I Killed the Player of the Academy

༺ Rest (1)༻

A short break after the invasion of the Frost Giant, Estelle arrived at the border city with her troops.

– It’s the Saintess!

– She came to visit us personally!

Seeing her appear in the lead on a white horse, the citizens cheered for her. Estelle appeared to have a radiant halo behind her as she arrived with tens of thousands after integrating the two religions.

Actually, that wasn’t just a figurative expression. After all, her status after accepting the Divinity of Earth from the Magic Cauldron of Undry was no less than that of Korin.

That was why the mediocre crowd couldn’t help but feel awed by her divinity.

– Saintess! Please look this way!

– You’re too beautiful, Saintess!

Gazing across the crowd cheering and roaring for her, Estelle thought to herself with the most benevolent of expressions.

‘Good. My authority is still unchallenged regardless. I will just have to slowly alter the path of their faith.’

A child blessed and chosen by god.

Despite being seen as such, she was at heart the most unfaithful person who dreamed of becoming a goddess of a new world. Her followers would most likely faint from shock if they knew that.

Estelle maintained her fake smile as she continued looking across, searching for that someone who should be somewhere within the crowd. And at last, she found a young man in the middle of the crowd who appeared indifferent in comparison.

“Ko~rin~Do~ngsaengggg!!”

There was no stopping her as soon as she found him. Estelle kicked off the saddle and jumped towards him.

“Uhkk…!”

What’s this woman doing! Thinking that, Korin took her in his arms so that she didn’t fall. Upon landing in his embrace, Estelle floated a wide smile and started sucking his cheek.

“You missed me, didn’t you! Tell me, ‘I missed you noona,’ and I’ll give you a kiss!”

“You already did that… Everyone’s watching! They’re watching us!”

“It doesn’t matter~ Are you embarrassed? Do you want me to headpat you?”

Saintess and the 1st Princess of the kingdom. The unrelenting show of affection from the most famous lady in the kingdom shocked not only its citizens but also the barbarians.

– What the fuck?

– Why is the Saintess doing that?

– Just because he’s a Unique Grade knight!

– I saw that guy smiling and giggling with other girls!

– That son of a…!

The hero who saved the border city. The strongest knight of the kingdom… All those titles meant nothing at this moment.

Receiving the affection of the noblest lady of the continent publicly, right now, Korin Lork was simply a target of jealousy.

“How about you let him go? What an undignified thing to do for a princess.”

Miruam said while approaching them with the help of a walking stick. Although she was speaking of dignity, her eyes were as vicious as a venomous serpent.

“Oh my. Miru my sister~. Are you jealous?” responded Estelle without a single change in her expression.

Unfortunately for her, however, Miruam wasn’t her only rival.

“Let go.”

Hua Ran pulled her away from Korin by force while Marie gave her a squinted glare from the side.

– I’m so freaking jealous.

– Wow… What the heck is with him?

– Both the princesses and a noble on top…

This was a rather common occurrence and an atmosphere that Korin Lork had become used to at this point.

– T, that lucky bastard.

“Fuu… Yeah, of course it’s gonna turn out like this.”

His quiet sigh was buried under the jeers of the crowd.

****

The border city was bustling and busy even after the reinforcements arrived.

Although the battle itself had ended as a victory, there were still matters to be addressed such as the broken houses, refugees without homes and most importantly, the barbarians.

“How does it look?” I asked.

“For the time being, it doesn’t look like it will be a big problem.” Estelle replied. “Plus, they were saying they would return to their lands once this whole thing was settled.”

Estelle and I were sitting on the terrace of our designated building, having a tea along with some biscuits.

“That’s good.”

“Thanks to you stocking enough food, dongsaeng.”

“Technically that’s thanks to Marie-sunbae.”

“And it wouldn’t have turned out this nicely without you.”

“Me?”

Lowering her cup, Estelle explained with a smile.

“The northerners have a culture of deifying warriors. What you showed them was enough to earn their respect and admiration.”

“I’m sure they’re not that simple of a race, though.”

“Yeah. Large part is of course thanks to them.”

Skjaldmaer.

They, the psychological pillars of the northerners, were supporting me and that was why the northerners weren’t being apprehensive of us.

“Dongsaeng. This is the power of faith.”

“…Don’t tell me you’re starting this again.”

“Humans move based on emotions and not logic, and they have an irrationally blind faith in whatever they believe in. Look at the forces that followed me here. They were willing to risk their life just because I said a few things to them.”

“Not my favorite way of wording things.”

