Return
Return
Swish, pang!
A signal flare shot into the sky once again. This time, it was white.
White signaled that anyone who saw it should fire their own flare to indicate their position.
After Sir Axel launched the flare, we all looked up at the sky together.
We hoped the knights searching the other areas might respond by firing a signal flare.
We waited a long time, but no other flares rose into the air.
No flares had gone up during the distress call, so I hadn't expected much. Even so, it had now become difficult to hold on to hope that any of the remaining knights had survived.
Sir Miro and Sir Axel accompanied me as we made our way toward the cave where Professor Katrin and the students were waiting.
Since I wasn't traveling alone, we couldn't move through the treetops.
As a result, it took us quite a while to reach the cave.
"Is everyone all right?"
"Welcome back."
Both the knights and the group waiting in the cave—Katrin and the students—were overjoyed to see one another.
The knights had heard what happened from me, but seeing with their own eyes that the students were alive brought them immense relief.
As for Katrin and the students, they were delighted that the knights who had come to rescue them were safe.
Still, with a significant number of knights dead or missing and some students missing as well, none of them could rejoice wholeheartedly.
While everyone exchanged greetings, I read the floating message before my eyes.
[The crisis situation has ended. A new 'Save Point' has been set.]
It was a Save Point I'd anticipated, but now that I thought about it, the timing and location were truly awkward.
Unless another event created a new 'Save Point', if I died, I'd end up restarting at this exact time and place.
'Well, it's not as if I haven't repeated several years before.'
I dismissed the message box and walked over to the group, who were engaged in conversation.
Surviving in the sealed land was by no means easy.
Food was the biggest problem.
The knights had each brought a week's worth of rations, but the students had only enough for a day or two.
If food hadn't been an issue, we would have stayed hidden in the cave until it was time to leave. Unfortunately, we had to forage in the forest to make up for the shortage.
During the day, we searched for edible berries and wild game.
But the Forest of the Seal had far more monsters than edible fruit and animals. We spent more time fighting monsters than procuring food.
Fortunately, the students, the knights, and even Katrin all pitched in, and we managed to scrape together barely enough food.
The cave wasn't entirely safe, either.
One night, we were even ambushed by monsters.
Everyone stepped up and managed to slay the attackers, but that night, we had no choice but to stay awake, eyes wide open.
We considered relocating, but until the final day, we couldn't find a better spot nearby.
A lot happened, and we suffered plenty, but by the final day, all that shared hardship had brought everyone quite close.
On the morning of the seventh day, the day the Headmaster had said he would return—
We set off for our original destination: the clearing.
One professor, two knights, and five students, myself included.
A total of eight people made their way through the forest.
Having served as the guide all week, I took the lead.
But a guide wasn't really necessary.
We hadn't gone very far when a pillar of light shot up ahead of us.
The knights launched their very last remaining signal flare.
Swish, pang!
Blue smoke painted the sky.
Blue. It was the signal that survivors had been found.
"You survived!"
When we arrived at the clearing, the Headmaster welcomed us with open arms.
The knights accompanying the Headmaster also looked astonished to see us return alive.
Even though they'd seen the flare, they hadn't expected most of the students to still be alive.
"Is this everyone who made it back?"
At the Headmaster's question, Sir Miro and Professor Katrin nodded.
Over the course of the week, they'd searched whenever they had the opportunity, but they hadn't found any other knights.
"There is much I wish to ask, and much to be said, but for now, let us return to the Academy first."
The Headmaster closed the box that had been projecting the light, then gathered us together with his escort knights.
Once everyone had assembled around him, he activated the magic circle.
I could see mana surging at his gesture.
The densely gathered mana enveloped us, connecting to a distant point far beyond the sky.
"We are departing!"
Before the Headmaster's words had even faded, the world lurched, and in the next instant, we arrived at the Academy.
Instead of the vine-choked forest, solid stone walls appeared before Katrin's eyes.
They were inside the building where they had been standing before departing for the sealed land.
"Katrin!"
As Katrin sighed in relief, a small child threw herself into her arms.
"Thank goodness. I'm so glad!"
It was Princess Aisha, still a young girl.
She clutched Katrin's clothes, rubbing her face against them.
"I'm dirty. And I stink."
"It's fine. You're not dirty at all! Katrin came back safe and sound."
She was a niece forced to act like an adult far too soon because of a frightening king and her brothers.
Katrin found her admirable, yet concerning, but right now, the Princess had shed her adult mask and was weeping like a baby in Katrin's arms.
Seeing her niece cry made Katrin feel even more heartbroken for her.
Katrin quietly stroked the Princess's head. After a short while, the Princess stopped crying and put her adult facade back on.
Regrettable as it was, it was now time for the Princess to perform the duties expected of her.
"I heard Aisha sent Alex."
"Yes. I made an unreasonable request of Young Lord Alex."
"As long as you realize that, it's fine. Still, thanks to Aisha's request, everyone was able to return safely. Thanks to Alex, we all made it back alive."
"Is that true? I must go express my gratitude to Young Lord Alex right away!"
"And offer your sympathies to the students and knights who returned safely as well."
"Yes!"
Perhaps because she had heard that everyone had survived thanks to her decision, the Princess approached Alex with a bright expression.
Katrin watched Alex chatting with the Princess.
