As There is Light, There Must Be Shadow
Just as light casts a shadow, Salenium naturally harbors darkness too. And I'm not talking about shadowy organizations lurking beneath the surface, like the black market or the so-called "Salenium's Shadow."
What I mean are the students. Those who arrived here full of dreams and hopes at the starting line of enrollment, only to crash into the walls of talent and reality, taste bitterness, and head back to their hometowns.
Salenium Academy was founded under the decree of the founding emperor as a cradle and greenhouse for nurturing talents devoted to the empire. Its lectures aren't limited to swordsmanship and magic—they cover etiquette and tea ceremonies, as well as agriculture, commerce, fishing, mining, and more. The academy presents infinite possibilities to its students, who then find what they can do within it, hone it to perfection, and step out into society.
Whether knight captain, merchant prince, grand archmage, assassin, or hero—anything is possible if you have the ability. Erhan, the "protagonist" whose final class depends on the route and heroines, is a prime example.
It sounds like a perfectly plausible top-tier academy on paper—and it is one in reality. But Salenium only provides dormitories to its enrolled students. Students must handle their own food, clothing, and daily needs, and solving all that costs a fortune, naturally.
But is that all? Of course not. With geniuses from across the empire gathered here, even the most brilliant will inevitably lag behind relatively. Yet those laggards were likely top of their class back home, hailed as the greatest talents.
They thought they were the world's one and only genius, only to look around and see others even greater. They were just frogs in a well... On top of that, dorms and the student cafeteria are pricey, and with tuition due every month, they have to scrimp. Skimping on money means cutting meals. Fewer meals lead to poor condition and dropping grades.
To break this hellish cycle, they seek work, but jobs are scarce. Desperate enough to starve, they grab weapons and head to the fields, only to get badly hurt, miss classes, blow their treatment fees... Such students were legion.
Fantasy and reality are always worlds apart. For those not at the top of the grades, Salenium is brutally harsh. That negativity eats away at their hearts, ultimately churning out droves of dropouts.
...But.
That's an event that starts after midterms. Come to think of it, we're not even in the early semester anymore—it's the ultra-early phase. It's only been a little over a week since classes began. They haven't even taken midterms yet, and already someone's dropping out?
In this world's lore, just getting into Salenium is a tremendous honor. Every imperial royal graduates from here, and all the big-name nobles are Salenium alumni. So the geniuses haven't even sorted out their pecking order yet. With the new-student buff, everyone's riding high on "I can at least beat the guy next to me," full of enthusiasm for their studies.
They haven't truly tasted the emptiness of failure or despair yet—so who's tucking tail and running already?
"...Ah, Senior Adrian."
"Millije."
Honestly, I only remember her name. Her only distinctive feature is that beige hair in twin tails. She must've been a true extra character—no mention of her even in the setting docs.
Thinking back, I hadn't seen this "Millije" since the Act 1, Chapter 1 incident.
"Out for a stroll? Looks like you've got quite the load for that."
"...Ah."
She set down her bags and gave an awkward smile. Enough joking around. I eyed her steadily and said,
"...Planning to leave Salenium?"
"Yes."
"May I ask why?"
At my words, Millije gave a soft but bitter smile. The wind tousled her hair. Standing on the hill with the sun at her back, smiling like that—I could guess without her saying.
There might be guilt from the monster incident too, but dropping out of Salenium is as hard as getting in. Her saying she had no "right" to be here meant...
"...You've lost the ability to use magic now."
"Ah, yes... You saw right through me..."
Millije hung her head. In short, some kind of mental trauma. Fair enough, really. Put it in real-world terms: you're casually doing homework in the dorm when a man-eating monster bursts out, turning everything to rubble. Anyone would be scarred—and using magic normally after that would be the weird part.
For a magic department student to lose magic is like a knight who can't swing a sword anymore.
"So... you've decided to drop out?"
"Yes. There's no such thing in the world as a mage who can't use magic..."
Millije continued bitterly.
"Oh, right. Separate from that, there's something I need to tell you, Senior. On my way to Lubrium Dorm, I ran into someone..."
What she told me next sent chills down my spine.
"A fourth-year, wearing glasses, neat-looking... He asked about summoning magic rituals and Merin Dorm's situation, then vanished."
From the description, it had to be Melwood Elion. He blocked the path to Lubrium Dorm and asked about Merin Dorm?
"...Anything unusual about him?"
"Um... He wore a pitch-black robe, different material from our magic department ones. The weirdest was the grimoire in his hand."
...A grimoire. In the original game's concept art, "Melwood Elion" wore a black robe, exuding dark energy, holding a grimoire just like that.
A corrupted grimoire. It's a boss drop from Melwood if you clear the fight successfully. No clue on its exact use, though—Lumen takes it to "look into it," and Melwood gets hauled to the disciplinary committee, expelled, never to appear again. The grimoire becomes an eternal Easter egg item that never resurfaces.
"...Felt off about it?"
"Yes, incredibly sinister... Like pure evil... Ah, weird, right? Haha, saying it out loud sounds strange."
"...No, not weird at all. If anything, I should thank you."
"R-Really...?"
An unexpected windfall. A pitch-black tome that looked more rag than book. Normally, playable characters in Salenium Saga can't use the "dark" element—it's the root of monsters and demons. Certain magic-using demons wield cursed grimoires as basic weapons.
So Melwood Elion's grimoire is likely demon-related. Probably not him personally—demons are all sealed underground at this point, not surfacing till Act 3. Or...
The grimoire itself sought out a host and moved.
Either way, not a welcome development. Good that actual "demons" aren't moving yet; "demonic remnants" are a tier below real demons, popping up in random dungeon events.
...But.
Hold on.
"You... sensed that?"
"Yes... Is that weird?"
As I recalled, dark grimoires house dark spirits. They devour the book, parasitize the host, drag them into darkness, corrupt them. Without a suitable host, the grimoire seeks one out—dropping "coincidentally" in front of them.
...And she sensed that spirit's malice directly?
I looked at Millije for a moment.
"Mind if I take a quick look?"
"Pardon? Oh, sure..."
Character info.
My vision blurred. Focusing my gaze summoned a faint blue window.
My eyes locked on one category.
Spirit Affinity. High values mean great rapport with spirits, potentially leading to "Spirit Summoner" down the line. Hell, having it listed at all is a guaranteed profit ticket if raised right.
Spirit Summoners differ from pure mages who swing staves—they command spirits and substitute their own mana with the spirits'. A cheat class you can only raise if the character has the "talent."
Even boring grind quests get auto-cleared by deploying one; their underling spirits handle everything. It literally changes the game's quality. Not just overwhelming in mob swarms, but unbound by the contractor's elemental aptitude since each spirit has its own element.
Relbrian the half-elf swordmage in the balanced party had 13 affinity.
...18. Human-limit territory. Mana at 15, Intelligence at 15—top-tier. For it to be flagged as "extremely high" in her info, she's a monster talent.
Raise her right, and she might command every Spirit King at once.
Is Salenium insane? Letting a gem like this drop out?
Trauma blocking magic and Will at 5 are issues, but this talent covers them and then some. Even in a genius haven like Salenium, she's a surefire jackpot lottery ticket.
Fix the trauma, finish training—she'll devour top-tier spirit summoners.
Plus, she vanishes quietly in the main story, no appearance. Pulling her to my side won't disrupt the plot.
Absolutely cannot let her slip away here.
How to convince her? I racked my brain, but nothing special came up.
"Millije. Millije Heilo."
So I went straight for it.
"Withdraw your dropout. I need you by my side."
"P-Pardon? Wh-What? Whaaaat─?"