Chapter 49. Time to Reap (4)
By the time two weeks had passed since the expedition emerged from the Cradle—
Raviata had more or less finished dealing with her public obligations, and Shane and his companions were finally able to return to their daily lives.
“I’ll say this one more time just in case, but you are to remain silent about everything involving the Imperial Family.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Understood, Brother.”
“Mm.”
Just before arriving at the Academy, Shane reminded everyone once more before stepping down from the carriage.
Naturally—
A large crowd of cadets was waiting to greet them alongside numerous reporters.
After all, nowhere in the Allied Nations had reacted more passionately to the opening of the Mezaia Great Forest than the Academy.
Delilah had already encountered crowds like this several times, but she still had not grown accustomed to them and could only smile awkwardly.
Klein wore his usual pleasant smile.
Aneis and Shane greeted the crowd without any noticeable change in expression.
Reporters rushed in from every direction, desperate to secure even a single interview, but they were soon forced back by the guards and Professors sent by the Academy.
Before long, even Academy President Hauzen G. Kronos appeared.
“There is much I want to say, but I would like to begin with this. You all worked incredibly hard, and I am proud of you.”
Kronos welcomed Shane and the others with complete sincerity.
If it were up to him, he would have preferred to make arrangements so they could rest longer.
Unfortunately, he could not.
They had already attracted far too much attention.
As Academy President, he had an obligation to hear how the expedition into the Great Forest had proceeded.
Or, at the very least—
The public needed to believe that he had done so.
“I know you must be exhausted, but I’m afraid I’ll have to take some of your time.”
“That is fine.”
Shane, standing at the front, answered on behalf of the group.
Kronos smiled kindly and led them to his private office.
“To tell the truth, I have already received the expedition reports from the Adventurer Association and Parliament. I called you here because there are several things I wanted to advise you about after what happened.”
“We will listen to anything you have to say.”
“Hoho. It is nothing serious. Merely an old man worrying unnecessarily. What you accomplished is an achievement so great that even I cannot treat it lightly. But because of that, I worry that the fame you’ve gained at such a young age may instead become poison to you.”
Shane quietly nodded.
Rather than simply listening, it would be better for Shane to voice the potential problem himself.
“Yes. We expect many people to approach us because of the value of our names.”
“Oh, so you already understand without me having to explain. Exactly. Many people will undoubtedly come looking for you.”
Shane had already anticipated that much.
The same could not necessarily be said for Delilah and the others, who were still bewildered by their current circumstances.
They could barely respond properly to the cheers people sent their way.
When would they have had time to worry about anything beyond that?
“I’ve watched many people over the years. Among them were quite a few who gained in an instant the sort of reputation others could labor their entire lives without ever obtaining. That is simply the nature of this world, is it not?”
“Yes, it is.”
Just as Kronos said, there were plenty of people whose reputations suddenly skyrocketed for all kinds of reasons.
Some accidentally discovered hidden secrets within dungeons.
Others solved phenomena whose identities had never been understood before.
“I have watched people like that rise, and I have watched them fall. I called you here separately because I hope you will not suffer the same fate. More importantly, you are the heroes who opened a Cradle. Nothing like this has happened in a hundred years, so you have every right to feel proud. I merely hope that pride does not become arrogance.”
Academy President Kronos spoke with complete sincerity.
Shane also regarded Kronos as someone humanity absolutely needed.
And not merely because he possessed the spirit of a genuine educator.
In Shane’s previous life, Kronos had died around the time Nameless first began revealing itself to the world.
During one of the Organization’s terrorist attacks within the Allied Nations—
Kronos had fought at the very front to protect the Academy cadets.
He suffered fatal injuries during the incident and passed away not long afterward.
For that reason, Kronos was one of the very few people Shane genuinely respected.
“Thank you for your concern. If we encounter any problems, may we come to you for advice?”
“Hmm. Of course. Do not hesitate. I find myself rather proud to have become the teacher of heroes who appeared for the first time in a hundred years. Hohoho.”
Kronos saw them off after saying that.
The others also appeared lost in thought.
Aneis wore a blank expression, but her thoughts were anything but simple.
Just as Kronos had said, she now possessed value that others could exploit.
That also meant the possibility of becoming a chess piece for the Imperial Family had grown considerably.
Delilah’s circumstances were not much different.
What had happened the last time she trusted people too easily?
In the past, she had believed that gaining enough fame would prevent others from casually touching her.
Now that such fame had actually fallen into her lap, however, she was beginning to understand reality.
‘Come to think of it, I’m just a famous Demi-Human with no backing and no real power……?’
No matter how she looked at it, this was hardly the time to simply celebrate.
Delilah immediately decided that she needed to remain even closer to Shane and Klein.
‘How influential was House Clayton again……?’
While the two girls were lost in such thoughts, Shane was speaking separately with Klein.
“Klein. I think it would be better for us to operate separately for a while.”
“Hmm…… I regret it, but I believe that would be best as well.”
This time, Klein quietly nodded.
Klein was far from unintelligent, and the conversation with the Academy President had made him realize several things.
“Good. Focus on establishing yourself through the Adventurer Association. This should help.”
“What is this?”
It was a thick bundle of documents.
They contained a list of Uncleared Dungeons that the Adventurer Association had yet to successfully subjugate.
Naturally, Shane had not merely handed him a list.
These were dungeons that had been cleared around the time Shane joined the Organization in his previous life.
The documents therefore also contained information necessary to progress through each dungeon.
As long as Klein paid attention to the listed warnings, his current abilities should allow him to clear them without excessive difficulty.
