Chapter 14 - Academy City (3)
The academy's dormitories consisted of four buildings, all conveniently located near the academy itself.
However, the recently constructed fifth dormitory was an exception.
It was situated in an unusual spot, quite a distance from the academy, and even further from the city and its bustling streets.
It lay in a basin surrounded by mountains—mountains that were largely untouched by human hands, wild and pristine.
To call this a "hill" felt disingenuous; apart from the narrow path leading to the dormitory, it was pure wilderness.
Why would such unspoiled nature exist in the heart of a large city like Bryse?
The answer was a graveyard.
For centuries, this unnamed mountain had served as the communal burial ground for the people of Bryse.
The enemy uses poison, so those who die in battle must be cremated.
However, some chose to defy the law and bury their family members, which is why this nameless mountain earned its nickname, "Tomb Hill."
The academy's response arrived: "The newly built dormitory has vacancies and you can move in immediately."
This was hardly surprising.
Who would want to live in a place where gravestones dotted the roadside at regular intervals?
"Unless your family's been wiped out like mine... Just kidding. Not yet, anyway."
I looked up and saw a distant red orb shimmering above the trees.
Waving toward it, I continued down the path.
The dormitory itself stood at the far end of the forest path—a rugged, four-story wooden mansion.
It was larger than I had expected, with a quite spacious clearing in front.
A lone signboard stood in the center of the clearing: "Highwind."
Highwind was one of the eight main families of the Sword King house, ranking fifth.
They were renowned for their exceptional swordsmanship.
Was the fifth dormitory named Highwind because of its rank?
If so, the fourth dormitory would likely be named Granvelle, as the Granvelle family ranked fourth in the Sword King house.
Swish swish...
Just then, I saw someone around my age sweeping the dormitory courtyard.
I stopped and watched the child.
"...Huh?"
Our eyes met immediately.
The child tossed the broom aside and ran towards me.
"You're here!"
"..."
"You're finally here! You're a new student, right? I'm a new student too! My name is Eric Newt. But I'm not actually from the Newt family."
"...An adopted child?"
"Yeah. So just call me Eric. I'm not used to the new family name. But isn't it too much here?"
Eric looked around the dormitory building and began to complain.
"I had such high hopes for a newly built dorm, and look at this mess! Even if the Newt family is at the very bottom of the cadet houses, putting us in the middle of these mountains for four years? Isn't this just blatant discrimination?"
"..."
"I even arrived two days ago, and there was no one else in the dorm besides me! No dorm supervisor, no administrator. The academy's lost its mind. I went to the administrative office, and they said they hadn't even hired anyone. Something about the budget for building the new dorm. These guys are really too much, don't you think?"
"..."
"Anyway, they said only a few people would be assigned here this year. I thought all new students would come here, but anyone with a bit of status squeezed into the old dorms. Seriously. That's why they built a dorm in the middle of these mountains—to stick families like ours, the riff-raff, and adopted kids far away. Don't you agree?"
"..."
"Right? You're an adopted student too, aren't you? Or maybe a special case for commoners? By the way, what's your name?"
"..."
"What's wrong? Aren't you an academy new student?"
"No. I am."
"Then what's the problem? Is something wrong?"
Eric frowned.
I silently met his gaze, organizing my thoughts.
Eric made a good impression.
He had seemed friendly even from afar while sweeping.
His face was bright, and his eyes were gentle.
Just by his words, he seemed sociable and affable.
Being an adopted son from a cadet house, not a main family, was irrelevant.
The Sword King house commonly adopted promising children, and given my current circumstances, caring about family status was laughable.
I wasn't the type to care about such things anyway.
My best friend was the son of the mansion's chef.
We used to run around the mountains and fields, catching bugs and eating strange things, playing together.
So, social status didn't matter.
Perhaps we could even become good friends.
But.
But this guy's body smelled.
It was a scent like a rotten animal buried in the ground with fragrant flowers sprinkled over it.
Of course, such a smell doesn't exist in the world.
It was just how I perceived it.
Therefore, this was poison.
Eric harbored poison within his body.
Furthermore, he was concealing the poison's aura using some special method, preventing others from detecting it.
It was cunning.
At this level, even a skilled inspector would find it hard to notice.
"Amazing. I'm probably the only one who knows about this."
"Huh? What? What don't you know?"
Eric asked back, looking bewildered.
I smiled without answering.
In this world, there was only one group that concealed poison within themselves: spies of the Poison King house.
On the surface, he looked like an ordinary 15-year-old boy, but in reality, he was an enemy spy with poison hidden in his body.
He would undoubtedly be far stronger than mere minions from the poison cave.
But could he exert such power right now?
Just as the Sword King house enhanced physical abilities through Aura, they enhanced their bodies by utilizing the poison they harbored.
This was called Deadly Poison Enhancement.
If Eric was concealing his poison, he wouldn't be able to display his true abilities.
At least not right now.
"Oh, apologies for the late introduction. I'm Ray. No big deal... I was just bewildered by how absurdly located this dorm is."
"Ah, I thought I'd somehow displeased you. Phew."
Eric sighed with a relieved expression.
I clapped internally and chuckled to myself.
This guy's acting skills were truly impressive, weren't they?
It made sense that he could pull off being a spy.
What kind of face was hidden behind that innocent mask?
"Yeah, I felt the same way. I was so disoriented when I first arrived here. The room just had a bed, nothing else. No, wait, there's actually an advantage."
"What is it?"
"You can pick any room you want? Oh, the room at the far end on the right on the second floor is mine. Pick anywhere else."
