98. Academy (11)
98. Academy (11)
The Saintess Orphanage in the eastern district of Mederun City is considered the best orphanage.
People thought it would be difficult to keep the orphanage running after the eastern district was attacked by the creature called Ners.
But things changed when Albert started sponsoring the Saintess Orphanage.
Since the eastern district was on the verge of annihilation, many children had to enter the Saintess Orphanage.
It might have shaken the orphanage to have so many children suddenly, but thanks to Albert's sponsorship, even if they weren't wealthy, the children could live with enough to think about their futures.
Eating three meals a day, learning to read, and playing with other kids makes the day go by fast.
Older kids can take various classes, those who want to can take combat classes, and those with mana can even take magic classes.
It might not be enough for nobles, but by the standards of ordinary citizens, it's an excellent orphanage.
The Saintess Orphanage doesn't just take in young children.
It also takes in teenagers, just before they become adults.
They can only stay for a short time, but they heal their minds and bodies during that short period.
The orphanage only allows stays until age 19.
Once they turn 20, they have to leave because they are adults.
It's inevitable that they would feel anxious if they were safely protected in the orphanage until 20 and then suddenly left alone.
So, the Saintess Orphanage gives special help to children becoming adults so they can live on their own.
Like giving them opportunities to live in other countries, such as the Padix Kingdom or the Holy Kingdom.
However... the children who left saying they would visit the orphanage often never returned even once.
==
"Haaaaaaa!!!"
Abe, having used up all her mana, continues to use spirit magic at the cost of her own life force.
"Come, spirits! Ice that destroys and seals evil! Add a hundred layers, a thousand layers, and freeze!"
Abe's red ponytail flutters as blue-tinted ice bursts forth.
Abe continues to use spirits' magic, trying to kill Lea, but Lea just finds Abe cute watching her.
"Haa... haa...!"
Because of the countless ice spells spread throughout the room, her breath comes out as mist even when she just exhales, and her staff is frozen solid, unable to withstand the spirit magic.
Abe's hand holding the staff isn't unscathed either.
Even though she has a contract with an ice spirit and high ice affinity, she's already out of mana and using power beyond what she can handle, so she can't protect her body.
But even if she can't protect her body, she has to defeat or seal the monster in front of her to save her life.
'Damn it, damn it, damn it!!! What the hell is the Academy doing!'
She didn't use big spells just to deal with the monster in front of her.
She used the biggest, flashiest, and most influential spells possible so that those around her would quickly notice and help.
But even so, 30 minutes have passed since she used the magic, and there hasn't been any reaction.
'Even if it's lunchtime and there aren't many people in the [Dormitory], I'm making this much of a ruckus, and no one knows?'
"No wayㅡ!"
Only then does Abe look around her room, not at the Lea in front of her.
Lea has been exuding such an overwhelming presence that she hadn't noticed.
'Barrier magic... and not just any barrier magic...! It's Archmage-level magic. Butㅡ'
The presence the creature emits is terrifying to Lea, but the mana isn't that large.
Of course, looking at the overall average, she has a lot of mana, but she didn't think Lea had cast the barrier magic currently in the room.
Such amazing barrier magic was there very stealthily.
She wouldn't have noticed if she were outside, but she could tell because she was inside the barrier.
'There's a separate mage who cast the barrier...! Is it that Elf? No. I know that Elf has great mana, but she was close-combat, not a mage. Then...'
This means there are at least 3 beings here that shouldn't be in the Academy.
No, should I say 3 creatures?
'That's not important! If I can't beat the monster in front of me, I die....!'
Her whole body trembles because she can't put any strength into it.
Her hand is already frozen, and she can't even feel the sensation of holding the staff. It felt like it would break if it received even the slightest impact.
But she lifted the staff.
"Cool and beautiful."
Lea was impressed by Abe, who didn't give up even in a desperate situation and lifted her staff to try and use spirit magic again.
Seeing her look like a protagonist from a cartoon or anime, Lea wanted to possess Abe even more completely.
The problem, however, is how to possess her completely.
Lea is interested in Abe for several reasons, but to name a few, it's her use of spirit magic and her appearance of not giving up and resisting to the end.
Wanting to possess Abe completely with both of these things, Lea kept worrying about how to take her.
She was worried that if she fought wrong, Abe might break.
