Chapter 82: Open Classes (5)
The first day of public classes passed without incident.
Meanwhile, Saint Bernice had stopped by a village where a “blind acupuncturist” had been visiting.
As she investigated, she learned that he was called the Blind Saint in the village, and that the village chief had brought him in so Bernice found herself in the house of the village chief.
“…So Thomas doesn’t know much about him either.”
“That’s right. He was such a mysterious figure…”
The man in front of her, the village chief, Thomas, was a very young and handsome man for a village chief.
As she talked to him, she had a lot of questions.
First, this man’s name is not Thomas. When he introduced himself as Thomas, she could tell he was lying.
She wondered if someone else was pretending to be the village chief, but strangely enough, he wasn’t lying about being the chief.
Maybe he was using a pseudonym since there were plenty of people with pasts they wanted to hide.
Thomas was a man full of mysteries like the lavishness of his mansion, the fact that he had so much money, and the fact that he was the mayor of such a small town.
The information Thomas spouted about the blind acupuncturist was also a mixture of lies and truth.
It was a lie that he didn’t know his name and it was also a lie that he wasn’t close to him.
But he was telling the truth when he said he had only known him for a short time, and he was also telling the truth when he said he didn’t know the details.
‘What kind of relationship is this?’ Bernice wondered.
It was such a strange relationship that she wondered if her abilities were wrong. However, she couldn’t hold him accountable for lying.
Anyway, through him, she learned that the blind acupuncturist was carrying a sword and perhaps the slim chance that he had slain the demon in the theater had just gotten a little better.
Her desire to speak with him, or to recruit him into her Knight Order, was her own, and he would not harm anyone else in order to do so.
“Holy Lady, I have a question, if I may ask?”
Thomas, who was sitting across from her, asked as he set down his teacup and the Saint gave a small nod.
“…With all due respect, why are you looking for him?”
“Why am I looking for him…”
She said, hesitating.
Judging from Thomas’ demeanor up to this point, he was deliberately hiding the existence of the blind acupuncturist from her.
Did he think she was out to get him, the so-called blind saint?
Or was he simply hiding him because he wanted to keep his identity a secret?
Just as she was contemplating whether or not she should answer.
“Lady.”
After stepping out of the room for a moment, Inés reentered the room and called out to her.
“Saint, I think you need to come here for a moment, we have a call from the ‘crystal ball’.”
Inés walked over to me and leaned in close to whisper in my ear.
“…Thomas, something has come up, and I was wondering if you had a quiet room I could borrow for a while?”
“Sure.”
I thanked Thomas and quickly left the room.
As I was closing the door behind me, Inés spoke up.
“I’ve heard from Ecline, and she says she needs to speak to you urgently…Something about a blind acupuncturist.”
“…If it’s Ecline, isn’t she at the Innocence Academy right now?”
“That’s right, and I’m still not sure how this happened.”
She wondered why Ecline, who would have attended the Academy events on her behalf, would want to talk about the blind acupuncturist.
I followed Ines to a quiet room in the mansion and there, on a table, Inés placed the crystal ball.
It was a small crystal that allowed you to communicate with someone over any distance, as long as they had a crystal as well.
It’s a very expensive item, and there are only a few in the Order, but Ecline, who is representing me in this official capacity, has one with her.
It was obvious that she was in a hurry to get in touch with me, using a crystal ball that consumed an enormous amount of gems per use and per charge.
“Ecline, are you still there?”
I called into the crystal ball and the crystal ball crackled as I heard Ecline’s voice.
[Saint…]
Ecline’s voice sounded a little tired.
“You seem very tired, did something happen to you?”
[Sorry, I was up all night trying to decide if I should use the crystal ball or not…]
“Well, we have a new benefactor, so we have plenty of money, but we don’t need to waste it, so I hope it’s something important.”
As a deputy leader, Ecline was a force to be reckoned with, but she was a bit of a troublemaker.
In fact, much thought had gone into sending her to the Academy this time.
[Information about the blind man with a bandage over his eye that the saint was looking for]
“…Let’s talk.”
I replied to Ecline and paced the room as I wondered what kind of information she would bring back from the Academy.
[…I saw a man with a bandage over his eye at the Innocence Academy this time.]
After a moment’s pause, Ecline said.
“Is that true?”
[Yes. It was a dark-haired man with a white bandage over his eyes, but I’m not sure if it’s the same person you’re looking for.]
“Why did you think so?”
[It turns out he was a cadet at the Academy, and if you’re a cadet, you’re not supposed to be wandering around outside the Academy…?]
“Well, it is a strange thing.”
Ecline wasn’t wrong as it would be difficult to leave the academy as a cadet since the Innocence Academy was quite a closed place.
‘If there’s one thing that’s holding me back…’
I stopped abruptly and turned to face Ines, who was standing next to me.
“…Ines, what is the distance from this village to the Innocence Academy?”