“But that’s the reality.”

She continued while looking at me with a rational yet fanatical set of eyes.

“Faith gives power – it gives them courage to gladly throw themselves into a pit of flames. That’s why we need a rightful god.”

“I’m telling you; I have no plans of being a god.”

This noona was being more and more explicit ever since she acquired Undry. At this rate, she was actually on the path of becoming the leader of a sect!

I was having concerns about that possibility when something suddenly touched my ankles.

“Hold…”

“What~? What do you mean?”

This woman?

Like last time, Estelle was playing with her feet beneath the table. It seemed that she had gotten used to a weird habit…

“I heard His Majesty gave you an offer while I was away,” she hinted.

“Don’t even talk about it. It was a big trouble back then.”

In fact, the entire kingdom had been in a state of confusion because of that.

That old man, the Sword Emperor, arranged his army on the state border; Duke Marde started an economic war against the royal family; the royal family started a massive tax investigation… The country almost ended up turning into a mess before we even began fighting Valtazar.

“Fufu. So I’m sharing the husband with Miru huh~”

“That would be horrible…”

Estelle alone was already a handful, so Miru on top of that?

“Well, you don’t have to decide just yet. I know there are a lot of attractive girls near you, so I understand your hesitation. But… yeah.”

While fidgeting with her cup, Estelle turned pink like a countryside maiden.

“If after all that hesitation you choose me, I would be very happy.”

Her smile appeared so astounding yet pitiful… that I almost lost to the urge of giving her a hug.

****

Due to the sudden influx of troops, it took a long time to reorganize the army, decide on our path and deal with the supplies. Mobilizing an army was not the decisive move, although important, because it came at the cost of taking a very long time.

In the original storyline of the game, the player’s role was that of a sharp throwing knife; an assassination tool that dug straight into the heart of the enemy.

It was that of the hero party defeating the demon lord, and the role of the army was to fight against the actual troops of the demon lord.

And what a single hero could do was limited when it came to commanding an enormous group, so there was nothing much for me to do for the time being.

“That’s nice.”

As such, I was in an open-air hot spring right now.

To be exact, it was an open bathhouse created by the slave mages under Marie’s guidance. Built on a hill, the white snowy slopes beneath were a spectacle to behold, and it felt like my fatigue was melting away just by immersing my body in water with such a magnificent scenery before my eyes.

‘This reminds me of the times.’

There was a time when I traveled around Hokkaido with my friend.

Sangwoo was a baseball player, and we were going to travel with just the two of us to commemorate his team winning the Asian Games, but somehow, our other friends caught wind of it and came along.

Having Japanese sake in an onsen with friends was an immaculate experience.

A plate of sake floating across the hot spring, drinking when we pleased with the snowy mountain in front was… Kya~!

“This is the day I’ve been dreaming of.”

In fact, there was something I immediately prepared when I heard we made an open-air bathhouse. High-class wine of the south and semi-dried fish! Although not at the level of sake, it was somewhat similar.

“Fuu…”

The bath made with the combined effort of Green Cult mages providing a concoction of herbs and the mages of Red Cult boiling the water in real time was certainly incredible.

I could feel my fatigue being washed away, and it was joyful that I was here alone.

At the start I was a bit worried since the girls around me tended to do some strange things at times, but thankfully, the male and the female baths were properly separated.

“Some booze in snow. Not bad.”

There were rest breaks like this in the last iteration as well, but it was a bit spooky looking back at them now because Park Sihu had always been with me.

“Ugh…”

A hot spring with a gay person… it would have been dangerous of me, had this been a Boys (Not) Love novel that I came into.

However, I didn’t have to worry about that anymore! My chastity was safe!

– Crunch! Crunch!

That was when the sound of someone stepping on snow echoed from the other side of the wooden fence separating the male and the female bath.

Hmm… due to being an open-air bathhouse, I guess it made sense that it wasn’t soundproof.

– Fuaahh~

An exhausted sigh echoed from the other side, which gave away her identity.

“Alicia, huh.”

Should I call out to her? Maybe not because she might be embarrassed? I was thinking to myself when splashes of water reached my ears.

“Ahehe…! So warm~”

The splosh of water being pressed down from the surface, followed by water sliding down and dropping back down in droplets.

…It was a sound that stirred up one’s imagination.

Instead of using a bowl, she seemed to be using her hands to scoop up the bath water and splash it on her body, which then created a waterfall traveling down her reddened skin.

Kuhum… I cleared my thoughts along with my throat.

