“How…?”
Surprisingly, Professor Dominique remained calm.
“Would you like a cup of tea?”
He took out some cups from the corner of the laboratory and slowly began preparing tea.
“Sit down.”
“……”
“You must have many questions. Are you going to stand the whole time?”
“…This, is this what I think it is?”
Dominique poured milk into the freshly prepared tea.
“Well, if I answered so easily, it wouldn’t be any fun. What do you think?”
“…It’s true.”
“Correct answer.”
He added sugar and stirred calmly.
“It’s the same as the books Abel Kalens and Roderick Fisher had. But…”
He took a sip of the sweetened tea and looked up at Aint.
“How long do you plan on watching me from over there?”
───!
A sudden pressure made Aint swallow hard. It was heavy. Was this man truly a corrupt?
“Sit down. Don’t you want answers?”
— Listen to what he has to say, Aint. That calmness is suspicious. He’s hiding something.
Gardner was right. Suppressing his anger, Aint sat down.
“…Professor, you’re a corrupt.”
“And yet you still call me ‘professor’?”
He smiled.
“Why? Why did you become a corrupt? Were you the one who made contracts with demons inside the academy? Are you the one who created the corrupts?”
“Well, that’s ambiguous.”
Despite Aint’s growl, Dominique closed his eyes in thought.
“I could say yes, or I could say no.”
“Are you playing with words?”
“Does it seem like I’m playing with words?”
A wave of miasma exploded. Aint opened his eyes wide and endured it.
“Drac Vener, Aaron Frain, Roderick Fisher, Daniel Kool, Abel Kalens, Laurencios Sidis, Izard Volens.”
“…What are you doing?”
“Setris Berlo, Epister Sloss, Haveron Michaelis, Lucy Allencl, Urs Evertsen, Margee Kravelin, Cornel Iorga.”
“I asked what you’re doing!”
“I’m answering. To a student’s questions, as a professor.”
Ah, are there some names you don’t know?
“Drac Vener was just an ordinary citizen who recently ran a bookstore in the academy’s city. But, poor man, Professor Rosalia caught him accused of being a corrupt. He was tortured and is now dead.”
Laurencios Sidis, maybe you don’t know.
“He wasn’t in the academy, but in the Kingdom of Alprosen, where he faced Fernan Pellenberg.”
And as for Izard Volens, Setris Berlo, Epister Sloss, Haveron Michaelis, Lucy Allencl, Urs Evertsen, Margee Kravelin, Cornel Iorga.
“They are the ones who, in recent months, infiltrated the academy again and again and ended up being exterminated by you and the rector.”
Of those, the answer is “yes.”
“But if we talk about the other corrupts you encountered, the answer would be no.”
Clack. Dominique checked the pocket watch hanging from his neck.
“What do you mean by that…?”
“Do you know what all of them have in common?”
His smile widened. The corner of his lips lifted and never came down.
“That they were all me.”
“Then, the one responsible for turning them into corrupts was…?”
“No, no. You misunderstand.”
It’s not that he created them. They were him.
“Myself, Aint Armian.”
Aint’s eyes widened. Dominique’s laughter echoed in the silent laboratory.
Clang! He struck the table with the book.
“All those who had books like this…”
“Were me.”
“What the hell are you saying?!”
Unable to comprehend, Aint froze.
— Wait… could it be…?
Gardner was shocked, but Dominique spoke first.
“I’ve been preparing for a long time to destroy the academy.”
His pupils exuded a faint miasma. The inescapable pressure forced Aint into silence.
“Think about it. If the academy falls, what do you think will happen to the Empire?”
It was the place where the continent’s most capable gathered. The cradle of the Empire and of the entire continent.
If it disappeared, the Empire’s future would be ruined. It was the perfect spot to uproot humanity.
But it wasn’t easy.
“There were too many obstacles. More than I could count.”
Even after becoming a professor and a man from within, there were still many mountains to climb.
“But I didn’t care. Time was on my side. Until you appeared, Aint Armian.”
The fallen Armian family.
The boy who, against all logic, mastered the secret sword that should have vanished.
“Maybe I didn’t understand what went wrong, but I knew what had to be done.”
Eliminate him. Cut the bud before it bloomed.
“Ha, but then another unexpected variable appeared…”
Dominique’s mood swung between laughter and anger, and the emotional instability chilled Aint even more.
“Fernan Pellenberg’s fall was already planned. I had carefully prepared my great blow.”
But Fernan slowly began approaching Aint and saved him several times.
“I had prepared so much and it all fell apart. I couldn’t believe it.”
How did he do it?
Even though it was a question, he didn’t expect an answer. Dominique continued speaking.
“Demons learn. And I changed methods.”
I decided to go back to the beginning. Half-baked methods only made Fernan turn the tables. I had to ensure it by yielding flesh to take bone.
