An Old Man from the Countryside Becomes a Swords Saint: I Was Just a Rural Sword Teacher, But My Successful Students Won’t Leave Me Alone! - CH 127
“What the…?” I mumbled.
At that unexpected scream, I launched off my seat and looked out the window.
The student dormitory is a relatively tall building, but the cafeteria is on the first floor. So, if I approached the window, I could look around outside at a fairly close distance. However, it’s not a very good view as the sun has already set.
“Is someone making a fuss?” Lumitte said.
“Well, we’re making a fuss too! Hah-hah-ha!” Cindy cried.
The students’ interest seemed to shift to the unexpected scream, and they approached the window to find the source, just like me.
Since today is the weekend, I can still understand if it’s just the students making a ruckus. However, the voice I heard just now was somehow different from that kind of liveliness.
If anything, it sounded like a scream of crisis…
“Thyssel,” I said. “Who is in the school building at this time?”
“Most of them are teachers,” Thyssel replied. “Even if they’re studying, it’s unlikely that students will be inside at this time.”
“Hmm,” I go.
If that wasn’t a student, then there is a possibility that the voice earlier was by a teacher or an outsider.
If it’s a child, it may still pass for pranks and mischief, but if it’s a teacher who works at a facility like the Magician’s Academy, the odds are very low.
I can’t say anything for now because I can’t throw away the possibility of an intruder.
“Run! … Hurry!!”
A voice followed. I could hear it more clearly than before, but it was clearly tinged with panic.
“Thyssel,” I said.
“Yeah,” Thyssel replied.
We naturally put our hands on the swords on our waists.
There’s probably some kind of trouble. I don’t really want to imagine an incident happening in the Magician’s Academy, but if I do come across one, I’ll have to deal with it as an adult.
“I’ll go see how things are going with Prof. Thyssel,” I said. “Everyone else should stay here.”
“Un-Understood.”
Apparently, the students also sensed some kind of discomfort and seemed to follow my instructions obediently.
Goodness, the festive atmosphere is ruined. If it’s someone’s prank, I feel like I want to scold them hard.
Even if a battle should occur here, the students cannot be involved. Even if it’s an extra effort, I won’t expose these young buds to unnecessary risks.
If possible, I hope it’s just my imagination, but I feel like I tend to get caught up in trouble like this these days.
“Is there any possibility of an incident?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t think that’s the place for those sorts of things to happen,” Thyssel replied.
“Yeah, I suppose so……” I said.
We leave the student dormitory in a bit of a rush.
As Thyssel said, this is no ordinary school. It’s the Magician’s Academy with the elites who have trained all their lives and now teach and guide the next generation. Of course, the teachers should also be first-class magicians. Even if an intruder or rogue appears, it’s difficult to do anything unless you’re very organized and well-trained.
It would have been on the scale and planning of the attempted assassination of the royal family that happened recently. I would like to avoid such a worst-case scenario if possible.
“This is……” I said.
“Everyone is running away…?” Thyssel asked.
What did we see when we left the student dormitory?
The few remaining teachers seemed to be panicking and escaping from the school building.
“What…? What’s going on…?” I asked.
There are not many of them. After all, it seems that the teachers are generally not at the academy at this time during the weekend, and I can only see less than 10 people.
But even with just that, the current scene was significantly abnormal. Teachers at the Academy of Magicians, an educational institution that is the pride of the Rebelis Kingdom, are running away from something.
So, what is that something?
“…! Thyssel!” I cried.
As soon as the two of us were about to run toward the school building.
Along with the hard sound of something cracking, that “something” popped out.
“-!”
The figure is not very large. I think it’s about a dog or wolf at most.
I “think”, because the outline of it looked blurry.
I have a fairly good eye. It is also one of the few elements that I am proud of as a swordsman. But even so, I didn’t know what the thing that suddenly popped out was.
At first glance, it looks like a dog. Shadows that protrude like limbs and a distorted space that looks like its gaping maw. Even in the dark night, something like a fang shines mysteriously in my eyes as it attacks me.
Without knowing the true identity of my opponent, I draw my sword half unconsciously.
It was going in a straight line, I responded with a straight slash from the unsheathing.
Did my attack even work? It seemed to have collapsed soundlessly.
And then, it disappeared without a sound once more.
“…… It’s gone?” I asked.
I should have cut it. However, there was no reaction.
How can I say it, I almost didn’t feel like I had cut something. When I swung the sword, I barely felt any reaction coming up my hand, I would be convinced if you told me I’d just cut against a strong wind.
“… Still coming…!” Thyssel said.
“Shit…! What is this!?” I yelled.
However, something is objectively breaking out of the school building’s windows and invading here. In other words, it has the power to physically affect the world.
And there is no doubt that those are hostile. If they try to harm us, we have to get rid of them.
“Fuhn…!”
The first one… is it okay to count these things in numbers? Whatever. The wolf-shaped one jumped at me just like the first one, but this time I intercepted it by slashing up. It seems that they are not such a formidable opponent in terms of durability, and I should be happy that I can repel them with a single blow.
