Chapter 167
Chapter 167
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 167
Chapter Title: The New Student Who Calls the Storm (1)
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A chill wind swept through the corridor as Aila walked, lost in thought. What came to mind was a passage she had encountered in a book.
"Encounters come out of nowhere."
"Events are the same as encounters."
"Because they arrive so unexpectedly."
It was a line she loved.
People live entangled with others. Like threads twisting and knotting together, humans become intertwined with one another. And from those tangles, events arise.
"Ah, Master!"
"There you are, Rak."
For example, there was that woman now feigning composure to hide her heartfelt excitement... and that boy who easily forgot trivial things.
'Master and disciple.'
A bond forged from chance meetings piled one atop another.
It surely hadn't been an easy path to forming that master-disciple tie. For two people who seemed so mismatched to call each other master and disciple, there must have been many events along the way.
"Thank you for escorting us, Princess Aila."
"No trouble at all. Have a good time."
She waved them off.
Aila watched for a long while as they bickered their way down the corridor. Master and disciple—a relationship she rather envied.
'Chance.'
All encounters in the world are by chance.
From chance encounters sprout chance relationships. To some, a master; to others, a disciple; to yet others, a comrade—all products of coincidence.
Relationships build up like that.
Suddenly, unexpectedly, from places unimagined.
'That's just how it is.'
Most people live that way.
But not Aila.
The fourth princess had no such thing as chance encounters. She had been raised in an environment where they simply couldn't exist. The seat she occupied allowed no variables.
'If chance encounters bring fortune...'
...then they also brought misfortune.
Those in high positions... well, people who value themselves highly tend to grow conservative. Especially if born to the realm's most noble royal bloodline—no need to elaborate.
Aila had lived under strict control.
Meetings occurred under control, calculation, and thorough verification. There was no room for the variable of chance. A life without chance was dull.
She walked a predetermined path.
Simply walking it.
A path with high walls piled up on either side. She couldn't even look around. Unable to see other paths, she had no way to compare if this one was right or wrong. She simply walked as directed.
But.
'Very rarely, they appear.'
Aila reached out her hand.
'People who tear down those towering walls and step onto my path without permission.'
She grasped the door handle and pulled.
'So.'
The door slid open with a rattle.
'Someone who can help me.'
The door opened, and wind blew in.
Her hair swayed in the breeze.
Swish.
Aila's platinum hair sparkled under the languid afternoon sun. Brushing back the swaying platinum strands, Aila uttered someone's name.
"Hello."
Her second chance encounter.
"Professor Lania."
The figure who had torn down the walls and appeared on her path uninvited. Gazing at the professor with ash-gray hair like the first chance encounter... Aila smiled.
"It feels like it's been ages."
Hiding her wavering emotions.
Feigning composure, she smiled.
2.
"......"
I stared silently at the desk.
A single letter lay there. Sealed with a motif of a red rose dusted in gold powder. I tapped the table lightly with my finger.
Tap, then tap again.
After tapping the table like that, I let out a short breath and threw my head back.
"...What the hell is this?"
It was the letter Princess Aila had handed me in the infirmary just moments ago before leaving. She had delivered it wordlessly and departed, looking rather hurried.
'I took it, but...'
Mana Trading Studies faculty office.
I stared piercingly at the letter on my desk. I simply couldn't fathom its intent.
"This is a letter from the First Princess."
I recognized that crest.
And that was precisely the problem. I pulled out the magic tool from my pocket. The one connected to the First Princess.
'She has this—why go through the trouble?'
It was a magic tool from her.
Why send a letter via Princess Aila when she had a magic tool that allowed instant replies? It wasn't something the First Princess Lerüel—who hated hassle—would do.
"...Huh?"
And that was the moment.
I felt the sense of wrongness again.
'What's going on here?'
I narrowed my eyes. The magic tool's state was off. The mana flow that should connect directly to the other side was shattered. And it wasn't on my end.
'The receiving side.'
In other words, something had gone wrong with the magic tool in First Princess Lerüel's possession.
"......"
My eyes narrowed slightly.
I shifted my gaze to the desk. Reaching for the letter atop it. It seemed I needed to check this first.
Rip.
I tore open the sealed letter. A single sheet fluttered out. I unfolded it.
"Be cautious."
The letter began with a warning.
True to First Princess Lerüel, who always got straight to the point.
"I'm currently in a rather tricky situation, so I hope you understand why I have to deliver the letter 'like this'."
