The Thesis of Primal Ruin
The two-hundred-and-fifty-page thesis written by Croitz, the academy’s first president, was pedantic to an exhausting degree. The Empire’s language had always been like that, but it was far worse in the medieval period—every sentence bloated with exaggerated modifiers. As expected from the great archmage who had founded the field of magic studies, each paragraph ended with a heap of glowing praise for his predecessors. It made the text almost painful to read. The document itself was poorly preserved, with entire pages missing and the narrative breaking off in awkward places. Still, as one of the most famous treatises in magical academia, its logical consistency was flawless. It was almost unbelievable that something this important had been shoved into the miscellaneous section at the farthest corner of the central library.
Wait. If a paper like this has never surfaced before… have I just made the discovery of the century?
As far as Sion knew, President Croitz was a celebrated figure. Many of his works had been studied for generations. If this particular thesis on the Demon King Slayer had ever been publicized, some form of trouble would have reached her uncle long ago. Yet nothing of the sort had happened. That could only mean she had unearthed something truly significant. She remembered the excitement she had felt when excavating Uroboros’s legacy and allowed herself a small moment of joy at the thought of a magnificent discovery.
Then her hand stopped.
She had reached the final section—the one titled “Long-term Effects.”
Based on these inferences and proofs, it has been confirmed that all demonkind inherit the exact same mana wavelength from a single entity.
However, this wavelength is not infinite. It possesses only an inevitable finiteness. Therefore, when a mana apocalypse occurs—or any equivalent situation, such as death—this finiteness can transfer to another.
The Demon King is no exception. He is merely a puppet of that power, the Primal Mana. From a magical perspective, he is closer to a parasite.
And as soon as she understood what those words truly meant, Sion felt her mind go dark.
“It’s a lie… It has to be a lie—”
But Croitz had said the most important part was still ahead.
Though its form cannot yet be observed, should the Primal Mana transfer to a new parasitic host, it will collapse the host’s mind in order to restore its own finiteness. A distinct magical phenomenon is certain to appear during this process.
Speculating on its nature, the phenomenon would manifest as a mental terror wave.
It was exactly what the Demon King subjugation party had all testified to—the voice of the Demon King. Without extremely high resistance to mental domination, it could shatter a person’s brain in an instant. The embodiment of that power, the foundation of mental destruction. Commonly called the long-term effect.
In normal times it was faint, but in combat, under extreme stress, or when mental agitation reached its peak, the effect grew darker and heavier.
That was the conclusion Croitz had drawn about the aftereffects of slaying the Demon King.
After reading it, Sion had three distinct thoughts.
The first was pure astonishment at the content itself.
“I knew something was being hidden… but does Uncle not even realize this is happening inside his own body?”
The second was raw terror at the realization that the Primal Mana would eventually seize complete control.
“—And it was a loop. If the one who killed the Demon King cannot endure it, he becomes the next Demon King. The world never found peace.”
And the last was a profound, almost reverent horror at the man who continued to endure it all.
“More than that… with something like this eating away at his entire being, suffering from that mental illness… has he been smiling at me this whole time?”
Her fan trembled violently in her grip.
“What a foolish man. He doesn’t even know his own condition.”
If these facts ever became known, the Empire would turn their swords on her uncle.
—No. Killing him would simply reset everything to the beginning. So instead, they would capture him and lock him away by any means necessary.
That was why it was an enormous stroke of luck that she had been the one to find this thesis.
Sion exhaled slowly, then drew in a deep breath. A long, steadying inhale.
“This stays with me alone. It’s better if no one else knows.”
It was a truth that could destroy the entire world if mishandled. But fear would never be enough to make her betray him. They could condemn her all they wanted. Honestly, if the choice was between the whole world dying and protecting her uncle, Sion would choose the latter without hesitation. The rest of them could die for all she cared. After all, even if they knew, the only thing they could do was imprison him.
Joseph was their pitiful guardian. The greatest man she had ever known. The number one sword of Lagrange she had always longed for.
With a fierce desire to protect that wonderful man, Sion hurled the thesis into the fireplace.
It caught instantly, burning with bright, hungry flames.
Watching the pages turn to ash, Sion clenched her fists until her knuckles whitened.
Uncle. I have finally learned the name and the weight of what you carry.
“—Wait for me, Uncle. I will pull you free from that demon’s yoke.”
She would keep him on Lagrange’s side until the very end of death itself. She would not let him die in the first place.
Her eyes blazed with a pure, determined ambition.
Meanwhile, my ears kept itching like someone was calling my name, but I was a very busy honeybee with no time to waste on nonsense like that…
“Haaaa……”
Having received a summons from that utterly repulsive Headmaster Adelheid, I abandoned my usual peaceful morning routine and went straight to the headmaster’s office the moment I arrived on campus.
I had no idea why. Just that it was supposedly important. So I dragged my ass over when she told me to come immediately.
When I opened the door, Adelheid was sitting there arrogantly in the same young girl’s body she always used.
Knock, knock—
“This is Joseph, former professor of the Forget-Me-Not Class. If you’re inside, I’ll enter.”
Creak—
“—Oh, Sir Joseph. You’ve arrived.”
“It’s still a sight I can’t get used to, but yes, I’m here. What do you want?”
“No, no. I simply called you over for a cup of coffee. The Forget-Me-Not Class’s reputation has improved so much lately, and that… what was it? The Sword of Isaac? You even founded that swordsmanship club.”