However, although I am thankful that I can defeat it in one blow, I can’t grasp the situation at all. I wonder if you can say that monsters suddenly appeared in the Magician’s Academy. It’s ridiculous.
“Fuh,” Thyssel went.
Even the shadows that jumped at Thyssel instead disappeared in the face of her swordsmanship.
The shadows that suddenly spring up from nowhere not only have poor durability, but their movements are also terrible. Although it was a little faster than us, it was an opponent that Thyssel and I could deal with.
Basically, it feels like a wild dog or wolf. With this kind of opponent, it wouldn’t be a big problem even if it was a large pack.
“What the hell is going on…?” I asked.
“I don’t know… but it’s clearly abnormal,” Thyssel said.
The enemy’s offensive calms down once we’ve dealt with several of them together.
When I looked around, I could see one of the teachers who had escaped from the school using magic to intercept the attacking enemy.
After all, if you become a teacher at the Magic Academy, you are more familiar with magic than normal. Little wonder, that.
If that’s the case, I can’t find any reason why they were running away from this level of opponent. It’s an opponent that I and Thyssel can easily control. What would make magic experts run away?
I know that something bad is going on. But the information is sorely lacking. I don’t even know if it’s correct to attack the school building like this.
We have to protect ourselves as well as the students in the dormitory. I was wondering if it was okay for me to leave this place unnecessarily.
“Mr. Beryl! Prof. Thyssel!”
“…Ms. Quinella!?” I yelled.
In the midst of my uncertainty about what to do, I heard a familiar voice from a familiar face.
It was Ms. Quinella, one of the teachers at the Magician’s Academy and also Miu’s homeroom teacher.
“Why are you here…? No, thank you for the help. It’s a relief to have you here,” Quinella said.
“No, no problem,” I said. “If possible, I would like you to explain the situation,” I said.
Seeing a familiar face makes me feel a little relieved, but now is not the time to chat lightheartedly. I would like to finish our greetings briefly and try to grasp the situation.
Ms. Quinella seems to understand that point well, so she took a deep breath and calmed down, and proceeded with the explanation.
“I don’t really understand it either, but…that shadow suddenly appeared from the school building… we were having a hard time dealing with it,” Quinella said.
“I see……” I replied.
In other words, it turned out that Ms. Quinella, who would have been inside the school building, was completely unaware of the situation.
But even so, questions remain. Ms. Quinella, who is a Defensive Magic user, shouldn’t lose even if she can’t defeat that shadow.
Besides, there’s no need to panic. I can still understand if she was caught off guard, but she should have had time to recover. Including the other teachers, I couldn’t come up with a good reason to evacuate at full speed.
“… Huh, again…!” I cried.
While Ms. Quinella was explaining, the windows of the school building shattered again, and those shadows rushed in.
It doesn’t matter ultimately, but the cost of repairing this seems like it’s going to be ridiculous. No, it’s not the time to think like that!
“Mr. Beryl, please take two steps back!”
“!?”
The number of shadows rushing in, they’re about 10. As soon as I thought that it would be difficult to do something about this in one shot, I reflexively jumped back from Ms. Quinella’s sharp voice.
“Ha…!”
A flash of spirit.
As soon as she called out, the crowd of shadows attacking her was repelled by an invisible wall and flew off it.
“Excuse me, it’s my turn now!” Quinella said.
“I understand!” I cried.
I see, so this is Defensive Magic.
When I experienced it, it was at most the size of the palm of my hand, but I found out that if you put your mind to it, you could cover a fairly wide area. I thought it was something that would definitely protect your body, but I wonder if it could turn into something like this depending on the skill of the user.
“Yoh-to!” Quinella cried.
However, there is no time to be impressed.
The wall created by Ms. Quinella wipes out the nearby shadows that have visibly slowed down. With Thyssel’s sword hand, it’s not a difficult opponent unless they get a surprise attack. Eliminate them quickly and continue the explanation.
“Goodness, no time to relax at all…” I muttered.
“This is bad…” Thyssel said.
We defeat the shadows that spring up again.
However, even though we defeated it, I can feel the presence of the school building again.
Could it be that these shadows are endlessly springing up? It’s a little troublesome. I can say that each one is not a big deal, but here there is a limit to physical strength and energy.
“Ms. Quinella, you saved us… but why did you run away?” I asked.
We can’t afford to be pretentious, let’s ask straight.
As I learned from the previous exchange, Ms. Quinella is not only a defensive magic user but also skilled in combat to some extent. In the immediate situation, she gave me an order to retreat and showed me how she could accurately deploy a magical spell.
Ultimately, I can’t find any reason to retreat from an opponent of this level.
Even if the other party springs up endlessly, you should be able to make enough time to think while dealing with it calmly.
And she’s not alone. There are other teachers. If she could have cooperated and dealt with it, I don’t think she would have been so late.
To my question, she answered with an expression that made me nervous.
“Actually… inside the school building, for some reason, we can’t use magic,” Quinella said. “I think some kind of force is interfering with it.”