Chapter 65
Chapter 65
Chapter 65
EP18 - As Christmas Bells Ring Over the Snow-Covered Ruins (10)
It was my third year of quitting smoking. Nevertheless, Head Professor Collider put a cigarette to his lips. The scene made it impossible not to.
Drawing the smoke into his lungs. He looked up at the marvel spread out high above.
The form of that colossal tree, reaching all the way to the sky.
‘Now I understand.’
The purpose of that giant Illusion Magic, which had caused me to wrestle with professors for days. It was slowly beginning to reveal itself.
Accordingly, the professors, including Collider, began to grasp Professor Dante’s intentions.
The professors who had also lit cigarettes remained silent.
[Durability], [Vastness], [Scalability]……. Which of those three was the Main Force?
It was a pointless debate now.
Because it was all three.
“What… what’s its size?”
“It’s about 1,000 meters now.”
“But there was a circuit that expanded when it was completed.”
“There was.”
“About how many times was that…?”
“It would have been about 20 times.”
20 times.
Does a 1,000-meter tree currently floating in the air mean it expands 20 times ‘in length alone’ from here?
In volume, it would be the cube, so 8,000 times.
‘……The fact that it can continue to [Expand] even after that means outsiders can also participate.’
Why did Dante Hiacapo keep creating an [Illusion Magic] that allowed others to participate?
“…What could it be.”
As much as you know, you see.
As much as you see, you realize your ignorance.
So, as much as I grasped Dante’s intentions, new homework assignments began to emerge once more.
I heard that 10 million Hica was invested.
An absurdly large sum for a professor to invest in a final exam alone.
Yet, Dante pushed forward.
“…For what, exactly?”
While Collider still couldn’t grasp it.
Something cold descended and touched his cheek.
“It’s snowing.”
“Ah, so it is.”
By the end of December.
The first snow began to fall at the Academy.
* * *
At that moment, Gray had accurately grasped Professor Dante’s intentions, and the [Illusion Magic] began to accelerate.
While creating nearly 600 branches of the giant tree, his score had already become overwhelmingly first. However, scores and rankings were no longer that important.
The Subspace [Fantasy Land] had expanded several times, leading Gray to ever higher places.
From then on, Gray was completely immersed in the professor’s assignment.
His Mana stabilized, and his emotions did not waver.
Here, there was an assignment.
There was a design that the professor had painstakingly created over a long period.
With what heart did the professor create its framework?
Why, out of so many things, did it have to be a tree?
In this state of trance, Gray felt a strange sensation. The tree seemed to be alive and moving.
It was a peculiar thought. [Illusion Magic] is fundamentally just advanced puppetry, existing to deceive someone’s senses. Wasn’t that why the Habanero family was once called the ‘family of puppeteers’?
A living [Illusion Magic] cannot exist. Nevertheless, Gray felt it move. A tenacious life force that even pierced asphalt to put down roots, just to live.
After such contemplation, Gray finally reached the ‘last branch,’ and
the moment he filled the framework with [Illusion Magic] and added flesh.
The final exam was complete.
── .
The [Fantasy Land] surrounding the Students began to shatter.
As the hazy space disappeared, it was reality.
At this moment, all the Students looked up at the sky.
A shocking phenomenon was unfolding there.
“……!!”
Gray clutched his chest as well. Far, several kilometers away. An indescribably colossal tree was growing.
It began to pierce the sky and grow.
* * *
Ezekiel was a man who did not speak words of regret.
He was an Archmage who wielded Level 9 Magic, a [Challenger] ranked 171st on the continent. He was a collateral relative of royalty. He was also tall and renowned for his handsome face.
“Well, Dean Ezekiel.”
For him, who had no need to speak regretful words anywhere in the world, such a position was a torment.
“The Elder Council is, regrettably, skeptical.”
“…….”
He had just proposed expanding Professor Dante Hiacapo’s giant Illusion Magic nationwide.
He had requested an executive order from the royal family.
And had been rejected by the Elder Council.
Pushing up his silver-rimmed glasses with a long finger, Ezekiel asked again.
“……I am curious about the reason.”
