12. The Melancholy of a Certain Protagonist
12. The Melancholy of a Certain Protagonist
If I may offer an explanation—I had no choice.
I genuinely had no choice. I was a student at the academy back then.
"Meaning, you sold off the artifacts you had amassed."
"I'd already been selling them for several years. But about four years ago, a truly massive crisis hit, and..."
Four years ago? That was my first year at the academy, give or take. Finding out the academy nearly went bankrupt while I was blissfully unaware sent a chill down my spine. Ignorance really is bliss, I suppose.
In any case, the Chairwoman possessed so many artifacts that even the King, knowing her collector's obsession, gifted her one recently. That stockpile probably bought us enough time to endure back then.
By the time I'd just taken over as Finance Director, the Chairwoman had next to no artifacts left to her name. And if any had remained, I would have liquidated them all anyway.
"And among those was a sacred relic of the Wish Order, wasn't it?"
"That it was..."
It's not that we sold it unknowingly. The situation was simply so dire that even something that valuable had to go.
Had the buyers not been dwarves, we couldn't have liquidated artifacts of that magnitude so swiftly. And once word got out that the Chairwoman was selling artifacts for funds, rumors would have spread like wildfire.
But buying them back from the dwarves or anything of the sort was...
"Let me ask, just to be certain. Those artifacts..."
"Already digested, by now."
"I thought so..."
Why do you think the dwarves were buying up artifacts so aggressively, to the point of uprooting their own racial foundations? To rebuild their city.
And the method for that reconstruction involved feeding artifacts to an 'artifact that eats artifacts.'
I've never seen it myself, but the Chairwoman visited the dwarf city and confirmed it was possible, so it must be a genuinely viable method.
Which naturally means the sacred relic, along with everything else, was disassembled and consumed long ago. Physical recovery is impossible.
In other words, the sacred relic the Wish Order has been desperately seeking has effectively been wiped from the face of the world.
If it were a genuine relic that had even attained the status of a 'conceptual existence,' like the Church's artifacts, that would be one thing. But though it was called a relic, it was simply an artifact of great symbolic value to the Wish Order rather than anything truly holy.
Should this fact become known, the Wish Order would treat the Chairwoman with hostility... or actually, they wouldn't. They've already clashed with the Chairwoman. They've been hostile from the start.
"The Wish Order, the Wish Order."
"Is what you told me before the whole story? Is there more to it?"
"No, nothing more. Honestly, there were countless groups that attacked the academy in its early days. The Wish Order wasn't special. We simply regarded them as one among many."
The Chairwoman, who said this with an embarrassed smile, is the very person who ground every last soldier of that Wish Order task force to dust.
She once told me that all manner of factions had raided Grandis Academy in its founding years. The accumulated enmity and karma that earned her the names Mad Dragon and Human Butcher came crashing down then.
For them, the only revenge they could inflict upon the Chairwoman was to reduce the academy she had built to utter ruin.
She'd built the academy because she had a dream, but she knew nothing about running one, so its operations were chaotic. One wrong move and Grandis Academy could have collapsed entirely.
She solved the problem in a very simple way.
"And frankly, they weren't even that strong."
"...From what I've heard, the task force included someone up to the 7th Rank."
"That so-called archbishop? Honestly, he was 7th Rank on paper, but lacking in substance. If the Wish Order were truly so powerful, they'd have challenged the Church directly. Why would they lurk in shadows, branded as heretics and a cult? They were closer to thieves, trying to snatch something in the middle of the chaos."
"Thieves."
"Because there was never a chance they'd beat me in a straight fight."
There was no arrogance or conceit in the Chairwoman's voice, just matter-of-fact certainty. And it was an undeniable fact.
The Chairwoman is among the very few 8th Rank Transcendents who have fought and killed another 8th Rank. Once you reach the 8th Rank, you're already treated with immense deference by every faction, so few would deliberately seek a duel against another of the same rank. She's even one of the tiny handful officially recorded to have vanquished an 8th Rank monster.
