A Wild Man Has Entered the Academy

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 169

Reikart left behind some cryptic words before departing.

Even as he left, a massive pillar of lightning struck down from the sky. He entered it and vanished in an instant.

After that, the situation wrapped up one way or another, and we left the temple. Following our departure, we stayed in Byzantium for a few days.

What could possibly happen in just a few days? That’s what I thought.

Crash!

“Hahaha! Now I’m truly free!!”

“Hahaha! Please come back, Your Holiness the Pope!!”

Yeah. It happened.

The so-called Pope broke windows every day to escape, and Gaspard would catch him.

According to Rize, this happened about once a day. She said it kept things from getting boring.

“Is it really okay for the Pope to act like that?”

“Everyone seems to understand.”

“That…?”

Byzantium, which tolerated such antics, didn’t seem entirely sane either. They treated the Pope’s Great Escape as some kind of attraction.

Beyond that, I enjoyed Byzantium’s food, sparred with Rize, and spent a surprisingly fulfilling time there before returning quickly.

The situation was already noisy enough, and with even the Divine Spirit Reikart showing up, rumors spread like wildfire.

It was a bit embarrassing to show my face, so I returned earlier than planned.

‘Don’t trust Gaia?’

After returning to the Academy, I lay on my dormitory bed, lost in thought for a while.

Don’t trust Gaia. For a Divine Spirit to offer such advice, it must be something serious.

Of course, I couldn’t rule out the possibility of it being an attempt to sow discord. To me, Gaia and Gulak were all the same.

They forcibly dropped someone living peacefully into a forest and made them suffer endlessly.

From my perspective, they’re equally bad. I just can’t bring myself to trust these so-called gods.

‘It’s unsettling in so many ways.’

Soul World allows for diverse roleplaying concepts, and among them, the Holy Knight concept is highly versatile.

Gulak shows versatility in combat, while Gaia excels in utility and support.

Moreover, Gaia has a reputation for benevolence, earning respect wherever she goes. This provides various advantages, especially in gaining honor.

‘Unlike Gulak, I’ve had almost no interactions with Gaia.’

One might ask why there aren’t any Gaia believers at the Academy.

To explain, there are some. They’re just in a different class.

Since I only connected with them after the Academy Collapse, I didn’t pay much attention to them now.

More than anything, I wanted to avoid getting involved with that person. In Soul World, they were a character so frustrating it nearly drove me insane.

At least with Luna, I just need to watch my words. But with that person, it’s different. To act freely, it’s better to stay away.

‘Let’s just set aside the gods for now. They’re all the same anyway.’

Whether it’s Gaia or Gulak, their tendency to make innocent people suffer hasn’t changed.

Perhaps being chosen by Chaos would’ve been better. At least it was easier to raise faith with them.

I wanted to vent with some harsh words, but I held back. Otherwise, my faith might decrease.

‘Well, birds of a feather flock together, so they’re probably all alike.’

Just as I was thinking Chaos was no different from the other gods—

[Faith is decreasing.]

Strangely, a message appeared before my eyes, stating that my faith was decreasing.

I made a peculiar expression as I looked at the message. It might’ve been my imagination, but I sensed a slight irritation in it.

It felt like an unspoken message saying, “Don’t lump me in with those guys.” I couldn’t quite understand it.

‘Did they oppose dragging me into this place?’

This time, no message appeared. It seemed like they were holding back their words.

Unlike other gods, Chaos doesn’t directly express their intentions—except in ways like this.

‘Then how does Rize communicate with them? Through dreams?’

Thinking deeply, it felt a bit strange. In Soul World, such things could be overlooked as part of the game.

But this is reality. Unless someone has a Status Window like me, communicating with Chaos should be impossible.

Although Luna has special ‘eyes,’ I’m not sure if they compare to a Status Window.

You could think of it as combining my Status Window with Luna’s eyes to form a Soul World character.

‘It’s complicated.’

Doubts led to more doubts, and questions led to more questions. Nothing seemed to resolve properly.

In the end, I could only hope time would provide answers. For now, there were just scattered hints everywhere.

‘What I need to think about right now is…’

The visit to Byzantium, originally planned to last about a week, ended in less than that.

This way, I could reduce the number of victims falling prey to that demon. But I’d need to figure out their location.

That demon didn’t stay in one place and wandered around. Fortunately, their cycle was long.

‘If I don’t deal with it now, it’ll be a bigger headache later.’

As seen with Porori’s case, certain monsters or demons grow stronger over time.

The monster I’ll face next is the same. It’s originally tough to defeat early on, so beginners often avoid it even if they know about it.

But if you encounter it later, it becomes insanely powerful. While it might not reach indigo-level strength, it’ll come close.

‘It’s tough to handle even now.’

The difference lies more in its specs than its patterns. Just one hit could leave you critically injured.

On the flip side, this means my current specs are more than enough to defeat it. If you’re strong, you can crush it with even greater strength.

However, since it resides outside the Academy, I’d have to leave to deal with it. Ideally, I’d sneak out.

‘Hmm…’

Thinking it over, sneaking out didn’t seem like a bad choice. I had freedom, and I could use it however I wanted.

Freedom is Sivar! That’s what it means. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I got up.

‘Alright. Let’s go right now.’

My thoughts were short, and my actions were quick. I immediately packed all the necessary items.

Of course, the only thing worth packing was Ragnarok. Along with some money and a simple bag.

