I Became the Golden Sun That Steals the Academy’s Aircraft

018. Sub-Quest – The Lion King’s Mana Practice

After leaving Professor Horizon’s laboratory, Gilbert unbuttoned the top button of his cadet uniform, which was damp with cold sweat. Although he somehow achieved his goal, the aftereffects of the magical power were worse than expected.

In the game, he just received a message that he had a status abnormality, so he didn’t think it was a big deal, but when he actually suffered from magical power, he couldn’t take it lightly. I felt nauseous, as if I had suffered an internal injury, and my legs felt weak and trembled when I didn’t consciously exert strength.

But his goal was achieved. The sub-quest’s trigger still worked, so I was able to successfully accept the Lion King’s Mana Practice quest.

However, something different happened than Gilbert expected. Professor Horizon’s scolding, threatening to expel me from the academy if I failed the quest, rang in my ears. When I opened the mission window and checked, it clearly stated that the penalty for failure was expulsion from the academy.

Gilbert played Tactical Combat for a long time and thought about whether there was ever a failure penalty in the Lion King sub-quest. He’s played every option in the quarter, but it’s never happened once in so many plays.

I realized that this was definitely not a game. It was clear that his last words to provoke Professor Horizon would have led to this result.

I guess I should act a little more carefully.

Gilbert shook his head and went to see the homeroom professor of the first grade class.

Professor Horizon said he would give us a week’s time, and he confirmed that the time limit was running out in the mission window he had checked a while ago. Perhaps Gilbert took some action as soon as he left his laboratory.

It was a quest that had never failed, but now that a penalty had been introduced that did not exist before, he was not sure what direction the quest would proceed. It was decided that it would be better to save time when possible in responding to variables.

Arriving at his homeroom professor’s lab, he knocked lightly on the door. He heard permission from inside to come in.

When I went inside, I saw an neatly organized interior, unlike Professor Horizon’s lab. This place, filled with military-related books and all kinds of weapons, seemed to show what kind of personality the owner of the lab had.

＂Cadet Gilbert.＂

＂Hello? Professor.”

Gilbert bowed his head to the professor in charge of the first-grade class, who was writing some paperwork at his desk.

“Is it because of the business I think about?”

“That’s right.”

“I think we need some time to talk.”

The professor put aside the documents he was writing and pointed to the reception table. Gilbert pulled out her chair and sat down where she pointed, and his professor sat across from him.

Gilbert looked at his professor, who had his legs crossed and his long hair pulled back.

In contrast to his flaming red hair, his cold blue eyes were shining sharply as if he was looking into the heart of a person. Her long arms and legs seemed suited to swordsmanship, and her particularly strong lower body was one of the indicators of how much she trained on a daily basis.

Gilbert briefly remembered his professor.

Brianna Tefeo Malkirav.

She was the eldest daughter of the venerable writer Malki Raabhu, and her swordsmanship was known to be sharp enough to be counted on one hand even in her own continent. She found it difficult even for first-class knights to receive a single sword blow, and it would not be an exaggeration to call her swordsmanship, displayed atop her gigantic soldier, an art. As such, she was one of the people who was never left out whenever the continent’s first sword was discussed.

Meanwhile, Professor Brianna was somewhat special to Gilbert. When he was a newbie who had just started Tactical Combat, he once challenged her to break her head to become her immediate disciple. As the number of times he took on the challenge was over a thousand, that experience served as a stepping stone for him to become the Gilbert he is today. In a way, he was like Gilbert’s teacher in the truest sense.

＂I heard it from Professor Horizon. “You did something quite bold.”

There was little elevation in her voice, but after a thousand attempts, Gilbert was able to read the subtle changes in her emotions. Her tone of voice and actions seemed cold with little emotional change, but inside she always had a warm heart that thought of the cadets.

The reason she appeared so cold was that she was able to navigate the battlefield at a young age with just her outstanding skills. The grief of losing her comrades, whom she had laughed and talked about just moments before, in a place where hundreds and thousands of people were dying every day, was too much for Brianna, who was at most a teenager, to endure.

“This was unintentional.”

Gilbert spoke without changing the color of his face. Although he did it with clear intent, it was something that could not be said in truth.

