713
Chapter 713
"Professor Richmond!"
Richmond, who was walking down the academy corridor carrying a stack of thick textbooks, turned around with difficulty when he heard someone calling him.
"Hmm? Professor Alice?"
He looked at Professor Alice, who taught Light Magic and Recovery Magic subjects, approaching him.
With her mysterious silver hair and vibrant expression, Alice looked like a goddess of beauty.
Of course, in modern times, comparing someone to an angel or goddess was often received negatively, but Richmond was a very old-fashioned person, so such thoughts came to mind whenever he saw her.
Alice approached Richmond with a bright smile and spoke.
"The principal is looking for you."
Alice, the adopted daughter and former student of Arina, the Ninth Circle Light Mage principal, was already a Seventh Circle user mage despite being only in her thirties.
She was one of the most outstanding talents in the continent and considered the greatest beauty since Angelina Graham.
However, Alice delivered the gloomy news with a bright smile that didn't match it.
Richmond's eyes shook violently as he asked Alice.
"T-The principal? W-Why me?"
Alice smiled sweetly and said she didn't know either, but Richmond couldn't smile back.
Arina Lubern, the principal of Pannotia Academy, was usually a gentle person, but occasionally she wasn't.
According to other professors, at those times, it was more terrifying than facing an angry dragon.
Even Hades, a real dragon, was so afraid of Arina that despite being Pannotia's guardian dragon, he wandered elsewhere.
As a result, Hades was currently causing trouble going between the families he knew, including Nirvana and Ishtar.
With such an Arina summoning him, Richmond was immediately frightened.
They rarely interacted, and even when she had requests, she usually just sent the message rather than calling him directly.
But since he couldn't run away, Richmond followed Alice to the principal's office like a cow being led to slaughter.
"Professor Richmond? Are you okay?"
Alice asked with an innocent voice as his complexion worsened.
"Ha, haha, I'm fine."
"Even if I wanted to cast a recovery spell on you, since you're half lich, my magic might make your condition worse."
Richmond hastily repeated that he was fine in response to Alice's innocent goodwill.
Finally arriving at the principal's office, Richmond swallowed hard and went inside.
Alice, the only one who didn't fear the universally feared Arina, called out with a bright smile and cheerful voice.
"Principal! I've brought Professor Richmond!"
In the middle of the principal's office, which was filled with as many magic books and volumes as a library, Arina sat buried in piles of documents.
She looked up at Alice and Richmond entering, put down her pen, and stood up from her seat.
"Welcome."
Arina maintained the same appearance despite twenty years having passed.
She had always maintained a mysteriously youthful appearance, but after achieving Ninth Circle, it was as if time had completely stopped for her.
Alice jumped into the arms of Arina, who was shorter and looked younger than herself.
"I missed you, Principal!"
Arina stroked Alice's head as she burrowed into her arms and said,
"My, Alice is now a professor at Pannotia too, so you shouldn't be acting spoiled."
Despite her scolding words, Arina still looked at Alice with gentle eyes.
No matter what anyone said, she couldn't help but smile lovingly at her most cherished daughter.
Unlike Alice, however, Richmond stood before Arina trembling with fear.
"P-Principal. I heard you called for me..."
Arina looked up at Richmond while still holding Alice in her arms.
She still wore a loving smile, but that expression made Richmond even more afraid.
'What on earth does she want to say…?'
"Professor Richmond. There's been a summons from the Guardian Alliance."
Richmond looked shocked at Arina's words.
"From the Alliance? H-Has something happened?"
"I don't know the details either. The Hermits and Alliance members will soon gather at Pannotia, so please attend the meeting together."
Richmond nodded at Arina's words.
After the Celestial War ended, the spirits of the past that his master had summoned returned to the higher dimension.
Originally, the transcendent High Tables should have also ascended with them, but they decided to stay to stabilize the current world.
They abandoned the name Highlander and became Guardians to protect the current world.
Their sponsors became the newly formed United Middle Lands, as well as Pannotia, Himonas, Cusco Kingdom, and the Rom Empire.
The Guardians were tasked with finding the Constellations and Angels hidden throughout the continent.
Some were hidden deep in dungeons, while others disguised themselves as races of the current world, making the Guardians' search crucial.
Officially, the Hunter Guild was conquering dungeons and eliminating Nephilims, but in reality, the Guardians were handling more of them.
Thus, the former High Tables led the Guardians as transcendent beings, so a sudden meeting meant some problem had arisen.
'Could it be that the Constellations who survived the Celestial War have regained their power for another war? Or are some demons from the demon realm betraying us by exploiting a weakness?'
Currently, the demon realm was gradually relocating demons to the new continent through coordination between the Abyss Administrator, Asmodeus, Baal, and Agares.
Though weakened compared to when they were in the demon realm, the demons were satisfied just to escape from an unstable dimension by coming to the current world.
Centered around the three demon princesses and Arataso, the Dawn Commander, they were cultivating the wastelands of the new continent and establishing themselves in abandoned cities to rebuild demon civilization.
Originally, it was the demons who had named the traces of vanished civilization ‘Babel’ after the arrogant savior disappeared.
They wanted to engrave their unique civilization onto the new continent once more.
However, there were demons who opposed this relocation plan.