A brief explanation of the circumstances.
"Professor, I have a message for you, so I've left this letter."
I lowered my gaze.
My eyes quickly followed the next line.
"The First Prince, Isaac, has made his move."
"My brother has taken an interest in Aphria Academy. More precisely, in the newly emerged Hero candidate student... and in Aila, who is enrolled there."
The First Prince, Isaac.
I had heard quite a bit about him from First Princess Lerüel's mouth. A man with dirty backing and paranoia.
'...The prince targeting Aphria?'
I tilted my head.
First Princess Lerüel seemed to have written with considerable gravity... but to me, it didn't feel like a big deal.
"...So what if he takes an interest?"
A genuine question.
Was he planning some royal political drama at Aphria? Hmm, that wouldn't be pleasant. This was a place to train students, not a stage for power struggles.
"My brother will employ various tactics."
"He'll invest all the cards at his disposal without hesitation, and while I don't know his goal... it's hard to assume it's anything normal."
Various tactics—I roughly calculated in my head the forces the First Prince could muster.
'At max... the royal knights and the Hounds, maybe?'
Still not an issue.
"Of course, I trust in your abilities."
And First Princess Lerüel surely knew that. She had witnessed me tearing through the annex from up close, after all.
"Even if my brother pulls every trick in the book, I know they'd be meaningless before you. Even so, I warn you."
Yet she warned me anyway.
"My brother has summoned one person to the capital."
Who that person was.
It was written in the very next line. I moved my gaze there. And my eyes nailed to that single sentence.
"The Madman, Kelrhalim."
The name of a certain superhuman was inscribed in the letter.
3.
"The Madman, Kelrhalim."
The last mage of a fallen nation.
Once a sage, but having reached for what he could not handle, he became a madman.
The Madman, Kelrhalim.
A mage who had attained the rank of superhuman.
'Raniel, I hate Heroes.'
'It's not just Heroes. I hate everything related to the stars.'
'Stars, Heroes, the Demon King, the Four Calamities— I loathe them all. I loathe every non-human existence. It's revolting. It drives me mad.'
And.
'Non-human existences should not exist on this land.'
A being who hated the stars more than anyone.
"He is heading to Aphria."
He was coming here.
Slowly, I raised a hand to cover my mouth. Tapping my chin, I spoke. What escaped my lips was a question. A truly simple one.
"How?"
What caught my attention wasn't the Madman Kelrhalim part. It was the bit about the First Prince summoning him to the capital. I couldn't comprehend that line.
'He's not the type to come just because someone calls.'
The Madman, Kelrhalim.
Why was he called a madman?
To control the madness he had acquired, he had imposed all sorts of restrictions on himself. And he moved his body according to the code of conduct he had set.
'And as far as I know...'
One of those tenets was never leaving the battlefield. He had bound himself to the battlefield. Because he knew himself to be a madman.
'What means did he use to call that man?'
I had no idea what scheme the First Prince had employed. Nor his purpose in summoning him to the capital, or why sending him to Aphria.
But one thing I could grasp.
"...This isn't good."
The Madman Kelrhalim.
Him coming to Aphria was far from good. Knowing his code of conduct, the situation struck me as gravely serious.
"I hate Heroes."
"If I can kill the apostates, next I'll kill none other than you, Kyle. You Heroes."
"This world has no need for non-humans. Everything tied to those revolting stars must die."
Right before unleashing all restraints and succumbing to madness.
The words Kelrhalim had spoken to Kyle in that instant. The first principle underlying all of Kelrhalim's actions.
'Kelrhalim hates the stars and apostates.'
And Aphria was full of star-related figures. Off the top of my head, three I knew. One even fulfilled both things Kelrhalim hated simultaneously.
Knock knock.
Just then, someone knocked on the faculty office door.
The one who entered was a girl. The one I had called here to distribute textbooks.
"You called for me, Professor Lania."
The girl flashed a bright smile, twirling her hair around her finger—she was the student I was in charge of this semester.
"Chloe."
"Yes, Professor Lania?"
White hair and emerald eyes.
A girl with an appearance strikingly similar to an apostate, chosen by the stars and on the verge of becoming a Hero. Looking at her, I opened my mouth.
"Sorry to ask this right after enrollment."
"Pardon?"
"How about taking a leave of absence just for this semester?"
"...Pardon? What do you mean?"
Author's Note
To all the students who took the CSAT, you did an amazing job!