Chapter 28
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Radia's Atonement
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Radia couldn’t believe her own ears.
“Professor, I—”
“First they called you the Empire’s Sword, now it’s professor. Which title do you want me to use? Pick one.”
Despite his polite, even tone, Radia found herself speechless.
All the experience she’d gained navigating high society since childhood, all her sharp instincts—they were utterly useless here.
Even her swordsmanship, which had always been her reliable pillar, felt like a firefly before the sun when facing this professor.
“…Empire’s Supreme Sword, that wasn’t my intention. I meant to resolve the root of the issue myself…”
“I said I’d conduct combat training, not that I’d directly solve the magic tower’s problems. I’m curious about your misinterpretation.”
“The magic tower incident caused the training accident. Am I wrong?”
Aiden responded to her plea with icy detachment.
“Exactly. That’s why you shouldn’t exploit someone else’s problem like that. If it turns into a blame game, neither of us will take real responsibility, and the actual issue will go unresolved.”
If you’re going to take responsibility, do it properly.
Radia looked up in disbelief.
But Aiden seemed done with it, his interest clearly waning.
“If you’ve got nothing more to say, leave.”
With that, Aiden dismissed Radia outright and continued with his lecture.
Radia left the seminar room in utter devastation.
* * *
Meanwhile, in my lab, I was witnessing Elin beaming from ear to ear in real time.
“Why are you so pleased?”
“That girl rubbed me the wrong way.”
Uh… you two shouldn’t be on bad terms.
I seriously considered calling Radia back right then.
But oblivious to my dilemma, Elin hugged her long body pillow and giggled.
“She came to you with shady ulterior motives, and look what happened.”
“Shady motives?”
Were there any?
Elin tilted her head, feigning ignorance.
“With the training incident, the student council president’s position is shaky. So Radia-senpai campaigned to become the new president and reform the guidance committee and security force. Her request to you was probably part of that…”
Serves her right.
Is that what it was?
“She’s trying to distance herself from the student council, saying she doesn’t want to follow them, all to clean up her image. It didn’t sit well with me. Sure, I’d love for someone to reform the council, but…”
She was grinding her teeth, clearly nursing a grudge.
“There was no need to drag you into it and make a show of it.”
Isel, who’d been watching from the side, wore an ambiguous expression.
She looked deep in thought.
“Radia-senpai didn’t mean any harm, so I can’t say it outright like that. What do you think, Professor?”
Elin bristled at Isel’s neutral stance.
“If she’s approaching you just for show, it could twist the narrative around what you’re doing, Professor Aiden. I’m against letting her join the training.”
Suddenly at odds with Isel, Elin clutched her pillow tighter.
Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she glanced at me, making me feel threatened.
Socially threatened, mostly.
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
‘…I’m screwed.’
Radia has to become student council president.
It’s essential to the original plot.
Elin has her awakening, but Radia has her deep-rooted self-confidence.
That’s realized when she becomes student council president.
If I mess this up and she doesn’t?
‘Things will escalate.’
Pushing her away like with Elin, thinking I could just let it ride, was a mistake.
I should’ve compared the changes from my involvement against going with the flow.
If she’d schemed that way to become president, I should’ve backed her.
“Mm.”
‘How do I get her back here?’
As I groaned in thought, a knock sounded, and Isel opened the lab door.
“…Radia.”
She looked deflated.
Dejected, but inwardly, I cheered.
“Professor. I came to apologize.”
Apologize? For what?
“What for?”
“You’re right— we shouldn’t exploit others’ problems. I’m truly sorry for trying to use the magic tower and you for my own advancement.”
Radia bowed her head cautiously.
“I’ll take responsibility… in a different way, as you said. That’s what I wanted to tell you.”
“I see.”
I glanced indifferently at my papers, then set down my glasses.
“So, how do you plan to do that?”
Radia, who’d been about to leave, paused in surprise at my question.
“…I’ll apologize to the victims’ families and take some time to reflect.”
“What did you do wrong?”
My continued questions made her look at me with growing doubt.
Whatever she read in my expression left her visibly flustered.
There was even a strange thrill in it.
“Failing to oversee security properly, blindly following orders from above, neglecting basic patrol duties.”
“Short-staffed? Or…?”
“Even if we were short-staffed, that’s no excuse for negligence. We were just too busy, too focused on covering things up to act proactively.”
As the conversation shifted, Elin’s face soured like she’d bitten into something bitter.
She was starting to catch on.
