By Zephyria 
I thought the graduation oath would end like this. It didn’t. The Emperor, holding the list placed on the platform, stepped forward three paces, stood at the edge of the highest tier, and looked around the hall once more.
He stared directly at the child standing furthest to the left among the six children who had stepped forward for the oath, and called out his name.
“Andy Spooner.”
He looked at the one next to him and called out her name.
“Jenny Tenessus.”
And the one next to her, and the one next to her. After calling out the names of all six children, he called out the names of the children sitting in the front row, starting from the left, one by one, making eye contact.
It was a simple eye contact, but having the Emperor call out your name directly and familiarize himself with your face was an effective form of intimidation. It firmly imprinted that the current declaration was something great.
If I had truly lived my first life in this Sierran Empire, I might not have been able to hold back the overwhelming emotion and shed tears at this moment.
“Michael Ernhardt.”
My turn came, and I looked straight at the Emperor. For some reason, my heart was beating fast.
He was about the same age as I was in my previous life. Considering that he might even become my father-in-law, I felt guilty and became careful with my breathing. I blinked twice as I met his sharp, clear blue eyes scrutinizing me.
…Did he seem to be looking at me longer than the other children?
As sweat gathered in my palms due to the strange feeling, the Emperor’s gaze moved to Shayden. I glanced once at the Emperor’s profile as he calmly recited the names of the other children one by one, and once at Rubel’s face, who was staring only at me from far behind.
“I shall inscribe the names of these 126 individuals upon the most radiant platform of the First Goddess.”
A total of one hundred and twenty people had joined me when I entered the academy. I vaguely knew that there would be some who had deferred graduation. It wasn’t very important.
As the Emperor finished his declaration and nodded once, majestic music immediately resonated again, vibrating the floor.
Loud cheers filled the gaps in the music.
The Emperor disappeared as he had appeared, walking through the light. I assumed it was the same type of magic used when entering the Magic Tower, and I was quite impressed by the dignified manner.
The headmaster, who had been standing aside, used a voice amplification Artifact to announce clearly even through the noise.
[This concludes the 327th graduation ceremony of Shierun Academy. Following this, applications for entering the Magic Tower, joining the Imperial Management Department, joining the Imperial Administration Department, applying for Imperial Secretary, applying for Imperial Legal Advisor, joining the Imperial Knight Order affiliated with each Dukedom, and submitting applications for joining the Imperial Special Imperial Knight Order for climbing the Yuil Mountains will be held in the main hall. Graduates with applications should remain seated until the person in charge of each department calls their name. I repeat, applications for entering the Magic Tower…]
It was the beginning of another commotion.
I waited for a while and then moved to the far right of the main hall, guided by a staff member.
My closest teachers, Swordsmanship Professor Maelo Sanson, Magic Professor Angela Sting, said to be the best in the Department of Magic, and Monsterology Professor Steven MacCliff, an authority on Monsterology who I had taken lectures from twice, were standing there looking at us.
Just in case, I turned around and saw Professor Douglas Mustang sorting through applications for entering the Magic Tower and talking about various things. Professor Douglas was a prosecutor but had always been closer to Wizards. I nodded in agreement, thinking it was an appropriate selection.
When I had greeted the professors at the end of the last semester, I had been told that I would see them again soon, so we would say our final goodbyes then.
Indeed, it was so. While Steven MacCliff received the applications and sealed wills from the children’s hands and neatly filed them, Maelo Sanson stepped forward.
“Did you have a good vacation?”
“Yes!”
“Good, first, stand in groups as you wrote on your applications. Let’s see.”
Four, five, four. We were the third of the three groups. Maelo Sanson, looking over the sight of me, Marianne, Benjamin, and Rubel standing together, smiled meaningfully. I felt embarrassed for some reason, but I realized I was overreacting and cleared my throat to calm myself.
Maelo Sanson stood with his arms crossed firmly and spoke again.
“Everyone who’s coming is here. As announced in advance, the departure is on March 1st. For the month of February, we will be living together without any days off to prepare for climbing the Yuil Mountains. I will personally teach Swordsmanship, and Professor Sting will review and intensively teach advanced courses in magic.”
Angela Sting, who was standing to the side, smiled gently and nodded in greeting. Besides Marianne, there was one Department of Magic student in each of the other two groups.
“Also, twice a week, Professor MacCliff will teach about the distribution of Monsters according to the altitude and region of the mountain range, and the precautions that must be taken when encountering Monsters.”
