I Became the Academy's Turn-Based Swordsman - Chapter 10

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 10: Three Years

──────

I'd learned what happened when Instant Kill triggered.

The moment I faced a monster,

Flash!

Rooooar!

My vision went white. When it returned, the monster had already been cleaved in two and embedded in the ground.

"What...?"

The problem came afterward.

Once the battle ended, I froze with my sword planted in the ground, as though I were praying.

Every single time Instant Kill triggered.

I could understand if it were some kind of victory animation, but having to pull my sword out of the ground every time was surprisingly bothersome.

Still, I rode that momentum, cutting down monsters one after another with Instant Kill as I pushed toward the dungeon's depths.

Naturally, the Golem Dungeon's boss was a golem.

As its huge stone arm slowly rose, I raised my sword high as well.

Flash!

'What?'

When I came to, the golem's torso had already been severed at the waist.

'It works on bosses too?'

It would've been much more useful if I knew Instant Kill's activation conditions, but I hadn't expected it to trigger in the very dungeon I'd come to investigate.

Of course, the Golem Dungeon was on the easier side, so that was probably why it worked. Still, it was a good sign.

If Instant Kill worked on bosses too, my farming efficiency would rise exponentially.

I'd need to see whether it worked in other dungeons as well.

[Blue Shard]

"At least one dropped."

Expecting a Special Shard from a boss that Instant Kill could take down would be greedy.

I picked up the shard, tucked it into my clothes, and trudged out of the dungeon.

What other dungeons were there besides the Spider Dungeon and Golem Dungeon?

Ah, there were the Lizardman Dungeon and Slime Dungeon too.

A dungeon circuit.

It sounded pretty tempting.

Then why hadn't I ever thought of trying it? There had to be a reason I'd only stuck to the Beast Dungeon and Spider Dungeon.

"Halibal."

Adeline was waiting outside.

The moment I saw her, I remembered why I'd forgotten the other dungeons existed.

'I never got permission.'

I'd shoved them out of my memory.

"Ah."

I was fucked.

"Ah."

"...Ah."

"Ah."

"...Please make it not hurt."

I hadn't prepared a twelve-line acrostic.

⁎⁎⁎

I went to the brig.

'You idiot! You're not even fully recovered, so where do you think you're wandering off to on your own? Do you even remember that you're a soldier?!'

I couldn't exactly say, 'The princess disguised herself and pulled WWE moves on me,' so Adeline and the military police took me away.

Thankfully, I was only confined for a day. It seemed less like punishment and more like an order to get some proper rest.

Or was it?

That didn't explain why I got beaten until I was just short of fearing for my life.

It was unfair enough that getting beaten hadn't triggered a battle.

The one good thing was that Adeline, having caught on to what I was after, secured blanket entry permission for every dungeon around the barracks.

Starting tomorrow, I was going to become a shard-farming master.

"Halibal. You have visitors."

"Yes. Please wait a moment."

"The two young ladies of the Ren House, huh? Heh heh. I'll leave you alone, so do your best."

The military police officer grinned while deliberately vacating a spot they did not need to.

What was so funny?

Was it the state I was in?

"Oh my, are you all right? We heard you were confined and came to visit. Honestly, you always find a way to surprise us."

"I'm sorry for causing you concern."

"Hehe, sneaking out without permission... I never thought you were the type to do such a thing. You're unexpectedly headstrong."

After speaking, Senia began peeling the fruit she'd brought, just like last time.

Only this time, it was through the iron bars.

It had a certain charm to it.

But hadn't the military police officer said there were two visitors?

When I looked toward the door, a familiar lock of long silver hair was sticking out from the gap in the iron door.

What was she doing over there?

"Cecil. If you're here, you should say hello."

"I-I said I'll do it myself!"

Cecilia hesitantly walked toward me.

"I heard. You created a sword style."

"It's not worthy of being called a creation. It can't compare to the Ren House's swordsmanship."

"What... Are you trying to fool me?"

She said that, but I could see the corners of her mouth twitch when I praised the Ren House.

