The Long Night of Insomnia
Tragedy always comes without warning.
After roughly tidying up our sleeping area, we washed ourselves in the shower facility located near the base camp. Soaking my fatigue-drenched body in hot water felt like my stiff muscles were slowly loosening, one by one.
“Whoa~ The facilities here are actually decent~”
“Yeah, not bad at all.”
Gold Tae-yang and I muttered those words as we stepped out of the shower. For a makeshift facility on an island, it was unbelievably clean and luxurious. From what I’d heard, the academy had built it specifically for their field trips… No matter how you looked at it, this was pure money-burning excess. Who builds a shower room just because they come on a few field trips a year?
I returned to the tent, quietly marveling at the academy’s incomprehensible spending habits.
“So, how do you want to handle the night watch?”
“Night watch?”
I was sitting on my sleeping bag, trying to finish drying my hair, when Gold Tae-yang asked me that. I frowned at the question.
“Night watch…? They’re seriously making us do that…?”
“Yep, apparently. Just like before~ It’s part of the academy’s~ time-honored tradition~!”
“They really do come up with all kinds of nonsense…”
“Honestly, I agree.”
Gold Tae-yang let out a snickering laugh and then flopped face-first onto my sleeping bag. Wait, why the hell is he lying on my sleeping bag?
I shoved him away with my feet, kicking him off my spot.
“Ack! Aaaack!”
“Get off my sleeping bag.”
“Aaaaaack!”
“Shh, please keep it down, everyone. Miss Violet is trying to sleep.”
After all that screaming, Gold Tae-yang finally got scolded by Maharet. He pouted with a sullen expression, lips pushed out in a sulk.
“……It’s your fault I got yelled at.”
What is this guy even saying? I gave the back of his head one last firm smack as a warning to get his act together.
-Thwack!
“Aaaack!! You hit me again!”
“Mr. Tae-yang! Be quiet!”
“Hiiing……”
Ah, that felt refreshing. I flashed a light smirk at Gold Tae-yang, who was glaring at me like he wanted to kill me. He made an ‘Eeeek!’ sound in response to my mocking, then finally gave up and flopped down onto his own sleeping bag.
“Seriously… you son of a bitch…”
“Just saying this again, but you’re probably the only person in the world who talks to the eldest son of a ducal house like that.”
“Who cares? Our resident bastard~ isn’t the type to hold a grudge over something like this~”
“Well, you’d better watch your back at night from now on.”
“Whoa, how scary.”
Gold Tae-yang let out a snort of laughter at my empty threat and then rolled around limply. He wrapped the sleeping bag around his body until only his head was poking out.
“Anyway, how are we gonna set up the night watch shifts…”
“There are only three of us. Does the order even matter that much?”
“Three…? Isn’t our group supposed to have four people?”
“You planning on waking her up?”
“Ah……”
Gold Tae-yang, who had been tilting his head, spotted Violet sleeping soundly in the corner of the tent and nodded in understanding.
“Yeah, I don’t think I could wake her either… She looks like she’d start crying the moment we did…”
“She probably would.”
Violet looked so pitiful, like a wet kitten, that I couldn’t even imagine disturbing her. I watched the girl breathing softly with her eyes closed for a moment, then turned my gaze toward where Maharet was lying.
“What do you think, Lady Maharet?”
“……I’m fine with any order.”
Oh, she actually answered. I honestly thought she’d ignore me. Maybe it was the effect of the affinity increase I received from that sub-quest earlier. Good thing I bothered with it.
I felt a small sense of satisfaction and let a faint smile cross my lips.
. . .
The night watch order was decided as me, then Gold Tae-yang, then Maharet. Gold Tae-yang complained that being in the middle was the worst shift, but I lightly silenced him with a few flicks to the forehead. This crazy bastard. We settled it fairly with rock-paper-scissors, and he’s throwing a tantrum. Especially when he was the one who suggested it in the first place.
“……”
And so, I ended up taking the first shift of a night watch that probably wasn’t even necessary. I was sitting outside the tent, staring blankly into space. A small campfire burned warmly in front of me. Unlike the bonfire from earlier, this was a small, modest flame. I fed it more firewood so my little friend wouldn’t die out.
“Haa……”
A hazy breath scattered into the air. Autumn was starting to feel a bit chilly, so I had thrown on an outer layer. A single leaf fell from the tree near my head, carried by the passing wind. The red leaf, once green, had exhausted its youth and was now falling.
-Rustle…
I stared silently at the leaf that had landed at my feet. The wind and the falling leaves. I was sitting right in the middle of a scattering autumn.
As I spent time like that, one realization suddenly hit me.
“……Why aren’t I sleepy?”
