Chapter 32
“『Holy Wave』.”
Kiiiiieeeeeeeek────!!!
Guaaaaaah───!!
Uweeeeee───!!!
Holy energy filled magic made the undead vanish in an instant. No more undead came charging this way, and the remaining ones were quickly dispatched by the students who had just appeared and the professors who had already been fighting. The situation had turned decisively in their favor. Pina lowered her staff and let out a weary sigh.
“Haa… Using so much holy magic at once leaves me completely exhausted.”
In the academy’s magic class, most spells were activated through silent casting, but because they only imagined the chants and never actually spoke them, this was almost the first time Pina had ever used holy magic until now. That was why her body felt drained to the limit as she leaned on her staff and gasped, letting out a sigh that carried a hint of relief.
“It’s fortunate that the opponents were undead.”
After all, the reason she had been able to fight so fiercely was simply because they weren’t living beings but undead, dead monsters. And since these undead hadn’t been specially created but merely reanimated from the people she had killed, Pina had been able to purify nearly two thousand of them with nothing more than her own holy power. If the Pope, Hellesetins Ban, had been here instead, simply stepping onto the Sky Island would have made every undead on the island attain enlightenment.
But the situation had already been settled. Imagining an ideal outcome was pointless. Still, as she felt a surge of reverence toward her father the Pope, Pina suddenly noticed Arin and her group approaching. She straightened up. No, wait… It wasn’t just Arin.
‘……Principal Mira too?’
With Arin, Kana, Riana, and Shaty walked a woman with light brown braided hair. During the fight against the undead, Principal Mira had somehow joined them, and now she was walking toward Pina together with the others. Pina lifted her staff quietly as she watched the five approach.
“Just in case…”
Behind her was the direction toward the central tower where Traveler-nim had said no one should go. Pina gripped her staff a little tighter while thinking about the possibility that these five might head for the central tower, and they appeared right in front of her in the blink of an eye.
Arin and the others stopped at a distance of about three steps from Pina. Since she was the type who always acted strong rather than silently watching, she took the initiative.
“What business do you have here?”
The question carried a sharp tone that was a little hurtful even to Pina herself. But it was the best she could do to drive them away. As a candidate for the Pope and someone who served the Traveler, she had to fulfill every order she received. Pina glared at Mira, Arin, Kana, Riana, and Shaty in turn, and the one who answered was Arin, standing at the front.
“It seems like the professors are around the central tower. Everyone from the academy is here, but the only ones missing are the professors, right?”
“……So?”
“Huh? Pina, you’re taking Meiel Professor’s class, aren’t you? I was wondering if we could go together since she’s near the central tower path.”
Arin asked while jingling the sword at her waist. Pina answered in the same cold tone. Arin looked a little startled by the sharp reply but soon smiled purely and reached out her hand.
“Let’s go together.”
Pina looked from the hand Arin was offering to the central tower behind her. ‘The order Traveler-nim gave me was to support everyone on the Sky Island and control those heading toward the central tower.’ The only command Pina had received was that. She considered what to do if Arin grabbed her hand and if she didn’t. If Arin held on, she would be taken to the central tower together. If she didn’t, the group would pass by her and head for the central tower. In either case, it was a choice she could never make. Pina struck her staff down and murmured softly.
“『Pray Shield』”
A golden barrier appeared behind Pina at the same moment as her murmur. She lightly tapped the shield with her hand to check its solidity, then turned her head to answer.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t send you to the central tower. I received a request from the professor.”
Not an order… a request. Pina changed the word cleverly so it wouldn’t sound like an order. She knew that if she accidentally spoke it as an order, Traveler-nim might get into trouble. The position of Traveler-nim within the academy was quite high, since there was a temple behind his back. The five in front of her also knew that Traveler-nim didn’t give unnecessary words or requests, so she hoped they would simply leave without any trouble. But it wasn’t that easy. While quietly watching the conversation between Arin and Pina, Mira stepped forward.
“Pina, do you mean Meiel when you say your professor? She received the exact request to send no one to the central tower.”
“……Yes.”
Miraculously, she had guessed the exact content of the vague command. As the principal of Lua Academy, Mira’s sharp deductive ability was on full display. Pina swallowed hard and nodded. When Pina nodded, Mira stroked her chin and let out a long, thoughtful hum.
“Hmm…?”
“……”
“Swallow…”
Her eyes, which carried the depth of years, sparkled while hiding a mischievous glint. Pina shivered at the terrifying light in Mira’s eyes, but she tightened her grip on her staff firmly. Even if she were the principal, she absolutely could not let this path be bypassed. Pina watched intently as Mira’s staff began to form familiar magic circles. Suddenly, Mira snapped her fingers and hugged the four like dolls all at once. Pina asked in surprise.
“Wh-what kind of action is this?”
It was an action whose reason she could not understand at all. But the next moment, Pina moved urgently as familiar magic circles appeared on Mira’s staff. It was already too late.
“The coordinates of the central tower have all been calculated? I’ll move us into the nearby forest.”
“Wait──!”
Whoosh───
The moment Mira waved her staff, their bodies turned into light and vanished from sight. Pina’s hand, which had reached out belatedly, turned into light and waved in the empty space where they had disappeared.
“What a disaster…”
Only now did Pina realize that Mira had been thinking from the very beginning about simply passing by her. The shield she had laid out suddenly felt completely meaningless, and she waved her staff to dispel it. The shield dissolved like cotton candy melting away. Could the long hum from a moment ago have been Mira calculating coordinates for a teleport to the central tower rather than pondering for her reasoning? It was a direct hit. A complete blunder on her part.
“I failed to fulfill Traveler-nim’s order…”
“I should chase after her right now.”
But she couldn’t just sit and scold herself for the mistake. If she had made a mistake, she had to correct it immediately, even if it was impossible. There was a slight chance that Mira had miscalculated the coordinates and fallen somewhere completely different, but the probability was virtually zero. After all, Mira hadn’t won the Lua Academy principal position by playing rock-paper-scissors. Pina realized that expecting such a foolish future was pointless. She had no choice but to use her legs and run after Mira at once. Since she couldn’t use teleportation magic properly, the only way was to run with her own two legs.
“Hurry up and run!”
So Pina hugged her staff to her chest and stretched her legs long.
“Kyaaaaaaaah────!!!!”
Kugugung… The central tower was completely destroyed, and Pina stopped in her tracks as she looked at the dragon that had collapsed on top of it. ──An unexpected situation had occurred.