Kay looked at him with a bewildered expression at Zeke's confident suggestion.
It was difficult to gauge how much I should trust him.
"Do you know what kind of person Don Juan is?"
Zeke chuckled.
"Probably no one knows more about Don Juan than I do."
In his previous life, when he was McCain's hitman, Zeke was a member of Don Juan's direct cleaning unit.
He did all the dirty work for the cartel, killing and threatening the bosses of rival cartels.
Thanks to Zeke, the McCain cartel was able to solidify its position as the number one cartel in the South.
As a hitman, Zeke had risen to the position of executive, which was rare, and so he knew many of the cartel's secrets.
'From Don Juan's secret vault to the nobles and politicians he feeds money to, he knows everything.'
It was difficult for him to take down all the giant cartels by himself.
However, if the syndicate's information power could be used to take advantage of each cartel force, it would be possible to manipulate them from behind the scenes to bring each other down.
When the cartels were weakened by their attacks on each other, all Zeke had to do was swallow them whole.
But it was a burden for him, as a drake, to step forward and do it himself.
So I thought I'd put Syndicate and Kay in front as agents.
He planned to manipulate all of this behind Kay's back, so that he could move through the South without leaving a trace.
It was a very feasible plan for Zikr.
And in order to put this plan into action, it was first necessary to confront Don Juan, the boss of the McCain Cartel.
When Kay couldn't answer right away, Zeke stood up.
"Think about it carefully and contact me when you've made up your mind."
Zeke left the room without any hesitation.
Kay couldn't get up from her seat for a long time after he left the room.
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't figure out why this suddenly happened to me.
She looked at Zeke's signature engraved on her wrist and pondered.
* * *
A week later, Zeke finally entered Valhalla.
A place where all the descriptions of the continents are gathered.
So, it was a space that the previous life's Jik had never been to.
"Hmm."
Valhalla was roughly the size of a town.
Unlike the strict atmosphere of the academy, Valhalla was very free.
In the schoolyard, students gathered in groups of three or four, laughing and chatting, and some lay on the lawn and sunbathed.
There were students sitting on benches reading books, and there were quite a few people jogging in the morning.
'The atmosphere is very different from what I expected.'
Zick, accustomed to the rigid atmosphere of the cradle and the academy, felt unfamiliar with this free atmosphere.
Just then someone approached Zeke.
"Hey, are you Zeke?"
Zeke looked at the person who had called him.
A man with wild hair was walking up to Zig, strutting his stuff.
Judging by their reddish-brown skin, they seemed to be from a desert region or the southern continent.
The man struck a strange pose, pounded his chest, and then thrust his fist at Zeke.
As Zeke stared blankly, the man shrugged his shoulders and said.
"It's going to take a long time for our Zig Bro to get out of the Academy."
Zeke looked at the man and said.
"Are you Buddy or something?"
Then the man said, imitating Zeke's voice.
"Is that a buddy or something? Hey, bro. What are you doing? Peace! Relax."
Zeke doubted whether the punk in front of him was a real Valhalla student.
Just looking at their actions reminded me of the imperial scoundrels.
The man chuckled and led Zig, whose face was still trembling.
"My name is Diego, Diego Villa. Nice to meet you, bro."
Zeke was surprised to hear Diego's name.
"Are you really Diego Villa?"
Diego again took on a strange pose and shouted 'Peace'.
Zeke looked at him with a more suspicious expression.
'Is this guy the future rhyme knight?'
Diego Villa was one of the five knights who fought in the Third Continental War.
Diego Villa, the knight of rhyme.
Knight of the Flash, Reyna Draker.
Jeffric Solmar, Knight of the Smoke.
Bishop Castic, Knight of Silence.
Welcome to the Knight of Aster Aladov.
People praised the achievements of those who played a leading role in the Third Continental War by calling them the 'Five Star Knights'.
Zeke looked at Diego, who was leading him around Valhalla, and thought about the other five-star knights.
'Except for Reyna, the other four were not Drakers. What if I make all the guys I meet in Valhalla my subordinates?'
If he had the Mercenary King Liam and the Five Star Knights as his subordinates, he would be able to build up his power more quickly.
'Valhalla is a treasure trove of talent. There may be hidden talents who have yet to gain fame in the future.'
Zeke nodded inwardly, thinking that he might be able to find someone who could later be brought into his power, including the Five Star Knights.
After wandering around for a while, it was time for dinner so the two went into a restaurant.
"Zeke Bro. You have to eat here when you're in Valhalla."
The place Diego guided us to was a restaurant that sold Southern Continent home cooking.
As for Zeek, who didn't have any good memories of his past life in the South, he didn't really like Southern food, but he sat down anyway.
Soon, a generous portion of Southern-style food arrived.
Zeek picked up a tortilla and put it in his mouth.
"Hmm? It's delicious."
Diego chuckled at the positive response and patted Zeke on the shoulder.
While eating, Zeke listened to stories about Diego.
He was from a small kingdom in the Southern Continent, but came to the Central Continent to study.
Diego was forced to learn the dual swordsmanship that had been passed down through his family since he was young, but he was so talented that he surpassed his father, his teacher, at the age of only fifteen.
"But I like music better. While we're on the subject, why don't you join our club, bro?"
They say it's a club that studies fusion new age music that mixes central continent melodies with the rhythms of southern traditional music, but Zick refuses, saying he doesn't understand what it is even after hearing the explanation.
Actually, I wasn't interested in music and I didn't have time for it.
