Our Department Head Isn't Sick - 3
The sudden bad news brought even work to a complete stop. Postponed tasks could be handled later, but leaving a madman to his own devices was something you could never take back.
"He actually said that?"
"Yes..."
"You didn't mishear him?"
"I wish I had."
I double-checked just in case, but my future nephew-in-law only kept giving me the answer I didn't want.
I rubbed my brow without thinking. More than wondering how it had come to this, the thought that hit me was that it had finally arrived.
No wonder the kid snapped.
It was a damn mess, but not some catastrophe I could never have imagined. This was a kid who'd been ground into the dirt nonstop from the moment he turned seventeen and came of age. Objectively speaking, it wouldn't have been strange if he'd lost it years ago.
We'd even caught him rotting from the inside over the summer and patched him up then. I'd thought that had brought him back to his senses—but out of sight, he'd been quietly going mad all over again.
And of course it happens while he's away.
My head was already throbbing. If he'd been nearby it might have been one thing, but of course the bastard had to break down the moment he was far out of reach.
A broken magical tool usually starts working again if you smack it a few times. Even the Magic Lord herself had officially announced that as a temporary fix.
So if there really was no other way, beating the kid a few times might count as a solution. Magic and holy power had a hard time curing mental illness, but an exorcism ritual backed by pure physical force? That might be a different story.
"We'll leave it."
After a short deliberation, I reached my conclusion.
If the Minister of Finance suddenly summoned the Audit Department Chief, rumors would fly. Then everyone would find out the kid had lost his mind.
And it wasn't as if I could just waltz over to the Academy myself. So we'd have to wait until his schedule there ended and he came back.
"Will that be all right? There's still more than ten days left until the closing ceremony."
"There's no other way. Leaving him completely alone for that stretch might even help."
My future nephew-in-law nodded as if he understood, but honestly that was just wishful thinking.
Sure, if we left him alone he might recover. The kid had snapped under crushing work and a confession no one could have seen coming. So maybe, when no one was poking at him and he could spend some quiet time by himself, his mind would settle on its own.
The worst case was that he'd only get worse with time. In that scenario, summoning him right now might actually be the right call.
Do I just leave it to heaven?
I was worried that leaving him alone would let him spiral further, but I was just as worried that calling him in would give him the shock that pushed him over the edge.
That goddamn kid.
A sigh slipped out on its own. He'd been... well, even when he'd first become a civil servant he hadn't exactly been "normal," but one fresh, lively official had completely fallen apart in just four years.
He'd run his mouth about how those four years felt like forty, like four hundred. I just hadn't expected him to actually wreck himself like he'd been grinding for forty years just to keep that claim true.
"Get out. And don't say a word of this to anyone else."
"Yes, sir. Understood."
I sent my future nephew-in-law away for now. There was no point holding onto a section chief when I had no solution to offer.
I watched him hurry out, then turned my gaze up toward the ceiling.
It'd be nice if someone could help him out.
Of course I knew that was greedy. This wasn't the Imperial Capital; among the people at the Academy, there wasn't exactly anyone who could fix that bastard's madness. Someone might try to soothe him, but that would be the limit.
The young lady would probably handle him carefully for fear of making things worse if she poked him the wrong way. Figures like the headmaster or vice headmaster might deal with him officially, but there was no private closeness there. The students? I'd count myself lucky if they weren't just scared of him.
Is there anyone suitable?
Someone who wouldn't freeze up under the weight of the title "Audit Department Chief," who had a decent amount of personal familiarity, and who could look him straight in the eye and speak bluntly the moment he showed signs of losing it.
...Nobody.
Unfortunately, no one who met every condition came to mind.
I'd give up on him recovering at the Academy. The only silver lining was that the bastard wasn't the type to go around advertising his own insanity to everyone.
After pouring everything into the foot-volleyball weakest-player selection match, I was sitting in a corner of the field cooling down now that the results were in.
We hadn't even needed a selection match in the first place. Among us, Later was easily the worst with his body. Anyone could see he was completely uncoordinated, but he was the only one who refused to admit it.
"You play foot-volleyball like absolute trash."
"Thanks for the compliment."
In the end, Later—who had only passionately shown off how uncoordinated he was—left Ryutis with that glowing praise and went off to fetch the ball he'd sent flying into the distance.
We'd decided that whoever kicked the ball out of the field had to go retrieve it themselves. That meant Later had been forced to leave the field for more than half the match time. Same story right now.
"Do we keep going?"
"Let's suffer a little longer."
I gave a short answer to Ryutis beside me.
Luise hadn't left Big Brother's side all day. She always stuck close, but today it was even more so.
Anyone could tell she had something she desperately wanted to say. So I'd conveniently cleared out of the way. I'd gotten sick of card games anyway and needed a new way to kill time.
I just didn't know how long I was supposed to keep making myself scarce, which was why I was still sitting here.
"Later still hasn't come back?"
While Ryutis and I were blankly staring into empty air, Ainter and Tanian returned from fetching water.
"Yeah. Looked like he kicked it pretty far."
"If he'd invested even half that power into accuracy, it would've been nice."
Ainter casually dropped that cutting remark even though the person in question wasn't around. So this was what it looked like when someone killed you with a smile.
"Are you planning to keep going?"
"Yeah."
"Excellent. It's refreshing to work up a sweat after so long."
I watched Ainter lightly smile as he handed over the water bottle, then turned my gaze to Tanian.
"I'm fine as well. Once the snow starts falling we won't be able to do this, so we should while we can."
With Tanian also on board, the decision was made. Even if Later tried to quit this trash foot-volleyball now, we could steamroll him by majority vote.
Of course, given Later's personality, he would never be the one to suggest stopping while he was losing.
He'll at least admit he's the weakest, though.
