༺ A Brief Reprieve (3) ༻
“I won’t be leaving just yet.”
At those words, the students’ expressions brightened. Of course, only for a very brief moment.
Titania, her face wet with unshed tears, flashed a bright smile, then quickly furrowed her brows in puzzlement as she grasped the hidden meaning in my words.
“You mean ‘just yet’? Does that mean…you’re going to leave?”
“……”
It was difficult to explain.
If I hadn’t met Dean Heinkel, I would have confirmed that I was indeed leaving, but the situation had become more nuanced now.
If I said I was leaving and then found Ella, there would be no reason to leave.
If I said I wasn’t leaving and then failed to find Ella, I’d eventually have to leave.
If I’d known it would come to this, I wouldn’t have mentioned it in front of Batar or Elizabeth. But since I had no idea that the Dean would make such a proposal, it couldn’t be helped.
Marian anxiously bit her nails and spoke up. Her thumbnail was already torn to the quick.
“Come on, say something…! Are you leaving or not? Why on earth are you leaving in the first place?”
Her question was not only her own. The same question, large or small, was evident on the faces of all the students.
While they might have preferred not to know, given the circumstances, a minimum explanation seemed necessary.
“The part about not leaving ‘just yet’ is exactly what it sounds like. It simply means… there is a possibility that I might leave.”
“A possibility of leaving?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, but an important matter came up and I couldn’t avoid it. I can’t promise when it will end. So, that’s why I said I might leave.”
With a short sigh, I continued my explanation.
“But Dean Heinkel has given me a brief reprieve considering my situation.”
“A reprieve… until when?”
“I’ll stay as an instructor until the special training period. I can’t confirm what will happen after that.”
At those words, relief and anxiety simultaneously appeared on the students’ faces.
They were glad that I wasn’t leaving right away, but they seemed unsure of how to react to the fact that the final outcome was still uncertain.
The students were in an atmosphere where they couldn’t figure out whether to be happy or regretful.
Titania cautiously opened her mouth.
“Instructor… May I ask what that important matter is?”
I paused for a moment, considering how much I should tell the students.
Eventually, the thought that I couldn’t deeply involve them in my personal matters was the only thing that came to my mind.
Titania’s expression darkened, seemingly reading the answer in my silence.
“Is it something you can’t tell us?”
“…It’s a very personal matter.”
“Is it that important? So much so that you would suddenly leave us?”
My inability to immediately respond to that question must have been due to the frustration in my heart.
But it was also pointless to voice a lie that would soon be discovered.
With a heavy nod, I spoke.
“Yes.”
“Ah…”
Titania’s expression was filled with shock. Her eyes crossed with hurt and bewilderment, and waves of indescribable emotions surged.
I didn’t know if what I was about to say would bring comfort, but I felt like I had to say it in advance.
“Even if I do leave, Dean Heinkel has promised to bring in a new instructor before then. So, there won’t be any issue of Opal Black Class disappearing. You can continue taking classes just like now even after the training is over.”
However, Titania’s stern expression didn’t ease. The same was true for the other students. It seemed that my words weren’t comforting at all.
Gwyn spoke up in a trembling voice.
“Is there nothing we can do to help? If it’s that important, it would be better to do it together than alone.”
I shook my head firmly.
“No. It’s a dangerous situation.”
“I can fight too! Thanks to your swordsmanship lessons, I can do much more than before, and I already have Body strengthening technique…!”
Gwyn was the only one in this group who had known how to use the Body strengthening technique since her admission.
However.
“Even so, it’s only low-level, and you’ve just barely started to use Body strengthening technique. Don’t talk about using such skills anywhere with that level of ability.”
“Uh…!”
Gwyn’s Body strengthening technique was not yet at a level where she could manifest sword energy, and at best, she could only enhance her physical abilities. Even that was difficult to maintain for a long time due to lack of mana.
I acknowledge that it’s more efficient to do it with a group. But to wander around that land filled with dreadful scams and undead, you would need at least the swordsmanship skills of a royal guard.
Even the royal guards couldn’t guarantee survival. Needless to say, the students’ skills were simply out of the question.
Gwyn bit her lip in frustration. It seemed like blood might start oozing from her blanched lips at any moment.
“……”
The atmosphere was heavy.
It seemed I had been talking about depressing matters for too long. I had said all that needed to be said, so it was time to dismiss the students.
Everyone seemed to be in a muddle. Of course, I was no different.
“It’s already been decided. Let’s stop the discussion here. From tomorrow, we’ll have regular classes. We must have missed many classes due to the festival, so rest a bit earlier today to prepare for tomorrow.”
Without waiting for their response, I left the lobby, having delivered these words to the students.
