Chapter 293
Chapter 293
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 293
>Chapter Title: Ah, No. I Said Something Unnecessary
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After his conversation with Parun concluded, Aster left the mansion.
In the end, he had decided to join hands with the Third Princess.
‘The issue now is Bellrose.’
Shaking hands was all well and good, but they hadn’t settled on the extent of support.
Parun had put it this way.
- Just pass along our intentions to the Third Princess for now. It’d be better to think a bit more about the details.
In truth, they were holding off on a firm answer because there wasn’t much the Magic Tower could do even if they allied.
Well, from Bellrose’s perspective, simply borrowing the influence of a “grand archmage” would be more than satisfying enough.
But one couldn’t keep stalling with empty promises forever.
‘I’ll need to give this some thought.’
With that, the Bellrose matter was tentatively settled.
The next day.
Aster visited Professor Pelina’s lab at her summons.
And there, he intuited that things might resolve more easily than expected.
Why?
It was due to Professor Pelina’s utterly unexpected attitude.
“I’m sorry.”
“……Pardon?”
The moment she saw Aster, Professor Pelina bowed her head slightly and apologized without preamble.
“What are you sorry for……?”
“The black mage’s artifact. It was stolen. I said I’d be careful, but it seems the Golden Horse Society intruders took it this time.”
Professor Pelina said this as she gently closed her eyes. As if she didn’t have the face to meet his gaze.
It was understandable.
The Prezen artifact had been Aster’s property.
As a professor, she had borrowed a student’s item for research only for it to be stolen—there was nothing she could say.
Even if that research had been intended to help the student.
For a brief, very brief moment.
Aster looked at Professor Pelina’s downcast face as he gathered his thoughts. It didn’t take him long to speak.
“Ah…… That’s too bad.”
His voice carried a tone of regret.
“I’m sorry.”
“What…… are we going to do? I trusted you with it, Professor Pelina. And now it’s been stolen by the Golden Horse Society? Salvatium…… This is……”
“…….”
Professor Pelina clamped her mouth shut.
Aster didn’t miss his chance.
“Ha, what a mess. This is really troubling.”
“Is there some problem……?”
“The problem is that you lost the item, Professor Pelina, but it’s fine. It was a favor you were doing, an unexpected accident, so…… However…….”
“However?”
“Oh, no. It’s nothing. I’m okay. It’s just…… I’m in a bit of a bind now…….”
“……A bind?”
Aster nodded. But that lasted only a moment.
“Ah, no. Forget it. I said something unnecessary.”
“……What is it? Tell me.”
“It’s just…… Ah, no. Sigh.”
Professor Pelina’s eyes twitched faintly at Aster’s distressed expression. His face looked that bad—
“Tell me. If it’s something I can help with, I’ll do anything. No, I have to. This is my mistake.”
“Oh, well, you see…….”
Aster hesitated before spilling the situation at Professor Pelina’s urging, as if he had no choice.
“You know I went to the Great Forest……?”
“I heard about it from the headmaster. But what about it?”
Aster’s eyes gleamed faintly.
“How much did you hear……?”
“You went to the Great Forest on a simple errand, got tangled up with Destrow and the Golden Horse Society. That’s the extent of it.”
“You know quite a bit?”
“No, not really.”
Professor Pelina shook her head slightly.
After a bit more back-and-forth, it became clear she only knew about Destrow and the Golden Horse Society.
She hadn’t been told what Aster had done there.
That was when the light in Aster’s eyes brightened further.
“Actually, I met a reclusive mage there. And I made a promise with that mage…….”
“A promise?”
“Yes. He was extremely interested in Salvatium. So I brought up the Prezen artifact, and…… well…….”
“……You promised to hand the artifact over to him?”
“Not quite that far, but he said he’d like to see it once your research was done.”
At those words, Professor Pelina let out a deep sigh. Her temples throbbed, but she somehow held back her stress and asked,
“Did you perhaps receive payment in advance?”
Otherwise, there’d be no reason for him to look so troubled.
Aster nodded as if her guess was spot on.
“Yes, unfortunately.”
“Was it money……?”
“No, not money. I received something that can’t be repaid with cash.”
“What do you……?”
“He saved my life.”
“…….”
Professor Pelina said nothing.
A heavy silence settled over the room.
It wasn’t long before Aster spoke again.
“It’s fine. I’ll just be an asshole. I’ll be a mage who breaks his word…… What can you do? Don’t worry too much, Professor Pelina.”
“…….”
“Whew, let’s talk about this later. I need to contact him soon.”
Aster glanced at Professor Pelina’s expression, offered a greeting, and left the lab. A faint smile played on his lips.
‘Not bad.’
Who knew things would work out this smoothly.
He’d been worried about how to explain retrieving the artifact from Professor Pelina, but it had gone surprisingly well.
He wondered if he’d overdone the acting, but it had to be this much to avoid suspicion.
Still, the concern was……
‘Tch, giving the artifact back is the problem.’
If the research were done, he wouldn’t need to return it, but apparently not. Either way, he had to give it back to Professor Pelina.
