112. I Heard Keeping Tentacles as Pets Is the Trend These Days? (1)
112. I Heard Keeping Tentacles as Pets Is the Trend These Days? (1)
"Why does this have to happen at the very end of the term..."
"I know, right..."
Sighs filled the meeting room.
Just when it seemed finals might pass peacefully, several students—including the heiress of House Nereid—were swept into a rift and disappeared. House Nereid and the other students' parents protested, while the imperial court issued reprimands. Distrust of the academy leadership, growing both inside and outside the institution, was steadily weakening the principal's position.
"At this rate, I will be fired before I've even been a director for a year."
"Do not say such ominous things, Korn."
"Will it not become reality at this rate?"
"Ahem, ahem..."
"After all the work it took to climb up here..."
"If this goes badly, I may be ousted as Guild Master as well."
Korn was the Blacksmith Guild's Guild Master, and nothing he had said was wrong. The director who had objected could only clear his throat awkwardly and avert his gaze.
After all, three major incidents had already occurred during the first semester.
The Hellhound Incident.
Seriously wounded: 23. Dead: 4. Among the dead was Elina Marshall, a promising talent. House Marshall protested, and the enrollment of her younger brother, William Marshall, was suspended.
The Guard Squad 3 Captain's serial kidnapping incident. The Squad 3 Captain colluded with a gang and attempted to traffic students by kidnapping and selling them.
The Squad 3 Captain was arrested with the assistance of Dawn Hall's Escort Knight, Yohan Quartz.
The Guard raided and subdued the Leech Gang, rescuing the students, but several gang members escaped. Believing that the Squad 3 Captain and the Leech Gang had other collaborators, the Guard continued its investigation.
And... the Finals Dimensional Rift Incident.
1 dead. 1 seriously wounded.
The deceased: Brown Hash. Cause of death: burned alive.
According to survivor Laperinne, unidentified humanoid monsters captured her and Brown Hash. Brown was burned at the stake, and she nearly suffered the same fate before Yohan Quartz and his party rescued her.
According to her account, Yohan Quartz provided exceptional assistance in clearing the rift, and House Nereid intended to reward him.
Her account matched the testimony of Lewis Canon and Shuri Retriever. Viola, though still receiving intensive care, also testified that they most likely would not have returned without Yohan Quartz's help.
Special note: During debriefing, the party remained silent regarding the rift's reward.
The reward is presumed to be in Yohan Quartz's possession, and the academy is willing to negotiate and cooperate with him to verify it.
"...Hm."
'There was too much to do.'
The break was just around the corner, but at this rate, he could not even dream of taking time off. Merlin pressed a hand to his throbbing forehead and organized the tasks in his mind.
Wrapping up the Finals Dimensional Rift incident.
A public reward for Yohan Quartz's heroic actions.
Negotiations with the aggrieved House Marshall and the Church of Kalon.
'Was it time to retire?'
He was ninety years old, an age at which no one would have found it strange for a human to retire. Yet as an Archmage, he probably still had another thirty years left to live. His lifelong resolve to devote himself to cultivating talent wavered slightly.
But if he left, who would take his place as Principal?
With problems piled as high as a mountain, the position would be nothing more or less than a poisoned chalice, no matter who became Principal.
'Why did I have to suffer like this in my old age...?'
Still, what had to be done had to be done.
Merlin emerged from his thoughts and snapped his fingers. A small ripple from the Archmage's fingertip swelled into a wave and sent a tingling current through the directors. Their hair now stuck out in every direction like a matching family, and they all stared at Merlin as though asking why he had done that. He cleared his throat and spoke.
"I will take responsibility for handling this matter. The rest of you should focus on your own duties. And Gilbert."
"Yes, Principal."
"Bring Yohan here. I have something to discuss with him..."
"Understood."
Gilbert, who had been quietly reading the room from a corner, struggled to maintain his expression as he left the meeting room. Merlin watched his retreating back, stroked his beard, and thought.
'I'd have to think carefully about what bait to offer him...'
----------------------
"Yohan! Look at this! It crawls around! So cute!"
"What part of that looks cute?"
What part of a tentacled book crawling around under its own power in search of freedom was supposed to be cute? Did being a Dullahan give her sensibilities different from those of an ordinary person? No matter how I looked at it, there was nothing cute about the thing.
