Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: A Midsummer Night's Nightmare (2)
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📋 Assignment Notice 📋 Fundamentals of Mana Trading Studies Group Assignment Guidelines The word "group assignment" plastered boldly on the bulletin board made the students blink in surprise. The freshmen who had just enrolled at Aphria Academy had no idea what it meant.
Group assignment.
The freshmen didn't take the nuance of that phrase in a particularly bad light.
"Solving a tough assignment by pooling efforts with others."
Just looking at the intent, wasn't it pretty good?
"Group assignment?"
"Is that the one from intermediate academy? Where you gather, discuss, and write a report?"
"The kind that finishes during class?"
Some students had experienced group assignments at intermediate academy. However, they had no clue.
"What, so it's no big deal then?"
That the group assignments they'd done and the ones they were about to face were worlds apart.
"......"
Of course, not every student was ignorant of what group assignments meant. Unlike the others, there were students standing silently in front of the bulletin board.
"Group assignment."
They were the ones who had heard about group assignments from Aphria alumni seniors.
"Definitely, the seniors said......"
They recalled the advice from their seniors.
『The moment you witness the abyss of humanity.』
『One team member is bound to vanish.』
『Trust no one.』
『The only one you can rely on is yourself.』
『By the time you catch on, you're alone.』
They sounded just like tales from ghost stories.
The haggard eyes of the seniors preaching about "group assignments" flickered in their minds.
"I don't know what it is exactly, but......"
It sure wasn't anything good.
Especially since the professor who planned this group assignment was Professor Lania, known as Aphria's nightmare.
Nothing but ominous thoughts came to mind.
They silently turned their gazes away. At the end of their stares was Professor Lania's retreating figure, humming a tune as she vanished into the distance.
"This feels bad."
They instinctively sensed a new disaster approaching.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
"I'm seriously dying here, Senior."
Not far from the royal palace lay a forest. In name only, though—it was treated no differently from the palace itself, as royals often used it as a strolling path.
A forest thoroughly guarded by knights.
A forest meticulously tended by royal servants.
Slurp.
Deep in such a forest, I was tilting my glass. As I picked at the side dishes spread on the mat, I suddenly tilted my head.
"Dying? From what?"
The guy sitting beside me at my question opened his mouth.
"It's mental exhaustion. My mind feels utterly drained......"
The man sharing the drinking session with me on the mat was an old subordinate of mine. Now retired from the battlefield, he worked as the royal family's hound—Kalt.
"See, Senior."
Kalt crunched on the snacks he'd brought as side dishes and spoke up.
"I've been on guard duty lately, right?"
"Yeah, I know."
"It's really tough. Makes me want to cry. That princess isn't normal. For real."
I gave a wry smile and tilted my glass.
"Guard duty for the First Princess."
That was the mission Kalt was currently handling. Considering Princess Luriel's temper, I could understand his whining.
"She's got quite the personality."
Even I had been somewhat toyed with by her. How must Kalt feel? Out of pity, I added,
"Guard duty is always a pain anyway. You can't stray far from your charge, so you can't go anywhere."
"That's part of it, but......"
"That's why we're having this pathetic little drinking party out here. Who the hell schedules drinks in a place like this?"
I sighed and shook my head.
The real reason we were sipping booze in this forest was consideration for Kalt.
With his duties guarding the First Princess, it was hard for him to head far from the detached palace for drinks.
"It's ridiculous to begin with."
Drinking in a forest managed by the royals?
If caught, we'd have no defense against charges of lèse-majesté.
"Sneaking in is tough to start with."
Of course, that's from a commoner's perspective.
Kalt and I were far from ordinary, so entering the forest wasn't hard.
But still.
Tilting glasses pathetically in a forest like this? It looked bad.
"You're the first to drag your old commander out to a forest for drinks."
As I grumbled, Kalt downed his drink and flashed a grin.
"Still got some ambiance, though, right?"
"Ambiance my ass. Sitting on the bare ground like this reminds me of the old days, and it's pissing me off."
Sitting on the dirt floor, chugging booze like this... memories naturally surfaced.
"Battlefield memories."
I remembered plopping down anywhere, gnawing on shriveled jerky, and drinking. It might've felt good back then, but...
"Chewing dust-covered jerky while guzzling cheap booze on a blood-soaked battlefield."
Thinking back now just brought tears.
I sniffled unnecessarily and said,
"No idea why we thought that shit was good......"
"Even I'm amazed now. How'd we stomach that poison? Haha..."
Kalt gave a wry smile and continued.
"Still, Senior."
"What?"
"Unlike the battlefield, this spot's prime real estate, no?"
He pointed at the night sky with his empty glass.
"Clear view. Sound of grass rustling in the night breeze. Twinkling stars and moon. Pretty atmospheric, right?"
"Stars piss me off just looking at them."
"Man, you got no romance, Senior. No romance at all."
"Try dealing with those damn stars sometime. How much have they screwed me over?"
"That's why mages are..."
Watching Kalt tsk and shake his head, my fist naturally rose.
"Feeling like a solid punch."
As I clenched my fist with that thought, Kalt let out a long sigh.
"Anyway, work's been piling up lately."
"...Work?"
"Yeah, it's a secret, but... A maid of unknown origin slipped into the detached palace recently and vanished without a trace."
