Chapter 55
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: The Sudden Departure
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To purify this, a mage of a higher realm than the Demon Duke would be required.
To purify this, you'd need a mage of a higher realm than an Archmage Duke.
The building I crash-landed in has Professor Neyk's lab. Could it be related? And that J initial is Jewel Professor's habit with engraved magic stones.
"Fuck...! Huff— huff—"
I immediately posted on the gallery and started running.
Realizing this was Professor Neyk's lab building sent an inexplicable wave of unease crashing over me.
And to top it off, we'd found Jewel Professor's engraved magic stone near the building—the one from her survey of the excursion site.
I didn't catch my breath until I made it back to the clubroom.
The room, which had been packed just earlier, was now empty.
Afternoon classes were about to start, so everyone must have headed back to their classrooms.
Stepping into the gallery, I saw it was already ablaze from my comment just minutes ago.
Kim Muggle, where are you?! Open that thing up NOW!!
That's a recording stone engraved by Jewel Professor, right?
And it was found in the flower bed next to Snake Professor's building.
Hurry up and bring it back to open it!!!
Whatever's on there, watching it should give us a big lead.
Where's Kim Muggle? This is making me nervous as fuck. Did Snake Professor catch him or something?
Piles of posts and comments stacked up.
Come to think of it, I'd only left that one comment and bolted for a while.
The academy was safe, but the situation had me pretty rattled.
Sorry, got totally spooked and ran back to the clubroom
Nothing happened, just took a while getting back here.
What's this? A video record? How do I open it?
Aw, shit; you scared the hell outta me. Say something before vanishing like that.
Kim Muggle toyed with my heart.
So I just needed to pour mana into it?
Double-checking that no one was around, I infused mana into Jewel Professor's magic stone.
A burst of light shot out from the rounded edge, projecting a holographic image into the air.
I filmed it for the gallery while watching the footage.
-How could this...!
The video started with Jewel Professor's panicked voice.
It showed an unidentified safe and its contents.
A hand from off-screen reached in and began pulling things out.
It seemed to be from Jewel Professor's perspective.
Inside were stacks of worn papers and unidentified artifacts.
The yellowed papers bore mysterious magic circles.
They looked like high-order spells. Even just glimpsed through the video, they gave off an unsettling dissonance.
As Jewel Professor finished inspecting the safe, Professor Neyk's voice rang out.
Then Professor Plma appeared.
"Professor Yi was a traitor?"
Jewel Professor took a joint attack from Professors Neyk and Plma.
The screen shook violently as combat broke out.
A massive shadow loomed.
In an instant, with Jewel Professor's faint groan, the footage jerked wildly.
She must have thrown the stone.
It flew out the window and plummeted to the ground below.
The video ended as it buried itself in the dirt.
"What the hell is this..."
Unable to hold back my bewilderment, I uploaded the video to the gallery.
I briefly considered privacy rights, but screw protecting criminals—I left Professors Neyk and Plma's faces in.
...Fuck.
What the hell are they doing to our budding sprouts!!!
This is fucking insaneeeeee!!
My heart swells... Where are all you assholes calling Jewel Professor psycho?
Couldn't escape herself, so she punched through the barrier just enough to toss the recording, right?
The gallery users who watched the video had similar reactions.
Impressive, sure, but these guys were talking in their own insider lingo again.
I had no idea what was in that safe.
So what is it? What happened? I get that a fight broke out.
Kim Muggle doesn't know how serious the stuff in the safe is.
Most mages wouldn't even know what that is. Jewel Professor sensing danger from it means she researched taboos pretty deeply.
What is it already!!! Explain instead of chatting among yourselves!!!
This guy's such a muggle lol
These assholes always derail whenever they get the chance.
Then, one anon finally started explaining what was in the safe.
I'll explain. Looks like most of us are here now. That safe had papers recording taboo magic circles and artifacts needed for taboo magic, but...
"Hohohoho..."
The chancellor laughed with a bizarre expression after hearing Professor Neyk's full report.
It had taken a lot of time to get this far.
They'd been careful not to let outsiders ruin things.
Even inside the academy, they'd manipulated everything meticulously to avoid suspicion.
And finally, they were ready to fulfill their long-cherished wish.
Everything had fallen perfectly into place.
No better opportunity would come again.
In other words, they'd been preparing for this for a very long time.
"We've imprisoned Jewel Professor ahead of time."
"Hohoho... Well done. We nearly let one professor ruin our lifelong dream."
