Oneself (2)
The classroom door rattled as it was thrown wide open, spilling light into the hallway.
The one who had wrenched it open was Adele, her face practically pale with distress.
"They aren't here either... What in the world is happening...?" Adele murmured to whoever was standing behind her.
Behind her... Is that Michel?
With that unmistakable crimson ponytail, there was no chance I wouldn't recognize her. But right now, rather than Michel's appearance, the commotion stirring just outside was far more concerning. A closer glance revealed that the hallway was in utter chaos—not just Adele and Michel, but other inspectors had swarmed toward this classroom as well.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Well, you see..."
Adele hesitated, struggling to find the words, so Michel stepped in to speak on her behalf.
"It's urgent, so I'll ask in Adele's place. How were the students in your class yesterday? Overall, what was their state?"
Their state? They were a bunch who only showed up to collect attendance subsidies and threw their studies to the dogs, so I had never felt compelled to care. But if I had to describe the general atmosphere, there was really only one word for it.
"A total trainwreck. Whatever they heard during the interim evaluation had them all gnashing their teeth."
"Phew... Really? Then the cause is the same after all..."
Just what on earth could have happened to bring all the inspectors running like this? Clearly, the situation was spiraling in a bad direction.
"Most of the students in this school have vanished all at once."
"Vanished?"
How could that be? Why would students who did nothing but slack off suddenly disappear? Did that mean the crowd of inspectors out there had come to check whether the students in this class were missing, too?
"Were they abducted or detained en masse?" I pressed.
"No. There have been no signs of hostile organizations making any moves."
"Then what? You're saying they just took off on their own?"
"We can't say for sure... but we suspect it has to do with what happened yesterday."
"Yesterday... The day of the interim evaluation."
Truth be told, it wasn't as though I hadn't harbored concerns. In a Faction War where solidarity was paramount, pointing fingers at one another was bound to cause friction. That much fell within reasonable expectations. But all of them disappearing at the exact same time made no sense. I had anticipated that infighting would ruin their performance in the second week's evaluation and drag them deeper into the mire—not this. This was entirely outside the scope of my calculations.
"Any incidents or disturbances that broke out after that?"
"...We considered that as well, but apparently there was nothing of the sort."
"None of them locked themselves in their rooms, and no casualties were found?"
"Right. No one left behind letters or made extreme attempts on their lives, either."
Then what the hell is this?
If their wounded pride drove them to act impulsively, that would have seemed the most plausible scenario. The possibility of someone making a drastic choice out of sheer despair was slim, but not unthinkable. Yet the fact that there wasn't a single trace left behind made no sense at all. Leaving zero individual evidence meant they were moving not as isolated people, but as a group.
"Um, Teacher."
"I can't be completely certain... but I think I have an idea."
Lana and Ethan cautiously chimed in while I was speaking with Michel.
"What is it?"
"Well... as you probably know, Teacher, there are only two types of students here in Sirach. Those who want to keep learning magic like me, and those who are looking for other lines of work."
Sirach Lord School offered virtually no real education, so that outcome was inevitable. Either strive against all odds to master magic, or give up entirely. It was an environment designed to yield only extreme, polarized results.
"However, the number of people who gave up on their studies to seek other work has always been far greater," Ethan continued. "The problem is... among them, there were plenty who frequently ventured up north toward the Irov Basin."
"The Irov Basin?"
"To put it simply, it's an area with an ecosystem of relatively unthreatening demonic beasts. Only weak creatures gather there—things even novices with crude skills like ours can manage."
"Does that mean... only E-rank demonic beasts live there?" Adele asked.
"That's right, Adele-unnie."
A hunting ground manageable with only the modest abilities possessed by Lana or Ethan. A proving ground for beginners; places like that were everywhere. Just as academy students in Revrant headed toward Algenib Province to gain real-world combat experience with Mirage Type Magic Armament, a similar hunting area was bound to exist here as well.
But flipping the premise around, why would students frequent such a place?
An uneasy hypothesis suddenly formed in my mind. This was Sirach, where no proper educational guidelines existed. A place like this was more than capable of fostering disaster.
"...Ethan, did they move in packs?"
"Yes... I was part of one of those groups once. We hunted beasts to earn money, scraping together kickbacks to buy our way into certain industries."
