I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 739 - Side Story 12: Old Friend (2)

Rudger thought of Alex. With his slick attitude toward women that matched his outward appearance, he was, in a broad sense, someone who could be called a womanizer.

However, that was only what one knew from seeing Alex's exterior. In his inner self, there was only one person, and Alex deliberately acted frivolously because of an unrequited love.

It was a kind of self-loathing. Rudger knew this fact, but he couldn't particularly offer Alex any advice.

When it came to love, at least, Rudger wasn't qualified to give him advice.

Even if he had been qualified, Rudger wouldn't have done it anyway. Understanding on his own accord the parts that were emotional wounds wasn't something Rudger liked to do.

What could ultimately resolve all of this was Alex's own will.

"Alex, you......"

Rudger knew that it would be resolved someday, but he never expected to confirm it like this as soon as they met.

"That ring. Are you really getting married?"

Hans, who had been puzzled by Rudger's words, also belatedly discovered the ring on Alex's hand.

"Huh? What. It definitely wasn't there last time."

Hans was just as bewildered. Judging from that remark, it seemed that at their most recent meeting, Alex hadn't been wearing that wedding ring.

"Well, that's how it turned out."

Alex chuckled and waved the hand with the ring. Each time he did so, the ring sparkled and shone.

"When's the wedding?" 

"It's soon. It has to be." 

"It has to be?" 

"How should I put it, Enya said she couldn't wait any longer."

Enya Joiners was Terina Ryanhowl's adjutant and a senior knight belonging to the Night Crawler Knight Order.

Unlike Alex, who was a commoner, she was from a noble family and had been Alex's fellow cadet in the knight order in the past, but they had a history of parting ways due to unfortunate circumstances.

"So you ended up meeting again."

Rudger muttered in an admiring voice. Although he had seen it vaguely at the time, Enya still seemed to have Alex on her mind.

The same was true for Alex. Perhaps if one compared the magnitude of their feelings for each other, Rudger thought that Alex's might be even greater.

However, Alex had suppressed such feelings. The difference in status between noble and commoner, his own circumstances of not having become an official knight, and his self-loathing for having hurt Enya.

Even if he had feelings for Enya, Rudger had thought that Alex would never allow it.

Three years. Yes. Alex had changed during those three years too.

"Your clothes and all, it seems you've been eating well and living well." 

"Haha. What's this, Leader? Suddenly saying such things. Well, that's actually how it turned out. I'll send you a wedding invitation later." 

"No, but from what I remember, you got on good terms with that young lady of the Joiners family quite a while ago, so why suddenly?"

Hans expressed his doubt. As he remembered, after the holy war, Alex's custody had been handed over to the Empire. More precisely, directly under Luther Wardot.

"Hmm. Well, since there's someone here who doesn't know about this, I think I'll have to tell the story from the beginning again. Is that okay?"

Hans shrugged his shoulders with a face that said 'why would that be a problem.' It was a story that would be told someday anyway. It didn't matter if it was told now.

"I'm curious. Let's hear what you did for three years."

At Rudger's words, Alex opened his mouth as if he'd been waiting. Like someone who had been preparing for this moment for a long time, his voice was unimpeded.

"First, immediately after the war ended, the others were pardoned as people who didn't exist, but Pantos and I weren't. That's because we openly fought with other knights on the front lines and our faces became properly known."

They could have said they died there and become deceased persons. But they couldn't continue hiding even after all the fighting had ended.

"Living in disguise while constantly changing identities didn't suit me. Unlike you, Leader."

Alex was honestly impressed on that point. Rudger had lived by killing himself, changing his identity and name. It was something an ordinary person wouldn't even attempt.

"So I just faced it head-on. I thought, surely they wouldn't kill me." 

"That was reckless." 

"Yes. It was reckless. But that was my way. There's also that, but I didn't want to run away in front of Enya anymore."

Alex still remembers that moment. The sight of Enya crying while looking at him, wailing while trying to save him somehow.

If he hadn't miraculously received healing at that time, what would have happened? He would have left Enya with a wound that could never be undone.

Although she had been controlled, it was her sword and her hand that had stabbed Alex.

Even if he said he was fine, Enya wouldn't think so. Just as Alex himself had lived with self-loathing despite others' consolation.

"So I just stepped forward confidently. Actually, even while pretending otherwise, I was incredibly scared inside, but well, what could I do? It was something I'd already done, so I thought I'd at least try to make the outcome good somehow. I'm really terrible at intelligently using my head to coordinate situations like Leader." 

"Other comrades could have helped." 

"At that time, it wasn't that kind of situation. However, I received unexpected help there, and it was from Uncle Luther." 

"Captain Luther Wardot?" 

"He defended me. He openly declared that I was a disciple he was personally raising."

Luther saying such things when he didn't take disciples caused quite a stir indeed.

Who was Luther Wardot? The continent's greatest swordsman. A swordsman who had surpassed the Master realm. A one-man army.

Rudger had fought with Luther once, and in the Elf Kingdom, they had also joined hands together.

The skill of Luther that he saw then was enough to make the public's assessment seem pale.

Even Terina, who had reached the Master realm, lived bound to the Empire as a Guardian Lord. But Luther didn't have that. His strength transcended the Empire's laws.

That's why he could even ignore the Emperor's orders.

Of course, he didn't openly ignore them. Luther had pride in the Empire and had sworn loyalty to it. So on the surface, he also listened to what the Emperor said with as much respect as possible.

However, there was a clear difference between having compulsion and not having it. In that sense, Luther was a knight of the Empire while also being the knight most free from the Empire.

"When such a person says this is my disciple and I've been raising him in secret, who would object?" 

"Huh. It seems the situation flowed interestingly." 

