The lecture proceeded with enthusiastic cooperation.
The Swordsmanship Department showed the greatest interest.
But, when you think about it, this was also a field dealing with the flow of mana. So, students from the Magic Department were intrigued as well.
The rest, studying general academics, simply enjoyed the spectacle.
“Like this, like this—spin it around!”
Yuri taught loudly, demonstrating with an artifact in hand.
Suddenly, the auditorium was filled with students brandishing swords, manipulating mana.
“When rotations repeat, what do you get? A bigger rotation. Small rotations combine into a large rotation, large rotations become massive rotations, and massive rotations gather into ultra-massive rotations!”
But in truth, Yuri had no real intention of teaching properly.
Without deep insight, no amount of instruction would help.
Telling novices to wield a spinning whirlwind sword would only instill bad habits.
But what did it matter?
To Yuri, the Empire was the enemy.
He was poisoning the well.
“Hohoho…”
Outwardly, he feigned passionate teaching.
“See? You’re getting it, you’re getting it!”
One student, almost by accident, managed to create a spinning whirlwind with his sword.
But it didn’t last.
Though the rotational energy swirled around his blade, he couldn’t build the fractal structure like Yuri, and it quickly dissipated.
Yuri thumped his chest in mock frustration, making a big show of it.
From the students’ perspective, it was infuriating.
“Seriously? Why can’t I do it? I’m totally baffled right now.”
Yuri shook his head.
“Progress is slower than I thought. Is this really how the Academy operates?”
He stepped down from the podium to personally guide the students.
Gradually, he moved toward the person he had targeted.
The student’s face turned pale.
“Let’s see… this one’s name is Edran, right?”
Thanks to Dale’s testimony, Yuri already knew his face.
He approached Edran’s seat. Edran’s sword hand trembled, his expression ghostly pale.
“You didn’t expect me to come all the way here, did you?”
“Uh, um…”
Yuri patted his shoulder.
“Come on, just do as I say. If you master the spinning whirlwind sword, you’ll get stronger.”
Edran forced mana to rise, but with Yuri standing so close, his mind faltered, and he kept breaking the mana flow.
Yuri gripped his shoulder firmly.
“Can’t even do this?”
“It’s… difficult.”
“Not good. Edran, I’ll give you special lessons.”
He said that, lightly shaking Edran’s shoulder.
“We’ll talk later.”
Edran’s face turned from pale to ashen.
Yuri returned to the podium.
The Swordsmanship students were desperately trying to create the spinning whirlwind sword, while the Magic students studied how to generate rotational force with mana.
Yuri felt pleased.
The Empire’s future warriors were wasting their time obsessing over the spinning whirlwind sword.
He redoubled his efforts.
“That’s a whirlpool? That’s a spinning whirlwind? Ah, listen. Make two mana flows. Then spin them. Like a snake, you know? Snake. They meet like this, naturally intertwining. Mix them up, one by one. Rub them together, rub hard. Keep rubbing. Spin this way, spin that way, forward, backward—spin it all around. That’s a whirlpool. Just keep doing that.”
But no one understood a word.
As time passed, a few managed to produce some rotation, but Yuri found it woefully inadequate.
He called three students who showed some progress up onto the stage.
“You there, you there, and you. Come up here.”
One boy and two girls.
“Show me the spinning whirlwind you’ve created. It doesn’t have to be perfect. That’s actually better for learning.”
They each raised their swords and generated rotation.
Though they couldn’t control the vortex as freely as Yuri, spiraling winds swirled around their blades.
But it was all just imitation.
“Prince.”
One of the girls spoke to Yuri.
“You’re amazing. How do you control mana so well…?”
Her eyes shone with genuine admiration.
Feeling pleased, Yuri examined her blade and offered advice.
“Don’t force the mana too much. Think of it as lightly lifting it.”
“Like this?”
“Boosting output isn’t the key. Try making the mana feel lighter instead.”
“It’s hard…”
Gradually, her whirlwind grew faster and stronger.
She waved her sword excitedly.
“Look! It’s working!”
“Well done. You have talent.”
“Wow…”
She seemed deeply impressed by Yuri.
“Prince, will you come back to the Academy again?”
“If I have time before leaving the capital, maybe.”
“Please teach us again next time.”
“I’ll consider it.”
As they chatted, the boy who had come up with them muttered.
“But isn’t this kind of impractical for real combat?”
Yuri looked at him. The boy swung his sword a few times, then lowered it.
“Isn’t it too cumbersome for the battlefield? I wonder if it’s ever been used in actual war.”
Yuri felt deflated. He had memories of swinging his sword on the steppes, tearing apart orcs’ limbs, yet this boy doubted that.
He studied the boy.
His posture was disciplined, and the mana he radiated was substantial.
He seemed to be one of the Academy’s top students.
Yuri asked the girl beside him.
“How good is he in the Swordsmanship Department?”
“Probably the strongest…”
“Number one, huh? And number two?”
“That’s me.”
“And the other guy is third?”
“About that…”
Yuri nodded. If he was the Academy’s strongest, his pride made sense.
Yuri himself had once relied solely on talent, living recklessly like a thunderbolt.
Compared to that, this boy had at least earned the top spot at the Academy.
If he were truly exceptional, a noble family would have taken him in or he’d be training with the knights, but still, being the Academy’s best was impressive.
“Name?”
