Just as Iyefut Cape harbored these sweet delusions, a dark shadow stood beneath the shade of a tree not far away, gripping a revolver aimed straight at the girl with the gradient hair.
Who else could it be but Adolf Taylor?
Though the distance was considerable, he had caught sight of Iyefut returning arm-in-arm with Shuade in an intimate display from afar… That human was undoubtedly a lapdog of the Blood Race…
Intimate to that degree—it couldn’t possibly be mere camaraderie.
Moreover, even if Adolf could forgive other Blood Race members, he could never forgive the Red Lycoris.
However.
For all his talk of exterminating the Red Lycoris, Adolf couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger just yet. No one was born drenched in blood, much like Sang’s hesitation during his first kill in the Northern Region. Adolf was wrestling with the same inner turmoil and conflict; he had never killed a person or a Blood Race member before.
Hating someone in your heart and actually taking their life with your own hands were two entirely different matters… That was why he could never understand those modern transplants who, after just a few days in this world, turned into ruthless killers. Back home, they hemmed and hawed over gutting a single fish, yet here they were, hacking their way from one end of the continent to the other, nonstop for days on end…
Not that it was entirely accurate—Adolf had killed a family member as a child… though his parents had thrown themselves onto his sword…
Tonight, he had come precisely to steel his resolve.
He raised the gun toward the distant Iyefut—his Goddess of Vengeance. His hand trembled and trembled, shaking for a long while, but in the end, he still couldn’t fire.
Finally.
Adolf slammed his fist into the tree trunk, leaving a deep dent in the bark. “Too weak,” he growled. “Not just in strength—my heart is too weak as well…”
If he couldn’t cast aside even a fragment of his humanity, he could never surpass anything, let alone defeat the Blood Race.
Adolf stormed off in frustration.
Soon after.
In a dispirited mood, Adolf wandered to the heart of Knight Academy City, near the Beer Hall, where he spotted a familiar figure—Bell Hodhua.
Middle Grade’s top ten: Bell Hodhua.
The guy was bullying a human student again, grinding the trainee’s head deep into the ground while barking provocations nonstop.
Adolf had half a mind to ignore it and walk away… But the next moment, he halted in his tracks, clenching his fists. He donned a face veil and a wide-brimmed hat. His killing intent resonated with the Goddess of Vengeance, elevating his entire strength to a new level.
Did anyone remember the outcome of Adolf’s first clash with Bell Hodhua?
It had looked like a draw on the surface, but in truth, Adolf had lost.
This time, he would do something about it…
…
Just as Iyefut and Adolf were each hardening their respective resolves.
That same night.
Atop the Eiffel Iron Tower in Knight Academy City sat a black-haired youth with the rarest heterochromatic eyes in the world.
He opened a letter and read it for a moment before murmuring, “A letter from big sis… I didn’t realize she cared so much about that Experimental Logbook she lost a few years ago. I’ve been searching for it all this time. I even suspected the Montgomery Family had picked it up—they’re rumored to be dabbling in human experiments, after all. But it wasn’t them… So who took the Experimental Logbook? What a headache…”
As he spoke.
The youth glanced at the letter in his hand again, his eyes lingering on the signature at the bottom: an prominent “L.” That was big sis’s code name.
Big sis was always popping up out of nowhere, heaven knew what she was busy with. He hadn’t seen her even once in a whole year.
“I miss sis so much… She’s like a mother to me, after all. She made me…”
“I miss her. Once this mission is over, I have to go find her… Right now, though, I must kill Iyefut Cape.”
The School Celebration… He could hardly wait.
It was sure to be a night drenched in blood.
…
From May to July, over a solid two months, Sang’s school life followed a steady routine: etiquette lessons, dance practice, and secretly honing his swordsmanship.
Life felt fairly fulfilling, all things considered.
The only real regret was that, aside from bumping into Achill on the first day of school and Iyefut Cape, the youth hadn’t made any more friends.
It couldn’t be helped. For one thing, the entire class was Blood Race. For another, no one wanted to befriend someone who hid behind a mask all day.
If you wouldn’t even show your true face, how could anyone get close to you?
What, trying to make friends online? Even in this world, everybody knows that’s risky business…
Whatever.
He already had Aisha Hodhua, Shika, and Iyefut Cape—that was plenty. Sang was the contented sort.
Overthinking things would just lead to needless inner turmoil, piling stress on himself for no reason.
Knight Academy might not have official winter or summer breaks, but in practice, they let out in August midway through the year and January at the start of the new one, marking the end of each term.
Which meant—once the School Celebration wrapped up, he wouldn’t have to stick around campus anymore.
He’d see the True Ancestor again soon. It had been a whole quarter without laying eyes on her, and his feelings about it were genuinely mixed.
As for the others.
Aisha Hodhua had stopped objecting to Sang hanging out with Iyefut. Or rather, she couldn’t stop it anymore and had simply given up. Her days were more leisurely now: cleaning the dorm during the day, handling letters from her territory—remote work, essentially—and going shopping at night.
Shika, that muscle-headed dimwit, spent every day at the Arena. Looked like he’d be an illiterate brute for life.
Right now.
As usual, Sang donned a mask, dyed his hair a deep blue, and strolled through the school building. Halfway along, he spotted a large group of Student Council members patrolling below. He also overheard clusters of students murmuring nearby, chatting about something or other.
Drawing a bit closer, he finally caught the gist of their conversation.
“Another Blood Race trainee got attacked…”
“Yeah! They say this time it was a Senior Grade upperclassman, top 1000… Ever since Bell Hodhua got hit two months ago, how many incidents has that made?”
“No idea. At least ten, for sure.”
Yeah.
Indeed.
Something had been stirring in Knight Academy City lately—not a huge deal, but not trivial either. A mysterious figure cloaked in a veil was targeting Blood Race trainees exclusively. Victims ranged from low-year Third Seat Russell Roland to Middle Grade’s Ninth Seat Bell Hodhua, and even some Senior Grade Blood Race hadn’t been spared.
Panic was spreading.
Of course, the attacker never went for the kill. Every Blood Race ended up gravely injured, but no fatalities so far.
That was why the Student Council was handling the investigation instead of calling in the Knight Order.
No deaths, no need to panic…
While the Blood Race fretted, humans were secretly thrilled. The targets were all Blood Race, so humans were safe. Plus, plenty already resented them—let the bastards suffer a bit.
Meanwhile.
In Year 1 Class B’s classroom, Adolf gazed out at the world beyond with an inscrutable look in his eyes…