"Of course, it wasn't without words. There were criticisms like why your disciple joined hands with the Demon King and whatnot. There were also doubts about whether I was really his disciple. That's because I'm a swordsman without a name, right?"

Of course, that wasn't much of a problem. Alex, who copies his opponent's swordsmanship, had long succeeded in imitating Luther's swordsmanship.

When he demonstrated Luther's techniques a few times, those who doubted him had nothing to say even with ten mouths.

It wasn't just roughly imitating, but having reached the same realm as Luther with the same power.

And as for becoming allies with the Demon King, they even made up an excuse that he had deliberately infiltrated to play a double agent role.

One would think people weren't fools and wouldn't believe it, but surprisingly, everyone accepted it.

More than anything else, Alex demonstrating Luther's swordsmanship identically was something even more unbelievable to them.

The return of Luther. And even younger. There was no one who didn't know how amazing that was.

"But people are really persistent, I tell you. They were dying to devour me somehow. That's because I'm a commoner, right?"

Nobles had been making diligent efforts to somehow make their children Luther's disciples. The title of Luther's disciple alone would bring the prestige and glory that family would gain, equivalent to billions.

Such a precious position was taken by a commoner without roots or lineage? It was enough to turn the eyes of those who had invested time and money to aim for that position.

"There was quite an uproar. It was annoying at the time, but thinking about it now, nothing was more satisfying. Nobles being jealous of a commoner in this world? The positions were completely reversed!"

Luther Wardot was famous for not taking disciples. Even geniuses whose names rang out not just in the Empire but across the continent didn't catch Luther's eye. What Luther said to those who came to him confidently was always the same.

-With that level, you could plow fields.

It was the greatest insult to people who wielded swords, but no one could object to what Luther said.

Some grew angry asking what he meant. Luther's action shown to such people was simple.

-Still, since you came all this way which is commendable, I'll show you my swordsmanship once as a gift on your way back.

After Luther demonstrated his swordsmanship once like that, they say the geniuses always returned with dazed faces.

Even the three Knight Order Captains of the Empire who had reached the Master realm only received a few teachings from Luther at most.

Such a Luther had taken a commoner as his disciple.

"They were properly provoked. Most nobles couldn't accept reality, but a few quick-witted ones changed their targets."

Luther was now an unreachable fruit of heaven. But what about his disciple? The position of Luther's disciple is great, but Alex himself is ultimately a commoner.

Moreover, Alex was still young. His appearance was more than good enough not to be considered a commoner.

Nobles with daughters immediately changed their target to Alex. They tried to somehow marry their daughters to Alex and make him belong to their family.

"I was originally popular with women, but this was the first time in my life that so many courtship letters flew in. I really learned for the first time that there were that many nobles in the Empire. There were also many nobles whose names I was hearing for the first time. But I can't understand why young ladies I've never even seen in my life would do such things." 

"That's what noble life is like. Having to marry someone you have no feelings for in a political marriage. That's their life and culture too." 

"Ugh, I really hate it. Even Uncle Luther couldn't help with this. He's a monster who transcends the realm of politics, but that's possible because he has such great power that he doesn't get involved. But this isn't a problem that can be solved with power, right?"

Moreover, given Luther's personality, he wouldn't take on such troublesome matters. In fact, Luther apparently told Alex to solve that on his own.

It felt irresponsible, but actually, by bringing Alex from that battlefield, Luther had done everything he needed to do.

"At that time, the ones who stepped forward were the other Knight Order Captains."

Night Crawler. Stella Siren. Cold Steel.

Each Knight Order's captains helped Alex in various ways. Among them, the most active was, as expected, Enya Joiners.

Enya cut off all the courtship letters flying to Alex at her level. The Joiners family had enough prestige to do that much.

However, even the Joiners family couldn't completely block the courtship rush from those countless families.

Rather, that action even gave justification for other families to denounce the Joiners family in unison.

"So what happened?" 

"So I just, well......"

Alex hesitated for a moment as if he was a bit embarrassed. But the conclusion was something that had already been decided. The ring on his ring finger proved it.

"I said it. Let's just publicly announce that we're engaged."

They say Enya, who had been having a headache, had the most dazed face in the world the moment she heard those words.

What Alex said, though he said it as carefully as possible, was practically no different from a confession.

"Oh." 

"Wow."

Rudger and Hans, who were slightly drunk, admired purely.

"A guy who usually says all sorts of sweet words to women is full of embarrassment at the truly important moment." 

"This must be real true love, brother."

Watching the two people laughing playfully, Alex wondered if he shouldn't have said anything.

"Anyway, so, what was it, that's how it happened."

Though the story was roughly concluded like this, the situation at the time didn't flow roughly like that.

After that too, all sorts of complicated Empire noble-style procedures greeted him. For Alex, who was a free commoner, it was a life he was experiencing for the first time in his life.

While living being swayed this way and that, time passed really quickly. Looking back, it was to the extent that he couldn't remember what he had done.

However, Alex clearly remembered just one thing.

Enya's expression when he made that not-quite-confession with courage. Her face smiling more happily than anyone else in the world while tears streamed down.

He could never forget. Yes. As expected, you're prettiest when you smile.

Alex stroked the ring on his left ring finger with a slightly pleased face.

"Well, so now I'm a married man. I barely came here after getting permission." 

"You're already living under control." 

"Ugh, I'm getting goosebumps, brother. Could you please check if my body has turned into a chicken right now?"

Hans giggled while teasing Alex. What happened next was when Alex shot back at Hans.

"You say that about me, but you know you're not really qualified to say such things either, right?" 

"Hmm?"

Rudger didn't understand why Alex said such a thing. But the moment he saw Hans' expression change, even if just for a moment, he couldn't help but notice something.

Hans, this guy. There's something, isn't there?