Titania’s regretful gaze followed my back.
But I deliberately ignored it and didn’t look back until the end.
***
“This is nonsense.”
In the lounge where the students had gathered.
Marian expressed her dissatisfaction with anger.
“What does he mean ‘continue taking classes just like now even after the training is over’? Isn’t he talking about it as if it’s someone else’s business?”
Her mimicry of my low voice and stern expression was quite convincing, but none of the students laughed or reacted.
Only Schultz sighed briefly, adjusting his glasses, and spoke.
“What can we do? He said it’s a personal matter. We can’t change it just because we don’t like it.”
“Still… this is not right…”
Marian grumbled quietly with a bitter expression.
Schultz didn’t refute her words. He found the situation just as sudden and confusing.
Batar went up to his room with a gloomy expression, and Elizabeth didn’t even show her face.
But the other students seemed no less affected than Schultz, if not more.
Gwyn spoke in a gloomy voice.
“Isn’t there any way at all? The instructor said it’s not possible… but I don’t want to just give up like this.”
It was Saladin who responded to her. He crossed his arms and replied with a gruff attitude.
“What are you going to do? We don’t even know what and where the instructor is planning to do in the first place. How can you offer help without knowing what this important task is?”
“That may be the case now… but we might find a way later!”
A month can be short, but also long.
At least it was for Gwyn. To her, I was more than just a simple instructor who awakened her to the deficiencies in her swordsmanship, suggested a path that differed from her previous master, and gave her daily teachings through clashing swords.
Without realizing, Gwyn had come to rely emotionally on me quite a bit. She admired my strength and sometimes thought she would like to become like me, Instructor Eon.
But to have me, Instructor Eon, suddenly leaving without any warning…
The fact brought about a change in Gwyn’s mindset, accompanied by anxiety.
Of course, the other students felt the same.
Oznia, who had been quiet all this time, suddenly spoke up. Unlike her usual languid and quiet demeanor, she uncharacteristically spoke seriously.
“…I think the same. If there’s anything we can do, we should do it.”
“That makes it 2:1.”
Gwyn lightly glanced at Saladin.
Marian added as if supplementing her words.
“About that, Instructor Eon said, right? He will stay as an instructor until the training period. Doesn’t that imply that he plans to do something important during the training period? If it goes well, he will continue working as an instructor, and if not, he’ll leave.”
Everyone nodded at her fairly reasonable speculation.
“So, our first step should be finding out more about Instructor Eon’s situation. Who agrees?”
Marian, who initiated the conversation, raised her hand first. Gwyn and Oznia followed suit and raised their hands.
Schultz voiced his concern hesitantly.
“Isn’t that a bit risky? What if Instructor Eon finds out what we’re doing…?”
“So what? We have nothing to lose anyway. Are we just going to sit back and watch the instructor leave? If we regret it then, it will be too late.”
Upon hearing this, Titania, who had been curled up on the sofa, slightly raised her head.
“Regret…?”
A spark was slowly returning to her deep green eyes, which had been consumed with worry.
“Yes, I don’t want to regret. This time too… If we let the instructor leave, I think I will definitely regret not doing anything, just like with my brother. Can I join too?”
At Titania’s remark, Marian nodded and said,
“That makes it four votes, right? It seems we’ve already filled half…”
“When did this become a majority decision?”
“I just decided it. If you don’t like it, you can be the student council president.”
Schultz resignedly raised one hand.
“Honestly, I haven’t had many conversations with the instructor, and I can’t really empathize with why you all are going this far… but if this is the class’s opinion, there’s nothing I can do. I’m also a member of this class, and I don’t wish for Instructor Eon to leave either.”
Eventually, everyone’s gaze turned to Saladin, the only one who hadn’t raised his hand.
Feeling everyone’s gaze, Saladin twitched his shoulder and said,
“Oh, what? I wasn’t particularly opposing, you know?”
Saladin eventually unfolded his arms and raised his hand loosely.
Marian raised the corner of her mouth in satisfaction.
“Six out of eight votes. Then for Batar and Elizabeth, I will personally persuade-”
“There’s no need for that.”
A faint voice softly resonated in the lounge.
Elizabeth, who looked pale, was leaning against the entrance of the lounge.
“Elizabeth? Are you… sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah.”
Her face was pale, having not come out of her room for a few days, and there was unmistakable fatigue in her eyes. She looked like someone who hadn’t eaten or drank anything for two days.
However, despite the worried gazes of the students looking at her, Elizabeth maintained a composed demeanor and straightened her waist.
“I was listening to the conversation.”
Her red eyes looked at everyone.
“I will help with what you are trying to do.”
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