The issue was that now, it wouldn’t be easy.
“Tch, it’ll work out somehow.”
No plan was the plan, after all.
Aster put thoughts of Professor Pelina aside and headed to the dorms.
And so, the matter with Professor Pelina was safely resolved.
……A few days passed like that.
- Regarding the charges of collusion with the black mage against Second Prince Deoric de Giggs Adrian, we declare him not guilty.
As Bellrose had predicted, the Second Prince was acquitted.
His faction had taken considerable damage during the trial, but not enough to be routed.
Bellrose timed it perfectly to spread a rumor.
- The Third Princess has taken in a mysterious grand archmage.
The sharp ones guessed it was the one who had crashed the inauguration ceremony.
The repercussions were not insignificant.
“……The Third Princess has a grand archmage on her side?”
“Hmm, well now. This is baffling. A grand archmage, of all things. Who could it be……?”
“Could it be one of the Frost Moon mages? If so, that’s serious trouble. It’ll stir up a storm.”
“That…… Hmm, I’ll need to look into it.”
Some suspected the Third Princess had allied with Grand Duke Musphelun, while others were alarmed just by the fact she had a grand archmage.
Either way, no one disagreed that the imperial situation would grow turbulent from here.
Naturally, attention turned to the Third Princess and the academy, but then news came that seized it all at once.
We celebrate the return of Grand Duke Musphelun de Giggs Adrian, brother of the late emperor and faithful servant who fought for the Adrian Empire……
Proclamations posted across the continent.
These were transcriptions of an edict penned by the emperor himself, conveying the current imperial stance toward Grand Duke Musphelun.
The title “brother of the late emperor” signaled distance from the current imperial family, while “faithful servant who fought for the Adrian Empire” demoted the grand duke from imperial blood to mere subject.
It was perhaps inevitable.
From the current imperial family’s view, Grand Duke Musphelun was an extreme threat.
Yet they couldn’t coldly cast him out because of the Frost Moon mages who had rallied around him.
Most had retired into seclusion, but some held key positions of power.
Was that why?
……Thus, we proclaim the lands including the Second Black-White Slums and vicinity as the Grand Duchy of Musphelun……
The emperor had granted the grand duke’s request, bestowing territory around Hazen City including the Second Black-White Slums. This sparked yet another massive wave of reaction.
Granting a grand duchy right in the heart of the empire?
“How is this…….”
“No matter how great Grand Duke Musphelun is, does this even make sense?”
“Heh, heh…… It doesn’t.”
In some eyes, it was like inviting a lion eyeing the throne into the courtyard. No one knew how the grand duke had secured it—not even the emperor’s closest aides or the Frost Moon mages.
……Only the negotiating parties, the emperor and Grand Duke Musphelun, knew the truth.
While the external situation churned in chaos.
Vacation ceremony arrived before long.
[……And with that, we conclude the vacation ceremony. Allow me one more word: Amid these chaotic times in many ways, I offer my deepest apologies and gratitude to the students who completed their studies safely…….]
The students seated for the principal’s same-old boring speech via announcement stared blankly into space with half-dead eyes.
How many times had it started with “Finally,” “Allow me to add,” “Also,” and the like?
The speech, promised to be brief, dragged on for a full hour, and only then did life return to the students’ eyes.
[……That is all.]
Click.
“It’s really over?”
“Seems like it.”
The students, disbelieving, glanced around before looking to Professor Jeira at the front for confirmation. She opened her half-closed eyes and nodded.
“It’s over.”
Smiles spread across the students’ faces.
“Opening day is as previously announced. Enjoy your break safely, and we’ll see you next semester. Dismissed.”
The moment Professor Jeira left after those words, an enormous cheer erupted.
It resembled the roar of beasts stripped of language, and this scene wasn’t limited to M3 Class.
It was an understandable spectacle.
After all, this first semester had been exceptionally grueling.
And so……
“Vacation!”
“Yeah.”
“Vacation time.”
Vacation began.
Excited Damian, his usual calm self Zenbi, and Evelyn smiling with a rare look of relief……
“……Evelyn?”
Zenbi jumped and turned at Evelyn’s voice, which had slipped in all too naturally.
And for good reason—Evelyn wasn’t in M3 Class.
“When did you get here?”
“When? Just now.”
“This early?”
“I have no friends!”
Damian’s remark instantly chilled the mood. It had poked right at Evelyn’s sore spot.
Yet, for some reason.
Evelyn, who would normally snap back, just nodded with a beaming smile today.
“As expected of Damian. So perceptive. You got it right away.”
It was downright eerie by now.
“What’s…… with you, Evelyn?”
Had she lost her mind?
Zenbi asked with a drained face. But there was no answer. Just a grin as she tilted her head side to side.
Her mouth opened soon after.
“Anyway, aren’t we going?”
“Where…….”
At Zenbi’s question, Evelyn replied as if it were obvious.
“Where else? The beach.”
Zenbi realized.
Why Evelyn was grinning like this.
‘Free trip…….’
……The start of vacation.