Chapter 109
Chapter 109
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: Memories of the Stars: Celestia (2)
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A week had already passed since the commotion that erupted at the academy.
Was it because the Doctor had handled things more quietly than expected?
Or perhaps because the damage was less than anticipated, they hadn’t made a big fuss about exposing their own scandals.
The academy raid incident was swept under the rug remarkably quietly even within the Empire.
Even Celestia’s vast surveillance network couldn’t glean much information, aside from a few high-ranking officials.
Instead, the rumors had spread among the bureaucrats in an unexpected direction.
“From what I’ve observed over the past few days, it seems the academy’s reputation has spread quite widely among the nobles.”
The Doctor himself had even brought up the topic in the meeting room.
Rustle, rustle.
As I sat in the center of the meeting room, turning the pages of the Memory Inscription grimoire.
Several members, including the Doctor, began discussing it.
“But… isn’t the Doctor the one with the biggest stake in that……?”
“Things are probably starting to take shape within the Empire now.”
Among them, Creighton was the most vocal in voicing his opinions.
He seemed to judge that it was no longer feasible to keep the academy’s existence a secret.
“For people like the Doctor or Sir Austin, who have to move so conspicuously, they can’t hide their identities forever.”
“Indeed. They must have noticed that the reason I’ve been acting so aggressively isn’t just for the sake of the magic research society.”
I quietly observed the members conversing right in front of me.
As Creighton said, the exposure of the secret academy’s existence to the outside world was inevitable.
Even the elves I encountered in Marquis Alperatz’s territory had tried desperately to prevent my descent.
The more achievements the Celestia secret academy made, the more some members would inevitably draw public attention.
‘They were accepted for that purpose from the start, so it shouldn’t be an issue.’
From my perspective, there was no need to worry.
Even if members like the Doctor or Sirius were exposed to the outside, it wouldn’t affect the secret academy’s plans.
On the contrary, moving too quietly would make it hard to achieve meaningful results.
As long as they kept producing consistent results, what the members did outside didn’t matter much.
“Of course, thanks to that, I’ve been able to observe some interesting changes myself.”
“Interesting changes……?”
But the Doctor seemed to be enjoying even that situation.
Click.
Adjusting his monocle, the Doctor looked at the members, including Creighton.
“Some nobles, upon realizing our existence, seem to be thinking along these lines.”
A smile that somehow carried a hint of glee played on the Doctor’s lips.
“These are people who mock even the great lords who hold territories—do they really think they could handle touching them?”
“…….”
“What if they poke around in a shadowy secret society and end up vanishing without a trace, like a mouse or a bird?”
Lean.
The Doctor thrust his face close to the meeting room table.
“Or perhaps, if they gain our favor, they might get even closer to the center of power—dangerous thoughts like that.”
“Since they don’t know how far the secret academy’s roots extend, nobles with such ideas have started appearing.”
“In short, there are a lot of nobles who want to cozy up to us. They probably think we’ll clean up their messes for them.”
Kekekeke.
The Doctor’s eerie laughter echoed through the meeting room.
“As expected, trash like that exists everywhere—”
Tsk.
Creighton, listening to the Doctor, clicked his tongue briefly.
Austin, as if recalling old memories, gave a wry smile and chimed in.
“People who ride on others’ coattails and indulge their greed are a dime a dozen everywhere. Even during my time in the church, I saw plenty of such priests.”
“There must be rotten ones aplenty in the church too. No faction is free of them from the start.”
“The Pardun parish we encountered in the Great Forest was practically a hotbed of corruption. Of course… I, an apostate, have no right to say that.”
With that, Austin quietly lifted his cup to wet his throat.
Perhaps because quite some time had passed since leaving the church.
He no longer seemed to harbor any lingering attachment to it.
While the members exchanged their stories like that.
Lean.
Acheronar, who had been silently observing the meeting from a corner of the table, turned a cold gaze toward the Doctor leading it.
