I Became the Academy's Turn-Based Swordsman - Chapter 33

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 33: It's Something I Received from a Friend

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Recovering the bodies came first, so unfortunately, the dungeon raid ended after just one run.

After contacting the nearby military unit, soldiers arrived in less than an hour and took the bodies away.

“Thank you so much. Thanks to you, our comrades can rest in peace.”

“It was only my duty as a noble.”

The soldier gave a silent bow, then studied us closely.

“Are you two students of Ruidel Academy, by any chance?”

“That’s right.”

“I understand today is your first day of enrollment... Why are you involved in something like this?”

“Because it was something that had to be done.”

The soldiers nodded with admiring exclamations.

Then one of them spoke.

“Just as the rumors say, Sir Halibal is quite the man.”

Just as the rumors say?

What kind of rumors were spreading about me?

Scary. Very scary.

I exchanged a brief farewell with Cecilia as well.

The Shattering Greatsword hung from her back as she boarded the tram.

“You’re not coming with me?”

“Yeah. In a little while.”

“Classes start tomorrow, don’t they? Wouldn’t it be better to go back and rest today?”

The mansion still wasn’t finished.

“I’ll do that.”

“...You don’t look like you’re going to.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t be late for class tomorrow.”

“...Well, see you at lunch tomorrow.”

After watching Cecilia board the tram and disappear, I turned back toward the entrance to the Goblin Dungeon.

‘Senia’s main weapon was a greatsword?’

The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

There wasn’t even a character who used greatswords, so why had they made one?

Given the developers’ usual behavior, I assumed they had made it just to screw with players. But what if Senia had been something like unused data from Academy of the End?

It happened sometimes. Characters created only in the planning stages whose development was canceled for one reason or another.

Maybe there had originally been a plan connecting Senia to the greatsword, but it had been discarded for some reason?

‘It makes sense. I’ll need to look into this too.’

Lost in thought, I had already arrived back at the dungeon entrance.

Cecilia was right. Maybe I should rest today.

But how was I supposed to hold back when loot was flashing before my eyes?

Not the Shattering Sword, but the Shattering Greatsword.

It would’ve been one thing if nothing had dropped, but someone else’s weapon dropped instead of mine?

I couldn’t let that go.

In the end, I decided to run the dungeon alone for as long as my stamina held out today.

I had already figured out the Goblin Dungeon’s difficulty.

Even without Cecilia, a solo clear was possible if I accepted some damage. The injuries wouldn’t be fatal, either.

‘I brought plenty of potions, too.’

Just in case, I had packed a huge supply of potions from the military, along with more I bought in Nevil.

I usually didn’t rely on them much, but this was an upper-tier dungeon, so I had to stay cautious.

Thanks to Cecilia, I had at least saved money on potions.

Still, I decided not to push myself too far.

‘I’ll leave once I’ve used all of these.’

With that, I threw myself back into the dungeon.

The night passed, dawn broke, and the first tram of the day began running.

When I finally emerged from the dungeon, dragging my exhausted body along, I held several pieces of equipment in my hands.

[Shattering Gauntlets (II)]

[Shattering Mace (II)]

[Shattering Spear (II)]

So where was the sword, then?

Answer me.

⁎⁎⁎

Morning sunlight filtered through the window.

Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I got on the tram and headed for the academy.

There was a reason I had spent the night running the dungeon.

Yesterday had effectively been the end of the academy’s free time.

So I had tried to get as much out of it as possible, but...

‘How does a single sword not drop?’

I had cleared the Goblin Dungeon five times.

The result was four pieces from the Shattering series. Judging by the drop rate alone, that qualified as absurdly lucky, but I didn’t get a weapon I could actually use.

Starting today, my schedule would be packed with classes, and I also had to spend time with Cecilia.

That meant I wouldn’t have time to spend all day in the dungeon like yesterday.

‘It’ll drop soon. I have to believe that.’

By the time I came out of my thoughts, the tram had arrived at the academy’s main gate.

Watching students pass through the gate one by one, I recalled what I knew about the academy.

Ruidel used a credit system.

Aside from required courses, students could freely choose their own subjects. Course registration took place all at once a few days after enrollment was confirmed.

I had already registered for the classes I wanted.

By that, I meant the classes that raised stats in the original game.

