I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 755 - Side Story 28: Hunter (4)

Rudger gazed quietly at Pantos. There was no pretense or falsehood visible in his appearance as he stared at the campfire with a faint smile.

Although he spoke so easily, Rudger knew well how difficult the process must have been before bringing it up.

Rudger could understand Pantos' position better than anyone.

'Pantos sets his goal on bringing down prey he doesn't dare to covet. He pursues strength for that.'

That was the mindset a warrior should naturally have. And the desire to reach some pinnacle in the field one belongs to—mages were no different in this regard.

They too sought to reach the end of magic, the peak of the magical path, that's why they strive endlessly.

'But even if you strive, not everything is achieved.'

When Rudger was teaching at Theon, he had one clear belief: talent exists.

If you discuss differences in talent, you get refuted by people who value the worth of effort. Rudger wasn't unaware of this. He already knew well that effort was important.

But talent could even change the value of that effort.

Consider a genius and an ordinary person. When two people work equally hard in the same field for a year, can the two really reach the same level?

The genius overwhelmingly surpasses the ordinary person. The result that took the ordinary person a whole year to reach is merely a process the genius had already passed after just one month of starting.

Considering that even among geniuses there are different levels, that one-month period could be even shorter.

The ordinary person should work hard to catch up to the genius?

'Geniuses work hard too. They rarely get stuck or frustrated because their results are visible enough to be clearly seen.'

Ordinary people take a long time for their efforts to bear fruit. In that process, they face countless confusions. They get frustrated, wander, and collapse.

That's why talent is important. Very much so.

'But this is a difficult matter. If someone has no talent, should they stop at an appropriate point and be content with that?'

Those who can only look at mountains they cannot climb usually bow their heads. That was the same even for geniuses.

'Geniuses always succeed because they don't taste failure. But as they live, they too face walls. The wall of a greater genius, of higher talent.'

Most geniuses break the moment they face such walls. They have no resistance to failure. Those who gave despair and envy to others overlooked that they too could feel despair from someone else.

However, there are such types of people in the world, those who don't yield even when facing walls and try to challenge them. Those who throw their everything to climb mountains that cannot be climbed.

Never bowing their heads, they always keep their necks straight and stare ahead.

Rudger called them this.

'Possessors of madness.'

Yes. That's madness. Without being mad, there's no way they'd commit such acts. Because they're mad, they don't care about trivial things like possibility or impossibility and just charge forward.

Of course, madness mostly leads people in the wrong direction. Dark mages who disregard life for stronger magic were typical slaves swept up in such madness.

The madness Rudger pursued wasn't like that. Those who possessed true madness should rather wield it themselves.

'Even ordinary people have this kind of madness. And ordinary people with madness sometimes surpass geniuses.'

Of course, among geniuses too there were those who possessed madness.

'But realistically, having such a mindset doesn't make you strong. In the end, effort befitting it must follow.'

That's why knights and mages who left their mark in history are praised and mentioned by people, but weren't well regarded by those close to them.

They gave up love, turned their backs on family, and became absorbed in their own world.

They sacrificed much for that. No, perhaps everything.

To see the end, they invest everything they have in only one thing.

Shaving down and grinding the end, making it only sharp. Just to pierce through the goal.

'Only that. Without need for love, comrades, or family. Abandoning even happiness and desires as a sentient being.'

Can that be called living? Can that be called happiness? Just advancing only for a goal—isn't that just like a machine?

In Rudger's view, Pantos was such a type.

It wasn't that Pantos had nothing that could break him. His first failure was when he faced Rudger.

After that, Pantos probably felt similar emotions when seeing Grandel, and felt those emotions when defeated in the fight with Luther. What about the Elemental Lords? What about those who wielded divine power within the sanctuary?

Even so, Pantos didn't give up. Despite having outstanding talent and qualities, he looked toward higher places.

He worked hard for that and was able to reach higher levels than before. And even now, he hoped to climb even higher.

At least right before meeting Rudger, Pantos stood at that crossroads.

There was a line before him. Just a little more, perhaps close enough that just one step would do. The moment he crossed that line, Pantos would head to a place from which he could never return.

Turning his back on everyone, becoming a monster that lives only to become stronger.

"It seems you've finally made your choice." 

"Yes."

At the final crossroads, what Pantos chose was to step back.

"In the past, I would have cut it off without hesitation, calling it unnecessary. I might have even tried to sever it with my own hands. Because I thought I was becoming weak."

Pantos brought over a log placed beside him and threw it into the campfire.

Whoosh!

The embers spread greatly and soared high into the sky.

"If only I hadn't known anything, I wouldn't have had such worries. But having found out, it was hard to ignore."

That's why Pantos kept challenging the Water Elemental Lord while agonizing for a long time, believing that if he kept hitting this wall, a solution would emerge.

"But it didn't come out easily. The more time I spent searching for answers, the deeper my impatience grew. In the end, only doubts filled me."

Just as he was about to break down in those doubts, Rudger returned. Pantos agonized whether he should go meet him or not.

"Even when I heard the news of your return, I decided not to go see you. Even when contact came, I deliberately ignored it."

I wonder. That man who disappeared for 3 years and finally returned—what had become of him?

Rudger saw through Pantos' heart.

"You were afraid." 

"Foolishly so."

Pantos didn't deny it. He nodded as if mocking his foolish self.

"I was afraid to face it. The moment I faced that appearance that might have changed, I felt like the thread I was holding onto until the end would break. So I deliberately turned away."

Yes. Admitting it now, Pantos had admired Rudger.

On the outside, he treated him as prey he must definitely bring down, but deep in his heart, he looked up to him because he was a man of steel who never yielded and a pioneer who ultimately fulfilled his mission.

