How to Cool Down a Hot Head
"Gwuk!"
My fist came down square on the crown of Ter's head. The punch carried every ounce of my sincerity, and she went out like a light. Watching her sprawl across the floor with stars circling above her skull, I clutched my forehead.
"This is insane. Completely unhinged."
"What are you doing, striking a child out of nowhere? Don't tell me you intend to kill my successor and steal the Divine Artifact!"
"It's nothing like what you're imagining, so don't trouble yourself."
Leaving the misunderstanding Daon behind, I hoisted the unconscious girl over my shoulder and picked up the Divine Artifact.
"I'll be taking my leave now. I've obtained the artifact, so I have no further business here."
First thing after leaving, I needed to find Yupi. There was a lot I had to say to her—and the next phase of the plan to map out. A rough picture was already taking shape. Would the next stage be a battle between Yupi and Ter for the position of family head?
"Hm."
"Is something the matter? If there's anything you wish to ask, I will answer."
Once the Divine Artifact left the dungeon, his lingering will would have fulfilled its purpose. He'd told me that the moment I departed, he too would find peace and ascend to the heavens—but before that, he'd offered to answer anything I wanted to know.
"...Haven't we met somewhere before?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"No, my mistake. Of course we haven't."
What kind of question was that, out of nowhere? Had we met? This was my first time even coming here. Must have confused me with someone else.
"Never mind. Just one thing, then. Did the Citrine family prosper?"
"Their influence has waned, but their reputation endures."
"Is that so? Good to hear."
Daon made a show of wiping cold sweat at my words—absurd, really, since a lingering will hardly has a metabolism to work with. Probably just a habit left over from his living days.
"My heart nearly gave out. I was terrified Kairos might take a dislike to my descendants and exterminate them like swatting flies."
"You of all people should know the Archmage is not that sort of man."
"Nobody knows that for certain. Even great nature cannot outlast the ravages of time—mountains shift their shape, and forests teeming with grass and trees wither into barren desert. Why would a man be any different?"
"You're not wrong, but he held fast to his convictions until the very end."
If no one else, the Archmage had devoted his entire life to saving people. Arlan was one of the beneficiaries herself, and those he had delivered from ruin numbered in the thousands at the very least.
"Until the very end, you say. So he died after all?"
"He passed the Divine Artifact to his daughter and entered his final rest."
"Hahaha, is that so! Then when I vanish, he'll be waiting at the gates of the underworld to greet me."
Grinning from ear to ear, he let out a hearty laugh—and his form began to blur. Like a ghost finding its release, his lingering will, duty complete, faded away.
"Thank you for answering me, successor of the Sun."
"Nothing else you're curious about? Matters concerning Pallad, or the inner affairs of the family?"
"I'm fine. They'll manage well enough on their own. I'd rather not meddle anymore."
At a glance it might look irresponsible, but he was no longer a man of this world. However much a ghost of the past offered guidance, it would only come across as nagging to his descendants. He'd entrusted everything before dying and handed over the artifact without a hitch—there seemed to be nothing left to hold him here.
"Oh, right. Might I ask one last favor?"
"What now, all of a sudden?"
It was about whether he, too, could do what I had in mind. Normally the curse would be lifted at the mountain-range dungeon where the Wrathful Heavenly Thunder was discovered—the place Yupi had cleared, steeped in thunder and lightning—but I figured he'd have another way.
"The method for breaking a curse on a soulbound item. Are you familiar with it?"
...
With the Divine Artifact in hand, we headed straight for the dungeon's exit. The gate at the end of the corridor could only be opened by defeating its guardian, but the guardian dragon of Atlantis was nowhere to be seen. It had most likely been swept away by the Dawn that engulfed the undersea temple, meeting whatever fate befell it. The fact that the sealed door connected to the gate now stood ajar was proof enough.
Swish!
I pushed the door open and stepped through—and was back at the edge of Dilmun. A familiar face was waiting by the gate.
"Ah, hello there."
"Over here, Solis."
Eva greeted me where she'd been waiting. She'd even brought the car along, just as I'd asked.
This is ridiculously convenient.
I opened the chat window and checked the message I'd sent her. Ordinary electronics don't work inside dungeons, but the System window was another matter. Ever since the Helper's invitation let her post to and read the chat log, she'd seen my message and come running at top speed, exactly as requested.
"Diana, load her into the back."
"Understood. Did everything go well, then?"
"Wrapped up successfully. Ter is a Divine Artifact owner now, too."