“And the beginning is the academy.”
Clack. Dominique set down the empty cup, poured more tea, added milk, and five spoons of sugar.
“First, I planted a medium inside the academy. I’m sure you saw it. Those eyes overflowing with miasma.”
“Abel Kalens…”
“Exactly. Through Abel, I approached you and Fernan. Those were the Eyes of Andrealphus.”
The 65th-ranked demon, Andrealphus, possessed hundreds of eyes.
“And then, I began creating those ‘mes.’ I deliberately approached you, Fernan, and the rector, and died on purpose.”
“…Died on purpose?”
You don’t get it. That makes it even more fun.
Dominique gently tapped the cup with the spoon.
“As you know, summoning a demon requires massive amounts of miasma, mana, and life.”
You know this well, don’t you?
“The Eyes of Andrealphus contain enough miasma, but not enough to summon the main body.”
And with the rector watching so closely, producing enough sacrifices inside the academy was impossible.
“So I sent those ‘mes.’ As substitutes for the sacrifices. I made them die on purpose to make it look like they disappeared.”
“Make it look like they disappeared…?”
“Exactly. In reality, they didn’t disappear. They were being absorbed into the core I created deep within this island.”
Ah, it was quite exhausting.
“Creating those ‘mes’ and making them die was, even for me, like tearing pieces of flesh from my own body.”
But I already told you, didn’t I? Yield flesh to take bone.
The reason Dominique had been so exhausted for months was now clear.
“Do you know how ridiculous it was for me to watch you all, not knowing that each corrupt you killed was turning into my source of energy?”
Thanks to that, I moved the plan forward much sooner than expected. And it was so much fun.
Thank you, Aint.
He clapped with genuine delight, laughing like a madman.
“Now! Months of accumulated energy. The moment is ripe. And do you know what’s missing now?”
“…….”
“What a shame. If it had been Fernan, this conversation would be much easier. Knights are always so ignorant.”
Tsk, he clicked his tongue.
“The answer is the magic circle.”
If energy was the source, the magic circle was the circuit that determined how to use it.
With such a huge amount of accumulated energy, a magic circle capable of detonating it was needed.
“But just like with the sacrifices, with the rector watching so closely, I couldn’t draw a demon summoning circle lightly. That’s why I volunteered to handle the fireworks for the founding anniversary.”
“……!”
“A gigantic magic circle, covering the entire academy and painting the sky with beauty. Isn’t it thrilling just to think about?”
Aint stood up abruptly.
“I won’t let you succeed! I’ll stop you! I’ll kill you and neutralize the demon summoning!”
Growling, Aint grabbed the pendant on his neck. The sword, which had been reduced, returned to its original form.
“Do you know something?”
But Professor Dominique remained unshaken.
“I agree with what Professor Rosalia said.”
He calmly crossed his legs and savored his tea.
“Talking without being asked, boasting about one’s plans…”
And that’s why, in the end, they fail.
“What a great foolishness. Voluntarily exposing your weaknesses to the enemy.”
But I must admit, it’s not so bad.
“Your face changing, the fear and the consternation you now feel are quite entertaining.”
Now I understand why villains do such third-rate nonsense.
It might become my new hobby.
“And yet…”
Beyond the amusement, it was true that saying too much could ruin a plan.
“Do you really not understand why I’m telling you all this?”
“…What?”
What a pity. If it were Fernan, he would’ve already understood.
“I was surprised that you arrived so soon, but thank you for playing along.”
Dominique tilted his head slightly.
“No matter what you think or try to do now, it’s already too late to stop it.”
The plan was already in motion, Aint Armian. While you were listening to my story.
“I prepared a lot for this moment.”
I set a trap for Fernan Pellenberg.
I cursed the rector’s grandson.
I inoculated miasma into Carlo Deneb to plant suspicion in you.
I dragged Aria into it and brainwashed her.
And with that, I made sure you would come here on your own.
“And finally, I placed this book deliberately so that you would see it.”
Thus, at this precise moment in which you are here.
“You can no longer stop its descent.”
Dominique threw the empty cup. Crash! The fine porcelain shattered into dozens of pieces.
That was the signal.
Clack—
The laboratory door, which had been slightly ajar when Dominique entered, now closed.
Two elf women stood in front of it.
“Aria…! Professor Nania…!”
Their eyes were unfocused.
The summoned spirits showed hostility toward Aint.
At the same time, the entire laboratory lit up.
What he had taken for simple research formulas was actually a magic circle. A massive circle forming a prison.
And then—
Snap.
Dominique gently snapped his fingers.
Ring, ring—
The lab’s alarm clock struck exactly seven.
Immediately—
─────!
The fireworks exploded outside the window.
A massive Saintbird of pure white fire soared across the skies of the academy.
“Never.”
____
Join the discord!
https://dsc.gg/indra