That should be enough. The village wasn’t too far away, so I’d be back soon.

‘As for leaving a note… Nah. I’m not a kid. They wouldn’t go looking for me, would they?’

Still, just in case, I decided to stick a note on the dormitory door saying I’d be out for a while.

That way, anyone looking for me might be puzzled but wouldn’t worry too much.

‘Once I retrieve the sword from that demon, I’ll ask Rod for help. Oh, right. I still haven’t picked up the Usk Sword I had made.’

I’d forgotten to collect the Usk Sword I commissioned. But there didn’t seem to be any urgent need to get it now.

I’ll give it to Luna as a gift when I return. Since we share secrets, this much should be fine.

Scratch, scratch—

I wrote on the paper to stick on the door. It simply indicated I was away.

Then, I attached the note to the door and headed toward the Academy Main Gate. For the record, I had eaten a hearty meal.

‘Let’s see… The back gate leads to Byzantium, and the main gate leads to that village, right? Perfect.’

People who recognized me murmured, but I ignored them with ease. I was used to such stares.

‘Let’s take care of this quickly and come back.’

I didn’t want to make anyone worry. My acquaintances tended to treat me like a child.

But there was one thing I hadn’t considered. It took a full day by carriage to reach the village.

Which meant it would take much longer than three days. In Soul World, it was treated as ‘fast travel,’ so I hadn’t realized.

‘I have enough money for food, so it’ll be fine.’

Vacations are meant to be spent meaningfully.

******

About a few hours after Sivar left the Academy—

Luna, who had returned from Byzantium, lay on her bed for a while. She couldn’t shake the deep thoughts from her mind.

The dream she had when she fainted due to Sivar’s prank. That dream left Luna with a significant sense of disharmony.

‘The same appearance as Sivar, with violet eyes… But he had two weapons.’

Appearance-wise, he looked exactly like Sivar. To be precise, like a more grown-up version of Sivar.

Right now, he was tall but still had a somewhat youthful face. In the dream, however, he was a sharp-featured, handsome man.

He still used an axe as his main weapon. But in his left hand, he held a massive greatsword.

‘Could it really be… the future?’

A dream of Sivar becoming a mass murderer in the future. That was something she absolutely wanted to prevent.

Even now, he is already strong enough, but in the future, he would become far stronger. At that point, even Rize or Rod might find it hard to stop him.

However, a question arose at the same time. What exactly led Sivar to commit such a massacre?

The mountain of corpses wasn’t of demons but of humans. That much, she clearly remembered.

What on earth turned him into a monster as terrifying as a demon? For now, she couldn’t figure it out.

‘…Should I just ask him directly?’

Since it’s come to this, she decided to also take the opportunity to examine his eyes.

Whether the red color was truly red, or if there were signs of it changing to purple.

Luna let out a deep sigh and got up from the bed. It would be better to make a plan after consulting with Sivar.

“…Huh?”

But what was this? There was a strange piece of paper attached to Sivar’s dormitory door.

A piece of paper carefully taped to the door. Luna examined the phrase written on it closely.

[Gone somewhere for a bit. Don’t look for me.]

It seemed he had been diligently learning how to write. Although he did write “gone” as “for a bit,” there was that minor mistake.

However, Luna tilted her head as she read the phrase. Was it really necessary to put up a note just for going somewhere?

‘Did he go to the forest to mark his territory?’

It was a high possibility. If that were the case, it might take a while, so it seemed better to return the next day.

And so, the next day came, and when Luna arrived in front of Sivar’s dormitory, she raised one eyebrow.

‘What? Still?’

The paper was still there. Wondering if Sivar had left it up out of laziness, she even knocked.

Even after knocking, there was no response from inside. A creeping sense of foreboding began to rise in Luna’s chest.

If it were someone else, she might have let it go, but this was Sivar. A troublemaker who could cause an accident anytime, anywhere.

It would be fine if he were within the Academy, but if he had gone outside… it could spell serious trouble in many ways. Luna immediately began her investigation.

Sivar’s appearance was distinctive enough to stand out even from a distance, so the investigation was easy. She started with the Forest of Chaos, Ratatoskr’s territory.

“Why him? He hasn’t even set foot in the forest for a while.”

“He didn’t come yesterday either?”

“Yeah, he didn’t.”

Ratatoskr, cracking open an acorn, answered as if wondering if there was a problem.

For now, it seemed he hadn’t come to the forest. Luna thanked him and moved on to ask others.

“Sivar? No, he hasn’t come looking for me.”

“Me neither. He hasn’t visited.”

She asked both Kara and Ellie, but their answers were negative.

As her unease and foreboding grew stronger, Luna happened to hear some news.

“Sivar? I saw him leaving yesterday.”

“What?”

It was Antonio. He was the one who had directly seen Sivar leaving through the main gate yesterday.

Antonio, holding a stack of securities, began to speak.

“I happened to see him while I was on my way to buy stocks yesterday. He was heading out of the Academy.”

“Do you… know why?”

“How would I know? He had packed weapons and a bag, though.”

“…”

It seemed like something serious had happened. As soon as Luna heard that, she went straight to Rod.

“Um… Headmaster.”

“What is it?”

After a brief hesitation, Luna revealed the conclusion she had reached through her investigation.

“It seems Sivar has run away.”

“…”

It wasn’t entirely wrong.