Hearing. (3)
“Kaigan Luna. Your father.”
The chairman’s words plunged the chamber into silence.
The space felt stripped of all noise. Everyone stared solely at Deculein.
“……Hoh.”
Sophien was no exception. Even to her, this turn was unforeseen.
Co-author, of all things. It stood in complete opposition to Deculein’s nature.
“Over a century together, and yet…… The deeper we dig, the more new facets emerge.”
Sophien propped her chin on her hand. She glanced at Ifrin’s face. The emotions etched there defied easy description.
Ihelm spoke.
“Deculein, you? You. What, what? Co-author?”
His voice broke in stutters, betraying his shock.
As Ihelm merely worked his lips soundlessly, the chairman took over the questioning.
“Still, we need an explanation for this co-authorship! Professor Deculein?!”
Deculein nodded. He replied in an impassive tone, more declarative than defensive.
“The conception and drafting of this idea belong to Kaigan Luna. It was an original, genius notion no one else could have conceived.”
Deculein looked at Ifrin. Her hollowed eyes glistened with moisture.
“Kaigan Luna established the paper’s framework. My role was its development and completion. Thus, listing both as first authors was proper…… That is all.”
“I see! Ihelm, continue your questions!”
“……Why now.”
Ihelm muttered like a man lost in a daze.
“Why of all times now?”
“……Hm! I’ll take over! The Ihelm faction doesn’t seem up to it right now!”
Adrienne stepped in for him. Beaming cheerfully, she posed her question.
“This isn’t the first time Professor Deculein has tormented his assistants, right? Plenty have been ruined! Some even committed suicide! So why show consideration for a past assistant now?!”
“It is not ‘of all times’ now. I came to it gradually. I now acknowledge my past errors.”
“Hm~”
Adrienne nodded.
“That’s what he says! Witness Ifrin, do you have anything more to add?”
Ifrin’s body flinched. Adrienne smiled radiantly.
“Ah…… I……”
Ifrin swallowed hard. She looked in turn at Deculein, Adrienne, and Ihelm.
Confusion reigned.
It wasn’t some simplistic sentiment like I never expected this from Deculein.
“……”
Deculein’s candid admission—that her father would be eternally remembered in the magical world as a co-author—stirred far too many tangled thoughts.
She felt like such a…… blockheaded fool.
“……No. I have nothing more to say.”
“Hm! In that case!”
Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!
The chairman struck the gavel.
“We’ll take a short recess! Take a break!”
Near the Magic Tower hearing chamber, on the upper floors, lay a terrace. Standing at its balustrade, adorned like a forest, one could take in the entire university at a glance.
By now, night had nearly fallen.
The whole world bathed in the light of the full moon.
Thud—!
Soon enough, footsteps rang out deliberately loud, as if meant to be heard.
A bit more waiting, and one person approached.
Lush golden hair swayed in the wind, thick perfume assaulting the nose.
“……I can’t fathom what you’re scheming.”
Ihelm.
The man who approached slowly gazed at the same view and asked.
“Did you know? About the hidden magic mark or whatever in that paper.”
I nodded. I’d discovered it while developing the paper. A rather cunning trap.
“How’d you handle it?”
“Left it as is.”
Dismantling it would have been simple enough. Just refine the circuits one by one.
“……”
Ihelm gripped the balustrade. Creak— The sound of skin scraping was vivid.
“Why. Didn’t you hate Luna?”
I turned to Ihelm.
This man had once been closest to Deculein. Thus, he knew that era’s Deculein better than anyone.
“You must have despised Luna—and his daughter……”
Living as Deculein, at times unknown ‘memories’ surface.
Slowly over time, or triggered by certain experiences as ‘events.’
Yet they are mere fragments of perception, requiring cross-verification rather than blind absorption.
“……Dikailen was never satisfied with me.”
I murmured to Ihelm as if to myself. His crimson pupils fixed on me.
“My talent fell short. Or I failed to grow as expected. Or perhaps that ghost’s ambitions were too vast.”
“……”
“Whatever the case, in those dissatisfied days, Dikailen found it. The talent of an archmage.”
Ihelm nodded faintly twice. Then replied.
“Yes. If Dikailen hadn’t died, you’d have lost the family headship to Luna. But it’s still a mystery. Would seating a child of utterly foreign blood as head have been so easy?”
No.
Dikailen hadn’t intended Ifrin for headship. He merely needed a ‘vessel.’
A suitable vessel for his dying brain.
Ifrin.
“Dikailen is long dead. Everything has changed.”
“Even so, the you I knew would have hated Luna’s daughter? Couldn’t forgive Kaigan?”
“……”
“Kaigan or you—plenty of reasons for mutual hatred. If that bastard hadn’t fawned over Dikailen……”
I gazed up at the distant sky. Against the sea-like canopy hung a solitary full moon.
“It’s all in the past anyway, and this research remains unfinished. Its completion falls to Ifrin, not me. Moreover.”
“……Moreover?”
“His suicide was my fault.”
“What……”
Ihelm’s jaw dropped. His expression was utterly idiotic.
“Can’t hate the daughter after killing the father.”
“……Th-that.”
Ihelm barely forced his mouth open. Beads of cold sweat dotted his forehead.
“That much pity for Ifrin?”
“No.”
“Then? Then why, why the hell—”
“……”
I pondered quietly.