==
Thump.
Eventually, Abe, having poured everything out, collapsed to the floor.
Abe raised her head and looked at Lea.
She could only let out a hollow laugh at Lea, who didn't have a single scratch despite her having poured everything out.
Even she, who used ice magic, had her limbs furthest from her mana-containing heart frozen, her body temperature dropped, she was trembling, and her school uniform had become stiff.
Yet, Lea's school uniform didn't have any changes.
'Come to think of it, the monster that ate Susan was the one that came out of that school uniform...'
"Are you done? You won't resist anymore, right? I'm looking forward to it. I was quite interested in magic, but spirit magic, of all things. I have so many questions."
Lea stood up from the chair for the first time and approached Abe.
"There must be many interesting, fun, special, and outstanding students like Abe-nim at the Academy, right? If Abe-nim were to get pregnant with an ordinary child, would that child also be a being loved by spirits? If they are loved, would they be loved by spirits even if they gave birth to a creature? I have so many questions."
Abe bit her lip hard.
'She's crazier than the Black Mage. And giving birth to a creature? Is she saying she's a creature?'
Abe also knows about creatures.
In the first place, there shouldn't be anyone in the Padix Kingdom right now who doesn't know about creatures.
The dangers in this world right now are monsters, demons, demon-kind who believe in demons, magic beasts created by such demon-kind, and Black Mages who aren't even demon-kind but worship demons.
And the unknown creature that suddenly appeared recently.
It killed countless knights, attacked the Padix Kingdom's Mederun City, and caused thousands of casualties.
The Padix Kingdom and the Holy Kingdom are currently joining forces to exterminate such dangerous creatures.
Yet, that very creature had already infiltrated Padix.
She had to convey this fact, even if it was just one person, but Abe didn't have the strength to move a single fingertip, and in the end, she couldn't do anything and lost consciousness.
==
Charlotta visited the [Dormitory] where Abe lives.
The Academy has been very chaotic recently.
Freshmen have gone missing due to a Black Mage, and the culprit hasn't been found either.
The freshmen were processed as missing, but looking at the blood in the prison where the surviving freshmen were, it wouldn't be strange to think they were all dead, as there was enough blood pooled in the prison.
In such a situation, student Abe from 1st year Class A suddenly went missing.
It's not strange for a student to be absent for a day.
But Abe is a noble and a student who even has a maid.
Such an Abe didn't attend without saying anything to the Academy.
It was enough to be suspicious.
Usually, she would have just thought, 'Something must have happened,' and moved on, but the Academy, having been attacked by a Black Mage, is more sensitive than ever.
So, to prepare for any potential incidents, Charlotta went to the [Dormitory] room where Abe lives.
Arriving at Abe's [Dormitory], Charlotta immediately drew her sword and sent a distress signal.
This is because the smell of blood and a chilly wind wafting from the [Dormitory] front door entered Charlotta's nose.
When she opened the door, a frozen room greeted Charlotta.
'Is this Abe junior's ice magic?'
Charlotta carefully touched the ice with her hand and investigated the mana traces.
Investigating the room calmly, Charlotta realized something strange.
'What on earth is this? Why are there no signs of a fight? Why is only one mana signature detected?'
Usually, when a fight breaks out, mana traces are left here and there.
It's natural since mana and mana collide.
The mana traces float around and let one know roughly what happened here.
But in Abe's room right now, only one mana signature could be felt.
'There are no traces of a Black Mage. And... the blood on this floor. It's a trace similar to the prison I saw back then.'
However, looking at the traces in Abe's [Dormitory] room, there were many similarities to the traces that were in the Black Mage's prison.
There were no corpses, only blood, and there were scratch marks and very fine flesh fragments visible around.
The Black Mage's prison had many Black Magic traces because it was a place where the Black Mage had lived, but there are no traces of Black Magic here.
To put this differently...
'What happened in the Black Mage's prison wasn't done by the Black Mage. The reason we thought it was the Black Mage's doing was because of the Black Mage's unique mana. But...'
There are no Black Mage traces here, but it's the same as the traces in the Black Mage's prison?
That means one thing.
It's true that a Black Mage kidnapped the freshmen to the prison, but the person who murdered or kidnapped the freshmen after that is another person.
And that person came here now.