Chapter 2 October 3, 2022
Chapter 2 – To the Empire’s Capital (2)
But why had the man in front of me asked me about Machiavelli’s existence?
It was also a fake identity that I had been using until not long before then.
‘No way… is he doing it on purpose because he knows?’
‘What is his hidden intention?’
For a moment, I suspected that he was a tracer sent by the princess’s faction of the Kingdom of Utah, but I didn’t think so.
Ludger hadn’t taken any other action other than asking me the question.
Rather, his eyes and actions showed something closer to pure curiosity.
‘So it’s just a mere coincidence?’
‘A professor of Sören…’
Sören Academy was so famous that news regarding it had passed by on word of mouth even to faraway countries.
The fact that such a young man was to be Sören’s newly appointed professor meant that the person in front of me was a person with great talent.
I surely didn’t know it at first, but I could gradually feel that something was odd with that guy.
But instead of raising my guard, I shook my head inwardly.
‘Let’s just say it’s a coincidence for now.’
I couldn’t let it show because I’d feel guilty.
I naturally turned to the next page of the newspaper and listened to his words.
“If there was really someone like that, he would have been in the newspapers.”
“Ha ha. Well, there are things that aren’t easily revealed to the public.”
“That’s interesting. Is it okay for you to say that to someone you’ve just met today?”
“Well, there’s no reason why I can’t do it, right? And, Mr. Gerrard, it’s my first time seeing you today, but somehow I feel like we’re on the same page.”
“I’m grateful that Sören’s reputable professor has a good opinion of such an old man.”
Ludger didn’t seem to be able to take his interest off of me, perhaps because he had a good image that was well-liked by others.
He couldn’t let it pass quietly without a word.
Because it had become like that, I decided to respond to him appropriately.
Still, having a companion to talk with made me less lonely, so there was nothing bad about it.
“Mr. Ludger, when you arrive in Sören, will you go to a lesson right away?”
“Not immediately, but I’ll have to wait a while.”
“Teaching first year?”
“No. I’m in charge of the second year.”
“Oh, so you teach the second year. Don’t newly appointed professors usually handle the new students in the first year? Well, you’re more amazing than I thought you’d be.”
It was only a rumor I had heard, but Sören Magic Academy had an image that was close to a university when judged compared to Earth.
It was said that all kinds of buildings were built on a huge expanse of land and that there were already thousands of units only for the employees who lived and worked there.
Although it was adjacent to a large city, Sören’s scale was literally close to a small city, so there were even some comparisons going around that it was like two cities next to each other.
The students of Sören ranged from 1st year to 5th year.
Usually, the higher the year, the smarter the children become, so it would be fundamental to have a competent professor in the senior year and a newly appointed professor in the first year.
But I couldn’t believe he was going to teach the second year from the start of his appointment.
I had thought that he might be quite a great man, but he turned out to be more than that.
‘He wouldn’t be able to become a professor in Sören for no reason.’
The Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
This was a world that had achieved an industrial revolution called iron and steam, but if I should pick a different aspect from the Earth, of course, it was the existence of magic.
‘I’ve only seen it in fantasy novels before.’
The existence of magic was inseparable from this world, and most definitely, magic was always the exclusive possession of the chosen ones.
—Because one couldn’t use magic if they couldn’t handle it.
But…
Unlike in the past, where only aristocrats of noble blood could use it, those days, there was an exponentially growing number of skill supremacies as common people could also learn magic as long as they had the talent.
Sören was the place where one could get into the top Magic Academy with just that skill.
‘I’m curious at this point. What kind of place is it?’
Usually, when it came to a magic academy, I couldn’t help but think of a famous literary work from when I lived on Earth.
—Students flying around on brooms and using magic with wooden sticks…
Perhaps children who came across that kind of magic school’s movies and books in their childhood had dreams about it.
A magic school.
—There was nothing as dreamy as that.
But there really was such a thing in this world.
—Students who learned magic and enjoyed their youth.
‘Youth… huh.’
In my past life, my father had died early, so I couldn’t afford to enjoy it.
I had studied like crazy with the obligation to support my family, and I was under pressure to succeed.
My second life wasn’t particularly different from my previous life.
No, it was even worse.
There was a reason why I had been walking around hiding my identity.
‘I must be wanting something out of nothing if I wished for it now as well.’
It had been about 27 years since I had been born in this world and lived again.
I was no longer on the path of burning youth or whatever you would call it.
The Academy of Magic or whatever was just a story from a different world.
It was still the same regarding the man called Ludger in front of me, who was closely related to the Academy.
I—who lived with a false identity to hide my true identity—and that man—who stood on the shining stage of Sören—were extremely different.
But since he had become a Sören professor at a young age, I decided to congratulate him earnestly.
‘Cause he’s a fallen nobleman.’
There were still classes of society in this world, and the nobles were definitely the pinnacle of such classes in society.
However, those who were in such a place and fell to the abyss existed.
Whether it was because of their rebellion against the state, or they got on the wrong side of those with higher statuses, or they were in huge debts.
Anyway, those nobles had fallen to the abyss for various reasons.
Fallen aristocrat.
Considering that fallen aristocrats were more despised by their fellow aristocrats than by the commoners, the man named Ludger in front of me must have made a really bloody effort until he became a professor at Sören.
While I was immersed in such thoughts, I felt something strange outside.
‘What is it?’
I had no choice but to be filled with strange anxiety as I threw a slight glance out of the window.
The atmosphere was strange.
The air was heavy, to be exact.
It was as if something was going to happen.
“What’s wrong?” Ludger asked, seeming to feel something odd with my response.
I didn’t answer, and I had my five senses on edge.
…Something was coming.