In Academy of the End, Aren’s stats rose depending on the classes Aren took.

But it wasn’t just combat-related stats that increased. Classes could also raise lifestyle stats called Traits.

Knowledge, Talent, Kindness, Courage, Charm.

These Trait values could unlock new quests or let you speak with NPCs you normally couldn’t approach, among many other benefits.

Of course, none of that mattered to me.

Aren could handle the Trait grinding.

Aside from required courses, I had registered for [Basic Weaponry], [Basic Physical Conditioning], and [Herbology].

The first two raised Attack Power and Health respectively, while Herbology was necessary for making herbs and potions that could be used in dungeons.

Basic Weaponry, in particular, was a class Aren took too, so I needed to attend it to keep an eye on Aren.

For the record, I crammed them all into the morning.

Afternoons were for dungeon runs.

I could wait until next semester to worry about people involved with the scenario. I had decided to focus solely on raising my base stats during the first semester.

There was one serious problem, though.

‘I’m broke.’

The only reason I had been able to endure solo dungeon runs yesterday was because I had played like a potion-addicted maniac.

When I ran dungeons with Cecilia, I focused entirely on Ashen Light. She could easily make up for the damage I lacked.

But I couldn’t do that alone.

So I had ended up clearing dungeons by repeatedly using Gale’s Path, an Art that consumed Health.

I had no choice since Instant Kill didn’t activate.

Whenever my Health ran low, I restored it with a potion, then went right back to Chrono Dive, Carving Sword, and Gale’s Path.

After repeating that endlessly, I had burned through my potions in no time.

I would have to keep playing like this from now on.

On top of that, I needed to buy armor and accessories. I also had nowhere to stay, so I needed living expenses and money for all kinds of other costs.

‘They said they’d give me money. When exactly are they planning to give it to me...?’

Come to think of it, it wasn’t as though I had no options.

For example, part-time work.

I could earn a little money and a small amount of Traits through activities available only in the afternoon, but it was so inefficient that I’d be better off not doing it.

I could also sell my Shards or weapons on the black market, but if I got caught lurking around the black market as a student, I would definitely receive some kind of penalty.

Besides, using them for synthesis to raise my proficiency with the Alicia Machine would be far more profitable than selling them.

Should I just use Alicia’s name officially and demand to know where the money went? Would that ruin the act?

That was when I heard a voice behind me.

“Valhil... Halibal Velder. There you are.”

I turned to find a student with a purple bowl cut standing there.

He had a face that barely qualified as handsome. Two students who looked like his lackeys stood close behind him.

“You wouldn’t say you’ve forgotten me, would you?”

“Richard Dane.”

The first person I had cut down during the entrance exam.

Richard and his gang were a supporting group with a decent presence in the original game.

In the entrance exam, he had earned the third-highest score after Eugene and Ran.

Since Cecilia had dropped out of the top spot, he had ended up third overall in the entrance exam.

And he was talking to me?

‘What is this? Did he come to pick a fight?’

Richard in the original game was a typical arrogant noble.

He openly provoked the commoners in his class, earning Ran’s hostility, and frequently clashed with Aren, who was also a commoner.

He had even done petty things like kidnap a commoner student from Class C and throw them into a mock dungeon.

‘He abandoned a commoner student during the entrance exam too.’

Still, he was an important character who served as a launching pad for Aren and Eugene’s rivalry.

Only after Aren thoroughly crushed him did Eugene begin paying attention to Aren, kicking off their real rivalry.

After that, he became something of a comic relief character before eventually joining the protagonist’s group during the civil war episode. Annoying, but not someone who stayed complete trash until the end.

So I was sure he had come to start trouble.

Even if I was a noble, I was only a commoner with an honorary title.

Yet Richard only stared at me directly, sweating profusely.

‘...What? Did he come up to me, then suddenly forget what he was supposed to say?’

Should he look down on me, or treat me as a noble?

He seemed strangely unable to decide how to approach me.

‘Getting cut down in the entrance exam must’ve left quite an impression.’

Then Richard said something unexpected.

“What class are you taking?”

I had been expecting something like, “You filthy commoner!” so it caught me off guard.

Since there was no hostility in him, I answered honestly.

“Basic Weaponry.”

“The same class as me. A class you don’t need, considering you even founded a sword style. Why take it?”

