10. The Only Good Festival Is a Dead Festival

A single month shot past like an arrow.

To be precise, I'd worked like a madman the whole time, and before I knew it, the festival was already right in front of me.

There were still two days until the opening, but the streets were already swarming with students. Merchants were hawking every kind of merchandise, and parents and other visitors had arrived early and were lodged in specially prepared dormitories.

Tiny parades broke out. Students, too juiced on adrenaline, challenged each other to duels. Magic erupted everywhere. The Guard Corps scrambled. Buildings collapsed. The academy was collapsing, goddammit.

The financial reality was so catastrophic that I yanked the curtains shut.

"Haah..."

Inside my office, now dark with the blackout curtains drawn,

instead of staring at the festival budget—a dumpster fire of waste—I reviewed the final report one last time.

The most critical document held by Grandis Academy, stamped with the highest classification of secrecy.

The one bearing my name, the Chairwoman's, and Kirke's.

Inscribed within it was the

<Little Hair Plan>

—the secret scheme that would bring this festival to a dead stop.

'I've done everything I could.'

Over the past month, I'd been busy preparing for every conceivable problem that would arise if the festival ran for only a day or two before being forcibly suspended.

We'd gradually fed more hair-loss inducer into Kirke's research to secure a sufficient stock.

For the supplies we had purchased with a full week in mind, we'd paid slightly more to include a clause: "In the event the festival is unavoidably canceled midway, refunds shall be issued."

The dormitories housing visitors were assigned near the entrances for easy evacuation.

The hair-loss inducer itself was a fast-vaporizing variety with a subdued effect, but one that would still linger for at least a day if carried by the wind.

Ah, and I'd had barriers erected around Kirke's laboratory under the pretext of protecting her research—to shield her from the inevitable physical protests and complaints.

Beyond that, I had arranged countermeasures for countless other issues.

All that remained now

was to clench my fist

and set it all off.

"...Finance Director? Why is it so dark in here? And why are you clenching your fist like that?"

"It's nothing. More importantly, Chairwoman, what brings you here? I just submitted the final festival report."

"Ahem! Well, even if it's the final report, I already know everything in it. I've finished all my work, including that."

The Chairwoman, who had barged in without the courtesy of a knock, approached me slowly, wearing a coy expression that didn't suit her age at all.

What is this? I felt a strange pressure.

"S-so, the festival ends on the second day, right?"

"Any student willing to risk baldness can enjoy it a bit longer."

"There's no way a student like that exists. Anyway, um..."

She might have been done with her work, but I still had mine. I wished she'd spit it out if she had something to say.

Wait, could it be...?

"The way you keep squirming... did you make another futures trade?"

"Th-there's no way! That's not what I wanted to say..."

Then what?

She was my superior, so should I politely ask her to leave so I could work, or should I just tell her to get lost?
Maybe because I'd been pulling all-nighters for three days straight, my brain wasn't functioning properly.

Anyway, I still had two more days of overnight shifts until the festival. I was just about to tell her to leave me alone when—

"F-Finance Director!"

"Ah, you startled me. What is it?"

"W-would you like to go see the festival with me!?"

......Hm?

I felt like I'd heard this line a month ago.

Actually, what?

"Chairwoman, we can't just run around enjoying the festival like students. If anything, we'll be even busier───"

"I already took care of the work!"

".........I'm sorry?"

"I handled about half of your share of the work, and the rest I cleverly slipped into other departments' dockets!"

..........

So in other words,

she'd been quietly dumping bits of my workload onto other faculty members?

Was the Chairwoman a god?

"At the very least, you can leave early today! Of course, you'll still have to work on the actual festival day... but considering your usual work speed, you'll probably have some free time around evening."

"Oh."

I didn't hear a single word after that. Only the fact that I could go home today lodged itself in my brain.

So I could sleep? Not those miserable ten- or twenty-minute naps, but a solid three hours or more?

Was the Chairwoman a god? Wait, didn't I just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠think that?

"S-so, if you could make the time..."

"Let's go."

"Finance Director...!!"

"As long as I have the time, it's fine."

It might sound strange coming from the man who's been trying to cancel the festival, but if I'm not on duty, I do want to enjoy it properly.

A festival I'd never been able to properly enjoy in three years as a student. It was ironic that my first real one would come after I became a staff member, but oh well.

"Y-you mean it? You're not joking? You're serious!?"

"Have you ever seen me lie?"

"...Way too many times."

"Then this time will be one of the exceptions."

"Anyway, you promised!"

Why is she so happy over nothing more than a short visit to the festival?

...But when I thought about it, I could understand.

