Predestined Encounter (4)
What was the greatest change brought about when humanity first learned to wield mana?
Undoubtedly, it was the acquisition of magic—an extraordinary and potent craft. It was humanity's shield against the relentless threat of demonic beasts, not to mention natural predators whose physical prowess far outmatched their own. Yet even with the power to confront such horrors, humans remained human. They could never truly defy the grand providence of nature.
That summer, a catastrophic typhoon tore through the Grand Duchy of Ardelion, battering the port of Mirpark Province until it was reduced to kindling. In the disaster's wake, word arrived from the Empire: the merchant vessels that customarily docked each semester would not be coming.
"If there's no port left to dock at, can't they just build another one somewhere else? Like over in Schytz Province, where they just cleared out all the demonic beasts?"
It was the sort of idle remark only someone completely ignorant of the situation could make. On the surface, constructing an alternative berth seemed straightforward enough, but examining the geography of the Grand Duchy revealed that it was anything but simple.
"The coastal currents around Schytz are far too treacherous. Forget dropping anchor—a ship would be smashed to splinters before it could even make landfall. There's a reason nobody ever built a port there."
"Then what about Algenib or Shirach?"
"They'd have to skirt all the way around the frozen polar regions! Do you really think delicate cargo would survive a voyage like that intact? You idiot! Ugh, did you sleep through every single geography lecture?"
And so, maritime trade between the Empire and the Principality ground to a dead halt. Predictably, commodity prices went through the roof.
"Man... so prices are still sky-high?"
"Yeah. What else did you expect? The imperial fleet never made port. Were you able to scrape together your tuition?"
"...I've been scrambling for odd jobs, but money's tight. Between textbooks and meal expenses, this semester is going to be brutal."
"Sigh. All this chaos over a single typhoon."
From the second term of this year through the close of the third, inflation would spike mercilessly. Under normal circumstances, Lebrant Academy was exceptionally generous with scholarships and student welfare, offering equal opportunities through substantial tuition reductions. But this year, the academy had no choice but to suspend those relief measures.
Had this crisis stemmed from corrupt nobles cornering the market or hoarding mana stones, Junon could have devised a countermeasure. But their adversary was nature itself. Regressor or not, no man could wage war against the elements. It was a maddeningly intractable dilemma.
If this keeps up... those students will...
Having finally broken free from the clutches of the corrupt aristocrats, those students might now face expulsion anyway—not through malice, but simple poverty. Even if a wealthy patron suddenly appeared out of thin air, that alone wouldn't solve the underlying shortage of supplies.
Compounding the issue was the ominous development unfolding in Schytz Province. If the ranks of the frontline vanguard dwindled now, the Academy would suffer catastrophic casualties in the conflicts to come. This was the first critical hurdle that would determine the Principality's survival—the entire reason Junon had fought tooth and nail to preserve the vanguard students in the first place.
It was a puzzle he had to solve, no matter what.
Far to the north, past the borders of the Principality beyond Schytz Province, lay a secluded body of water known as Bebre Lake.
By the water's edge, figures gathered around a scrying orb, monitoring the movement and numbers of demonic beasts encroaching from the north.
Whirrr.
The orb's light dimmed and went dark. The old man who had been channeling mana into the artifact lowered his hands, shaking his head in grim silence. The monstrous hordes confronting them continued to swell in strength with each passing day.
"We must... prepare ourselves."
A suffocating quiet fell over the gathering. Hearing their patriarch utter those words made it plain that the end was rapidly approaching. That preparation was a call to steel themselves for death.
Unable to bear the quiet, a younger man broke the stillness, his voice laced with desperate frustration. "Can't we just let go of this stubborn, obsolete sentimentality?! We have to survive, too! This lake is finished!"
"...Mind your tongue," the elder warned, fixing him with a weary stare.
The young man's intention was unmistakable: abandon the lake and flee.
"I know! I know full well what will happen! If we abandon this lake, it's obvious where those beasts will head. Straight down into the Principality!"
"Knowing that, you would still urge us to forsake Bebre Lake?"
