The Academy’s Sashimi Sword Master

The auction house was a place where all kinds of treasures were handled.

That’s why security could only be strict.

The reason the Kaiten Auction House was so well known as a means of laundering nobles’ money was also because of that iron security.

Kaiten only hired the most capable as security staff. Not only were identity checks required, but also thorough background investigations.

However, even for Kaiten there was one area they could not investigate—the Imperial Family.

Not just Kaiten, no power in the world could break into the imperial domain. The Empire was a sanctuary.

Even the Nibelung family, whose prestige was almost equal to the throne within the nobility, bowed helplessly before imperial events.

And that was the reason.

“Over here, Her Highness the Princess.”

Kang Geom-Ma had infiltrated the Imperial Guard inside the Kaiten House.

Even Kaiten could not identify the Imperial Guards.

***

One hour earlier.

Victoria had entered the place escorted by the guards.

The master of the auction was away at the Pertinax House.

Maki Kaiten had left supervision of security in the hands of the Imperial Guard. Without realizing that this would be her fatal mistake.

Victoria, who entered the auction house under Kang Geom-Ma’s special orders, appeared confused.

She asked Samsuk, one of the guards.

“…Does the Imperial Guard take orders from Lord Heavenly Sword?”

“We always serve the orders of the Empire.”

“But now…”

“This is by our own decision. All of us owe our lives to Lord Heavenly Sword. If afterward Your Highness wishes to punish us, we will gladly accept it. But before that, you must fulfill what is rightfully yours.”

“……”

Victoria looked at each of the guards’ faces one by one.

They weren’t words of excuse. In their hardened gazes, one could see the determination to risk their lives.

Strictly speaking, they were rising in rebellion against the Empire. They acknowledged their insurrection before the first in line for succession, and yet they stood so firmly.

Victoria thought.

‘This is the power of Lord Heavenly Sword…’

If he resolved everything solely with violence, would the guards have dared betray, even for a moment, the Empire they had served their entire lives?

‘No.’

Lord Heavenly Sword’s violence had always been punitive.

He never wielded his sword capriciously just because things didn’t go his way.

With the power he possessed, he could have dominated the world long ago.

She received the firm and proud gaze of all the guards. It was then that Victoria felt the path she must walk was revealed clearly before her.

Victoria wanted to be like Kang Geom-Ma.

She wanted to follow his example.

“One day I will hold you accountable.”

She told the guards as she recovered the imperial items from Kaiten’s vault.

“But I will postpone reproach until I inherit the throne.”

Victoria proclaimed her decision before them. That she would succeed to the imperial throne.

At a time when the Emperor’s power was still intact, that declaration alone was equivalent to a coup d’état.

Perhaps that was why all the guards trembled with emotion.

They lined up in formation and bowed their heads before Victoria.

“We receive your will, Your Highness.”

***

“Haha…”

A dry laugh slipped through the Emperor’s teeth.

He, who always kept an unshakable face.

Even his daughter Victoria could not decipher the meaning of that strange laugh.

The Emperor smiled with disdain and murmured.

“So that’s how it turned out.”

He smoothed the curve of his lips back into a straight line.

And with Kang Geom-Ma’s back before him, he let a phrase escape.

“I took a hit, Heavenly Sword.”

Victoria bit down hard on her lower lip.

Her whole body trembled.

Her father’s reaction sent an indescribable chill down her spine.

Kang Geom-Ma turned only half his body.

His icy gaze bound him like a rope, but the Emperor remained calm.

“I didn’t think you would come up with something like this. It’s interesting… extremely interesting.”

“One hit.”

Geom-Ma only said that and turned his back again.

“I grant only once.”

There would not be a second.

Kang Geom-Ma threw the warning at the Emperor, just as he had done with Maki Kaiten, who was pretending to be unconscious off to the side.

Saki and Abel formally bowed to the Emperor and then positioned themselves on either side of Kang Geom-Ma.

“Victoria.”

The Emperor spoke to his daughter, who hesitated.

“Every choice always carries a responsibility.”

“……”

Victoria barely moved her lips, but then looked at him with firm resolve.

“I know.”

She too left the Emperor behind.

“It is something my master has always impressed upon me.”

“As long as you know it, that’s enough.”

“Then…”

Victoria also left the Pertinax House.

In the hall, which moments before had been full of people, now only three remained.

An Emperor.

And two traitors, Pertinax X and Maki Kaiten.

“…He, hehe.”

The man who possessed everything in the world.

At that moment, around him remained nothing but pitiful beings.

***

As soon as the incident was resolved, the details about the nobles’ money laundering were publicly announced.

It was thanks to the fact that my companions had already drafted the scheme while I and Choi Seol-Ah camped near the auction house.

The Joaquin Academy, the Hero Association, and the new noble faction headed by the Nibelungs.

The three powers collaborated to make that shameful truth public to the world.

Intentionally, they avoided using the word “Empire.”

— Surely the Empire is also involved in this, right?

└Yes, obviously. The list clearly seems from the imperial line.

Collective intelligence quickly deduced who was behind it.

The nobles’ history of corruption also worked against them.

— Wow… now they’re even standing against the Empire itself. Lord Heavenly Sword’s level is something else.

└This one really is a dragon born in a puddle.

— But if you think about it, isn’t it absurd? Why do nobles get immunity and tax benefits just because they’re called “heroes”?

└Next comment, peasant.

└Hahaha, salty noble detected.

└Pathetic, really.

