Chapter 32. Talent (3)
Chapter 32. Talent (3)
'Kahaha, this little lady's completely lost her mind, hasn't she?'
'She must've snorted a hell of a lot of that stuff. Still, a lack of sense does make them easier to handle on our end, so it works out.'
'I ought to thank whoever's been spreading that powder around the Academy. Thanks to them, gutter trash like us get to sample the cunts of the nobility, don't we? Kahaha!'
Just how many men had been inside that hole, already long since stripped of its virginity?
How much pleasure must she have indulged in, to reach the point where the whole concept of chastity had been obliterated from her mind?
'Ee, eehihit, it feelsh so good... P-please, torment me more...!'
No, she might actually be happier this way.
Because this lets her forget everything.
'Mess me up so badly everything in my head gets wiped clean~♥'
Because now she can forget everything that tormented her—family, friends, guilt, regret.
'If you run out of drug money, you can make it up with your body. Academy students usually come from well-off families, so demand's high. The cash comes flooding right back in.'
The man who had been leading her along was rambling about something, but it didn't matter.
Even the look in his eyes no longer felt frightening—just repulsive beyond measure.
'More than anything, the drug frees you from everything. I'm sure a young lady like you has plenty of worries, doesn't she?'
She simply thought to herself, alone.
That girl...
What was it that had made Madoka that way?
What was talent, and what were the bonds between people?
She hadn't thought once or twice about wanting to run away from it all, so she could fully understand why Madoka had ended up in such a wretched state.
'I'm sorry, Madoka.'
There was only one difference between that girl and herself.
'I'm sorry I couldn't understand you.'
Whether or not you had talent.
Whether the opportunity to catch the public's eye came to you at all, instead of someone leading you along by the hand.
'Yumil~'
That girl, who had been given no such opportunities and had tumbled into ruin, was now recognizing her and calling her name before she knew it.
The voice she had wanted so desperately to hear since that day.
There was no longer any hatred or guilt in it, not toward her.
'Come over here. You too, let's....'
But why?
There was plainly goodwill directed at her, yet Yumir could not bring herself to take that girl's hand and join her.
'Let's feel good together~♥'
The instant she grasped that pleasure-soaked hand, wrapped in nostalgia and masquerading as goodwill, she realized—
She would undoubtedly be dragged down into the deepest abyss, broken so wretchedly she could never claw her way out again.
***
'What happened after that, again?'
The time spent sifting through memories came to an end, and as her closed eyes slowly opened, Yumir's gaze, seated in the chair placed in the mansion's bedroom, drifted toward the sunlit sky outside the window.
She had already grown disillusioned with the world and felt, deep in her bones, that there was nothing left to expect from it.
'I exposed the truth. Thoroughly and completely.'
After that, the imperial investigation team she had reported to launched an inquiry into the situation.
They concluded that the scandal at that prestigious Academy began when certain instructors played favorites, deliberately leaking information to sabotage students they deemed inconvenient.
It had supposedly started with only a handful of students, but the scale grew so vast it spiraled out of control...
The Academy had belatedly grasped the situation but tried to cover it up to preserve its prestige. In the end, the investigation concluded with only the arrest of the instructors involved at the very start.
It was a bitter ending, to say the least.
Still, considering how power is held by those who value their own positions above all else, it was, in its own way, a natural course of events.
'And then after that, the dean—that blasted old fossil—called me in. Told me he'd back me, so I should do as he said.'
Having caught on after that day that I was aiming for high office, he planned to use his letter of recommendation as a leash and bend me to his will.
Demanding even my body as proof of trust....
Even back then I considered it the ramblings of a decrepit old bastard, but now I truly cannot fathom what confidence drove him to spout such garbage.
'Still, the look on his face when I got into the Magic Tower without his recommendation and became a Grand Archmage—that was truly a sight to behold.'
In the first place, I had been called the greatest genius in the Academy's history and was already on the verge of early graduation.
After that day, I drove myself to the limit and produced results that astounded even the royal court mages—was it remotely conceivable that I would kowtow to a mere Academy dean?
'Yeah, it felt damned satisfying back then....'
Yumir let out a hollow laugh, thinking of those days, then dropped her head and stared down at her own hand.
It was a hand that hadn't missed a single day gripping a pen since that day. So why did this moment feel so utterly hollow?
'That's right. Madoka isn't coming back.'
There was no lingering attachment left now.
If she didn't want to see me, that was more than enough reason.
What I needed to be concerned about was the fact that, even after she was gone, those things were still happening somewhere.
'Yeah, that... what happened back then wasn't Madoka's fault.'
None of it had been Madoka's choice.
She had put in the effort. It was just that the place was crammed full of people even more talented than her.
It is only natural that some get left behind in this unfair world, yet people cannot grasp that fact and expect everyone to rise to the top.
That is why they are so quick to brand even average scores as failures, so eager to jeer at the losers and spur them on.
Believing without a shred of doubt that such sadistic cruelty will act as a catalyst to unlock hidden potential...