Hm.
"No clue what she's been up to, but the palace is in chaos. Mage labs burning down, guard captain missing..."
"Uh, hm..."
"The whole capital's in an uproar. Seems tied to the First Princess somehow, but... we need evidence."
"...No evidence?"
Kalt nodded.
"Yeah, the methods are vicious. They collapse walls to hide traces, set whole labs ablaze? Does that even make sense?"
"Well, it's not impossible..."
I unclenched my fist.
Quietly lowered my arm and grabbed a side dish.
"Black-haired maid, but hard to find anyone who saw her face clearly. What a mess..."
"......"
"Huh? Why so quiet, Senior?"
"Nah, just..."
I filled Kalt's glass to the brim. Then patted his shoulder.
"You've got it rough."
"...What's this all of a sudden?"
Kalt blinked but downed the glass.
It was the tale of a midsummer night.
* * * Drinking sessions always come with side dishes. And side dishes aren't limited to food.
"Stories to share."
Those made excellent accompaniments too.
In that sense, Kalt and I never ran short on drinking fodder. Just pulling out battlefield tales could keep us talking through the night for days.
"So that damn Sara bitch said..."
"Saintess has a hell of a temper."
And above all, Kalt was one of the few who'd witnessed Sara and Remia's bullshit alongside me.
"Fuck yeah! How much I..."
He was the only one I could vent to like this. Before we knew it, dawn was breaking as we kept chatting nonstop.
"Ugh, I can't anymore."
Kalt leaned against a tree and exhaled shortly. His breath reeked of booze.
"You don't even get drunk, Senior?"
"Starting to feel a buzz now."
My face felt a bit warm, but my head was clear. Mages don't get drunk easily unless it's top-shelf stuff.
"There was some paper on it."
Reasons mages don't intoxicate easily.
I recalled a thesis on that. As I racked my brain, Kalt spoke in disbelief.
"...This your first time drinking with that build?"
"Pretty much."
"You're something else..."
I shook the bottle in my hand.
Lazy to pour midway, I'd been swigging straight from it. I chugged the rest and wiped my mouth.
"Whoa."
Kalt eyed me like I'd lost it. I snorted, stood, and approached him.
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
Then nudged his foot with mine.
"You going on duty like that?"
"One bath and it's gone."
"Still gotta kill the smell."
I snapped my fingers on his forehead. Mana flickered from my fingertip.
🧼 SPELL ACTIVATED 🧼 Deodorization Eliminates odors from clothing and body
The booze stench on Kalt's clothes and body vanished like it'd been washed away. Kalt's eyes widened as he asked,
"Whoa, what was that?"
"What else? A spell I whipped up 'cause I was sick of those bitches whining."
"Oh..."
Leaving Kalt marveling behind, I stretched languidly. Time to pack up. Kalt had been glancing at the magic communicator linked to the detached palace—he was probably due back.
"Ready to wrap?"
Kalt nodded too.
We'd just cleared the glasses and erased our traces when...
"Oh, right. Senior."
The rising sun illuminated the forest.
As I headed to Aphria and Kalt to the palace, he called me back.
"What?"
"Not confirmed yet, but... you should know, Senior."
His voice sank, buzz fading, as he spoke.
"Mass corpses turned up in Anatol territory and Cardinak alleys."
"...Corpses?"
"Yeah, looks like slum factions clashed, but... the bodies' condition is the issue."
Kalt said,
"The corpses were shriveled dry. Like something sucked them clean."
Bodies drained by something.
The moment I heard that, I frowned.
"Cardinak, shriveled corpses."
Connecting those dots left only one possibility in my mind.
"Not certain, but us Hounds suspect..."
"Enough."
I shook my head.
No need to hear more.
"If it's Cardinak, the city of night, and nearby Anatol territory... that says it all."
Basking in the sunlight, I stretched my arms.
Cracking my knuckles loudly.
"Succubus Queen, Rephe."
Only that bat bitch came to mind.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 3.
"......"
Belnoa stared at the corpse.
It had floated down the underground sewer and snagged on iron bars. No telling where it came from.
Corpses showing up didn't surprise her.
Just... the state of this one was off.
"...Drained?"
Shriveled dry.
Like its vitality had been stolen away.
And above all... that face was eerie. Belnoa tilted her head at the blissfully happy expression. The more she looked, the stranger it seemed.
"...What the hell?"
Belnoa gazed where the corpse had come from.
Something kept flowing down the underground sewer stretching beyond the capital.
Dark red blood not mixing with the water.
Chunks of minced flesh.
And finally...
"...Ugh."
The stench piercing her nose.
Raised in the slums and exposed to every chemical imaginable, Belnoa recognized it as some kind of reagent.
A familiar scent.
Quite recent too.
Something flashed in Belnoa's mind.
-Old man, what's this?
-That guy must've left it without cleaning up. Called it apple rat bait or something.
-......Apple rat bait? Doesn't sound cute enough for that name.
-Beats me. Clean it up, Belnoa.
The weird thing she'd cleared away under the old man's nagging.
This stench was similar. Belnoa frowned at the things flowing in with the water.
"......What the hell is this?"
✍️ Author's Note They say writers shine brightest when weaving their own experiences into their stories? Feels like I've got tons to say about group assignments...