I had clearly planned to just pretend to stand watch and sleep with all my might. So why was my mind so painfully clear? I tried to deny it, but reality was cruel. That’s right. It was time for another bout of insomnia.
“Fuck.”
I clutched my head and cursed. How many times has this been now…? I couldn’t even sleep a wink yesterday, and now this… Even as my silent screams continued, my consciousness drifted further and further from sleep. Because of this damn night watch, I wouldn’t even be able to sleep properly. If I tossed and turned in bed after my shift and somehow managed to fall asleep… maybe I could get an hour or two?
I let out a long sigh as a headache began to throb in my skull. Yeah… this is all my fault. I should have prepared some sleeping pills in advance.
“Sigh… I really am pathetic…”
I made a resigned face and chewed on my lip for a moment. Then I scratched the back of my head and muttered.
“Haaaa… Might as well just stay on watch the whole time.”
Since I wasn’t going to fall asleep anyway, it might be better to just handle the entire night watch alone. Both Maharet and Gold Tae-yang looked exhausted after moving around so actively all day. Plus, I did feel a bit sorry toward Maharet…
“……Damn it.”
With a complicated heart, I pulled a single deathweed cigarette from my pocket. As the mana lighter burned the tip of the stick, a thought crossed my mind. It looked like it was going to be a very long night, standing guard all alone.
Meanwhile, at that same moment.
In the temporary lodging for the professors near the base camp.
“……Something feels ominous.”
Lucas, the homeroom professor for Class Raphael, suddenly sat up from his sleeping bag and muttered.
“What is it… Why are you suddenly acting like that, Lucas?”
Aaron, the homeroom professor for Class Riel who had been trying to sleep beside him, asked. He let out a wide, fatigue-filled yawn.
“Haaam… You just suddenly sat up. Is something wrong…?”
“……”
“……Lucas?”
Even at Aaron’s call, Lucas didn’t move. He sat with his eyes closed, seemingly concentrating on something. After a moment, he opened his eyelids and furrowed his brow.
“My gut feeling isn’t good… I just feel strange.”
“Don’t tell me you sensed some suspicious presence? Like assassins, like last time……”
“……No, there’s nothing like that at all.”
“Whew… So nothing’s actually happened, huh.”
At Lucas’s firm denial, Aaron let out a breath of relief. On the other hand, Lucas’s expression remained tense. His instincts were sending him a dangerous warning. It was as if they had detected something perilous. Something was whispering in Lucas’s ear—that an unusual, horrifying future was closing in.
“……”
But what exactly…? What on earth was coming…?
The flow of mana was normal, and all the barriers they had set up across the island were functioning perfectly. A thorough preliminary investigation had already confirmed that no dangerous elements existed on the island.
“……Did I sense it wrong?”
Naturally, Lucas’s ‘instinct’ occasionally malfunctioned. Having retired from active duty nearly ten years ago, it had grown somewhat rusty. Both Aaron and Lucas couldn’t help but think this was another one of those times.
“Hey, Lucas. Let’s just go back to sleep. We have to wake up early tomorrow morning.”
“Mmm……”
Aaron lay back down in his sleeping bag with a relaxed face. Lucas hesitated for a moment with a reluctant expression, then let out a sigh and said,
“Haa… I’ll take a quick look around the island.”
“……Are you serious?”
At Aaron’s exasperated look, Lucas gave an awkward smile. Even so, his hands were already grabbing his outer coat and slipping several daggers and hidden weapons into his sleeves.
“You know how I am. I have a compulsion about these things. I can’t just let it go when something feels off.”
“Ugh… I know, I know. It’s not like this is the first or second time.”
“Well, it’s a habit I picked up from the battlefield… It’s not easy to fix.”
“That’s exactly why I can’t even nag you about it.”
At Aaron’s grumbling, Lucas reacted with disbelief.
“Professor Aaron… I think you’re mistaken. I’m the head instructor, you know? Technically, I’m your superior?”
“My nagging doesn’t care about rank.”
“I see… So that’s why Professors Sharon and Kate always tease you for being so stubborn.”
“Hey!! Who are you calling stubborn, you bald bastard?!”
At Aaron’s ridiculous outburst of anger, Lucas let out a small chuckle. He finished preparing to head out and opened the flap of the tent.
“Well then, I’ll be back.”
“Want me to come with you?”
“It’s fine. Go back to sleep.”
“Be careful out there… If you get hurt, the headmaster will be furious.”
“Hahaha! Then I suppose I must return safely, if only for my master’s sake!”
“Be back before lunch. You need to eat.”
“Will do.”
-Whoosh!
With a simple reply, Lucas vanished in a blink. Aaron stared at the spot where he had disappeared for a moment before returning to his place. At that time, neither of them could have known.
That a few hours later… the decapitated corpse of Lucas would be rolling coldly across the ground.