These demons sometimes illegally infiltrated the central continent, evading the eyes of the Abyss Administrator and the three princesses, causing casualties.
They harbored the ridiculous idea of rapidly building power by absorbing souls to place the current world beneath their feet.
But such demons were often caught in the surveillance network of the Guardians and annihilated by Hermits, secluded transcendents, and the Ten Stars.
After repeated incidents, even demons became fearful and those who came to the current world alone kept quiet to avoid detection, so things had been peaceful for a while.
Richmond's mind was racing with various complex problems.
Seeing Richmond like this, Arina smiled.
"I don't know what you're imagining, but you can worry after hearing the details."
Richmond cleared his throat, embarrassed that Arina had read his thoughts.
"Ahem, j-just in case. Then I'll attend the meeting as you said. Now if you'll excuse me..."
"Just a moment, Professor."
Richmond felt sweat running down his back at Arina's voice stopping him.
"W-What is it, Principal?"
"I think you might have something to tell me about the budget."
Richmond's already pale face turned even whiter at the mention of budget.
"B-Budget?"
"Yes. This semester's materials expenses don't add up. By quite a large margin, too."
Richmond felt fear at Arina's smiling face and backed away hesitantly.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. T-That's strange, Principal. There must be some mistake..."
"I heard that rare magical beast bones were delivered to your lab recently. I wonder if there's any correlation with the budget discrepancy? I don't recall receiving any plan requiring such materials for the Necromancer course."
One of Arina's frightening aspects was that despite being a Ninth Circle Grand Mage, she personally managed all academy affairs large and small.
As a result, she was an intimidating figure to professors like Richmond who used research funds for personal purposes.
Realizing there was nowhere to escape, Richmond immediately knelt down and bowed his head.
"HICK! Principal, I was going to replenish it as soon as I got paid. But that child discovered in the new continent called for me... I just couldn't ignore it. You understand me as a Grand Mage, don't you?"
Arina replied, still smiling,
"No, not only is the magic we learned different, but research funds shouldn't be used for personal matters in the first place."
Richmond couldn't argue because she was absolutely right.
Arina released Alice from her embrace and slowly approached Richmond.
CRACKLE!
Weak light currents sparked at her feet.
Seeing this, Richmond trembled in panic.
"W-Wait, Principal! If that hits me, I'll die!"
"Anyway, since you're a lich, it doesn't matter, right? Oh, you're a half-lich, so you're not completely dead. Since things have come to this, how about becoming a complete lich like Professor Bane? Then I think I could use magic more freely without feeling burdened."
At those words, the entire principal's office was enveloped in bright light.
"KWEEEEEEK!"
Half-lich Richmond, vulnerable to light magic, let out a scream as if he was about to die.
SIZZZZLE!
Moments later, Richmond, his entire body roasted golden brown, rolled weakly on the floor.
Arina looked at Richmond and dusted off her hands.
"If you use the budget for your bad hobbies one more time, know that you'll be a healing experiment subject for trainees for three days."
It was Arina, casually saying frightening things.
Richmond barely managed to nod, bowed, and then crawled out of the principal's office.
"UGH... I, I almost died. But at least I protected my child..."
At that moment, Alice followed out of the principal's office and said with a bright smile.
"Professor, they want you to return that bone to the administration office by tomorrow. They're going to auction it off at the Dorta Auction House."
At Alice's words, Richmond reached out with an expression like he was about to die.
"No! Nooooo! Just kill me instead, kill me!"
"Huh? Really? Then shall I cast Recovery on you?"
With Alice's words, the hallway in front of the principal's office flashed with brilliant light again, and soon filled with the sad wails of a half-lich.
* * *
"...I don't think I really need to go."
Hades, in the form of a young elf with black hair, frowned deeply while sitting with his legs stretched out on the latest model airship seat, smoking a pipe.
Feinan, sitting across from him, took his eyes off the newspaper and looked at Hades.
Twenty years had passed, and Feinan, who had gone from a young man to middle-aged, looked like a dignified mage.
"Seeing that Lady Nigel has called the meeting herself, it seems like no ordinary matter. Above all, aren't you the guardian dragon of Pannotia, Hades?"
At those words, Hades shouted loudly.
"This is crazy! There's an even crazier woman firmly planted at the academy, so what guardian dragon? And do you know how annoying she gets when I'm there?"
"Surely the crazy woman you mentioned isn't Lady Arina, is it?"
"What do you mean it's not? Is there anyone crazier than that woman..?."
Suddenly Hades's voice froze.
Because a girl with white hair and a gentle smile was now sitting beside him.
Arina smiled at Hades and greeted him.
"Welcome, guardian dragon of Pannotia. I came out a little early to greet you because I was so happy."
Hades sweated profusely from his forehead, deliberately avoided looking at Arina, and stared out the airship window.
"Wow. Oh. It's really beautiful. Don't you think so, Feinan? The view of Pannotia from above is truly the best."
Arina, still with a smiling face, looked at the back of Hades's head and spoke.
"Since you've come after a long time, you should pay for the budget you've been consuming daily, right? Great guardian dragon."
At Arina's eerie voice, Hades squeezed his eyes shut.
'I'm doomed. My dragon life is over.'