I got into school for nothing - 260
I got into school for nothing (260)
Lesson 51. A Solid Alliance - 2
—Aire: Special activities are a student's duty.
—Aire: Personal feelings shouldn't get involved.
“What's wrong with her, suddenly?”
Ban Yuwon frowned deeply at the sudden message from someone he'd never once contacted in his life.
Considering she usually got along well with Asha, it seemed she'd heard something from her... personal feelings?
“How is this 'personal feelings'?”
“If Young Master is committing such acts out of personal feelings, then he's a complete psychopath.”
The two of them stood atop a mountain made of corpses.
Surprisingly, they hadn't actually killed anyone.
The information that “the one who killed Roccius and stole the Holy Sword was found nearby” — that alone had created this catastrophe.
“That's harsh, Kiira. You're the one who instigated the troop clash.”
“Well, that's what I specialize in, after all.”
With simple disguises, illusions made of flame, and well-timed shouts, Kiira had guided the various planetary forces that had invaded Galahad in a specific direction, causing them to erupt into conflict.
Ban Yuwon’s Giwon Sword, which controlled the surrounding situation and created magical effects on the spot, also played a significant role, but it wasn't just about technique; he had learned a great deal from Kiira about the know-how of carrying out an operation.
The moment she entered an operation, everything about her, even her breathing, changed.
Seeing her professionalism, distinct from Anneri Dedota’s, he couldn't help but wonder how many times she had repeated such tasks throughout her life.
“Uh... what's the word, I'm sorry to make you do dirty work again.”
“...Young Master.”
At his voice, tinged with a hint of guilt, Kiira looked back at him with a serious expression.
Perhaps she was about to scold his soft resolve? To Ban Yuwon, who bit his lip tightly,
“Could you say that again, just one more time?”
Kiira requested, her cheeks strangely flushed.
Ban Yuwon blinked.
“Huh?”
“‘I'm sorry to make you do dirty work because of me.’ Come on, say it.”
“...I’m sorry to make you do dirty work because of me.”
“Huoohhh...”
It seemed to be a line she had desperately wanted to hear, as Kiira looked utterly satisfied.
The subtle similarity to his sister’s voice when she got excited was a little sickening.
Ban Yuwon, belatedly realizing that this woman, before being his fan, was a pervert who'd been reeled in by a high schooler's pick-up line despite being much older, regretted having said it.
“Being looked at like that is also a little thrilling, but don't misunderstand, Young Master. It was just a line I personally wanted to hear.”
Kiira quickly tried to justify herself, sensing his exasperation, but it wasn't very effective.
“Just hearing what you said, there’s nothing to misunderstand, is there?”
“Those who belong to a family's special forces mostly dream similar dreams! A highly esteemed superior... developing a personal acquaintance with a rich, handsome, and young superior during a mission, and then, after getting dirty and battered from normal missions, returning to that person's side to be cared for and consoled in various ways, both physically and mentally... that! That's the kind of fantasy we hold onto to get through it!”
“Seeing my sister and Ulrike Prominence, is this constant emotional intensity a family trait of the Prominence Family?”
She chuckled at Ban Yuwon’s incredulous retort, then manipulated any remaining traces around them to further confuse those who would find the spot. She then admired her work with a proud expression and said,
“Anyway, don't worry about me, Young Master. I was prepared for this much from the moment I joined the mercenary group following the Young Lady. My days on Earth were enjoyable, but they were like a vacation. I couldn't stay there forever.”
“Right...”
“As a fan, being able to support my ultimate bias is something everyone yearns for.”
“I might have been a little touched if you hadn't added that last bit.”
“Rightful heir of the family or not, if it weren't for Young Master's sister, I wouldn't care about the Young Lady at all.”
“Alright, alright, stop it.”
Having finished their task, the two began moving to find another site of conflict.
The other members had split into groups—Anneri and Seldon, Kang Eunyoung and Ban Yumi—doing similar work. Naturally, when pairing up, there had been a fierce argument between Anneri, Ban Yumi, and Kiira, but the victor, as you can see, was clear.
“Are you going to end this business on Galahad today, Young Master?”
“Well, until the sword popped out of the ruin, there wasn’t really any other option than a more complex and less effective strategy...”
Ban Yuwon sighed, drawing Requiem’s blade from his palm and filing his nails with his other hand.
“I’d planned to throw out some simple bait to disrupt the defensive alliance, figure out their weaknesses, then systematically chip away at the radical factions’ strength until they couldn’t afford to start internal conflicts. After that, if I had some time, I wanted to check out the face of this 'King of Camelot' fellow.”
“Perhaps the word ‘Holy Sword’ holds that much significance for them. But even so, if they’re willing to trespass and commit murder in the territory of another allied nation, it’s safe to say this alliance has already gone too far.”
Ban Yuwon silently agreed with her words.
Furthermore, combining the information gathered from interrogating in Galahad’s major cities and encountering forces from other planets, Camelot’s behavior as the alliance leader didn't seem so commendable.
