Chapter 61
Chapter 61
Episode 61
Eleanor was looking out at the sky stained red through the dormitory window.
“Baekyang, it looked like something was happening.”
“It looked that way.”
Baekyang answered noncommittally.
“Want to go check it out?”
“I don't want to.”
As a White Goblin who dealt with snow and ice, she had to avoid the heat.
Therefore, she did not want to approach a place with such absurd heat that could be felt even from here.
“It's dangerous for you too, Noah, so it's better not to think about needlessly going near.”
“Ummm……”
Eleanor pondered.
Baekyang's words had a point. No, more than having a point, it was the obvious course.
“……But Lucia hasn't returned yet.”
“So?”
“Aren't you worried?”
“Well. I'm not particularly worried……”
Baekyang knew that Lucia was not an ordinary student.
She did not know the exact details, but she knew without needing to check that Lucia was someone of considerable skill, a seasoned veteran.
It was rare for such a person to fall into danger, and furthermore, if it was the kind of situation where she would be endangered, Noah going wouldn't have changed anything in the first place.
“Noah.”
“Yes, want to come with me?”
“……Do you want to go?”
“Yes.”
Baekyang knew Noah well too. She prided herself on that.
She was more of a prankster than even a goblin.
But that likely wasn't the only reason.
It wasn't for no reason that people gathered around her.
“Why?”
“Because I don't want people I know getting hurt in places I don't know about anymore.”
She was fundamentally good.
She was truly a contradictory person.
“Even though you're weaker than me……”
“Ehehe.”
As Baekyang spoke with narrowed eyes, Eleanor tried to brush it off with an awkward smile.
Baekyang stared intently at Eleanor, then soon let out a sigh and spoke.
“……I think I might melt, so I'm not going.”
“Won't you be bored alone?”
“I won't be bored, okay?”
Even as she said that, Baekyang approached Noah, who was readying her greatsword.
For her, who was incompatible with fire, even approaching the scene was difficult.
“So, instead, I'll cast Yokai Magic for you.”
Baekyang was a goblin, a type of yokai.
The essence of her power was Yokai Magic, wielded by mixing Yokai Energy with mana.
Baekyang tapped the back of Noah's hand with her finger, deploying the Yokai Magic.
Goblin Mischief
[Power Step]
“Somehow, it feels cool.”
“Right? So, bring me drinks later in return.”
“But what effect does this have?”
“My shield will appear and help you about 3 times when you're in danger.”
Baekyang answered with a bright smile.
[Power Step], just like [Frozen in Place] which had hindered Alexios, was one of the skills Baekyang possessed in Broken Sky.
“Ooh, fascinating.”
Noah looked at the eye-shaped mark imbued on the back of her hand and smiled broadly.
“Well then, I should get going. Ah, by the way, what do you think of this?”
Eleanor was about to open the dormitory door and leave when she stopped for a moment and pointed to her greatsword's hilt. A blue ribbon was tied at its end.
Although her tone was like asking how her outfit looked today, it clearly qualified as a strange question.
“……It suits you well.”
However, Baekyang was already accustomed to such eccentricities of Eleanor's.
She answered noncommittally and waved her hand.
“Yeah, I think so too.”
Despite Baekyang's attitude, Eleanor smiled brightly.
Eleanor ran towards the place that was staining the sky red.
“Ah, the professor.”
As she ran, Eleanor spotted the figure of Aira crossing the sky at high speed.
She looked quite rushed.
‘Just as I thought, something must be happening.’
Eleanor hadn't been able to do anything when the kingdom fell. She had merely run away, terrified by the fear of loss.
‘I don't want things taken from me while I remain ignorant anymore.’
When escaping the royal palace.
The guards who were protecting her had all said that nothing was wrong.
However, she knew when she saw the guards who didn't return after those final words.
‘If I only run away, I might lose something again in a place I don't know.’
So, this time, she wanted to see for herself with her own two eyes.
At the very least, she wanted to ascertain what was happening in the place where she lived.
“Huuu……”
After running for a while, Eleanor noticed that there was no one around.