"Among them, were there any who seemed to visit the Irov Basin just to hone their magic?"
"...Not a single one."
"Fuck."
A curse slipped past my lips on pure reflex. Of all the messes they could make, they had to go and stir up this kind of trouble.
"Fuck."
With that single word, Junon's expression hardened into granite.
What's gotten into him...? Michel wondered. Yet this was Junon. From the presence of Mistellis to the vast threads connecting all the way to the Schytz Great Subjugation Campaign, his intuition was never something one could dismiss lightly.
"What are you doing...? Why are you pulling out a map...?"
"I have no idea..."
Junon pinned the map across the blackboard without a word. Just like the bystanders questioning his actions, Michel's mind was brimming with confusion.
"Ethan. You went in and out of the Irov Basin frequently, didn't you?"
"Yes, Teacher."
"Take these darts and map out the rank tables."
Demonic beasts naturally integrated into local ecosystems unless they were swarming breeds like Devourers, Orthoptera, or Canolatl. Establishing a rank table meant drawing regional boundary lines based on the frequency of appearances and the average threat levels of those beasts. But the sudden order to chart out a rank table caused murmurs of bewilderment to ripple through the crowd.
"Is he implying demonic beasts have appeared? Contextually, that's what it sounds like."
"On what possible grounds, though...?"
"If this turns out to be true, this isn't the time for pointless questions," Michel intervened, smoothing over the room so Junon could lay out his thoughts uninterrupted. "Let's hear him out first. Adele, how many people do we have available to mobilize right now?"
"Um... The professors withdrew completely on the pretext that the Revrant students had arrived, so at most, it's just us inspectors and your group."
"...What a total shitshow."
Watching the rank table take shape on the board, Junon's brow furrowed deeper by the second. At that moment, Michel knew instinctively: the grimness overtaking his face meant he had pieced together the truth.
"Could you explain it to us as well? We... still haven't fully grasped what you're thinking."
The other inspectors nodded in agreement. In response, Junon drove differently colored darts into specific sectors of the map and began to explain what he had deduced.
"Those fools went to hunt demonic beasts."
"Beasts? Why?"
"After getting crushed in the interim evaluation, they saw zero prospect of winning the second week's Faction War. And since they immediately shifted the blame onto everyone else, they wouldn't have possessed an ounce of self-awareness regarding their own incompetence. So what do you think idiots like that would do next?"
Proving their worth by subjugating beasts on their own. That had to be their train of thought.
"It wasn't just a defeat; it was a total rout. When people get humiliated that thoroughly, their petty spite flares up, and they convince themselves they need to bring down a bigger trophy. At the very least, they're likely targeting areas where Taus or Fenrirs congregate."
"Then... don't tell me the reason you had him draw up the rank table was...!"
"They undoubtedly pushed further north, past the Irov Basin. The professors couldn't care less, and we were far too lenient, leaving them alone under the naive excuse of giving them time to collect their wits."
While some students had genuinely tried their best, there were certainly those who cared only for superficial results. Two factions of students that should have clashed had instead banded together out of shared resentment, vanishing on the very same day.
"How could this happen..."
"To think this was our oversight..."
Drastic judgments and reckless behavior born from a loser's fragile ego. Not a single person in the room could dispute Junon's razor-sharp deduction. Everyone was utterly convinced.
Formulating a countermeasure after that was swift. Rather than plunging in blindly, they divided the territory into sectors to prioritize a systematic search, and they even sent word back to Revrant Academy to prepare for any contingency. Once everyone who could move was assembled in the classroom, nearly all the original Revrant students were present.
Except for one.
Wait... Where is Aris?
A sudden cold sweat prickled down Michel's spine.
"Um... Lady Michel?"
"Y-Yes?"
"Well... Lady Aris left this behind..."
Dread coiled tightly in Michel's gut. The mere fact that she had left a note boded ill. Praying with all her heart that it wasn't what she feared, Michel unfolded the slip of paper.
Since it's urgent, I'm heading out first, Michel!
— Aris
Oh, God. A throb of pure migraine pounded behind Michel's temples.
The search commenced in earnest. To track down the stray students, each team combed through their assigned zones, beginning from the sprawling Irov Basin. Feeling a persistent sense of unease, Junon chose the deepest sector for himself.