Her prickly attitude hadn't changed, but my impression of her had already shifted in a favorable direction.

Come to think of it, unlike Senia, who only peeled fruit for me, wasn't Cecilia a young lady who gave without holding back?

She gave me the inspiration for Arts, an Abyss Core, and shards. She had also helped, directly and indirectly, with my learning Break.

She had practically done everything for me. I'd decided I would repay her the next time we met.

"Thank you, Lady Cecilia."

"...Huh?"

"I survived thanks entirely to you, my lady."

"I-Is that so?"

"That's why I prepared something to repay you."

I reached into my clothes, then held out my clenched fist toward her.

"Hah..."

The moment Cecilia saw my fist, she let out an excited breath, flinched, and took a small step back.

"R-Repay me? Th-That is...?"

"Yes. I saved these because I thought they would help you."

"S-Saved...? W-What? D-Don't tell me... strength...?"

What was she even talking about?

"P-Please... don't make it hurt this time..."

She closed her eyes and offered her face to me.

"?"

Ignoring her nonsense, I opened my clenched hand.

"Oh my."

"...What?"

"White Shards."

I had prepared seven White Shards as repayment.

I'd picked them up here and there while doing Kobold runs.

White Shards increased mana, so they were completely useless to a swordsman like me.

But it was different for Cecilia. The Ren Sword Style was what people called a hybrid type.

That meant both Red Shards and White Shards were effective for her.

There were even players who built Cecilia exclusively around White Shards.

"Hey!!!"

Damn, that startled me. I thought my eardrums had burst.

"Y-You need to say things clearly next time so people don't misunderstand you!!"

"...I'm sorry?"

She suddenly went off on me, so the apology slipped out. For some reason, Cecilia's face was as red as a tomato.

Then she immediately snatched the shards from my hand.

Ah. She wasn't rejecting them.

Cecilia shot me a sharp look afterward.

"...But how did you know our House's sword style is affected by mana?"

Well, it was probably not widely known that the Ren Sword Style was based on magic. It was supposedly one of the family's secret techniques.

Naturally, suspicion filled Cecilia's eyes. Senia looked the same.

They probably suspected I was an agent of the Tartarus Cult.

Fortunately, I had an excellent excuse.

"Didn't I take Shattering Light head-on myself?"

"...Ah."

"I thought Lady Cecilia's Arts would be far more beautiful if they were infused with mana."

I knew because I'd been hit by it.

What better excuse could there be?

"White Shards must have been difficult to obtain."

"These are the only things I can offer you right now."

"...Is that so?"

I had other spare shards, but just in case, I'd only given away the White Shards I didn't need.

"This is repayment for the core and Yellow Shards."

If I could earn a heroine's favor with things I had no use for, nothing could be better.

"If you don't like them..."

"...No."

Cecilia lowered her head for a moment, then murmured quietly.

"...Thank you. I like them."

For the next several hours, we sat facing each other across the bars and chatted.

"That's right. I cleared the Spider Dungeon a few days ago too."

"Did the Human-Faced Spider's legs give you any trouble?"

"They burned away before they could touch me."

Yeah, yeah. You're amazing.

"Oh my. So the Beast Dungeon's mid-boss is called Shukarit? That's kind of cute."

"Electricity runs through its body? How did you beat it?"

"I struggled more with its speed than the electricity."

By the time we finished talking, evening had long passed.

Yet the military police officer still hadn't returned.

Where the hell had that bastard gone?

In the end, the two left, and it was nearly night when the military police officer finally came trailing back.

"Halibal, if things work out for you, you owe me a meal, got it?"

Along with that load of crap.

⁎⁎⁎

"Ugh!"

"Winner, Halibal Velder! He wins the bout!"

A soldier was sent flying by a single blow.

"Crazy... What is that guy? Even with an Abyss Core, can someone really be that fast?"

"Hey, I told you that you don't need to be jealous of a genius."

"I'm just proud of him."

Starting the next day, I completely changed my training routine.

I sparred with the barracks' senior soldiers as a baseline, then finished each day by sparring with Adeline.