This time, Steven MacCliff stepped forward and greeted us. Having held books made of Orc leather and Ogre leather in my hands before, I wondered if I would receive a book bound in Monster leather again this time, and I glanced sideways at his hands.
But his hands only held the same applications that I had just submitted.
“Once a week, we will have training to kill Monsters directly, and if you fail this process, you will not be able to climb the mountain range. That’s all. If you have any questions, ask now.”
“Where will we be living together?”
One of the children standing in that group raised her hand and asked. Andy Spooner. The determination in the eyes of the girl with the disheveled brown hair shone brightly. Maelo Sanson replied with a pleased look.
“There are four private dormitories prepared behind the 8th Martial arts training ground of the academy’s Swordsmanship Department. Each person will have their own room, and each group will use one dormitory. Meals will be eaten together in the dining hall in the 2nd dormitory, and all necessary items except for personal belongings are provided, so there is no need to prepare anything separately. Any more questions?”
“If it’s training to kill Monsters, what kind of Monsters will we be facing?”
This time it was Benjamin’s question. Maelo Sanson nodded again and replied.
“Goblins, Orcs, Trolls, Minotaurs. You will face two types of small Monsters and two types of medium-sized Monsters directly. You will be qualified to climb the mountain range once you can safely kill three small Monsters per person and the number of medium-sized Monsters assigned to each group.”
I had already experienced this process.
But it was only natural. I was a Transcendent Peak Martial artists. A Sword Master. But the other students had First-rate to Peak level skills, that is, from Upper to Top-tier Sword Expert.
It was very famous that Wesley Kiadris, a genius among geniuses, became a Top-tier Sword Expert at the age of sixteen and became a Sword Master less than a year after climbing the Yuil Mountains.
Even if Sword Masters were common in Sierran, it was only right to reach the Transcendent Peak realm after at least twenty years of age. I was the only one among these students who could face a large Monster alone, even for a short time.
It was said that if two Martial artists could kill one medium-sized Monster, they would not lose their lives when moving in groups.
The questions that followed were more trivial. Maelo Sanson answered three or four more questions and then distributed a guide, a pre-arranged schedule, and books to each person.
There were only about ten days left until February 1st, when the living together would begin. I said goodbye to the children, saying we would see each other again next month.
Rubel looked at me with longing eyes like a lost dog the whole time, but there was no way to postpone the promise with the Emperor, so he left first when the appointed time came.
As soon as Rubel disappeared from sight, Marianne poked my side with her elbow and asked mischievously.
“Are you happy?”
“…Don’t talk nonsense.”
While submitting the documents and watching the Q&A, I didn’t forget to pick up the bouquet of flowers that Ruben had left on the side. Suddenly curious, I asked Marianne casually.
“By the way, what is the name of this flower?”
“Dahlia? Should I tell you the flower meaning too?”
I hesitated for some reason because the child was smiling too mischievously, but I nodded since I had already started.
“Yes.”
“Your love makes me beautiful.”
“…”
“Yooouuur loooove.”
“Stop it.”
“Yooouuuur loooove.”
“I said stop it.”
I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t lift my head. My nose tickled as if I were holding Ruben in my arms.
❖ ❖ ❖
After the graduation ceremony, I asked for time before my grandparents returned to their respective territories.
I was going to show them a Sword Dance. It would be another thing to just hear that I had become a Sword Master and to see it directly and be proud, so it was a ploy to show off properly while the time was right. I wanted to show the old people something interesting while they were still in good health.
In my past life, the sword was not a weapon but a life to me. I made a living with the sword, dreamed with the sword, and played with the sword. A few sword dances that looked good to others were not difficult.
The sword dance I was going to show this time was taken from the one danced at the mountain god ritual in Anhui Tianzhu Mountain, where the Namgung Clan was located. Because it involved swinging the body greatly and shaking the sleeves and hem of the robe in that place, I came out wearing formal attire and even a cloak to show the appearance of the sword and the ends of the clothes touching in a circle.
I wasn’t confident in writing poetry and singing at drinking parties, but I was glad that I had greedily learned anything I could do with a sword.
I dismissed all the servants and gathered only my blood relatives, pulling up chairs and seating them.
The space prepared, excluding the space where the chairs were placed, was eighty paces wide and fifty paces deep with large strides. I looked around once and stood in the middle, slowly gathering my breath.
I laughed for no reason because I had only wielded a sword at rituals when I was a young man before I turned thirty, so I felt embarrassed for no reason.
I grabbed the hilt of the sword with my right hand and slowly drew it out, slashing it diagonally from the upper left to the lower right with a small width.