Chapter 30
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Elective Course (9)
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Thursday morning,
the Academy Chairman, Eris, naturally awoke to the sunlight filtering through the window.
"So tired..."
Ignoring the fatigue crashing over her as usual,
she rose from her massive bed, stretched, and began preparing to head to the Academy.
A magic circle formed in Eris's hand as she got out of bed.
Once the magic circle was complete in her hand,
it enveloped her,
and in an instant, she was washed, groomed, and changed into fresh clothes.
Then, another magic circle appeared beneath her feet—a teleportation circle—that whisked her straight to the chairman's office at the Academy.
From waking up in the morning, getting ready, and arriving at the Academy,
Eris had accomplished it all in less than a minute. She sat at her desk in the office, still looking weary, and stared at the surface before her.
"What a hassle..."
Mountains of documents piled high on the desk greeted her,
and the thought popped into her head unbidden.
If she could, she wanted to dump everything on the professors or student council like she had from Monday to Wednesday—taking three straight days off—but
these were documents that required her personal signature, so she couldn't.
"Haa..."
Even knowing that, the laziness and reluctance surging before starting work were beyond even a dragon like her.
"Youth... I'm so jealous."
Sitting in the chairman's office, gazing out the window at the cadets heading to classes with envy for just a moment,
she finally shook off the annoyance and began processing the towering stack of papers one by one.
"Put this on hold..."
"Approved..."
"Rejected..."
"Who the hell submitted this?"
Expansion plan for Academy annex facilities,
Academy water system overhaul proposal,
A-Class classroom expansion request,
Dormitory co-ed integration demand, and the like—
suggestions and requests from professors,
or documents detailing student proposals and demands from the student council.
Eris processed them at a startling speed.
As she worked through the papers for a good while,
her eyes stopped on one document.
"Hm...?"
[Request for Use of (Old) Annex Basement at the Academy.]
A document requesting permission to use the basement of the (old) Academy annex.
It was submitted under the name of the Alchemy Professor, Baal.
As an Alchemy Professor,
to teach students safer alchemy,
he cited the need for a secure location to pre-test potentially dangerous alchemy experiments.
She didn't know much about alchemy,
but she was aware that even a slight mistake could result in explosives or poisons.
So, the reasoning on the document made sense—the (old) annex basement was the farthest from the main Academy buildings...
'But something feels off...'
The fact that it came from the Alchemy Professor stirred an uneasy feeling.
Alchemy Professor Baal...
The man with a perpetually enigmatic smile, impossible to read,
who started with oily greetings like, "It's an honor to meet the chairman, whose rumors precede her,"
and whose every word was laced with lies.
Yet, his background checked out upon investigation,
and his theoretical and practical alchemy skills were solid,
earning him the position with most of the faculty's approval.
'Still, no real grounds to reject it...'
Despite that, lacking justification to deny it,
the chairman pushed aside her unease, checked "approved," and moved to the next document.
[Demand for improvement due to unappetizing cafeteria food.]
[Dorm rooms too small; request full expansion.]
[Request permission for free outings on weekdays at the Academy.]
Of course, seeing the next three documents in a row from the student council chased away the unease and ignited her anger...
"Aaaargh! Handle this crap yourselves!"
Already swamped, she vented her rage by shredding the pointless suggestions interspersed among the papers—
ones that should have been rejected by the student council long ago.
But blaming the student council pricked her conscience too much.
She was the one who had dumped all the busywork on them at the start of the semester when their numbers were thinnest,
so overlooking their failure to filter out these absurd requests was only fair to a degree.
"Haa... This is all my karma..."
Eris directed her aimless resentment at her past self, blissfully resting, and resumed processing the documents.
As she slogged through the tedium for a while longer,
knock-knock.
"Chairman, it's Elina. May I come in?"
A knock at the chairman's office door, followed by a familiar voice.
'Elina...?'
Practical Combat Professor Elina Levan.
Caught off guard by her sudden visit,
but figuring it was fine, she gave permission.
"Come in."
Creeeak—
The door to the chairman's office opened cautiously at her words.
Beyond it stood Elina, who had knocked, and
another familiar cadet.
"Good morning, Chairman. Pardon the intrusion."
The regressor Aden,
who had never once visited the chairman's office on his own, was here now.
Startled by Aden's unexpected arrival, she set aside her papers and perked up her ears in tension.
'What happened...?'
Tensing in case doom spilled from Aden's lips—
"Ah... It's not that serious."
His calm tone eased her mind.
"Then why are you here?"
"I have a power I want to test... but I need a safe location."
When asked why he'd come to the chairman's office,
he explained he needed a place to test a power.
Puzzled, she continued.
"Can't you use the training grounds...?"
The Academy training grounds were a safe, top-notch facility.
Why come here instead? she wondered aloud—
"Well... It can't be seen by others, and I don't know what might happen."
His response reignited her tension.
A power that couldn't be shown to others...
And bringing Elina here to ask her meant it had to involve his regression.
"What kind of power...?"
She posed the question, but something came to mind.
The regressor Aden. The power he'd shown a few times before,
defying causality and reason from his previous timeline.
She cautiously guessed it was related to that.
"Uh... Hard to explain..."
Aden hesitated, pondering how to describe it.
She carefully probed if her guess was right.
"Is it related to that power you've shown a few times... the one that seems to summon strength from your previous timeline?"
"Ah...!"
Aden exclaimed in realization and continued.
"Yes, the power from the previous timeline. I'm going to summon all of it."
"All of it...?!"
"Yes, all of it."
His words exceeded her imagination,
and she reflexively stood from her chair, repeating in shock.
All the power from the previous timeline,
the strength that had slain doom—if he could wield it all, stopping doom might become overwhelmingly easier.
"Oh, but unfortunately, I can't maintain it long. In my current state, just under two minutes is the limit."
"Ah..."
But his follow-up brought a sigh tinged with disappointment.
Even the partial summons he'd shown before lasted only about a minute...
Using the full power that defeated doom continuously was absurd on its face.
"And probably... summoning it all comes with a huge penalty."
Then came the mention of a penalty for summoning it,
which felt obvious in hindsight.
'Of course there'd be a penalty...'
Even for Aden, who casually defied causality and reason,
applying all his pre-regression power to his post-regression self without cost was ridiculous.
Still, if he could wield it even briefly, it would help immensely.
'I can gauge the incoming doom's strength roughly too...'
Facing him with all his power restored would let her assess doom's might,
"Then I know a spot. Let's go right now."
With no reason to refuse,
she activated a teleportation circle for the three in the office.
Once the magic completed, their surroundings were a place deeply familiar to her,
laden with meaning.
The only location besides the Academy sealed by her barrier,
a safe haven where she could handle anything, inaccessible to humans.
The site of the old kingdom's capital,
now transformed into plains, etched with her memories.
"It's been a while..."
She hadn't visited recently, and words heavy with nostalgia slipped from her lips.