Academy Slave Instructor

125 – Long time no see

Long time no see

“Wow, this is amazing.”

Asran drinks beer and looks at stalls selling rare animals.

In a case made of iron bars, an animal resembling a small fox but with a jewel embedded in its forehead stares at Aslan.

The naive eyes seem to have captured Asran’s rough heart, and he puts his finger inside the cage and scratches his chin with a happy smile.

“Oops!”

When an unknown animal terrifies his mouth and tries to bite his finger, Asran takes his finger out in surprise.

“Guest, the jewel fox is very ferocious. Be careful. It has such a strong bite that it has eaten off several people’s fingers.”

“Puhahahahaha, I heard you got a good score on the monster taxonomy? Don’t you know that?”

“It wasn’t in the test range.”

As Rai laughs, Aslan frowns and touches his finger, which has barely survived.

The jewel fox is staring at her, licking her lips in regret.

It’s still cute, but Aslan doesn’t get fooled anymore and raises his middle finger.

Perhaps he understands the swear words, the jewel fox sees Asran’s fingers and gnaws ferociously.

“This bastard.”

While Rai is laughing at Aslan, who is having a snowball fight with an animal, the streets are noisy with the sound of soliciting customers from nearby merchants.

“There is a scroll! A piping hot scroll that just came out of the newly built Mage Tower!”

“The traditional snack of Kuhenran Kingdom! It’s a taste you can’t taste anywhere else!”

“There is Saxony chocolate! It is so rare that only nobles can taste it. We sell it for only 20 silver! If you miss it now, there is no chance!”

A merchant’s cry reaches Rai’s ear through the sounds of solicitation to attract customers.

“Buy a cypress sachet! This sachet is made with only the inner flesh of the tree with the outer shell thin. It smells great! It’s the cypress scent that even Grand Duke Shagirov loved!”

As Rai looks at the sachet at the stall as if possessed by something, Aslan, who was having a snowball fight with the jewel fox, approaches.

“What, you had a pretty girly hobby too?”

“I was thinking it would be nice to keep you at home because you stink so much.”

“What? I don’t smell!”

“Didn’t you feel that Sena covered her nose with her hand when she came in after training?”

Aslan is embarrassed, he picks up her clothes and sniffs himself.

The smell is already familiar, so it doesn’t feel particularly unpleasant, but just in case, leaving Aslan, who is taking care of her hands and armpits, and other parts of her body, Rai looks around at her sachet.

There is no difference in the cypress inside, but there are scent bags wrapped in cheap cloth and there are scent bags wrapped in colorful cloth with embroidery.

While looking around the various sachets, Rai says to the merchant who is watching quietly.

“Are there any that smell cold?”

“You mean mint? I only deal with cypress wood, so there is no mint scent.”

“Okay, so what about the sour smell?”

“No. It’s better to look for citrus elsewhere. You can go to Bell Union or other stores in the Empire.”

For a person who has been loudly touting customers until now, he doesn’t seem to be interested in Rai.

He shouted that he specialized in cypress trees, but it was strange that he was looking for a different incense, but the merchant’s attitude was also not good.

“It seems that there is only cypress incense here, so why are you looking for something else?”

“I don’t think the smell of your sweat will go away with the scent of cypress.”

Rai scolds Aslan once more and asks for the price while holding a sachet.

“It’s 8 silver.”

“The price is reasonable. It smells good, so I’ll give you one more silver.”

“Oh, you don’t need to do this. Thank you. Then I’ll have to bring something. This is a little old, so I haven’t displayed it, but there’s still a lot of fragrance left, so you won’t have any problems using it.”

The shop owner says it’s a bonus and puts a cheap sachet wrapped in cloth on top.

Walking down the street, saying to sell a lot, Lai held the sachet close to his nose and sniffed it.

I can feel the subtle scent that calms the mind.

“I’m tired, so let’s take a break and eat snacks.”

“Do you want to eat something from the stall?”

“No, let’s get a seat at the bar. It’s better to have a hearty meal and eat street food as a snack.”

From noble mtl dot com

Rai and Aslan wander the crowded streets looking for an empty seat in a bar.