Because it raised Attack Power.

“Fundamentals are always important.”

“...You possess more noble spirit than I expected.”

He nodded even at that formal answer.

He was quite different from the Richard of the original game, who would immediately treat commoners like dirt.

Could it be because I wasn’t a commoner?

‘It looks like he’s decided to acknowledge me as a noble for now.’

“What about you?”

Perhaps he hadn’t expected me to ask in return. Richard looked flustered for a moment, glanced at his gang, then spoke.

“On the day I lost to you in the entrance exam, I realized my own limits.”

“L-Lord Richard!!”

“Urgh...! Lord Richard is admitting his own shortcomings!!”

The moment he said he had realized his limits, his gang began gasping and fawning over him.

“So I made a decision. I’m changing weapons.”

“?”

That was even more unexpected.

I was pretty sure Richard had insisted on using swords until the end in the original game.

“I will lay down the sword I have wielded until now. From this day forward, I will wield a spear. Basic Weaponry is preparation for that.”

“Any weapon would suit Lord Richard!”

“The spear is the king of all weapons! Lord Richard will become the king of all weapons as well!”

Richard proudly declared before me that he had become an academy spearman.

Changing weapons, huh.

The first Basic Weaponry class did begin with a process of choosing the weapon that suited each student, along with the instructor.

The protagonist and other playable characters were the abnormal ones. Not many students came in already knowing which weapon they would use from the start.

The question was, why was he telling me this?

“If you know me, you must know that I possess outstanding talent with the spear as well. I will defeat you with a spear without fail.”

Of course I didn’t.

It hadn’t happened in the original game.

As I was thinking that meeting Richard from a noble’s perspective was a surprisingly fresh experience...

‘Wait. A spear?’

My gaze naturally fell on the Shattering Spear hanging from my back.

“I will make the spear shine through my own will! That is the destiny of one who bears the name of House Dane...”

“Do you need a spear?”

“...What did you say?”

Good.

⁎⁎⁎

A man in uniform stood atop the platform.

He had a ponytail tied tightly behind his head and a huge, muscular build.

Most of the students recognized his face. He was one of the examiners they had met during the entrance exam.

“Welcome to Ruidel, first-year students. My name is Calven. I will be your instructor for Basic Weaponry this semester.”

After introducing himself, Calven looked over the fifty or so students lined up before him.

Then he smiled in satisfaction.

‘They call it the Golden Generation. It truly is.’

Even in Calven’s eyes, Ruidel’s pool of talent this year exceeded expectations.

He found it especially difficult to take his eyes off several students, including Aren and Halibal.

Calven had taught Basic Weaponry at Ruidel for fifteen years. He knew well that the most important thing for surviving in a dungeon was choosing a weapon that suited you.

A weapon was one’s limbs and shield. It could even be called a raid party’s greatest companion.

That was why he had always stressed the importance of Basic Weaponry.

In that sense, the students Calven especially liked were those who already understood their own abilities and possessed weapons that suited them from the beginning.

There were an unusually large number of such talents this year.

“Now, come forward one at a time and personally choose the weapon that will become your primary arm.”

Of course, that did not mean he looked down on students whose talents had yet to show themselves.

It was only a matter of whether their awakening came early or late. He believed it was his role, and the role of Basic Weaponry, to draw that potential out.

While the students chose their weapons, Calven’s gaze settled on a student leaning against a pillar at one side of the auditorium.

‘The Dane Family’s delinquent.’

A student whose skill was exceptional but whose character did not measure up.

He had heard Richard Dane looked down on commoners, in particular. As someone from a commoner background himself, Calven did not welcome a student like that.

As far as he knew, Richard Dane was an orthodox swordsman trained in aristocratic swordsmanship.

But...

‘A spear?’

Richard carried a spear instead of a sword.

For some reason, Calven’s gaze naturally shifted to the spear hanging on Richard’s back.

A spear shaft engraved with a red wave pattern.

Faint demonic energy leaking from its tip.

He knew at a glance.

‘Could it be dungeon-made equipment...?!’

Dungeon-made equipment. Special equipment born in dungeons rather than crafted by human hands.

‘Even the Dane Family could not acquire something like that easily... Why does someone who is not even a spearman have it?’

Calven’s eyes narrowed.