The surroundings were already enveloped in a heat that felt like it could cook skin.
If it hadn't been for the Yokai Magic Baekyang had cast for her, Eleanor too would have struggled.
“Ugh, ah……”
“……?!”
As she ran forward, Eleanor encountered a monster that had taken a bizarre form.
Gripping the hilt of her sword, Eleanor examined the monster's condition.
The monster was letting out groans, as if in pain.
And then, the monster finally opened the part presumed to be its mouth and spoke.
“Prin…… cess……”
“Uh……”
Even though the pronunciation was slurred, Eleanor could understand what the monster was saying.
No, more than that, she could distinguish one distinct voice from within that noise-filled voice.
The monster looked at the blue ribbon attached to the end of the hilt Eleanor was gripping and spoke.
“As expected…… blue…… suits…… you……”
“Uh… uh… uh……”
There had been a servant she had been close enough to consider like a sister.
-Princess, how is this dress? Everything looks good on you, Princess, but I think blue, similar to your eyes, suits you best.
She had been the closest to her, and the one who had forgotten her first.
Yes, there had definitely been a signal arrow announcing the beginning of everything.
-Who were you?
Those words that dug into her heart, remembered even now.
Perhaps if she had felt doubt at those words, things might have been different.
Eleanor, who had dismissed it as trivial, thinking it was a joke, was finally able to realize.
“Decen…… tura?”
That the price of her disregard had belatedly arrived before her eyes.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The Transcendental magic [Prometheus] deployed by Prudence Roa.
Until recently, I hadn't known of its existence, but now I knew.
The magic equivalent to a special move, which I had thought until just a while ago wouldn't exist, must have been Transcendental magic.
It was not a simple constituent formula but a once-in-a-lifetime original magic embodying the magician's own values.
A blazing whole body, condensed heat, even a form suitable for combat.
“Damn it……”
Truly an incarnation of fire.
Prudence Roa's mental image probably had its foundation in flames.
He had sublimated the ceaseless struggle he spoke of into the form of flames.
If this were a game, a gap had formed, large enough to say a boss monster's phase would have transitioned just from deploying that one magic.
Even looking from the outside, Prudence Roa's power felt absurd. Although it wasn't visible, since his physique itself had changed, there was a high probability that the wounds inflicted earlier had also lost their meaning.
What if, just maybe, the wounds themselves had been undone?
“Then that would be truly cowardly sorcery……”
“Huh?!”
“No, I wasn't talking to you.”
Come to think of it, there was a person right next to me who used convenient sorcery.
After lightly soothing Marie, who seemed shocked, I reassessed the situation.
“Marie, what do you think?”
If it's her, having opened the power of the key, wouldn't it still be worth a try?
“Um……. I don't think I can use the same power as before anymore……”
“What? Why?”
“I made eye contact with Father in the Underworld ……If I keep using the power like this, he might cross over.”
“The Death King crossing over to Scientia? No, no matter what……”
Would Thanatos openly cross over here as if he were crazy? Unless he wanted to die, there's no way he would do that, right?
“No, under the pressure, the things I ate for dinner might come up.”
“R-Right……”
It seemed like a somewhat trivial reason, but what's important differs for each person.
As proof, Marie was trembling, her eyes welling up with tears.
Marie thought of the concept of death quite lightly.
But even she was afraid of the [Death King].
The existence of [Death King] Thanatos was more frightening than death itself.
“I'll figure something out, so you don't need to worry like that, Marie.”
“Okay……. I understand.”
I couldn't tell her to endure a fear greater than even death.
Even aside from that, the power of the key itself carried a considerable burden.
I couldn't push Marie, who was cooperating, that hard.
From here on, I would have to manage somehow.
“I hadn't wanted to fight a battle that simply relied on luck, but……”
To defeat Prudence in that state, at least the highest-grade magic had to be used.
Now, there was no choice but to rely on [Mana Dominator].
“Oz.”
While I was steeling my resolve, Marie grabbed my sleeve and spoke to me.
Was she perhaps anxious?
“It’s okay. I was, at least, an Elder-grade magician……”
“No, look over there.”