“Hmm. Understood. Then what are you planning to do, Brother?”
“I intend to make my name known publicly. The Head of the House is probably already growing impatient.”
“Ah…… I suppose he would be.”
“In any case, there is no longer any reason to worry about our grades this semester.”
There was no need to even discuss the practical score they would receive for the expedition into the Mezaia Great Forest.
All that remained was the Written Exam.
And for that, they merely needed to return by the examination date.
Fifth-Year Cadets were already at the stage where they were expected to begin working outside the Academy, so the Academy did not interfere much even if they rarely attended.
Except for one thing—
The upcoming Grade Examination.
Beyond that, there was no longer any reason for Shane to waste time at the Academy.
‘I need to start managing my reputation from now on.’
Shane had not yet received the Dragon’s Reverse Scale from Priscilla.
And it would take some time before the Elves of the Mezaia Great Forest reached a Stable Period.
Until then, Shane had no particular reason to visit another dungeon or Cradle.
Instead—
He intended to begin managing his public reputation.
“Delilah. For the time being, follow Klein and focus on your growth.”
“Huh? Yeah. Got it.”
Delilah had already decided she had no reason to distance herself from House Clayton, so she nodded without hesitation.
Before everyone separated and returned to their respective dormitories, Shane called Aneis aside so the two of them could speak alone.
Klein gave them another meaningful look as he walked away……
But Shane was beginning to grow accustomed to that by now.
“What is it?”
“I called you because I wanted to tell you that you do not need to worry so much.”
“Worry.”
“Yes. You already know this, but the Crown Prince cannot move immediately. Dominic’s Imperial Guard Knight Order was one of the larger forces the Crown Prince could use publicly. He lost one of his major pieces, so he will be occupied dealing with the consequences.”
“Ah…….”
“And from the perspective of the Imperial Family as a whole rather than merely the Crown Prince, the complete annihilation of the Knight Order is not something they can dismiss lightly. From an international political perspective, several knights from the Kingdom of Hiel survived, while the Lampert Adventurer Party suffered relatively few losses. Only the Imperial Guard Knight Order was completely annihilated. The Imperial Family will regard that as a stain upon its name.”
“Mm.”
“That means the Emperor, who still holds Imperial Authority, will act before the Crown Prince does. As long as that happens, the Crown Prince will not be able to move carelessly. So what you are worried about should not happen for a while.”
“I…… see. That’s a relief.”
Aneis, who rarely showed much change in expression, released a genuinely relieved sigh.
From Aneis’s perspective, she had not yet even properly uncovered the internal circumstances of the Judgment Knight Order and its connection to the Crown Prince.
Naturally, she would have found the prospect of being manipulated according to their wishes deeply unpleasant.
Shane had reassured her in advance precisely so that unnecessary pressure would not push Aneis toward losing control.
After inheriting Dominic’s memories, Shane had managed to understand most of the circumstances connecting Aneis to the Imperial Family.
Naturally, he would need more information to uncover every detail.
But he had obtained enough to keep the situation within a controllable range.
After Aneis left, Shane remained alone and began observing his Inner World as usual.
Shane’s accomplishments within the Mezaia Great Forest had been anything but insignificant.
Even so—
He still possessed considerable shortcomings when it came to sheer combat strength.
He had successfully killed every member of the Imperial Guard Knight Order and even annihilated Gordon, the worst Alchemist.
But neither victory had been achieved through raw strength alone.
The Imperial Guard Knights had fallen because they knew nothing about Origin.
Moreover, every one of them had lowered their guard.
Gordon, meanwhile, had not yet reached his completed form.
Had Gordon returned to his original body, wielded Black Magic, and used the Necronomi Masks at full strength, he would have been an opponent Shane could not possibly defeat.
Shane had won only because he meticulously engineered battles in circumstances favorable to himself.
For now, then—
He needed to find a method of compensating for his insufficient quantity of Mana.
If he continued relying solely upon Rune Magic to compensate for his shortcomings, weaknesses like the one exposed during his battle with Gordon would inevitably appear again.
He also needed to think more deeply about his Origin.
‘That problem will be resolved once I obtain the Dragon’s Reverse Scale.’
Even merely thinking about the Dragon’s Reverse Scale caused a sense of reassurance to fill Shane’s normally cold heart.
He knew far too well what Nameless had accomplished with the Dragon’s Reverse Scale in his previous life.
If Gordon had been Nameless’s blacksmith—
Then the Dragon’s Reverse Scale had practically served as the Organization’s army.
With this, Nameless had lost two of its greatest weapons in a single incident.
There was no telling how the Organization’s behavior would change afterward.
From this point onward, Shane probably would not be able to use his knowledge of the future to stab Nameless so deeply again, as he had done during the Mezaia Great Forest expedition.
Even so—
Shane felt no regret.
‘It was information that would eventually lose its usefulness anyway.’
He had no intention of becoming an idiot who possessed precious knowledge of the future yet accomplished nothing because he was too afraid that using it would alter that future.
After finishing his inspection of the Inner World, Shane completed organizing his thoughts and rose from his seat.
‘I’ll have to start moving quickly from now on.’
Klein understood that as well.
He would undoubtedly begin exploring dungeons immediately.
The reason was simple.
The reputation they possessed at the moment was still largely inflated.
Before their current fame disappeared—
They needed to transform that borrowed reputation into genuine renown of their own.
And as the first step toward accomplishing that—
Shane decided it was time to speak with his father, Lowell, the Head of House Clayton, for the first time in quite a while.
