Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Back to the Original Place (1)
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“What?”
The Vice Principal’s eyes went wide as he asked.
He wore an expression that said he had no idea what I was talking about.
I frowned.
I didn’t think he was that kind of person, but he certainly had a petty side.
“What debt?”
As if determined to make me sing my own praises, the Vice Principal played dumb until the end.
Fine, singing my own praises wasn't so hard.
“The Imperial Audit. You dumped it on me, didn't you?”
The Vice Principal looked at me as if he finally understood. “Ah.”
“It’s not like I dumped it on you.”
“Did you really think I wouldn't know you practically pushed me into it, even giving me a room?”
“What kind of absurd accusation is that…”
“In any case, isn't it true you had it easy thanks to me?”
You didn't have to worry about cadets being poached.
You didn't have to fret about a traitor emerging from the Cradle.
You didn't have to see or speak to Jamal Rudiger, whose face you hate.
“I had to miss two weeks of classes just to deal with that man.”
“A new cadet, with so much to learn, huh? Locked in a tiny room all day, facing off against a terrifying Imperial Auditor, huh?”
“I was so scared I couldn't even eat. Look. See how hollow my cheeks are.”
I went on for quite a while about how much I’d missed my peers and how desperately I’d wanted to attend my classes.
And how worried I was about falling behind.
It was a very long and elaborate speech.
“Is it right for the Empire’s greatest academy to force such a sacrifice on a cadet?”
The more I spoke, the more worked up I got.
“If a cadet sacrificed this much for the Cradle, shouldn't the Cradle do something in return out of common decency? Huh? Doesn't that make things even?”
If I’d done the Cradle such a favor, the Cradle should give me something of equal value to balance the scales.
“So, how are you going to compensate me for this?”
I asked again about compensation.
“Is that all you have to say?”
The Vice Principal, looking weary, finally spoke after a long moment of staring at me.
“The professors in charge will arrange supplementary classes for the two weeks you missed.”
“Calling the VIP suite a ‘tiny room’ is a bit of an overstatement.”
“And far from becoming hollow, your cheeks seem to have filled out even more than before.”
After calmly refuting my points, he paused for a moment before continuing.
“The Cradle never, under any circumstances, forces a cadet to make a sacrifice. If anything, it's the other way around. This case is no different.”
I was about to quickly retort to his assertive and confident tone.
“However, it is also true that thanks to you, things were handled more smoothly.”
The Vice Principal beat me to the punch.
“State what you want.”
As long as it’s not an unreasonable request, I will accommodate it to the best of my ability.
At his words, I swallowed the tirade that had been on the tip of my tongue.
Now that’s more like the Vice Principal of the Cradle.
It wouldn't do to accept a favor and then pretend it never happened.
“That expression on your face is quite unpleasant. It makes me want to retract my offer.”
“What's wrong with my expression?”
I quickly composed my features and looked up at the Vice Principal with an innocent face.
“Enough. Just state your demands. You must have come to me because you want something.”
The Vice Principal remained unfazed by my expression.
His tone suggested he just wanted to get this over with so I would disappear.
That was what I wanted, too.
“Let me tour the inside of the Satellite City.”
My request seemed to be unexpected, as the Vice Principal’s eyes widened.
“You mean, something like the heart of the Satellite City?”
* * *
To get straight to the point.
“Denied.”
My request was rejected.
“The Satellite City is not a tourist attraction. The heart of it, no less. I cannot grant permission to a cadet with a low security clearance.”
The Vice Principal’s tone was exceedingly firm as he repeatedly denied my request.
He sounded certain that my request would never be granted.
But from what I’ve learned in life, there’s no such thing as ‘never.’
Thud.
“What is this now…”
The Vice Principal remained utterly indifferent, even as he looked at the scroll I presented.
But it didn't take much effort to crack his expression.
“The list.”
A single phrase.
“It's a list with the names of those who have betrayed the Cradle.”
A few more words of explanation were all it took.
The Vice Principal, who had been staring blankly between me and the scroll, shot up from his seat.
