Even after Professor Rosalia and Fernan left the Academy, the festival continued.
Slash—
A corrupted one’s head was severed. The ashes of the already incinerated book fell to the ground, and the body scattered like dust.
“They don’t even stop during the festival.”
Aint sheathed his sword.
— In just a few days, you’ve already caught two. Don’t they get tired? What the hell are they looking for?
All the corrupted infiltrated into the Academy had been discovered. Partly thanks to Aint’s efforts, but mostly because the rector, with his pride wounded, had opened his furious eyes and ordered an exhaustive search.
Even so, the corrupted kept sneaking in, as if they refused to accept failure. No one knew what their purpose was.
“Could it be they’re hiding something else, like what we found that time with the senior?”
The demonic flesh that had been hidden in the place Abel Kalens had led them to.
But after that failure, it seemed they had become more cautious, as at least on the surface, no more contaminated land had been reported.
Of course, they couldn’t afford to dismantle the entire Academy to look either. Unless they could pinpoint a specific area.
“Did you take care of it?”
At that moment, the rector approached.
“Yes, it’s done. And you, rector?”
“Same. Those insects never get tired of crawling in here. And we still don’t know what they’re after.”
There was concern that the corrupted would ruin the festival. If something exploded during the event, it would be impossible to cover up.
For now, all they could do was do everything possible to find and eradicate them.
“I saw your performance in Esrin through the recording orb. Thanks to that, I can leave with more peace of mind.”
“You’re going out?”
“My grandson is sick. I’ll go visit him. I probably won’t return until after the festival ends.”
“Then, the closing ceremony…?”
“The vice-rector will handle it in my place.”
The rector said it without giving it much importance. But considering that during the closing of the Academy Foundation Festival the emperor himself attended, that was a huge responsibility for the vice-rector.
“You should also take the chance to enjoy the festival. I asked for your help, but I don’t intend to take all your fun time.”
“Yes. Actually, I’m about to meet with my friends.”
“Youth, youth.”
The rector handed over the reward for the mission. Aint smiled upon receiving the coin pouch, quite hefty.
“We’ll see each other when I return.”
“Yes, take care.”
After parting ways with the rector, Aint took a quick shower and headed into town.
— The emperor is coming and the rector still leaves. The imperial authority is on the ground.
‘Hasn’t imperial power always been weak?’
As far as Aint knew, the Armian Empire had been formed by barely pinning several kingdoms together, so the emperor’s authority had always been weak.
— Even so, there used to be respect and deference toward the emperor. Otherwise, why be emperor?
— In my time, this would’ve been unthinkable.
It wasn’t a lie. Even if imperial authority was crumbling, the emperor was still different from other nobles.
Of course, Gardner’s absolute idea of imperial authority came from the overwhelming power and strength of the first emperor.
“Ah, Aint!”
Aria spotted him from afar and waved as she approached.
“Good to see you. Let the others know I won’t make it to the meeting today.”
“Suddenly?”
“Yes. I’m helping Professor Dominique.”
“Professor Dominique?”
“They say he’ll be closing the festival, and he wants to use spirits to make it more spectacular.”
The festival’s closing consisted of giant fireworks illuminating the entire Academy sky.
“But why you? And Professor Nania?”
“Professor Nania asked me. She said she couldn’t do it alone with so little time and asked for help. It was decided suddenly.”
“Got it. I’ll let the others know.”
After saying goodbye, Aint entered the tavern. Valoshi and Verian were already there, drinking beer.
“Just in time.”
Valoshi greeted him with a wave.
“I thought you wouldn’t come. Don’t you have the semifinals tomorrow?”
“It doesn’t matter. As long as it’s not Senior Almon in the final, I can beat anyone.”
Valoshi smiled confidently.
“With Rob, Luina, and you out this year, it feels very different. Ah, and you too, Verian.”
“Don’t shove me onto the list.”
Verian responded brusquely, crossing his legs.
“So you’ll face Senior Almon after all. Are you sure you can win?”
“I have to. With my sister causing such a stir in the world, how could I, her brother, show a mediocre image?”
“By the way, I heard Professor Rosalia left with Senior Fernan. Did you know?”
“…Oh really? I had no idea.”
Valoshi nodded indifferently, but Aint and Verian immediately noticed a hint of discomfort.
‘Doesn’t get along with the professor?’
‘Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen them together at the Academy.’
Though they were professor and student, nearly two years had passed since Valoshi had enrolled, and yet they were never seen together.
“I can hear everything.”
“Then listen.”
“We’re not close. We were when we were kids, but at some point my sister started distancing herself.”
He didn’t really remember since when. He was very young at the time.
The only thing still engraved in his memory were those cold eyes looking down on him.
At the time, he didn’t understand why she had changed so suddenly. Now, with time, he understood. And that’s why he didn’t dare to approach her first.
“My sister really hates me.”
“…That happens.”
