Ghosts Live in the Academy (1)
"What on earth are you talking about?"
As I was walking back after the entrance ceremony, someone suddenly stopped me and struck up a conversation. They'd asked if I knew. That ghosts lived in the Academy.
It was a bit abrupt and bewildering, so I turned to look behind me.
"Exactly what it sounds like. Ghosts live in our Academy."
Professor Rakan from the history department, speaking in a matter-of-fact tone with a perfectly serious expression. He looked so far removed from ghost stories, yet he was delivering this one with utmost gravity, leaving me flustered enough to ask,
"You mean monsters?"
"No, nothing like that."
Rakan shook his head. He pondered for a moment, as if unsure how to proceed, then snapped his fingers like he'd made up his mind and tossed out,
"Right. Since even our esteemed Swordmaster will be staying at the Academy now, I suppose I ought to give you the full rundown."
With that, he dragged me off somewhere to talk. The whole process felt so natural that I found myself following along without thinking, and before I knew it, I'd been led to his office.
He sat me down across from him, even brewed some tea, and then slowly began his tale.
"Who did you learn the sword from? Self-taught?"
"Yes."
"Impressive. Swordmasters are just built different from the start."
"You're too kind. I'm not that great."
"Too modest. I know all about it—my boy keeps yammering on about wanting to be a knight. Not like we've got the bloodline for swordplay in our family."
Rakan eased into the mood with small talk, naturally bringing up his son to create a relaxed atmosphere. Then, like revving up a car engine, he gradually shifted the topic.
"Anyway, if you're self-taught, I guess you've never attended the Academy."
"Correct."
"But you know what kind of place it is, right?"
"Of course."
Rakan nodded as if that settled it. He straightened up and dove into the main story.
"It's normal during the day. Just your average Academy, no issues."
"Streets bustling with people, cadets chatting, slacking off, or studying; professors researching or lecturing; the cafeteria always packed..."
He described the everyday routine at the Academy, nothing out of the ordinary. But midway through, he abruptly stopped.
Then he stared straight at me and said just one thing.
"The change comes at night."
He took a sip of tea. It felt like he was finishing his preparations before the real story began.
"The Academy at night is silent. Everywhere you go."
"Cadets can't leave their rooms. At least not until the rooster crows at dawn."
"But every now and then, a few disobedient ones sneak out and wander the grounds."
Rakan shook his head as if it gave him a headache.
"They say if you're wandering the Academy corridors at night, you hear a sound from somewhere."
He put on a grave expression to set the mood, shadows creeping across his face. After a pause, he murmured low,
"The howl of a savage beast."
And with that, he let out a sudden GRRRROWL, mimicking the sound perfectly. I startled at the abrupt noise but quickly gathered my wits.
It wasn't a door creaking open with no one there, or a shadowless cadet appearing—no clichés like that. Just a beast's howl. Nothing else.
Sure, beast sounds could echo at night, right?
"Isn't it just beasts howling outside?"
"What beasts would be inside the Academy?"
Fair point. The Academy grounds were vast, with small woods and caves, but all under imperial management. For a threatening beast to emerge from there, undetected, only at night? Absurd.
"And if someone, entranced by that howl, follows the trail..."
He paused again, shivering as if the mere thought horrified him. Clenching his eyes shut, he continued in a resentful tone,
"...they all come back horribly mangled."
Horribly mangled. Vague, yet brutally evocative.
Injuries were standard ghost story fodder, easy to whisper about. But horribly? That wasn't tossed around lightly.
So when he said it, I started really listening.
"Bitten by a beast?"
"Word is, they had bite marks from beast teeth. I haven't seen the wounds myself, so can't say for sure."
"Have you checked for ghosts yourself?"
"Nah, I'm a good middle-aged guy who sleeps soundly at night. But there are plenty of eyewitness accounts."
If Rakan had seen it himself, it'd carry weight, but no such luck. Facts unverified.
Still, with reports out there, I held judgment and probed further.
"Sounds like cadet tall tales. Kids that age love that stuff."
"If it were just cadets, maybe. But some professors have heard the howls too."
"Professors?"
"Yep."
"You sure?"
Professors hearing it? That I couldn't ignore. Academy profs were renowned experts in their fields— not the type to fall for superstitions or hallucinate.
"...Nah, it's probably just superstition."
Even so, I dismissed it firmly. Rakan shook his head, doubling down intensely.
"You never know. The world's full of things that seem fake but aren't."
He dropped some profound life wisdom: If it looks fake, it's real; if real, it's fake. Sounded like a vet's motto.
"Be careful out there. Don't get got by any ghosts."
Despite my skepticism, he persisted with the warning. I smiled faintly at his concern, tapping the hilt of Excalibur at my waist.
"Ghost or not, one swing and it's done."
"Haha, only a Swordmaster could say that. Lately, I get chills just lying in bed trying to sleep."
"If something happens to you, Professor, I'll avenge you."
"Haha, that's reassuring."
Thumbs up, praising how masters were on another level. He glanced at his wristwatch, startled, and hurriedly gathered his things from the desk.
"Well, I should head out. Got a lecture soon."
He waved with a hearty laugh and left. I watched his retreating back until he was out of sight, then muttered where he couldn't hear,
"...I believe you, Professor."
Ghosts don't exist? Plenty deny it, citing science or whatever.
But not me.
This rumor was spreading in the Academy of all places.
If it were the north, maybe fake. The west, nonsense.
But the Academy? Impossible.
In academy stories, most ghost tales, no matter how outlandish, hew close to truth.
No reason for me not to believe.
"...Ghosts, huh..."
The Academy does have ghost-related episodes. But those ghosts aren't beast-like or harmful.
So if real—or something ghost-adjacent—it's something I don't know.
"Definitely anomalous."
Something that shouldn't exist.
But in this timeline, post-Aris's dropout and my arrival, a vicious rumor emerged.
Clear anomaly. One I was unaware of.
"No clue what those bastards did..."
Kali had said Pistorious showed up at the Academy.
Abraxas's tentacles reached here, influencing the place somehow.
Whatever form it took.
I had no idea what they did or where, so...
This rumor needed verifying.
"Easiest to check myself."
A hundred hearings don't beat one look. The ancients weren't wrong.