Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Bedlam
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Emily, transformed into the blue flames that judged the dead, walked calmly toward Maalks.
It was a serenity completely opposite to the boiling rage and resentment I had felt, but she had learned it through experience.
Fear was more terrifying when it approached slowly and visibly, rather than striking suddenly.
She had been a girl locked in an iron cage, trembling at the thudding footsteps of the researchers approaching, wondering if today it would be her turn.
She was even using that fleeting moment to reach Maalks as a form of revenge.
As a result, Maalks could do nothing but tremble and prostrate himself flat.
[I, I was wrong! I had no choice but to obey Ditros Verdi's orders too!]
[…….]
[I'm a victim! I'm a victim too! He said he'd kill us all if we didn't!]
Emily stared blankly down at Maalks, who was pounding the ground and shedding tears.
He clawed at his chest as if tearing it open and shouted.
[Please! I beg you, just a shred of mercy...!]
He looked ready to lick her feet if ordered.
Emily, standing there blankly, had already come to a halt.
“How did Ditros Verdi learn of the yokai known as the Bone Centipede?”
[……!]
That was why, when I intervened, Maalks's eyes flashed toward me in a glare.
If I could smile properly, I might have offered a sneer at a time like this.
But the only emotion I could show him now was a cold, impassive expression.
“Why choose the Bone Centipede specifically? There were plenty of other yokai, so why pick one that requires an exorbitant amount of human bones and isn't well-known among people?”
[Da, Dayus!]
Maalks spat out my name in a sigh-like groan. Ignoring him, I recited a page from Verdi's journal in my memory, as if quoting scripture.
“November 25th. A man named Maalks came to me. He explained that the momentum of the foreigners crossing the North Wedden Mountains lately was fierce, a harbinger of war.”
“His words were truly strange; at some point, I found myself drawn into them. I didn't realize it during our conversation, but as I write this journal, I think: was he, who spoke of the kingdom's greater good, actually just using me to fulfill his own desires?”
“But what does it matter? Success brings me only gain, and failure changes nothing—it's the same as killing the foreigners crossing the mountains.”
“He provides the knowledge, I the materials.”
There was no need to say more. As I spoke, I glanced at Maalks, who ground his teeth and cried out.
[Those idiot minions of that moron Verdi! I told them not to leave records like that! Even in death, they reveal their own ignorance!]
Caught as the true instigator and originator of the plan, Maalks looked up at Emily.
Even after hearing all the truth, Emily stood there blankly.
Seeing that, I let out a sigh-like scoff.
“Ha.”
What a delightful girl.
At some point, even I had let her vibrancy narrow my thinking, treating her as just an eight-year-old.
“Wh-what? Was that a laugh just now?”
“…….”
Pindenai looked startled at my sudden laugh, while Deia wore a complicated expression.
To them, only the flame in Emily's shape was visible—no Maalks—so they couldn't grasp the situation, but I had no intention of explaining.
[Excuse me.]
Finally, Emily spoke. Maalks freaked out and slammed his forehead against the floor.
[I'm reflecting! I know I was insanely foolish! That's why...!]
[Were you expecting something?]
[...What?]
Slowly, like a worm crawling, Maalks's eyes crept upward.
When they reached Emily's face, Maalks's eyes widened to the tearing point, his mouth agape.
[Ah, ah... Aaaah!]
He realized she had no intention whatsoever of forgiving him.
Her smile told him that.
[Why not? You've done it to us so many times already. Making us expect you'd let us live, then dragging us off to kill us.]
[Ah, ah.]
[This is fun. I get why you laughed every time you did it.]
Thud.
Emily's hand seized Maalks's wrist.
[Kwaaaaaaaaah!]
Maalks's wrist began to burn, and he screamed at the top of his lungs, thrashing wildly.
It was a frail girl's palm, but he couldn't escape from her now aflame form.
[Kweh! Kwaa! It's burning! My flesh! My fleeeesh!]
[Your expression... I like it.]
Smack!
Emily grabbed Maalks's flailing face with her other hand.
[Guhk! Eeeek! Aaaaah! Bu-burn! Burn it off meeee!]
He felt the agony of his face and wrist burning, yet no physical wounds appeared.
Because.
[You're already dead.]
Yes, he was dead.
No matter the pain, there was no escape anymore.
[The dead know it. There's no afterlife. Even if I ascend, I can't meet my mom and dad.]
[Kweh! Eek! Aaaaah!]
[I will pour every last grain of this grudge onto you.]
The wretched screams continued. Slowly turning, I beckoned to Pindenai and Deia.
“Let's go. Even ladies have sides they don't want others to see.”
“What?”
“…….”
The two, uncomprehending, followed my lead out.
Before exiting the door, I glanced back at Emily. She bowed her head toward me as I left.
“It's not over yet. I'll prepare a proper funeral for you, so wait just a bit.”
[......Thank you.]
After making that final promise.
Slam.
I closed the door.
The screams continued.
* * *
Robern Academy.
“How dare they!”
The dean slammed his fist on the desk. The letter beneath crumpled miserably.
