty expression.
She was still a seventeen-year-old youngster, but according to kingdom law, she was an adult from the moment she entered the academy?
That rude one, Jeremiah de Lapien, was fifteen years old if I remember correctly, but surprisingly, according to kingdom law, even that guy was a legal adult.
It was truly a lamentable thing.
“Oh my, is that so?”
So that appearance could only be laughable.
Zeron messed up the kid’s hair roughly.
Kyaaah-! The kid screamed and flailed her hands wildly, but her opponent was Zeron.
He successfully subdued the kid and messed up her hair into a beggar-like state.
“Wh-what are you doing…!”
Then the kid started to whimper.
“Uh…, hey wait. I didn’t mean to make you cry…”
“I-I’m not crying…!? Sheesh…”
Even if she said she wasn’t crying, tears were welling up in her eyes.
Zeron panicked and quickly retied the kid’s hair.
It wasn’t too difficult since he had experience occasionally taking care of the kid when she was young.
“Oh, our kid is so good. You’re just cute, why are you like this? Hm? They say if the original is pretty, it’s pretty no matter what you do to it, right?”
“……”
The kid kept her mouth shut, but he could see the corners of her mouth slowly rising.
She’s so easy, really.
Zeron grinned and held out his hand.
“Come on, let’s go, kid. Let’s go for a stroll with uncle after a long time.”
“Who’s an uncle…”
Though grumbling, the kid held his hand tightly.
Somehow, it reminded him of old times.
It seemed the same for the kid, as she pouted and said,
“I wonder if we’re going to get ambushed again or something.”
As he always thought, that mouth was the root of all evil.