18. Your Voice

"..................."

"............."

God damn it.

What do I even do with this atmosphere?

I swear to the heavens I never imagined the Chairwoman would be doing something like that. I couldn't keep running away from her forever, and since I had to put Milia to work, I just came back to the office with her.

I opened a door I didn't even know existed because all the others were locked, that was all.

I never dreamed I'd walk in on the Chairwoman lying on the bed... doing that.

"......Excuse me."

"Ah."

"Uh."

"......Mm."

I'm losing my mind, seriously.

The Chairwoman's face was burning bright red, pale as a ghost, and I was just as mortified as she was.

Well, Milia should be working outside by now.

...Guess I've got no choice.

"So, Chairwoman."

"Uh, um, y-yes!?"

"What you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠said earlier..."

"J-just forget it! Pretend it never happened! Just... just..."

Why is she acting so out of character?

The edge of the Chairwoman's voice carried a tremor of tears that even I could recognize. Come to think of it, I'd be in her shoes if the roles were reversed.

Even if it started as a slip of the tongue, I'm the one who created the misunderstanding first.

And when the Chairwoman screwed up her courage and gave me a real answer, I went and made things so much worse.

Her shoulders were trembling, her face still turned away from me.

I reached out.

"Wh-what...?"

"Look at me."

I grabbed her shoulder and turned her around.

She turned far too easily for an 8th Rank, almost as if she'd been waiting for it. The faintest trace of a tear was running down her cheek.

Aish.

"I'll say it again. When I said I love you, that was a slip of the tongue."

"......Right. Of course."

"But the fault for the mistake is entirely mine. You, Chairwoman, answered that mistake with sincerity."

"............"

"So I'll ask you sincerely."

For real.

Just in case.

On the off chance.

"The answer you showed me earlier, was that sincere?"

"........."

"Do you... love me?"

If the Chairwoman shakes her head here, that'll be the end of it. Just another embarrassing memory to add to the pile, right?

Because I couldn't just stand by and watch my superior, someone I looked up to, cry over a one-sided misunderstanding.

Honestly, I still can't fully believe it. The Rank difference is huge, the age difference is massive, and we haven't even known each other that long.

But as I looked into her tearful eyes.

"......Yes."

"........."

"I'm in love with you."

Is that so.

...What do you mean, "is that so," you idiot.

My head's a complete mess.

"I won't press you for a reason. Objectively speaking, I know I'm beneath the Chairwoman in every conceivable way, so you must have seen something in me regardless."

"...Yes."

"First of all, those feelings... truly make me happy. No man alive would reject such a beauty as the Chairwoman."

"R-really!?"

Honestly, age aside, the Chairwoman's appearance is the same as mine, or even looks younger. Even before I became Finance Director, all I ever thought when I saw her was how beautiful she was.

After becoming Finance Director and seeing all her other sides, that illusion shattered, but anyway.

"Th-then from today onwards...!!"

"Please listen to the end first."

"Ah, o-okay..."

"The Chairwoman's feelings make me happy, and as a man, I believe I should accept them. Even if this began with my own slip of the tongue, I have to take responsibility for it."

"........."

"However."

I am this academy's Finance Director.

Which means I'm the one who has to see reality the most clearly.

"If the Chairwoman and I were to become lovers."

"L-lovers."

"Could I really run you ragged like I do now?"

"......?"

That sounds a bit weird, but... hmm.

The point is this.

"Things have improved a great deal, but our academy is still in crisis. One wrong step and we'll go bankrupt, and that would be the worst possible outcome for many reasons."

"...For my dream, you mean?"

"Of course. Just as we discussed on the rooftop last time."

I...

...think the Chairwoman's dream is incredibly noble, far more beautiful than anything I can put into words.

An 8th Rank isn't omnipotent. The Chairwoman is an 8th Rank martial artist, but she's terrible at arithmetic and has no financial sense—she's far from perfect. The position of this academy's Chairwoman was probably the least fitting role in the world for the woman once called the Mad Dragon.

I don't know the details, but strength and violence likely made up the majority of her life. Yet in an instant, she took the seat of the Chairwoman and sealed all of that away.

A choice that would control her entire life, all starting from a dream she'd held since she was a child.

A pure dream, that she had no education, that she didn't want her past to repeat itself for others.