Brianna’s cold eyes flashed as if trying to read Gilbert’s mind, but she quickly withdrew her gaze. Whether there was intention or not, that wasn’t the point. In Brianna’s opinion, what Professor Horizon had conveyed was close to nonsense and far-fetched.

How does it make sense to urge a student who developed a hypothesis out of academic zeal to prove it himself because he doesn’t like the fact that it directly contradicted him? Moreover, she was limited to a week, and if she couldn’t do it, she would be expelled. Brianna could barely resist the urge to storm into Professor Horizon’s room right away.

In fact, the content of Professor Horizon’s message to Professor Brianna and Dean Lucas was not as extreme as Brianna thought, but she did mean it that way. In addition, there was even an ‘order’ to allow Gilbert to go out to the academy for a week.

Although she rarely wields her position as a great sage, Brianna can’t help but feel looked down on, knowingly or unknowingly, when she sees her behavior towards Marquis Lucas, the head of her academy. Her age was beyond estimation, and it was something she did not like, even though she was a person who commanded the respect of a whole continent.

＂Cadet Gilbert.＂

＂Yes, Professor.＂

＂Professor Horizon has never taken back what he said.＂

＂Is that so?＂

“Has he not yet grasped the seriousness of the situation?”

Brianna’s eyes frowned slightly. It was an unconscious behavior that came out when she did not like it, but Gilbert was fortunate that Brianna still had the same thoughts about her cadets even in her reality.

＂No. I am fully aware of this. In that case, she will have no choice but to prove it.”

＂It’s inevitable. Because one cadet contradicted the great sage’s opinion.”

Gilbert chuckled inwardly at hearing her scolding for the first time in a long time. Her outburst of words and tone at best seemed like a cadet’s scolding to her great sage for her insolence, but knowing Brianna’s character well, he knew that Brianna was going to show her love for Professor Horizon. I could tell that she was dissatisfied and worried about herself.

“I am fully reflecting.”

“It was done. Your leaving the academy has been handled, so you can leave.”

＂Thank you for your concern.＂

＂You must be misunderstanding something. Cadet Gilbert. Let’s go out quickly.”

Brianna glared at Gilbert for his nonsense and then returned to her desk. Gilbert looked at her back, smiled slightly, bowed, and came out.

First of all, after obtaining the Lion King’s Mana Practice, I thought it would be a good idea to target her previous student like I did before. There were many benefits to being her student, but the best part was that it made her relationship with her princess knight, Serafina, fun.

Since Brianna was a renowned swordsman on the continent, she was the teacher of Serafina, who was also talented. In other words, when she becomes Brianna’s immediate disciple, she becomes a sister-in-law and priestess with Serafina. Seraphina, who is particularly greedy for talent, becomes even more supportive of her protagonist, who passes Brianna’s demanding eyes and becomes her student.

It was an attractive choice for Gilbert, who currently holds the title of a bastard. At least a capable idiot was better than an incapable idiot. No matter how well he achieved excellent results in the entrance exam, there were still many things that were not good about him.

At least, if he was Brianna’s previous disciple, such attention could be averted, and the conditions set by his father, the Count of Lithuania, could be resolved without any problems.

Given one more reason to quickly clear the subquest, Gilbert turned to his dorm room.

‘Wait a minute.’

Gilbert’s face hardened as a thought suddenly crossed his mind. With a serious expression, he looked at Professor Brianna’s laboratory door, which was tightly closed. Brianna, like her princess knight Serafina, was a character that was ruled unattackable. This too was officially announced by the manufacturer, and was also confirmed by users who had actually played the game.

But the reason was different from Seraphina.

It was true that Brianna did not have a dating route, but it was not because it did not exist like Seraphina.

The reason why Brianna was judged unattackable.

She dies heroically during the main story.

***

Gilbert had barely remembered the fact that Brianna was going to die, but he still had some time to spare. At best, I had just finished the tutorial, and the main story had not progressed yet.

In addition, in order for him to prevent Brianna’s death or do anything, he had to avoid expulsion. The time given to him was exactly one week, and the place he had to travel to was about two days away from the academy, so he had no time to waste.

I wanted to use the teleportation magic circle, but for this quest, it was better to move directly for later purposes.

Gilbert returned to his dorm room in a hurry, grabbed his clothes and left the academy.

His first destination was the place where Theodamas, the Lion King, was said to have died.