I quickly retrieved the scroll.
“Now, now. We haven't finished our discussion yet. Aren't you being a bit hasty?”
The Vice Principal, who had been about to reach for it, frowned at me.
“For your information, the names on this list aren't just people who reached out here and there for their own gain. They are true apostates who have made a Secular Vow.”
“How did such a thing end up in the hands of a mere cadet…?”
“I made a deal with Sir Jamal.”
“What on earth did you pay for it?”
“You don't need to know that, do you, Vice Principal?”
The Vice Principal’s eyebrow twitched.
It was an inappropriate response for a mere cadet to give a Vice Principal, and even more so for a squire-aspirant to say to one who held the rank of a knight.
“The survival of the Cradle takes precedence over all else.”
“It hasn't been long since you said the Cradle never forces a cadet to make a sacrifice.”
“I have no time for wordplay.”
“I paid a considerable price to obtain this list. Are you planning to disregard the price I paid and just take it?”
“The gravity of the matter is different.”
At his response, which implied he would accept a small sacrifice for a greater purpose, I defiantly placed the list back on the desk.
“Are you planning to take it by force?”
There was no way a mere cadet, not even a knight, could stop a high-ranking knight from doing what he wanted.
While I was at it, I even took a few steps back.
“Hmm.”
The Vice Principal glanced back and forth between me and the list.
The key to cutting out the rot within the Cradle was right before his eyes.
He could grasp that key just by reaching out his hand.
It would have been stranger if he wasn't conflicted.
“If that list turns out to be a fake…”
After a long moment of contemplation, the Vice Principal finally spoke.
“Expulsion will be the least of your worries.”
Despite his chilling warning, I simply shrugged.
“You cannot go alone. I will allow you a short tour as an attendant to someone with the appropriate security clearance.”
I never thought I’d be able to wander through the heart of the Satellite City by myself in the first place.
“I will decide who you will accompany and the rest of the schedule, and contact you separately.”
With that, the Vice Principal reached out his hand.
But what could I do?
“I'm sorry, but that doesn't even the score.”
I had not the slightest intention of handing over the list just like that.
“Didn't you just say you wanted to see the heart of the Satellite City?”
When I put the list away again, the Vice Principal’s expression immediately hardened.
“That was compensation for dealing with the Imperial Auditor while missing my classes. It wasn't the price for this list.”
If he had readily agreed to my request, I might have just handed over the list without asking for anything else in return. The Vice Principal’s expression, as he watched me speak with regret, now looked as if it were coated in frost.
“A chance to weed out the traitors eating away at the Cradle.”
I didn't care.
“What can the Cradle offer me?”
I boldly asked the Vice Principal to make the first offer.
“Hmm.”
The Vice Principal, after glaring at me for a moment, softened his expression and fell into thought.
“This is not a matter I can decide on my own.”
In other words, he needed time to consult with his superiors.
I hadn't expected to get a firm answer right here and now anyway, so I readily accepted his request.
“Here.”
Having concluded our deal, I held the list out to the Vice Principal.
“What is the meaning of this?”
The Vice Principal asked with a dubious look on his face, puzzled by my sudden change of heart after I had refused to hand over the list until a proper price was offered.
“To pay the right price, you need to know the exact value of the item, don't you?”
“That makes sense, in a way, but…”
“Look at it and then decide.”
I forcibly placed the list into the hand of the dumbfounded Vice Principal.
“What if I take the list and pay you a ridiculously insincere price?”
“Are you going to do that?”
“...I've been well and truly snared.”
He lamented that since his honor was now on the line, he had no choice but to pay the highest price he possibly could.
But he didn't actually look upset about being outplayed by me.
I wondered why.
“Because I imagine you were just like this when you dealt with that fellow, Jamal Rudiger.”
It was because he didn't feel like he was the only one who had been had.
It was a ridiculous answer, but not an incomprehensible one.
Human nature has always had a wicked side.
It was also human to be willing to lose ten gold coins if it meant a person you disliked lost a hundred.
