Chapter 23
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Shadows of Guilt
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The news of the practical training incident spread like wildfire.
It was the first fatality in decades, and the fact that it had happened right there at the academy left everyone stunned.
The chancellor, bowing repeatedly to the swarm of reporters, wiped the sweat from his brow.
The public outcry was one thing, but what truly stung was the tarnishing of the academy's reputation.
There was another reason the academy hadn't tried to hush it up and had instead come clean.
"People died, and they still tried to cover it up."
"...They had their reasons."
Isel yanked the newspaper taut, as if she might rip it apart, glaring at it fiercely.
The paper featured a photo of the chancellor expressing regret and promising full support, his hand pressed to his cheek.
He looked utterly exhausted.
Far more haggard than when I'd first met him.
"But with me involved, they couldn't bury it."
I'd been on the scene, rescued the students, and been the first professor to notice something was wrong.
If the front page carried the chancellor's downfall, the very next page was filled with praise for me.
Isel let out an admiring gasp, as if suddenly realizing the point.
"So that's why you left such clear evidence! By blowing away that corner of the mountain! As expected of our professor!"
No. That was just me failing to control my power.
That wasn't the intention.
"......"
I let her keep misunderstanding.
It felt wrong to call out my own mistake, and admitting it pissed me off in a way that was embarrassing.
Just let it slide, let it slide for now... whatever it is, it'll follow the flow anyway...
Don't try to stop a flowing stream with your palm...
"As expected, Professor, you're amazing!"
Elin shot me a sharp look from the side, as if questioning if that was really true, but I ignored it.
Please don't give me that look... I'm really sorry.
After swallowing a long silence, I took a sip of coffee.
Peace had returned, but my heart wasn't light.
It wasn't that the crisis had passed; it was more like a premonition—no, a certainty now—that something worse was coming.
"They're sending an investigative team from the Imperial Family. Do you think it'll actually uncover anything?"
Elin tossed the question my way, phrasing it like mere curiosity.
Isel joined in, her eyes carrying unspoken pressure.
"Professor. We want to know too. We got dragged into it."
"......"
"Professor."
Pretending to cave under their gazes, I let out a sigh.
Those two bright, eager pairs of eyes were plotting petty, nagging revenge if I didn't spill.
One Elin was more than enough for that bee-honey whine.
"The investigation won't go far. It'll end with some scapegoats disciplined or fired. The chancellor will probably step down, and that'll be it."
"Why?!"
Isel slammed her foot down.
Her eyes screamed disbelief.
But Elin narrowed hers slightly, as if she'd half-expected it.
"The Imperial Family's in on it too?"
"They'll want to hide the truth. Especially since I told them who was behind it."
"Sounds like you know, but just in case—who?"
As I swallowed my silence, Elin furrowed her brow.
"...Heretic mages, right? They want to cover it up to avoid social unrest."
"Yes. But they're not a monolith. They have different factions, each with their own goals, so we lump them under 'heretic mages' for convenience. It's not an official title."
"So you have some suspects in mind."
"Roughly."
Elin's gaze sharpened.
As if demanding I spill that too, but I drew a firm line.
"Getting targeted by terrorists is no good. You're still too weak."
"If we get stronger, you'll tell us?"
She pounced again, bee-honey whine in full force.
You're human, not an animal.
I closed my eyes with a sigh.
She was a runaway train that wouldn't stop without convincing herself.
Starving her out wasn't the answer.
"...Elin."
"Yes?"
"I suspect an insider."
Their faces went pale at that.
Exactly the effect I wanted.
"Don't dig into it."
With that firm boundary, a flicker of pride vanished from Elin's eyes.
She bit her lower lip, then nodded.
"You think I can't protect myself."
"Even with your contract with Elerje, it's the same. Stay silent until it's fully integrated into you. This isn't the time to act."
"...Got it. But how did you know about that?"
"Who do you think watched over you while you fought?"
Elin seemed to accept that.
The timing of my intervention had been impeccable.
I turned to Isel.
With Elin's doubts eased somewhat, it was a sign asking if she had anything else to say.
She'd said she had a lot of questions, so I should give her a chance.
"You said insider."
"Yes."
"And knowing puts us in danger."
I didn't want them too anxious... After pondering how to answer, I sighed and nodded in affirmation.
"This was aimed at an unspecified crowd. That's how we got a lead. If it'd targeted a specific individual like a needle in a haystack, the scale might've been smaller, but uncovering the truth would've been much harder."
A roundabout way to say it, but the implication was the same.
We couldn't stop it. No traces left behind.
Isel, unlike Elin, gave up cleanly.
"Fine then. Truth too heavy to bear is scary anyway."
"Good thinking."
Just as I thought we could finally relax, Isel lobbed a bomb.
"But why'd you pet my head back then?"
My hand froze midway to my coffee.
What? Pet? Who? You?
That sounds sexual...
"I didn't do that."
"Eek?!"
I reflexively denied it first.
"No, when you saved me. You petted my head to reassure me, right?"
Elin glanced back and forth between us, her gaze settling sharply on me.
Pet your head to reassure you?
I rested my chin on my hand, lost in thought.
Using Isel's gesturing to remember as a cue, I delved into my memories.
*Ah...!*
It was no big deal.
