Once upon a time, there were two clans of canine beastkin in Hiaka.
To put it simply, one was like a Retriever. The other was a Doberman.
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.
● Dormant Dragon Institute - First-Year, Balmung
And there he was.
That guy was the son of the Black Abyss Cartel Nibelung Family, a descendant of the Doberman canine beastkin.
“Come out.”
“......”
At my command, a male cadet who had been hiding among the bushes stepped forward.
Elize wrinkled her nose.
“Balmung. Creepy.”
“So what? ...Hello, Professor.”
The guy gave a curt nod.
Despite both being descendants of beastkin, the two had vastly different vibes.
If Elize was like cotton candy, Balmung was like steel.
Square black-rimmed glasses. Sharp, slicked-back hair with pomade.
Elize’s shirt and harness were crumpled messes.
Balmung’s uniform, on the other hand, was impeccably pressed, sharp as a knife.
“What were you doing? Lurking there like that.”
“...Apologies. I happened to spot you during physical training and wondered if you’d notice my concealment.”
“I don’t like being tested.”
“...Apologies again. You noticed me right away. It’s embarrassing how lacking my skill is.”
Balmung bowed his head once more.
The Nibelung Family’s defining traits were ‘obsession,’ ‘tenacity,’ and ‘loyalty’... And he had inherited them in full.
“If you’ve got nothing to do, come over here and sit.”
“Yes.”
His posture was painfully rigid.
Even a military officer would feel compelled to yield a step to his formal demeanor.
Now, here’s an interesting fact:
Their personalities and behavioral patterns were complete opposites.
Elize, the Retriever, hailed from a hunting dog bloodline.
Balmung, the Doberman, came from a working dog bloodline.
“Here. Take this.”
For now, I handed the completed balloon dog to Balmung.
“......?”
According to 【Script】, Balmung was visibly puzzled about why I was handing it to him. His expression remained stoic.
“What are you waiting for? Take it.”
“Oh, yes. Thank you.”
“Balmung. Do you want a flower too?”
“No. I’m fine.”
“Take it. Professor made it, and it’s pretty~”
Before he knew it, Balmung was holding a flower, a dog, a sword, and a giraffe.
But Elize didn’t give him a single bone.
“Here. Take this too.”
So, I made a white balloon bone and handed it over.
Now with his hands full of balloons, Balmung glanced back and forth between me and the balloons.
【Dormant Dragon Institute - First-Year, Balmung: ‘What the hell...?’】
【Dormant Dragon Institute - First-Year, Balmung: ‘Why is he suddenly giving me this crap...?’】
For a brief moment, his expression twisted as he struggled to comprehend.
A man ruled by pride.
That’s the life he led, growing up as the son of a crime syndicate boss.
But in the end, he couldn’t resist.
【Dormant Dragon Institute - First-Year, Balmung: ‘...A bone.’】
After all, a Doberman is still a dog.
┃ Relationship Increased: Balmung [6] (▲6)
┃ Reward: Star Fragments × 6
Nice.
After that, I kept making various balloon art and giving them to Balmung. He kept accepting them, albeit reluctantly.
And while doing so, he started asking me questions like an interrogation.
“Do you come to Central Park often on your days off?”
“Today’s my first time. It’s nice. Spacious. Lots of fallen leaves.”
“Do you like nature?”
“Not particularly.”
“Oh, is that so.... I like it. Ah, um, the waffle stand over there is quite good.”
“The smell is nice.”
“Yes. It’s kind of famous. Would you like me to buy you one?”
“I’m good.”
“I insist. Let me buy one for you.”
“Here, take the money then.”
“No need.”
“Take it. If a professor eats on a cadet’s dime, people will talk.”
I tossed a 100-hika silver coin to Balmung.
Both Elize and Balmung were oddly friendly toward me these days.
Rumor must have spread within the Dormant Dragon Institute — that they should treat me well to get me as their advisor.
After Balmung walked away, Elize leaned in and whispered in my ear.
“That guy... doesn’t have a dad either.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah.”
“Do you have one, Professor?”
“Me? No.”
Dante doesn’t have one either. And neither do I.
“Hm. Then that means all of us. None of us have dads.”