'Considering the Holy Kingdom fell to a single 8th Rank monster, that's quite something.'
Of course, the Mountain King that destroyed the Holy Kingdom was so extraordinarily powerful that rumors questioned whether it was effectively a 9th Rank entity. True to its name, it commanded monsters like an army.
By comparison, the monster the Chairwoman and Margrave killed had just barely ascended to the 8th Rank and was relatively weak, or so I'm told.
Anyway, I suppose it's feats like those that earned her names like Mad Dragon or Human Butcher. Anyway.
All those who targeted the academy in its early days... were simply killed by the Chairwoman. Unlike now, when she hesitates to use violence, it hadn't been long since she'd stepped down from active duty, so from what I've gathered, she simply ran rampant while shielding every single student with her Rigid Energy.
It was a method we can't even imagine today. The current Chairwoman strives to use as little violence as possible. To become, in the truest sense, merely the 'Academy Chairwoman' and not remain the Human Butcher of the past.
So where does that leave us?
"Which means we must draw out the Wish Order by some means, without the relic."
"Yes."
"We must incite an Order that's already on high alert against us—since we slaughtered an entire task force that included an archbishop, albeit in the past—to stage a terror attack."
"Yes..."
"And on top of that, align the timing to when we desire, while keeping the damage and scale as controlled as possible."
"...Is that possible?"
"The question isn't whether it's possible or impossible. We simply must do it."
A relic would have made things far easier, but since we don't have one, we have to move the Wish Order through deception.
The problem is, the Order values its own survival. Without absolute certainty, they won't recklessly launch a terror attack on Grandis Academy.
Then, well.
"We have no choice but to prepare multiple approaches, wouldn't you agree?"
"Oh...!"
"The position of Finance Director isn't just an empty title, after all."
There truly is no choice but to prepare, literally, 'every possible approach.'
Did I once say the Finance Director job was three parts gain and seven parts loss? I still think that. It's precisely why I'm working like this every day, chugging stimulants and the like.
But no matter how small, a gain is still a gain.
Just as I've done so far, I'll do everything within my power.
"Since the Chairwoman has reached a decision, I'll contact the Wish Order immediately."
"Wait, Finance Director. You intend to go personally? To this spy called Milia?"
"Yes."
"Are you insane?! No matter what, she's a 3rd Rank mage! For the Finance Director to go in person...!!"
It'll be dangerous, I'm sure. Whether her opponent is 3rd Rank or otherwise, I'm the weakest, a lowly 1st Rank.
But what of it?
"Finance Director! I know better than anyone how hard you work! So you don't always have to dive headfirst into danger like this—"
"What do you mean?"
"...Pardon?"
"You'll be protecting me anyway, Chairwoman. Won't you?"
"............."
But it's true. You're always shielding me with your Rigid Energy. Thanks to that, I can walk right by when the brat students are dueling without worrying about getting caught up.
And above all, I still have a hidden card left to play, so it's fine. It costs an unholy fortune, so it should be worth its price.
With an 8th Rank protecting me, what danger is there? If the opponent were 7th Rank, that'd be one thing, but a 3rd Rank is something she can cover from a distance with ease.
It was an utterly obvious thought from my perspective.
But for some reason, upon hearing those words, the Chairwoman stood frozen for a moment.
"............You crafty...."
"Chairwoman?"
"Ah, it's nothing. You're right. What is there to worry about when I'll protect you?"
She seemed to say something else, but her lips barely moved, so I couldn't make it out.
The damn protagonist, Chloe, Beatrice, and the other students seem to understand that kind of thing, but I can't. Is this somehow discrimination against 1st Ranks? How painfully unfair.
"I will protect you. No matter what comes for the Finance Director, I will protect you from all of it."
The Chairwoman murmured that, her expression looking almost intoxicated.
Then she caressed my cheek with a gentle touch.
"In exchange, how about you protect the finances? Or ward off the bankruptcy crisis, perhaps?"