"In the old days, perhaps we could have held them back with our own strength! But can we honestly stand against them now?! You know better than anyone that even cultivating a thick wall of Hyplisia has its limits!"
No one spoke.
Just as the young man had said, even if every Siren residing at Bebre Lake threw themselves into an all-out battle, victory was impossible. Though Hyplisia was a formidable deterrent, the sheer, endless tide of beasts was simply too vast to contain.
"Besides, think about it! To those humans, we're nothing more than monsters. They already drove us from our homeland! Even if we bleed and hold out here for weeks, begging for aid, those Principality bastards will just turn a blind eye. They will never come to our rescue! Not after—!"
"Enough. Cease this."
"And what will being silent change?! You'll just insist we stay and guard the lake all over again!"
"We will abandon it. That is why I told you to cease."
"...What?"
The elder had not been clinging to this ground out of blind obstinacy.
"I anticipated this day would come," the old man said quietly. "We have endured far too much for far too long."
"Are you... are you serious? But what about that child...?"
"...She told me we could abandon Bebre Lake and flee whenever necessary. She told me our lives matter just as much as anyone else's."
"Then... you truly mean to leave, Elder...?"
"I do. Our stay here was prolonged solely by my own greed. It is long past time I set that stubborn pride aside. To bring this up only now, after our people have suffered so many terrible injustices... it is entirely my failing. I am sorry."
The elder, who had remained chained to the distant past, finally resolved to break those shackles. The era when Sirens and humans lived in mutual aid was a bygone myth; in modern times, humanity had only tightened the noose around them. Closing his eyes for a long moment, the elder solidified his resolve.
"We will relocate our settlement to the lake southeast of Bebre Lake. Use the mature Hyplisia to buy us time while we retreat. We can cultivate fresh roots once we reach our new sanctuary."
They would place their trust in humans no longer. Surrendering Bebre Lake was nothing less than a declaration of that severance.
Left alone, the elder tied a tightly rolled missive to the leg of a carrier pigeon and released it into the air. Watching the bird beat its wings against the gray sky, he murmured an apology into the wind.
"I did everything I could... but this seems to be as far as our road goes. Senia."
A message sent to a certain young woman—the one chosen as their Calyx.
"Phew... Even if I pinch pennies this term, next term is going to be remarkably tight."
Food, textbooks, living expenses, tuition... With the subsidies normally provided by the Principality suddenly frozen, the financial burden on students had grown oppressive. Though Senia had tucked away savings in advance, brilliant as she was, even she couldn't foresee the destructive whims of nature. Still, for her, it amounted to little more than a modest inconvenience. But one of her teammates was in far more precarious straits.
...In a mess like this, the one I'm most worried about is Aris.
After being hounded by reporters during the Orthoptera defense, Aris had volunteered for that guard mission through Ripol Gorge on the day of the festival solely to earn tuition funds. Even with the commendation and prize money she received, it wasn't enough to bridge the shortfall. Although Senia knew she had her own problems to manage, this was a dangerous situation for Aris.
Not far off, Senia spotted the pink-haired girl, looking thoroughly overwhelmed.
"Thank you, Charlotte. Really... I promise I'll pay you back right away!"
"You don't need to rush to pay me back, but promise me that if something like this happens again, you'll come straight to me without hesitating. Deal?"
"Charlotteee...!"
Look at her, Senia thought with an amused smirk. She's looking up at our youngest member like a kid clinging to an older sister.
Seeing Aris beside Charlotte made the situation immediately obvious: Aris was borrowing the funds from Charlotte and planning to repay her later.
Still, not a bad choice on her part.
Senia had fully intended to chew Aris out if the girl tried slipping away to hunt beasts alone just to scrape up coin. At the very least, it seemed Aris wouldn't wreck everything with reckless, impulsive decisions the way she used to. The real fear had been Aris's rash temper driving her into danger without a word. With that worry laid to rest, it was time for a little fun.
"I was wondering where you two had wandered off to," Senia said, sauntering over. "On your way to pay tuition?"
"That's right, Senia-unni," Charlotte answered cheerfully.
