They Say the Azure Dragon Sees the Future
Three days had passed since we found the demons' infiltration route.
In that time the academy had been fairly quiet.
More precisely, it had pretended to be quiet.
Classes ran as usual, and students filled the corridors the way they always did. Outside the windows, though, guards with ladders moved along the outer walls. Every old drain had been sealed with iron plate. Fresh Barrier Stones had been set into every maintenance passage, and at night the outer barrier flared blue and swept the entire academy once through.
The demon we never caught still sat heavy in my mind. At least they wouldn't be coming back the same way. That was what the faculty kept saying, anyway.
And then today, the entire student body was summoned to the central auditorium.
"The abnormal behavior of the monsters during this practical has been confirmed as the result of outside interference."
The professor on the dais spoke in a calm, measured voice. A murmur rolled through the hall.
Outside interference. No one needed the name spoken aloud to understand. There weren't many outside forces in the dragon realm that would target the academy.
"The magic circle discovered in the practical zone has been removed. In the course of the subsequent investigation, we also identified and reinforced long-standing weak points in the outer barrier."
No specific locations. No mention of the spire. Nothing about Kyle, of course. The faculty were sticking to the agreement—only the results students were allowed to know.
"We currently judge that no infiltrators remain inside the academy. Security personnel and barrier surveillance have both been strengthened, so we ask all students to return to their daily routines without undue agitation."
All of that was what I had expected. I coiled my tail under the chair, thinking the announcement was about to wrap up.
"In addition, there are students who contributed greatly to the discovery and resolution of this incident."
The professor's gaze turned toward the seats. Exactly toward where my group was sitting.
I had a bad feeling about this.
"Student Erika Rubellion held off numerous monsters during the practical and secured time for the other students to evacuate."
Applause broke out. Erika kept her arms folded and lifted her chin as if it were only natural. That part of her never changed.
"Student Lydia Aurelia protected the wounded and purified the curse-tainted mana."
More applause. Lydia rose quietly from her seat and bowed her head.
"Student Selene Frostheim and Student Noel Nachtveil contributed to the follow-up investigation by identifying traces of the demons and confirming the infiltration route."
Selene's expression did not so much as flicker. The familiar attending in Noel's place raised a front paw and waved at the students. The real Noel was probably still lying in her dorm room, yet her greeting was the most enthusiastic of all.
"And finally, Student Cheongha."
Here it came. Every gaze in the vicinity locked onto me at once. I stood, reluctantly.
"Student Cheongha revealed the magic circle hidden beneath the lake during the practical, and in the subsequent investigation was the first to sense anomalies others had missed, thereby locating the infiltrators' path of movement."
Listening to the description, I sounded like a highly competent investigator. The lake had only been lifted because I had been trying to make a water pillar. Suggesting we look above instead of the underground waterway had been because I hated the smell. The hidden room in the spire I had found simply because wind was leaking through. The final drainage passage, at least, I had found on purpose—but bundling everything before it as if it had all been planned made my conscience sting.
"In particular, without Student Cheongha's unique senses and judgment, it is highly likely we would never have discovered the infiltration route."
Applause poured down. Louder than I had expected. I bowed my head on reflex.
It wasn't bad. No—honestly, it felt good. On the first day of enrollment I had been treated like a lunatic walking around with a heart in her hands. A few days later I had become the problem child who couldn't even use mana properly. And now that same me was having her achievements recognized in front of the entire student body. Maybe I was allowed to straighten my shoulders a little.
I lifted my head. Students were looking at me—curiosity, respect, wariness. Some of them even had their hands pressed together.
Why the prayer pose?
The professor waited for the applause to subside before speaking again.
"That said, the students who took part in the investigation were also drawn into the incident by chance. Do not trouble them with detailed questions about the circumstances or matters related to security."
Good words. Especially that last sentence. Now I could quietly return to my seat and simply enjoy the afterglow of praise.
"How Student Cheongha detected the anomalies will continue to be examined by the faculty."
Why add that one extra line? The gazes in the auditorium heated up again. "Will continue to be examined" sounded like there was some mysterious ability that had not yet been revealed. What I had left was not mystery—only a usage manual even I didn't understand.
"Cheongha, wave your hand," Lydia said softly.
"Why?"
"Everyone is congratulating you."
I raised my hand awkwardly. A cheer erupted from one side of the hall. Flustered, I waved toward the other side as well. An even bigger cheer came back.
