There was a time, back at the professor’s mansion, when Adele quietly walked over and took my hand. Interlaced her fingers with mine.
It was a bit startling, but I didn’t let it show on my face.
“We’re still friends, right?”
To that question, I answered, “Depends on how you act.” I didn’t know what would happen if I said no.
It was like deciding not to open a mystery box from the back of the fridge — better to just leave it alone. “I’ll do better,” Adele said, smiling with her eyes.
“Looks like you have something to say.”
“Yep, yep. So, the thing is, I want to do some personal research during winter break. Could you help me out?”
She had transferred from administrative TA to operations TA. She probably hadn’t had time to do any research of her own.
“Fine.”
Only then did Adele unlink our fingers and step away.
But Ran had caught us by chance.
As I ran through possible explanations in my head, Ran didn’t ask anything. She didn’t avoid my eyes either.
She just stared blankly at my hand, then lifted both of hers — and interlaced her own fingers. She stared at her hands, as if in prayer. Vacantly.
“...What are you doing.”
“Holding hands.”
“For what purpose?”
“I had a question while watching the two of you.”
I asked what it was.
“There’s a stray cat here at the professor dorm. When I touched its paw, it didn’t like it. But you two seemed comfortable. Why does the cat hate it?”
A bit of an odd and random question.
But I’m starting to get used to that.
“Cats just don’t like having their paws touched.”
“Why?”
“Dunno. I’ll ask one later and get back to you.”
“Thank you.”
‘What about you?’ I asked.
Ran looked down at her hands with those black eyes, then replied.
“I’m not sure. I don’t feel anything.”
“Probably because it’s your own hand. You’re used to it. It’d be different with someone else’s.”
“......”
Her black eyes unfocused for a moment. Then widened slightly.
“...Ah. I see.”
Ran nodded, as if she had realized something.
“There are a lot of sensory nerves in hands. So holding hands must be a gesture where two people sense each other’s unfamiliarity too much, all at once. But when the heart isn’t involved, the body won’t want to feel anything.”
“......”
“So hands are the body’s terminal where sincerity reveals itself. And holding hands only works when there’s mutual trust.”
“......”
I stayed quiet.
It was an odd way to express things. But part of the message resonated with me.
Sincerity in the hands...
It sounded like a stretch, but still...
A memory came back to me — that hand, slipping research materials behind her back.
— This? Oh... no. Just my thesis... my paper... I’m working on it with the professor... ...Why?
......I shook the thought off.
I stepped out of the lab.
Anyway, it was time to visit the Dormant Dragon Cadets.
I still had to finish the assassination squad contracts. Only Kendreik had signed so far. I still needed Elise, Balmung, and Gray.
And while I was at it, I could schedule the next private lesson with Gray.
***
The air had grown heavy. At least around Balmung. But the two others didn’t notice the low tone in his voice.
“Come on, it’s a new era. It’s all about information warfare now. So we did a little digging on our own.”
Balmung wondered if he was about to snap again.
He told himself to stay calm.
“...Okay.”
“But that guy... he just looks like someone who gets lucky a lot.”
“...Is that so?”
“Yeah. That Joaquin assassination — I heard the Disciplinary Bureau took care of it for him. And Hakon, the war ghost? There was no proof of assassination, but it still got credited to Dante. He even squeezed his way into Gray’s shoot even though he wasn’t listed on the escort team...”
He wasn’t sure what this had to do with Dante being ‘cocky’...
But he decided to correct them.
“That’s not true, hyungs.”
“It’s not?”
“Not at all. You probably got your info from the department’s official channels... but it’s actually the opposite. Professor Dante probably pushed all of that forward — Joaquin, Hakon, Gray — all of it.”
“You say probably. So that’s just a guess?”
“...Yes. It’s just a guess.”
As he spoke, Balmung silently hoped they wouldn’t look down on Professor Dante.
Blood ties, connections, alumni — there’s a reason those sayings exist.
If they were from the same organization, and he could stop them from getting themselves hurt, wouldn’t that be better?
“No, you’ve got it wrong.”
But then—
The words that followed hit Balmung in the back of the head like a hammer.
“We just saw him earlier. He was a total fucking joke.”
Balmung shut his mouth. His gaze darkened.
“......”
The enforcers assumed he’d grown slow since leaving the organization.
They figured they’d clue him in.
“What, you really didn’t know? We just met him a bit ago. He was too scared to even talk back. We asked him to connect us to Cain and Gray — fucker just stood there like a statue. ‘I don’t know.’ ‘I’m sorry.’ Like a stiff little bitch.”
The other one laughed.
“Right? We’d already been rejected all day by other people, so we were already pissed. Then this guy starts acting all cold, so we just cussed him the fuck out. Didn’t even say anything back.”
“Guys like that exist, you know? Look all impressive on the outside, but they’re hollow inside, just insanely lucky. Ha... ha......”
That’s when they noticed Balmung’s expression.
Something was wrong.
“Hey... what’s wrong with you?”
“...Nothing.”
“What, did that professor do something to you?”
“...No, nothing like that. Please leave. And forget what I said about Gray.”
“...What?”
Balmung pointed toward the door. They frowned.
“Hey. What’s your problem? Did we say something wrong?”
“...No. Just go.”
“Ah, come on, what the fuck. He did do something, didn’t he? You’re scared, that’s what this is, right?”
“...I said go.”
“What’s wrong with you, you cowardly little shit?”
Balmung didn’t even know how he felt.
All he knew was that they had to leave.
That’s how he was — a man who lived by instinct. He acted and spoke by what his gut told him.