With their long-held wish within reach,
they'd finally dealt with the last professor chasing taboos.
The chancellor had paid special attention to preventing any disturbances within the academy.
Their goal wasn't some crude academy raid—it was something greater.
Raiding and destroying valuable resources was third-rate work.
They'd infiltrated slowly and silently, completely taking over the academy.
"The large-scale magic circle is perfectly prepared. And turning Chayuri Floridel into the 'vessel' was a success."
"Hohoho. The Floridels are the dumbest among Archmage Dukes. To so brazenly discard precious direct-line blood."
"His wife was the fool, so we got the vessel without much delay."
"The Floridels will be the start."
After discovering Chayuri's mother, Harora, the chancellor had completely shattered her mind.
All to make her hand over her daughter, Chayuri.
Harora, already mentally unstable, was easy to exploit.
Normally, Archmage Dukes and their wives manage direct heirs carefully, knowing their value.
The Floridels were the same. But with the Floridel Archmage Duke being a playboy, the wives handled the children.
He only chased women he liked, leaving kids to his wives.
"A foolish woman. No wonder the Floridels discarded her."
"One wonders how she was even chosen."
They chose wives carefully, playboys or not.
A woman to safely raise their seed—strong and devoted.
Chayuri's mother was the same at first.
Just a bit weaker than other wives, with twisted obsession instead of pure devotion.
After being discarded, Harora nearly went mad.
The chancellor discovered her through vessel candidate Chayuri.
They decided to make Chayuri the vessel,
and after various approaches, fully dominated Harora's mind.
Thus, using that crack, they accessed the Archmage Duke Family's direct line.
Far easier than other Archmage Dukes' heirs.
Turning Chayuri Floridel into the vessel was simple after that.
"Have you checked the large-scale magic circle?"
"Yes. It's ready to activate anytime."
This excursion site had also been prepared over a long time.
The place where their massive magic circle was drawn.
The land that sealed the Latent Abyss Dragon.
The prepared massive magic circle required over a thousand mages.
Once all cadets gathered, they'd activate it, sacrificing them as offerings.
All affected cadets would be torn apart, their blood, flesh, and souls merged into the 'vessel'.
Sacrifice all academy cadets to complete the 'vessel'.
The completed 'vessel' becomes a weapon wielding absolute power against those sharing its blood.
This magic was created by an ancient taboo mage to kill their entire bloodline.
The chancellor and his group planned to use it against the Floridel Archmage Duke.
To kill the duke, they'd secured his direct heir safely,
and to use cadets as offerings, they'd meticulously seized the academy.
All spells involved were, naturally, taboos.
Thus, it took immense time and backlash.
But they hated the loathsome Archmage Duke that much.
"Hohoho..."
The chancellor—no, the taboo mage Alpha—shuddered in anticipation of their imminent wish fulfilled.
He recalled successfully taking the chancellor's position.
All successes started there.
He'd offed the senile chancellor with taboo magic and claimed the seat.
Laid groundwork slowly; recently, some professors were possessed by other taboo mages.
Finally, preparations to execute the plan were complete.
"Is the vessel fully prepared?"
"Yes. We've cast the vessel spell on Chayuri Floridel for certain. By now, her mana circuits are fully twisted into the vessel."
"Still, we must be meticulous until the time comes."
"Conveniently, Professor Plma teaches her class, so he's confirmed it."
Professor Neyk—no, the taboo mage possessing him—had perfectly made Chayuri the vessel.
Now, just offer the sacrifices on excursion day, and Chayuri would become the weapon to kill the Archmage Duke.
"No chance of failure. To purify that spell requires an Archmage Duke at least. Even they would struggle. It's so dangerous, even the purifier takes damage."
"Right, right. To purify it without harm would need an Archmage Duke, or perhaps a higher mage."
"Of course, no risk inside the academy."
"Hohoho..."
Check out these well-grown flowers before you go
(Photo of unidentified flowers lined up, swaying their shoulders in a dance)
Developed a new flower variety called Regloregrosia.
Natural mana flows through the stems, making them sway even without wind.
They look like they're dancing shoulder to shoulder—cute, right?
Let's all love plants.
Posts plant pics no matter the bait.
Environmentalist: Gotta do what I do.
Hawawa, flower pics are an upvote always.
I took a moment to steady my mind looking at Environmentalist's plant steady-post.
From Jewel Professor's video, Professor Neyk's safe contents.