Even a righteous knight was not so different.
“For your information, the list wasn't the only thing Sir Jamal paid me.”
Something far more important.
Like his hair, for instance. Or his follicles. Or the crown of his head.
“Hahahaha.”
The Vice Principal laughed as if greatly refreshed.
Leaving the Principal's office, I immediately headed toward the dormitories.
“Hmm?”
As I walked, a question suddenly popped into my head, and I tilted my head.
“But where is the Principal? Why is the Vice Principal always in the Principal's office?”
Perhaps the Principal of the Cradle was so busy he couldn't even stay in his own office.
For some reason, I hadn't seen a trace of the man called the Principal.
“Not my problem, though.”
But it wasn't something I needed to worry about, so I quickened my pace.
Now that I had decided to thwart the Empress’s schemes, I couldn't afford to waste any time.
I planned to topple the towers the Empress had so painstakingly built, as efficiently as possible.
The information I gave to Jamal Rudiger and the list I handed to the Vice Principal were merely parts of my grand plan.
I needed to start moving busily from now on.
“Oh, right.”
There was something I had to do first.
I turned back from my path to the dormitory.
“You don't seem to have gotten hurt again. What a surprise. You, coming to see me first.”
When I arrived at the infirmary, Professor Yuria appeared as if she had been waiting and greeted me.
“It's about that elixir you gave me before.”
“The elixir? What about it? Did you try it? What were the effects? Was it okay? Hurry up and tell me what happened.”
I had barely started when Professor Yuria, on the edge of her seat, fired a barrage of questions at me.
“That elixir… I couldn't use it at all.”
“Why? Why couldn't you use it? Was it ineffective? Or were the side effects severe?”
Taking a step away from her, a manic gleam in her eyes, I hastily answered.
“It makes your hair fall out.”
“...?”
Professor Yuria tilted her head, looking at the crown of my head.
“No, not me. Someone else took it.”
I gave her a brief summary of the situation.
“So you're saying it calmed the mind and body, but a whole bunch of hair fell out?”
“Yes. His scalp was balding in real-time.”
“It's a minor side effect compared to the benefits, but it's tricky. No one wants to go bald.”
Jamal Rudiger himself had shown the magnanimity to not care whether his hair fell out or not, but I wasn't so confident.
I wasn't even twenty yet. Hair loss?
Absolutely not.
“Wait here a moment.”
After pondering my words for a moment, she disappeared into the back of the infirmary.
When she reappeared, she was holding an identical vial.
“This one is a different formula. I haven't been able to check for side effects on this one either. But it's guaranteed to have a calming effect on the mind and body.”
As she spoke, handing me the elixir, her gaze was meaningful.
It was clear she hoped I would test the elixir's effects and side effects on someone else, just like with Jamal Rudiger.
At this point, it was safe to say she never intended to check for side effects with her own hands from the start.
Otherwise, how could she keep casually handing over elixirs with unconfirmed effects?
“The ingredients are just so auspicious.”
Professor Yuria, having somehow read my mind, said defensively.
“You said that last time, too…”
Even now, it sent a chill down my spine to think what would have happened if I had been the one to drink that elixir instead of Jamal Rudiger.
I couldn't fully trust her words.
“That first one had a few mistakes in the compounding process. This time, I used completely different ingredients, so what happened last time won't happen again. Though there might be other side effects.”
It’s fine, it’s fine.
She kept repeating that it was fine as she forced the elixir into my hand.
Left with the unidentified elixir, I was at a loss.
I suddenly missed the absence of Jamal Rudiger, who could laugh off even gruesome side effects with magnanimity.
But there was no point in lamenting someone who was already gone.
It seemed I would have to postpone the elixir experiment for a while longer.
That's what I thought, but I was wrong.
“They say the darkest place is right under the candlestick.”
Not long after I left the infirmary.
Before I even reached the dormitory.
“...?”
As if by a miracle, a suitable candidate for the second clinical trial appeared before my very eyes.