“By the way, Doctor—”
“Is there something you’re curious about, Acheronar?”
“What’s the status on the Elixir?”
For her, a mage, the Elixir mattered more, it seemed.
Acheronar was asking the Doctor if there had been any progress on the Elixir.
“Ah, the Elixir—”
Of course, the Doctor responded to the question as if he’d been waiting for it, flashing a bright smile at Acheronar.
“We’ve brought in an alchemist claiming to be a descendant of Teliver and are proceeding with the research. In alchemy, that child is probably better than me.”
“You brought in an alchemist from outside?”
“Yes. We’re currently conducting research for about 20 hours a day. The goal is to achieve results as quickly as possible.”
Alchemist, descendant of Teliver.
As the Doctor spoke of him, he exuded confidence in completing the Elixir.
While the Doctor gazed at Acheronar with an arrogant smile like that.
Suddenly, Lua opened her mouth from a corner of the table.
“Wow—”
“…….”
“Twenty hours a day—”
The Doctor and Acheronar’s gazes turned to Lua simultaneously.
I too looked at Lua’s face.
Receiving the three gazes, Lua spoke with a somewhat dazed expression.
“I only work 19 hours a day… That’s really pitiful…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Lua’s face, as she said that, was filled with a subtle sense of superiority.
Silence descended upon Celestia.
* * * * * *
In the Adenov family’s villa located in the imperial domain.
On the lavish bed in the spacious room, a boy wrapped in bandages lay.
Second-year in the academy’s Knight Faculty, Roan Adenov.
After being badly beaten by the mercenary Leintas who raided the academy, he had been recuperating in the villa for over a week.
“…….”
Roan’s condition was hard to call good even as a white lie.
His pale face was full of exhaustion as he stared blankly at the sky.
In Roan’s mind, the same scene from the past week kept replaying.
The scene of the mercenary who came to the academy, Leintas, hoisting Avery over his shoulder and vanishing.
The moment his precious childhood friend disappeared before his eyes kept flickering endlessly in Roan’s vision.
“Avery…….”
Murmuring his childhood friend’s name, Roan reached his bandaged hand high toward the sky.
Even at this moment, Roan felt as if Avery was standing right before him.
As if she were watching him from a distance he could touch if he just extended his hand.
And blocking him was Leintas, whose presence made Roan acutely feel his own powerlessness.
“Ah, ahh……!”
Clench.
The hand thrust toward empty air clutched at nothing.
The fist began to tremble violently.
Powerless. Weak.
Self-loathing surged at his own pathetic state.
Grit.
Blood vessels bulged in Roan’s eyes as he ground his teeth.
Because of his own weakness, he couldn’t protect the precious person.
He despised himself for failing to save anyone in that critical moment.
“What the hell did I even pick up a sword for……!”
His times with Avery revived in his mind.
Memories of playing together with her spread.
Memories of debating with immature knowledge flashed by.
Memories of holding hands under the sunset flowed back.
Clench.
Right after Roan’s hand clutched at the empty air like that.
“How pathetic, Roan.”
Suddenly, someone’s voice flowed into Roan’s ears.
Lean.
Roan’s gaze turned toward the direction of the voice.
Beyond the wide-open door, a very familiar face watched him.
“……Father.”
Roan’s father and captain of the Black Lion Knights.
—Savior Sword Klein Adenov.
The master who taught Roan the sword and his only blood relative had come to see him.
His haggard face stared at Klein.
And Klein, facing such a Roan, looked down at him and spoke in a cold voice.
“I came all the way here upon hearing you were injured in the academy raid—”
“…….”
“But you have the face of someone who’s rolled in the dirt ten thousand times, my son.”
The knight bearing the Empire’s most noble name spoke bluntly to Roan lying on the bed.
Roan’s face hardened at those words.
However, Klein Adenov’s words didn’t end there.
Leaning against the door, he continued to pour out sharp remarks while looking at Roan.