“You want us to assassinate him for you?”
But the moment they said that, he realized.
“...What?”
When Balmung reacted, the two enforcers grinned.
So this coward was scared — they were right.
“That guy really pisses me off. Acting all smug when he’s nothing special.”
“......”
“We’ll take care of it. No need to be so scared.”
The sensation of all the blood in his body being sucked into a swamp.
Balmung felt his whole body go cold.
These two had been sent by the organization to probe the Academy. They would be back again and again.
He realized — this wasn’t something he could just get angry about.
If they were going to keep coming, they had to learn to respect Professor Dante.
At the end of that thought, Balmung raised his eyes and said clearly:
“Hyungs. Show Professor Dante some respect.”
Balmung spoke low.
There was a hint of killing intent in his voice.
The two enforcers’ expressions stiffened.
“...What’d you say?”
“Don’t talk like that. Be respectful. And if you were rude, go apologize.”
By now, they were pissed.
This scared little brat was talking back now?
“Who the fuck do you think you are?”
Their voice dropped.
A crack formed between them. Another one tried to step in.
“Guys, knock it off. Balmung — that’s no way to talk to your hyungs.”
“Don’t stop me, Mammon.”
But the angry one was already burning up.
“Oh, so now you’re giving me orders? What, you think you’re still the Nibelung heir?”
“Whether I am or not, I don’t give a fuck. But this is your last chance. Go apologize to Professor Dante.”
“And if I don’t?”
“......”
“I said — what if I fucking don’t?”
“......”
“You’re losing your damn mind, huh? What, did Dante suck your dick or something?”
Balmung went quiet.
The blood that had sunk into the swamp felt like it was rushing back in reverse. His body was heating up. Even his breath felt hot to him.
But he had to endure.
There were many reasons. Rebecca’s voice echoed in his ears. The Princess had told them to avoid contact with outsiders. To prevent conflict at all costs.
And he was someone who had once fled the Nibelung Family. He could be their target again at any time. He knew the only reason things were still civil was because the Family allowed it.
“......”
His silence only emboldened them.
“You think we’re just gonna take it because we were talking nicely? Wake up. You cowardly little shit still hasn’t grown up.”
“......”
“This is why you got kicked out. Your dad disappears and you run at the Matriarch with a knife. No sense of hierarchy. That’s why Nibelung had to get rid of you.”
“......”
He felt like something was rising from his throat.
But he held it back.
Balmung told himself he had done well.
All that was left was to ask them to leave.
“...Which is why you still keep dumb shit like this.”
That was when one of them grabbed the balloon on his bed and popped it.
Pop—!!
It had been the bone-shaped balloon that Professor Dante had given him.
And in that instant, everything Balmung had been holding back... # Nоvеlight # exploded.
His mind went blank.
“......”
When he came to, Balmung had already leapt forward, fist raised.
Wham!! Crack—!!
The enforcer’s head whipped sideways like his neck had snapped. The punch smashed his jaw and sent him flying into a bookshelf, which shattered as he slammed into the wall. Balmung felt it — his fist had broken bone.
The hit one groaned, twisted in pain, and drew a knife.
“YOU CRAZY FUCK!!”
The other one came at him too, blade in hand. But since entering the Dormant Dragon program, Balmung’s personal combat ability was on par with most professors.
Primary: [Sniper Type], Support: [Magic Type]. Even so, his hand-to-hand combat was way above these third-rate thugs.
Slice!
He dodged the blade and spun his torso. The power started at his firmly planted foot, surged through his legs, magnified by his twisting hips, amplified again by the shoulder, then coiled into his elbow like a whip — and burst out through his palm.
SLAAAP!!
The slap tore across the enforcer’s face. His eardrum burst, blood pouring out. The skin on his cheek split open, splattering blood across the colorless room.
Then the first one screamed.
“I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!”
Thwack!
Balmung spun and kicked him — the man’s ribs snapped audibly.
Then Balmung rushed to the one he’d slapped. He ducked low, trying to wrench the knife from the man’s hand.
“Give me the knife.”
“Agh! Let go! Let the fuck go!!”
“Give. It. To. Me!!!”
When he resisted, Balmung locked the man’s elbow between his arms and applied pressure — bending it into an angle no human arm should ever reach.
“AAAAAAAGH!!”
The thug fought back with all his strength. But Balmung threw his full weight in, twisting harder, and at last — crack — a sickening snap, and the knife dropped from his hand.
A victory.
He had the weapon now.
Knife in hand, Balmung turned toward the ones who had insulted Professor Dante.
“Y-you fuck...! Are you insane, Balmung!?”
Panicked by the sudden outburst, the man still didn’t forget his real weapon: threats.
“You really think you’ll survive turning Nibelung against you!? There’s more of us here! Right now our guys are meeting with Branch Chief Betelgeuse!”
But Balmung didn’t hear him.
He didn’t understand all the details.
He only had one simple demand.
“I told you to apologize. To the professor.”
Balmung’s grip on the knife tightened.
“Why did you ignore me?”
His rage was molten, melting through his skull.
“I told you to apologize and show respect. So why did you spit on it? Why didn’t you respect him?”
“Y-you bastard...! Nibelung... the Nibelung Family will—!!”
“Does Nibelung not bleed if you stick a knife in its gut?”
Balmung took a step forward.
And again, his mind went white.
He didn’t understand the complicated stuff.
All that remained was something simple.
First, he would bite into that man’s throat. Then shake his head until it snapped. And only when he’d ripped the life out of him... would he stop.