“Hmm… I’d have to look at the map to know exactly…”
Ines trailed off, rubbing her chin, and her eyes widened.
“…I’m guessing it’s pretty close.”
“Then what about the city where the demon was found in the theater this time?”
“It might be some distance from this town, but… It’s close to the Academy. It should only be a few hours’ ride on horseback.”
“I see, then… I get the picture.”
Soon, Ecline’s voice, who had been listening to me and Ines’ conversation from the crystal ball, was heard.
[…What does that mean?]
“Hah… Ecline… The person we’re looking for has only been seen in places where even an Academy cadet can travel.”
Seeing Ecline frustration at not understanding, Ines sighed and replied.
[Really…? So you’re saying that he could be cadet Zetto? Oh no…]
With that, Ecline suddenly closed her mouth.
‘Zetto…’
It’s a name I’ve never heard before, but it has a nice ring to it, so maybe it’s just my imagination.
“So how was that cadet named Zetto? You must have seen him in combat if he was an academy cadet, but did he use a sword?”
I asked the crystal ball, which was silent.
[He did use a sword…]
Ecline, who had been silent, then bursts into a stream of gibberish, starting with those words.
[…and not just any sword, but a very good one at that, because he was fighting a wyvern and something that wasn’t even a sword ripped the wyvern’s wings off, and then there was a poof, and a bang, and a fountain of blood…!]
“Ecline, calm down and speak slowly. Is it true that he took on a wyvern as a cadet?”
Suddenly, Ines interrupted Ecline and calmed her down.
[Cadet Zetto wasn’t the only one who took down the Wyvern, but… Chief, that’s not the point right now, it was ridiculous speed, and I missed his move for a second, too.]
“Hmph…”
Inés gulped.
For Ecline, who wasn’t a regular member of the order but the deputy leader, to say something like that, it meant that he was definitely not at an ordinary level.
“If he’s that good, there should already be a lot of people interested in him.”
“Though it remains to be seen if he’s the acupuncturist we’re looking for.”
Inés shrugged back at me.
“What do you think, Inés, about the possibility that he’s an acupuncturist?”
“Hmm…Acupuncture and swordsmanship…And he was a cadet at the academy… I think it’s getting harder and harder to imagine.”
“Hmph… yeah, that’s the funny thing about it.”
I snorted, feeling like I’d found a fun problem to solve.
Soon, Ecline, who had been listening to our conversation, spoke up and with each word she spoke, the strength in her voice was draining away.
[Sister, there is one more thing I need to tell you about Cadet Zetto that I was just describing…]
“Yes.”
[…’Sword Saint’ expressed interest in Cadet Zetto]
“Sword Saint, no, you mean that Sword Saint came to the academy in the first place?”
Ecline mention of Sword Saint startled Inés.
Inés is a follower of Sword Saint, and she knows a lot about him.
She would often tell me stories about him and she told me that he had no interest in anything in the world and enjoyed wandering.
I never expected him to come to the Academy. It was completely unexpected, even for me.
[I don’t know why he came to the academy, but it seems like he has a relationship with the headmaster. Anyway, as soon as Cadet Zetto’s battle was over, he asked for a meeting…I don’t think anyone else even approached Cadet Zetto.]
A moment of silence followed Ecline reply and for some reason, Inés was visibly shocked.
After a few moments, I spoke up.
“The fact that he’s coveted by the Sword Saint makes me even more curious. Even if he is the acupuncturist we’re looking for, he’s still a cadet, so recruiting him would be impossible…”
Hearing my words, Ecline asks.
[Sister, speaking of recruiting, something occurred to me…]
“What is it?”
[Wasn’t our Silver Winged Knights an all-female order…? Or rather, weren’t the Knights protecting the Saint supposed to be all women?]
“…We were, until now.”
If there was a way to recruit him, he would be the only male member of the Knights of the Silver Wings.
“Anyway, we’ll head over to the academy as soon as we can, it’s close, so it shouldn’t take too long.”
I said to Ecline, quickly ending the conversation with her.
Whatever it was, meeting him and talking to him face to face would solve everything.
‘It’ll be important to ask naturally so it doesn’t seem like I’m prying, but…’
I told Inés to get the crystal ball and headed straight for his room to finish up my talk with Thomas.
Just a few more hours and I should be able to meet him.
I wonder what he’s really like.
Is he really a saint?
Why does he go around doing good deeds?
He’s not just mysterious or intriguing, but there’s an unexplainable charm about him that seems to be sucking me in.
“Zetto…”
I muttered his name softly. For some reason, a part of my heart was fluttering…It must be the mood.
***
The Gold Dragon, who had been listening to the conversation in the Saint’s room with his extra senses, thought.
‘Zetto was a cadet at the Academy?’
He was young, but he hadn’t thought of him as a cadet at all.
Even as a dragon who had lived for hundreds of years, he had no idea who Zetto was.
What the hell is this guy doing being a cadet and getting involved with a saint?