Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Unexpected Meeting (1)
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Aphria Academy.
The kingdom's foremost academy of magic studies, a prestigious institution among prestigious ones that has produced countless outstanding graduates.
With the new semester preparations underway, dozens of academic notices are distributed daily at Aphria. And among them, one notice drew the eyes of all the teaching assistants.
- Fundamentals of Mana and Trading.
- Instructor: Rosel van Trias.
- Teaching Assistant: Lania van Trias.
The teaching assistant slot was filled.
Someone's name occupied the slot that had always been blank.
'Professor Rosel has taken on a teaching assistant!'
The teaching assistants were stunned by that fact.
Most of Aphria's teaching assistants were ultimately graduates of the academy itself. And among Aphria graduates, there was no one who didn't know Professor Rosel.
The renowned elder of the Ashen Mage Tower.
A sage acknowledged by ancient dragon mages.
The true master of this era, who had raised Raniel, the 'Ashen Mage' of the Hero Party.
Chasing that fame, most students had, out of curiosity at least once, signed up for Professor Rosel's classes.
And those who attended Professor Rosel's classes with such 'lighthearted' intentions came to realize something.
What did they realize?
A nightmare.
And hell.
'Aphria's nightmare, that Professor Rosel!'
Brutal assignments.
Class difficulties that reeked of malice.
A nitpicking strictness that missed not even the tiniest speck of dust.
Spartan education, as if saying you had to endure this much to become 'that kind of mage.'
Can't do it? Then do it until you can.
No answer? Keep going until there is one.
Can't handle it? Then get out.
Extended classes were standard, and insane-difficulty assignments were par for the course. Going against the modern trend that prioritized quality over quantity, he boasted assignments that nailed both in spades.
Even during exam week, those assignments showed no mercy.
And if you somehow survived those nightmarish assignments?
Waiting for you was a hellish grading process.
- Again.
- Pardon?
- I said do it again.
- L-like this?
- Again.
The sight of Professor Rosel, standing before students who had slapped together their assignments, smiling softly with a gentle voice as he repeated 'again,' was etched into the minds of countless students as trauma.
Was it because of that infamous reputation?
Professor Rosel's teaching assistant position had remained vacant all this time. There had been applicants, but none lasted even two days before quitting.
And yet, that Professor Rosel had 'personally' taken on a teaching assistant?
That impossibly strict Professor Rosel?
Was there even a slave capable of assisting at Professor Rosel's level to begin with?
The rumor spread like wildfire.
- I heard Professor Rosel took on a teaching assistant.
- That professor did?
- Whoever it is, poor soul...
Having made the rounds among the teaching assistants, the rumor converged back to one point. The interest sparked by the rumor turned to questions.
Lania van Trias.
The adopted daughter Professor Rosel had supposedly taken on.
Just who was she?
Even with only ten days left until the semester began, rumors about her—who had yet to show her face—grew day by day.
Nothing was known about her...
But the teaching assistants, who knew Professor Rosel, speculated.
'She's surely living through hellish days.'
They couldn't even imagine the fair and uncompromising Professor Rosel showing any leniency to an adopted daughter.
2.
"Ahak, ahahaha!"
"..."
Rosel surveyed the room with cold eyes. His gaze fell on a girl sprawled limply on the sofa.
His disciple, adopted daughter, and adopted child.
Raniel van Trias, now Lania van Trias.
Her silky ash-gray hair cascaded over the sofa like gentle waves. Her robe, wrinkled and creased from rolling around in it, caught his eye.
'Should I say something?'
Rosel pondered for a moment.
He no longer viewed Raniel merely as someone he needed to teach. She was already a mage who had reached a considerable realm.
It had been a full five years.
She was a child who had left his side and returned fully formed, so Rosel strove to respect her as an equal fellow mage.
That was why he had held back on nagging her about most things...
'But this calls for a warning.'
As a father figure, he couldn't just let that slide. Rosel cleared his throat and opened his mouth.
"Raniel?"
"Ah, ahahat... Yes? Did you call me?"
Raniel shot up from the sofa and looked at Rosel. Whatever it was amused her so much that tears welled in her eyes. Wondering just what she was looking at, Rosel glanced at the book in her hand.
'Tales of the Wandering Swordsman?'
The title looked familiar, for some reason.
- You should read this novel, my friend. It's a masterpiece of our time! A martial artist from the Central Plains...
- ...What's the martial world?
- Ah, the martial world is where martial prowess and chivalry are revered...
He recalled it being a novel that Aron loved reading and kept recommending to him.
"...Is it fun?"
"Hm? It was in your study, Master. You haven't read it?"
"Aron lent it to me. I don't think I ever got around to it."
"Aron... Oh, the dean I met last time? He has good taste. I should ask him for more recommendations next time."
...He remembered that friend getting teased by students for his musty tastes.
Swallowing the words that rose to his throat, Rosel approached Raniel and brushed the dust off her robe.
