Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Librarian Ernst (13) - Fake? Real?
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After the exchange meeting ended, Eris's standing had become incredibly solid.
The dramatic performance she put on during the mock battle and the process leading up to it had tilted the already high evaluations from those around her even further toward outright idolization.
At first, Eris was happy about it.
Her somewhat awkward relationship with her mentor had warmed up again, giving her some peace of mind, and from an academic standpoint, the improved public perception was nothing but beneficial.
But.
...There's a limit to how much of that is okay.
In her dormitory private room, Eris let out a deep sigh.
The reactions were too excessive.
She had always received fairly high praise as the disciple of a grand mage and the top student in the training hall, but now it had crossed into near-worship territory.
Even just sitting on a bench lost in thought was hailed as a picturesque scene of her pondering Ravellossia's future, and casual remarks she made while nodding along with other students had become a fad circulating under ridiculous titles like "Eris's Words of Wisdom."
Honestly, it felt insane.
I should avoid the training hall for a while.
There wasn't much time left until graduation.
The training hall classes were becoming sporadic, shifting to something closer to self-study, and students were spending more time gossiping about their futures than actually studying.
Well, they had always done the latter, but the key point was that what used to be done on the sly was now out in the open, and none of the professors said a word about it.
In Eris's case especially, having secured a spot at the Sky Academy with her decisive performance at the exchange meeting, she could probably skip classes and self-study elsewhere as long as she applied in advance—no one would object.
Studying at her mentor's house, which she hadn't visited in a while, sounded good, and scouting out the area around the Sky Academy wouldn't hurt either.
But even as various options came to mind, the place that ultimately occupied Eris's thoughts was a fixed one.
The silent library, untouched by human footsteps.
A certain librarian in one corner of that library, calmly reading his own books with an expression that made it unclear whether he was open to visitors or not.
...Come to think of it, I haven't seen his face since the exchange meeting.
It couldn't be helped.
With reconciling with her mentor, summons from high-ranking royals, and a whirlwind of busyness for a while, it was inevitable.
"Well, considering all he's done for me, boosting his sales a bit as thanks wouldn't hurt. Plus, indulging his hobby a little wouldn't be bad, hmm."
Packaging her true feelings of "I just want to go see him" and "I want to share the experience of reading the same books" in a more plausible way, Eris lay down on her bed, looking forward to tomorrow.
Or rather, she tried to.
-Oh, really?
-Why would I lie?
Eris bolted upright.
Her movement was like being bounced off a trampoline.
She heard two voices—a man's and a woman's.
Voices full of joy and warmth, as if lovers were enjoying a secret rendezvous and exchanging sweet nothings.
That in itself was fine. Honestly, it was none of her business.
The problem was that the voices sounded all too familiar to Eris.
Whoosh!
Eris flung open the curtains.
Beyond the double-layered, tightly sealed windows, she saw the backs of a woman and a man.
A fairly tall build, slightly lean frame. Light formal attire and curly blond hair.
The woman was hard to pinpoint with distinctive features, but Eris vaguely recalled her as someone who had spoken to Ernst a few times at the library.
-Hahaha, you're so funny.
-I don't think I said anything particularly amusing.
The shadows and voices of the two gradually receded into the distance.
Almost reflexively, Eris dashed out of the dormitory and frantically scanned the surroundings.
She barely caught sight of them at the edge of her vision and closed the distance, tailing the pair.
The woman chatting away looked immensely pleased, and while Ernst wore his usual impassive face, the corners of his mouth were ever so slightly upturned.
For some reason, Eris felt a surge of irritation bubbling up inside her.
It was a smile she had seen from him before.
But directing it at her versus at some woman she barely knew felt entirely different.
-Lady Eris is, in fact...
Eris flinched, her body trembling.
-Really? She didn't seem like that.
-You can't judge a person by appearances alone.
She couldn't make out the specifics of their conversation.
But people can usually grasp the general vibe from tone and nuance alone.
Conspiracy theories, mockery, sneers, malicious rumors spread from behind backs.
The sly cunning and irresponsibility unique to those who peddle such things seeped from the two voices.
A inexplicable sense of betrayal made Eris tremble.
...Wait a minute.
She soon noticed a sense of incongruity and stopped in her tracks.
The circumstantial evidence was clear.
If this were a story from one of the books she'd read, she could foresee the impending catastrophe.
But precisely because of that, Eris regained her composure.
It was too perfectly scripted.
Too plausible.
Hearing someone's conversation by chance, and it just happening to be people she knew, with them badmouthing her no less?
No, even before that.
─How could voices from people walking outside reach me inside my soundproofed dormitory room in the first place? I didn't even have the windows open!
The moment she realized it, Eris instinctively cast a spell on herself.
A spell that nullifies mental attacks below a certain level and weakens stronger ones.
