Chapter 216

Chapter 216

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 216“One hand... are you really okay with that?”

Elena asked with the corners of her lips raised as though it were ridiculous.

Instead of answering, I merely shrugged at her.

“You promised, right? If I subdue you, I’ll be allowed to help you... no, Grandpa.”

“Of course.”

“...

Let’s move somewhere else. If we make a mess here, we might disturb him while he eats.”

Saying that, she began walking ahead first, and I slowly followed behind her while feeling the cool breeze.

Maybe it was because this was a rural village? Just looking around made me feel like I was healing.

And the moment we reached the forest below the hill in that refreshing mood.

I felt mana moving ahead.

“Tinker Bell!”

With Elena’s voice, wind began to whirl and rush toward me in the shape of blades.

“You didn’t even say we were starting.”

“We never promised that, did we?!”

She stuck her tongue out at me with an annoying smile, and I snickered as I wrapped aura around my left hand.

“True, we didn’t make that promise.”

The first thing to reach me was a blade flying toward my legs. I avoided it with a light jump, only to immediately face another blade flying toward my waist.

Looks like she sent it like that so I wouldn’t be able to dodge once I jumped into the air.

But this kind of method only worked on complete beginners.

“Your attacks are too light.”

I lightly waved my arm as though swatting away a fly while releasing aura, and the wind blade disappeared instantly.

I blocked all the other blades in much the same way and looked at her.

“I’m not done yet!”

Even though I’d deliberately shown her an overwhelming difference in skill by defending that way, she still reached a hand toward me with eyes full of fighting spirit.

“Emission!”

With her sharp cry, extremely compressed air fired from the tips of her fingers, shaped like a handgun, creating a sonic boom.

“Haha!”

Her fighting spirit passes, at least.

That would be a little dangerous if it hit me directly.

Instead of releasing aura, I concentrated it into my fist and swung as though hitting an incoming ball.──Boom!

The compressed air scattered around me along with red aura.

My fist tingled, so it seemed she’d attacked fairly seriously this time.

“Have you ever learned combat from someone else?”

“...

No!”

Then she had learned to make attacks like this all by herself...

Combat sense passes too.

“Now I’m coming over there.”

With my right hand behind my back, I charged toward her.

At that, she hurriedly raised a hand and aimed at me.

“Emission!”

At the same time as her shout, I drew a handgun too and pulled the trigger in line with her finger.────Bang!

The aura bullet and air bullet struck each other directly with a sound like the air bursting.

Her eyes widened at me.

“You said you’d only use your left hand!”

“I pulled the trigger with my left hand. We never promised I wouldn’t use weapons, did we?”

When I turned the exact line she’d used back against her, her brow furrowed.

“Seriously...! Emission! Emission! Emission! Emission! Emission!”

Apparently deciding single shots wouldn’t work, she began openly firing in rapid succession this time.

But when I pulled the trigger according to the trajectories of the air bullets she fired, repeated cracking sounds echoed through the air.

“Seriouslyyy!”

Perhaps angry that they kept getting shot down in midair, she aimed both hands at me this time.

However, for some reason, the atmosphere around her felt different from what I had seen until now.

“Tifone(Typhoon)!”

Unlike before, a massive gust covering a huge area surged forward and struck my body directly.

In other words, her posture just now had been bait to confuse me.

The enormous wind battering my body briefly threw off my balance, but once I activated aura throughout my entire body and enhanced my physical abilities, my body gradually stopped being pushed backward.

“Can we... stop...?!”

She spoke with both hands extended and her face scrunched up.

“I still have plenty of room.”

I could feel the wind slowly pressing against my body gradually weakening.

The canary, Tinker Bell, which had been flapping diligently beside her, had long since landed on her shoulder.

The faint light radiating from Tinker Bell’s body had also clearly weakened compared to the beginning.

Stamina fails.

Still, considering her age and environment, she had lasted fairly well.

“...

So. Surrender? Or do you want to keep going?”

When I asked with an expression of complete leisure, she glanced at Tinker Bell on her shoulder.

-Chirp...

Tinker Bell shook its head from side to side.

Her eyes wavered briefly at the sight, then she looked at me again and raised both hands.

“...

I surrender.”

Looks like she couldn’t bear watching her partner struggle anymore.

“Okay. Done. No complaints, right?”

After confirming that the mana around her body was fading, I also let my aura subside and approached her.

“...

More importantly, didn’t your way of speaking suddenly change?”

“We’ll probably see each other often from now on, so I figured I’d speak more casually. You can too.”

Of course, Italian didn’t have a separate honorific system, but apparently she could still feel a big difference from the way I had treated her at first.

“Calling me younger?! We look about the same age! H-how old are you?!”

“Me? I’m a first-year at the Academy.”

Her eyes widened at my answer.

“If you’re an Academy student... then you are older than me.”

So she wasn’t even old enough to enter the Academy yet?

That made three passes and one failure in total.

“Then that makes you my little sister. I’ll speak casually, okay?”

“...

Do whatever you want.”

Maybe because she’d lost a match with both an age difference and a pile of handicaps against me.

