The Festival (5)

A man knelt in prayer at the center of a room that was lavish and yet steeped in shadow.

Before him stood a statue of grotesque design.

"Maestro... it is time for the meeting."

"Ah... I know."

He answered without opening his eyes. When he finally lifted them, it was only to confirm the face of the attendant who had called him.

"And what might your name be?"

"Ah — my name is Seok Don."

"Hmm. Seok Don. I see."

Maestro rose slowly to his feet and brushed himself off. Then he drove his hand through the heart of the attendant who had interrupted his prayer.

Crunch—

"Seok Don. You dared to interrupt me while I was communing with God. Death is only fitting. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Ghk — ah. Aagh... Yes. Gladly... kh."

Thud.

The man toppled to the floor with his eyes rolled back and a look of bliss still on his face.

"Offer this one as a sacrifice."

"Yes. Understood."

Another attendant waiting behind stepped forward and collected the corpse that had fallen at Maestro's feet. The man flicked the filthy blood from his hands and made his way to the conference room.

He crossed naturally to the ornately decorated seat of honor and sat down. Around the circular table, the executives of Pandemic turned as one to look at the man in the head chair.

"Everyone... is here. Sorry I'm late. I was communicating with the Demon King."

He was considerably late, but the executives of Pandemic waited for his words without a hint of complaint.

"Report on how the search for sacrifices is progressing."

"We are preparing to send the monster at the Eiffel Tower in Paris into a rampage."

"Hmm. Not bad. Next?"

"We are targeting a terror attack on Victoria Academy's Celestial Festival."

"There's no time quite like a festival for letting one's guard down. That's fine. Which executive is handling the preparations?"

Maestro nodded, looking satisfied.

"Gill Stephen."

"If it's him, he's trustworthy enough."

Gill Stephen, one of Pandemic's founding executives. Maestro placed his trust in the deployment of a reliable officer. He was not particularly strong, but he was clean and thorough in his work.

The meeting continued. After the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠last item on the agenda had been settled, Maestro rose from his seat.

"Without light, there can be no shadow... I must return to my prayers to the Demon King, so I will take my leave."

His footsteps receded. Maestro left the conference room, and the executives filed out after him one by one.

"Ugh, that piece of shit just has to drag everything out with his useless crap."

"Rebecca. How dare you speak of Maestro that way."

"Shut up."

The red-haired beauty called Rebecca swept her hair back once, then stood and walked out of the conference room.

"I'm so sick of having meetings with a bunch of puppet bastards. Haa."

No matter how many times she sat through these meetings, she never got used to them. They called it a meeting, but it was nothing more than a briefing. The executives never voiced a dissenting word against Maestro. Attendance, however, was mandatory for every executive of Pandemic, so Rebecca had no choice but to show up.

She was cooperating with this ridiculous goal of summoning the Demon King of Hell — but it was never going to happen anyway.

As she emerged from the hideout, her subordinate approached.

"Lady Rebecca. The investigation results."

"Give them here."

"It took some time going through first- and second-year active hunters, then academy students from the upper years down through the lower ones. Only one person matched the conditions you specified."

Rebecca examined the materials her subordinate had brought. Two short videos.

The first was the one-on-one duel finals at Victoria Academy. The man in the footage was employing high-level barrier magic.

"This is... the Rune Barrier...?"

To Rebecca, who had spent her entire life mastering the Rune Barrier, it was a slightly awkward construction. The basic magic circle was the same, but it felt as though he had never received the traditional education passed down through the Rune Clan.

If he were a child, perhaps. But an adult should have finished their training by now...

Still harboring a faint suspicion, Rebecca checked the next video.

The survival exam. A short clip of a man raising a barrier as he ducked into a tent. It was still a little different from the barrier she knew. But this time, she clearly observed a distinct Rune mark — the mana form of the Rune Barrier that only members of the Rune Clan could recognize.

The lingering unease was wiped away completely. Rebecca quietly closed her eyes.

She had been searching ever since her clan was destroyed. Searching for a method to revive it. And fortunately — she was grateful for this — the one who remained was a man.

Because now she would be able to rebuild the Rune Clan of pure blood once more.

"This is way too expensive."

I was checking the auction house on my smartwatch. I hadn't needed cash right away, so I'd been holding onto the first-edition copy of Jang Yangsan's Tower of the Hawk, Volume 1 — complete with handwritten signature — that I'd listed before. I'd figured I might use it as a bribe for Elise. Now, though, I was seriously considering whether I ought to sell it.

The last bid had gone well over three hundred million won... truly a masterpiece for the ages.

Anyway, the reason I needed money was to arm myself. This world didn't have things like staves. Since it had originally been an eroge, the equipment system had never been properly implemented — they'd just kind of glossed over it. After the game became reality, I looked into it and found that wasn't quite the case. There were actually quite a few artifacts. Setting aside the low-grade ones and searching for pieces that matched my level, the price range turned out to be pretty steep.

"Two hundred million won... a hundred mil here, a hundred mil there. The floor is already several hundred million. These people are highway robbers."

Honestly, with Liliana's income I could buy one soon enough. A few months and I could get a decent artifact with my own money. But I'd need to be able to predict my future a few months from now first.

"Guess I should stop buying top-grade mana stones for now."