"Oh, Senia! Are you here to pay yours too? If so, why don't we go together—"
"Nope. I just came to check if a certain pink-haired girl was about to run off into the woods to hunt beasts for pocket change, so I could tackle her before she did."
"...Is that pink-haired girl supposed to be me?"
"Who can say? The shoe fits."
As Senia relentlessly poked fun at her, Aris sputtered in indignation, trying and failing to land a verbal barb of her own. Watching them bicker, Charlotte let out a warm, quiet giggle. There had been a time when their clashing personalities seemed destined to tear the team apart, but contrary to all those early concerns, the two had grown remarkably close.
Chattering and squabbling, the trio soon arrived at the administration counter. Yet when they reached the desk, it was the youngest girl who stepped forward to shoulder the entire bill.
"...Are you really sure about this, Charlotte?" Aris asked hesitantly.
"Yeah... Won't this cause problems for your family?" Senia added, glancing down at her.
"Unnis, did you forget who I am?"
Senia and Aris exchanged bewildered glances, but Charlotte offered a proud, radiant smile. At a glance, she seemed so delicate and petite that one could scoop her up in a single arm—the tender, sheltered youngest member of Team Tembris. But behind that soft blue hair stood the master of the Eshrelt Merchant Guild, a capable leader who managed her noble house with her own hands.
The reality hit both of them once more: to someone of Charlotte's wealth, covering tuition for two teammates—even with inflated rates—was hardly a drop in the bucket.
"Think of it as the Eshrelt barony sponsoring the two of you as an official team investment. That makes it totally fine, doesn't it?"
Ever since joining Tembris, Charlotte had been showered with affection by the older members, but in matters of finance and responsibility, she was far more mature than any of them. Worrying about their youngest had been an utter waste of breath.
"H-Here are your receipts, all three of you. U-Um... and here are the academic notices for this term, so please make sure to read them carefully... and..."
"Take your time," Charlotte said gently. "There's no need to rush."
"Ah... I'm so sorry, and thank you... I'm just terribly nervous today..."
The clerk handling the tuition desk was taking an unusually long time. It soon became obvious why: she was a fresh face who hadn't worked the counter before. And in her flustered state, the novice clerk made an unforgivable blunder.
"Oh, right! And regarding the tuition for that student Junon, whom you always pay for—gasp!"
"I am so sorry! She's still a trainee...!"
A senior clerk turned sheet-white, shoving the girl aside and bowing frantically in apology. Benefactor records were strictly confidential under academy policy, yet the blundering rookie had just blurted it out in the open.
The damage, however, was already done. The words hung clearly in the air. At the mention of a student whose tuition Charlotte had consistently covered, Senia and Aris turned their heads in unison, their eyes locking onto the girl.
"Well... that is..."
All of Charlotte's poised, aristocratic maturity evaporated in an instant. Fidgeting with her fingers, she shrank back into their bashful little maknae.
"Unnis... could you please, please keep this a secret?"
The identity of Junon's anonymous patron had just been exposed.
No matter how thoroughly Junon racked his brain, there was only one surefire method to resolve the commodity shortage sweeping the academy. Yet it was an option he could never bring himself to choose.
Leaking future information to a specific individual would be the quickest shortcut, but it was also the most perilous path—one fraught with consequences he couldn't afford.
First things first. Let's just pay my own tuition and go from there.
With that resolve, Junon made his way to the administrative wing to check his balance and settle the fee. But when he arrived at the counter, his mind was sent spinning for an entirely different reason.
"Oh, right! And regarding the tuition for that student Junon, whom you always pay for—gasp!"
"I am so sorry! She's still a trainee...!"
"Well... that is... Unnis... could you please, please keep this a secret?"
Junon had vaguely heard that his tuition had been covered by a scholarship. He had never questioned it—academy scholarships were typically disbursed from administrative endowments, though outside benefactors occasionally contributed anonymous grants.
And yet...
That was... Charlotte the whole time?
It felt as though a massive warhammer had struck him across the temple. The single easiest, yet most complicated solution to the crisis facing the academy... was to hand the information he held directly to Charlotte.