"But in the end, I came looking like this. I knew I'd come someday, but I didn't know it would be this soon." 

"So, how was I when you saw me again?"

"You've changed. That's certain." 

"Is that so?"

"But at the same time, you were the same."

To Rudger looking at him with questioning eyes about what that meant, Pantos offered another piece of grilled meat.

"The man I first admired was someone prepared to abandon everything for his purpose. In reality, he had abandoned most things."

When Pantos first met him, Rudger had abandoned his life, abandoned his name, and lived honing only strength. He thought that was the reason for his strength, but as he got to know Rudger, he realized that wasn't it.

Rudger didn't abandon. While seeming to abandon, he reached out to people. While seeming to not care about means and methods for his purpose, he cared for his comrades.

He who seemed upright like steel was actually wavering more than anyone.

Even so. He didn't fall. He didn't stop.

While holding regrets. While carrying confusions. While regretting the past.

He never abandoned them in the end.

He advanced holding onto those things that only brought pain and even accepted that pain.

"I realized that true strength cannot be pursued through such cowardly methods."

Facing Rudger and fighting with him again, Pantos felt old memories reviving.

Yes. This was it. The reason he saw in this man, the reason he could truly admire him. Why had he forgotten this when the answer was so clear?

"Yes. If you think of it as poison, you must swallow even that poison to call it true strength."

At Pantos' answer, Rudger stared at him blankly for a moment, then shook his shoulders and let out laughter.

"Huhu. Yes. Perhaps coming to find you this quickly was fate." 

"There's no such thing as fate. You make everything with your own hands."

Pantos asked Rudger mischievously.

"Didn't you know that, you who pursued that more than anyone and achieved it that way?" 

"Hahaha!"

In the end, Rudger couldn't hold back and laughed heartily. Pantos also laughed facing Rudger.

Even without alcohol, the two laughed louder and more joyfully than drunk people. Their laughter became one with the sky along with the scattering embers.

The sun rose and Rudger prepared to leave early in the morning.

"Where are you planning to go now?" 

"There are many people I haven't met yet. I'm thinking of visiting them one by one." 

"You're volunteering for troublesome work." 

"It's work worth bearing."

Pantos smiled and picked up his harpoon. He looked like he was about to go hunting immediately, but where his steps headed wasn't the beach.

Rather the opposite. It was toward the center of the continent.

"Are you going?" 

"Yes. I haven't seen their faces for too long. I should go meet old comrades too."

"They'll all faint from surprise."

"Maybe I want to see them because I miss that sight."

Pantos left, wishing Rudger good fortune. Watching his retreating figure, Rudger turned his head and looked at the Earth Elemental Lord.

The creature in the form of a land tortoise was staring intently at Rudger.

"What's this? Are you going to follow me?"

The Earth Elemental Lord sent a look asking if that was okay.

"Well, I won't particularly stop you from watching my journey, but you shouldn't be seen by others."

The Earth Elemental Lord nodded, saying not to worry about that. Acting like that in the form of a land tortoise only made it look cute.

"Then, shall we go."

Rudger raised his mana. He had already decided who to meet next.

Since the distance wasn't that far from here, finding them wouldn't be difficult.

Along with shadows, Rudger leaped across space.

Even if it wasn't far, it was a distance that would take several days by train. But for Rudger, it was merely a level he could reach in an instant.

The place he finally arrived at was a quiet and beautiful countryside. In the still chilly temperature where traces of the north remained, he could see residents peacefully doing their work.

"Huh? Who's that person?" 

"Someone I've never seen before. More importantly, where's he going?" 

"That direction is where the Earnshaw family is. Could he be a guest?"

At the sudden appearance of an outsider, the village residents seemed quite bewildered. It helped that outsiders rarely visited this place.

Rudger paid no mind to that reaction and walked toward his destination. It was where the Earnshaw family mansion the residents were muttering about among themselves was located.

That mansion on the hill wasn't modest, but it wasn't splendid either. As if it was deliberately built that way to reduce the disconnect with the residents' homes.

From that part, he could roughly guess the disposition of the homeowner.

"E-excuse me. Sir."

Then a farmer gathered courage and stopped Rudger.

"What is it?"

The farmer seemed slightly surprised that Rudger politely asked him back.

"Are you perhaps going to the Earnshaw family now?" 

"That's correct." 

"May I ask for what reason you're going?"

Apparently the residents mistook Rudger for visiting the Earnshaw family with some bad intention.

"I'm going to meet a friend." 

"A, a friend, you say? Are you perhaps talking about Miss Catherine? The one who returned 3 years ago?" 

"As expected, she returned safely. Yes, that's correct."

At Rudger's answer, the farmer's suspicion seemed to decrease. It helped that unlike other nobles, he wasn't arrogant and rather looked noble. The farmer spoke happily, thinking he wasn't a bad person.

"Oh my, you should have said so from the start. By now, the young miss will be tilling the fields, so she won't be at the mansion." 

"Is that so? Then where should I go?" 

"I'll guide you! Follow me!"

The farmer kindly volunteered as a guide.

After following him for several minutes. In the distance, he could spot a group of people.

Those diligently cultivating crops in the field were people in Rudger's memory. One person among them particularly caught his eye.

'Catherine.'

Catherine, wearing clothes convenient for activity, also noticed Rudger and straightened her crouched body.

"It's been a while."

Rudger approached her and greeted her. Catherine stared intently at Rudger without thinking to wipe the dirt on her cheek.

"You came quickly!"

She threw the relief crop in her hand, a large potato, at Rudger's face.