“Capri.”
“Capri. I’ll show you just how powerful the spinning whirlwind sword can be in real combat. Draw your sword.”
“This place is too cramped…”
“It’s fine.”
Yuri smiled.
“This won’t be a fight that needs much space.”
Capri’s expression hardened. He seemed proud of his skill.
“Understood. Whatever happens now, I’m ready.”
Capri drew his sword.
The auditorium buzzed as Yuri and Capri crossed blades.
The Academy’s strongest student versus the Third Prince of Briole, famed for his exploits in the Alliance army.
A spectacle like no other.
The Swordsmanship students leaned forward, eyes locked on the duel.
Capri warned,
“You might regret this today.”
Yuri laughed.
“You one of those talkative types?”
“Not at all.”
Capri focused. A sharp gleam flared from his blade.
“Don’t underestimate an Academy student.”
He advanced. His footwork was light, his movements clean.
The arc of his sword was precise, like a perfect stroke of a brush.
But that was all.
He wasn’t as brutal as an orc tearing a man apart with bare hands, nor as refined as Laurent, nor as clever as Jared.
Bernard or Jose were in a different league altogether.
Yuri felt a twinge of disappointment.
Had he only met exceptional fighters until now?
After dodging a strike, Yuri asked,
“Got any money at home?”
“Huh?”
“No money?”
“Uh…”
Capri was caught off guard by the sudden question.
“Not none at all…”
“That’s enough.”
Yuri extended his ‘Guilty’ sword toward Capri’s blade.
He shrank the spinning whirlwind sword down to a ‘small rotation’ and unleashed it.
The sudden vortex sucked in Capri’s sword.
One contact was all it took.
Capri’s blade warped and shattered into pieces.
Metal shards flew, leaving a thin scratch on Capri’s cheek.
“Ah, no…”
The duel was brief, and the difference overwhelming.
As Yuri gathered his mana, the swirling pattern on Guilty’s blade slowly faded.
Capri clutched his aching wrist, staring blankly at Yuri.
“Uh, sorry. Can someone from the Magic Department come over and heal him?”
“How…?”
“This is the spinning whirlwind sword. If this had been real combat, you know what would’ve happened, right?”
If Yuri had used the technique properly, it wouldn’t have been the sword that shattered, but Capri himself.
“How can you use it so fast…?”
Capri couldn’t believe it.
He had to whirl mana for a long time just to get a semblance of rotation, but Yuri layered rotations in an instant.
It was like a lightning strike.
“How did you do that?”
“Just work hard.”
“No…”
A Magic Department student came up and cast a healing spell on Capri’s cheek. Capri still looked dazed.
Soon, the students burst into applause.
Even Capri, the Academy’s strongest, had been defeated in a single move.
Yuri had proven firsthand that his skill was genuine.
“Hmm…”
Yuri decided to end the lesson on the Black Whirlwind Sword here. It seemed the poison had been fully neutralized.
After sending the three students off, he climbed back onto the podium.
“That’s it for today’s Black Whirlwind Sword class.”
The students, unaware of Yuri’s true intentions, looked satisfied and fulfilled.
The Black Whirlwind Sword was difficult but fascinating, and Yuri had even come down from the podium to interact directly with the students. At the end, he sparred with one of the academy’s students.
The class had a higher satisfaction rate than most.
“Now, I’ll take questions. Anyone curious about anything?”
Hands shot up all around.
Yuri was a bit surprised by the number of students eager to participate.
He pointed to the first student who raised his hand.
The student stood up abruptly and asked, “Your Highness, there’s a rumor that your relationship with the princess of the Holy Kingdom was a lie. Is that true?”
Suddenly, a question about his personal life.
Yuri fell silent for a moment.
“Hmm…”
Everyone who needed to know already did, and there was no point hiding it now.
He nodded.
“Yes, that’s true.”
“Why would you do that?”
“One question per person,” Yuri said firmly.
He quickly moved on to the next student with a raised hand.
“Yes, you there.”
“My question’s the same. I want to know why you spread that lie.”
The student pressed him like a reporter.
Yuri wondered what was really going on, then noticed several students holding thin magazines titled Nights of the Imperial City.
That publication was notorious for sensational gossip.
It was the exact opposite of Empire Monthly, the magazine that had interviewed Yuri.
Apparently, they were asking about the rumors covered in those magazines.
Yuri sighed.
He had volunteered to take questions, so he couldn’t back out now.
Maybe it was time to admit that his relationship with Sibylla had been fake.
So he answered honestly.
“I got tired of all the introductions, so I made it up.”
“Wow…”
“No way…”
The questions kept coming.
“I heard you once fought Prince Georg’s champion in a duel…”
“That you ate with soldiers from the Alliance army because…”
“Then, is there someone you have your eye on now…?”
After the long lecture, Yuri was exhausted. He had expected trivial questions, but not an interrogation about his private life.
This was the Imperial City.
Why were the students so obsessed with gossip instead of asking constructive questions?
“Why is that?”
“Ugh, ugh…”
At Yuri’s words, a muffled sound came from a man tied to a chair with a sack over his head.
When Laurent pulled the sack off, Edran’s face appeared, gagged and pale.
Every time he struggled, the chair’s legs scraped against the floor.
“Quiet. Be quiet.”
Yuri approached Edran.
“We have some things to settle between us, don’t we?”