Chapter 139

Chapter 139

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 139“W-what, what is this...?!”

The bishop stared in utter shock at the sight unfolding before her eyes.

“Y-you, you, just now, just now, just now?”

So flustered that she could barely speak, she rose from her seat and checked the condition of Ascalon inside the box.

No, the condition of ‘what had once been Ascalon.’

“Ah... ah, aaah! F-Father...”

Then the bishop simply collapsed.

“Bishop!”

At that, Johann beside her jumped in alarm, tossed aside the box he was holding, and caught the bishop.

Ascalon ultimately ended up in my hands.

“Sen── Mr. Hitman. What are you doing?! Why are you breaking a perfectly good sacred relic!”

Apparently the sight had been just as shocking to Yoon Gwang-su, because his jaw looked ready to hit the floor.

“Breaking it? I'm remaking it with Tool Adornment.”

“W-what?”

I said that and handed him Ascalon, which had already been crushed and turned into something like clay.

“Can you remake this?”

“Remake it? What do you... d-don't tell me you're asking me to make Ascalon all over again?”

“You understood perfectly.”

“What do you mean I understood perfectly! Do you think making a weapon like Ascalon is that easy? I've only seen it a few times, so I don't even know its exact shape. How the hell am I supposed to make it!”

Apparently thinking it was an unreasonable request, he shook his head repeatedly and backed away.

“What are you talking about? Why would I make this into a weapon?”

“...

Pardon?”

I placed Ascalon into the hands of the dumbfounded man.

“Make it into a rosary. Something that can be worn around the neck. You can do that much, can't you?”

“Make it into a rosary...”

“Father Johann.”

“Yes?”

“Let's take the bishop inside the cathedral first. We can't leave her lying on the dirt forever. And... could I ask for an empty room?”

“An empty room?”

Even though Ascalon had become clay like this, its effects hadn't disappeared.‘Tool Adornment's’ greatest characteristic.

The ability to change a material's form while preserving its inherent properties.

Of course, its method of use and effects could change slightly depending on its form, but the fact that its most important effects always remained was an enormous advantage.

It was easy to understand why ‘Tool Adornment’ had become a technique blacksmith players absolutely had to learn.

“We can't exactly take the sacred relic outside, can we? It won't take long, so please.”

The ability I needed most from Ascalon right now was its effect of creating a sanctuary.

If we moved Ascalon elsewhere, the sanctuary itself would shift, making it difficult to maintain the cathedral's safety.

“A-all right. Please come inside!”

Johann stood up while carrying the bishop and led the way into the cathedral.

At the same time, I noticed the children who had apparently been watching from near the door flinch and step backward.

“Father, what happened... huh? B-Bishop?”

The children looked flustered at the sight of the limp bishop.

“Sister Maria. Could you please take the bishop to her room? I think I need to guide our guests to theirs.”

“The bishop? Ah, yes!”

In the end, Maria received the bishop from Johann and hurried inside the cathedral.

After confirming her retreating figure, Johann looked back at us.

“The guest room should be empty right now. Normally it was supposed to be the room you would stay in tonight... would that be all right?”

“I don't mind.”

I nodded at his question and headed underground, passing through the cellar where wine was aging until we finally arrived in front of a room.

“Due to the nature of the cathedral, we almost never have guests, so this was the only place we could make one. Please understand.”

“Not at all. You must have been very surprised, yet instead, thank you for calmly accommodating my request.”

Stop.

He stopped in front of the room, abruptly turned around, and smiled.

“It's all right. I'm sure you have your own reasons for what you're doing.”

“...

Pardon?”

I'd expected him to criticize me because of what I'd done, but his response was unexpected.

“Father, are you all right with this?”

Nothing I'd done since arriving today had exactly been ordinary.

Above all, destroying a sacred relic must have been quite a shocking sight, yet he slowly shook his head and answered.

“Of course I was surprised as well. After all, the sacred relic we'd protected all this time turned into a mere lump of clay.”...

As expected.

“But the sanctuary is still being maintained, and aren't you, Mr. Cloud, a precious brother who fought for us? I am certain you must have some method in mind.”

Is this the mindset of priests?

Seeing that he had ultimately decided to trust me, I nodded and spoke.

“Thank you for trusting me, Father.”

“Then please. I leave Ascalon in your hands, brothers.”

After saying that final farewell, Johann headed upstairs.

Yoon Gwang-su, who had been blankly watching him go, spoke first.

“...

So, Senior Uncle. Was the reason you brought me here to turn this into a rosary?”

Still looking as though he couldn't believe it, Yoon Gwang-su blinked repeatedly at the lump of Ascalon in his hand.

“Yeah. Why? Is it too much pressure?”

At my words, he hurriedly shook his head in surprise.

“What are you saying! I was just wondering how many times in my life I've ever been this excited!”

Right.

I knew he'd answer like that.

The Yoon Gwang-su I knew wasn't the kind of man to refuse an opportunity like this.

“Then that's good. Let's head inside first.”

“Yes. Senior Uncle.”

When we entered the room, a space clearly built for guests appeared.

An old chair, a bed, and a table.

That was everything.

Here, we would have to remake a sacred relic with our bare hands.

But that didn't matter much.

Tool Adornment could be used anywhere as long as you had aura and material.

