Reunion, However... (2)
After finishing a quiet dinner with Yozef and Charlotte in no time at all, I returned to my dorm room, where I tossed and turned for a good while without being able to fall asleep. The reason was simple. The Hempton gang and all that nonsense had long since vanished from my mind. It was just that the fierce image of Yustina I'd glimpsed at the very end lingered vividly in my head, refusing to fade.
What the hell happened there?
I could tell without even thinking too hard that Elfin, Liwin, or Yustina must have felt some sense of betrayal toward me. But the Yustina I'd seen... how should I put it? She was a bit over the top. In all the ten years we'd spent together, I'd never once seen her like that. The idea of locking me away and keeping me under surveillance... well, it was...
Scary as hell.
Me, who never feared monsters or death, had actually felt terror. Lately, it seemed like every connection to Yustina was making me flinch more often than not.
As I lay there struggling to sleep, a few more questions bubbled up in my mind.
Does Yustina know that memories are stored in my dagger?
The dagger I'd somehow ended up bringing back to my room. It was mine originally, so no issue there, but after seeing those memories earlier, it felt uncomfortably ominous for some reason. My assassin's instincts told me there weren't any special traps or devices on it for now, but...
There could be magic I don't know about, so I should have someone check it out later.
That said, to cut to the chase, Yustina probably had no idea that the terrifying words she'd spoken were stored in this dagger.
The ancient magic dwelling here states that only the true owner—me—can access the memories. Yustina definitely doesn't know about this function.
If she could have altered the ancient magic with dragon spells to manipulate the memory-viewing feature, there'd have been no reason to show me that memory in the first place. If she'd wanted to lure me into the academy and lock me up, she would've done it the moment I walked willingly into the cage without ever revealing it. Of course, that memory was from hundreds of years ago, so maybe she'd cooled off by now and it was all water under the bridge...
In the worst case, if Yustina really catches me and imprisons me, will I never see the Lehinar family, Liwin, or Elfin again?
The Yustina from the dagger's memories seemed perfectly capable of doing something like that to me without a shred of hesitation. That thought tipped the scales in my mind—until just that evening, I'd been fifty-fifty on whether to meet her if the chance arose. Now it shifted from "I kinda want to see her right now" to "Maybe I should think it over," and finally settled on "Table it for now."
"...Guess I should just sleep."
Ridiculous—tomorrow was my first class, and classes hadn't even officially started yet. To feel this drained already. Closing my eyes, I looked forward to the magic lesson ahead.
The tallest tower of Denebergen Academy, and on its topmost floor, the chairman's office. An elderly man with white hair that made him look advanced in years was practically sprinting down the corridor on that floor. Anyone who knew his societal status or the reputation he'd built would wonder what on earth was going on.
And for good reason—the old man was the principal of the venerable Denebergen Academy, renowned throughout the world as the Great Mage Jerniel. It was hard to imagine even for those who knew him well that Jerniel would be rushing about like this.
Bang bang bang bang!
Finally reaching the chairman's office, Jerniel pounded on the door with frantic urgency. He could've just used a summoning spell to call the room's occupant and waited a moment, but he couldn't even tolerate the split second it took for the magic to activate.
For Jerniel, more accustomed to summoning spells than knocking, to act this way—what catastrophe had unfolded?
Curious about it herself, the chairman's office occupant—who would normally shoo him away in a curt voice—cheerfully opened the door.
Creeeak—
"Damn, you opened it quick!"
"What is it, Jerniel? If you've come calling on this Yustina-sama in a frenzy over some tiresome errand or trivial matter, I shall not forgive you."
"A frenzy? Can you still say that after seeing this?"
In human society, such a conversation would never fly. A young woman snapping casually at an elderly grand mage, while he responded with unwavering politeness. Unless she was royalty... no, even then, no one could treat Jerniel—the pinnacle of human magic—like a subordinate.
Yet the white-haired woman, Chairman Yustina, was clearly looking down on Jerniel and treating him as an annoyance.
"What, another issue from the Demon Realm? Some suspicious activity spotted?"
"Well..."
"Enough—tell the central nobles to handle it themselves. Even if this Yustina-sama claims to be pro-human among dragons, I'm no mother to you lot; I can't meddle in every little thing."
"It's not that..."
"Then what? Surely you haven't come crawling here over another imperial succession squabble? I want no part in that filth—just rot away."
"That's not it either! A miracle! One of Denebergen's Seven Miracles has been solved!"
Only then did Yustina turn toward Jerniel.
"What did you just say?"
"One of the Seven Miracles! The riddle you yourself created, Chairman! The door that absolutely never opens—it opened today!"
"The door that absolutely never opens... surely..."
Yustina perked up her ears, mentally reviewing each of the Dane-identification devices she'd once set up around the school. Like rat traps baited with cheese, she'd placed them everywhere using curiosity as bait to find Dane. Over hundreds of years, failing their original purpose of locating him, they'd become known among students as the bizarre Seven Miracles.