'But to run, you need legs that work in the first place, don't you?'
When their legs are beaten to the point of breaking, how can those still struggling to move forward turn a blind eye to the sweet bait dangled before them?
Even those in a position to stop it are obsessed only with their own gain, casting aside any understanding for them. So those who are discarded stay discarded, with no other fate.
'The problem in every era is the old fossil bastards. Once they've had their fill, they should at least know to leave something for the young people coming up behind them.'
In the end, it always came down to the people above....
I had thoughts like that in my naive days, but now my view on it has changed considerably.
'...No, I'm really not in a position to talk like that.'
Yeah, hadn't I been thinking all this time that the greater good was whatever, no concern of mine?
My tendency to hold people at a distance out of fear transformed into outright hatred for them starting that day. And even if that day was the trigger for what I do now, I could never call my work a pursuit of the greater good.
It was just lingering attachment, nothing more.
Simply to verify whether I could truly change the world they had failed to change.
'Well, I don't know how things might shift once results start showing themselves.'
If it happens, it happens. If not, that's that.
Even if it did change, there was every chance it could change for the worse, and occasionally I even thought—wouldn't that be more satisfying?
So much so that I considered the single last shred of conscience I possessed as a human-born being was the fact that I hadn't simply defected to the Demon King's Army.
'To think they picked a wreck like me for the hero party. The higher-ups clearly running on pure fantasy seems common to both the Academy and the royal family.'
Heh heh. Yumir let out a bitter, self-deprecating laugh, but only for a moment. She reconfirmed the feel of the bottle in her hand.
"Ugh."
The instant the man lying in bed let out a groan, Yumir tucked the hand holding the bottle behind her back and readied herself to face him.
Yes. The time had finally come, she thought.
"Have you come to your senses?"
Yumir spoke bluntly, doing her best to keep her inner thoughts hidden.
Dave, facing that expressionless look, steadied his dazed mind and stared straight back at her.
"......Yumir?"
"Yeah, looks like your memory's intact."
What a relief, Yumir thought, a faint smirk touching her lips as she draped her arms over the back of the chair.
-Jiggle.
Two heavy lumps bounced in time with the motion.
Since she happened to be wearing thin fabric, and the chest area was wide open, it made for quite an embarrassing sight.
"...Um, by any chance, did you nurse me while I was unconscious?"
Dave asked, averting his eyes as if the view made him uncomfortable. Yumir found that adorable and let out another small laugh as she answered.
"No, well, I was off doing my own things until just now. I came here after finishing everything and was waiting for you to wake up."
"You were... waiting for me?"
"Yeah~ Because that's the only way I get to tease you. I already heard the gist of it. Even the guild was buzzing about it—said the porter who went into the newly discovered dungeon almost got himself killed."
"......Ahaha."
Dave scratched the back of his head. He probably meant it as a display of embarrassment, but the attempt to brush it off as no big deal irritated Yumir immensely.
"What are you grinning about like you did something brilliant?"
"Ow, owow! That hurts, ouch!!"
"Of course I'm pinching it to make it hurt. Would I be stroking it like you'd done something praiseworthy?"
Yumir tugged on Dave's ear with telekinesis, laying down a stern warning. This was not a playful show of anger.
"I don't give a damn whether you drop dead somewhere or not, but I can't stand it if I become the reason for it. If you want to die, just die on your own—why drag me into it?"
"S-sorry. I'm really sorry!!"
"Next time you try to make me part of your death wish, know that you'll die by my hands. Understood?"
-Smack!
With that, Yumir released her magic and let go of his ear.
That was the end of venting her lingering resentment toward him. She had far too much gratitude toward him—more than enough to outweigh such petty anger.
"......How did the research go?"
Yeah, of course he would ask.
Knowing this guy's nature, he would worry more about other people's affairs than his own body.
"I finished it all while you were asleep."
"R-really?"
"Do I look like the type to bullshit you?"
I did not earn the title of Grand Archmage at this age for nothing.
Of course, even that position is precarious right now thanks to my lack of recent accomplishments, but if I release what I am holding here into the academic world, maintaining the title for life will not be some distant dream.
"Here, take it."
And Yumir had decided to select the man before her as the monumental first user of this result.
Dave stared blankly at the glass bottle in her hand and asked back.
"What is this?"
"A potion that temporarily generates a Circle when you drink it."
"......Excuse me?"
"You know what a Circle is, right?"
"Ah, yes. It is the essential quality required for a mage to reach the stage of true recognition, is it not?"
"Yeah. Drink that and you will be able to generate a Circle. Temporarily, though."
Yumir spoke as if it were nothing, arms folded.
Dave blinked at her, then looked back down at the bottle in his hand.
"Which means, uh...."
As if he could not believe a mere whitish liquid could have the effects she claimed.
"An ordinary person can also become a mage?"
But it was no lie.
That sweet temptation which had driven those without talent toward ruin.
At this very moment, by her own hand, it was finally being transformed into truth and preparing to reveal itself to the world.