It was the Verdi Family's reply to the dean's letter.
A blank sheet, nothing written.
Meaning they had nothing to say. Veins bulged on the bear-like, genial dean's forehead.
But what truly irritated him was the current situation.
He needed Dayus Verdi despite this rudeness.
Opening day was imminent.
Returning students would come back from break, and new ones would flood in.
Especially.
‘This year's freshmen include too many big shots.’
Crunch.
From the Griffin Kingdom's princess onward, boys and girls of astonishing talent from countless prestigious families.
The preliminary roster had professors buzzing already, calling it a golden generation.
He didn't know why this year abnormally featured so many prominent freshmen.
Regardless, the situation needed resolving.
“Is there no way?”
The dean clutched his head in thought. Then came a knock, and Professor Gideon entered.
Behind him stood a woman perfectly suited to the word 'eerie,' clad in a black robe, face veiled in black cloth, gripping a staff adorned with grotesque ornaments.
“Dean, I've found someone to resolve this incident.”
“Oh!”
The news he'd awaited eagerly.
The dean shot up, slamming the desk, eyes gleaming with expectation.
“The one behind you?”
“Yes. A necromancer I found with great difficulty.”
“Right, then... Necromancer?”
The dean's face soured instantly. Necromancer meant one who walked the path of black magic.
Which meant.
“An outlaw, isn't she?”
A violator of Griffin Kingdom law. A sort of plague not to set foot in the academy.
“Yes, but Dean, is that the priority now? Opening day is right around the corner. We must cleanse the academy before students return.”
“A priest would be better...”
The dean reconsidered his prior idea of fetching a priest, but the necromancer behind cackled chillingly.
“Those idiots who pray to god but only know how to kneel? Give it up. They'd still be holding services after opening day.”
“Hrm.”
It was true.
Priests' exorcisms cost a fortune, with no verifiable results.
“I'm certain. Scare the souls, inflict pain—they'll flee soon enough.”
He began to trust the cackling necromancer.
To save the academy, what wouldn't he do?
The dean nodded and offered a handshake.
“I leave it to you.”
“No worries. We'll proceed immediately. Done by tonight.”
Declining the handshake, the necromancer headed out. She crossed paths with Erika Bright and health professor Karen entering the dean's office.
The dean wanted no announcement, but Gideon smiled and drew them in.
“You two come along. The situation's fully resolved now.”
“Pardon?”
Erika frowned in confusion, but Karen grasped it instantly.
“You brought a necromancer. Rare sight.”
“As expected from a veteran mercenary.”
Thus, Karen and Erika joined. Erika sidestepped Gideon beside her, planting herself next to the necromancer.
“May I ask one thing?”
“Anything.”
The necromancer smirked leisurely. Irritation surged, but Erika pressed on.
“One professor noticed the academy's evil spirits beforehand.”
“…….”
Everyone perked up at her words.
It was about Dayus.
“How did that professor know about the evil spirits?”
“Heh.”
Everyone recognized that tiny laugh as mockery.
“Some people are sensitive to the dead. That's all. Third-rate at best, barely dipping a toe in. They can't control or suppress evil spirits like me. That's why they're overflowing the academy.”
“......I see.”
Erika inwardly relaxed. The deeper she dug, the more Dayus seemed tied to black magic.
“Hah, sending that letter with such trivial ability.”
“Professor Dayus squandered a once-in-a-lifetime chance at reinstatement.”
The dean snorted in satisfaction, Gideon chuckling agreement.
Erika pretended not to hear, pressing the necromancer.
“Actually, I'm tracking a specific evil spirit...”
“Stop.”
The necromancer halted abruptly.
Center of the fourth-floor corridor.
“We start here. The building's heart.”
With that, she slammed her staff down.
Mana erupted explosively around her, oozing like clay before shaping into human palms.
Fingers elongated, tips forming new palms. Her magic split into hundreds.
Within, faces of screaming, tormented souls flickered.
“Impressive necromancer. Professor Gideon, where'd you find her? At this level, she'd be impossible to track if she didn't want.”
“Haha, secret.”
Karen, familiar with necromancers from mercenary work, got a genial dodge from Gideon.
Truly formidable skill.
Even accounting for necromancy, Erika thought it surpassed her own as a professor—then.
Crack.
The staff clattered to the floor, rolling to Erika's feet.
The palm-shaped mana ignited naturally in the air, vanishing.
The necromancer faced the professors.
Her body stood straight, but her head fully twisted backward.
“Huh?”
Thud.
That was it.
The necromancer uttered a single confused yelp in her twisted-neck state before tumbling down the stairs.
No one could speak.
Only.
[Kekekekekeke!]
The girl's eerily sinister laugh from before echoed.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Heavy footsteps pounded up the stairs.
“Why is that thing here...”
The one-armed skeleton warrior, said to appear only in the first-floor central corridor, bounded up with immense leg strength.
Crunch!
It immediately crushed the rolling necromancer's corpse into meat pulp.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
Drawing its sword, it hacked, slashed, and stomped the body repeatedly.