FlapFlap had explained what those magic circles and items were for.
So, they're planning to grind up the entire academy's cadets and stuff them into Chayuri?
Probably to use her blood to kill the Floridel Archmage Duke.
'We have to kill the Archmage Duke...' Her words kept echoing.
A spell to kill the vessel's kin, using over a thousand mages as sacrifice.
What kind of mage creates something like that?
Some horrific bastard for horrific reasons, no doubt.
So what now?
If we hold out one day and get the kids to the site, it's success, but...
Final desperate move: academy-wide broadcast?
Those reckless methods are risky; if you get caught showing off, even if kids figure it out and succeed, Kim Muggle gets nabbed and dies.
Kim Muggle still dies tho
Yeah, like those Archmage Duke kids
We obviously had to stop it. But how?
Rushing out and grabbing people was dangerous.
It might convince a few to cancel, but
with one day left, the enemies would be on high alert.
High chance I'd get caught, killed, or memory-wiped. Gallery consensus.
Not perfect—risky.
Another way: ask a cadet like Hisenna for help, borrow Archmage Duke power.
High Archmage Dukes ignore low mages usually, but
academy taken by taboo mages targeting an Archmage Duke? They'd help.
"That's it."
Borrowing massive power was right.
No need to solve it alone.
I had the truth and evidence—they'd help.
No way for commoner me to contact Archmage Dukes alone, but Hisenna could.
Sounds right. Best to contact her family through Mamatong.
Hisenna was trustworthy.
I jumped up immediately.
Time had flown while watching the video and scrolling the gallery.
Afternoon classes were nearly over.
I'd accidentally skipped them.
But whatever—people were about to die.
I left the clubroom.
But as I stepped outside, something felt off.
"...What?"
In the distance, carriages were streaming out the academy's main gate.
Large ones for mass transport.
Definitely the ones prepped for the excursion.
...Why were they leaving now? Wasn't it tomorrow?
A bad feeling hit me; I sprinted like mad.
"Hey, scrub! Where the hell have you been since lunch?! Skipped two classes! The class was in chaos looking for you!"
"Why, why are the carriages leaving now?"
"Schedule changed due to circumstances—excursion's a day early! Almost everyone's gone; we're nearly last!"
"...What? Hisenna?"
"Hisenna and Chayuri took the one ahead. Don't get ideas—I was waiting 'cause we did rock-paper-scissors, loser fetches you. So be grateful I waited for a scrub like you?"
A thud in my chest. Heart sinking wasn't just a metaphor.
I stared blankly at the few remaining carriages pulling away.
What do I do? Stop them like a maniac now?
I shakily posted the situation to the gallery, barely hearing Elrim chatter.
Fuck, we're screwed; while I watched the vid and chatted with you guys for a few hours, academy suddenly advanced departureㅅㅂ; Came out and Mamatong & everyone already left
They caught on? How?!
Impossible.
Should we grab 'em? But Snake Professor's watching me ㅅㅂ; They expected this? How? ㅅㅂㅅㅂㅂㄱㅅ
They figured this out?
Stop it now—cadets enter the large magic circle and it's over.
No way to contact Archmage Duke or whatever rn?
As if
"Cadet Ian Isaac?"
Someone called my name while I frantically scrolled comments.
A chilling, unpleasant voice laced with malice.
Lifting my head, Professor Neyk loomed over me, smiling.
Whatever it was, he'd figured it out.
Fuck, fight here? But I couldn't beat a professor alone.
Too late for help—I was already cornered by him.
Or shake him off and run?
"All other cadets have departed. Board the carriage."
"Hey, scrub! Hurry up and get on! Bought too many snacks by mistake—can't eat alone! Me sharing snacks ain't common?"
Elrim was already at the carriage.
Other cadets boarding too.
Sacrifice my life to stop the carriages?
But I lacked that courage. Didn't wanna die right now.
Or abandon everyone and flee?
...Fuck. Couldn't do that either. How could I?
Knowing all those cadets would die, and run alone?
Knowing Jewel Professor got caught trying to stop it, and abandon her?
And let that damn chancellor hag screw me over again? No revenge?
Breath quickening in a dead-end,
powerlessness boiling my blood despite knowing everything,
my eyes caught a new post in the gallery list—unfamiliar format.
Unlike others, it had "(Secret)" next to the title.
Someone had posted a secret message visible only to me, calling me out.
(Secret)Title: Kim Muggle, come in
The secret post's author was an utterly unexpected anon.