“Is something—”
It was the moment Ludger was about to open his mouth.
──────!!!
A powerful jolt along with a huge explosion shook the Magic Engineering train violently.
The train’s cabin shook, and the train that was running on the railroad swung to the side.
I held the chair’s handle firmly in order to balance my body.
“What is this…? Did the engine burst?”
Ludger muttered so, but I shook my head as I didn’t know.
The engine didn’t seem to have burst.
There was no way the whole train would shake because of one engine going out.
In addition, when it came to safety, there was no way that the engine of an exclusive Magic Engineering locomotive would explode by itself.
There must have been something. A reason why that explosion had been inevitable.
───!
It seemed that my uneasy imagination wasn’t wrong, as something began to run busily, thumping loudly on the ceiling of the train.
At the same time, a loud noise was heard from the leading compartment.
—The sound of something breaking and of people screaming. I realized exactly what had happened.
“It’s a raid.”
“A raid? On this train?”
“Most of the passengers on this Magic Engineering train are wealthy merchants and aristocrats. The robbers in the northern mountains must have done this while aiming for them.”
Most of the passengers on that expensive Magic Engineering locomotive were rich people. Obviously, there were many people who were after their money and valuables, and raids by the robbers who were targeting those trains occasionally took place.
‘Even so, I can’t believe they’re doing this on the train that’s heading from the border to the Empire.’
Those bastards who attacked right then were pretty much not in their right mind either.
They were so daring that they even became extremely reckless.
‘The explosion that shook the train a little while ago. I don’t think it’s from a normal force.’
I narrowed my eyes because I had something that I had speculated.
‘Is it magic?’
There was a wizard among the raiders.
If a wizard was involved, such a bold move was feasible.
If they quickly robbed and escaped with the help of a wizard, they could hide safely in the steep northern Arette mountains. It would have been hard to chase them.
If that something was what they were planning, they were definitely not ordinary robbers.
If they had a wizard with such firepower and attacked a train with aristocrats on board, those bold guys could never be ordinary people in the first place.
Since magic existed in this world, there were also some people who did bad things with magic.
“Mr. Ludger, I think you should hide or avoid the attack for now.”
Ludger nodded as he listened to my words.
Ludger picked up his luggage. Did he try to take his bag in that situation? There must have been something important inside it.
I stood up because I also wasn’t in a position to worry about others. The first one to take the lead was Ludger.
“I’ll stand in front of you just in case.”
“Yes.”
For the moment, my identity was as a commoner in his 40s who had a lot of money.
That guy who became an academy professor in his mid-20s would fight better.
Ludger took out a small wooden wand in his right hand and raised his guard.
The two of us opened the room’s door and examined the movement in the corridor of compartment four.
There wasn’t anyone in sight yet. The passengers seemed to be waiting quietly in their rooms for the moment.
‘It’s the wrong choice.’
It was said that the cabins themselves were protected by magic, but the robbers who attacked were not ordinary people either. In that situation, sitting still in the cabin was like sticking out your own neck to be slaughtered.
In times like that, the best plan was to stay as far away from those robbers as possible.
‘But there’s no way the robbers who penetrated compartment three haven’t entered here yet.’
I thought that they’d scatter right away and then extort money and valuables from the passengers, but was I wrong?
Or maybe they were after the first compartment, in front of ours.
The first compartment was the first-class seating where the nobles stayed. It was a VIP room that was strictly protected—in other words, it was the golden egg that had the most money.
‘It’s a relief.’
We just needed to step back while they were drawn to the first compartment.
Of course, rescue signals were installed in that kind of Magic Engineering train to prepare for an unexpected attack and in case of an emergency.
The backup force would probably be running in the early hours.
I just had to hang in there until they arrived.
Crash!
At that moment, a man broke into the hallway window.
As he was fluttering the snow from his shoulders, which he had not brushed off yet, he raised his head and stared at us after he sensed our presence.
His eyes were severely bloodshot.
‘His first impression is brutal. Is he high on drugs?’
His appearance, which was suffused with hatred and anger, seemed to be completely different from a robber’s.
In that cold weather, I wondered if he was going all out after waiting for the train.
“Aaaargh!”
But before I could reveal that mystery, he yelled at us when he found us first.
At the same time, Ludger revealed his magic.
It was a sorcery in which threadlike strands of magic power were carved in the air in front of the wand.
—The sorcery that seemed to carve a three-dimensional picture in the air soon combined into a single spell.
Zzzt!
A flash of light penetrated the intruder’s chest when it seemed that a blue lightning bolt had formed.
“Aaaargh!”
The robber, who was rushing toward our side, fell flat onto the floor stomach-first and shook his body.
“Did you kill him?” I asked while looking at Ludger.
“No, I just incapacitated him,” Ludger replied before slowly approaching the fallen robber with a cautious face.
He continued to aim his wand at the body.
“Wait, Mr. Ludger. It’s dangerous.”
“It’s all right. I’m just going to interrogate him a little bit about his purpose for attacking the train.”
“No, I mean…”
I tried to say something more, but Ludger moved without listening.
He turned the fallen robber’s body upward with his foot.
“Tell me. Why did you attack this train?”
“Uurgh. Ha. Haha.”
“Did you just laugh in this situation…?”
“We need to kill all… everyone.”
What lay in that stammering voice was a frigid madness that was enough to make anyone’s skin shudder.
The robber laughed as his body convulsed and he bled from his nose.
At the same time, his tightly wrapped coat fell open, revealing an object hidden inside.
It was a huge bomb.
“…!”
With his eyes wide open as he saw that, before Ludger could unleash a spell…
The robber pressed the detonator that he had prepared in advance and held in his hand.
Booooom!
A huge explosion swept through compartment four.
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