“The reasons are, frankly, not just one or two. Conversely, this proposal would not have even reached the Elder Council’s meeting if it weren’t for the person called Head Professor Kain.”
“You said it was Ezekiel who proposed it just now. I will listen. To the reasons.”
Even before the elders, his regal bearing did not waver.
When Ezekiel asked, the elder replied with discomfort.
“First of all, shouldn’t a person like ‘Head Professor Kain’ come himself to make such a proposal?”
“…I told you. Professor Kain is being protected due to his status as the Academy’s most crucial figure.”
“Well. It is good news, considering the foundation of Illusion Magic has been shaken by the escape of the traitor Gloomy. Even so, this is not a courtesy to the royal family.”
“…….”
“Furthermore, we are skeptical about the event of having Illusionists participate nationwide in that giant Illusion Magic. Is it truly worth that much?”
“Of course, it is. As you can see from the materials I provided, it is not mere Illusion Magic.”
“Really? That’s what those who research in their rooms would think.”
The elder abruptly put away the meeting materials.
The paper fluttered and settled on the table.
“With the Kreutz Kingdom’s air raids, the mood of the kingdom’s citizens is already uneasy, and we’ve suffered economic blows… what help can an executive order for participation in a mere giant Illusion Magic provide?”
“Please review the materials. About 20 years ago, when Abraxas, known as the God of Imperial Illusion Magic, then known as the ‘Bright Star of Light⁺₊⋆,’ first succeeded in [Virtual World Forgery], it caused a stir in the empire’s economy.”
“That makes sense because it was Abraxas. Do you, the current Dean, possess the same abilities as that ‘Head Professor Kain’?”
“The Illusion Magic he unleashed this time is a new [Illusion Magic] of a similar caliber. If you look at the materials…”
“No. No. No. No.”
The elder sighed. Ezekiel’s eyes twitched menacingly. Yet, the old man did not yield.
“I am sorry, but I will no longer listen to talk about the materials. The royal family. We, the Elder Council, ask for your understanding that we are skeptical of unproven things.”
“…….”
Ezekiel had once tasted a sweet potato in his youth. That root vegetable, said to be eaten only by the poor.
He had felt so suffocated before he could even eat one, and he never touched them again.
Thirty minutes after entering the meeting room.
No matter how well he explained the reasons, he was repeatedly rejected, and he began to feel like he had swallowed about three sweet potatoes.
He was already frustrated. He knew the giant Illusion Magic was amazing, and all our students knew it, and everyone who saw it would know it. From the moment he realized there was no way to explain it to the elders.
And then. Now they wouldn’t even look at the materials?
“If you wish to propose to the Elder Council, prove its value.”
“If you want to prove its value, shouldn’t the Elder Council grant even a small permission?”
Irritation began to creep in.
“Why do you keep telling me to prove its value when I’ve told you multiple times that we only have a week left? We only have a week!”
“You are being emotional again. For decades. You have always been like this, Dean.”
He realized his mistake at that remark.
If he disrupted the meeting, the rejection would gain more justification.
That was the Elder Council’s objective.
But what could he do when he was irritated?
“Emotional or not, you’re already rejecting it and talking about it!”
“So, can you prove its value?”
“Do you elders enjoy repeating the same story?”
“You mean you cannot.”
“Are you playing with me?”
Bang!
Thick documents moved on their own and slammed onto the desk.
The elders flinched, such was the ultra-high-level [Telekinesis].
“Show some respect for people.”
Even when angry, Ezekiel maintained his legs crossed arrogantly and began to shout.
“How many times have I said the same thing—”
Just as his anger was about to erupt beyond his throat.
─ .
Something was caught by his sensitive perception.
“……?”
A sense so acute it could detect a few drops of blood dropped into a lake.
Ezekiel turned his head blankly.
Towards the direction of the curtains that hung like a veil.
It was then.
“I am curious too.”
A hearty voice rang out.
Ezekiel quickly stood up and bowed his head. To his half-brother.
“You have arrived, Your Highness.”
The entrance of the great one. At this, all the elders and attendants in the meeting room stood up and bowed their heads.