I walked past Millia, who was squealing and cooing as she watched the tentacled book crawl, and picked it up with the tongs I'd made two days earlier. Even I had no desire to touch a tentacled book bare-handed while in my right mind.
The tentacled book gripped the tongs and pushed against them as though trying to pull itself free. I had done this more than once or twice, so I kept a firm grip and flipped it around like a piece of meat. Somehow, astonishingly, the book could become dizzy.
Was this... really a book?
"Don't bully Soggy so much! They're a good kid!"
"A good kid... Soggy?"
A thing from a dungeon crawling with patchwork monsters stitched together from people was a good kid? Had she been brainwashed? I gave Millia a serious look.
That book had once been caught trying to brainwash a servant into helping it escape.
Strangely, it had no effect on me at all. Could that have been because I was a transmigrator? That wasn't important right now.
I tossed the book onto the desk, then slipped my hands under Millia's armpits and hoisted her up.
On the surface, she looked fine.
"What are you doing! Put me down!"
Millia kicked my chest in futile protest, but I ignored the light taps and asked her a question.
"Millia. Tell me. What's your favorite thing?"
"Mm~ Yohan?"
"What do you hate?"
"Carrots."
Was she a kid?
"Do you remember the name of the toy I made you?"
"Scooter!"
...She did not seem to have been hypnotized. I set Millia down and picked up Soggy—no, the tentacled book—which was watching me warily.
No matter how I touched it, it felt exactly like picking up a live octopus. If I left it on the desk, it would escape again, so I needed to tie it down somewhere. I took out a practice chain I'd made in the workshop and wrapped it tightly around the book. Surely it couldn't escape after that.
The tentacles seemed only as strong as a young child's arms.
"Hng..."
"That is a dangerous item. It's not a toy."
"But it even ate my carrots for me..."
So that was her motive?
"Give it up before I tell Ashley to pile your meals high with carrots."
"Oh, fine. I said I'd give it up, okay!"
Her gaze still lingered on it, but surely she wouldn't touch it after that warning. I shoved the book into a corner and picked up the half-finished project again. I planned to focus on making a new tool until mealtime.
The rift incident had reminded me that a shovel alone could not handle every situation.
At minimum, I needed a way to supplement my firepower and one or two useful tools if I wanted to survive more easily in this shitty world. It was an investment in myself. Developing the talented people around me was worthwhile, but none of it mattered if I remained weak.
"Yohan, what are you making?"
"This?"
I slipped on a glove with a device fitted near the back of the hand and aimed it at the forehead of a straw dummy in a corner of the workshop. When I pressed a switch near my wrist, a small bolt shot from the device with a faint sound. It flew straight ahead and lodged in the dummy's neck.
A failure.
"Whoa..."
It was still a prototype, so the accuracy wasn't very high.
It still seemed to need fine-tuning. I'd probably have to adjust the device's tension, move the switch so pressing it wouldn't make my hand shake, or redesign the whole thing from scratch.
Still, once completed, it would prove quite useful.
For synergy with my abilities, stealth was far more useful than flashiness.
"You're making another strange thing."
"It is important to keep improving yourself."
"Well, if you say so. It does spoil the image a little that you're making something like an assassination tool, though. Anyone watching would think you were an assassin, not an Escort Knight."
Well, she wasn't wrong.
But it couldn't be helped.
I didn't have the monstrous strength to lift a carriage bare-handed like she did. I removed the glove and turned toward Reni, who was leaning against the door. Perhaps the work had worn her out; she looked at me while yawning.
"What brings you here?"
"You've got a visitor. Go to the reception room, quick."
"A visitor?"
Someone had come to see me?
I didn't think I knew that many people.
As if my reaction was funny, Reni smirked and shrugged.
"The Guard Captain came looking for you. Seems it's about that rift situation... Put a shirt on before you go. Unless you want to get mistaken for a pervert."
The Guard Captain, huh.
It had been three days since I returned from the rift, and the cleanup finally seemed to be beginning in earnest.
"Millia."
"Yeah?"
"Don't touch the book."
"Okay!"
She was always good at saying yes, at least. I roughly ruffled Millia's hair and left the workshop.
It was time to see how much money I could squeeze out of them.