9. No Man Is an Island
9. No Man Is an Island
Chloe couldn't make sense of any of this.
She'd done exactly what the Finance Director asked: enter the forest, check the underground chamber. That was it.
So why was an unidentified swordsman blocking her path?
──The scene I need verified is inside that forest. Getting in there's a little difficult for a 1st Rank like me... so I'm asking for your help.
The artificially constructed forest's mana currents were twisted. No issue for a mage of Chloe's caliber, but anyone 1st or 2nd Rank would struggle even to approach, let alone enter.
Just as the Finance Director had said. Impossible for a 1st Rank like him, simple enough to borrow a student's help.
'Especially competent' hadn't been a requirement, had it?
She knew that line was pure flattery, and it stung a little, but anyway.
The professors' summoning ritual in the chamber was already finished. She'd been told the Guard Corps arrested them today.
The books and documents in the chamber had all been seized, and since a summoning circle might still be active, she'd drained every trace of mana and twisted the space in multiple places to be safe.
She hadn't erased it entirely because the Finance Director needed to make the final inspection.
──Purely a formality. I have to verify whether there was a risk of financial loss or damage, then report to the Chairwoman.
Well, he was the Chairwoman's right hand. Summoning magic was serious business, so it made sense for a senior officer like him to handle it.
The moment the Chairwoman's name came up, Chloe's mood soured, but she was the one standing beside the Finance Director right now, so she swallowed it—no, scratch that, she was losing her mind.
Still, she'd gotten permission from the guards at the entrance, found the chamber she'd been briefed about, recorded everything inside with recording magic, and was about to head straight back out.
So what in the world was this situation?
[Speak. How did you learn of the summoning magic?]
A voice horribly distorted, grotesquely warped. Anyone could tell it was a mask artifact altering the sound.
Black robes covered the figure's whole body, the hood pulled deep.
How had she failed to notice someone this suspicious? She'd been continuously scanning her surroundings with magic, just in case.
'...Specialized in concealment at 5th Rank, or else 6th Rank.'
She felt none of the overwhelming pressure distinctive to a 7th Rank. From experience, the figure before her was 6th Rank at best.
Which sounded less impressive than 7th, but beating a 6th Rank alone was nearly impossible. More to the point, this man had slipped past the Guard Corps stationed at the forest's edge.
At first she'd wondered if the Finance Director had set a trap, but if he could field someone this strong, there'd be no reason to handle it out here in the woods.
And she'd been told this whole affair was the professors' doing. If the man knew about the summoning magic...
"You're somebody from the academy, aren't you?"
[You talk too much.]
Shhk!
She'd tried to probe him with her own conclusion, but the man's sword barely shifted, and in the same instant a tree beside her split into pieces.
'I didn't even see the sword-strike.'
That settled it. Not a specialized 5th Rank—definitely a 6th. Maybe if he were barely 6th she could put up a fight, but the swordsmanship she'd just witnessed looked polished even for a mid-range 6th Rank.
A fighter of that caliber could find high favor anywhere, which made him more credible as an insider in disguise than an intruder from outside the academy.
'An academy insider. One of the professors who planned this and didn't get caught, maybe?'
At 6th Rank, the possibilities were professors, the Guard Corps, and Exam Officers.
For an instant she thought of the 6th Rank bastard she'd met a few days ago, but she snorted inwardly and dismissed the thought. He wouldn't even know something like this was happening, and common sense said professors wouldn't collaborate with a student on summoning magic in the first place.
While Chloe's mind raced, the man leveled his ominous blade at her again.
[Do you refuse to speak?]
"You're not really in a position to throw threats around. If I set off a single spell here, the whole Guard Corps in the area will come swarming."
[True. But I can cut your throat before they arrive.]
Irritatingly enough, he was right. That was the problem.
Slipping a hand into her robes, Chloe readied her master's escape scroll while slowly pulling up her mana, her focus locked onto the man's sword.
'What is that sword?'
Blade, crossguard, grip—all of it pitch-black.
The whole thing looked alien and sinister, and the mana coiled inside it wasn't normal either. She had the distinct impression the sword was more dangerous than the man holding it.
But why?
The tip of that blade felt familiar somehow, and an inexplicable sting prickled at her throat...
[Final warning. Tell me how you learned about the summoning magic and that chamber—and who is behind you.]
"........."
[Three.]
"Eat shit!"
Fwoosh!
[Dancing Flame]
Chloe's fingertips flared, and a flame spinning as if dancing shot upward toward the dark clouds smothering the sky.
It burst in a brilliant bloom.
Fwoooom!
The clouds had plunged the area into gloom, so the flash would be clearly visible even from a distance.
Chloe loosed the most spectacularly erupting spell she had as a flare, then immediately reached for the escape scroll inside her robes—
[I knew you'd have one.]
