Midnight Cabin
“Professor Beltum?”
Alexander tilted his head, puzzled. This guy had already forgotten him from the welcome banquet.
“There's one professor who's a monster, right?”
“A monster? Ah, that turtle fellow!”
Alessia let out a deep sigh as she chimed in, and only then did Alexander nod vigorously, as if the memory had finally clicked.
“Yeah, he's still around? Professor Beltum should be able to help with your issue.”
“Really? He did tell me to come for a consultation early tomorrow morning.”
I'd heard about it through Isabella earlier. No need to bring it up here, but he'd said to come with the one person I trusted most.
I planned to go with Isabella.
“A consultation? Hmmm! Looks like Professor Beltum saw your condition as pretty precarious!”
“Ugh...”
“Well, don't worry too much! He's a master at steadying the mind! I got a lot of help from him back in my school days too! Hahaha!”
Pollux clapped me on the shoulder reassuringly. Despite his massive build, he'd controlled his strength perfectly—no pain at all.
This guy's solid, alright.
Just moments ago, he'd seemed like some lunatic pulling crazy stunts in the forest, but now he looked every bit the reliable senior!
“That aside, if word's spreading about a Dragon card owner showing up, you'd better watch your back.”
Pollux's face turned suddenly serious. We all focused in.
“You've heard the rumors too, right? About that crime syndicate snatching rare cards across the continent.”
“...Seven's Finger.”
“Yeah, those bastards still on the loose?”
“They've got a real talent for running, that's for sure.”
In a world where society ran on card games, its crime syndicates were deeply tied to cards too.
Seven's Finger was the biggest of them all—not just a headache for the Ardia Kingdom, but the entire continent.
...But.
“I know all about those guys, but what do they have to do with Dragon cards? They only steal Support cards anyway.”
As Alexander said, Seven's Finger only targeted rare Support cards.
“Yeah, you can't just steal an Origin card outright.”
“Exactly~. The moment it goes to someone else, it turns blank~.”
Eden and Adella chimed in.
Right—unlike Support cards, Origin cards couldn't be transferred at all.
Origin cards manifested the owner's psyche through magic. To maintain their form, they needed a constant trickle of the owner's mana.
So in someone else's hands, they'd lose shape, exposed to foreign mana.
During a duel, someone else could handle them temporarily—like how Maximilian controlled my Katyusha Grad—thanks to the Battle Table's protective magic.
But the moment the duel ended, the table's retrieval magic kicked in, sending all cards back to their owners. No accidentally pocketing an opponent's card like in my past life's card shops.
Of course, some tried exploiting the duel-time protection to steal Origin cards, but it wasn't practical. You'd need to pour massive mana into the protection nonstop. Stop even briefly, and the card blanks out. Not worth the effort.
The only other way was inheriting a psyche, like Alexander's Sea King - Nerbalus. Even that required blood descendants trained systematically over years to prepare for inheriting a fragment of an ancestor's psyche.
Without that prep? Nine times out of ten, you'd end up an idiot.
Unless your psyche completely overwhelmed theirs—but who could pull that off?
“Hmmm, that's true, but...”
Pollux looked dubious, though.
“You freshmen might not know, but back when I was a first-year at Federico Academy, one of Seven's Finger infiltrated and got caught. Right at the entrance, though.”
“...For real?”
Pollux nodded without hesitation at my question.
“They announced it was to steal incoming Support cards, but rumors flew among us students.”
“Rumors?”
“What kinda~?”
“They said a powerful ancient monster sealed by the founder archmage was inside the academy, and they snuck in to steal it.”
“...”
“If that's really possible, even a Dragon card wouldn't be safe.”
An ancient monster sealed in the academy...
Logically, it sounded like nonsense. Federico's history was ancient—if something like that existed, professors wouldn't have left it alone.
...But it made me uneasy anyway.
This was a damn academy! These places always hid all sorts of bullshit!
Who knew if some demon card slept underground, summonable by sacrificing three magic circles?
“Hmmm, sounds like your typical ghost story.”
“Hehe~ But it's kinda thrilling~ that tale~.”
“I-is that so...? It's scary for me...”
“Don't worry, Beatrice. Schools always have tons of ghost stories.”
“R-right...?”
“Hahaha! If anything like that shows up, this Alexander Wales Belluraca shall smite it! Fear not!”
“...”
The kids dismissed it as idle gossip.
“Well, it was just a rumor. Still, stay cautious. 'Dragon user' draws unwanted eyes.”
“Hahaha! Don't sweat it, Pollux! This guy's already blasted a scheming committee member!”
“A committee member? Hahaha! That's gold!”
Pollux burst into laughter.
“Even if Seven's Finger shows up for real, come to me if things get dicey! I'll handle it like a proper senior!”
“Pollux, you planning to stick around this forest longer?”
“Yeah, today's duel made me realize—I haven't fully synced with my deck yet.”
His gaze drifted to the woods outside. Silent except for faint cricket chirps, the trees seemed to suit him perfectly.
“So I'll stay a bit, become truly one with it. Don't worry about my mom back home—we keep in touch regularly! Hahaha!”
Pollux sprang up, wrapping it up.
“Anyway, getting peckish? Night snack?”
“Ooh, what ya got~?”
“Heh, secret ingredient! Giant cricket I caught yesterday! Fried up, it's a delicacy like no other!”
“Eww~.”
“Eek...!”
Adella recoiled. Me and the others too. Eden pretended to clean his glasses, avoiding eye contact. Alessia stared blankly at distant mountains. Beatrice looked ready to faint.
“Hahaha! Kidding! Got regular dried meat!”
Good—joke or not, relief all around.
If he'd pulled out actual giant cricket, senior or not, I'd have challenged him to a duel!
War had forced me to eat bugs once on an empty stomach—tasted like hell. Better to starve!
“...Aw, none? Dang...”
Only Alexander smacked his lips regretfully. We all stared in disbelief—even Pollux!
“Uh, quick question...”
Seeing a mountain of a man sulk was dizzying.
Crazy bastard!