Unlike when I first met her, she answered in a completely dispirited voice.

Was not being able to come with me really that upsetting?

“...

Let me ask you one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Why are you trying this hard to help Elder Ludvio?”

She must have known how dangerous this matter was.

This involved the Mafia, not some neighborhood punks.

And not just some ordinary family, either, but the Medici family, one of the most economically powerful families in all of Italy.

So why did she want to help him this badly?

“I already told you earlier. Grandpa is the one who saved my life──.”

“──That doesn’t seem like enough of a reason to fight the Mafia to the bitter end.”

At my pressing question, she eventually squeezed her eyes shut and tightly gripped the hem of her skirt.

“...

Because it pisses me off!”

“What?”

“I’m talking about those Medici bastards! They say it’s for us, for the reconstruction of Italy, while acting like tax collectors! They take the crops and goods we harvest under the pretext of taxes, but they don’t even protect us! Because of them, Uncle Bill, who was part of the vigilante force, died last year!”

Her expression, which had been completely drooping until just now, had changed entirely.

“I want to drive them out of here with this opportunity. I want our village to become at least a little more peaceful!”

Hmm... even romance.

“Pass.”

“...

What?”

“So. You want to repay Grandpa personally this time and reclaim freedom for the village. That’s what you mean, right?”

“Yes.”

“By using me, who came from Calione?”

“Using! That’s not quite it... but asking for help is okay, isn’t it?”

In the end, she was asking me to help herself, the village, and Ludvio.

Together with her.

“Unfortunately, I’m not the kind of person swayed by sympathy, so I don’t think I can accept a request like that.”

“...

I guess not.”

“But.”

Toward her lowered head, I gently raised the corners of my lips and added.

“A deal is different.”

“...

A deal?”

Her head slowly rose again until her eyes met mine.

“What school are you attending right now?”

“A small school in the village. Aunt Emily, who used to teach in the city, teaches us.”

“Are you registered as an Awakened? What about the Academy?”

“I’m registered, but I’ve never thought about the Academy. I heard the tuition is expensive.”

The conditions were perfectly set.

Is this why people search through overseas free-agent markets?

It felt like I had discovered the perfect raw gem.

“Then enroll in Seoul Hero Academy next year. I’ll support your room and board, tuition, food expenses, and living expenses too.”

“...

What?”

“Of course, it isn’t free. You’ll have to work for the club and company I belong to. What do you think? I’d say it’s a pretty good deal.”

I get to secure a promising future talent early, while she gets to participate in this matter, receive generous support, and study at the best Academy in the world.

Truly an ‘offer she cannot refuse.’

“But I think I need to ask Mom...”

“Well, it was pretty sudden. Think about it slowly. I’ll probably be staying here for quite a while.”

“Then for now, we’re moving together, right?”

She still hadn’t accepted my deal, but she slowly raised her head and glanced at me.

Watching her carefully read my expression, I took off Midas’s Glove and held out my hand with a playful smile.

“...

For now?”

“...

I’ll be counting on you.”

“Eugene Han Calione. Call me Eugene.”

“Monica Anna Elena. You can call me Elena.”

At that, she clasped my hand and smiled.

Overseas prospect.

GET.

orCaught a wild ‘Spirit Summoner’!

______________

“Huh, for how noisy it was outside, you came back on rather good terms?”

As we headed back up the hill together, we ran into Ludvio, who was smoking his pipe outside the door.

“Grandpa! Since when have you been out here?”

“I’ve been watching since the two of you started exchanging blows. You seem to have gotten much stronger than before?”

“I’ve been training so hard with Tinker Bell lately. Of course!”

At Ludvio’s praise, Elena scratched her head with an awkward expression, looking as though she didn’t know what to do with herself.

“And Eugene. You really do resemble your father.”

“...

Do I?”

“I’m telling you. You looked exactly like that boy who used to run through the woods long ago. Even the way you always hold out your hand after a fight is exactly the same. Hahaha!”

Saying that, he tapped the contents of his pipe out onto the table, then looked at Elena again.

“So, you’ve decided to step in too?”

“...

Yes.”

Looks like he had figured out why we had fought.

“I already knew how strong you were compared to others your age. I knew you were strong enough to stand alongside other Awakened as well. But... I can’t help worrying.”

“...

Grandpa.”

“Please. Don’t overdo it. And Eugene. Please take good care of this child.”

“Don’t worry, Maestro. No matter what happens, I’ll protect her.”

How could I give up a gem in the rough I had found with such difficulty—no, by such luck?

I intended to somehow take this child all the way through graduation from the Academy.

“Hahahaha! Is that so! Hahaha! Then I leave her to you.”

Ludvio burst out laughing loudly, while for some reason Elena lowered her head deeply.

“Now then, let’s start talking. Eugene. First, how do you intend to move?”

With the now-empty pipe in his mouth, Ludvio looked at me with anticipation.

“Well, shouldn’t we start by saying hello?”

“...

Hello?”

“A greeting?”

“Yes.”──A real Mafia-style greeting.