“Then I'll begin working immediately. Hup!”

Clang──! Clang──! Clang──! Clang──!

After reinforcing the table's hardness by coating it in aura, he placed Ascalon on top and began hammering it with knife-hand strikes.

Because I'd already softened it once, Ascalon changed shape easily.

After watching him for a moment, I sat on the bed holding a piece of Ascalon I'd separated in advance before handing him the main mass.

“Then I should get started too.”

What I was going to make was a weapon simple enough even for a beginner like me to create.

Clang──! Clang──! Clang──! Clang──!

Before long, the sound of metal being hammered rang out rhythmically and endlessly beneath Halla Cathedral.

______________

Even though my work was already finished, Yoon Gwang-su apparently still had things left to adjust, so I blankly watched him continue hammering the former

Ascalon, now

the rosary.

Then an irregular noise came from outside the room.

The crashing sounds made it seem like someone was rushing over in a hurry.

“She's already awake.”

There was only one person who would come running toward us right now.

“Ascalon?! What happened to Ascalon?!”

The woman who was originally supposed to be protecting Ascalon had finally gotten back up.

“You're awake.”

“Youuu...! What the hell did you do?! And Ascalon, where is Ascalon?!”

The first thing she looked for upon waking was Ascalon.

I sighed and pointed toward the former

Ascalon, which was still being diligently hammered.

“If you're talking about Ascalon, it's being reborn over there.

“S-so it wasn't a dream after all?! Lord, why have You given me such a trial...”

Perhaps the strength left her legs again, because she collapsed onto the floor once more.

Fortunately, she didn't faint like before.

And she already looked completely drained, so she didn't seem to have the strength left to interfere with what we were doing.

Leaving her sitting there unable to control her tears, I turned my gaze back toward Yoon Gwang-su.

“Hup! Hngh! Hup!”

Perhaps because he'd been wrestling with the ingot for so long, his entire body was drenched in sweat like a waterfall.

He'd taken off his clothes a long time ago.

He had maintained a state of complete immersion for some time now, silently bringing his fists down.

Boom!

Holy power burst upward with one strike of his fist.

Boom!

Flames rose from the next strike.

Boom!

The aura wrapped around his hands became an unyielding hammer, giving birth to a new sacred relic.

Apparently sensing that something extraordinary was happening, the bishop rose with an entranced expression and slowly came over beside me.

“...

What is that?”

There was no way she couldn't know.

The holy power that had been trickling out little by little was now filling the entire room.

With a dazed expression, she stared at the new sacred relic being completed through aura and muttered.

“Ascalon. The new Ascalon you'll receive.”

“...

That's Ascalon?”

“Yeah. I didn't expect the effect to be this good either, but this is beyond what I imagined.”

Didn't the legendary Italian artist Michelangelo supposedly say something like this?‘I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.’And the way Yoon Gwang-su's hands moved now looked almost like he was finding an angel that had been sleeping inside the sword.

Stop──His fist, raised high overhead, stopped.

Yoon Gwang-su stood there blankly, doing nothing but staring at the rosary.

Then he thrust his other hand toward the sky and...

“It's compleeeete!!”

He shouted with all his strength, announcing that his turn was over, then collapsed backward like a scarecrow blown over by the wind.

“Uheh. Uhehehehe...”

Even so, his expression was filled with satisfaction.

Judging by the aura I could feel... did he break through a wall during the forging process?

Apparently working Ascalon had been more difficult than expected.

Well, considering he'd practically created a sacred object, perhaps that was only natural?

I slowly approached where he'd fallen and spoke quietly.

“You worked hard, martial nephew.”

He had already done more than enough for one person.

No, he'd accomplished something that even several people working together couldn't be certain of succeeding at.[Name: Ascalon(★)][Rank: Relic][Type: Sacred Relic][Description: A rosary made from Ascalon, the sword said to have been used by Saint George to sever the breath of the evil dragon Fafnir.

It explosively increases the user's holy power and can activate a sanctuary in the surrounding area.

While equipped, it deals holy damage equivalent to 2.5 times against enemies with the Evil attribute, and can deal up to 7 times damage against dragon-kind.(Additional stats have increased because it has taken the optimal form as a sacred relic.)]

Ascalon could now grant its full effects merely by being worn, rather than requiring attacks with the sword.

Beside its name was a star mark, as though indicating that it had undergone transcendent enhancement.

“Here. Check it yourself.”

I tossed the new Ascalon toward the woman staring blankly at the rosary.

She caught it reflexively, then checked its details.

“Wait, hold on... this is possible? How, how does merely turning the sword into a rosary change it like this?”

Her eyes widened as she stared in shock.

Exactly the reaction I'd expected.

“What an obvious question. Ascalon's type is a sacred relic, not a holy sword. So I simply gave it a more proper form.”

“...

Holy sword? Sacred relic?”

Right.

It would be difficult to understand.

What kind of lunatic would melt down a blade called a sacred relic and turn it into something else?

Only a player like me would think of something like that and actually carry it out, so I couldn't exactly blame her for that dumbfounded expression.

And... the best part was this.

The cool sensation inside my pocket.

Feeling the weight of the thing, heavier than its size suggested, I smiled as I looked at the bishop and Yoon Gwang-su.

“Now then... shall we talk about the Fafnir raid?”