[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 59
Andrei entered the private compartment.
Since Andrei was an assistant professor at Valhalla, Diego and Aster stood up when they saw him.
"Hello, Professor," Diego greeted.
Zeke, still seated, asked Andrei, "What brings you here?"
Andrei put down his bag, sat across from Zeke, and replied, "Dispatch."
"Are you joining us on the Black Yaksha mission?"
"Yes. Did you think they would send only students on a continental public enemy subjugation mission?"
Andrei currently held the rank of intermediate knight in Draker.
Even that alone was more than enough to be the vice-commander of most knight orders.
Andrei crossed his legs and looked at Zeke,
"Do you know what kind of place Delfoa is?"
Of course, Zeke knew very well, but since he had never been there in this life, he shook his head.
"I only know what I learned in class. I heard it's a place where mages are the highest authority, unlike other places."
Andrei nodded,
"Yes. It's a place with a very unique system."
Aster, who was next to them, interjected,
"Ah, Professor. Usually, when knights take the lead and push the enemies back, mages provide support, right? But in Delfoa, is it the other way around?"
Andrei looked at Aster and answered, "That's a very good question. To answer your question, no, it's not."
"No? Then do the knights still lead the charge?"
"Yes. But unlike other places, the knights of Delfoa mainly use shields. The knights push the enemies with their shields, and then the battle mages behind them use ranged attacks to neutralize the enemy. This is their main tactic."
Aster frowned and said, "Uh, then wouldn't the allies fighting alongside the enemy suffer great losses?"
"Sharp observation, Cadet Aster."
Andrei's expression softened, as if his liking for Aster had increased.
"Because of that, it is said that the knights of Delfoa practice running around the battlefield with shields more than they practice using swords."
This was the reason why the Delfoa Knights were not popular among Valhalla graduates.
In the end, the Delfoa Knights were only there to act as a protective wall for the Mage Corps.
Diego, who was listening to this from the side, scoffed and said,
"Even ordinary soldiers can run around with just shields, yo!"
Zeke clicked his tongue and said,
"Ordinary soldiers wouldn't be able to run around in a melee with heavy armor and shields. To buy time for the mages to prepare their spells and get out of the way when the spells are flying, they need to be at least at the level of formally trained knights."
Andrei nodded at Zeke's words.
"Yes. The reason I brought this up is to let you know in advance so you won't be too surprised when you get to Delfoa."
Zeke knew exactly what Andrei meant.
'Those Delfoa mage bastards are incredibly arrogant.'
Mages from Delfoa, with their strong pride as the originators of magic, were known for their arrogance.
Moreover, there were far more famous battle mages from Delfoa than from the Magic Tower or Nirvana.
That's how familiar Delfoa mages were with combat magic, and how well-organized their system was.
However, because of this, they treated knights worse than dirt.
They thought of knights as nothing more than servants who took the hits until they could use their magic.
It was obvious without even seeing it, considering that 80% of the knights who joined the Delfoa Knights transferred to other places because of conflicts with mages, and 20% because of harassment from mages.
However, Andrei's warning didn't quite register with Diego and Aster.
Zeke inwardly clicked his tongue as he looked at the two.
'Just wait until you experience it. It'll be a culture shock.'
***
"Are you the dispatched personnel from Valhalla?"
A large man with a full beard greeted Zeke and his party at Delfoa's central station.
He extended his hand towards Andrei with an arrogant attitude.
"I am Jorge Outer, commander of the 8th Knights of Delfoa."
Andrei, as the leader, shook hands with Jorge.
"I am Andrei Draker, assistant professor at Valhalla."
Jorge was surprised to hear that the young Andrei was a professor at Valhalla and a full-fledged Draker, and he grasped the hand he shook with his other hand.
"I-I didn't know that the Draker clan sent a dispatch directly."
Andrei shook his head.
"I came as the leader of the students participating in the mission this time."
The bearded man glanced at Zeke, Diego, and Aster behind him.
He looked slightly disappointed at the sight of Zeke, who looked young, Diego, who looked like a delinquent, and Aster, who seemed sickly.
Andrei, noticing his thoughts, opened his mouth.
"The cadets who came with me are some of Valhalla's most talented individuals. They will not hinder the mission."
Jorge, hiding his dubious look, led Andrei and his party.
"This way, please. The commander is over there."
Diego, who was behind them, tilted his head.
"Commander? Didn't that bearded guy say he was the commander?"
Although he whispered softly, Zeke nudged Diego's side and said,
"Just stay quiet, Diego."
Diego was really clueless.
As they exited the central station, a luxurious carriage stood before them.
As Jorge approached the carriage, the window slid down.
Inside the carriage sat a pale man with beady eyes, who silently scanned Andrei and Zeke's group.
Then, he gave some instructions to Jorge, closed the window, and had the carriage depart.
Diego nudged Zeke and whispered,
"No way, is that the mage commander?"
Zeke nodded.
After the mage commander left first in his carriage, Jorge guided the group to a prepared carriage.
The prepared carriage was clearly much more crude and of lower quality than the one the mage commander had been riding in.
However, Andrei and Zeke's group got into the carriage without a word.
Soon, the carriage departed.
Only then did Diego start chattering.
"What the! I'm not saying I want to be treated like a Valhalla student, but! This is, shh! This is too much! We even came here on a cooperative dispatch mission!"
Zeke kicked Diego's shin.
"Ouch! Zeke and Professor Andrei are official Drakers, why aren't you saying anything, yo!"