This is actually kind of fun.
I waved once more to each side.
"Sit down already." Selene tugged the hem of my uniform.
"Why? They seem to like it."
"This is an announcement of merit, not a personal performance."
Disappointing. As I sat, Erika snorted.
"So you like that sort of thing."
"Who doesn't like praise?"
"Just now even your tail was wagging."
I hastily grabbed my tail. It really was swinging left and right. My body was honest. Even after I caught it, the tip kept twitching in my hand for a while.
"Cheongha." Once I was seated, Lydia whispered, "You really were amazing."
"It was nothing. I just helped a little."
"A little is understating how much you found," Selene cut in. "Before we even entered the underground waterway you suggested investigating above, and in the spire you found the space beyond the wall. On the escape route you chose the correct direction out of three branches."
"There were reasons for all of that."
"There were reasons for all of the results as well."
We were not speaking the same language. The familiar in the next seat stared fixedly at my face.
"Future-sight type Magical Dragon."
"I'm not."
"Setting that hasn't awakened yet?"
"There is no setting at all."
Up front, Kyle turned his head. Our eyes met for a moment. He did not smile. It took him a very short time to put the usual good-natured face back on. Still suspicious.
After the official announcement ended, I could not get out of the auditorium.
"Student Cheongha, just a moment."
"Did you know about the magic circle under the lake from the start?"
"Did you see which way the infiltrator would run ahead of time?"
Students closed in around me in an instant. Questions flew from every direction.
"No."
"Then how did you find everything first?"
"I just… looked, and then…"
"You saw things no one else saw, alone."
Does it really work like that?
While I was still wrestling with an answer, someone carefully raised a hand. A girl with small green horns.
"Can you see the future too?"
"I can't."
"Not even a little?"
"Not even a little."
"But they say you kept guessing the right places to investigate."
"I didn't guess. I lucked into them."
The students' expressions turned strange. Not a single face looked convinced.
"She's being modest," someone whispered behind me. They must have thought I wouldn't hear—dragons have good ears. I was not being modest. I genuinely knew nothing.
Someone held out paper and a pen in front of me.
"Could you write your name just once?"
"Why?"
"I want to keep it like a charm."
"My name doesn't have that kind of effect."
"Please anyway."
I took the paper in a daze. Cheongha. The moment I wrote the two characters, the student folded it as carefully as if she had received treasure. Seeing that, the others all pulled out paper at once.
"Me too."
"Write it in my textbook too."
"Can't you just write one line so I do well on the exam?"
"Hold on. This has nothing to do with prophecy."
My protest went unheard. In the blink of an eye I had evolved from prophet into charm manufacturer.
Lydia pushed through the crowd and stepped in front of me.
"Cheongha is uncomfortable. You mustn't all crowd her at once."
Her voice was soft, yet the students edged back half a step. Erika also draped an arm over my shoulder.
"If you're curious, come confirm it yourself at the training grounds. She can at least show you how she uses the wind."
"Why are you scheduling things on your own?"
"It's more accurate than a fortune, isn't it?"
She was right, which only made her more annoying.
Another student shoved forward.
"Then what's tomorrow's weather?"
"Why are you asking me that?"
"They say you're connected to the sky."
Lydia flinched. She was probably the one who had first said that. Every gaze gathered on me again. This, at least, was not future sight. I looked out the window. It was clear now. But the undersides of the distant clouds were a little dark, and the wind coming through the open window was cool and damp. Ever since I had become this body, I could feel changes in the weather far more sharply than before.
"It should be clear in the morning, and a little rain in the afternoon."
The auditorium went quiet. I added belatedly, "Probably. I'm not responsible if I'm wrong."
"What time?"
"How would I know that much?"
"How much rain?"
"Ask the weather service."
"Weather service?"
Ah. Another otherworld term had slipped out. I quietly shut my mouth. Selene's pen moved.
"Weather service. Presumed to be an institution that observes the weather."
"Don't record that."
The students showed no sign of dispersing. The moment one finished a question, the next raised a hand.
"What's going to be on the next mana-control exam?"
"How would I know?"
"Will the professor suddenly decide to give a test?"
"Ask the professor that."
"What's for lunch today?"
"Ask the cafeteria!"
I had only found one demon infiltration route. By the time I came back to myself, I had become the academy's fortune-teller.