There was a world of difference between a game you played while stubbornly insisting you weren't the worst and a game you played after accepting how pathetic you were. Watching that gap alone would be entertaining enough.
"As it is written: my two legs shall forever walk the path the Lord guides."
"Oh."
Unfortunately for Later, Tanian seemed to share the same thought, because he cast a holy spell.
Fatigue vanished in an instant and my body felt brand new again. If anything, my condition felt better than before we'd started foot-volleyball.
"A holy spell from the next Saint? Isn't that a bit much?"
Ryutis clenched and unclenched his fists a few times as he spoke, and Tanian answered with a gentle smile.
"Holy spells exist to be used. The Lord is surely pleased when we use them often."
It was an extremely subjective judgment, but I decided to let it slide. Doctrinally speaking, the Saint was the son of God. If the son said so, then that was that. Interfering in someone else's family affairs wasn't right either.
But for all of Tanian's consideration, the foot-volleyball was forcibly brought to an end.
Whatever had happened, the ball Later brought back was completely burst.
"It was stuck on the founder's statue."
For a second I entertained the reasonable suspicion that Later had deliberately gone and stabbed it.
From that day on we kept hanging around outside. Foot-volleyball, soccer, kickball—anything you could do with a ball, we did it all.
"It's getting pretty cold. Can't we just stay inside?"
Ryutis looked reluctant about the endless outdoor activities, but—
"My, shrinking from this little chill? You've been slacking on your training."
—Later's provocation, coming from an ice-attribute mage with cold resistance, reignited his fighting spirit at once.
So knights and mages really didn't get along. They clashed at the drop of a hat.
They used to at least hold back.
Back when they'd both been trying to look good in front of Luise, they'd restrained themselves. Now that there was nothing left to hold them back, the two princes had fully surrendered to their madness. Still, at least they weren't coming to actual blows. They were just fighting while they played.
I watched Later show off the miracle of heading the ball so that it went behind him instead of forward, then quietly stood up.
"Bathroom for a second."
But to my surprise, no one paid me any attention at all. Ryutis had started wrapping mana around the ball and kicking it.
Crazy bastard.
Putting his talent to such pointless use.
Feeling bleak at the waste of ability unfolding right in front of me, I headed into the building. It was a good thing the other knight-department students couldn't see this. If they had, they'd only have felt inferior.
"Ah, Erich."
Just as I was heading for the bathroom, Luise's voice came from behind me.
What? The club room was upstairs—there was no reason we should run into each other. Luise wouldn't leave the club room while Big Brother was still in it in the first place.
"Luise? What's up?"
"I need to talk to you. Perfect timing that you came in just now."
Luise smiled faintly, but her complexion was oddly dark.
She quickly checked our surroundings, then quietly stepped closer. Her face was so full of tension that I tensed up too.
"Could you... maybe talk with Big Brother a little?"
"...Huh?"
But I couldn't produce an appropriate reaction to the words Luise whispered so quietly.
What kind of request was this supposed to be?
I headed for the club room where Big Brother would be alone. Luise had just told me something shocking.
"Big Brother... Big Brother seems... a little, just a tiny bit, like his heart is hurting."
She'd phrased it as gently as possible, but in summary it meant Big Brother had lost it. If Luise, who had to be looking at him through rose-tinted glasses, was saying that much, then it was truly serious.
Up until now Luise, Irina, and the young lady had apparently been trying to handle it somehow, but unfortunately it hadn't shown much effect.
"...But why me?"
"Because maybe... if it's family talking, he might actually listen a little...?"
Honestly I didn't think Big Brother would listen to me in particular, but I couldn't ignore Luise when she was looking at me so desperately.
Besides, if I hadn't heard that Big Brother had gone mad it would be one thing, but I couldn't just ignore it now that I knew.
The family is going to explode.
My personal feelings aside, the family itself would truly be shattered.
Even the news that Big Brother had been detained for five days had thrown everyone into chaos. What if the heir who was supposed to inherit the title and territory had gone insane? Mother would faint on the spot. Maybe even the nanny would collapse.
As for Father... I didn't know. But even he would be shaken if the family's masterpiece went mad.
Damn it.
The moment that thought hit me, my shoulders suddenly felt heavy. This wasn't just a friend's request or Big Brother's well-being anymore—the family's survival was on the line.
But I couldn't hesitate. If I, his own family, ran away and gave up, who else was supposed to face him?
"Big Brother."
"What, you're back already?"
I took a deep breath and quickly opened the club room door. If I opened it slowly I felt like I'd bolt halfway through.
"Just taking a short break. Running the whole time is exhausting."
Then I took another deep breath. How was I supposed to continue from here?
Probe him?
Impossible. I was terrible at that kind of conversational approach, and Big Brother was far more used to it than I was anyway.
Just wait?
Also impossible. Luise had already watched and watched until she was exhausted and come to me for rescue.
Be direct?
...That was probably better. If the situation was this serious, delaying any longer was the wrong move. I should just go for it.
"Come to think of it, Big Brother. Luise was worried about you."
"Ah."
At my words, Big Brother gave an awkward little smile.
Judging by the reaction, this was the right answer. Cutting straight through was better than dancing around it.
"Did something happen?"
Big Brother stroked his chin. He looked like he was calculating whether he was allowed to say this, whether it was okay to unload it.
But the hesitation was short. After stroking his chin a few times, he nodded and opened his mouth with a serious look in his eyes—almost like a priest about to proselytize.
...And the longer Big Brother talked, the more I understood why Luise had even dragged me into this.
"Big Brother."
"Yeah."
"Have you lost your mind?"
To my amazement, Big Brother's whole body locked up at my reaction.
What the hell. Why was he reacting like that.
Don't tell me he said all that and still wanted some reaction other than "you've gone mad"?