But meeting her face-to-face had always been burdensome. Honestly, no matter how much she claimed to have arranged things for me, this was the same person who had thrown me into the Forget-Me-Not Class to be the designated shit magnet. If she kept circling the point like this, I genuinely wanted to punch her. The only reason I didn’t was because she signed my paycheck. Otherwise I would have already…
“I’ll politely decline the coffee. Please get to the point.”
“Tsk… I was hoping we could get closer, but you’re still so stiff.”
“That’s just how I am.”
“Well then, at least sit down. I did say I had something to tell you.”
When I sat across from her, the headmaster seemed to notice my discomfort and hesitated slightly.
Hesitating…?
She was the one who could order me around. There was no need for her to read the room.
But the moment she finally spoke, I couldn’t stop myself from reacting.
“There’s a regular student in the Forget-Me-Not Class.”
“………”
Ah. Aaaah. That crazy bitch?
The one I had repeatedly called the most insane student in our class since the first day of the semester.
“You mean Usteria. I can never quite remember her full name… It’s ridiculously long.”
“Yes. Her suspension period ends today, so she will return to class starting tomorrow.”
Thump—
My heart sank. Tomorrow? She was coming back tomorrow?
No. According to the documents I had read, it was supposed to be a full semester suspension.
“I should have informed you earlier. My apologies—the administrative backlog was worse than expected…”
“More than the backlog, how is it even possible for her suspension to be lifted now? It was an incident from the previous professor’s tenure. I may not know the exact internal reasons, but I was under the clear impression it was a one-semester suspension.”
Adelheid fidgeted with her small hands. I had to fight the urge to smack them.
“Well… as you know, she is the cherished daughter of the Elf Chief. She is also the leading candidate for the next Saintess.”
“I’m aware. Her status is indeed absurdly high.”
The precious daughter of the Elf Chief and the next Saintess. She really had every title covered.
“The Chief personally applied pressure. He said they are currently negotiating with the families of the other parties involved in the incident and requested that the suspension be lifted immediately.”
……...
……
…
“—So you just lifted it?”
“Yes.”
“…Without consulting me, the professor in charge of the Forget-Me-Not Class?”
The anger hit me like a hammer. Just what kind of person ignored the opinion of the person actually doing the job from the very beginning?
When I drove the point home, Adelheid’s face turned deathly pale and she shrank back.
“…The entire Elf Clergy was demanding it. We had no choice. But if I had told you beforehand, it would have led to an obvious fight, so I thought it would be faster to simply ask for your forgiveness and understanding.”
“Excuse me?”
In other words, when weighing the entire Elf Clergy against a retired knight like me, she had decided it was easier to screw me over. That was it.
What kind of insane person…?
Rage boiled up inside me. But at the same time, the face of Sir Laval flashed through my mind. The faces of the students in my class followed right after. The honor of the man who had placed me here. The children who were working hard to follow someone as lacking as me. Thinking of all of them, I had to endure it.
“……”
But. But…
“I’m truly sorry, but please do this for this old woman. Honestly, you’ve already tamed the entire Forget-Me-Not Class that everyone called impossible. Something like this should be easy for you, shouldn’t it?”
The moment this old hag spoke as if my efforts were the most natural thing in the world, something inside my head snapped.
“Then I won’t do it.”
Adelheid’s eyes flew wide open.
“Eh?”
“No matter how much I may be your subordinate, Headmaster, I am an officially appointed regular professor of the Empire. If you show me no respect, I see no reason to respect this school either.”
Die.
“So I simply won’t do it. Professor.”
“Wait, Joseph. Please just listen to me for a moment—”
Die.
“There’s no need to listen. The moment you said those words, Headmaster, I have no choice but to respect your position and speak my mind clearly.”
Just die already. Should I kill you?
“Hold on. If you leave now… there’s no one else to appoint to the position. The students of the Forget-Me-Not Class will suffer greatly…”
“…What did you say?”
“Joseph. Why are you acting like this?”
…Ha. Haha. When threats against me didn’t work, she immediately switched to threatening me with the students?
I’d give her one last chance to fix it.
“That last part. Say it again.”
“…I said the students of the Forget-Me-Not Class will suffer greatly.”
The exact same words. The last thread of my reason snapped.
I slammed my fist down on the desk.
BANG—!!
“──Have you lost your damn mind? How much do you think you actually know about our kids to spit out something like that?”
“Eek—!!”
My hand hurt. The headmaster’s desk had cracked. But my heart and sanity were shattered worse.
“Fuck. There’s a limit to how much I can hold back. From the first day, you treated me like a shit-eating bastard who exists to clean up everyone’s mess—”
“Joseph?!”
“Fuck off. I already said I’m quitting, so drop the formal speech, you old pig bitch who’s only good for eating with that age of yours.”
“—Ugh.”
“You think I’ll stay under you even after I quit being a professor? No matter how broke I am, I’m a knight personally appointed by His Majesty the Emperor. Let me ask you something. Do you honestly believe you’d be sitting in that chair right now if I hadn’t killed the Demon King?”
Adelheid broke into a waterfall of cold sweat and stood up, trying to calm me down.
“F-first, please calm yourself. It seems this old woman fell into a delusion and spoke carelessly. I sincerely apologize.”
“—Save it. Now? More than that, just go die. Clergy, Saintess, whatever—I’m not someone who should be treated like an idiot by you. I’m a veteran. The veteran who saved every last one of you.”
“Aigo…”
“So I won’t do it. Just remember that old head of yours still has room for information and keep it that way. I’m leaving.”
I slammed the attendance book I carried every day onto the broken desk and stormed out of the headmaster’s office.
The anger wouldn’t subside.