Chapter 12
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 012
Chapter Title: Elin's First Route
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The moment Elin showed interest in me, it was almost certain the route had gone off the rails.
‘Even so, I can’t just sit back and do nothing.’
If I couldn’t avoid the twist, I needed to find a way to pull it back at an acceptable point.
Or at least minimize the impact.
I didn’t have every character’s story memorized...
“Elin’s first route was the field training, right.”
The Snowfield Magic Tower, an affiliated institution of Ri Sete Academy, was the empire’s magic tower, boasting a vast area and numerous floors.
With over a hundred floors and expansive width, it housed training levels designed with various environments, where students could conduct the necessary practical sessions.
But a week before the training, a problem arose in the scheduled floor, and the tower shut it down.
Cause unknown.
The tower dismissed it as a simple malfunction and didn’t disclose the reason publicly, but I knew.
‘Contamination.’
An artificially created environment in the tower had been eroded by magic for some reason.
It soon spread through the vents to other floors, and in the end, magic beasts proliferated massively after being corrupted by the magic.
That was why the Snowfield Magic Tower was sealed off.
And the trouble headed Elin’s way began when the closure of the scheduled floor forced them into outdoor training.
With the tower losing function, a large contingent of the university’s security forces deployed there.
In that so-called security vacuum, there were those targeting Elin’s group as they headed out for field training.
‘To be precise, a chimera test.’
The forest was already contaminated beyond measure.
It was in no state for students to venture out for training.
The university passed the field training largely because they were unaware of the forest contamination and suspected internal sabotage in the Snowfield Magic Tower.
That was also why they relied on campus security instead of requesting cooperation from Master Aiden.
A master was a being even the emperor, the empire’s sun, couldn’t move lightly, but the suspects in the tower were recent arrivals.
The newly appointed Aiden fell into their realm of suspicion too.
Even if they believed it couldn’t be him, there was no benefit in informing him.
Information was actively blocked. And what resulted was...
‘A disaster.’
Everyone except Elin—the supervising professor and the other students—got massacred by magic wolves.
The professor in question was, at best, a botany instructor under natural sciences.
The field training was just light herb gathering.
Not every professor had combat ability, so it was pure misfortune.
Now, who was that insider...
A fleeting image of a woman flashed through my mind and faded.
“I shouldn’t touch that, huh?”
If I took care of it myself, it would stunt the protagonists who needed to awaken.
Students get hurt?
Normally, the flow would lead to stopping the disaster, but for me, it was a bit questionable.
Even if I stopped it and everyone returned safely without a single death.
That’d be good. Good, but...
“What if Elin doesn’t awaken?”
In this route, Elin had to awaken to become the core of future scenarios, so who would fill that role if she didn’t?
Later, during the great war, she’d be the protagonist handling firepower.
Even without that, numerous protagonists had to awaken after being toyed with by the academy insider.
Let me reiterate once more...
‘I’m not trying to save everyone. I’m just looking out for my own survival.’
I didn’t have the ability to save them all.
The protagonists’ late-game potential easily surpassed Aiden’s, and even if I somehow managed now, they’d outgrow me later.
Fretting over this incident would leave us all swept away in the great war.
No unnecessary meddling.
‘Yeah, no unnecessary meddling.’
A quiet research lab.
Sunlight filtered through half-missing curtains, and the sparse furnishings gave it an empty feel.
I savored the lonely atmosphere permeating this silence.
I hoped that emptiness never turned into something more.
I rubbed my eyes and slowly opened them.
‘Professor Prezel said you were male, and quite tall among professors. I was convinced you were one of them too.’
Professor Prezel.
Yes, Elin had definitely gotten clues about me from a professor named Prezel.
That meant there was some connection between Elin and Professor Prezel.
“I need to pay her a visit.”
Pondering alone wouldn’t solve anything.
I rummaged for my coat.
If the Martial Arts College boasted vast grounds, the Magic Department boasted elegance.
It received the most sponsorship funds annually and was considered the academy’s flower, its pinnacle.
True to its name, entry was extremely competitive, drawing only the most acclaimed geniuses.
Elin stood out there too, but honestly, that wasn’t all that important to me.
“Ah, outsiders should fill out the visitor log over there...”
I didn’t reply and just swiped my professor ID.
I’m not an outsider, I’m a professor! This much should be fine...
─Access denied.
“......”
Apparently, Martial Arts College professor IDs weren’t compatible with other colleges.
I shot a glare at the clerk checking the ID.
“Toskantana Aiden Pisvolt. Here to see Professor Prezel regarding student Elin.”
“Ah, I see. So the visitor log is over th—”
Another waiting clerk quickly covered her mouth.
“Ahh, hello! Professor Aiden! Verified. Professor Prezel is in Building D, Room 760102.”
