Welcome to Asclepius Dormitory
“Uh… something feels off about this place… Are we even in the right spot?”
The interior of the hidden space resembled an ancient temple. White marble pillars lined the walls at regular intervals, and statues stood here and there among them. Yet the light came not from torches but from fluorescent lamps, and the rooms were clearly well maintained—cleaned on a regular schedule. All of it marked the building as academy property beyond any doubt.
“Hold on… let me check.”
Darwin, give me a hand.
I focused my senses into my fingertips and pressed them to the floor. Faint vibrations began to register one by one from far away. Most were the mechanical hums that kept the floating island aloft, but a few belonged to living creatures.
I need the movements of life-forms weighing roughly forty to sixty kilograms.
Once I filtered out everything else, only a handful remained. The majority of those came from creatures moving on the ground level, so pinpointing our destination was easy.
“This way. Straight ahead.”
“Ugh… I’m starting to regret tagging along.”
Julia grumbled, yet she still followed my lead. Then, from somewhere ahead, the sound of something slithering reached us.
Ssssss—
Ssss—
A thin mist drifted in from deep to the front and sides. Darwin’s enhanced sense of smell told me at once that it was ordinary water mixed with a trace of toxin. The concentration was so low that even breathing it for days would do no real harm, but the thought still made my skin crawl. I clapped a hand over Julia’s mouth.
“Wh-what’s wrong?”
“Toxic mist. The density’s low enough that you’d have to inhale it for weeks before anything happened, but better safe than sorry.”
“T-toxic mist…! Mmph!”
The moment she heard the words, Julia clamped both hands over her own mouth and nose.
“…Julia. Can you hold your breath forever? Slow, shallow breaths will actually keep you from taking in as much of it.”
“B-but if it’s toxic…!”
“…You’re the Dominator of Wind and you can’t even clear a little poison fog?”
“…? Ah…!”
Only then did she remember her own ability. She clapped her hands together with a delighted little cry.
“…Just do it already.”
“Mm! Got it!”
A rough wind howled through the corridor, and the mist slowly peeled away. When it cleared, a figure stood revealed before us.
“Ho. Today seems rather special. On an ordinary day I scarcely see a single guest, yet now I find three at once.”
“Who…?”
“Hmm… if you ask who I am… let me see… Ah, yes. I am the housemaster of this dormitory.”
Man, or woman? The features were so androgynous that gender was impossible to pin down, so from this point on I simply thought of the person as “he.” He had short white hair and eyes that held a faint blue gleam; most striking of all was the snake coiled around his neck. The serpent hissed softly, watching us with open wariness.
“This little friend is rather shy around strangers, I’m afraid. My apologies. Still, seeing that you’ve come this far, I take it you’re looking for a place to stay?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“No?! We just sort of wandered in by accident…?!”
“…?”
He looked from Julia to me and back again, then let out a dry chuckle.
“It seems the two of you haven’t quite finished discussing the matter. No need to worry—I have no intention of forcing anyone to move in. Still, taking a short look around before you leave wouldn’t be the worst experience.”
He turned on his heel and began walking down the corridor.
“Follow me. Even if you had no desire to enter, I’ll make certain you do.”
“Come on, Julia.”
“W-wait! Shouldn’t we think this over a little more? What if we just wander around and fall into some trap…!”
“I don’t see any traps. Keep up.”
I herded the still-protesting Julia along after him. Roughly five minutes later we finally reached the place I had been aiming for.
“This is…”
“Whoa!”
“Welcome to the Asclepius Dormitory.”
Sunlight poured through the windows and spilled across every corner of the space. When I first realized the dormitory lay underground I had worried it would be damp or gloomy, yet the air was neither. The windows opened directly onto the side of the floating island itself.
I reached out and touched the fountain at the center of the lobby. The cool marble met my fingertips, and a voice spoke from behind me.
“That is what we call the Healing Spring. When it touches an injured body, minor wounds close within a few dozen seconds. At Sirius Academy it is known as holy water and sold at a steep price, yet anyone who joins our dormitory may use it here free of charge.”
He continued the tour with genuine enthusiasm, pointing out each facility in turn.
“This is the snake house. A single drop of venom from some of these fellows could send even an elephant to the afterlife, so handle them with care.”
“Here is the medical wing. As long as a person still draws breath, we can bring them back from the brink.”
“This is the temple dedicated to Asclepius, the patron of this place… though I have no intention of pushing religion on anyone. Drop by if the mood strikes you. Who knows? A heartfelt prayer might even earn you a sacred relic from the god himself.”
“And these are the sparring halls and training rooms for the students. The training rooms are stocked with the latest equipment.”
“Beyond all that, we have plenty of recreational facilities as well—swimming pool, PC café, bowling alley, coffee shop, movie theater, karaoke, and more. Every one of them runs under AI management, so feel free to visit whenever you like.”
The more I saw, the more I could only marvel. Was this truly a school dormitory, or a luxury hotel built for pure enjoyment?
“Of course, if all you do is play, you will be expelled. We welcome any student who discovers this place, without exception—but we are merciless toward those who show no growth. You two placed fourth and second at the entrance ceremony; if you wish to remain a year from now, you will need to hold similar ranks or produce some other tangible result.”
“!”
“You know who we are?”
“One of the professors talks about the two of you so often that I looked into a few things. And as for Student Seo-hyun… an old friend of mine asked me to keep an eye out.”
“An old friend…?”
“Yekaterina.”
“Ah…?”
I had never expected that name to surface here.
“I have no idea how you came to know Yekaterina, but rest assured I will not treat you any differently because of it.”
“I understand.”
“Good… I like that answer.”
“…?”
With that, he led us to the final stop.
“Last of all, these are the rooms you will occupy if you decide to stay. Each of you will have a space of this size to yourselves. Meals are provided free of charge three times a day. That… covers the general facilities.”
“It’s so much bigger than I expected… I’m exhausted just looking at it…”
“How many people actually live in a place this large?”
“Let me see… counting the student who arrived today along with the two of you… excluding myself, that makes eight.”
Only eight people for all this space?
“I’ll take it.”
“S-Seo-hyun? You’re deciding that easily?”
“An excellent choice. Even Astraea or Antares cannot match these facilities. I guarantee you will not regret it.”
“Uuuugh… Fine! Then I’m joining too!”
“Very well. I shall add both of your names to the roster.”
While he summoned a register from thin air and began writing our names, I suddenly realized I had forgotten something important.
“Before that—what’s the tuition for one semester here?”
“Ah, I nearly forgot to mention it.”
He paused mid-stroke and handed us a paper envelope.
“This is…”
“There is no fee. Our motto is equal opportunity for all. This place was never built to turn a profit. Instead, once each semester you will write on that paper and submit it to me.”
“What is it?”
“A record.”
A record? While I was still puzzling over the word, he added an explanation.
“Once a semester, write down something special you experienced on that sheet. For the record, I myself will never read it, and it will remain sealed until the day you leave the dormitory. You may turn in a blank page if you wish, but I guarantee that when you finally walk out of here with that paper in hand, you will not regret having filled it.”
An unusual condition—one no other dormitory would ever demand. Yet there was no reason to refuse. Julia and I both nodded.
“Excellent. That settles the dormitory assignments. You will take rooms 202 and 203 respectively. Enjoy the time remaining until the academy’s official opening.”
We turned and started toward the rooms we had been given. Behind us, his voice called out once more.
“My name is Ras Alhague. Feel free to call me Ras. Detailed instructions for using the facilities are in the guidebook on the desk of each room—do refer to it.”
“Ras…”
I burned the name into my memory, offered a brief word of thanks, and left the lobby behind.