That I was giving Radia a second chance.
Or rather, begging her to take it.
“As deputy head of the security force, you disagreed with the orders from above but had no choice but to obey?”
“Yes. That’s why I wanted to reform the student council. But…”
Radia’s eyes gleamed as she read my intent one last time.
“Taking responsibility isn’t done that way. If I truly feel accountable, I shouldn’t pursue my own gain.”
With that, she turned away without waiting for my reply.
No more hesitation—she’d reflect if I didn’t stop her.
A half-beat late, after she’d turned and taken three steps, I spoke.
“There are ways to atone by preventing future accidents. If your responsibility isn’t that great, and the wrong people stay in power, that could be a problem…”
Radia trembled with barely contained excitement.
I guided her gently, word by word, since she couldn’t see the path.
“To take responsibility, you might need to become the one responsible. This isn’t about your ambition—it’s the path to accountability. If it’s too much for you alone, I could lend a hand. What do you say, Radia?”
Suppressing her elation, Radia replied.
“I’ll gladly set things right, Professor.”
* * *
The botany professor’s face turned ashen when he saw what he’d become.
When he’d grasped his dead prized student’s hand, some alien energy had coursed through his body.
He hadn’t realized it then, but the blackened hue marked it as demonic energy.
This was a symptom of demonic poisoning.
That alone wouldn’t have been a huge issue, but something was growing inside him like cordyceps.
The liver spots on his skin were secondary.
“What… what the hell is this?”
When he tried to cut off the protrusions sprouting from his body, the pain shot through him like it was his own nerves.
“Argh!”
He failed and dropped the knife.
It clattered across the floor, but the sound didn’t register.
The botany professor clutched his shoulders and burst into tears.
“I didn’t… I didn’t want this. I didn’t want this!”
Shards of a shattered mirror reflected his grotesque transformation.
It drove him mad, and he screamed impulsively.
The scream unleashed condensed demonic energy, pulverizing the mirror shards to dust.
Seeing it, the professor clutched his head.
“No, no… This isn’t what I wanted. I didn’t ask for this change. Someone, help me…”
Clap, clap, clap.
Applause from right beside him.
He whipped his head around to see a female professor with lustrous red hair cascading down.
The botany professor uttered her name.
“Pro… fessor Prezel.”
“Yes, that’s me. Professor of Elemental Magic Applications. Professor Botany.”
“H-how?”
Prezel smirked seductively at the hunched, hunchback-like botany professor.
“Who knows? Because I’m the one who caused the magic tower’s contamination? Or because I brought in that chimera magic wolf and released it in the back mountains?”
Or maybe because I’m a heretic mage?
She bared her white teeth in a wicked grin.
The one who’d loosed the chimera in the back mountains.
The mastermind behind the training disaster.
The botany professor dragged his grotesquely mutated body toward her.
“You… you did this… to me.”
Prezel shook her head, denying it.
The botany professor halted, eyes flashing.
“No, Professor Botany. Think about it. I merely extended a helping hand.”
“A helping… hand?”
“Yes. The power to escape injustice.”
He demanded an explanation.
Prezel smiled warmly, kindly.
But her eyes held a trace of pity.
Pity directed at him.
The botany professor glared, unaccustomed to such compassion.
“Honestly, what crime have you committed?”
“…”
“You properly led your students and saved as many as you could. You ran into the barrier, but that was unavoidable.”
Her tone carried an air of understanding, leaving him silent.
A soft, warming hand of empathy seeped in.
“But reality? You’re the professor who failed to save them, forced into resignation, spat on by students.”
“That’s because I…”
“Think about it. Then Aiden appeared like a comet and took everything—your fame, your job, your students’ respect. All stolen.”
The botany professor fell silent.
“A master like you couldn’t foresee trouble in the back mountains? No. He waited for your downfall.”
His pupils shook.
“So now Aiden’s basking in praise, while you…”
Have fallen to ruin.
The unspoken words hung heavy.
Prezel’s gaze filled with more pity.
“Would your dying students want this? For you to end as a fallen has-been.”
“B-but…”
“Think of your devoted students. Would they hate you? Even if they died to the magic wolf?”
“N-no.”
He couldn’t be sure, but he consciously denied it.
“Right. What I gave you was merely…”
A means to right the past.
Defeat Professor Aiden and prove you’re superior.
Then everything will return to how it was.
Moved, the botany professor trembled in place.
Prezel watched it all from behind, chuckling to herself.
As if it were all highly amusing.