True to its role as leader, Camelot had the most complete knightly forces and the highest overall level among the D-13 Dimension planets. However, before Asha, known here as the 'Star Prince', enrolled in Union Academy, they had apparently resolved most conflicts by putting him on the front lines, unwilling to expend their own knightly strength.
Moreover, Camelot’s ruler seemed to take immense pride in their position as leader and used that status to demand much from the alliance.
Of course, given the frequent invasions from outside dimensions, it was natural for Camelot, who always played the biggest role, to be favored. But their excessive suppression of other planets and treating them like servants inevitably led to backlash.
“If it were another country on the same planet, they could have unified and absorbed it or made it a vassal state, but since that's not the case, the situation remains unresolved.”
“It's rare for multiple mana civilizations to exist within a single dimension, but when they do, most situations are similar to this. As long as humans aren't united, conflict will probably be eternal, wouldn't you say?”
“Stop thinking such scary thoughts.”
He sighed and looked up, just as an image of space, shared by Tikke, appeared in his mind.
An invading force had appeared in the D-13 Dimension, and all the military units heading to Galahad were hastily changing direction.
They weren’t lying when they said dimensional invasions were frequent.
However, this didn't seem like a routine invasion. The insignia of the Crimson Spear was clearly emblazoned on the spaceship that had invaded the dimension.
“Have outsiders finally caught wind of this?”
“Even so, it’s just a treasure from a backwater, so the scale won’t be that large.”
If this incident were something that dimension pirate groups would risk their lives for, Camelot, where the Holy Sword had been passed down for generations, would have long since perished, unable to protect it.
Only members of the defensive alliance, who highly valued its symbolic importance, were dedicating their full strength to this Holy Sword struggle.
At least, that had been the case until now.
However, the Holy Sword discovered on Galahad this time had a critically different aspect from Camelot’s Holy Sword.
Camelot’s Holy Sword had the restriction that only those of the ancestral bloodline that founded the kingdom could wield it, making it useless to covet. But Galahad’s Holy Sword had no such known restrictions.
Therefore, an implicit understanding had formed that whoever obtained it would become its owner, causing the struggle to intensify.
Indeed, Eve, appearing with Requiem in hand, had been taking on different human forms each time, further spreading this perception.
“If the Holy Sword struggle spreads any further, the dimension's continued existence could truly be difficult. What will you do, Young Master?”
“It’s alright, I have something prepared. For now, let’s rest today and observe the situation.”
He communicated with his companions, declared a temporary halt to the operation, and then headed towards Crossshield, the royal capital of Galahad, the sole kingdom on the planet Galahad.
Despite the death of the nation’s crown prince, the annihilation of its knightly forces, and invaders from the alliance stirring up trouble all over the planet, the royal capital was vibrant and showed no signs of unrest.
Indeed, with the crown prince who held real power and the military forces annihilated, Galahad was practically crippled.
They could only watch, as if it were someone else's problem, while barbarians ransacked their own nation, their own planet.
The people of Galahad, still oblivious, would at least be able to live in peace until the truth was revealed.
“Isn’t it a bit funny that the planet name and the country name are the same?”
“There are cases where the dimension name, planet name, and country name are all the same, aren't there? And to top it off, even the name of the ruling family is the same. Like the Prominence Family.”
“My apologies.”
According to Kiira’s explanation, Earth, with hundreds of countries squeezed onto a single, tiny planet, was an extremely rare case.
The names of dimensions and planets, passed down from ancient times, were sacred symbols, often imbued with immense power.
The nations located on these planets had fought to claim the planet's name, and in the process, many nations were destroyed and generally consolidated into one large kingdom.
Most planets in the D-13 Dimension were similar cases, and...
Ban Yuwon only realized it after hearing this explanation.
‘It’s Codeword. The names of dimensions and planets, which possess power in themselves, were created with Codeword.’
He couldn't determine who had uttered the Codeword, but surely it was an ancestor, a True Dragon, or some similar transcendent being.
Facing the excessively massive footprints left by users of similar abilities, Ban Yuwon instinctively anticipated the future he would experience, a bitter smile gracing his lips.
“Young Master?”
“Ah— no. Kiira, how about we go on a date?”
“Yes! Yesyesyesyes! Yesyesyesyesyesyesyes!”
Ban Yuwon and Kiira went on a date in the royal capital for about two hours, also gathering additional information.
After finishing his "fan service," Ban Yuwon stopped by a jewelry shop and bought a Heart Pendant and other jeweled accessories.
They were all very expensive items, embedded with extremely rare jewels, so the shop owner was practically ready to carry Ban Yuwon on his back to their lodgings, but he firmly refused.
“Young Master, can you really spend money so lavishly? The total exceeded thirty million Ronia.”
An astronomical sum, roughly 3 billion Korean Won when converted.
It was a luxury that made even Kiira, once a top-ranked knight representing England, frown. But Ban Yuwon smiled gently and told Kiira to open UniTube and check the subscriber count of the Rebellion channel.
“Young Master, I’m a platinum member of the fan club, you know? No matter how busy I get, I always check the subscriber count... Wait, when did it pass 5 billion?!”
“The masked ball, of course, and the club competition had a great effect.”