For some reason, Elize started laughing.
A pure lunatic.
Soon, Balmung returned with a waffle. It seemed he bought it with his own money instead of using the 100 hika I gave him.
Elize raised a question mark above her head.
“What about mine?”
“There isn’t one.”
“So mean. Then what about yours?”
“I don’t have one. I bought it for the professor. Why would I buy one for you or myself?”
“So mean. Creepy. Makes me uncomfortable.”
“...Elize. Didn’t you sneak over here too?”
“No? I knew I’d get caught anyway. He’s creepy, but I’m cautious...??”
The conversation was devolving into nonsense.
So, I split my waffle in half and handed it to them.
They quietly accepted it and ate with me.
It was good.
“Professor...”
At that moment, Balmung cautiously spoke up.
Then, as if his throat was dry, he cleared it and continued.
“Ah, apologies. Professor, how do you train?”
I was technically training right now, but that wasn’t what he was asking.
“Why do you ask?”
“You seem incredibly strong for your age, Professor. And I... desperately want to get stronger too.”
“Aren’t you already strong enough? All of you?”
“They say so. Kaiser told us that, at our age, we’re probably some of the strongest on the continent.”
That was undeniably true.
But in a world where the average lifespan of high-rankers was 140 years...
Being young was a fatal weakness.
“Everyone has their own methods. Your main focus is [Sniping], right?”
“Yes. And my secondary focus is [Magic].”
“In terms of training for those two, my knowledge and yours will differ greatly.”
At this stage, it would be better for this genius to figure things out himself rather than have me spoon-feed him advice.
“Oh, I see...”
The sun was beginning to set.
“Well then, I should get going.”
Since their very presence posed a potential assassination threat, I started to stand up first.
But Balmung rose as well and asked,
“Professor. Are you free tomorrow?”
“What for?”
“If it wouldn’t be a bother... would you consider having an assassination duel with me?”
His expression was rigid.
Tense, even.
An assassination duel — a training version of an ‘Assassination Battle.’
“I really want to spar with you, Professor.”
“For what reason?”
“Well... Kaiser said that if I sparred with you, I would definitely gain some major insight.”
What nonsense.
He must have exaggerated, mistaking me for something far greater than I actually was.
If these geniuses went all out, it wasn’t impossible for me to end up dead.
“I don’t engage in one-sided or pointless fights.”
“......”
Balmung’s eyelid twitched.
His pride as a genius had likely been wounded.
“...I wouldn’t be that much of a disappointment. I heard you were disappointed with some half-assed assassinations before.
I promise I won’t disappoint you.”
The 【Script】 showed nothing but earnest desperation.
It seemed he genuinely wanted to challenge himself for the sake of growth.
But that wasn’t reason enough for me to take on the risk.
“No thanks. Maybe next time.”
“...I apologize for being so presumptuous. I’ll see you next time, Professor.”
As I walked away, Elize trotted along beside me and struck up a conversation.
“We’re just going to leave like this?”
“You should go too. It’s almost night.”
“Aw, that’s disappointing.”
“What is?”
“If you sparred with Balmung, I was going to ask you to do an assassination duel with me too.”
“No.”
“Is that how you treat people who don’t have dads?”
“......”
At that moment, it wasn’t a matter of being a puppy or not.
But I decided to understand.
Yeah, we orphans gotta stick together.
Elize followed me all the way to the professor’s quarters and finally waved goodbye.
“See you again, Professor.”
It felt like I had just taken a dog for a walk.
A bit strange, but still... what a sweet kid.
****
“Bone...♪ Bone...♪”
Elize, holding five balloon bones, was heading toward the Dormant Dragon Hall.
Under the shade of a tree.
A few female cadets from the Black Abyss faction were smoking cigars, smirking as they watched Elize pass by.
“Look at her, all happy. That fucking bitch.”
****
“The Neutral Professors’ Forum scheduled for today has been canceled due to the urgent condolence visit by Chief Professor Batalion.”
The next day, the chief professor was absent again.
Even though it was a different professor this time, the result was the same.
┃ Event Canceled: [Neutral Professors’ Forum]
Another canceled event.