For that dream, the Chairwoman put on the hat that suited her least in the entire world.

And it was teetering on the edge of being crushed by reality. She'd done all she could, but the situation had only grown worse and worse.

Wasn't that more than enough reason to help her?

"I'll be honest. I don't have much romantic affection for the Chairwoman."

"...I could tell as much."

"But, far more than that."

"......?"

"I've... fallen for your ideals."

Wow.

I never thought I'd say something this embarrassing.

Right after I said it, I turned my head, but I caught a glimpse of it. The Chairwoman's mouth hanging open in shock.

I know it's cringey as hell, so please let me off the hook here.

"...And if the academy goes bankrupt, the space where we can be together disappears too, doesn't it?"

"Th-that's..."

"So I dare to say... this academy..."

──This place is our home, Finance Director.

──Home, you say?

──You're an orphan, aren't you? From now on, this academy will be your hometown and your home, Finance Director. I'll bet my entire life, I promise you that.

It was a fragment of an unknown memory that surfaced after the festival ended.

Something I couldn't recall back then, which made it strange that I remembered it now.

A conversation in my voice and the Chairwoman's voice, but one we had never shared.

Yet at this moment, that conversation felt so terribly familiar.

"...I think of it as my home."

"Finance Director..."

"Is that... not okay?"

"As if it wouldn't be!"

She threw herself at me.

Whoa.

Unbelievably soft.

"Chairwoman?"

"That answer is more than enough for now. It's more than enough!"

"...Though I'm not sure why I'm suddenly in the position of giving an answer here."

"But it really is enough."

"At ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the very least, once the academy is completely back on its feet, I'll give you a proper answer then."

"Yes! Our home, you mean!"

This is crazy.

She could practically be my great-great-grandmother, so why is she so adorable and lovely... shit.

'I'm really losing my mind.'

What on earth is going on with me? First I have all these slips of the tongue I've never made before, and now I'm hearing weird voices near Chloe.

I was standing there awkwardly, not knowing what to do with the Chairwoman who'd just flung herself into my arms, when—

"Huh?"

"Chairwoman?"

"This is... huh? What?"

"Chairwoman!?"

Suddenly the Chairwoman started fumbling around my body—hey, what are you doing!?

She'd been holding me still, but suddenly she slipped her hands toward my armpits, the nape of my neck, near my chest.

I froze solid under her inexplicable touch.

'Are we seriously going all the way?'

No, that's a bit...

I thought I'd just said something really good, so the mood should be—

"...It's not my imagination."

"Excuse me? What do you mean?"

"The scabbard of the Dark Sword..."

"You're talking about that artifact? If it's that, we need to find it now..."

"...It's inside your body, Finance Director."

"What?"

Huh?

What??

"I'd like to believe that's a bad joke."

"It's... real. I can feel a familiar energy inside your body. To be exact, around your heart?"

"What? How does that make sense? How does something that big get inside my body?"

"It seems to have been... absorbed."

So you're saying the Dark Sword's scabbard has been absorbed into my heart?

How is that possible? More importantly, did the scabbard even have such a function?

The Chairwoman looked just as panicked as I felt at my dumbfounded expression.

"I-I didn't know the scabbard had this kind of function either. Hmm, Finance Director, are you feeling anything strange?"

"Strange? Nothing at all..."

...Scratch that, not nothing.

All those slips of the tongue, hearing that weird voice.

Is this all because of the scabbard? But isn't this a pretty petty effect for such an artifact to have, considering it's been absorbed into my heart?

If anything, it'd be one thing if I'd gotten some powerful ability, but I still can't feel any mana or ki at all.

"What should we do about this? An artifact fused with my heart?"

"Are there no precedents for this at all?"

"No, among the artifacts I saw during my travels, there were some objects that bind to the body or soul like this. But..."

"But what?"

"...Usually, the more powerful the effect of such artifacts, the more severe the side effects. To be precise, the efficacy changes depending on the wearer, so the degree of side effects changes as well."

"So if it has an absurdly powerful ability, the side effects will also be absurd?"

"Exactly. In the first place, the only artifacts capable of this are ones that received power from the Dark Sword or the Sacred Relics. No matter how much of an artifact it is, it's still just an object—there's no way it could naturally bond like this."

When you think about it, she's right. No matter how special, an artifact fusing with a heart shouldn't be common.