The place Marie pointed to was the empty sky.
A hole was being pierced in the space of flames that Prudence Roa had created.
Soon, a woman appeared through that hole.
“Professor Aira?”
A witch hat was visible above light blue hair. The staff, made of high-quality wood, contained mana.
Professor Aira, in a state of full armament, descended into the middle of the battlefield and spoke.
“Perhaps, is there anyone who could explain to me what this situation is right now?”
I could tell right away.
That she had appeared on the battlefield without knowing anything.
“Um……. Professor Roa, that's right, isn't it? Ummm, this person is Oz s—…… no, student Oz, and……”
The situation was awkward.
If she had come having noticed everything, it would have been different, but Professor Aira at that moment didn't even know which side was correct.
If our claims differed, would Professor Aira believe me or Prudence Roa?
Even though I had helped her quite a bit by her side, the period had been short.
But Prudence Roa was a magic studies professor like her; the years of the relationship they had built were different.
“Professor Air—”
“Professor Merlin.”
“Ah, uh…… Yes.”
Prudence Roa cut off my words and addressed Professor Aira.
As if it were natural, Professor Aira also turned her head in the direction where Prudence Roa was.
It was dangerous.
Just from the conversation moments ago, I could sense which side she was paying more attention to.
“Oz, what are you going to do?”
“……Wait a moment.”
In the worst case, I might end up making even Professor Aira an enemy.
With narrowed eyes, I concentrated on the conversation between the two.
Prudence Roa asked.
“You shouldn't have duty today, so why did you remain?”
“Ah, my research was gradually showing its end, so I remained in the lab.”
“Already?”
“Yes, Oz s—…… no, student Oz helped me…… no, because he helped, I was able to reinforce the most important part.”
“Helped?”
Prudence Roa tilted his head and looked at Aira.
He looked as if he couldn't understand. Prudence seemed to hesitate for a moment, then opened his mouth again.
“Professor Merlin. Wasn't your research certainly inherited from your master?”
“Yes, you remembered?”
But Aira, perhaps not noticing that difference, answered as if she was happy he remembered.
“But how could you entrust that to the hands of another?”
“Yes……?”
Prudence Roa asked calmly, as if he just wanted to confirm.
“Results without process are bound to have their meaning faded.”
Prudence Roa pursues ceaseless struggle. He looks at the accumulated effort, not the completed result.
“Why did you entrust the duty given to you into the hands of another and fade its meaning?”
“But.”
Aira spoke as if it were obvious in response to Prudence Roa's question.
“Because what Master wished for was magic for everyone.”
The opposite. No, she was a person who had found her own answer, belonging to neither side.
Aira lifted the witch hat she had pressed down and spoke.
“If it's a result without process, the meaning might fade. Still, isn't who the result was for more important?”
“……Splendid.”
Prudence Roa honestly admired that answer and nodded, then soon spoke as if it were regrettable.
“However, there are also people who cannot think that way.”
“Professor Roa.”
The intensity of the flames enveloping Prudence Roa began to grow even stronger.
Aira gripped her staff and spoke, as if understanding the current situation through the immediately preceding conversation.
“There are people who cannot back down, having gone through countless sacrifices.”
“Please put out the fire. If you continue beyond that, the students could get burned by the heat.”
“Professor Merlin.”
Prudence Roa spoke, his sorrowful gaze shining from within the flames.
What was contained in those pupils was resignation.
“That is impossible. Because all of this is something I started.”
“Why……”
Even though Prudence Roa could have drawn Aira to his side, he did not.
That was because of the direction he held, beyond reason.
He considered the process built up for the result to be the most important.
He wants to be tempered through ceaseless struggle.
“There is no justice for me. The flames originating from my stubbornness will constantly whisper to me. To struggle.”
“You can stop.”
“I will not stop.”
He did not stop.
Prudence Roa thought that everyone must struggle ceaselessly.
He ignited the fire with such stubbornness.
“Therefore, if you want to protect the students, struggle against me.”
Finally, the flames that burned using stubbornness as fuel burst out into the world.