My Mind Sword’s Cooldown Is Too Long

Merchen quietly watched Cain’s back as he left the shop.
‘Evil gods… huh.’
It had been 50 years since the manifestation of Belmagor, the evil god of blood and flesh, was eradicated.
There had been people who would mention evil gods in jest, but no one with direct connections had ever been caught.
However, there were a few individuals suspected of worshipping evil gods behind the Empire’s back.
Bes the Corpse Eater and Rui the Poison Drinker, two of the Eight Great Villains.
There were rumors that this pair had been bodyguards for an evil god worshipper.
That’s all the information there was.
Since it was still unconfirmed, only a very small number of people knew about it.
‘Am I mistaken?’
Cain, strangely enough, often proposed solutions to problems within the Empire that even Merchen herself was unaware of.
She didn’t know what kind of impressive information source he had, but his help was quite useful.
However, Cain’s help was always one-way.
He only extended his hand when he wanted to.
Although Merchen had been blatant, Cain might have politely declined.
She might just be overthinking and making assumptions.
‘…Let’s wait until next time for now.’
Cain Calderon was a peculiar person.
On the surface and in his actions, he seemed arrogant at times, but when you talked with him, he wasn’t really like that.
His nickname at the academy, “Bloodless Sword,” was clearly meant to mock him.
But looking at his exploits, it was quite a fitting nickname.
The man who achieved valedictorian with only practical scores without participating in a single mock battle.
Curious about what remarkable achievements allowed him to become valedictorian without mock battles, Merchen periodically tried to obtain Cain’s report card.
As a result of her efforts, she succeeded in recruiting a teacher who retired upon graduation and obtained the report card.
The practical content of Cain’s report that she verified was shocking.
‘Ghost Knight Blackmore, Mutant Beast Gromak, Flame Magic Snake Flamma, and even Frost Wolf Frigilla.’
Most of the named monsters that had settled near Lucaria Academy had died by Cain’s hand.
And they all had only a single wound.
This meant he had killed all the named monsters with a single sword strike.
‘…That’s impossible.’
Hunting named monsters was one thing, but taking them down in one hit was another matter.
How powerful must he be for this to be possible?
Merchen first suspected an accomplice.
Could the head of the Calderon family have been involved?
But if that were the case, Merchen would have noticed.
Then who could it be?
To earn practical points by hunting named monsters at Lucaria Academy, one must hunt alone.
Though there’s no one to directly monitor, if an accomplice is discovered later, it becomes a major issue.
Given how blatant this seems, it might actually be Cain’s real ability.
‘Then… a unique characteristic?’
Unique characteristics.
Very rarely, there are people born with their own innate power.
Could it be similar to Ermion Astralnor, one of the Empire’s Five Stars, who was born with the characteristics of stars?
Merchen briefly pondered but then dismissed the thought.
She didn’t have the luxury of time for such concerns now.
Anyway, judging by his academy grades, he seemed to have something to back him up.
If it wasn’t his real ability, problems would arise.
But that would be a matter for then.
“Merchen. Didn’t you say you had something to show us?”
“Ah, just a moment, Risiella. Would you all take a look at this?”
Merchen pulled out a new paper from inside her garment and showed it to the remaining three.
“What’s this?”
“Cain’s graduation report card.”
[Cain Calderon]

Theoretical Score: Valedictorian
Practical Score: Valedictorian
Overall Ranking: Valedictorian
Risiella, who was reading the report card, paused at one section.
The contents related to the autopsy of Ghost Knight Blackmore recorded in the practical evaluation page.
[Practical Evaluation List]
Ghost Knight Blackmore
Autopsy Record
The cause of Blackmore’s death recorded in the autopsy was a single sword strike.
The others must have paused here too, as they quietly looked up and waited for Merchen to speak.
“Don’t you think there’s something odd about that bastard Cain?”
“He is peculiar. No traces of multiple cuts, no signs of resistance. It seems he really did kill it in one strike.”
“Risiella. Have you ever seen Cain fight?”
“No. He’s the Bloodless Sword, after all.”
Risiella shook her head.
Including her, everyone present—no, everyone in the entire academy—probably had never seen Cain in combat.
He pathologically avoided combat, so they only occasionally crossed paths at the sword training grounds.
“What do you think?”
“Umm… Maybe it’s Cain’s unique characteristic? We have someone like that in our family too…”
Eri cautiously brought up the topic.
Conversations about unique characteristics are quite sensitive.
Even if the information was known, it wasn’t a topic to be easily discussed in front of others.
“If not that… it could be an accomplice.”
“If that’s the case, it must be the family head, right?”
“Of course. This isn’t the scale that those collateral branch rejects or elder council fossils could manage.”
“Risiella…”
Merchen clicked her tongue at Risiella’s hatred for the elder council.
“But if Gin Calderon had moved, we would have known…”
“Well, maybe one of us helped him.”
“…”
A moment of silence followed Risiella’s words.
Even Luina Terranos, who had been listening quietly, was now staring at her.
A clear expression of displeasure.
“Haha! I’m just kidding. Anyway, whatever method he used, it seems he has something to hide.”
“…Or there’s one more possibility.”
“What is it?”
“That the academy falsified the documents.”
“…Merchen, that’s probably not it.”