And among them, the Door That Absolutely Never Opens was especially unforgettable. After all, inside that door's room was the dagger he'd once used.
"Hrm, if someone truly breached that miracle, I can't deny it might be that person."
"Ooh, does this mean the long wait is finally over? Congratulations, Master!"
"Foolish talk! It's too soon for certainty. The Door That Never Opens is a miracle broken by knowing ancient script—anyone not Dane could crack it just as easily..."
But Yustina didn't leap to action. She'd steeled herself from the start to wait at least a thousand years or more for Dane's reincarnation. There had been plenty of false alarms before—hopes dashed upon investigation—so she tried not to get her expectations up.
Yet from her expression, it seemed the waiting one, Yustina, was calmer than her excited aide, Principal Jerniel.
"Are you serious?! Ancient script?! Do you really believe a child not even twenty could fluently decipher ancient script?! This isn't 500 years ago—it's the modern era!"
"W-What... when you put it that way, certainly..."
"And that's not all! Evidence is fuzzy alone, but two overlapping make it crystal clear! Look!"
Jerniel placed the documents he'd brought on the chairman's desk.
"Staff report that the student who opened the Door That Never Opens is the same one who cleared the Trial of Terror in record time."
"...Deneb Lehinar?"
Yustina knew the name. It hadn't been long— just hours ago, she'd noted it on the 327th intake roster.
The boy who'd shattered the Trial of Terror—which she'd believed only Dane could easily conquer—in record time, and even knew ancient script long forgotten. Whatever the full story, he seemed worth meeting.
"Fine, then I'll meet him."
"Ah, you knew his name too. Yes, I know the trials lost their identification function long ago. But at this point, shouldn't we investigate? If you just say the word..."
"I said I'd meet him. Enough chattering."
Jerniel's face cycled through strange expressions at Yustina's declaration of a personal meeting. First a beaming smile of joy, then it faded. Finally, deep in thought, he looked deeply skeptical.
Yustina frowned as she watched the changes in real time.
"What's with that face? Spit it out if you have something to say. Don't try conveying it with that wrinkly mug."
"Yes, Master. But... well... um..."
After agonizing, Jerniel finally pried his lips open.
"A personal meeting might be... a bit much, don't you think?"
"Why?"
Yustina's sharp voice echoed through the office. She flinched, realizing she'd been too aggressive, but Jerniel seemed unfazed, accustomed to it.
"Think about it. The chairman of Denebergen Academy meeting one-on-one with a border count's son—not even royalty or a duke's heir. Rumors would spread like wildfire."
"We can call it a scholarship or whatever pretext..."
"The chairman personally for a mere scholarship? You who never appears publicly? It'll raise suspicions. Worst case, if it's not him, we just harm the Lehinar family for nothing."
"Urgh..."
No easy solution. Yustina and Jerniel—the dragon mage far beyond humans and the human mage at his species' peak—pooled their heads in Worry. The dilemma: How can the chairman naturally meet a 17-year-old boy alone?
After much deliberation from these embodiments of magic and knowledge, the conclusion came from Yustina.
"What's Deneb Lehinar's schedule tomorrow...?"
"Schedule? Well, he's a student—studying, obviously. New semester, first classes with new friends."
"I see. Then Jerniel, use your influence to fabricate a fake new student's profile who shares every class with Deneb. And while you're at it... bring a uniform."
"Pardon?"
"Is that difficult?"
"No, not difficult. But Master, surely you're not..."
Notions of unease never miss. To hide her slight blush, Yustina turned toward the window. Then drove the nail home for Jerniel.
"The chairman meeting a student one-on-one is odd, but as fellow students... no issue, right...?"
At his master's shy mutter, Jerniel felt an indescribable mix of disgust and pity.
"Master, even so, playing student at your age is a tad... undignified..."
"H-How dare you! Out! A man soon for the grave, refusing his master's request—what's that about?!"
"Y-Yes! I'll handle it right away!"
After shooing out her troublesome disciple, Yustina alone toyed with the hem of her dress.
"Come to think, I've never worn a uniform."
Where was Dane now? Was Deneb Lehinar really him? Would Dane still look as he did when he left Yustina? If so, what did Deneb—Dane—think upon seeing the sentence she'd left in ancient script?
"I shall wait for you forever."
Yustina murmured the words she'd written back then. Now, they felt a bit embarrassing, but they were her honest feelings.
Even if Deneb was just a boy good at ancient script and fearless—not Dane's reincarnation—it was fine. She'd wait until the next chance.
...Yes, forever.
"But if this boy really is Dane..."
The office atmosphere flipped 180 degrees in an instant. The flush vanished from Yustina's face. Her dragonkin skin looked parched and cold, her unmoving lips stark.
The chairman of Denebergen Academy gazed out the window with icy eyes.
"This time, I absolutely won't let him go."
Yustina bit her lip slightly, murmuring emphatically once more.
"...Absolutely."