Chapter 22
Chapter 22
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Regarding the Girl Who Appeared in the Lab
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Don't do it."
A single remark tossed out after finishing dinner, while gazing at the view from the academy rooftop.
Deus Verdi handed Erika a cup of coffee he'd brought, as if he hadn't heard a word.
"The view's nice."
A secret spot for professors only, off-limits to students.
The nightscape enveloping Robern Academy felt different from the usual—vivid and dazzling.
Erika Bright loved the sight, too.
"Not really."
If only Deus hadn't jumped off the rooftop at dawn yesterday, she probably could have kept loving it.
Thanks to her casting magic while jumping after him, Deus hadn't been hurt. Erika had only scraped her elbow a bit.
But the external wounds were nothing compared to the deep gash in her heart.
Her beloved fiancé's suicide attempt had been that shocking—and terrifying.
Erika chewed on the rim of the paper cup he'd given her with her teeth, then turned her head to look at him.
"I'm not kidding. Stop it. Rumors about you are spreading—from the students to the professors now."
"Hmm."
"I'm not saying don't do the hard stuff. Why patrol at dawn? Just leave it to the guards."
At her words, Deus slowly shifted his distant gaze toward Erika.
Black hair, sharp nose. Eyes that hid his thoughts, and an expression cold to others but strangely warm to her.
Lacking any resistance to facing him like this, Erika whipped her head away in a flash of embarrassment.
"I have to."
But the moment she heard his reply, she spun back fiercely to argue.
"Are you serious? It's only been a little over a month for you. Vacations are coming up soon—if you keep building this image, even as a full professor, your class sign-ups could be lower than the assistant subjects."
"Erika, do you think I care about that?"
"...It'd be better if you did."
In the end, Erika spat out the words she'd sworn never to say.
"You're going to die!"
"..."
Deus gazed at her slowly. Cold air brushed her nose, her reddened eyes stinging.
"I don't even know why you're doing it! I don't know why you're fighting some weird thing every dawn! But you're going to die!"
"..."
She rolled up her sleeve to show the bandage on her elbow—from saving him yesterday.
"Look at this. I got hurt saving you. Look! Yesterday! You! On this rooftop! You jumped to kill yourself!"
"...Right. So I did."
Deus gently stroked his own wrist. Beyond his collar, countless scars were visible.
"But Erika, that's not an academy-related issue."
"...What?"
"I'm suppressing something in the academy, that's true. But the thing trying to kill me isn't one of them."
She had no idea what he was talking about. Erika just thought he was being stubborn.
"Stop it. Unless you want to make your fiancée a widow."
"..."
"If not, we're done. I can't be with a man who chooses death."
Truth be told, with their families entangled, Erika couldn't end it even if she wanted to.
It was mostly bluff.
But she wanted to stop him somehow.
Deus's lips remained firmly shut.
Erika stared at them anxiously.
Time seemed to crawl.
Please.
I beg you, please.
Choose me.
"-----."
"...!"
His mouth opened, a reply came—but it sounded like babbling underwater, muffled and unclear.
What had he said?
"Gasp!"
Erika bolted upright, looking around. The sharp smell of medicine, sagging beds.
Students lay there, groaning in illness.
It was Professor Karen's infirmary.
"Gasp! Gasp!"
Her sweat-soaked white shirt clung clammily to her skin. Ignoring the discomfort, Erika straightened herself.
She'd had an unwanted dream.
Precious memories with him, yet like an album she never wanted to open again.
It felt like her memories were being forcibly stirred.
"You're awake."
Gideon Zeronia, sitting in one corner of the infirmary, spotted her and jumped up to approach.
He reached for her disheveled golden hair, but Erika swatted his hand away.
"Don't touch me."
"...Sigh. It's been a month since we started dating—don't you think it's too much not even letting me hold your hand?"
He shrugged with a playful grin. But Erika ground her teeth and replied.