Most of the seats were full, but luckily there were people vacating at the third bar, so they quickly took their seats.

“Where are you going?”

“To poop. Order anything you want to eat.”

Asran asked Rai when he got up as soon as he sat down, and he smiled and threw a gold coin.

“Come cheaply.”

“Express.”

With the anticipation of being able to eat for the first time in a long time, Asran does not doubt Rai at all and thinks about what to eat.

After leaving the bar, Rai enters an alleyway where people are rare and opens the sachet the merchant gave him as a bonus.

There is a note between the fragmented cypress trees.

Observing the contents, Rai sets off a spark to burn the note, throws the sachet behind him, and walks out into the street.

Ray, who was expressionless, smiled.

Listening to the ciphertext of Kaylan Kingdom after a long time brings back old memories.

The bravery of the merchant who proudly shouted out the cipher text that has not changed for years in the middle of the empire was amazing.

I couldn’t help it because I couldn’t change it after the kingdom was destroyed, but even so, it was a dangerous move.

After deciphering the code written on the note, Rai enters a complex alleyway between the districts.

It’s noisy outside, but the dirty back alley is dark and gloomy as if it has nothing to do with the festival.

Ignoring the tramps who sit helplessly and stare at him with only despair in their eyes, Rai approaches the building indicated by the contents.

“I managed to find this musty place.”

It is difficult to find the entrance of the building because it is covered by randomly erected boards and piles of garbage.

Rai knocks on the old door after passing through piles of camouflage that are not artificial due to the accumulated traces of time.

She knocks and she doesn’t respond from the other side of the door.

“The center of the earth, the ring of flame. The great road.”

Lai waits for a moment after he says the password that is so old that he is worried that it hasn’t been changed.

I feel a sneak peek from the building behind me, but I ignore it and the door opens.

It is dark without a single light, but Rai goes inside peacefully.

“Aren’t you living like a rat? Turn on the light and live. Don’t you have money to buy candles?”

As Rai turns towards the darkness where nothing can be seen, sparks flicker in the distance.

The man who created a flame in his hand moves the candle to the fire without a word and approaches Rai.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen this face, where did you belong?”

“It is an honor to meet you, Commander-in-Chief Elliot Treyer.”

“Yes, that commander who ruined the country by being completely defeated.”

Rye draws a V-jaw with both hands and says playfully, but the man doesn’t respond, stares at her and guides her inside.

In case someone breaks in, the inside of the building has a complex twist of narrow corridors.

There is no way people’s houses will be filled with corridors, so they must have renovated it.

Assuming that he has been infiltrating Legandia longer than expected, Rai enters the door that the man opens.

“It’s been a while, boss.”

A man sitting in the middle of the room recognizes Rai and laughs.

The face of the man, with clear traces of hardship, was very rough.

The rough skin, the carelessly grown beard, and the long cut from the forehead to the cheek through the left eye made the man’s impression stern.

However, unlike the man’s reaction, Rai only blinks and stares.

“Who?”

“Has it changed that much? This is Mikhail Shaia.”

“……A- lie.”

“Really. Except for the color of his hair and eyes, the captain hasn’t changed at all. Still, the color red, the symbol of the captain, suits him better than brown.”

Rai stares at the man he introduces as Mikhail.

In Rai’s memory, Mikhail was a tender boy.

He was 20 years old when he surrendered to the Empire, so he wasn’t old enough to be called a boy, but that’s how long he was.

Innocent Mikhail, who was the last to enter the unit and was ridiculed by other lieutenants or adored by cuteness, went somewhere, and the scary Mikhail appeared, which made Rai embarrassed.

Mikhail puts his hand on the sofa and Rai sits down, still unable to take his eyes off his face.

“Your personality hasn’t changed. You don’t seem to age at all.”

“Apart from the face, what’s wrong with the voice?”

“I inhaled the poison smoke and my vocal chords were damaged. There is nothing wrong with my health, so there is nothing to worry about.”

It was too rough to be called a human voice, but Mikhail said it as if it was not a big deal.

As the man in the corner pours wine, Rai looks up and sees his face.

“Oh, you see. The knight under Wyatt?”