"What—!?"
—The moment she tried to activate it, the scroll was sliced in half.
The sword had clearly swung and cut the scroll tucked against her body, yet her clothes and skin bore not a single scratch.
A divine technique, cutting only what the wielder chose. Proof that her opponent's skill plainly outstripped hers.
A swordsman this accomplished would've known she was preparing [Dancing Flame]. He could even have cut the spell itself mid-cast to cancel it. So why hadn't he?
'Is he toying with me? Or does he not care if he's exposed?!'
6th Rank. Strong, certainly, but ultimately only that. If a 7th Rank like the Chief Examination Officer or the Guard Corps Commander—or, above all, the Chairwoman—stepped in, he'd have no answer. So why was he acting like this?
The man's intent, which Chloe had been puzzling over, became clear an instant later.
[This time I'll let you go quietly. But I will be watching you from now on.]
"What is that supposed to..."
[I'm not yet certain, you see. In my experience, with people like you who refuse to open their mouths easily, this approach is more effective.]
"........."
[You should live in fear of me. Feel free to tell the academy and request a guard. But you won't survive the night if you do.]
──Over there!
──Hurry! Rescue the student!
She heard the Guard Corps sprinting toward her.
Chloe silently glared at the man, who had already brought the tip of his sword to the nape of her neck.
Tk.
The keen blade traced the back of her neck just shy of drawing blood.
[Should you ever change your mind and wish to tell me everything, shout at any time. I will always be able to hear it.]
".........Get lost."
[I pray you make a wise choice.]
The man who had appeared so abruptly vanished just as suddenly, as though he'd dissolved into the darkness.
The Guard Corps surged in immediately, shielding Chloe with their bodies while others scattered to secure the area.
"Student, are you all right?!"
"Search the perimeter first! Secure the student's safety!"
"........."
Amid the clamoring guards.
Chloe's eyes smoldered like kindled flames.
*
"So, Student Chloe."
"......Yes, Finance Director."
"You inspected the underground chamber as I asked, and just as you were about to head back... a bug startled you, you tried to incinerate it, and accidentally fired a spell into the sky?"
".........I'm sorry."
"That was dangerous, Student Chloe. As you know, the forest is full of mana-grass and medicinal herbs, so fire magic is strictly prohibited."
"I'm truly sorry."
Why had this mess erupted now?
I'd found high-Rank manpower to enter the forest in my place since I couldn't go myself, and I'd been waiting on a nearby bench.
Chloe came back not with recording magic but leading a whole Guard Corps contingent—all because she'd "accidentally" used fire magic on a bug.
'Does that make any sense?'
If it were some other student maybe I'd buy it, but this is Chloe Pisti.
She wouldn't be scared of a bug. She'd stomp it dead without a second thought.
And Chloe, who's pretty sensitive about grades and evaluations, definitely knows using fire magic in the forest earns demerits. A 5th Rank mage "accidentally" firing a spell into the sky?
'And that flash in the sky earlier... the way it burst looked a lot like [Dancing Flame].'
And [Dancing Flame] is a spell with mediocre power and efficiency that everyone uses for signaling because its burst is so flashy.
What are the odds that of all the fire spells available, the one she "accidentally" used was Dancing Flame?
The Guard Corps had their doubts too.
"Student, are you absolutely certain nothing happened?"
"Completely. You can see I'm not hurt anywhere, right? I apologize to everyone in the Guard Corps for the trouble."
"Well, if you say so..."
Chloe herself was adamant, so pressing further would've been awkward.
I waved off the guards who were glancing at me for cues and got down to business.
"Student Chloe, then what about the recording magic?"
"That's intact. Would you like to see it right away?"
"Please."
Something had obviously happened out there, but she didn't want to talk about it. Fine.
I'd have the Guard Corps comb the forest and the chamber anyway; we'd piece together the circumstances soon enough. I'd grill Chloe about her side of it later. For now, the recording came first.
"Hm........."
"Is it adequate?"
"This is good."
Nothing unusual, really.
The report the First Guard Unit Commander had submitted not long ago—suspicious mana detected in the Magic Department's forest.
A mage attached to the Guard Corps sensed something off during patrol, they mobilized the full Corps to sweep the forest, and they found the underground chamber. Facilities like this were often built on the sly by students or built and then forgotten, so nobody had a complete map of what was where.
They investigated the chamber, found traces of summoning magic, staked the place out, and caught the professors who showed up red-handed.
Impressive work—smooth and efficient. That was the Guard Corps for you, staffed entirely by veterans who'd seen every trick in the book.
'Although, if you're researching something like summoning magic, wouldn't you normally buy an artifact to conceal your mana or something?'