"I really hope I'm wrong about this..." he muttered under his breath.
In territories inhabited not by harmless wildlife or livestock, but by demonic beasts, entry should have been strictly off-limits to civilians and students alike. Yet here, no such precautions existed.
This was Sirach. A neglected, destitute backwater where even the lone educational facility failed to issue so much as a proper warning.
"Did you greenhorns honestly believe you could take on wild beasts?"
The general public often assumed that demonic beasts were easily subdued with a few spells and weapons. That misconception was cultivated intentionally to maintain morale among citizens and inspire younger generations. But peel back the curtain, and beast subjugation was a grueling endeavor demanding meticulous strategy and exhaustive effort just to bring down a single target.
Why were designated danger zones partitioned off? Why had the guilds been established in the first place? Why did administrative offices insist on issuing hunting licenses? Anyone who believed beast hunting was simple was profoundly mistaken.
At best, the fools who had marched into these woods were only a hair better than ordinary civilians. Having dispatched a few scrawny bottom-feeders in the shallows, they had puffed their chests out, thinking, Hey, they really are pushovers! and charged boldly onward. The reality awaiting them, however, was bound to be a cesspool of nightmare. That was the tragic blind spot at the heart of this mess.
"You only get one life, you idiots."
Right around here, tracks began to emerge. It was a place Junon had visited once before—the very clearing where Lana had recklessly drawn her sword to face a Stump.
Whoosh!
"Gaaah!"
Another student was sent flying through the air. Something had gone terribly wrong. Demonic beasts weren't supposed to be this formidable. Weren't they supposed to be fragile things that crumbled and turned to ash after catching a few spells? Why wouldn't the monstrosity before them go down?
Clack, rattle, clack.
A Stump. It was just a Stump! At most, it was a wooden beast barely standing over two meters tall! What was more, its strength should have plummeted after its most powerful alpha had been slain recently!
"Keep firing! What are you all doing?!"
"This is our limit! They won't fall, so what the hell are we supposed to do?!"
Nothing was going according to plan. They had believed that no matter how high a beast's rank was, it would eventually succumb to sheer numbers, but hardly any of the monsters had fallen. They had ventured out thinking they would haul back an armful of trophies to prove their capabilities, yet these Stumps were on an entirely different level from the weaklings they had trampled in the Irov Basin.
Realizing there were no other options, the group began scrambling to back away.
"We can't do this anymore! Fall back for now!"
"Hey, no complaints, we're retreating right now! Got it?!"
"...No complaints here, just run already!"
Having plunged too deeply into the interior, however, finding their way back was nearly impossible. The dense canopy of northern Sirach's ancient forest completely blotted out the sun.
"Wait... Which way did we come from...?"
"Idiot! It's this way!"
"That's where I was just standing, you moron!"
"Looking at the compass... Huh? Why is it..."
"Forget the compass and just run where those things aren't, you imbeciles!"
The wooden monsters crept forward, clacking ominously. The students had no choice but to sprint in the opposite direction. But was that truly an escape route? Given the sight unraveling before their eyes, calling it an escape route was nothing short of a cruel joke.
The thick branches swallowed what little daylight remained. As pitch-black darkness enveloped the spot where they had blindly dashed, terror began to crawl up their spines. Their vision extended barely a few paces ahead. The only sound reaching their ears was the relentless clattering of wooden limbs. The squelch of churned mud and water beneath their boots sent cold shivers down their necks.
"A-Aaargh! Where are we?!"
"I can't see... Wait, who are—Mmph?!"
"The guy next to me just vanished...?"
"S-Save me... Somebody save me!!"
A disorderly rabble with not a single shred of proper training was being swallowed alive by fear in the darkened forest.
And then—
BANG!
"Whoa!"
A brilliant ray of light burst over the mud-spattered earth. It was an explosion trailing soft pink petals.
"This way, you bunch of idiots!"
"Wh-What...? An explosion?"
"Teacher... Aris?"
"It's Teacher...! It's Teacher Aris!!!"
"Are you going to run or not?! Keep standing there and I'll leave every single one of you behind!"
"Y-Yes, ma'am! Right away!"
Aris's sharp, ringing voice sliced clean through the shadow-draped woods of roots and vines. The students dissolved into tears, crying out as if they had just witnessed the coming of their savior.