Crackle!
The moment the spell activated, she felt a recoil like shattering a thin sheet of glass.
When Eris looked ahead again, the figures of Ernst and the library visitor were gone.
Instead, there stood two complete strangers with vaguely similar builds—men she'd never seen before.
With no color in their faces, the two halted abruptly.
Discarding their cheerful facades from moments ago, they stared at Eris with frozen, icy expressions.
Their mouths opened.
"Caught?"
"Caught."
"Caught us."
"We've been caught."
Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught...
Eris instinctively stepped back.
And then she realized.
The voices weren't coming from their mouths.
They were whispering directly into her ears.
"Ugh...?!"
A chilling disgust and terror washed over her, prompting Eris to erect a wall of flames around herself like a protective embrace.
The voices nearby receded, soon dissolving into cackling laughter.
Confirming the direction, Eris's eyes widened.
Marik Grimrun.
The opponent she had knocked out in their recent duel was grinning at her like a clown.
"Aww, hate it, hate it. You're too quick on the uptake. I wanted to let you stew in misconceptions a bit longer, make you wail in despair!"
"You...! What the hell is this!?"
"What is this? You're asking the obvious. Revenge."
Marik's eyes widened enormously, almost as if her eyeballs might pop out—more reptilian or like a dead fish than human.
Instinctive revulsion hit Eris, and she staggered back a step.
But only one step.
She quickly gritted her teeth, drew her wand from her bosom, and aimed it at Marik.
Courage against fear, composure maintaining reason amid chaos.
A sight someone might praise as "admirable." But watching it, a grotesque twist formed on Marik's face.
It wasn't anger.
Disappointment. Or boredom.
"As expected, this won't be fun."
"?"
Before Eris could question it, the two who had been far off let out eerie shrieks and lunged at her.
The dilemma was momentary.
Instead of intercepting them with a spell, Eris spun around and bolted in the opposite direction.
She gritted her teeth.
I was too careless...!
Given Marik's personality, retaliation in some form was to be expected, but with everything going smoothly lately, she'd let her guard down completely.
Charging out of her room just because she heard a familiar voice—far too defenseless and foolish.
Even if the spell had briefly bewitched her, she'd been too slow to notice.
That said, if she had to make an excuse.
How and when did she cast the spell? Without any precursor warning?
Eris had solid fundamentals as a mage.
Solid fundamentals meaning not just proficiency in casting spells, but also detecting and countering others' spells.
Yet this time, she'd fallen into the illusion without sensing any precursor or incongruity.
She knew Marik was talented, but had her skill improved this much in such a short time?
-Don't go. Don't go. Don't go.
-Come with us. Come with us. Come with us.
Behind her, the eerie voices and the two pursuers closing in at terrifying speed.
They were speaking from their own mouths now, not whispering in her ears, but it didn't make her skin crawl any less.
Even sprinting at full speed with body reinforcement spells, the distance wasn't widening.
Eris fell into thought.
Should I intercept them?
Marik was nowhere in sight.
If she hadn't caught up yet, this was a chance to reduce the enemy numbers.
But if Marik had caught up and was hiding her presence, turning to cast might expose her back to an attack.
And blindly fleeing like this—who knew how long this strange alley would continue?
Amid her deliberations, Eris veered into a side alley, steeling herself.
The moment the enemies rounded the corner, she planned to unleash a barrage.
"A moment, if you please."
An arm shot out from the darkness, clamping over Eris's mouth and yanking her into cover.
Eris thrashed in shock, but biting the hand, elbowing the side, stomping the foot—nothing fazed her captor.
And shortly after.
-Where are you. Where are you. Where are you.
-Me too. Me too. Me too.
The shadows of the two streaked past Eris, vanishing down the wrong path.
Only once they were far enough did the one holding her speak.
"Don't make too much noise. It'll be a headache if they hear us."
A flat voice utterly mismatched to the urgency.
So familiar in tone and demeanor—Eris's eyes widened as she twisted to see her captor's face.
Librarian Ernst.
He was there.
"Y-You're... the real one?"
"If I'm real, I'm real; if fake, fake. Either way, isn't it good? Belief is whatever you want to believe, or not."
"...The most memorable opening line from a recent book?"
"Looks like I'm screwed. That's the conclusion I reached after much deliberation. I'm screwed."
The real deal.
Eris sighed in relief.
"The situation right now—"
"I get you have a lot to say, but if you trust me, follow. Time's short."
"...Where to?"
"The library. I can't perform properly anywhere else. Ah, if you don't trust me, go elsewhere. Relying on a training hall professor is a decent option too."
His attitude left the choice entirely to her.
But conversely, that's what earned her trust.
At least compared to the crude illusion moments ago, it was so quintessentially Ernst.
"Alright. Let's go—to the library."