During that process, I discovered a new effect of Instant Kill.

At first, I'd made the mistake of entering a spar with Black Cloud still equipped.

The moment Instant Kill triggered, I thought I was screwed. Unexpectedly, though, the soldier had only lost consciousness and was otherwise unharmed.

When Instant Kill activated against an ally, it seemed to apply a suitable suppression effect rather than killing them.

I learned something new.

"Why did this bastard Halibal knock Greg down and start praying?"

"Is he saying, 'Hurry up and die so you can go to heaven'?"

The misunderstandings only grew.

⁎⁎⁎

"...Oh?"

"What's wrong? Aren't you staggering?"

For the first time, I took the opening turn against Adeline.

I was deeply moved. I could land the first hit on that crazy bitch before she beat me up.

Wait. Didn't that mean nothing had really changed?

"Is that a taunt? Interesting."

When I got behind her and used Arts in rapid succession, Adeline looked up at me with an expression I'd never seen before.

Surprise or fear? Pride?

No. Her eyes looked like those of a predator watching prey.

"You've walked right into it. I was bored."

In the next spar, she stole the first turn again.

Fuck. Had she been holding back this whole time?

After getting beaten up like usual, I shifted my training toward more aerobic exercise.

Damn bitch.

⁎⁎⁎

"How are you feeling? Are you all right?"

"Yes. I always seem to receive help from you, Saint."

"No... I'm the one who always feels sorry that I can't share your pain..."

After training, Mine often treated me.

Adeline broke me, and Mine fixed me.

I felt like a human porcelain doll.

"Have you been taking your medicine regularly?"

"It should be the easiest thing to do, yet it's the hardest thing to get used to."

"You still need to take it without missing a dose."

Mine said that while loosening the tense muscles in my shoulders.

"I regret it so much."

"Pardon?"

"If I had been there when you were in the most pain... you wouldn't have these scars."

Even with her powerful holy power, Mine said it would be difficult to erase my scars all at once.

The injuries were too old, apparently.

That was why I needed to regularly take medicinal potions infused with concentrated holy power and build holy power up in my body.

But the medicine tasted disgustingly bitter.

Why was medicine bitter in the first place?

It would at least be worth taking if I could see my scars improve with every dose, but that wasn't the case, so it was a hassle.

After I skipped a few doses, Mine somehow noticed immediately.

"No!"

She scolded me.

With no other choice, I forced the medicine down my throat.

⁎⁎⁎

I continued gaining experience and farming shards by going through the other dungeons near the barracks.

Kyuooooo!

But why didn't Instant Kill trigger on this Slime bastard?

Its sticky body slam broke my ribs for the first time in a while.

Wow.

Had I become too reliant on Instant Kill lately? The pain I felt after so long seemed twice as bad.

I only realized after killing the Slime that every monster seemed to have its own requirement for triggering Instant Kill.

In the Slime's case, Instant Kill triggered once I equipped a Green Shard.

Confirmed.

⁎⁎⁎

Once the Base Camp was completed, I began running the deepest section of the Beast Dungeon.

The moment I passed the entrance, the deep dungeon's distinctive humidity and strong fishy stench struck me.

Even after walking only a short distance, water mixed with mud and monster droppings clung to the soles of my shoes.

From this point on, the monsters' stats doubled.

Monsters at the level of Elite Kobolds appeared as the norm, and monsters at the level of the Golem Dungeon boss occasionally appeared as regular mobs.

That's right. It meant Instant Kill triggered.

"Sir Halibal is praying again."

"Hoho, he's such a devout man."

"Now I understand why the Saint fusses over him so much."

Instant Kill triggered often enough through the middle section, so our progress was smooth.

But that happiness didn't last long.

"Sir Halibal! It's a monster we've never seen before!"

"Get Sir Halibal out of the dungeon now! We need to form a plan!"

"Wait... Please wait."

Grrrrrr...!!

The elite monster was a Chimera, with the body of a huge wild dog and wings.

Yeah. I could tell at a glance that Instant Kill wasn't going to trigger on this bastard.