"Okay. But you said you arrived two days ago, right?"
"Huh? Yeah."
"You came early? The semester doesn't start for a few more days, does it?"
"Well, you know. I came early to get acquainted with the other new students. But it was a pointless trip. I had no idea the dorm would be like this."
"No students, no dorm supervisor, no administrator?"
"That's what I said! It's really just you and me here."
Eric spread his arms, lamenting.
"Haa... How am I supposed to live here from now on? I asked at the academy, and they said only one other student besides me was confirmed to move in."
"Is that me?"
"Probably, yeah?"
That works out well.
I nodded and picked up a fallen twig from the ground.
"So you're my first friend. This is fate, let's make the best of it. For a while, it'll just be the two of us here... But what are you doing?"
"Picking up a twig."
"Why? To help clean?"
"Yeah."
Cleaning is important.
I casually thrust the picked-up twig into Eric's solar plexus.
Without any preparatory movement, naturally.
Thud.
Unity Sword is good for this.
There's no need to carry a separate weapon, and even when you attack, it's hard to tell if it's an attack.
Surely, this guy was caught off guard because of that.
"Cough..."
Eric spat blood, his face bewildered.
I wondered how long that expression would last.
I pushed the crouching guy down, then immediately climbed on top, pressing down on his body, and raised my hand.
"Get down. Quickly."
"Cough... You, what did you just...?"
"I wasn't talking to you."
I pulled down the orb that was floating high in the sky.
It was my family and my friend, and at the same time, the most terrifying poison in the world.
"Ugh..."
Meanwhile, Eric twitched in pain, then went limp.
Dead?
No way.
This was just a trick.
A black mist began to seep from his now relaxed body.
Hiss...
Along with a toxic stench, as if a corpse was rotting.
But I was unfazed.
"...Why?"
The moment the guy who pretended to be dead twitched, I made a disappointed face and kept stabbing his body.
"The poison is weak."
His collarbone, solar plexus, and flank.
"Cough! Argh!"
The guy twisted as if hitting a vital spot.
I wasn't consciously aiming for vitals.
I merely stabbed where the poison's aura felt strong.
Of course, when you stab a person with a blade, is there really any non-vital spot?
Splash!
Suddenly, black blood spurted from his body.
Of course, this too was poison.
It was the kind that numbed the senses and blurred the mind upon contact.
"Still, this one's pretty potent."
At least enough to notice the effect of the poison.
I continued to stab the enemy's abdomen, extracting the accumulated poison liquid until the very last drop.
"Cough! Gulp! Arghhhhh!"
He sure had a lot hidden away.
Every time I stabbed, black poison liquid spurted like a fountain.
It seemed his guts weren't there, just filled with poison liquid.
"Argh! Choke!"
"What kind of pouch is this? He really managed to put something like this inside his body."
"Argh! You, cough! You bastard..."
"This is why the Sword King house wouldn't notice. You're a spy for the Poison King house, aren't you? How many more like you are here?"
"Kgh..."
Eric sealed his lips.
But the spreading toxic scent confessed his origins for him.
"Hmm... This is familiar."
"..."
"It's the smell from when I killed those minions. Not all of it, just a bit. Are you also from the Poison King Cult?"
"!"
His expression alone confirmed it.
To think the Poison King Cult was so close.
"You, you... How do you know about the Poison King Cult? Could it be counter-intelligence?"
Counter-intelligence.
A secret organization within the Sword King house.
Their job was probably to expose enemy spies.
"Damn it... Was information leaked?"
Suddenly, Eric's appearance dramatically crumbled.
Wrinkles formed across his entire face, his once smooth skin lost its elasticity, and black spots appeared.
He transformed into a haggard middle-aged man, no matter how charitably you looked at him.
Where had that innocent, smiling child gone?
It was hard to believe they were the same person.
"You can change your face with poison. Do you paralyze nerves to smooth out wrinkles?"
"..."
"Clever. How old are you really? Fifty, perhaps? How do you fake your voice? Is that also with poison?"
"Poison King. Our Savior, who fights for the unchosen..."
The silent guy suddenly mumbled something like an incantation and closed his eyes.
"Go on, try it. Sword King house's hound."
"What?"
"I will keep my mouth shut, even if I die. No matter what you do."
"That's good then."
"..."
"Don't say anything. You don't have to."
Because I would do the talking.
The orb, which had descended to eye level, trembled as if hesitating.
I shook my head and put my hand into the orb.
"Ray!"
A scream-like voice echoed in my mind.
Yes, it's me.
You were all worried about me.
"It's okay. This is nothing."
But my hand swelled, and intense pain surged through me.
"Ugh..."
It hurt.
It really hurt.
"This is a whole different level from when I put my finger in before. This really hurts."
"Wha-what is it? Why is your hand suddenly...?"
"Shhh. Didn't you say you'd keep your mouth shut even if you die?"
Shock flashed in Eric's eyes.
I smiled and pointed to the orb.
"But you can't see this either, can you?"
"..."
"As I thought, you can't see it. Strange. I thought someone from the Poison King side might."
"..."
"This is Leyline Poison. Wow, it really hurts. My skin hurts, but my bones ache. It feels like my bones are being crushed and melting."
Then, I suddenly remembered my sister, whom I had reunited with in the poison cave.
Back then, she didn't say a single word about pain.
She just protected me from the surging Leyline Poison...
"What? Leyline Poison? Wai-wait. You don't mean...?"
"Shhh."
I used my swollen, red finger to cover Eric's mouth.
"Quiet. Don't speak."