Bright golden hair. Pink eyes. Above all, an imposing face resembling a stern dragon. The greatest wise king in history who raised a collapsing nation. Rebecca’s father.
Ezekiel, who had no regrets in life, and the King, ‘Hyakka III,’ whom he could never reach in his entire life.
King Hyakka III entered the meeting room.
The King looked down at the elders with a stern gaze, like an enraged dragon.
“The Elder Council should be ashamed.”
At that remark, the entire Elder Council flinched.
“You know this fellow’s temper is prickly, yet you still try to provoke him and drive him away? Have your brains not matured even as you age and decay?”
“……We are sorry, Your Highness.”
“We are sorry!” the elders echoed.
“Ezekiel, you too. When will your heart deepen? That is why these old men of the Elder Council still do not respect you.”
“I am ashamed, Your Highness.”
“You pathetic fool.”
The King naturally moved to the head seat and sat down.
He was a man of few words and got straight to the point.
“So. Is that Illusion Magic so great? So great that you, who left the royal family 15 years ago because you didn’t want to see me, have suddenly crawled back on your own?”
“…Yes, Your Highness.”
“A great mage like yourself should have been able to bring even a fragment of that greatness.”
“I am sorry, Your Highness. I could not bring it.”
“Why?”
“Because even with my level of skill, it is impossible to replicate the actual Illusion Magic.”
The King asked again with a slightly softened expression.
“Those who told me to believe in the unseen were generally swindlers. What can you show me?”
He demanded the same thing as the elders.
Show me.
What Ezekiel had been unable to provide.
However, Ezekiel had known from the beginning.
That it was a reasonable demand.
That it was natural to show it to be believed.
He knew.
That was why he had no words until just now.
“……If Your Highness must see something.”
The situation had changed now.
Ezekiel suddenly stood up and approached the curtain of the veil. Then, pushing away the approaching attendants, he grabbed the curtain himself.
“I will show you directly.”
At this, the elders frowned, unable to understand what Ezekiel was talking about.
See it directly? He said it was a giant tree. Isn’t the distance from the royal palace to the Academy not even 25km?
Whoosh-!
However, the moment Ezekiel pulled open the curtain.
The meeting room plunged into shock.
“Ah, no…!!”
* * *
“Huh…?”
“Wh-what is that…!”
Forte was astonished the moment the [Fantasy Land] shattered, Dominic got goosebumps, and Hwaru’s legs gave out, causing her to collapse on the spot.
Once, during Professor Dante’s class, in the [Illusion Magic] unit. He had said, ‘Illusion Magic can only manifest what has been experienced.’ If so, what had the Head Professor named ‘Kain’ experienced?
Far away, in Sector 9, at the edge of the Magic Forest. About 4,000 meters above the sky.
An immensely colossal tree, covering the entire sky, had appeared.
Its roots spread out so widely they seemed to cover the city, buried in various parts of the void;
The towering form of the tree was overwhelmingly massive, like layers of mountain ranges stacked upon each other.
“…….”
The students were overwhelmed by its mere existence, by the indescribably colossal form of the tree.
Something beyond wonder.
The sensation of witnessing an unknown, cosmic monster.
Yet, it was not frightening. The tree was so warm, as if a god who loved humanity had descended.
Everyone knew. That it was [Illusion Magic]. That even the warmth and softness felt on their skin were manipulated. Yet, it was as familiar as a mother’s embrace, like a tree that grew from leaves in the backyard of a beloved home.
This was the [Illusion Magic] that the 1,200 students gathered here had created themselves.
The creators knew. Which ‘part’ of the tree they had made.
At the same time,
Flash ─
Tens of thousands of pre-made lights burst forth and illuminated various parts of the tree.
As the colorful lights, which disturbed the senses, warmly embraced all the students, Dominic realized precisely what the answer to this final exam signified.
“A Christmas tree……”
Come to think of it, it was tomorrow.
Christmas.
The time had already reached midnight.
In front of the 1,200-odd students who had gathered in the clearing after the [Fantasy Land] shattered.
The faculty, dressed in black exam proctor uniforms, appeared in the air. A total of 30 people, standing in a line.
Professor Dante, standing at their center, said,
“I will now end the exam.”