Zeke looked at Diego and said,
"Didn't you hear what the professor said earlier? Delfoa is originally like this, so just accept it. At least because it's a Valhalla dispatch, the commander came out to see us. If it were knights from somewhere else, he wouldn't have even shown up."
Andrei also nodded.
"Cadets, after you graduate, as you live your lives as knights in the Central Continent, you will encounter many unexpected situations. Delfoa has a very different atmosphere from the cities of Midland, so keep in mind what you see and learn here."
After saying that, he looked at Zeke with renewed interest.
He was the youngest here, but he seemed to know Delfoa's atmosphere very well.
'Zeke Draker. Even when I see him up close, I still don't understand him. He's truly full of mysteries.'
Andrei had listened to Zeke and abandoned his stubbornness, which allowed him to receive teachings from Duke.
Perhaps because of that, Andrei now felt curiosity and fondness towards Zeke.
He had a desire to see his unbelievable growth up close.
That's why he applied first to be the leader of this dispatch mission, but he wasn't aware of it himself.
The carriage traveled for quite a long time, moving to the outskirts of Delfoa.
They got off the carriage and looked around, it seemed to be a military camp.
However, the training equipment was unique.
Most of it was just training facilities for combat magic.
"This way, please."
Jorge guided Zeke and his party into the barracks.
The Valhalla students were given facilities used by ordinary soldiers, and only Andrei was given a private room to use.
'It seems like they prepared that in a hurry too.'
It felt like they had hurriedly emptied one of the knights' quarters, as they hadn't expected an official Draker knight to come as the leader.
Diego grumbled as he lay down on the old camp bed, and Aster, who seemed to have not slept at all, had a dazed expression.
Zeke, who had wandered around and carried out missions since his previous life, had experienced much worse treatment than this, so he wasn't particularly affected.
However, what he was worried about was the Black Yaksha subjugation mission itself.
'That Black Yaksha bastard, I remember he survived for quite a long time and even advanced to the Northern Continent.'
This period in Zeke's previous life was when he was actively working as a hitman in the South.
Even after he destroyed the McCain Cartel and came to the Central Continent in his previous life, he occasionally heard news about the Black Yaksha, so it seemed he had survived this subjugation without dying.
Recalling the attitude of the Mage Corps commander he had seen in front of the central station earlier, Zeke thought that this might be a natural consequence.
'It would be fortunate if we don't get counterattacked.'
However, in this life, since Zeke had applied for early graduation, he didn't know what kind of influence it would have, so he thought he would have to experience it firsthand at the scene.
Just then, Andrei entered.
"They said they're holding a briefing in the situation room, let's go in."
Under Andrei's guidance, Zeke and his party headed to the situation room.
When they entered, they saw a magical image of a map of the area where the Black Yaksha had set up camp and was holding out.
Zeke clicked his tongue as he looked at the expensive magical image device.
'They wasted money on this kind of facility.'
Looking at the map, the mages planned their strategy and tactics.
The knights, including Jorge, stood behind and listened quietly to the tactics devised by the mages, focusing only on when and where they should charge with their shields.
The beady-eyed mage from the carriage earlier gestured towards Zeke and his party with an arrogant attitude.
As Zeke and his party approached, he spoke in a voice as unpleasant as his appearance.
"There won't be anything for you to do from Valhalla. Don't get in the way and get injured by the magic, just stay quiet and go back."
Zeke and his party almost retorted with
"Then why did you request cooperation?", but they held back.
At the same time, listening to the mage commander's words, Zeke immediately noticed that their organizational system was a mess.
'It seems like there are hardly any purple knights among them. Maybe just Jorge, the commander.'
It was absurd that there was no blue knight in the knight order, but if it was the 8th Knight Order, it seemed like they were more of a supplementary force than a formal knight order of Delfoa.
Just then, the mage commander turned his head and was startled when he saw the black gloves Zeke was wearing.
He got up from his seat and said to Zeke,
"No way, are you a pure-blooded awakened of Draker ?"
Zeke looked at the commander and said,
"Yes, but is something wrong?"
The mage commander's expression distorted at Zeke's tone.
In Delfoa, it was impossible for a knight to speak to a mage with such an attitude.
However, Zeke wasn't just any knight, so he gritted his teeth and said to Zeke,
"...It would be best not to take off those gloves here. If you want to finish the mission safely and return, that is."
Pure-blooded awakened of Draker had the power to interfere with magic, so there was no way the mages would like them.
'How sensitive.'
Zeke didn't bother to reply and just let it slide.
After some time, the briefing in the situation room ended, and everyone started to disperse.
Zeke and his party had to wait in the barracks until they embarked on the mission the next morning.
As they were about to return to the barracks, someone approached Zeke and called his name.
"Zeke!"
Turning his head, he was surprised to see a familiar face.
"Professor Paynun?"
He wondered why someone who had moved to the Delfoa Royal Magic Research Institute was in this remote military camp.
"Zeke, it's been a while! How have you been?"
"I've been fine. But why are you here...?"
Paynun made an awkward expression.
Zeke felt like he knew what was going on without even hearing it.
'He must have lost in the power struggle.'
For mages, it was especially important to be on the right side to get promoted.
However, Paynun was a born scholar.
There was no way he could have properly endured the political battles of Delfoa, which were notorious for their ferocity.
"Zeke, wait a moment."
Paynun pulled Zeke to the side and took him somewhere.
"What is it, Professor?"
Paynun said to him with a serious expression,
"Zeke, about the mission tomorrow. Don't go out there."
"What do you mean?"
Paynun whispered with a grim face,
"This mission... is set up to fail. So... you absolutely must not go."
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]