Besides the Princess, several other students had gathered around Alex.
Bria, who had spent the week with them, stayed right beside Alex rather than going elsewhere, and was that girl's name Balea? The female student from the Inherited Ability Faculty was also handing him a towel.
"He's somehow bizarrely prepared."
They weren't the only ones.
The students who had spent the week with him greeted him like old acquaintances, the knights who had been with them acknowledged him, and even the male student talking with Mirisa seemed to be thanking him.
It was a completely different sight from when he had first entered the Academy.
"Although there still seem to be many students acting as if they don't know him, even this much is quite impressive."
As the very person who had recommended him to the Queen and brought him to the Academy, the sight before her was immensely satisfying.
"Professor Katrin, may I have a word with you for a moment?"
Just then, the Headmaster called out to her. After beckoning Sir Miro over as well, he erected a soundproof barrier around them using mana.
"I understand you must be exhausted, but I need to hear a brief account of what transpired."
Though the Headmaster had previously said that dying in the sealed land was an accepted risk, the Academy students were all awakened nobles.
The disappearance of students—not to mention a professor who was the Queen's younger sister—was no ordinary matter.
Many people, including the Headmaster himself, were desperate to know what had happened.
Katrin recounted the events from their initial disappearance up to their return as objectively as possible. When she reached the point where they met up with the knights, Sir Miro chimed in, supplementing her account with his own experiences.
The Headmaster listened attentively, then smiled once Katrin and the knight had finished speaking.
"I heard from the Princess as well, but student Alex truly accomplished a great deal. At the very least, I must award him extra academic credits."
At the Headmaster's words, Sir Miro also praised Alex.
"Indeed. His character goes without saying, but his skill was formidable as well. I'm not sure what kind of ability he possesses, but he was stronger than most knights."
"Well, he is the son of Duke Gracia, after all."
Although she knew it wasn't due to the ducal family's inherent ability, Katrin didn't bother to object to the Headmaster's comment.
There were far more important matters at hand.
"My thanks to you, Sir Miro, and to the knights who participated in the search party. As for the families of those who did not return, I will contact them separately."
The Headmaster expressed his gratitude to Sir Miro.
Recognizing the Headmaster's words as a subtle cue to leave, the knight bowed to him and headed toward where the other knights were gathered.
Inside the soundproof barrier, only the Headmaster and Katrin remained.
The Headmaster's expression shifted. His face grim, he spoke to Katrin.
"If what you say is true, Professor, then there is a high probability that student Ride intentionally led you astray, correct?"
Though Katrin was the only one listening, the Headmaster's voice had dropped even lower than before.
Katrin sighed at the Headmaster's question.
"Circumstantially, it's highly likely Ride targeted us and used his ability on us. But it's still only a possibility. There might be another reason, or it could just be a coincidence..."
Katrin tried to hold on to other possibilities until the very end.
Still, having heard her account, both she and the Headmaster were convinced that Ride was the perpetrator.
The Headmaster shook his head.
"Even if Ride was the culprit, we have no choice but to report this as a simple accident this time. The person in question is missing, and there is no hard evidence, so we cannot frame a count's son as the criminal based solely on circumstantial evidence."
Katrin agreed with the Headmaster's assessment. She, too, felt that taking that route would be less troublesome.
"But if we report it as an accident, Professor Katrin's evaluation score will take a hit. Your salary will likely be docked for a few months."
The Headmaster expressed his regret, but Katrin didn't particularly care. Her family held an earldom, her elder sister was the Queen, and she had accumulated quite a fortune during her mercenary days.
She had taken up the professorship at the Academy solely because of Princess Aisha anyway, so performance ratings and salary cuts meant little to nothing to her.
Katrin and the Headmaster were engaged in a serious conversation for a long time.
Judging by their expressions, it was certainly about Ride, not me.
Although there was no concrete evidence, looking back at everything that had happened, one couldn't help but suspect Ride.
But the person in question was missing—or rather, had been devoured by monsters—and with no other evidence, this matter was bound to be buried under nothing more than lingering suspicions.
While I watched Katrin and the Headmaster, Balea and Bria chatted animatedly beside me about what had happened in the sealed land.
"So Young Lord Alex dramatically showed up at the last moment and saved everyone?"
"I tell you, in that moment, I thought an angel had descended from the heavens!"
Balea and Bria seemed thrilled to be reunited, and had become even closer best friends than before.
"After realizing that Professor Katrin's group had taken the wrong path, Her Highness folded her hands together and looked up at Young Lord Alex. Upon seeing that, Young Lord Alex declared, 'If Her Highness wishes it, I shall risk my life and go!' before disappearing alone into the forest!"
"Oh! So that's how Young Lord Alex came looking for us!"
In the middle of all this, Balea was exaggerating what I had actually said to an absurd degree.
Listening to her blabber on, my face grew so hot that I couldn't stand staying here any longer.
The other students were heading back too, and it seemed the Princess had departed after exchanging her greetings, so I decided it was time to return to the Academy Dormitory.
My first field trip. My first visit to the sealed land. So many things had happened.
Even though I'd actively sought out trouble this time, it seemed a normal life at the Academy was simply out of the question for me.
Tak, tak.
I patted the pouch hanging at my hip.
Still, having gotten my rewards, I was content.