Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: A Rotten Stench Emanates (1)
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Week two of classes had come to an end.
I'd been planning to head to the café, but thanks to a certain student who showed up out of nowhere at the staff room, I was in a real bind.
If it had been an ordinary student, I could've just told them to come back later. But the one who'd come looking for me was anything but ordinary.
The Fourth Princess, Aila.
She beamed brightly.
"Shall we get going, then?"
"...Pardon?"
"You promised, remember? You'd help me with my research after class."
"If you could call it a promise, that is..."
Wasn't it more like half coercion?
I shot her a subtle look to convey as much, but Aila's attitude remained rock-solid.
"Hmm."
The corner of her eye twitched upward just a fraction.
I rubbed at my temple.
"Alright, let's go."
Truth be told, I felt uneasy about it myself.
If the princess was going this far, there had to be something to it.
"Thank you so much for helping!"
"Uh, sure..."
2.
Stella, the Child of the Stars.
Those blessed by the stars hear the stars' whispers. Unlike the Hero's, there's no exchange of words.
It's purely one-sided.
Yet those one-sided whispers sometimes brush against the realm of prophecy.
The Fourth Princess, Aila.
She had experienced prophecy in the form of intuition many times before. They called it intuition for convenience, but unerring intuition was close to true foresight.
And right now, that intuition was ringing alarm bells.
"......"
Aila's gaze shifted to her index finger.
It stings.
She flexed her throbbing finger and lifted her head. Her field of view took in the hallway stretching out on either side of the staff offices. The same hallway as always.
But the more she walked, the more her finger stung.
The stinging soon turned to pain.
"This feels awful."
Aila muttered as much.
"The whole hallway feels awful. Like the air's choking me. My stomach's churning."
"......"
"I've never felt anything like this before. Are you listening, Professor?"
"Yes, I am."
The woman walking beside Aila nodded at her question. Her ash-gray hair swayed faintly.
Lania van Trias.
A woman with a peculiar connection to Aila.
Truth be told, Aila had originally planned to call her guard knight, Havel, and search the hallway together.
But then she ran into this woman.
And her plans changed in that instant.
Havel would be hurt if he heard this, but...
Aila trusted the woman walking beside her now more than Havel, with whom she'd spent so many long years.
The stars are whispering it, too.
As always, she couldn't quite explain why.
She just felt it.
"Mm..."
Aila glanced sideways at Lania's profile. Even now, she struck her as a bit unusual.
Her build wasn't all that different from Aila's.
Maybe a touch taller, a bit more mature-looking? Though that wasn't quite accurate either.
Not physical maturity so much as...
It was closer to a difference in aura.
The atmosphere she exuded was that alien. Heavy. Sharp. Nothing like the students', or even most professors'.
More like a soldier's.
That unique aura wasn't hidden by her neat robes or her title as professor.
As Aila eyed her, Lania suddenly turned to look back. Her gaze carried a hint of reluctance.
She seems uncomfortable with something?
Am I making her uncomfortable?
Aila tilted her head.
"I'll take the lead."
"Pardon?"
With those words, she took a bold step forward.
Thud.
Unlike Aila's cautious steps, she strode ahead confidently. Aila pouted at the sight.
That was blatant avoidance, wasn't it? Just now?
This was going too far.
"Slow down a little, Professor."
"If there's something here as Your Highness suspects, shouldn't we check it quickly?"
Aila grumbled, but Lania's steps didn't falter. Aila hurried after the hem of her fluttering robe.
Still, something feels ominous...
The sense of foreboding wouldn't shake loose.
If anything, it was growing stronger.
The hallway looked perfectly normal on the surface, but now that they were heading deeper into it...
Aila felt like she was stepping into a beast's maw. Or into the pitch-black depths of a cave hiding who-knew-what at its end.
What on earth is it?
Aphria Academy, the kingdom's finest.
What could possibly make her finger throb like this in the heart of the capital?
Like something slithering underfoot.
Her body itched.
Like bugs crawling inside her clothes. An unpleasant sensation slithering up her spine.
And then.
"Ah."
Finally, the discomfort reached its peak.
"Over there."
The end of the hallway.
A firmly shut staff room door.
"Right there."
Aila's fingertip pointed at the door.
Enduring the finger pain as if it might snap off, she continued.
"It's there..."
That was when it happened.
"Hold on a moment."
"Pardon?"
Thud.
Lania shoved Aila aside.
Shoved without warning or reason, Aila stared at her in confusion.
"Why all of a su—"
Before the question could finish.
BOOM!
A massive explosion rocked one side of the wall.
Chunks of stone flew. Dust billowed up. The blast was aimed right at where Aila had stood moments ago.
And.
It was also where Lania now stood.
Plink, plink.
Stone dust rained down from above. Through the settling dust, the hallway's new landscape came into view.
The collapsed wall's rubble filled the space.
The path to the door was completely blocked by the pile of debris.
"Ah..."
Her vision filled with massive boulders.
Staring at them, Aila blinked vacantly.
She was gone.