Five Star Fragments, gone just like that!
It was frustrating. The sheer apathy of the neutral professors.
And yet, no one among them expressed any significant discontent.
“Yawn...”
“Shall we go, then?”
Everyone just yawned and turned away.
Meanwhile, the Doberman blood running through Balmung’s veins began to manifest in his relentless persistence.
“Professor.”
After I rejected the assassination duel in the park, Balmung repeatedly appeared before me, requesting the duel.
“May I request an assassination duel?”
“No.”
“Yes. Apologies for bothering you.”
But despite being refused, the requests kept coming.
“Professor.”
In the hallway.
“Professor.”
In the lab.
“Professor.”
On the street...
Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore and scowled.
“Hey, hey, Balmung. Get lost, will you?”
“Yes. See you tomorrow.”
“No, no. Just leave. And don’t come back.”
“Understood. Apologies.”
I thought that was the end of it.
But the next day, on my desk in the lab, there was a handwritten letter. Balmung’s handwriting was crooked, and the letter read:
[To the esteemed Professor. I humbly request a duel as an assassin, to learn from your expertise, and so on...]
‘This kid’s really trying everything, huh.’
Regrettably, I rejected it.
┃ Event Scheduled: [Neutral Professors’ Forum]
┃ Reward: Star Fragments × 5
In the midst of all this, the forum was scheduled once again.
┃ Event Canceled: [Neutral Professors’ Forum]
And once again, it was canceled.
“...Apologies, professors. The Neutral Professors’ Forum for today has been canceled due to the absence of the chief professor.”
That was the third time.
At this point, it was getting ridiculous.
The neutral professors’ utter lack of responsibility was starting to get on my nerves.
“Oh man. This is a bit much. Three cancellations in a row...”
“Well, what can you do?”
As we all moved out of the seminar hall in a cluster, a loud commotion erupted at the front of the building.
Hey, you fucking bitch! You think you’re so great?!What the hell?
What kind of brawl is this in broad daylight?
In front of me, a group of neutral professors had gathered, blocking the view.
Twenty-five meters ahead, in the open space at the bottom of the steps, two female cadets were fighting.
They were even using their abilities.
“Come on! Oh?! Come on and do something!”
One of them was a student I recognized. A Moonshadow Institute elite cadet named ‘Marina,’ a Black Abyss faction member who usually hung around with Kendreik and her gang.
The other one was... I frowned.
“Let’s just stop this. Please? Huh?”
It was Elize.
Her leg was bleeding profusely from a [Trap] wound.
“Do something! Stop flapping your mouth and do something! Come on!”
It was obvious at a glance — three against one.
But what really pissed me off was that the neutral professors just stood there, watching without lifting a finger.
Why weren’t they stepping in? This wasn’t some assassination match; it was a blatant violation of the academy’s rules.
Then I overheard the professors’ conversation at the front.
“Shouldn’t we step in? It looks serious...”
“Leave it alone.”
“Wiering, you’re new here, so you don’t get it. Marina’s Black Abyss, and Elize is White Abyss. Why would we step in? We’re neutral, remember?”
“But still... what if one of them dies?”
“They wouldn’t [N O V E L I G H T] actually kill each other, would they?”
“Let’s just observe for now. Looks like a lover’s quarrel.”
That pathetic, indifferent attitude again.
‘This is getting on my nerves.’
Three canceled forums. The idiotic conversation between the neutral professors. Everything was starting to piss me off.
But what pushed me over the edge was the way Elize kept glancing over at the professors.
Like she was looking for help.
And yet, they just stood there, watching.
While they kept stalling, the girls started fighting again.
I took a step forward, shoving through the cluster of professors.
“Hey! What the hell are you doing?! Stop pushing!”
One of the professors tried to push me back, but a sudden surge of inexplicable anger welled up inside me.
“Move. What are you, here to spectate?”
“What? What did you say?”
“Are you here to watch, you fucking worm?”
The neutral professor turned around, bewildered.
I met his eyes, and I didn’t bother to censor myself.
“The kid’s bleeding.”
The professor was frozen in place.
I shoved past him and strode down the steps.
Straight into the middle of the brawl.