Chapter 15 (1/2)

“Sigh, the peace and quiet I had…”

The Empire’s Navy had completely overrun the Campus port, showing off their might and grandeur. Their presence was intimidating enough to bring out a deep sigh. Reisha, the culprit of the situation, was hopping across the dock to look at the s.h.i.+ps more closely with Kunette. All of it was starting to give Isaac a headache.

“How is that the College’s fault?!”

“Entering the Campus without permission is a great offence to the Empire’s law, and being a student of the College does not make anyone an exception! Hand over the student immediately!”

“Isn’t it the Navy’s fault that a neglected defence line was infiltrated?”

On the other side of the dock, Mazelan was arguing with an aggressive-looking old man wearing a grand uniform. He was the admiral of the Empire’s 7th fleet, tasked with defending the borders of Gabelin. Behind him, a small group of sailors lined up with their heads planted on the ground – they were the s.h.i.+p captains under his leaders.h.i.+p.

“How are we expected to find a single person on the sea when spotting a whole s.h.i.+p is difficult enough as it is!”

“Oh is that so? Can I send that exact phrase back to the Empire’s Special Forces? The Navy rules the waves but can’t find a single person that’s floating on the ocean?”

“Why you! What year are you?! I’ll see you when you graduate!”

“I’m sorry but I’m enrolled in logistics and don’t have any plans on joining the Navy. Shall I give you the experience of horrible logistics and supply chain management?”

“Wow! You used to follow me around calling me uncle when you were a kid and now you’re coming back to bite the hand that raised you?”

“Are you playing the family card now? Handing over a student of the College is nonsense, not to mention she’s an elf. An elf! What are you going to say to the Elven Reservation? ‘The eldest daughter of the Mist family had been arrested for entering the Campus without permission. She will be punished according to the Navy’s laws.’ You know their entire race will not take this lightly when things get sour! Do you really want to make this bigger than it needs to be?”

“Kuk!”

“Let’s just go over it with a warning for now, uncle.”

The admiral finally seemed convinced by Mazelan, and he began walking back toward his s.h.i.+p. On his way back, he made sure each captain tasted his burning anger with a kick to their a.s.s. Mazelan approached Isaac, drained from the long exchange of words, to now complain to him.

“I’m really having a hard time with my thesis right now. Please just help me out here.”

“I believe you’re talking to the wrong man. Why don’t you tell that to them instead?”

Mazelan sighed deeply as he glimpsed at Reisha. The moment the fleet left the dock, Reisha immediately dragged Kunette towards the edge of the docks and began to fish.

“What do you think an elf’s main strength is?”

“Archery and spirits?”

“Right? Do you know what that girl is majoring in the College? Hand to hand combat.”

“Hand to hand? Like fist-fighting?”

“Yes. There was a n.o.ble who was invited to the Elven Reservation, but one of the guard knights that n.o.ble brought kept hara.s.sing Reisha, so she challenged him to a duel. The confused knight who expected archery or spirits, was beaten like a b.l.o.o.d.y pancake. The duel itself brought no complications; however, the children of the Reservation saw the disaster that had happened at first hand. They started having seizures after watching Reisha paint her hands b.l.o.o.d.y with a face as innocent as a baby. That’s why she was sent here to the College.”

“That really is a special personality.”

“Right? That’s why I’m too scared to even get close to her.”

“What about Kunette?”

“Kunette is…”

Mazelan quickly looked around his surroundings and then began to whisper back to Isaac.

“This isn’t confirmed, but there’s a rumour that Kunette can see the true nature of what she sees.”

“The true nature?”

When Isaac responded back with a confused look, Mazelan nodded as if he understood how Isaac felt.

“It’s as I said. She can create and see an image of the personality and thoughts of the individual she’s looking at.”

“Now that’s a special power.”

“The problem is that this is the perfect power if you want to be isolated in a community. Plus, the Northbear Tribe never had an individual like this in their long history, so the word is that they exiled her to College because they found her existence disturbing.”

“I guess even the guilty and the innocent will find that power bothersome.”

“So please, I’m leaving it to you.”

“Are you running away after dumping all of your responsibilities on me?”

“What! It’s not running! It’s called begging, and I’m begging you here. Just keep them from any incidents until enrollment day. That’s all I’m asking, please.”

As he finished making his plea, Mazelan quickly dashed away. The moment he disappeared, Reisha and Kunette were next to Isaac.

‘So that’s why he ran away.’

“Sunbaenim, Look!”

Reisha proudly held a fish the size of her arm and handed it to Isaac. Another fish he’d never seen before.

“It seems ideal for sas.h.i.+mi.”

“Sas.h.i.+mi? What’s that? Is that food?”

Isaac took the fish to the kitchen, and soon, Reisha tasted an entirely new world.

