Chapter 268: New Semester (2)
Morris looked at me with sparkling eyes, hope practically shining from them. “How is it? Are you... interested? You said that you’re close with Her Majesty, right? If you join, you could become a blue badge in no time. No, scratch that, you might even become an operator!”
With a sly grin tugging at his lips, Morris wore the unmistakable expression of someone thinking, “There’s no way you’d turn down an offer this sweet, right?”
People said that oddities would start to resemble each other just by standing close together. Khalid and Morris were exactly like that.
Seriously. I was suspicious of this guy? Like father, like son. Ah, right. He said they’re not blood-related. Well, whatever. A father who drinks himself senseless all day and a son who fantasizes about getting trampled by the Empress. What a wonderful household.
A hollow sigh rose from deep inside me. All that nonsense about him being a pawn of the Church of Eternity suddenly felt ridiculous.
“W-what’s wrong?” Morris asked.
“Nothing.”
What did this guy even do wrong? I was the idiot, beating my own drum and jumping to conclusions about him being tied to the Church of Eternity over nothing. While this didn’t mean I could completely drop my guard, after I had talked to Morris, nothing about him seemed particularly suspicious, aside from the fact that he was clearly hiding his strength.
Another sigh escaped me. I shook my head at Morris, who was still staring at me with bright, expectant eyes. “I’ll pass. I’m not into getting stepped on.”
“Oh? Then what are you into, Dale? Tying people up? Or being tied up?”
Why on earth are you curious about that? But if I had to choose, tying— No, wait, that’s not what I meant.
“I just like normal stuff,” I replied.
“Haha. You’re just shy, aren’t you?”
No. A guy can prefer something normal. Why are you jumping to extremes?
I shook my thoughts. “Ha, so that’s all you wanted to say?”
“Yeah. It’s not like I had anything specific to say. I just... wanted to get closer.”
Well, that conversation just wiped out any desire I had to do that.
“We ended up in the same class two years in a row. That’s fate, isn’t it? Especially during the most important period at the Hero Academy.” Morris shrugged. “Professor Kane said at the start of the semester that finding good party members early is part of being a hero, didn’t he?”
Good party members? Is he up to date?
“You do know what my grades look like, right?” I asked.
Morris let out a light laugh and gazed at me steadily. “Haha. Of course. But I care more about the person than the grades.”
With a faint smile lingering at the corner of his lips, he added, “Dale Han. You’re the person I’ve been looking for.”
I had no idea what he had heard about me to say something like that. “Your father calls me a complete wreck of a human being, you know.”
“Pfft, hahaha! That does sound like him.” Snickering, shoulders shaking, he held out his hand once more. “Anyway, I’m looking forward to working with you.”
“Yeah, sure.”
I didn’t know why Morris was hiding his strength. But I knew that, like Yurina and Iris, he was far beyond the level of an ordinary cadet. There was no reason to make an enemy of someone like that.
Then, with some hesitation, Morris said, “And, um...”
“Yeah?”
“If you ever get the chance, could you, uh, bring me one of Her Majesty’s shoes? And if shoes are too much, her socks would be fine.”
There was indeed a reason behind him trying to get closer to me. I swear, this is driving me insane.
* * *
After classes ended, I stepped out of the lecture hall and turned on my Hero Watch to check my messages. Tonight, we were throwing a small party to celebrate reuniting with the party members. We were supposed to do it the day I came back. But due to various circumstances, it got postponed until today.
“Let’s see... Right. They asked me to stop by the store and pick up some drinks and snacks.”
Last time we had met, all we talked about was me. I guessed I’d finally get to hear what everyone else had been up to. I was a little curious about what had happened to the others over winter break. How much stronger had they become? With that thought, I headed toward the campus store.
“Oh! Brother Dale!” Spotting me, Berald came running over, heavy footsteps thudding against the ground. “Headed to buy drinks for the party tonight?”
“Yeah.”
“Ah, come on! That’s what juniors are for. Why’d you come yourself, Brother?”
“If I send you, you’ll buy way more than we need. They told me to handle it.”
“Who dares to say such a thing?”
Who else would it be? There’s only one person who’d say that.
“Senior Sophia,” I answered.
Berald flinched and swallowed hard.
I looked at him. “Speaking of which, what happened with you and Senior Sophia? You went to your hometown together over winter break, didn’t you?”
“W-well, about that...” Uncharacteristically hesitant, Berald trailed off. After a moment, he let out a deep sigh and shook his head. “I’ll tell you later.”
“Huh? What? Did something happen?”
“Mmm. S-something did happen.”
Don’t tell me. This idiot didn’t start rambling about the microscopic world or whatever in front of Senior Sophia again, did he?
“What exactly happened?” I asked again.
“W-Well, first, we should buy the drinks! Hah! Do you know how miserable I was back home? With that old man nagging me nonstop, I could barely even touch a drop of alcohol!” Blatantly dodging the question, Berald bolted toward the campus store.