Seriously, it seemed I couldn’t escape the fate of how creatures called ‘men’ tended to carry out indecent imaginations regardless of time.

“…”

The constant splashes of water from the other side of the wall, that aroused one’s imaginations, knew no end.

That wall though. It was rather shoddy and so low that any knight would be able to jump over with some effort.

Although peeking at the female hot spring in open-air bathhouses used to be a trend in 2D, the times had changed significantly. These days, there were even talks about 2D human rights, so how could a man possibly climb the wooden fence to take a peek at the women? Even if others allowed it, I would not allow such a sinful act!!

“Wah~ Korin-ssi. I didn’t know you were there.”

But what do you do when a woman peeks at the men’s hot spring? This wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the 2D declaration of human rights!

“Alicia you…”

In an attempt to tell her off, I turned towards her body that was slightly visible above the fence.

Above the faint sight of her cleavage was her skin flushed from the warm water, and her wet strands of hair were going down the side of her neck, sliding all the way down to the rift.

It was highly likely that Alicia on the other side of the wall was… having her bare body fully on display while hanging on the fence.

“A, aren’t you cold?” I asked.

“I am.”

“Then just… go back into the water.”

“Hmm… I think doing this is more rewarding.”

Damn it…

Alicia this little fox! Even though she used to be embarrassed of sweating, these days she was unbelievably daring.

“Can I go over?”

“Of course not!”

Of course that would be good and… Although it would most certainly be better than having a bath with another guy – even more so if that said guy was after my chastity! I still couldn’t say yes to that could I?

I had a complex relationship with several girls and I couldn’t take advantage of their feelings since I wasn’t ready to accept them yet.

“W, what if other guys came in?”

But what I ended up saying was much more selfish and self-centered.

“Ah, that’s true too.”

“Hurry up and go back into the water. Not something a lady should be doing.”

“Hehe…”

Alicia gave a daring smile before letting go of the fence. She dropped onto the snow with a splat before splattering into the water.

– Korin-ssi.

“…What is it?”

A young pair of male and female talking over the fence of an open-air bathhouse.

It felt a bit weird and… was a stiffening experience.

– It’s snowing a lot.

“The winter hasn’t ended yet after all.”

Although the Frost Giant had retreated, the winter had yet to end. But… I was sure it would disappear once the final war was over.

I could say that for sure, even though the Frost Giant probably wouldn’t show himself again just like last iteration and the original game.

– Even though it’s not a good thing that it’s snowing… it’s still pretty.

“Well, it does give off a special feeling in this kind of setting.”

– Do you like snow, Korin-ssi?

“I don’t.”

– Mhmm? That was a very quick answer.

“I have a sad memory regarding snow.”

– What is it?

It happened when I was 23 years old. With my turn to appear in the Olympics right around the corner, I smacked that damn coach of the Association, got kicked out and went straight into the army.

I was assigned to Cheorwon of Gangwon Province, perhaps one of the coldest places in Korea, which was probably enough to explain things.

[Wahaha! There’s trash falling from the sky! Uhahahaha!]

Girls didn’t like listening to stories about the military because they couldn’t really relate to it, and that was why I avoided it altogether.

“Don’t worry about it. I wonder if the Captain is doing okay~”

I remember him saying he would introduce me to his daughter one day.

Both the Sergeant Major and the Captain used to cherish me a lot.

There was also Second Lieutenant Park Yehwa. How many years has it been since I saw her crying behind the cookhouse and cheered her up?

[C, Corporal Kim. Do you have any thoughts on staying in the military?]

[Madam Park. Why are you saying the same thing as Captain?]

[I think you… belong here.]

[What a horrendous thing to say!]

[Just stay here with me, okay? I’ll be a First Lieutenant in no time – I promise I’ll be good to you!]

[Huu… Captain even said he would introduce me to his daughter. What are you willing to promise, Madam?]

[U, uhh hmm… Then what if I…]

Hmm… She wasn’t able to finish that sentence in the end. I guess there was nothing in her hand that could beat a captain’s daughter.

– Korin-ssi? Are you listening to me?

“Ah… Sorry. I was thinking about something else. What did you say?”

– We still have a few days left. Let’s play around together during that time!

“Hmm…”

What should we do? Was there even something to do in this place?

I was about to say, ‘Let’s do a mixed bath together!’ as a joke but… decided against it in fear that they might actually try to do it.

There was nothing to sightsee, with nothing nearby apart from scary muscle-brain machos and snow falling like trash from above. Was there something fun to do?

“Ah.”

There was one.

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