Unless it was something like the Dark Sword, said to be made by a god, or a fragment of a Sacred Relic... the Dark Sword?

"Because this is the scabbard of the Dark Sword?"

"Actually, if you look at the Dwarven history records, it was said to have sheathed the Dark Sword for hundreds of years to restrain its power. So it wouldn't be a problem to say it absorbed the Dark Sword's power during that time."

"Do you know any way to extract it?"

"...It did come out when the previous host died."

Right. I understand the situation completely.

In the end, for some reason the scabbard got absorbed into my heart, and there's practically no way to get it out.

This is no ordinary problem.

'If the Order finds out about this, they'll try to kill me.'

According to the Chairwoman, the scabbard would separate if I die, so the Order trying to reclaim their holy relic would come straight for my life.

So I've gained one more secret I absolutely must protect. More importantly, I was trying to sell it—my money!

Well, at the very least.

'Shouldn't I try to squeeze some benefit out of it?'

It's supposed to be quite the artifact, isn't it? I probably just haven't noticed it yet, but it must have an extraordinary ability.

Let's think positively. I'd already been seriously considering the Archmage's recent offer of giving me an Eye anyway.

With this, couldn't I at least break free from the 1st Rank?

"Can we figure out what kind of ability it holds?"

"Hmm, well, since it was absorbed into your heart, if you infuse mana or ki into the heart, it should react in some form. I'll try it."

The Chairwoman immediately placed her hand on my chest and projected a spine-chilling amount of Rigid Energy directly into me.

If she used ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even the tiniest fraction of this Rigid Energy to attack me, my entire body would've been blown to smithereens. Just thinking about that made me tense up needlessly.

And so the Chairwoman's Rigid Energy entered my heart.

And came out.

"?"

"?"

In and out. It passed right through. It swirled around. It even surrounded the heart.

She tried all of it.

There was absolutely no reaction.

"Uh... no way."

"Do you have any idea what it could be?"

"Among the artifacts I've seen like this, there was a type... that only reacted to the wearer's own mana or ki."

"......That means."

"So, the Finance Director would have to infuse his own mana or ki into it, but..."

But I'm a 1st Rank, aren't I?

At least a 2nd Rank might have some chance, but 1st Ranks can't even use mana or ki. I'm just an ordinary civilian.

So.

"I can't use it?"

"............"

"Chairwoman. Answer me."

"...That's right."

Oh, for fuck's sake.

Are you shitting me right now?

Is this a pearl necklace on a pig?

"Then if I can't even use its ability, doesn't that mean there are no side effects either?"

"...It's not that the ability isn't there, it's that you can't use it because you're a 1st Rank. The side effects... will still happen in their own way."

Wow.

So not a pearl necklace, but a bomb necklace, then?

Wait, could it be that my slips of the tongue were just a side effect? That's way better than worrying about some unknown horrific backlash.

<Then are you really going to just let this slide? I don't think that's a very good idea.>

See, no matter how bad it is, we still need to figure out exactly what the side effects are...?

"Huh?"

"Finance Director?"

"Didn't you just hear a voice?"

"What? A voice? This room is soundproofed with my Rigid Energy, so there shouldn't be any way for that to happen."

<There's no way Adam would welcome that bastard. Though using him as a silent ally wouldn't be a bad idea.>

What? Won't welcome him? Silent ally?

I was panicking as the voice continued to sound, directly contradicting the Chairwoman's words.

Knock, knock.

"Um... Finance Director? A guest has arrived."

"A guest? I told the Head of Academic Affairs not to let anyone come up."

"Well, the professor insisted he had something very urgent to say..."

"A professor?"

She'd knocked on the door, but perhaps she didn't want to keep facing the Chairwoman, because Milia's face was lowered. And behind her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were—

A familiar face, and an unfamiliar one I'd only seen a few times.

"...Student Chloe? Professor Alon?"

"F-Finance Director."

"Finance Director, and Chairwoman."

Was that voice I heard earlier because Chloe got close?

And accompanying Chloe was the Illusion Magic Department professor, Alon.

He looked much more put-together than at the entrance ceremony, but he wore a subtly sly smile.

"I've come with an urgent proposal, just like last time."

<That fucking traitor bastard. It's because of this bastard that the academy...!!>

"......?"

But more importantly.

That voice, what did it just say?