"That was the condition. No physical contact in exchange for being your girlfriend."
"Hmm, sure. But you're a better woman than I thought—got me hooked."
Erika brushed past him, annoyed by Professor Gideon's tongue flicking over his lips.
He prodded at her back with a smile.
"I was curious why you needed the list of people buried in the old cemetery before the academy relocation."
She froze.
Erika stopped and glared at him once.
"But now it makes sense. It's because of those dog-like evil spirits roaming the academy, right?"
The Zeronia family owned the land where Robern Academy's old cemetery grounds had been.
That's why Erika had demanded the ancient documents and info, and Gideon had used it as leverage for their fake lover relationship.
Honestly, she still didn't know why he wanted her.
He never explained—just flashed that sly smile.
"Did you find the evil spirit you wanted?"
The one Erika sought.
The entity that had possessed Professor Deus.
It had spewed bizarrely intense killing intent at him.
"I found a lead."
With that, Erika left the infirmary. Yeah, it was coming into focus.
The one seen most often.
Threatening enough to kill a necromancer in one strike.
First appeared in Deus's lab.
'The black-haired girl.'
Erika suspected she was the evil spirit that possessed Deus.
'At the very least, before Deus returns, I have to catch that one.'
After finding her, she'd call a priest—or learn necromancy herself.
Erika planned to fight her.
"Um, excuse me! Professor Erika!"
At the end of the hall, a pink-haired professor peeking around the corner.
Per Petra, the physical magic instructor filling in for Deus.
She glanced around cautiously, then whispered as she approached Erika.
"Um, you see. I'm researching regeneration of severed body parts."
She adjusted her glasses, eyes on the floor. The picture of a timid introvert.
Erika thought it sounded impressive, but she didn't have time.
"Sorry, I'm busy right now."
She walked past Per, but the professor squeaked and shouted at her back.
"But! While doing clinical trials on regeneration, I discovered a spell for restoring damaged objects! W-well, only a tiny bit."
"...What does that mean?"
Erika stopped, figuring Professor Per had a reason for saying this now.
Per took a breath, clenched her fist, and declared.
"Last time! I think I can restore the memo left by your predecessor, Professor Deus!"
"...!"
"Y-yes! N-not all of it, just a tiny bit..."
"Now!"
Erika grabbed Per's slender wrist and yanked her along.
"Let's go now!"
Deus's room still held the debris. No one had dared clean it.
"Eek! S-slow down a bit!"
"No time."
They arrived at Deus's room, dragging Per. Still dim, stark, featureless.
And on the floor, the remnants of the burned notebook.
"O-okay, I'll try."
Professor Per knelt before it, pulled chalk from her case, and began drawing a magic circle on the floor.
'It was definitely about the black-haired girl on the first page.'
If the first page restored, she'd learn Deus's thoughts on her—increasing the chances.
She clenched her fist to calm her pounding heart.
"B-beginning."
Per finished the circle and slowly infused mana. An astonishing formula and mana use.
A reminder why Per Petra was a peerless genius in that field.
But compared to the grand formula and mana, the result was pathetically small.
A singed memo the size of a palm. Per collapsed, exhausted.
"S-sorry! I didn't think it'd be this little!"
But Erika's ears were deaf to Per's voice.
[1. Regarding the Girl Who Appeared in the Lab]
It had restored exactly what she wanted.
"You did great, Professor Per!"
"Huh!?"
Ignoring the flustered Per, Erika snatched up the memo hurriedly.
Worried the girl might appear again, she read it right away.
"...Huh?"
She couldn't help letting out a sound at Deus's words there.
"What... is this... even."
What did it mean?
No, something was off.
Erika felt her mind tangling into knots.
She'd expected it to unravel the thread—but it only knotted tighter.
She even wondered if it was the evil spirit's prank.
But Deus's elegant handwriting firmly forced an absurd truth on her.
[The girl is not a deceased spirit.]