After we finished eating and chatting like that, Diego suggested that we go to class together in the afternoon.
"Can I just go into the upperclassmen class?"
"Anyway, Academy graduates! Valhalla is free! Peace! Anything related to learning is allowed, Bro. Let's go!"
Zeke was dragged to Diego and decided to take the class with him.
The place Diego was taken to was a liberal arts class with the strange title, 'Special Lecture by Celebrities Leading the Central Continent.'
Zeke, who had followed Diego, was sitting in the large lecture hall with a sullen expression.
"Bro! Smile!"
Diego smiled and spoke to Zig while looking at him like that, and Zig felt slightly tired as he watched Diego talking nonstop next to him.
'I think it would be okay to leave this guy out of the five star knights.'
As I was thinking that, the students around me started to murmur.
She was whispering to herself while glancing at Zeke, who was sitting next to Diego. Diego's voice was quite loud, so she turned around and found him.
Zik looked at the students who were groaning and looking at them and wondered what was going on.
Diego, who was standing next to him, suddenly became excited when he heard the students' commotion.
"What? Zeke Bro, was that Draker?"
Zeke looked at Diego as if he found it ridiculous.
"You didn't know that until now?"
"I just thought you were from the Academy. I thought you were some kind of dirty, shit-ass. That's what happened!"
"… … "
At that moment, a group of students came up to Zeke.
"Are you Zeke Draker? Nice to meet you. My name is Doug, of the Roswell family. I am a graduate of the 1025th class of the Academy."
It was a family name that sounded familiar.
Zeke asked Doug.
"Do you have a younger sibling?"
Then Doug nodded, seemingly satisfied.
"Do you know Durban? Well, I heard that everyone in the Academy knows Durban, the Tragedy. My younger brother is also scheduled to enter Valhalla next year."
"… … "
I heard it somewhere and it was as expected.
Zeke thought that if Durban, who was a disgrace, could come in, then Valhalla's level was lower than he thought, but in fact, Durban's skills were among the top in the Academy, even though he had been beaten by Zeke.
There, the Roswell family was a prominent family with long-standing close ties to the Siemens family, a powerful Draker family.
It was no accident that brothers Doug and Durban entered Valhalla.
But Zeke was listening to Doug's words and was seriously contemplating the level of Valhalla.
And without knowing what Zeke was thinking, the children of the leading families of the Central Continent, including Doug, gathered in front of Zeke.
"Zeke Draker! I am of the House of Thebes… … ."
"I am Alencia's… … ."
"I am the second son of the Central Continent Fruit and Vegetable Guild… … ."
Everyone was curious about Zeke when they heard that a new student with Blue Knight-level skills had entered the school at the age of fifteen.
As people kept crowding in, Zick started getting a little annoyed.
He glared at Diego, who was smiling beside him with an expression of ignorance.
That was when.
Clap clap!
As the applause grew louder, the people who had gathered around Zig all dispersed and took their seats.
None other than President Flaubert himself was on the podium.
It was only then that Zeke realized why there were so many people from the Central Kingdom nobility in his simple liberal arts classes.
It was a class where the president, Flaubert, personally invited celebrities and listened to their life stories.
But Diego, who had brought her, did not listen to the class and took out his notebook and started doing something else. After writing the lyrics for a new song, he showed it to Zeke.
"Hey, bro. How about these lyrics? The rhyme is killer, huh?"
Zeke ignored Diego's quiet whisper.
Flaubert began introducing the nouns.
"It was very difficult to bring in the person who will be speaking to you today."
As the president nodded along with the words, the door opened and someone came in.
Zeke opened his mouth wide when he saw the person who came in.
'Master Duke?'
Duke, neatly dressed in a Drake suit, came up to the stage.
Then, the teaching assistants behind them raised a placard behind the stage.
" I, Duke Draker. How I Went from the Academy's Lowest Class to the Black Knight "
The students' eyes sparkled and their expressions filled with anticipation at the appearance of Duke Draker, the Knight of the Storm.
The president also came down from the podium and sat in the front row to listen to Duke's lecture.
Duke grabbed the voice amplifier with a slightly nervous expression.
"Ahem. I am honored to be invited to Valhalla, the place I longed for, as a special lecturer. Even though I was never able to become a student there."
At those words, all the students laughed out loud.
Zeke could feel the true power of authority as he watched his students react and laugh out loud to Duke's every word.
Unlike when he was with Zeke himself, Duke was very happy to see the students responding immediately and favorably.
Duke's life lecture began with great anticipation.
The Duke's life story continued like that for about two hours.
But Duke was better at speaking than I thought.
The problem was that there was so much talk.
At first, I felt that the students who had been listening intently were gradually getting tired.
Since they were originally students who were knights, they were not used to listening to other people's stories, let alone when they were sparring.
As the Duke's life story continued without interruption, Dean Flaubert, who had invited him, also looked slightly embarrassed.
Although he signaled with his eyes for them to break off and leave, the Duke, absorbed in his own story, ignored the president's signal and continued on.
"So I told Gaju, think again. This isn't real. And then Arthur… … ."
That was when.
The classroom door opened and someone walked in.
Clank. Clank.
A knight covered in silver armor all over his body.
A beautiful, statuesque face with platinum-blond hair that doesn't match the armor.
The students stood up from their seats in surprise.
"Ship, Silver Knight!"
"Hey, Carly Draker!"
None other than the eldest of the direct bloodlines of the Draker family has revealed themselves.