Meanwhile.
A cool spring breeze brushed his face, ruffling the feathers of the Little Chicken perched on his shoulder and drawing a soft “cheep cheep” from her. Sang abruptly turned his head. In the distance, the backs of a teenage boy and girl came into view. Both wore the uniforms of low-grade students at the Knight Academy. The boy stood about six feet tall, with a broad back and powerful build, his deep blue, medium-length curly hair catching the light. The girl had shoulder-length blonde hair and a graceful, slender figure that exuded the fresh glow of youth.
They were walking away from him, growing ever more distant.
For a fleeting moment, Sang glimpsed two beloved figures from his memories, and a familiar nickname echoed in his ears—Watermelon.
Hmm… they really did look a bit like those two.
But that was impossible, wasn’t it?
Those two should still be safe in Kaen Town. After all, he had helped them tamper with their blood samples back then, so there shouldn’t be any problems. No resampling for three years.
Once he wrapped up all his business, he would return to Kaen Town in grand style.
He had left home in July of Blood Calendar 4077, and now it was March of Blood Calendar 4079.
“Just one more quarter until it’s been two full years…”
As the boy yearned for his faraway family, a faint commotion caught his ear from nearby. He approached and saw two Blood Race boys beating a human youth amid the bushes.
Sigh. This kind of thing again?
Didn’t they ever get bored?
Sang had half a mind to walk away, but then he thought of all the other humans who stood by coldly, and he halted—from mere familiarity to numb indifference.
He didn’t want to turn into that sort of person.
It wasn’t some grand quest for justice or youthful heroism. It was simply to keep his own mind sharp and steer clear of callous cruelty.
We might never know exactly what kind of person we aspire to be, but at least we know the kind we refuse to become.
And so.
In the next moment, Sang stepped in to halt the ugly scene.
A hero saving a beauty made for a fine tale, but saving some guy? Best to gloss over that.
The boy he rescued was another low-grade student named Achill, apparently a total slacker from one of the lowest-ranked classes. He had a meek face to match his meek personality. For him, the routine was rote: get bullied by Blood Race thugs, get saved by a passerby, pour out his sob story.
“My dad couldn’t pay his taxes, so they dragged him off as a slave. Mom raised me alone. My dream is to become a knight, earn a title one day, and buy my father back…”
Sang: “…”
Achill recited his tale so fluidly that Sang couldn’t even muster much pity.
Still… the Slavery System again?
The Slavery Law and the Grace System were nothing short of two festering tumors on society.
Suddenly, Kevin’s words drifted through his mind—But Teacher An, you’re one of the Heroes of the North. If even you can’t make a difference, what hope is there for anyone else?
Business as usual: bursts of grand ambition, followed by endless slacking.
Whatever.
No point dwelling on it.
Achill, upon learning that Sang was a transfer student, was stunned. Humans rarely managed to transfer into the academy, so he assumed the boy had some remarkable talent. Spotting the mask that disguised Sang’s face, the tactful Achill held back his questions and instead offered to give him a tour of the campus.
Sang considered it for a moment and nodded. He was waiting for Aisha and Shika to return anyway. They could head to the dorms together after a stroll around.
On one side of the Academic Plaza, Sang came to an involuntary stop before a stele carved from gleaming obsidian. It was ancient and imposing, etched with a scattering of names. Only the first one had been scratched out.
“What’s this?” Sang asked, curiosity piqued.
Achill explained, “This is the Knight Academy’s Diamond List!”
“The Diamond List?”
Sang paused in mild surprise. Diamond Tier truly was rare. The academy had stood for nearly a thousand years, yet it had produced fewer than twenty Diamonds in all… None of whom he recognized.
Sang might have played it cool, but Achill could scarcely contain himself. Longing shone in his eyes as he launched into an introduction, newest to oldest, without even waiting for a question.
“The latest Diamond graduate is Mirek Taran, direct heir to the Taran Family—one of the Four Great Duke Families. He’s the top prodigy of the new generation and bears the title of Little Sword King…”
“The new generation…?”
“Yeah, the new generation—the last hundred years or so.”
Sang got it at once. No wonder Snow Hill wasn’t listed. That woman was over a century old and fell outside the new generation.
“But… Sword King?”
It rubbed Sang the wrong way. Even qualified as “little,” it grated. In his mind, the world’s supreme swordmaster was Snow Hill. What Sword King…?
Oblivious to Sang’s private grumblings, Achill pressed on. “The Taran Family is one of the Four Great Families, entrenched in the Southern Region. They’re the originators of Orthodox Swordsmanship. Mirek Taran graduated ages ago at Diamond Tier. As the new generation’s foremost talent and the academy’s most recent Diamond, he’s remarkably young even by Blood Race standards.”
Mirek Taran, pinnacle of the new generation.
That was unexpected.
So the cradle of Orthodox Swordsmanship lay in the South, not the Central Hub…
Mirek Taran, was it?
Eh, whatever. He’d already graduated—no chance of crossing paths here. Let him strut.
A short while later.
Sang’s eyes drifted to the top name, the one that had been crossed out. Even defaced, it stood out as unusually short amid the others’ interminable sprawl. A commoner without a family name, perhaps?
Reading his thoughts, Achill’s face lit up with a mix of fierce pride and deep regret. “The Diamond List was forged by humans—not at the academy’s founding, but just over two hundred years ago. Human students made this stele to honor the birth of the first Diamond human…”
Sang murmured, a realization dawning. “Lance again?”
“Exactly… The irony? After Mr. Lance died, the Blood Race turned it into a mockery. For years, they’ve carved the names of Diamond Blood Race students onto this monument to humanity’s first Diamond—one after another, without end. In time, it’s been utterly corrupted.”
Corrupted.
From a badge of human pride to a mark of shame…
Sang hated to admit it, but the more he heard, the angrier he got.
Even in failure, a great man remained great—yet here he was insulted, his name struck through and supplanted by Blood Race names. Sure, humans bore some blame too; they couldn’t produce Diamonds to reclaim it… No names to engrave!
“Heh… so this is the City of Equality?”
Indeed.
And don’t forget the supreme irony: Knight Academy City, proclaimed the most egalitarian place on earth. What a joke.
It didn’t bear imagining what other regions must be like…
Achill could only manage a wry smile at Sang’s sardonic tone. Then he mentioned he had training to get to and took his leave.
“Pleasure meeting you. Catch you later.”
“Yeah, later.”