'I'm the only person the Chairwoman can be at ease around.'

She'd overseen dozens of festivals over the decades. If she'd wanted to, she could have disguised herself and wandered around alone anytime.

But isn't a festival far more fun with company than alone?

In that sense, she had no one suitable to accompany. The Head of Academic Affairs practically worshipped her as a god, and the rest of the department heads were terrified of her.

And with her image as an iron-willed autocrat, she couldn't afford to show a relaxed side in front of them either.

So I was the only one she could talk to and walk around with comfortably.

'Last year, she was too busy to even dream about the festival.'

Perhaps this year would be the first festival she ever truly enjoyed.

Realizing that, I felt a little sorry for her. Just how old was she, seriously.

I placed a hand on her shoulder. I felt my eyes sting a little.

"It's all right, Chairwoman. You can start enjoying yourself now."

"Finance Director...? W-why the sudden hand?"

"I understand everything. Let's make sure we go see that festival."

"Huh...?"

How must it feel for someone six times my age to have to ask a kid like me to go together? For me, that'd be like asking a three- or four-year-old to tag along.

I felt a long-dormant Confucian filial piety stirring. Yes, you ought to respect your elders.

It's exactly the same as a grandmother asking her grandson to go with her to the seniors' center party. Maybe I'd been too obsessively focused on work.

As for quitting the jabs about her futures trades... let's not go that far. Even her age can't excuse that. She blew two years' worth of budget, so it's only fair I get to milk that for the next two years.

Anyway.

"I'll look forward to the festival, Chairwoman."

"Yes!"

So.

Do I really get to leave work right now...?

*

"Is this right?"

Chloe looked up at the sky, a murmur she'd already repeated hundreds of times on her lips.

Normally, this was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠view she'd see from her private dormitory room or training chamber.

Things were a little different now.

Kugugugung!!

"There! Build it toward that side! Angle it a bit more!"

"The gap between these stalls is too narrow—we need to widen it..."

"Hurry up and move those materials!"

.............

Dust billowed, sweaty workmen swarmed the site, and piles of logs, stones, and construction materials lay everywhere. A construction site.

Chloe was right there in the middle of it.

'...I thought that since I'd been asked by the Finance Director for help, I'd just slowly get closer to him on the side.'

A month ago, her request for a festival date had been rejected for purely rational reasons.

Chloe, who had planned to work alongside him and gradually grow closer, was confronted with reality immediately.

──What? Work, you say? From now on, you can head over to that construction site.

──Me? I need to process documents in my office. Weren't we supposed to work together? How could I possibly hand internal academy paperwork to a student?

──Don't worry. I'm sure Student Chloe will make an outstanding contribution. You'll get volunteer credit, of course, and even a small scholarship.

Now that she thought about it, the Finance Director had only said he needed her "help." He'd never said they'd work together.

In a thoroughly logical move, he had sent Chloe, a mage, to the place that needed a mage, rather than giving her simple paperwork anyone could handle.

Which was exactly this construction site.

"Hey, Cloe-ssi! Move these materials over here!"

"......Yes, got it."

"As expected of a Grandis Academy student!"

She used magic to lift, assemble, trim, and secure heavy materials.

The project was handled by the Carpenter's Guild, so there were some mages among the workers, but none anywhere near Chloe's level.

The only problem was her lack of experience—but after a full month of work, even that was no longer an issue. They weren't constructing proper buildings anyway; it was putting up festival stalls, temporary stages, and installations, so Chloe adapted quickly.

The workers, who at first had been awkward around her, now playfully called her "Cloe-ssi."

Of course, given Chloe's personality, there was no way she'd tolerate such nonsense.

'Hold it in. Just hold it in.'

If she caused a scene here, it would reach the Finance Director's ears immediately.

For the sake of her deal with Adult Chloe, Chloe endured with everything she had.

'Yeah, you're holding back well.'

'Could you please not add fuel to the fire!?'

'Did you forget everything I taught you?'

'...That's exactly why I'm holding back, isn't it.'

For the past month, Adult Chloe had kept her promise. The promise to teach Chloe magic.

She wasn't a genius—her talent barely qualified as "highly gifted"—but the lectures she received from "her future self" were something else entirely.

It was a future where Chloe, equally a gifted student, had reached 7th Rank. Naturally, Future Chloe knew the exact learning methods and insights tailor-made for Chloe Pisti.

It was like struggling through an uncharted mountain path, then suddenly finding a road someone had already paved.

Following that road, Chloe's skill level had skyrocketed in just a single month.

'If I keep this up for another year...'