“Why?”
“Our family also conducted an autopsy on Ghost Knight Blackmore.”
“…What?”
Risiella recalled a memory from her first year at the academy.
Academy professors had visited the Tierniel family.
The contents she saw then completely matched the autopsy record in front of them.
Lucaria Academy is the best in the Empire. Its professors are also individuals with verified skills.
Risiella merely assumed that one of the professors had developed a new sword technique or magic.
She never imagined that the person who felled Blackmore with a single sword would be a student, let alone Cain.
“Merchen, don’t misunderstand. It’s true that our family saw it, but the professors from the academy didn’t give a detailed explanation. I just learned it was Cain now.”
“Don’t worry. I wasn’t thinking that.”
Merchen shook her head and smiled slightly.
Eri, who had been watching her closely, slowly opened her mouth.
“Merchen, you’re not going to get angry…?”
“Me? There’s nothing to be angry about, so why would I be angry?”
“R-really? Actually, they came to our family too!”
“Ah… is that so…?”
“Yes! In my first year, academy people came to our family, and I was curious, so I followed them around, and they explained it to me! They asked if we could find any invisible wounds or traces of magic, so my mother was stuck there all day, but she said nothing came up in the end. I wondered what it was about then, but looking at it now, it’s fascinating!”
“…”
“…Merchen, are you angry because I told you late…?”
“Why would I be angry that you told me late?”
“Then why… ugh… your eyes are scary…”
“I’m not angry about that.”
“Merchen, my cheeks hurt… please stop…”
“How can our Eri say such annoying things so well?”
“I-I’m sorry…”
Merchen, with coldly frozen eyes but a smile on her lips, was roughly pulling Eri’s cheeks.
Watching the two, Risiella turned her gaze to Luina.
Luina, who had been quietly staring at the ceiling, looked towards Risiella when she felt her gaze.
She merely shook her head without saying anything.
Meaning she hadn’t participated in Ghost Knight Blackmore’s autopsy.
It seemed the academy professors hadn’t visited her due to her family’s hostile relationship with Cain’s, possibly fearing bias.
From Merchen’s words, it seemed they hadn’t visited her family either.
In that case…
“This is more dangerous than I thought.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Merchen, who had been punishing Eri’s cheeks, turned around with a puzzled expression.
“Cain has been doing this consistently since his admission year until now.”
“Yes?”
“Then wouldn’t the academy professors have been suspicious of Cain?”
“Hmm… Suspicious of an accomplice? Or a personal characteristic?”
“Both. And one more thing.”
Risiella slowly scanned the three who were focused on the conversation.
“Are you saying… they suspected us?”
“We may not know the truth, but the circumstances are sufficient.”
“Circumstances?”
“They came to our family. They went to Eri’s too, she said.”
The academy professors, after examining the body of Ghost Knight Blackmore that Cain claimed to have hunted, must have had the same doubts.
From their perspective, the existence of an accomplice would have been even more suspicious.
After completing their investigation and grasping the situation to some extent, they would have visited other families.
First, they visited the Tierniel family, which was considered relatively neutral with no hostile relations.
However, they couldn’t get a satisfactory answer.
The elders of Tierniel, living for their own pride, subtly looked down on the academy professors.
The second place they visited was the Astralnor family.
They would have tried to find traces of magic hidden in the corpse.
Since the Calderon family is a swordsmanship family, finding magical traces would make it easy to identify an accomplice.
But they probably couldn’t find substantial evidence at the Astralnor family either.
Additionally, the Eildarin family would have started investigating the academy’s background.
Although Merchen might not have known the detailed inside story, she would have noticed the academy professors were moving.
Sensing something strange was going on, the professors would have halted their investigation.
Wouldn’t they have assumed that the five great families were intertwined with each other?
Risiella briefly explained this to Merchen.
“…What? No, why would we help Cain just because he’s pretty or something?”
“Coincidences can be frightening. By the way, Merchen, did you investigate the professors in your first year?”
“That…”
Merchen trailed off.
Seeing this, Risiella was 100% certain she had conducted an investigation.
Probably quite frequently, and periodically until graduation.
Most families with a foot in politics are like that.
But this time, the situation was bad.
“Cain formed the book club and gathered us around this time. If I were in their position…”
“They would think the five great families are quite corrupt. Sigh…”
Merchen now understood the doubts she had about the treatment she received while attending the academy.
Cain, the valedictorian, didn’t seem interested in school activities, but Merchen was different.
Grades were certainly important, so she wanted to be valedictorian if possible, but second place was fine too.
Based on that, she could create connections within the academy and become friendly with professors.
However, she never received a proper response until now.
Merchen had simply thought the academy professors valued fairness.
“Then all my efforts to give lectures at Lucaria Academy as the second-ranked graduate, or to subtly arrange meetings with incoming academy students?”
“It’s all over.”
“Argh!!!”
Merchen grabbed her head and shouted loudly.
She didn’t want to believe the current situation.
Somehow… she wished it were just a dream…
She was muttering like that.
“It’s getting late today, so let’s part here for now. Let’s talk if any problems arise.”
“…Yes, let’s do that. Sorry, but I’ll head back first…”
Merchen left the shop with a lack of energy.
Her face showed deeper concerns than usual.