“Sunbaenim, let’s go fis.h.i.+ng!”

“Sunbaenim, make me some sas.h.i.+mi!”

“Sunbaenim, make me a spicy fish stew!”

Isaac was at the edge of a mental breakdown. It’s true that it’s difficult to refuse a request from a beautiful woman, especially when she’s using all her charms. But that’s only if it happens once in a while. When it happens all day every day, it quickly becomes annoying. His only hope was the coming enrollment day.

That day Isaac dreamed of coming had finally arrived. Just like the start of the holidays, the Empire carried out its ma.s.sive transport mission to move all the students in a single day, and the seasonally empty dock was filled with people once more.

Before Isaac was here, students would head straight toward the Campus after leaving the s.h.i.+p. But things had changed with the start of Isaac’s business. They would hand over all of their baggage in a warehouse situated in Gabelin and pay a fee to Isaac. Isaac would then use Gonzales to move the goods from Gabelin and keep it safe in the Campus dock until the student who stashed the goods ask for their return.

It was supposed to be a side business at the start, but it had become so profitable that from that year onwards, they would only use the warehouses Gonzales had bought and the rental fees that they collected from it became very lucrative.

Until now, it was the students who were doing business with Isaac that stayed in the port, but this time, the existence of Kunette and Reisha were also holding the students from moving on to Campus.

“Roar!”

“Kyaa! So cute!”

“Ah! I want to hug her!”

Kunette’s popularity among the girls was explosive. Her att.i.tude was extremely hostile, baring both her fangs and claws out to intimidate anyone from approaching her. Because of that, no one was foolish enough to actually get close, but even her guarded look was so adorable that any form of conversation were made impossible by the screams of the female students.

Meanwhile, the male students were so captured by Reisha’s beauty that they were at a standstill. Sitting on the rooftop of the lodge with a short skirt, her fair thighs were in plain view to those underneath. Instinctively, all the male students began staring at her legs, but Reisha seemed oblivious to their actions and was busy watching the waves of people enter the port en ma.s.se.

The students were eventually pushed into the Campus as more and more students entered the port. They would, however, try to stand their ground for as long as possible to watch that view for a second longer, delaying the movement as a whole.

As a result, Admiral Raymond, the commander of the 7th Fleet and Uncle of Mazelan, glared at Isaac for giving him the honour of the deplorable transport mission in history. While Isaac wondered how he could bribe him to pacify his rage, Mazelan came to see Isaac after confirming all of the students had successfully returned to the Campus.

“Thank you for making my last a.s.signment in my College life so memorable. I’ll never forget this.”

“… Congratulations?”

“Kuuk! I’d honestly eat her up if I could.”

“You want to eat what, Sunbaenim?”

Reisha quickly approached him as soon as she heard the word eating. Surprised and embarra.s.sed, Mazelan slowly backed off.

“Ahaha. It’s nothing. Why don’t you get ready to head to College now?”

“Hmm?”

Reisha seemed to suspect something was off about Mazelan, but soon dropped her interest and began to pack her things. She was last seen heading to the College while dragging Kunette behind her, who was throwing a tantrum out of a reluctance to leave. After witnessing her departure, Mazelan sighed out of relief and went to Isaac, who was sorting out doc.u.ments for the goods he’s tasked with stas.h.i.+ng.

“Honestly, you’ve done well until now.”

Those words from Mazelan brought back memories for Isaac. All the incidents and problems he had faced because of the duo.

“Sigh. Kunette wasn’t much of a problem, but Reisha is like a wild donkey. I can just imagine what colorful lives they’ll have in the College.”

“That’s none of my business now.”

“Aren’t you being too irresponsible just because you’ve graduated?”

“Huhuhu. If Reisha came even a year earlier, I would not be graduating at this point.”

The College had their own symbols for each subjects. For swordsmans.h.i.+p, it was a sword and s.h.i.+eld; for magic, it was a hand with a spiral representing the mana; for sailing, it was a mast within a circle representing the sea; and for Mazelan, who was in supplies and management, it was a carriage.

It also represents how many years it took them to graduate. For Mazelan, on top of the carriage symbol were 8 stars, showing that he’d graduated from his major of supply management within 8 years.

Considering that it takes an average of 10 to 13 years to graduate from the College, Mazelan’s graduation at 8 years meant that he was one of the most talented individuals. Rumours had already spread that he was a candidate to become the Empire’s future Director of Supplies.

Unlike the College, the Campus used a similar system where it shared the emblems but would have the year of graduation and a single silver star instead. However both the Campus and the College determined who were the Sunbaes and Hubaes by looking at the year they graduated, so it was a common courtesy to show deference to the Sunbaes even if there was a significant gap in their abilities.

“What’ll you do now that you’ve graduated?”