'You could probably reach for 6th Rank. You'll manage multi-casting too.'

'That's insane.'

6th Rank. She'd thought she would need to dedicate at least ten more years even after graduating from the academy.

That was the level of accomplishment required. Reaching 6th Rank in about ten years would have been considered blisteringly fast even by the Empire's Magic Tower standards.

And now that 6th Rank was just one year away.

...The thought of Rus Spero rose anew in her mind.

'That bastard would never have dreamed of 6th Rank if he hadn't regressed, right?'

'The Rus Spero I knew was a permanent bottom-feeder. He was only 4th Rank even at graduation.'

'Regression... it really is something.'

If learning from her future self made this much of a difference, what would happen if her entire future self came back to the past?

The Chloe Pisti who was already at the edge of 7th Rank would be attending the academy right now. That would flip the Empire's Magic Tower upside down, not just the academy.

Frankly, aside from her master the Archmage, there probably wasn't a single mage in the Magic Tower stronger than Adult Chloe.

'More importantly, you still won't tell me?'

'Tell you what?'

'What happened in the future. I get it about the Finance Director, but you seemed pretty familiar with Rus Spero too.'

'...I suppose you could say we're acquainted.'

'What on earth happened back then?'

According to Adult Chloe, she had died by the Dark Sword, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠beheaded. Rus Spero's doing.

From just that, you couldn't tell if Rus Spero had suddenly gone mad and killed her, or if there was a justifiable reason, whether they were sworn enemies, or even if it had been an accident.

And on top of that—why had she grown to like the Finance Director so much? Why had she spent years traveling with him instead of returning to the Magic Tower? What had made them stick together in the first place?

Chloe was curious about all of it, but—

'I already told you, didn't I? I could tell you everything. But it wouldn't be good for you.'

'.............'

'You and I are, despite all the differences, ultimately the same Chloe Pisti. It's not a proper regression like that bastard's—it's nothing more than a fluke and coincidence that we met. There are bound to be problems.'

'And those problems mean my mind gets devoured?'

'To be precise, assimilation. I've emphasized this over and over: you and I are definitely the same, but in the end, we are different existences.'

'Ugh.'

In essence, Adult Chloe and Chloe were fundamentally the same being. The very fact that they existed as separate psyches was impossible.

Looking at Adult Chloe's unsightly demeanor, she'd thought "that's not the same as me." But if she didn't keep thinking that way, constantly, then Adult Chloe and Chloe would merge.

The fact that two versions of "me" existed simultaneously in the same timeframe was the core problem. Adult Chloe had noticed this over the past month and warned Chloe.

She must constantly treat "Adult Chloe" and "the current Chloe" as separate, and stop prying further into the future.

Even if it was the future, it was the future Adult Chloe had lived. The more Chloe learned of it, the closer her psyche would become to Adult Chloe's.

And eventually—

'You'd take over my mind. Because the current me is too immature.'

'That's just annoying.'

'What's more, even if that happened, the dissonance between body and mind would still exist, so I'd disappear quickly too. In the end, only your body would remain, a complete imbecile.'

'Horrifying.'

'If you don't want that, stop asking and just train. The higher your level becomes, the less easily you'll assimilate even if I tell you about the future.'

'...I know.'

The conclusion was simple. The current Chloe needed to reach beyond 6th Rank, to 7th Rank, to the very precipice of 8th Rank like Adult Chloe had.

But that was far easier said than done. Among the countless beings on the continent, those who had reached even 7th Rank were vanishingly rare, let alone 8th Rank.

And above all—

'But how am I supposed to change the future if I don't know about it?'

'I'm not asking for much. As long as the future I experienced isn't recreated exactly, that's enough.'

'So, you're telling me to stop the Chairwoman and the Finance Director from getting together?'

'That's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the current goal, yes. Still, there's no telling how the future will flow.'

'That's exactly why I asked you to tell me about the future so I could do something about it. What a headache.'

Chloe let out a sigh, still using one hand to manipulate magic and trim materials.

She'd grown accustomed to this level of multitasking by now. Getting used to handling multiple tasks or thoughts simultaneously was the only way to reach the realm of multi-casting.

While discussing with Adult Chloe inside her head and moving materials this way and that, Chloe—

"......Hm?"

—turned her head toward the female student dashing somewhere beside the construction site.

She was an utterly ordinary student. Why, then?

'What's this?'

From that student,

a faint but strange mana was swirling.

As though—

'Like the Dark Sword?'
'Yeah, that!'

The ominous mana of the sword Rus Spero had carried that day while disguised as a suspicious figure.

......The mana of that ominous blade.