“Thanks for the courtesy.”
As I left, I heard the two whispering.
“Hey, you can’t just let anyone in like that...”
“Get interested in the world for once, please. How do you not recognize a master? What if you got in trouble?”
“W-what?”
“I saved you once, so buy me a meal.”
‘......’
Trivial chatter.
The Magic Department building, elegant and restrained, evoked pure white snow.
Untarnished white walls and marble floors reflecting faces.
Clean, but giving an overall chilly vibe.
The atmosphere felt like a solemn hospital.
Just shuttling between lecture halls in enforced silence, no idle talk allowed.
Not even casual chit-chat happened.
So today should’ve followed that same trend without fail.
‘What the hell.’
A spot with six elevators on either side.
I’d pressed the odd-floor elevator and was waiting idly.
Even without the clerks, Aiden drew eyes, gazes stabbing from all around.
Some male students too, but mostly female voices, thin and high.
I wasn’t a zoo animal, yet an atmosphere formed like I was on display.
“Wow, he’s tall...”
“He’s handsome.”
‘Handsome?’
I glanced at my reflection in the elevator doors.
The glossy material served as a mirror well enough.
‘Handsome?’
Now that it was my face, I didn’t pay much mind.
No hobby of staring at men’s faces.
With Aiden’s “mediocre” setting, he was far from gentle.
To put it simply: deadpan seriousness as baseline, no playfulness, plus a spoonful—no, a ladle—of cynicism and taciturnity.
All mediocre traits.
Even his germophobia could be blamed on Hallucination of Disgust, but his base personality was like that.
The subtle calm aura around him, paired with cold sharp eyes.
Combined with his status as heir to the ducal house, it gave an aristocratic, aloof vibe.
His appearance was designed to match.
Sharp eyes like a veil, thin lips, long narrow nose bridge, narrow space between eyes and brows... a somewhat pale white face.
Topped with blond hair and deep steel-blue eyes.
‘...No idea.’
How would I know?
Whether this face was handsome or not.
You need a comparison to judge handsomeness, but everything in my sight was chitin-covered inse...
With a hunch, I glanced around.
Insects.
Yeah, to my eyes, they were all chitin-covered insects. So-called “bug teachers.” Ugh.
My stomach churned...
How had I not noticed something this simple?
This was their lair.
Depending on hair color, various beetles appeared.
No good.
My stomach was in peril.
Nauseous. Hurry.
I jabbed the elevator button a couple more times and closed my eyes.
Please...
Please come quick. I beg...
I cracked my eyes open just in case, and an even larger crowd was staring at me.
Ah, shouldn’t have looked.
I was done for, desperately scanning for a bathroom, when—not the one I’d pressed, but another elevator arrived.
The ding was like a salvation bell.
Whether it went to the 7th floor or not didn’t matter. I just needed to escape this place now.
I hopped in with a student who’d been waiting for it.
“Get in together.”
“E-eh!?”
The voice sounded like a girl’s.
If you ask why I couldn’t tell genders, I don’t know their male-female system.
Not interested enough in their ecosystem to distinguish.
Grete...! Give me strength.
I shoved the girl’s shoulder and rushed into the elevator.
Contact? I yanked my hand back.
Hand on a girl’s shoulder—
But Aiden’s germophobia topped that.
My stomach felt worse.
Bug teacher’s shoulder, bug teacher’s chitin exoskeleton. The mental shock...
Alone in the sealed elevator.
The girl seemed aware of the contact, faintly flushed.
“Um, excuse me. Are you... Professor Aiden?”
“Yeah.”
“Ah, um... that. Your... hand.”
Hand? Oh, the shoulder grab? It was urgent, couldn’t be helped.
Still, better to apologize...
“You’re so tall...”
As I went to apologize, she twisted bashfully.
Normally, I’d think green light or whatever, but a bug teacher’s shyness? Ugh...
No need for a mirror; I knew my face.
Pale as a ghost by now, my already paper-white face gone full sheet.
I closed my eyes, did a quick meditation, and calmed my gut.
“I see.”
“If it’s not too much trouble...”
“Focus on your studies.”
She stared blankly for a moment, then turned away.
I’d meant it encouragingly, but she looked dejected, like she’d been shot down before finishing.
“Y-yes...”
She didn’t even go to her floor, bolting out at the next one.
A twinge of guilt, but... physiologically impossible.
What I saw wasn’t a person, but “one of them.”
‘Honestly, isn’t this crossing the line a bit hard?’
Normally—no matter how tragic the circumstances, doomed fate, or witnessed injustice—they wouldn’t possess someone in my position.
In Aiden’s stead, who shed no tears, I soaked my insides with them.
The world was unfair...