8. Everyone's Circumstances
8. Everyone's Circumstances
Chloe Pisti was a student who had no real need to attend Grandis Academy.
Her affiliation was the Empire's Magic Tower, and her master was none other than the Archmage, an 8th Rank and the Tower Lord. She could have simply studied at the Tower without attending any academy, and even if she were to attend one, conventional wisdom dictated it should be an academy within the Empire.
So why had Chloe come to a foreign kingdom's academy?
If you asked Dean Villend, who had also once been affiliated with the Empire's Magic Tower, he would probably answer with a bitter smile.
Because of the intense factional infighting within the Tower.
"6th Rank? What exactly are you even thinking?"
"...It's nothing. So, you want to know about Adam?"
"Adam, huh? Guess you really do know him pretty well, then?"
"I can't exactly say I don't."
Originally, Chloe in this period wasn't so prickly. If anything, that had been Beatrice's role.
As she spent time with Adam, Chloe had gradually shed her edge, her personality softening... but no longer.
And so Rus's intent was clear.
'I can't let Adam and Chloe get involved.'
From the look of it, Chloe didn't seem to view Adam favorably, most likely because of the help he'd given Beatrice.
Even so, if she properly met Adam, she'd warm up to him quickly, just as she had before. Adam and Chloe had always clicked remarkably well.
But that would mean trouble between Beatrice and Chloe.
Those two were sworn enemies who would never grow close.
'With Beatrice already on good terms with Adam, if Chloe grows close to him too...'
It didn't take much imagination to see what would unfold between them.
As a regressor, as someone tasked with preventing Adam's corruption, she couldn't permit such a thing. Ultimately, Rus's objective wasn't everyone's happiness—it was avoiding the worst possible future.
'I do feel... a little sorry toward Chloe.'
Claiming there was no self-interest in that decision would be a lie. Rus hadn't seen the future Beatrice, but she remembered all too clearly the future Chloe who had committed countless massacres following Adam.
The one who would surely follow him if he fell into corruption. And the one who had seemed happiest when she was at his side.
Thinking of Chloe's last words, in particular, made her freeze with guilt. But if preventing Adam's corruption proved impossible, then at the very least, she had to keep Chloe from joining him.
She had to turn away even while knowing the path to Chloe's happiness. Guilt surged within her, but no matter how many times she thought it over, separating her from Adam remained the right course.
"It's probably related to Beatrice, isn't it?"
"You're sharper than I gave you credit for. From the stunts you pulled at the entrance ceremony, I had you pegged as someone intoxicated by your own glory."
"Didn't you come here to get information from me? I assume you didn't come just to pick a fight."
"Look who's talking about tone. You're the same age as me—what's with this act like you're some old geezer? Your behavior doesn't exactly back it up."
"................"
"Haah... Anyway, I came to ask a few specific things. Answer properly and I'll compensate you."
"Compensate?"
"I heard you got into it with that armor lunatic during the midterm exam. I'll tell you his weakness. Fair enough?"
Kaern Deste's weakness, was it.
Rus didn't know this information. She'd never been deeply involved with Kaern Deste in the first place. After the academy collapsed and the Kingdom fell into chaos, she'd only heard he died in some territory.
Judging there was nothing to lose, Rus nodded, and Chloe gave a knowing smirk.
"I'll go first, then. A 6th Rank wouldn't just run off after hearing only this, would she?"
"...I keep my promises."
"Good. Just remember, I do have methods of my own if you try. Anyway, that lunatic's weakness is his armor."
"Armor?"
"Let me be clear—I don't mean a combat weakness. It's a personal weakness. There's a reason that lunatic treasures his armor. It's his parents' keepsake."
His parents' keepsake.
Was that why he had refused to remove it even during the uninhabited island midterm exam?
"Well, from what I've heard, his parents went out to buy that armor and were attacked and killed by bandits. Supposedly he was just a good-for-nothing braggart yapping about becoming a knight before that, but after the incident, he was a changed man. It's just a rumor, so I can't vouch for the truth of it."
"...I see."
"The hell's with 'I see'? Just talk normally, why do you... ugh, forget it. Anyway, I went first. Now it's your turn to answer."
"Fine."
The questions Chloe would ask were obvious enough.
What kind of conversation had she had with Adam back then, had she ever seen Beatrice and Adam meet, what kind of person was Adam—questions along those lines.
Rus had prepared for all of them.
'So that Chloe's interest disappears as much as possible.'
As anyone could see, Chloe was the type who only grew more persistent the more someone refused to yield or defied her expectations.
By the same token, she lost interest in anyone obsequious or beneath her standards. More precisely, she simply didn't spare them any attention at all.
'It stings to think I'm slandering Adam.'
That Adam, despite being the Finance Director, took personal bribes. That he was the Chairwoman's secret lover. That he was a shallow materialist obsessed with money.
