Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Dormitory Ghost Incident (5)
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Black mana scattered into the air, rising toward the sky. That's when I clearly heard it.
It coalesced into one, uttered a single phrase, and then flew away.
"...Thank you. President."
"You're still calling me president, even now... No, to them, I'm probably the last president they knew."
Right after that, Zolf collapsed flat on the spot with a thud.
He twitched a bit, so it didn't look like he'd passed on to the afterlife.
Pathetic guy.
I thought that, but moments later, my own legs gave out, and I slumped down right there.
There wasn't enough mana left to activate that final message.
Instead, it must have drawn from somewhere else—probably my stamina. It wasn't in the original story, so who knows what's going on.
Anyway, as I lay there sprawled out, urgent voices came from afar.
"Lord Wolfram! Are you all right?!"
"I'm fine. Focus on the injured."
"Y-Yes, sir!"
I waved Nefti off, telling her not to come near, and she swiftly turned and headed toward Eve and Kelters.
I stayed lying down, lost in thought.
This massively tangled plot was just the prologue—Act 1-1, you could say—but it had spiraled way beyond what I could handle.
Kelters had turned into some kind of jammin Coolpis, Eve got blasted away after one hit, and Wolfram had to step in. Hardcore player or not, who could've predicted it'd play out like this?
But I'd stopped it.
Just like Kelters resolved the dropouts' grudges in the original story, I'd done the same and sorted it out.
"Probably a bit of luck involved, too."
Whether it was because I, the former student council president, spoke with genuine sincerity that touched them, or Zolf's affinity toward me helped, or the Imperial Bloodline skill was just that powerful.
Anyway. Anyway.
"We won. I survived."
That's what mattered.
By not stopping my thoughts and doing everything I could, Wolfram von Loengrin had survived yet again.
"Ha, this is really something I can't stomach."
I needed to retrieve the clear item, but I had no stamina left for that.
I'll lie here a bit longer, then head to the reward room. For now, just catch my breath.
Plenty of time. Act 1 was over.
"What in the world is going on here?!"
"...Huh?"
That's what I thought, but apparently, it wasn't over yet.
"Zolf's here! And even student Wolfram? What on earth is this mess...!"
"Professor Rantica Grace..."
"Ahem. This is quite the disaster. Did Zolf cause all this? We'll head back to the lab first and hear the full story."
"...Yes?"
"You come to the lab too, Wolfram. We need to hear everything calmly and properly, so get ready right away."
No, wait a second.
Wasn't it all done?
The professor shows up out of nowhere now? Is that even a thing? No, no, this is seriously not happening. Hey, hey, stop. Don't come near me!
Just as the professor's mana tendrils reached for me.
A voice wrapped in light came from behind him.
"No. We'll handle the questioning here first."
"...What?"
"Eve."
Even as she took the brunt of Professor Rantica's anger-tinged bewilderment at his plan being thwarted, she pressed on without hesitation.
"The new semester just started, and this happened in the first-year dormitory. I believe this is a matter for me—the one granted full authority by the imperial family—not the professors."
"...Ahem, ahem. But those are my students over there."
"I can't hand them over. To avoid any confusion in the investigation, we'll handle it first."
"Ahem, but as a professor, I have my dignity to uphold. Even if I give up on Wolfram, I need to take Zolf."
"I'll formally raise this as an agenda with the imperial family. You can speak then, once His Majesty's approval is granted."
"...Ahem. Fine. I'll withdraw for now. See you at the graduate dorms later."
With that, Professor Rantica clicked his tongue and retreated.
Whoa. Eve's coming in strong.
No matter that Eve von Loengrin was student council president with near-absolute power, her opponent was a professor whose name would go down in imperial history.
This battle of wills must've been a huge strain for her... Why throw down like that all of a sudden?
What does she expect to find investigating me and Zolf...?
Is she trying to ship me off completely? Tie me up and toss me into the sea off Jefrin?
As I shivered at the thought, the executioner of light approached me.
No.
Save me. Please.
"Wolfram... Are you, um, I mean... A-Are you... okay...?"
"?"
What did she just say?
By the time Eve von Loengrin came to, the situation was nearly wrapped up.
She clutched her throbbing head and regained her senses. First thing she did was a 'self-check': who she was, her age, birthplace, what she studied. No memory lapses there. Next came 'analysis': what the current situation was and why she'd blacked out.
Being an excessively talented mage, Eve quickly figured out why she'd fainted and why she was here.
Boom!!
Something inside collapsed with a roar, and a startled Eve hurried toward the hall's depths.
She stumbled.
"Ugh...!"
But a sound mind and body were separate; her legs wobbled badly.
She couldn't stop, though.
Ironically, getting hit by that thing made her understand it.
It was resentment. Colorless mana given direction by intense emotion.
And that emotion was the heartfelt wish of expelled freshmen to graduate.
On top of that, the grad student's own desire to graduate piled on, causing it to go berserk.
So this was student council president business.
"I'm okay. I can do this."
She had no idea how she'd made it this far unscathed after passing out, but her limbs trembled.