"...Mm."
"And this kind of behavior is just too... inappropriate."
"?"
Every time this happens, she reminds me so much of a grandmother that my heart softens.
Before my parents divorced, my grandmother often looked after me, and it brings back old memories for no reason.
...Come to think of it, the Chairwoman is far older than my grandmother. So what would that be? A great-grandmother? A great-great-grandmother?
I set aside the useless thoughts.
"In any case, I'll go right now. I already have a method in mind."
"Finance Director."
"Don't worry. Today I'll only make contact with Milia. We can't reveal our full intentions from the very start, can we?"
The task is to subtly entice the Wish Order into staging a terror attack while embedding myself deeply within the process. And all of it must be conducted in my capacity as Finance Director.
From the Order's standpoint, they wouldn't even dream of such an act unless a high-ranking official like the Finance Director were closely cooperating. Concealing my identity would be a losing move.
Naturally, I must also prevent the Order from ever breathing a word about our collaboration, along with a thousand other complications. That's why the Chairwoman had hesitated for so long.
Success would be the best outcome.
But it's no exaggeration to say that failure means the end.
'Still, if this academy is doomed to bankruptcy anyway.'
We'll have to scrape together the last remaining possibilities and make an attempt. No—attempt is the wrong word. We absolutely must succeed, without room for failure.
If the worst happens, I can always deploy the 'Chairwoman,' so we won't reach the truly worst-case scenario. I've also prepared several measures regarding the already-vanished relic.
Leaving the Chairwoman's worried gaze behind, I exited her office.
That thought—is this really the right thing?—still circles somewhere in my head.
'Let's go.'
I made the decision, and the Chairwoman approved it. All that's left is to act.
I scanned Milia's student record, crammed with information, and started walking. There were no lectures right now, and this wasn't a timeslot for other activities.
The spy for the Wish Order.
It was time to meet Milia.
*
The Administration Department of Grandis Academy.
Compared to Magic or Martial Arts, its physical size is relatively small, yet it boasts the largest student body.
It makes sense, as it doesn't require training halls, practice grounds, or specialized studios the other fields do. Instead, it houses multiple libraries and reading rooms, which take up far less space.
But that doesn't guarantee the quietude of the Administration Department.
"The group assignment deadline is tomorrow! Where the hell did those bastards go?!"
"Forming a party to kill the professor! Five fucking assignments overlapping! I'm not just taking your class, assholes!"
"How do I even handle this thesis defense...?"
"My graduation thesis is a fucking nightmare. Why do the professors keep dragging out alumni theses and asking why ours can't be that good?"
"Exactly. Especially that senior, Adam? What the hell is that guy's thesis anyway...? It has zero academic merit, and I'm sick of hearing he pulled it off with nothing but 'creativity.'"
In fact, if you excluded the sounds of explosions, collapses, slashing, and impacts and judged purely by voices, this was the loudest place in the academy.
A diploma from Grandis Academy doesn't guarantee success in life on its own. But graduating in the top ranks does.
For commoners or those of low ability at the 1st or 2nd Rank, it's a shortcut tantamount to life's triumph.
Thus, the Administration Department is perpetually filled with hellish competition and academic pressure. Paradoxically, that is why it also has the highest number of dopamine-fueled outlets, such as secret gambling dens and exam cheat-sheet auction houses. Being human, they needed somewhere to relieve stress.
That's why the story of some senior who spent an entire week doing nothing but study in the library, even while two female students invited him to the festival, became a legend. Given that one of those girls was the Student Council president, it truly is something else.
At any rate, it's a crucible of fierce and desperate competition, far beyond Magic or Martial Arts.
And it was there, in one of the faculty offices.
"I'll do it."
"...Pardon?"
"I'll do it! Please, I'm begging you—let me stage the attack!"
The Finance Director, exhaustion plain on his face, stood there bewildered by the sight of a certain female student answering with such desperate urgency.