Obviously, none of it was true, but spinning those kinds of lies would cause Chloe's interest to fade soon enough. She'd conclude that Adam was "actually nothing special" and that someone else must have helped Beatrice.
'I'm sorry, Adam.'
But this was for your sake too.
She would make absolutely sure Chloe wouldn't go spreading these lies around—
"...Say, hypothetically—excluding magic, is there a way to make a specific person appear in your dreams?"
"...What?"
"I've already checked myself using every magical method available, you know? No curses, no mental magic, nothing came up. But if it's something non-magical, a 6th Rank like you might know."
"W-Wait. Dreams?"
"Yeah. That person, Adam Caines—he keeps appearing in my dreams."
What in the world...?
Adam was appearing in her dreams?
"Didn't you say this was about Beatrice?"
"It is. I investigated everyone who's approached that high-and-mighty princess recently. While I was at it, I looked into the Finance Director too, and ever since then, he keeps showing up in my dreams. Is this some kind of curse? How does it look to you?"
"............."
So she hadn't specifically singled out Adam from the start. She'd simply investigated everyone who had approached Beatrice.
And, truthfully, that was the logical approach. Rus only knew Adam was special because she was a regressor; to an outsider, Adam was just an ordinary 1st Rank and the Finance Director.
A 1st Rank who wasn't even a mage, a Finance Director she'd only met for a brief moment, had cured Beatrice's chronic condition? Objectively, that was absurd.
Even if someone did harbor suspicions, they'd suspect a mage or someone in Beatrice's inner circle—there was almost no reason to suspect Adam. Chloe had merely stumbled upon him in the course of her obsessive, wide-net investigation.
"So it's just because of a dream?"
"I suddenly keep having the same dream, but I'm not under any magic. Next step would be to ask the Martial Arts Department, but going to a professor feels a bit... much. But a classmate who knows something about the Finance Director and holds her own against professors—perfect, right? Anyway, your 6th Rank energy sense picking up anything suspicious?"
"Not particularly..."
That wasn't a lie—there really was nothing.
Just in case, she'd raised her ki and swept it over Chloe's body, but there was genuinely nothing wrong.
"You know the Finance Director a bit, don't you? Any chance this is connected to him?"
"The Finance Director is a 1st Rank—not a mage, not anything else. And as you well know, he's a complete stranger with no prior connection to you."
"Damn it. Then what the hell is it?"
...Wait.
Dreams?
"Let me ask—what's the content of the dream?"
"What? Think you'll come up with a solution if I tell you?"
"Better than not hearing it."
"...There's not much to it. The Finance Director is walking ahead, and I'm following behind him. Then I wake up."
So it was just needless worry after all.
The thought had crossed her mind—could it be the former Chloe's memories manifesting as dreams?—but apparently not.
'Well, if that were the case, Adam and the others would be getting bits of memory back too.'
Yet there was no sign of that at all. Still, a dream about chasing the Finance Director from behind—there was something faintly unsettling about it.
"It's just a meaningless dream. No need to worry about it."
"I don't need to worry about it?"
"The fact that your magic didn't detect anything, and I can't find any problem either—that means it's not the influence of a curse or magic. The alternative would mean someone at 7th Rank or higher is interfering with your dreams, and that's not possible, is it?"
"Well... no, it's not."
If the figure in the dream had been the Archmage or Beatrice, Chloe might have suspected some foul play. But from her perspective, the Finance Director appearing in her dreams was far too abrupt.
From what Rus had heard, Chloe and the Finance Director had only met once by chance, during that duel. They weren't acquaintances—they were strangers.
When Rus explained it that way, Chloe seemed to accept it, at least outwardly.
And just in case.
"If the dream keeps bothering you, try using Forgetting Magic. It's a meaningless dream anyway."
"...Tch. Fine."
Using Forgetting Magic to erase nightmares or vexing dreams was a common form of mental therapy.
Things were fine for now, but there was no telling when a dream about chasing someone might change. It was worth saying this much, at least.
Afterward, Chloe wore an expression that said something still nagged at her, but she clicked her tongue and left first.
'I've changed it.'
Several things had shifted compared to before, but realizing she'd directly altered the future stirred a strange mix of emotions.
Guilt toward Chloe, a sense of accomplishment, and relief that this would be enough—
"Ah."
The egg sale.
Was she too late...?
*
"...Meaningless dream. Meaningless dream, huh."
Chloe wandered aimlessly. She walked the main streets, back alleys, lecture hall corridors, the dormitory—on and on.
Partly, it was to give herself time to think.
And at the same time, though she didn't realize it herself, it was also to meet someone.
...The truth was, Chloe had lied.
It was true that the dream consisted only of chasing after Adam. And it was also true that she woke up right after.
But.
'That... what is that...'
As she chased Adam like that, there was a voice she could hear. Chloe had not mentioned that fact.
It was her own voice.