“I hate my younger brother too. He always rebels against me. Anyway, why hasn’t Aria arrived yet?”
Verian changed the subject.
“I saw her on the way. She said she wouldn’t come.”
“What? Why not?”
“Because she’s helping Professor Dominique with the fireworks for the final day. Apparently, they’re going to use spirits to make them more spectacular.”
“And why Aria?”
“She said she’d be working with Professor Nania. She and the professor are the best spirit summoners.”
“What’s wrong, are you bothered that Aria isn’t coming?”
“It’s not that.”
At Valoshi’s tease, Verian downed his dark beer in one go.
“Why drink alone? Let’s make a toast. To Valoshi making it to the semifinals!”
The three mugs of beer clinked.
Aint smiled broadly.
He had come to the Academy with the great goal of restoring his family’s honor and had fought tirelessly against the corrupted.
It wasn’t that he disliked it, but sometimes, a peaceful day like this wasn’t bad at all.
“Senior Fernan said we could eat here as much as we wanted. This place is his.”
“It’s harder to find a place in the Academy not somehow tied to Pellenberg money.”
“That’s true.”
The laughter grew deeper.
***
While the three companions drank beer from early on, Aria knocked on Professor Dominique’s lab door.
“Aria Fridian? Come in. The professors are waiting for you.”
“Welcome, Aria.”
Upon entering, she was greeted by Dominique, who looked quite haggard.
“…Are you okay, professor?”
“I’m fine. Just some sleepless nights due to research, work, and now preparations for the fireworks.”
But his appearance went beyond mere sleep deprivation; he looked nearly like a corpse.
“Where’s Professor Nania?”
“She went to her lab to fetch something she needed.”
Dominique stopped drawing the magic circle he had been working on and stood up.
“First, thank you for agreeing to help me. It’s a bit embarrassing to ask a student for help when I’m the professor.”
“It’s no problem. Honestly, I wanted to try it at least once.”
“Please, have a seat here.”
He pushed aside piles of papers and asked the assistants to bring tea.
“While we wait for Professor Nania, I’ll explain what this is about. Have you heard anything yet?”
“That you’re in charge of the fireworks to close the festival.”
“Exactly. It’s my first time handling it, so I want to go big.”
The assistants served tea. Dominique poured milk into his black tea and stirred it with a small spoon.
“As a professor of Illusions and Deception, I want it to be beautiful and spectacular.”
He took a sip, added a spoonful of sugar, and stirred again.
“It’s a personal whim. Since it’s a minor branch of magic, I rarely get to showcase its beauty.”
“Ah, I see what you mean.”
“That’s also why I agreed to guide Carlo Deneb. It was a way to show that illusion magic isn’t useless.”
Luckily, Carlo had managed to defeat Liana Horton, yielding better-than-expected results.
“Thanks to that, there’s now a lot of interest in my subject. Maybe next semester the number of students will increase. The fireworks will be the cherry on top.”
Dominique smiled with satisfaction.
“So you’re planning to combine illusions with fireworks?”
“And add spirits. Professor Nania agreed enthusiastically. She says spiritualism is also not very popular.”
“Well, spiritualism is a different case, don’t you think?”
“Yes, it requires a lot of talent, but we believe that if more people become interested, another sensitive might appear.”
“Could be.”
Dominique added another spoonful of sugar.
Tap, tap—the spoon clinked against the cup in a steady rhythm.
“So, what will we do with the spirits?”
“We’ll use them as the core of the illusions. I want to create a sort of theatrical performance in the sky, with symbols of the Empire soaring across the firmament.”
Like Saintbirds or dragons.
“That sounds fun.”
As Aria spoke, she noticed how much sugar the professor was adding to his tea; she’d noticed it before.
“And what exactly will my role be?”
“I want you to stabilize the spirits. Since we’ll be using them as the core of the illusions, they might resist the artificial process.”
“Ah, they definitely will.”
Tap, tap—
“We’ll need many spirits to cover the entire Academy sky. That’s why we asked for your help.”
“I understand.”
“Thanks to that, we can pull this off. With just Professor Nania, it was difficult, especially since several of the spirit cores she prepared were destroyed.”
“I see… Sorry, what did you say?”
Aria, who had been absently staring at her cup, lifted her head.
“That I appreciate your help.”
“Ah, right. I also heard there would be a reward…”
“Of course. The easiest would be to pay you, but I doubt the daughter of the Fridians needs money. If instead you want to ask me a favor within the Academy, I’ll grant it.”
“Alright.”
At that moment, Professor Nania entered.
“Aria… I mean, Student Aria, you’re already here. What were you talking about?”
“I was explaining what she needs to do. Now we can really get started.”
“Yes, I’m ready.”
“Then…”
Dominique unfurled dozens of magic diagrams.
“For the spirits…”
“We can’t imprint a direct seal on them, so we’ll have to…”
“Here we should…”
The night went on as they worked.
____
Join the discord!
https://dsc.gg/indra