Just what the hell had happened? Tilting my head in confusion, I followed him. After stocking up on drinks and a mountain of snacks, we arrived at the party house. Through the lounge doorway, I could see the rest of the party already gathered.
“Oh, Dale. You’re here.”
“Yeah. I brought the drinks and some food,” I replied.
“And what about what I asked for?” Iris asked.
“Of course, I got it.”
She had requested fresh cooking ingredients from the store. “Thank you for your hard work. Sister Laneige and I will prepare everything right away.”
“Hehe. J-just wait and see, Dale!”
Humming cheerfully, Iris and Laneige headed into the kitchen.
Left behind once again, Yurina sat alone on the sofa, hugging her knees and looking dejected. “I-I can cook too.”
Suppressing a chuckle, I sat down beside her. “By the way, did you find what you were looking for?”
“Ah, yeah. Want to see?”
“Sure.”
With a faint smile, Yurina reached her hand into the air. Light burst forth from her soul stigmata, and silvery radiance gathered in midair. The swirling silver light condensed into the shape of a sword. Even at a glance, it was clear the artifact held extraordinary power.
This was Dawnbringer, a sword passed down through generations of the Helios family. It was famously wielded by Reynald Helios, the Knight of the Sun, and leader of the Great Five Heroes.
It was said that the sword had a will of its own, and any hero not chosen by it was unable to even lift it. Even among the successive heads of the Helios family, only a handful had ever been acknowledged by Dawnbringer. In my previous life, Yuren had managed to get the sword’s acknowledgement, so I wasn’t worried about her being rejected. But did Dawnbringer always look like that?
“It looks a little different from the Dawnbringer I remember,” I said.
“Oh. Now that you mention it, you would know what it originally looked like.” Yurina swallowed a bitter smile and reached toward the silver sword suspended in the air. Slowly, the sword drifted down into her grasp. “It used to shine with a brilliant golden light, like the sun. But when I held it, it turned silver like this. The sword was thicker before too, but it became thinner.”
“Is it affected by your soul stigmata?”
She nodded with a faint, wry smile. “Yeah. I think so.”
“Your family must’ve caused quite a scene.”
A treasured sword handed down for generations had suddenly changed form? The entire Helios household had to have been thrown into chaos.
“Yeah. Especially Mother. She fainted on the spot.”
Well, that figured. Her mother was a woman who had once tried to alter her daughter’s soul stigmata in the name of preserving family tradition and honor. Seeing Dawnbringer’s form change before her eyes would’ve been enough to make her collapse.
“What happened after she woke up?”
“Well, it was absolute chaos. She screamed that she’d disown me if I didn’t hand over the sword.”
“And then?”
“I persuaded her.”
“What?”
That didn’t sound like something persuasion alone could fix.
“Once I defeated all the family knights while wielding the transformed Dawnbringer, she finally acknowledged me. Mother did get rather badly injured during the process. But fortunately, her life wasn’t in danger.”
Ah! So that’s what she meant by persuasion.
“Oh. Right.”
The burning filial devotion radiating from Yurina left me momentarily speechless.
“Hehe. It’s all thanks to you, Dale,” she said.
“No, it’s not.”
Saying something like that at this exact timing felt extremely strange.
“If it were the old me, I wouldn’t have even dared to think about persuading Mother like that.”
“R-right.”
Well, if Yurina was fine with it, then it was fine.
“Oh, and don’t worry about Dawnbringer.” She glanced down at the silver sword in her hand, smiling softly. “It may have changed in form, but its power remains the same. No, it might even be stronger.”
“Stronger?”
“Yeah. I’m not sure whether it’s because of my soul stigmata or the blessing, but... Compared to the records about Dawnbringer passed down in my family, it seems to perform even better.”
If Dawnbringer truly possessed greater power than before, it was like giving wings to a tiger. After all, Yurina had already achieved explosive growth over the past year. I could assess it accurately once we sparred. Just as I was looking forward to seeing how much Yurina had grown over the winter break, Iris and Laneige called out to us.
“Okay~! Dinner’s ready!”
“Come on, everyone! We made plenty, so eat up!”
As the dishes were laid out across the table, the spread rivaled the lavish banquets I had seen in the Imperial Palace.
Berald lifted his cup high. “Heh heh! Everyone, raise your glasses!”
“Cheers!”
“Cheers!”
“Cheers!”
We chatted about everything that had happened over the winter break. The drinks began to flow, and the atmosphere gradually warmed.
“Heh heh. Now that our stomachs are full and the alcohol’s kicking in...” Berald grinned and clenched his fist. The tattered bandages wrapped around his arm began to glow, reshaping themselves into a pair of gauntlets. “How about a spar, brother?”
“A spar?”
Snorting with excitement, Berald puffed out his chest. “Heh! I want to show you just how much I’ve grown!”
Suppressing a smile, I rose from my seat. “I’m fine with sparring... But not just you, Berald. All of you, come at me together.”
Honestly, I had been curious how much everyone had improved over the break anyway. And everyone together against me would make the fight balanced.