Chapter 133
Chapter 133
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 133
Chapter Title: Theodore's Binding (2)
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“Let's get out of here for now. Theodore's asleep, right?”
“Yes. He'll wake up soon, though.”
An extremely short sleep cycle, a mind always on high alert, the impulse to dive headfirst into danger...
No matter how you looked at it, he wasn't long for this world.
“Can we use the lounge in the middle of the night like this?”
“I'll go let Izmel know.”
“At this hour...”
“She'll be awake.”
Arthur paused at the door for a moment, then draped Theodore's largest garment—a nightgown—over his thin shirt and stepped out.
'Is it really okay for other dorm students to come in at this hour?'
Izmel was the dorm prefect, after all.
As I thought that, we arrived at a secluded room almost directly opposite Theodore's on the fifth floor.
It was as desolate as Dillon's room.
'Do dorm prefects have some kind of agreement to keep things like this?'
The only thing that looked well-maintained was the door itself. The floorboards creaked even when walked on slowly, the walls and ceiling bore traces of something that had burned and then been extinguished, and above all, the door etched with unknown runes gave off an eerie vibe.
Knock knock.
“It's Arthur Usher.”
“Come in.”
As we entered the room, the characters written on the door, floor, and ceiling glimmered faintly.
“What brings you here in the dead of night?”
Izmel was dressed in robe-like pajamas with her hair loosely undone, but just as Arthur had said, she was indeed awake.
Her eyes, showing no signs of sleep, and her round eyes—narrowed during the day—now brimmed with vitality.
“We need to discuss something about Theodore and use the common lounge.”
“Ah, sure. If the staff tells you to leave, just say you have my permission.”
“Thank you.”
“How's Theodore doing?”
“He should be sleeping.”
“That troublesome little guy. Got it, go on.”
Izmel waved us off.
In that moment, our eyes met briefly. Her lips twitched as if she had something to say, but she just let out a small chuckle and closed her mouth.
Slap.
For a pre-dawn visit, her attitude was remarkably brisk.
It felt more like we'd shown up at three in the afternoon than three in the morning.
We silently followed Arthur to the lounge.
Now that the magic ban had been lifted, we no longer needed to carry candelabras or lamps like before.
Just Arthur conjuring a small orb of light made the surroundings bright enough.
“Come on in.”
After a brief silence, we reached the lounge.
Arthur, just as I had done at the Wooden Cross dorm warden's place, didn't bother with manual controls. With a flick of his fingers, he summoned a tea tray and brewed four cups in an instant.
All four were floral teas safe to drink even at night.
“As you can see, Theodore's condition is deteriorating. I can hold it back for now, but as time passes—well.”
“Yeah, he definitely looks worse.”
From Arthur's perspective, I must have seemed ridiculous for insisting on transferring him in that state without a second thought.
But even if that was the case, leaving Theodore like this was a whole different story.
“There's a flaw in what you said, Arthur Usher.”
It was Judith who stepped in as reinforcement.
“Arma doesn't have a way to stop Theodore's mana rampage because she wasn't born with mana. But once he's in the annex, that won't be an issue.”
“Judith senior graduates next year, and Shirley Spencer goes out at night pretty often too, doesn't she?”
“Guh.”
Suddenly called out, Shirley made a weird noise and glanced cautiously at me.
“I knew you snuck out at night a lot.”
“What?! How?!”
Because I'd seen the curfew cooperation request from the dorm students in Dillon's room.
Dillon had acted pretty meaningfully back then, so I hadn't told anyone about it.
“Putting me on the spot like this all of a sudden.”
Shirley pouted and grumbled.
As the youngest among us, she couldn't exactly throw a tantrum in front of her seniors, so she just tapped her foot on the floor.
“But we can't just leave it like this. I get what you're worried about. Still, letting Theodore, who's starting to drift toward the dark wizards, go unchecked is another matter entirely.”
Arthur simply sat there, hands on his knees, staring at his fingertips.
“Arthur. I know what you're worried about. It's impressive that you've been handling his rampages alone until now.”
Arthur stayed silent for a long while before finally speaking.
“I want to respect Theodore's wishes.”
It was the strongest statement he'd made so far.
'That Theodore of yours is refusing, so you're trying to convince me...'
I had plenty I wanted to say, but I held back because of what I'd just seen from Arthur.
Grumbling all the while, yet doing his utmost to keep Theodore unharmed.