“I raised a knight as my son, not a beast’s whelp.”
“…….”
“How long do you plan to lie there like that?”
Clank.
As he spoke, Klein propped a sword against the door.
It was a sword very familiar to Roan.
Naturally so, as it was the one Roan usually carried.
“Pathetic fool. Grab your sword and follow me outside.”
A curt command.
He said nothing more, but Roan understood that Klein was heading to the training grounds in the backyard.
Thud, thud.
Beneath the resounding heavy footsteps of Klein.
Roan’s gaze turned to his own sword standing by the door.
“…….”
An elegant sword.
Long ago, it was the birthday gift Klein had given him when he resolved to become a knight.
* * * * * *
The Empire’s northern mountain range.
Under the night sky cloaked in darkness, two figures bundled in thick clothes walked along.
An old man leading the way up the mountain path.
And a boy with a youthful face following behind.
Among them, the old man leading—Pilgrim Bartov—gazed up at the sky.
“Lately, the stars’ movements have been unusual.”
Looking at the vast night sky, Bartov voiced his impressions.
Ever since starting his pilgrimage, Bartov’s gaze had always been attuned to the heavens’ flow.
It was a fact well-known to the boy who had traveled with him for so long.
“Master, have you seen something in the sky again this time?”
The boy posed a serious question to Bartov, who walked while looking up at the sky.
In response, Bartov spoke to the boy with a faint smile.
“It seems something unusual will happen in the north soon.”
“If it’s something happening in the north… it must be related to the Erbar Federation!”
—Erbar Federation.
The vast northern mountains were the land of barbarians fearless of cold or terror.
Ever since the federation’s great chieftain, Partlinger, subjugated all tribes under his feet.
The northern barbarians had formed a massive force under the banner of prosperity.
“Erbar Federation… well, not far off.”
Bartov affirmed the boy’s words.
It meant the young prince following the pilgrim’s guess wasn’t wrong.
On top of that, Bartov added one more thing to the boy.
“From what I see, it looks like a Star-Catching Ritual will begin around here soon.”
“A Star-Catching Ritual……?”
—Star-Catching Ritual.
The boy voiced his doubt at the unfamiliar term from Bartov’s mouth.
It was a word he had never heard once during all his time traveling with the pilgrim.
Was it some special periodic event in the continent’s north?
As the boy looked at Bartov with eyes demanding explanation, Bartov spoke to him with a subtle smile.
“The Star-Catching Ritual is a rite long continued among the Varkat—that is, the tribes of the Erbar Federation.”
“Ah, a ritual passed down among the barbarians!”
“It’s one of the rites to embody the most belligerent being in a warrior’s body. Its origins are close to shamanism.”
A ritual to embody a belligerent being.
Another curiosity bloomed in the boy’s mind.
“The most belligerent being……?”
“It refers to one of the rules of the outer world.”
Of course, Bartov kindly explained that as well.
The Bartov the boy knew was a wise mage who knew everything.
True to form, he began telling the boy a mystical tale this time too.
“He despises humans greatly, yet he favors outstanding warriors nonetheless.”
“Such a being has been watching over the earth!”
“Warriors qualified to perform the Star-Catching Ritual are rare. For a while, no suitable one emerged in Varkat, but…….”
Lean.
Pilgrim Bartov’s gaze turned to the northern mountains.
The boy too followed the pilgrim and directed his gaze beyond the massive range.
“It seems this great chieftain is something else.”
“…….”
“I’m not sure if our pilgrimage will lead us there, but if we cross paths, it should be quite an enjoyable time.”
Thud, thud.
Bartov moved forward as he spoke.
If fate allowed it this time, he might even witness the Star-Catching Ritual himself.
Such a thought flitted through the boy’s mind.
“Let’s go, Julius.”
“Yes, Master!”
The boy and the old man’s footsteps advanced.
The two continued onward, toward their endless pilgrimage.