"I know you've worked hard for five years and want to rest... but what about the paperwork I gave you? Didn't you say you'd finish it by tomorrow?"
"Oh, that? It's over there."
Raniel pointed to one corner of the table.
Neatly organized stacks of document binders sat there.
"...You haven't touched it?"
"Hm? I finished it."
"What? That's not an amount you could finish that quickly."
He'd given her a bit much just to keep her busy, so there was no way she could've wrapped it up so fast.
"Master."
Raniel smiled at Rosel's dubious gaze.
"I was the next Mage Tower Lord until I left, right?"
"...Yes?"
"What do you think I did sitting in that seat?"
Approved paperwork.
Organizing the flood of research data and compiling quarterly research results into summaries.
Raniel, who hadn't even had a secretary, had handled it all alone. It was an environment where her paperwork speed couldn't help but improve.
'And I didn't mention this, but...'
Rosel didn't know, but while in the Hero Party, Raniel had shouldered every bit of paperwork.
She rarely wrote personal letters or replied to fan letters from her followers, but paperwork? She'd done it until she was sick of it.
Kyle had never done paperwork to begin with.
And Sara and Remia had dumped it on her because it was a hassle.
'Summarizing situations at every battlefield we joined, deciding where our party would head next, handling expenses, planning actions...
Raniel had organized and submitted all that every time.
Compared to that, the academy work her master assigned was nothing...
"Still, how about not holing up in your room and taking a walk around the academy?"
"I'll be coming in every day once the semester starts anyway."
"It doesn't have to be the academy—just go outside a bit. Seeing you cooped up like this makes my chest feel tight for some reason."
The work was done, so he could let her laze around in her room... but Rosel had a feeling that wasn't right.
'Something to pique her interest...'
What bait would get this child to step outside? Rosel racked his brain for something that might catch Raniel's attention.
'...Books?'
Then his eyes drifted to the stack of books beside Raniel. The moment he saw them, an idea flashed in Rosel's mind.
"Raniel."
"Yes, Master?"
"How about a trip to the Royal Library?"
3.
- Continuous retreats on the front lines.
- Repeated defeats.
- Wide-area barrier formed by the Four Heavenly Kings' ancient lich 'Skeval,' isolating the knight orders.
- Heroes absent from the battlefield.
"..."
- The 'Karn' Gorge, recaptured after an early great victory, seized once more by the demon tribe.
- Crisis on the battlefield.
- Black Knights advancing north.
Riiip.
- To the Fourth Princess, Aila.
- Your Highness, please consider having the Second Prince withdraw from the front lines...
Rip.
- The front lines are continuing to retreat.
- This is a crisis.
- Frankly, we cannot guarantee the prince's safety.
Rip.
- Your Highness.
- Knight Commander Heinkel reporting.
Pause.
- The Fourth Front, where the Second Prince is stationed, is under sustained pressure. We have prioritized reinforcements, but it won't hold out much longer.
- I speak out of turn.
- Investing forces in the Fourth Front is causing all lines to give way.
Aila narrowed her eyes as she read the letter.
Other letters might drip with schemes or political motives, but not Heinkel's.
- I humbly request.
- Could you ask the Second Prince to withdraw from the front?
"Would he even listen if I told him, that brother of mine?"
Aila pressed her temple.
She fully understood Heinkel's concerns. No matter how dire the front lines, they couldn't just let a prince die. They were committing forces accordingly... but.
'He's a burden.'
That was the point, however politely phrased. A burden, so please leave the battlefield.
'I wish he would, too...'
Aila knew well what kind of man her brother, the Second Prince, was. More righteous than anyone, to the point he didn't quite fit in this royal family.
Her always enthusiastic, somewhat foolish brother.
'He's surely rampaging like that to fill the void left by Lady Raniel...'
A sigh slipped through her lips.
With so much already weighing on her mind, now her brother was causing trouble too. Aila felt a wave of dizziness.
"Hoo..."
The retirement of the Ashen Mage, Raniel.
Just the absence of that one mage was enough to start crumbling the front lines. This was merely the harbinger.
Even more front lines would collapse ahead.
And far more knights would die.
There was no guarantee her brother wouldn't be among that procession of the dead.
"..."
Aila bit her lip hard.
Just imagining that future made her chest tighten unbearably.
- Aila, look at this! I found records of the inaugural Hero! He hunted primordial beasts...
- It's a fairy tale, brother.
- So what if it's a fairy tale? Fairy tales hold the essence of bards. Want to read it together?
Her slightly foolish brother, who always read her fairy tales when things got tough. Today, that image lingered especially vividly before her eyes.
"Maybe I should take a short break..."
Whether writing letters or anything else.
Nothing seemed to stick in her current state. It was just as she rose from her seat.
- Prick.
Her index finger stung.
A sharp pain, like candle wax dripping. At that distinctive signal, Aila narrowed her eyes.
Starlight blooming over her index finger.
She read what that starlight signified.
"A long-awaited meeting?"
Aila tilted her head.