To me, Isel looked like a wheeled... no, chitinous insect.
Obviously, with wounds, it was hard for my naked eye to gauge.
Scratches, peeled epidermis, shell... I knew she was hurt, but not how severe.
At the crossroads of prioritizing Isel or Elin, I had no choice but to check her wounds up close.
*She was human.*
My germophobia recoiled at touching her, but once I did, it was a human form.
Of course she was human, but she looked like Bug Teacher to me, so this was reasonable suspicion!
I stroked my chin, recalling the texture.
Crisp yet soft hair, distinct features, slightly squishy flesh—unmistakably human skin.
More intimately, a woman's body.
Though I'd only touched her face.
"Don't twist it into something weird. I infused mana to check your wounds' severity. Hard to judge visually. Couldn't exactly strip you."
"Oh, that... Wait?! Strip? Why?!"
Isel jolted back in alarm.
Before her gaze could sharpen again, I added,
"If organs or internals were damaged—internal bleeding, herniation. Complex diagnosis required infusing mana. Stripping for a visual check would've been more accurate, but..."
I couldn't act embarrassed here.
Leaving room for misunderstanding would let their minds go dark places.
I was just performing emergency aid!
I'm innocent!
"But time was short, so I did it that way. Emergency situation, so forgive me."
From my view, I'd inspected Bug Teacher's face in detail.
I wanted mental trauma compensation.
Feigning calm composure, Isel grumbled.
Like she'd gotten excited for nothing and felt cheated.
Give me back my excitement! But that's got nothing to do with me.
Right?
Elin regained her gravity and asked,
"So the insider thing is what's bothering you, Professor?"
Bothering me, bothering me...
It might, or might not.
But crucially, the insider still had use value.
*An insider is a necessary existence.*
For now.
The rest, I'd deal with later.
*Dealing with them won't be hard anyway.*
I cleared my throat, then nodded.
"It'd be a lie to say it doesn't."
"Then!"
"But I can't tear the university apart on suspicion alone."
Elin chewed her lower lip.
*Were you really thinking of digging?*
This bee-honey whiner, does she see nothing before her eyes...
I'd just drawn the line not to touch it, and she'd already forgotten.
"Honestly, not knowing who makes it scarier. Sigh."
Leaving Elin's sigh behind, I gazed out the window.
Elin needed trials. For that, the insider was essential.
The greater the adversity, the stronger the protagonists would rise.
*No need to prod her now, though.*
She had plenty to do ahead.
Mostly things I'd rather not touch myself. You know, that sort.
As Elin and Isel looked away, I slipped a sly smile from their blind spot.
* * *
A dim laboratory.
A man shuddered, teeth chattering.
Occasional choking gasps and muffled screams escaping his lips.
He panted in anxiety's grip.
"I can't, I can't... I can't do it."
Haggard, he muttered "I can't" over and over like a broken radio.
Clutching his head with both hands, he curled up like a terrified herbivore.
His breaths hitched to near-strangling; he scanned around desperately, as if begging for help.
Drawn curtains, boarded windows, barricaded door, shattered mirror.
Shards of broken mirror littered the floor haphazardly.
Withered plants on the shelves added to the eerie atmosphere.
Sunlight filtered through curtain gaps, softly illuminating the room without full darkness.
Not pitch black, just dimly lit.
That drove the man mad.
The broken full-length mirror warped his reflection.
"Ugh, no. I'm not at fault. It's not my fault. Not mine."
Mid-sentence, he shrieked hysterically.
"So!! Don't look at me like that!!"
Panting, he succumbed to fear again, bringing a hand to his mouth.
He gnawed his nails ferociously.
A stark sign of his mental fragility.
"Impossible. I, I can't. That's not my field."
Rumble.
He yelped and sprawled clumsily at the sound of a fallen wooden box.
"Eek! Eeeek! Sorry! I'm sorry! I really!!"
He clasped his hands in plea.
Just a shadow from the toppled box, but to his hallucinating eyes, it was darkness crawling up into human form.
The fragmented mirror reflected his desperate cries.
"For not saving you. For standing by, for running. I'm sorry. But I had no choice."
His swollen eyes welled up again.
"I'm not capable like that professor. I'm just a botany professor."
So abandoning you and fleeing was unavoidable.
He sobbed it out, wailing for a long time.
─Really?
Ragged corpses crawled from the darkness, asking the professor.
─Did you really lack the power to save us?
"Hic, hiiik."
─You were just scared. That's why you turned your back while we got eaten.
"No!"
Doubt and terror clouded the professor's eyes.
"No, no! If I'd had the power, I'd have saved you! I did save you!"
As the professor thrashed, his devoured disciples by the magic wolves grinned.
─If you'd truly had the power, could you have saved us?
"Of course! I, I did my best to gather you and get you to the clearing. Best judgment! But the world just..."
Only Professor Aiden! Overwhelmed by injustice, he curled up again.
─Then, that power. We can give it to you.
At that, the professor uncurled and stared blankly.
─You said if you had power, you'd save us, right?
Absurd words on reflection, but the botany professor lacked the sanity to judge.
─This is our gift to you, from us who died.
Use it in our stead.
As the professor crept forward and clasped the black shadow's hand, behind him loomed a woman's figure, smirking.