Pouring his own power into stopping the mana rampage that looked like a spiritual phenomenon to mana-less me—there was no other word for it but devotion.
“Alright, I get it.”
In the end, I raised the white flag.
The tea Arthur had served had cooled just right, so I downed it in one go.
“I'll think on it more too.”
“There's no need for that—”
“Let's think about what's truly best for Theodore White. Your concerns and mine both have real weight.”
Arthur finally fell silent.
It was only natural for him to react this way, having personally cared for Theodore night after night as he wandered in torment outside of reality.
But one thing Arthur was overlooking: what Theodore was enduring during the 'day' now was just as soul-crushing.
“Besides, well. Of course I understand your worries completely, but you need to realize you'll graduate before Theodore. Even if you enter Master Class and extend your enrollment.”
“...”
At my words, Arthur finally furrowed his brow.
It was just a slight narrowing of his forehead, but still.
“How did you...”
“Come on, how could I not know? The way you've been fretting.”
The age gap between Theodore and Arthur was four years.
Their academy terms differed by the same.
I figured that's why Arthur had been dragged around by Lord Whitten, who kept mentioning Master Class lately.
“No matter what you do, Theodore will be on his own in his graduation term.”
“I'll resolve it before then.”
“Yeah, so let me help you resolve it before then.”
They seemed utterly devoted to each other, yet neither Theodore nor Arthur showed it outwardly.
Sometimes words are the clearest way, but this must be their style.
Arthur didn't respond to my words for a long time.
Judith and Shirley also stayed out of it until Arthur made up his mind.
“What do you think?”
Time had now passed dawn and edged toward morning.
Theodore, who had finally slept after three days, would have to start spring semester classes tomorrow.
Handling Theodore's sleepwalking alone was beyond what Arthur could manage now that he had to prepare for Master Class too.
Not every night, but if it kept happening during the semester...
“Let's do this.”
Since Arthur couldn't readily decide, I made a proposal.
“While you're preparing for Master Class, I'll keep an eye on Theodore.”
“How exactly?”
Arthur smirked, as if treating my suggestion like childish bravado.
“Think about it, Master Arthur Usher. Is double-majoring something only you guys can do?”
“...Pardon?”
It was Shirley beside him who responded.
Judith gave me a sidelong glance with an utterly fed-up expression before looking away.
“Of course, it'd need approval from the ringleader of rebellion, senior Dillon. But while Theodore transfers and you prep for Master Class, I can cover the in-between.”
“Won't that make things worse? And I never agreed to the transfer talk.”
Arthur pressed his brow as if he now had a real headache.
From his tone, he seemed to have a rough idea of how things had escalated.
Because I was being treated like a saint, the executor of Aegis.
“I don't have your kind of bindings or need to save face. I was planning to jump into the marriage market during my post-graduation mandatory service, but I'll tweak the plan a bit.”
“No, senior. Why prepare like you're being sold off...? Does Countess Tessa Cruise write you letters nagging about that every day?”
“Mom told me to do what I want.”
Shirley now openly stared at me like I was out of my mind, rambling on with things like 'Senior, life is long—'
It wasn't anything that unusual, but Shirley apparently thought I'd choose a different path.
“Yeah, yeah, enough to make my ears bleed. Hearing from a junior four years younger what even my mom doesn't say.”
As Shirley fumed, Judith half-heartedly pretended to calm her.
The moonlight filtering through the window had turned to sunlight, and birds awakening outside chirped noisily.
It was a time when unfounded confidence welled up.
I looked around at the three faces in the room one by one.
'What can't I do?'
The erosion came sporadically, and maybe I wouldn't last long.
Only four semesters left.
Eleven months until the [Blood Graduation].
By any means necessary, I'd get past that crisis and see these three—and Theodore—graduate safely.
“I'm heading out now. See you in spring semester.”
“Arma Cruise.”
“Yeah?”
“Why go this far?”
It was a question I couldn't easily answer.
Maybe because all this stemmed from me, or maybe we were just all terribly unlucky.
“I wonder too.”
Somehow I'd kept surviving, and somehow I ended up with more info than most.
As I was now, I had neither the power nor the clue to break this near-apocalyptic stalemate—
“But what's done is done. Might as well give it a shot.”
Conviction, will, pride—those words felt too heavy for someone like me.
I just wanted to undo all the things that might have happened because of me.
Even if it was impossible...