She'd nearly died. First time she'd ever fainted in her life. A single pebble falling on her head would've ended her.
"St-Still... I have to go."
It's fine. She took a deep breath.
Her mana was around 17, human limits. A full-power Light Spear could end it in one shot. She'd lost consciousness to the surprise attack, but she was ready to counter now.
One thing nagged at her.
The man she'd glimpsed before blacking out.
The feeble-bodied guy right next to her on the family register.
"No way. He couldn't be here... "
But he was so elusive, no guarantee he wasn't.
"If he is... No. That idiot...!"
She knew Wolfram's stats. Stamina 2, mana 3.
No way he could withstand that ghost's 17 mana.
Eve pushed her shaky legs toward the hall.
And there she saw it.
A figure she'd never acknowledged in her life,
displaying an undeniable majesty,
the former pinnacle of Jefrin's 100,000—the student council president.
"Take it, Zolf. You've done more than enough."
And there he was, with his mere stamina of 2 and mana of 3, conversing with something several times his strength.
Surpassing a wall numbers could never breach, through sheer human will.
Eve gritted her teeth.
It felt like the path she must walk as Jefrin's student council president was being laid out before her eyes.
"What the hell. Now you show up."
Why hadn't he shown that side during his term?
"Why pull this now? It's too late."
Eve strode right up, stared blankly at my face, let out a deep sigh, and snapped her fingers. Ah, time to die. What a short life.
"Nepthelian. By order of the student council president, calm the first-years so they don't panic and keep them in their rooms."
"Understood."
With that, Nefti bolted upstairs like an arrow. No, don't go. Protect me.
"Wolfram."
"What."
"First, let's heal that body of yours. 【Light Spear: High-Speed Recovery】"
With those words, a spear of light floated quietly before me, spinning gently, and I felt my stamina recover rapidly.
Looks like she doesn't plan to kill me here.
"...Thanks."
"It doesn't look good for an imperial to be lying around like that."
"I'm just a regular student now. Not president, not imperial in Jefrin."
As I stood and brushed off the dust, Eve's expression darkened oddly. Something wrong?
"Man, what a mess. Student council repair budget's gonna take a hit."
"Yeah."
Zolf's whole fiasco had completely wrecked the first-year dormitory hall. The first-years upstairs must be wide awake from the noise.
But the lockdown's impressive—no one else rushed out but jammin Kelters. Or maybe they all have imperial 'don't defy' engraved in their heads?
"Wolfram."
"What."
"I get the gist, but can you explain?"
"...Sure. Not hard."
I explained to Eve what had happened.
The grad student's situation. The professor's orders. Zolf's escape.
"I see."
"That guy's expelled, right?"
I glanced at Zolf.
Sucks, but someone has to take responsibility for a disaster like this.
And Zolf was caught red-handed, backstory or not.
But her response was unexpected.
"Maybe, maybe not."
"For causing this much chaos?"
"He didn't do it alone. It was built-up resentment in Jefrin that created this. Hard to pin it all on him. I was thinking of pursuing that angle."
"Why?"
"If more grad students keep popping out of the magic division like this, the empire might weaken. Can't even imagine a grad student with over 20 mana becoming a professor's private soldier."
"All loyalty must point to the empire, huh."
Eve nodded.
"Politics is ultimately about justification, backing, interests, and dividing sides. Grab the justification of 'is oppressing grad students okay?'—justice is on our side—lean on imperial backing, push a few research grants to sympathetic professors who side with the throne, and divide the camps. Easy."
Scary. Eve is seriously scary.
"And while we're at it, push a bill through the prime minister's side."
"What bill?"
"One legally defining grad students as human beings?"
Her words made my head nod on its own. Yeah, that needs to happen.
"Deep thinking."
"Hmph."
But in the original, she didn't grow this fast. What happened?
As I pondered, Eve muttered something.
"Oppa..."
"What?"
"Nothing. Wolfram. Just thinking it's unlike you to step up like that."
"Ha. I think it's unlike me too."
"...Craving power again? Effort to reinstate as president?"
I didn't answer. No point.
What nonsense, like Aila.
But Eve took my silence some way, sighed deeply, and said softly,
"Come back to student council first, do odd jobs or whatever. Opportunity might arise."
"Absolutely not. Why would I go back there? Handle it yourself."
"Argh!!"
She flew into a huge rage and turned away.
What.
Why's she mad?
After that, Eve fumed for a bit, then hoisted Zolf on her back, glanced once at Kelters far off, and vanished. Hang in there, Kelters.
Anyway, in this now-empty hall—minus the spirits, Zolf, professor, Nefti, and Eve—I headed to the clear room.
And there it was, one item just sitting there.
"...Where'd this drop from?"
I tilted my head, but since it was exactly the item I expected, I let it go.
"Out of order, but finally got it."
I grinned, reading the system message floating before me.
Act 1 endgame item. Beginner set effect from the Gauntlets of Order.
"Body's beat..."
But the payoff was too sweet.
Ah, sweet.