“It’s an honor to remember you.”

The man respectfully bows his head and steps back.

Rai drinks wine from a glass and examines the faces of people standing near the wall.

Half the face you know, half the face you don’t know at all.

It is impossible for a general commander to remember every single soldier, but being in this position means that he has the skills.

Most of the unfamiliar faces are looking at Rai with respectful eyes at a young age.

“It’s natural that you don’t know because it’s the first time you’ve seen it. They were the candidates who were in the training camp at the time of surrender.”

Read Rai’s expression and Mikhail will answer.

It didn’t explain much, but it was enough.

In other words, they are candidates for training camps that force loyalty to the Kingdom of Kaylan and educate them close to brainwashing.

Rai nodded his head and returned his gaze to Mikhail, smiling.

“So. What do you want from me?”

“I didn’t expect you to say that all of a sudden. It’s a bit disappointing.”

Mikhail smiles bitterly with sad eyes.

I don’t know what’s inside, but just looking at his expression, it looks like he’s really hurt.

“That’s because the intention is obvious.”

“What is it?”

“You’re taking me to the resistance, isn’t this?”

At Rai’s words, Mikhail nodded his head.

“That’s right. If the captain comes, we can overthrow the Empire and reclaim the Kingdom of Cailen.”

Mikhail’s eyes are full of firm conviction and he speaks confidently.

Seeing his face, Rai laughed a little.

His face has changed a lot, but his dreamy, sparkling eyes haven’t changed.

But nothing will go his way.

“No. I’m not interested.”

“… I am amazed… That the captain would say such a thing.”

“Why? You know. I originally hated the kingdom. The emperor granted my wish that it would be ruined.”

As Rai laughed and said, the eyes of the people who were watching with respect turned cold.

“How long are you guys going to play war too? You should know how to surrender once you lose.”

“We will not kneel to the imperial dogs.”

Mikhail gritted his teeth and said.

As if he couldn’t hold back his anger, the handle he was holding was smashed.

Rye looked at the fallen pieces and scratched his head with the hand hung on the back of the sofa.

“Really? You disagree with me. And you know. If you want to use people, it’s better to bring more attractive prey.”

“Isn’t the resurrection of the kingdom an attractive prey?”

Mihail’s eyes widened as he glared at him.

Mihail was naive and easy to tease, but now he’s captured by anger and changed into a human.

As he expresses regret over the years gone by, Rai drinks wine.

“Who is the resurrection for? Are there any people in the kingdom who want to be resurrected?”

“The foolish people of the kingdom, who are stained with the empire, will be enlightened when the captain comes out.”

“Resentment… Keke keuk keke keke keke.”

Lai laughs loudly as if he can’t hold back his laughter.

He trembles and laughs, but his laughter is dark and thick, as if it has been pulled from the depths of his bowels.

As the unpleasant and dangerous-looking ridicule continued for a long time, the people around put their hands on their weapons with nervous faces.

“What’s so funny?”

Rai’s laughter stops suddenly when Mikhail, who is rather calm unlike the others, asks.

Facing his indifferent eyes, Mikhail quietly swallows his saliva.

“You have become the same as the central nobles of your kingdom.”

“……”

“Those foolish people of the kingdom are living so well right now. sh*t, it doesn’t matter if they’ve changed whether it’s an empire or a kingdom. It’s enough to make them eat well and live well. Who are these foolish people who can’t forget the old times? Should I say they’re greedy?”

“We are sacrificing for the kingdom! Don’t insult us!”

Mikhail shouts loudly, but his words do not reach Rai.

“If you’re that good, why don’t you convince even the people of the kingdom?”

As if he had nothing more to say, Rai stood up and tilted the glass he was holding.

The wine stretches out and spills on the floor, and the empty glass is thrown at the man who poured it.

“If you’re going to use poison, don’t use expensive wine with unique flavors. If you like wine, you’ll find out.”

At Rai’s words, the man’s face becomes contemplative.

But as if he wasn’t interested, Rai turned back.

“Well, if you’re going to build a kingdom with poor kids who can’t even use poison properly, even the passing mercenaries will do better than that.”

People in the room did not respond to Rai’s taunts.