But unlike her voice now, it was more mature, far more deeply subdued. The version of herself in the dream was different from the current Chloe.
How to put it... she felt a few years older, more seasoned.
──Why.
That voice.
Resonated from deep within her chest, as if it were being spoken from the very depths of her heart.
As if it were her truest, most honest feelings.
──Why won't you look at me?
The voice was cloying. And beyond that, it carried a dark jealousy and regret.
At first, she hadn't even realized it was her own voice.
──Adam, turn around. I'm right behind you.
The voice called out to Adam. Only when it spoke the name "Adam" did the voice brighten.
The Chloe in the dream could only see Adam's back, yet for some reason, his face from the front surfaced naturally in her mind. Likewise, Adam was a little different from the figure she had seen during that duel with Beatrice.
His eyes were hidden beneath his hair, unreadable. Around his neck, for some reason, hung a cord as red as blood. His gait was weak and faltering, yet he never fell.
Not only when she called his name—even just picturing Adam's form brought an involuntary smile and a surge of joy.
But the sweeter that heady elation felt, the greater the plummet that followed.
──I've always followed you. I'm always watching you.
Her hands in the dream stayed in her pockets.
Yet at any moment she wanted to reach out and seize Adam, to fall to her knees and beg. That was her real desire, the impulse she felt endlessly.
But as if those hands were the last shred of her pride, as if time was already on her side, she never once took them out of her pockets.
And the voice always ended.
With the same words.
──Is that dead woman... really more important to you than me, standing right here?
Throb.
That final line in particular held the darkest, most cloying emotion of all.
Because the single step of distance between her and Adam felt like it would never close.
Just recalling it was enough to trigger a headache. The dream always ended there.
It had already been over two weeks of having this dream. Because of it, she'd given up early on the uninhabited island midterm to rest properly, but the dream repeated itself every night.
She needed good grades to flatten the noses of those bastards at the Magic Tower.
No matter how she looked at it, she shouldn't have given up on a massive exam like the midterm.
Why, then?
The contents of that dream gnawed at her more maddeningly than some exam ever could.
'What am I supposed to do?'
Should she really take that 6th Rank's advice and use Forgetting Magic?
She'd considered it from the start, but a vague sense that doing so would be irreversible had made her hesitate.
But surely it would be better than agonizing over these dreams and letting herself be dragged around by them. She should just forget a stupid dream like that and refocus on her grades and efforts.
As with most solitary worries, no easy answer came. And in the midst of it—
Chloe abruptly came to her senses and looked ahead.
A crowd of students had gathered.
"It's the Chairwoman!"
"That armored person over there—that's the Chief of the Guard Corps, right? The famous one from the main gate. Who's the person next to her? Looks like staff..."
"Did you hear about the kraken? She tied its legs together into a ribbon with one pinky!"
"And I heard she gave it to her secret lover as a gift?"
"...Think about the Chairwoman's age a little. She was born before our great-grandfather—urghk!?"
"Whoa, h-hey, get this guy to the infirmary, quick! He just collapsed from sudden respiratory failure...!!"
Someone was hoisted onto another student's back and rushed away, and more students quickly filled the gap.
Chloe watched the students for a moment, then quietly Teleported to the top of a nearby building.
Teleportation magic—usable only by mages of at least the 5th Rank.
It was the fruit of countless hours of effort Chloe, once considered merely a prodigy, had poured into mastering it.
'Why?'
From the rooftop where she'd teleported.
She had a clear view of the gathered crowd below, and of the Chairwoman and her party walking at its center.
"Sir Julius! To think we're going to see Sir Julius...! Shouldn't we inform the Chief Examination Officer as well?! He'd be overjoyed!"
"Chief of the First Guard Unit, this is official business. Please refrain from rash behavior."
"Adam, how have you managed to be so stiff-necked about procedure from your student days all the way to now——"
"Chief of the First Guard Unit."
"Yes, Madam Chairwoman!"
"Did the Finance Director say anything incorrect?"
"...Well."
"If you intend to jeopardize official business over personal resentment, I will grant your wish and take the Chief Examination Officer in your place. If you object, remain silent."
"Yes, ma'am..."
The Chief of the First Guard Unit in his thick armor and helmet. And the very person appearing in her dreams—the Finance Director.
Between the two of them, the Chairwoman strode at the lead, commanding the eye at once.
"............."
Why?
The Chief of the First Guard Unit never entered her awareness in the first place. Toward the Finance Director, her gaze kept being drawn involuntarily, and a favorable, smiling look kept forming in her eyes.
But when she looked at the Chairwoman, it was different. Emotions she had never intended rose up unbidden.
'Why?'
Before she knew it, Chloe.
Was glaring at the Chairwoman with a gaze soaked in violent jealousy.
The darkest, deepest, heaviest emotion she had ever felt in her life.
A feeling like an abyss with no bottom.