Across all of UniTube, channels with this many subscribers could be counted on one hand.
Furthermore, considering that most other channels were corporate channels involving vast capital and operated by countless people, when the earnings from UniTube were converted per individual, Rebellion was overwhelmingly number one.
“By the way, I take half the profits from this channel. I don’t plan to use it, but Rucell’s share also comes to me, so that’s a total of two-thirds.”
“Wow, I secretly thought our mercenary group was making an absurd amount, but that’s not even comparable...”
Even when the channel was incomparably smaller than it was now, Rucell had made an expression that suggested she wanted to drag Ban Yuwon to bed immediately upon hearing the channel’s profits.
Seeing the expression Kiira made looking at him, Ban Yuwon was suddenly reminded of that time and felt a pang of nostalgia.
“But Young Master, that...”
Kiira, watching him meticulously store each accessory in his inventory, cleared her throat and cautiously asked,
“There seem to be a lot of them... Are you giving them all to your girlfriends?”
Kiira’s inability to hide her true feelings felt a little cute, and he chuckled.
“You have one too.”
“Really?!”
“My sister and Anneri have one too.”
“I know that much. Do you want me to get murdered by them if I'm the only one who gets one?”
“Not that far, surely.”
Ban Yuwon didn't have the talent to create things from scratch, but he excelled at transforming existing objects into something else.
At the jewelry shop, he had only selected items with high jewel value, imbued with dense mana, and capable of holding many concepts, making them valuable as artifact materials. So, he would surely be able to create satisfactory items before the special activities ended.
“So, just wait a little.”
“Anything for you. Oh, but can’t I wear it a little bit beforehand?”
Ban Yuwon tilted his head but still handed her the earrings he had planned to give her.
She took them, put them on her ears, and then giggled, hurrying her steps towards their lodgings.
The reason for her strange behavior became clear the moment they entered the lobby of the lodgings, which the mercenary group had rented entirely.
“Ban Yuwon! Where have you been, doing what, and now you’re...”
“Kiira, surely you haven’t violated fan club rules and done something improper to Sir Yuwon...”
Ban Yumi, lounging on the sofa in the lobby with a languid expression, and Anneri, leaning against a pillar, turned to the two who had just entered. No sooner had they spoken than,
“Ha...?”
“...Ohh.”
They quickly spotted the glittering earrings dangling from Kiira’s ears.
Their eyes narrowed, and each drew her weapon.
“Hey, leave your last words quickly.”
“Cutting in line is a capital offense. You know that, right...?”
“You saw that, Young Master, didn't you?”
“Yeah.”
Even facing the two bloodthirsty women, Kiira giggled as if to say, "Didn't I tell you?" Ban Yuwon suddenly felt she was quite a formidable individual.
Only after he managed to clear up the misunderstanding between the two and temporarily retrieve Kiira's earrings could they examine what was happening in space.
A fierce battle was raging between the Crimson Spear and the defensive alliance—but the Galahad side was lacking forces, and in just one day, the elite forces of the defensive alliance had become severely depleted, causing the battle to proceed quite passively.
They would probably realize it naturally during the fighting:
If they kept sacrificing themselves just to obtain a single Holy Sword, the entire dimension would truly face a crisis.
“Seldon, what’s your take?”
Ban Yuwon asked, observing the movements of the Crimson Spear fleet, to which Seldon, a former member of the Crimson Spear, replied with a frown.
“These bastards, their movements are strange. There’s a good chance they’ve already infiltrated Galahad.”
“Indeed. That’s the information I wanted.”
Beside Ban Yuwon, who nodded, Kang Eunyoung sighed.
“If the defensive alliance learns that dimension pirates have infiltrated their interior, will they be able to unite more strongly and resist?”
“Well, Mom. They’ll certainly feel a sense of crisis. ...Though we’ll have to accept Galahad being completely turned upside down.”
Anneri, who believed Ban Yuwon wasn’t that cold-blooded, gave him a steady look.
“What will you do, Sir Yuwon? Dimension pirates are different from knights belonging to the defensive alliance. Civilian casualties will start occurring.”
“We’ll have to deal with dimension pirates using dimension pirates.”
“What?! You’re not thinking of bringing in Exodus, are you?!”
Seldon shouted, startled.
Ban Yuwon chuckled and snapped his fingers.
In the empty space, a person appeared, draped in a cloak emblazoned with a large, winged bird insignia.
It was the figure of an Exodus executive, reconstructed based on information obtained from Woohyeolrin's concept.
Everything was perfect, even down to the faintly glowing Requiem clutched in one hand.
“The Holy Sword discovered on Galahad is ultimately destined to fall into Exodus’s hands. Everyone should understand it that way.”
“Don’t pile lies upon lies!”
To Seldon, who yelled, Ban Yuwon replied with a sly grin.
“It’s a shame. If Exodus had entered the D-13 Dimension first, then Seldon, the defector from Crimson Spear, would have been destined to acquire the Holy Sword.”
“You damned brattttt!”
The special activity was not yet over.
Kang Eunyoung could only fervently pray that no one else would get involved in this situation.
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