If the patrolling mage hadn't noticed, they probably wouldn't have been caught. Then again, wasn't that exactly why the Guard Corps existed—to find and arrest this sort of thing?
Summoning magic had been banned by both the Empire and the Kingdom, so you'd think they'd exercise every conceivable precaution.
The circle they'd drawn hadn't even used proper magic stones, just cheap substitutes. It wasn't like they had no money—so why hadn't they bought stones or artifacts?
'...Money?'
Could it have been the salary cuts? Only the first year of reduced pay and they were already broke?
Now that I thought about it, Kirke had been the same way. Were magic-department professors just loose with their spending, or did they never bother to save because their salaries had been high to begin with?
The three magic-department professors arrested were all men—two associate professors and one assistant professor.
'Their statements were clean enough. They said they just wanted to study summoning magic.'
And to be fair, forbid people from something and they only want it more. Even with the Empire and Kingdom bans, quiet research on summoning magic itself had always gone on under the surface.
Still, they'd been caught, so all three would be dismissed. If there was anything noteworthy...
'They all acted like they had someone backing them.'
All three had been oddly composed, as if dismissal meant nothing to them.
An assistant professor, maybe. But an associate professor was someone who'd worked at Grandis Academy for a long time. People in a position to be appointed full professors had risked everything on forbidden summoning magic research.
'Well, they'll be handed over to the royal prison. If there's someone behind them, the royal side will figure it out.'
At the end of the day we were an educational institution, not a torture chamber or a courtroom. If the professors were hiding something, that was the royal interrogators' and inquisitors' job to uncover.
The Kingdom would share the results with us once they had them, so I shelved the worry there and ended the recording playback.
"Student Chloe, thank you for your help. Grandis Academy will not forget your dedication."
"Ah, yes......"
Hm.
Normally that would've been the end of it.
But letting high-Rank manpower like this walk away felt like a waste.
"Student Chloe, would you be willing to assist me further? I'll compensate you this time."
"O-of course I can!"
Jackpot.
Gotta put her to good use.
"Thank you. Then please rest today—let's meet tomorrow."
I still had to write a report based on that recording and go talk to the Chairwoman.
I wrapped up the conversation and rose from my seat. Chloe tried to stand as well and wobbled.
What's with her?
"Whoa—!"
"Oops. Student Chloe, careful. You look exhausted—please get some sleep at least."
".........Yes."
She seemed to have a headache, hand pressed to her forehead. I steadied her back upright, said my goodbyes, and headed for the office.
I could use some sleep too......
*
Again. The same dream.
The Finance Director walking ahead, and herself following behind.
And the voice that reached her.
──Why won't you look at me?
Ah.
She was sick of this. That bastard of a masked man she'd met today—hadn't he turned up precisely because she'd been trying to resolve this dream?
More than that, her body had felt oddly sluggish and her head had ached for a while now. She just wanted to forget everything, dream included.
She felt an impulse to erase it all with forgetting magic.
──Adam, turn around. I'm right behind you.
──Always following you, always watching you.
──Is that dead woman still more important to you than I am... here, now?
But why was her dream self spouting those words in her own voice?
Why so pathetically? Why so fixated on the Finance Director?
Just forget him and leave, or find a better man. Or go back to the Magic Tower, at least.
If nothing else, reach out and grab him. It was maddening.
"Why are you being so damn ambiguous about it......?"
It was a muttered half-thought in the dream—and the first time Chloe had spoken in her own voice.
──The reason is simple.
".........Huh?"
──Because if I'm the one who grabs hold of Adam, I can't be certain of his heart. That woman might still remain inside him.
A voice spoke.
The voice that always repeated the same lines.
For the first time, it said something different.
It was answering Chloe's mutter.
──But if Adam turns to look at me first, that means he's decided to let her go in his heart. It means he'll hold only me.
"Uh, wha......?"
──That's all.
The voice that had been resonating inside her body shifted until it was coming out of her mouth.
And the Chloe who had been following behind Adam had collapsed at some point.
Not her grown self from the dream, but the Chloe she'd been before falling asleep.
When she hurriedly pushed herself upright—
"Should I say 'nice to meet you'? What you've been seeing until now was just a fragment of memory."
".........You."
"I never imagined the Dark Sword and the regression would manifest their influence this way. Honestly, I never dreamed I'd wake up again like this."
"Wh-what on earth......?"
"I'm not exactly thrilled about it, but let's get introductions out of the way."
"........."
"Hello, me."
The grown Chloe—the one who had kept following Adam, the one she'd kept perceiving as "me" in the dream.
For the first time, she turned her body and faced "Chloe" squarely. Unlike Chloe, who was stunned speechless, she looked utterly impassive.
The original Chloe and the grown Chloe.
The two Chloes faced each other— one with bewildered eyes, the other with dead ones.
It was the moment the dream began to change.