"I see. I'll notify Lady Pallad."
With that, she opened the rear cargo compartment and stuffed Ter inside. It reeked unmistakably of a criminal hiding a body, but I decided to overlook it—call it tossing out the garbage. Harsh treatment, sure, but she's earned it.
"Solis, you're back."
"Oof."
The moment I opened the rear door and climbed in, Marin threw her arms around me in welcome. Her slender arms wrapped around my waist, and a soft warmth seeped through.
"Marin, you came too?"
"Yeah. I missed you."
It hadn't even been a full day apart, yet Marin clung to me like a long-lost family reunion. Clingy to the point of goosebumps—but that was her charm, I supposed.
"Where to, sir?"
"The Headmaster's office at Purity Academy. I need to see Pallad."
I could see it coming a mile away that Yupi would be there too, so I settled on a single destination.
"Departing now."
"Ah, wait—one thing first."
I pointed a finger at the cargo compartment and finished my sentence.
"Drop that one off at her place before anything else."
Taking out the trash before leaving the house is just basic hygiene.
...
After delivering the unconscious Ter to her estate, we arrived at the Headmaster's office at the heart of the academy. I should mention—I came alone. I'd sent the other girls back to their dorms. Marin had clung on stubbornly, but after a lengthy negotiation I finally managed to send her off too. Nothing to be done about it. From here on out, I worked better solo.
"It's Solis. May I come in?"
"Please, come in. Lady Pallad is expecting you."
Past the tight security cordon of special police, I opened the door to find an old man seated at a battered work desk.
"There you are. I've been waiting."
She greeted us warmly in her old-man skin, arms spread wide in welcome—the spitting image of our grandfather back home welcoming his grandchildren. Knowing there was a petite woman who used the polite register inside that skin made it honestly hard to keep a straight face.
"How did the artifact go?"
"Successfully transferred to Ter. She's unconscious at the moment, so I dropped her off at her residence."
"You've worked hard. Daon can finally sleep in peace, then."
Perhaps it was because I'd finally fulfilled the favor an old friend had asked of her long ago—she looked visibly lighter, as if setting down a heavy burden.
"Where's Yupi?"
"She's currently being held in the reflection room. Whatever her circumstances, a student striking an instructor is a serious offense."
My poor girl—locked up in some narrow, dark little room all this time. I had to get her out of there right away.
"Thank you for letting me know."
The instant the words left her mouth, I turned on my heel. Seeing me make to leave without a shred of hesitation, she called me back.
"And where exactly are you going?"
"To see her, obviously. Report's done, so I'll be off."
I had no reason to linger here, so I made to leave in style—and then, whoosh!
"I've opened a portal for you. Take this route—it'll be faster."
Befitting the woman who wielded near-omnipotent power within Dilmun, her personal domain, she tore open a teleportation passage leading straight to Yupi.
"Go comfort her, will you? The girl's half-dead—she won't even move."
"Everyone's like that when something gets them down. Time heals it, bit by bit."
"...Sometimes a wound simply doesn't heal."
Pallad let out a sigh from the depths of her soul. Judging by the reaction, she had a fair idea of what was going on. Well, of course she did—we'd brawled right in the middle of her academy, well within her reach. It would've been stranger if she hadn't noticed.
"I'll soothe her just fine, so don't you worry."
"Very well. Off you go, then."
With a brief nod, I stepped into the portal. A space lined with empty cells behind iron bars came into view.
The reflection room. A holding area where students who caused incidents were temporarily confined. In the original story, Ter had frequented the place like it was her own bedroom—though thanks to my reining her in early on, that future had been neatly erased.
"I'm here, sis."
Instead, someone else had taken up residence.
"Solis."
There she sat, in a room whose only furniture was a single lonely chair, forcing a smile through a haggard, worn-down face. A far cry from the entrance ceremony, when she'd ridden in on thunder and planted her flag before the assembled students, radiating confidence.
"I'm sorry, but I'm in no mood for visitors today. I appreciate you coming, but would you go home?"
With that, the deflated woman turned her head away, her whole body declaring that she had no intention of talking to me any further.
Clang!
"I swear, I'll never understand why people in this world all want to hole up in a corner and sulk alone the second things get hard."
I had no intention of leaving her be. I spread my palm and swung. My hand, its mana honed into a blade's edge, sliced through the iron bars like cutting tofu.
"Take my hand. I'm about to teach you a blazing-hot way to blow off steam."