If I had to guess, it wasn’t pity or sympathy.
But it wasn’t easy to discern. My emotions aren’t visible even to the naked eye.
“Who knows.”
Yet I recalled something once read in a book.
A sentiment every mage feels at least once in life.
“Seems I consider her my disciple.”
Perhaps, unbeknownst to me, I’d come to harbor such feelings.
“……”
Ihelm fell speechless. His grip on the balustrade slackened. The breeze cooled his cold sweat, and a hollow laugh escaped his parted lips.
“Ha…… ha. This doesn’t make sense?”
“What doesn’t?”
“A few years back. When Gilteon tried to wipe out Luna’s family. You were the one who stopped him, weren’t you? No way you harbored those feelings back then.”
“Did I?”
A fact I truly hadn’t known, but Ihelm scowled in disbelief.
“……Good grief.”
He offered no retort, merely shaking his head with a sigh.
“You know? This was my last desperate gambit.”
His face relaxed markedly as he contemplated the night view.
“Co-author, of all things. No more ammunition left. No, no will to fight either.”
Ihelm bent at the waist. His limp form draped over the balustrade like wet laundry.
“……If you’ve changed. If that Deculein is no longer the old Deculein. If you’re no longer the one I desperately wanted to crush……”
I looked at him.
Those crimson eyes, rotten like old cheese, now gleamed with moonlight. An inexplicable vitality stirred within.
“No desire to wrestle you anymore. I’d only lose, bound to the past.”
At that very moment.
Ihelm shouted.
“Hey!”
A flinch—rustling at the terrace entrance.
“Run while you can. Before you get caught.”
Then, pat pat pat—!
Hurried footsteps fleeing.
Thud—!
Trip while running? Or knees hitting the ground.
“……”
I glared at Ihelm. He shrugged, chuckling.
“……Didn’t bring him myself. Just told him to follow if curious. So I held back on useless talk.”
Ihelm’s gaze drifted back to the void. Eyes tracing distant memories.
“Saying Kaigan was actually deranged, didn’t love his daughter, resented her instead…… Too harsh, right? Even if he was my witness.”
He smirked, turning to me.
“I’m a gentleman too.”
Beep beep beep— beep beep beep—
The alarm clock blared. Ifrin blankly opened her eyes.
“……”
Today, too, the same dream.
—This research remains unfinished. Its completion is Ifrin’s share.
—His suicide was my fault.
The exchange between Deculein and Ihelm she’d overheard hiding.
—Can’t hate the daughter after killing the father.
Deculein’s every word echoed in her ears.
—……Who knows. Seems I consider her my disciple.
Disciple.
Beep beep beep— beep beep beep—
She silenced the still-ringing alarm and slowly rose. Her eyes flicked to the single paper on the desk.
Deculein’s hearing was still ongoing three days later. But not as fierce as the first day, she’d heard.
Ihelm must have given up.
—A few years back. When Gilteon tried to wipe out Luna’s family, you were the one who stopped him, weren’t you?
Ifrin pondered the ties between Luna and Yukline.
Thoughts chaining from morning awakening to nightly sleep.
—If that bastard hadn’t fawned over Dikailen……
If Yukline’s former head truly desired her, and her father wished the same.
If Deculein had faced losing Yukline to Luna.
“……Haa.”
Ifrin sighed, giving the room a final scan.
Impeccably tidied interior.
Unneeded things discarded, essentials packed.
“This should do……”
Sufficient. No burden on cleaners.
She tucked the withdrawal form into her pocket. Hoisted her bulging backpack with effort.
“Off we go~ Back home~”
Muttering energetically for no reason, she headed out—but paused.
“……Huh?”
An envelope under the door crack. Wasn’t there yesterday. Suddenly appeared.
This morning, perhaps.
Ifrin picked up the thick envelope. Inside: a letter and certificate.
She glanced casually—then her heart sank.
“……Ah.”
Ifrin let out a small cry.
Her whole body froze. Not just limbs—mind too.
Blankly, she read the certificate.
■ Recipient: Soda Ifrin Luna
■ Amount: 100,000 ∃
The anonymous sponsorship, ongoing since enrollment day, renewed today.
Decision date: yesterday.
The letter held one line.
“No……!”
Seeing that line, Ifrin flung her backpack. Bolted from the dorm like an arrow.
Her body knew the destination. Legs moved on instinct.
Running, running more, sprinting madly to the tower, stamping feet before the sluggish elevator today, boarding and slamming the 77th floor button……
Ding—!
When she came to, the nameplate loomed before her.
[Chief Professor’s Office: Deculein.]
Chief Professor Deculein.
Ifrin stared straight at his name. Her heart pounded to shatter.
Belatedly, she felt tears streaming from her eyes.
I support you.
That line she’d just read tore at her chest.
“……Why.”
When I meant to betray you. To stand against you.
When I knew nothing, acted rashly, still resent you somewhat for Father’s death.
This hatred won’t vanish forever.
“Why……”
Knock knock—
Ifrin knocked on his office door with trembling hand.
After a moment, the door opened on its own. Deculein’s Telekinesis.
“Ifrin. You have not reported to the lab of late.”
“……”
“Five demerit points for neglect of duty.”
To him, as if nothing had happened, reproaching her as always.
To him, unchanged, gazing at her with cold face.