— In Brazil they just presented a motion to establish a republic. It will be by referendum, and I vote republic without a second thought.

└In Argentina they’re discussing it too.

└In France the republic was the central theme in the election debates. This already looks like a global trend.

└Révolution! Révolution!

—I think the world is finally starting to normalize…

└Exactly, how much longer are we going to carry inequality by birth?

Even those who had previously turned a blind eye to the nobles’ corruption were beginning to tire.

The foreign media, which once backed them, now condemned the families involved.

The small fire that remained was fanned by the wind, and the nobles panicked.

Even Parsy Academy, which had once been Joaquin Academy’s rival, joined the condemnation.

— Our Parsy Academy has decided not to accept any more children of noble families involved in corruption.

The nobles’ fear multiplied.

The Joaquin Academy had already led the purge against the insolent nobility, and if Parsy joined in—which was supposed to be the bridge of relations since childhood—

The noble houses were left in a desperate situation, with no way out.

They turned to the Emperor for help, but.

“We’re sorry. His Majesty has decided to refrain from public activities for a time.”

The spokesperson, Garyeon, stopped them immediately.

The nobles were plunged into despair.

And meanwhile, their influence shrank day by day.

There was no escape—they were already hanging with one foot over the precipice.

The only way to preserve even a minimum of privileges was.

[Breaking news. The patriarch of House Galahad sends, with his silence, a vote of sympathy to the Brazilian republic. ‘Impact’]

To adapt to the current of the times.

Who would have believed that all this new wind would be unleashed by a special student stigmatized as “trash”?

***

Boom.

The sky opened and black clouds swirled.

The rain battered the windows with fury.

The prelude of the monsoon.

Ryozo ran her elbow across the fogged window, wiping the glass.

“……”

She turned her head.

Kang Geom-Ma was sleeping deeply in bed.

Ryozo sat at his bedside, tenderly stroking his forehead.

She felt a bit of fever on the back of her hand.

‘He really has pushed himself.’

The semester was about to end, and too many things had happened—the two ends of the world, and even Kang Geom-Ma’s outburst.

‘You are a strange one.’

She didn’t know whether he was the one dragged into the storms, or their very center.

But it didn’t matter.

Whatever storm it was, as long as it was with him.

‘…Only that…’

She almost let her eyes turn sad, but held the emotion back.

She rose carefully, taking care not to wake him. She even took off her sandals, fearing the snap of her heels might startle him.

It was a rare, deep sleep—something he hadn’t had in a long time.

Until yesterday, even if he didn’t show it, Kang Geom-Ma had been tormented.

Thanks to Princess Victoria, they had obtained the item. But it still had to be delivered to Auditore and Chloe had yet to be saved completely.

‘Everything ended successfully.’

Kang Geom-Ma did not deliver it personally.

Instead, he sent professors from Joaquin Academy to Auditore’s side.

With the situation so turbulent, he had to be cautious in his movements.

Creak.

Ryozo opened the door just a crack.

She received the moon’s blue light on her face, looked one last time at the sleeping Kang Geom-Ma, and went down the stairs.

They lived in a two-story house.

An old Japanese sushi restaurant that Kang Geom-Ma had liked, so Ryozo and Abel bought it as soon as it went up for sale, even paying an overprice.

“I used to not stand even the smell of fish.”

Now, sometimes, Saki found peace slicing fish, remembering the days she worked part-time at a Japanese restaurant before entering Joaquin Academy.

“Huh?”

Upon reaching the landing of the stairs, a warm light greeted her.

At this hour, who?

In Kang Geom-Ma’s house no thief could enter, unless they had suicidal intentions.

Peeking cautiously, someone looked at her from the kitchen.

“Ah, sorry.”

It was her father.

“What are you doing awake at this hour?”

“I was just restless. I wanted to busy myself with something.”

He was sharpening the sashimi knife, Murasame, the one Kang Geom-Ma usually used.

He used to do it himself, but lately had neglected it.

Her father, Ho Ah-Hyun, had noticed and was doing it for him.

“Am I interrupting you?”

“No, sit down.”

“Thank you.”

Ryozo slipped her sandals back on and sat at the counter.

Ho Ah-Hyun kept sharpening the blade as if no one were there.

Shhh, shhh.

Ryozo rested her chin on her hand, watching the scene.

Outside, the thunder kept roaring.

Under the lonely light hanging from the ceiling.

“How much longer do you plan to pretend you don’t know?”

Ho Ah-Hyun asked her suddenly.

But Ryozo did not flinch.

She replied calmly, as always.

“I knew you knew that I know.”

“The only thing that improves with age is instinct.”

“I’d like Geom-Ma to inherit at least half of your instinct.”

“His lack of instinct is what defines him.”

“That’s true.”

Ryozo rubbed the surface of her glass for no reason.

“I know Geom-Ma is sick.”

She confessed to Ho Ah-Hyun.

“I knew it from the very first moment I saw him.”

“……”

The sound of the whetstone stopped.

Ho Ah-Hyun slowly lifted his gaze and looked at her.

“He had the same eyes I had back then.”

Said Ryozo.

“That’s why I was drawn to him.”

“…And you kept silent for ten years?”

“Yes.”

She nodded softly.

“My mother used to say it.”

Ryozo knew well why Kang Geom-Ma sometimes showed avoidance in certain situations.

Why, at times, he lost control or memory.

“That silence is the best comfort for depression.”

That’s why she wanted to protect him her whole life.

That man capable of placing the entire world beneath his feet.