Realizing the terror attack was coming soon had snapped me back to reality. What future planning? When my life could be hanging by a thread at any moment. You invest while you're still alive to enjoy it.

I'll just leave what I've already bought.

I needed some of them anyway to maintain the contract with Liliana, so leaving the stockpile alone was fine. I'd sit on the top-grade mana stones for now and start looking for money to buy artifacts. Living entirely off Liliana's income wasn't very manly, was it?

"Should I actually take some modeling work? I do have some clout with the PR department."

I entertained the useless thought as I pulled on my cadet uniform. I was meeting Professor Lim Sol today, so I ought to look presentable.

Liliana was lying on the bed in a half-asleep daze, fondling her chest. Her clothes were so tight they must have been itchy — every so often she'd lift the fabric a little and slip her hand inside. Every time I saw it, I wanted to do it for her.

"I'm heading out. I'll be back tonight."

"Mm. Go on."

It was starting to get warm outside the dormitory. Whether it was an omen that the world was ending or not, it was already May and the weather was ridiculous. People's clothes had gotten a lot lighter, and I wasn't wearing an outer layer either.

"One of these, please."

"Yes. Thank you."

I bought some chocolate as a bribe for Lim Sol, whom I hadn't seen in a while, and headed for the Magic Hall.

"Is that Cadet Lee Ho-yeon?! Could we have a brief interview?!"

A man in a suit thrust a microphone at me.

"I'm sorry."

Used to this by now, I left an apology behind and broke into a run.

"Cadet Lee Ho-yeon! Just a moment!"

"Haa..."

The reporter chased after me like a madman before realizing he couldn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠match my speed, then pulled up short, panting. These days, reporters came looking for me whenever they got the chance. So this was what fame felt like? I'd been dodging them as much as possible, but once the festival ended it was going to be genuinely hard to shake them. Right now there were so many people that slipping away was easy. That wouldn't last.

The Magic Hall came into view. An entire floor of that massive building was Professor Lim Sol's research lab. That was our professor for you.

Come to think of it, didn't she say she was going to get something for me?

It had been almost a month since Lim Sol mentioned she'd find me some kind of elixir. She wouldn't have stiffed me, right?

"Cadet Lee Ho-yeon. You're cleared. Head on up~."

"Yes. Thank you for your hard work."

After getting clearance from the receptionist in the lobby, I took the elevator to the second floor.

Ding—

It had been a while since I'd been to the lab. I'd stopped by right before the survival exam, so it had been about a week.

"You're here?"

"Yes, Professor. Your unworthy disciple pays his respects."

"Don't say weird things and sit down."

I set the chocolate on the desk and sat on the sofa.

"I saw your sparring match. You did well."

"Ah, thank you."

"It's been a complete uproar... so you really did awaken, huh? The inside of your body has gotten so clean. Your mana flow, too. I was the same way."

"Yes. It just kind of happened during training."

I couldn't exactly say I'd awakened while having sex... so I made up that it had happened during training. And the inside of my body was probably the effect of the Elf's Essence. But why had this person awakened and ended up with a refined body without even consuming any?

"During training... same as me. I awakened during training too."

"Oh... as expected of a genius."

I wasn't one to talk, having awakened during sex, but awakening through training was genuinely difficult. It meant surpassing your own limits, and awakening during training that wasn't even an extreme situation didn't make sense in the first place. Of course you could design extreme training, but mentally that was no easy thing. It was simply proof of what a genius Lim Sol really was.

"You're the genius. I awakened later than you. That was right after I graduated from the academy... when I said I'd awakened during training, more than a few people were shocked."

"Haha... is that so."

"You be careful too. Being envied at a young age is pretty hard."

Me... I didn't have any friends who cared about that kind of thing, and I was turning down all the interviews, so I was fine for now.

"I'm used to jealousy and envy. It's always the people who fall short who do that more, right?"

Maybe because of Clear Mind, even looking at hate comments didn't make me particularly angry. I just wondered how hard their lives must be to act like that. That was what I'd meant by it... but Lim Sol was looking at me with pitying eyes.

"...Really? That's a relief. Truly."

What is this supposed to mean.

She seemed to be laboring under some strange misunderstanding again. Well... I'd just leave it. It didn't look like the kind of misunderstanding that would come back to hurt me. If a little sympathy knocked something extra my way, all the better.

"Come on. I'm fine. More importantly, Professor — you remember we were going to the magic exposition together, right? I've been waiting for the day they post the grades because of that."

"Grades will probably be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠posted after the festival ends. There's a professor who's running late on the scoring. There was also an opinion that we should just let the students enjoy the festival."

"Ah..."

Well, it didn't really matter. I already knew my own scores.

First in written. Second in practical. First in the special exam. I was just waiting for the day that shining report card arrived in my hands.

"Ah — come to think of it, instead of a report card... I have something for you."

Lim Sol stood, reached under the desk, and handed me a box.

"I've been looking for an elixir to give you, but anything decent on the magic side has been completely cleaned out. So I got you this instead."

"Oh...! Thank you!"

Reflecting on how I'd suspected her of stiffing me on the way over, I opened the box. As expected, Professor Lim Sol would never betray me.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"...?"

"Y-you looked tired lately. Ahem."

Lim Sol avoided my eyes, a faint flush on her cheeks.

This thing had her personal interests written all over it.