The professor who'd been standing right in front of her moments ago was nowhere to be seen.
"...Professor Lania?"
No answer came.
3.
Flicker.
The Central Academy building, third floor.
Rak, sprawled on the bed in his room, opened his eyes. He'd been tired enough to think of taking a nap, but it looked like naptime was off the table.
"......"
He silently raised his upper body.
Then reached out a hand. Toward the hand axe on his desk.
Something's coming.
He gripped one in each hand.
Stepping down from the bed, he spun his arms once.
"I smell rot."
Clang!
He clashed the hand axes together.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Stock spells activated. ⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Haste (Acceleration) Movement speed increased
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Enhance Strength (Strength Reinforcement) Physical power boosted
Veins bulged along his forearms.
Rak raised his right arm high and grabbed the door handle. He counted silently inside.
One, two, three...
Now.
Bang!
-Kieeeek!
The moment he flung the door open, the undead gripping the handle was yanked inside. A rotting zombie's upper body tumbled into the room.
And.
Rak's right arm swung down.
The hand axe held high came slicing downward. It cleaved like a guillotine into the undead's lower back.
Slash!
The axe met no resistance.
It traced a clean arc, severing the undead's upper and lower halves.
Splatter!
Blood sprayed. Rak didn't stop. The moment the severed upper body hit the floor, he released the door handle and swung the axe in his left hand.
Undead need their heads smashed.
That's what the northern warriors had taught him.
Rak followed their teachings to the letter.
Crunch!
He yanked the hand axe free from the shattered beastly skull.
Shook off the blood. Stepping on the headless corpse, Rak emerged into the hallway beyond. He planted himself there.
"Rotten stench."
The undead reeked of decay.
Rak wrinkled his nose. Undead prowled the hallway, plain as day. And there were quite a few.
Where'd they come from?
No idea.
What the hell's going on?
No clue there either.
"Hm."
Rak spun his wrists.
Nothing to figure out right now. It was a mystery.
What do you do in a situation like this?
Rak recalled the northern warriors' teachings.
-You don't know what to do, young master?
-What are we, young master?
Warriors.
Honorable northern warriors.
-Right, warriors. What do warriors do? Only one thing, really.
"Hm."
-When you don't know what it is, young master...
Rak halted his spinning wrists.
-Just swing away and smash. The answer comes eventually.
He raised his arms.
"Indeed."
He swung and smashed downward.
"That'll do it."
One undead crumpled.
Trampling the pooling blood on the floor, Rak charged at the rest.
4.
"Ah, ahh..."
Aila's mouth opened and closed repeatedly. She sank to the floor, clamping a hand over her lips.
The wall collapsed.
Aila dredged up her memories.
Something exploded? No, something... struck it.
In that instant of the wall exploding, she'd glimpsed a massive silhouette. Hidden now by the rubble, but something lurked beyond.
She had to run.
But Aila couldn't move.
The wall had collapsed.
And in its place stood Professor Lania.
In the moment it crumbled.
That professor had definitely shoved her out of the way.
Remembering that, Aila's face twisted.
"Ugh..."
If she'd noticed in time to push her away, she could've dodged easily. Yet she hadn't.
Why not?
The answer came swiftly.
To protect me.
She'd taken the blast in her place to shield her.
No one could survive an explosion like that unscathed. Aila gritted her teeth and rose to her feet.
The wall had crumbled.
A pile of stones lay heaped.
Someone had gotten caught up protecting her.
The chain of events stirred Aila's memories. It dragged up an old recollection she'd rather forget.
"No."
She reached for the rubble.
Big and heavy, it barely budged.
"I said no."
She didn't want to be a burden again.
Didn't want to watch someone die protecting her like before.
"Ugh, urgh..."
As she shoved at the boulders with trembling hands, Aila screamed until veins stood out on her neck.
"Professor Lania! If you can hear me..."
"Yes? What is it?"
Huh?
"Eh?"
Aila froze mid-motion.
"...Professor Lania?"
"Yes, why are you calling?"
A voice answered.
Perfectly calm.
"Y-You're okay...?"
"Perfectly fine. Step back a bit."
"Ah, okay..."
Am I hallucinating right now?
Even as the thought crossed her mind, Aila obediently backed away from the wall. The rubble heap began to shift.
"Ah, damn. Dust."
An irritated voice.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Smite Thud! The rubble shuddered, then came tumbling down in a roar. Someone strode out from the debris.
"Cough, hack. Ugh..."
Dry coughs.
Aila stared blankly at the figure waving away the dust.
Lania van Trias.
The woman she'd thought buried under the rocks looked utterly unharmed. Not a single scratch. Even her robe bore only a dusting of grime—no tears or rips.
"Yes, so."
She tilted her head.
"Why'd you call me?"
Suddenly, Aila's eyes fell on what she held in her hand.
...A head?
A beast's head, dripping green blood.
Aila slowly raised her gaze.
"...A-Are you... okay?"
"Perfectly fine."
It didn't sound like polite deflection; she genuinely looked it.
Aila was at a loss for words.