Chapter 174
Chapter 174
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 174
Chapter Title: Forced Rest (1)
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“What’s this?”
“It’s working fine.”
The orbs gathered and scattered repeatedly following the movements of my hand.
There was no regularity to the motion, but the intent was clear enough.
It was to keep me from leaving this room.
“Theodore.”
“I’ve already received permission from Machina Christie.”
“You got permission from Machina about me? And she said it was okay to lock me up?”
“There’s no other way to stop Arma Cruise from charging off on your own.”
“...”
I couldn’t even get mad at Theodore’s absurd words.
It was because, until just moments ago, my head had been filled with thoughts of chasing after that Salvation Second Coming Tades Church or whatever it was.
“But still, this isn’t right. Even if it’s meaningless, I’m your senior. Is this how you treat your前辈?”
“I’m sorry.”
Theodore acted like someone who wouldn’t listen to reason.
It might be faster to just go to Lady Aegis and settle it through prayer.
I felt a mix of sympathy—wondering how desperate he must have been to do this—and resentment that such coercion wasn’t right.
“Wasn’t that spell just now for detecting when I get possessed by the guardian angel? I knew Adrian’s white magic was for that purpose, but what about Izmel?”
“This spell is designed for both containment and tracking. But I couldn’t control the power properly, so Squad Leader Izmel helped me.”
“…What happens if you fail to control the power?”
“It wouldn’t block you—it’d let you break right through. We just confirmed it moves within the error margin, so it’s fine now.”
“...”
It had been a major incident where I, a right-hander, nearly lost my right hand.
But there was no point in pressing the issue further.
His eyepatch covered most of his face, but I could tell what Theodore’s mindset was without him saying a word.
‘That’s not a face that listens to reason.’
Even so, Theodore still had some will to communicate, which was why he was at least explaining himself to me.
Besides, truthfully, from the moment I heard about the Salvation Second Coming Tades Church from Theodore, I’d vaguely sensed this situation coming.
That story had clearly been one of the triggers that solidified his resolve.
“Ha… Fine, I get it. How many days are you locking me up? Let’s at least negotiate the dates.”
“...”
“Uh… There is a time limit, right?”
“I’m thinking about it now.”
I knew this guy was the type who might smash a brick into the back of a swordmaster candidate’s head if he felt like it.
“I’ll go consult with Senior Judit and Senior Shirley first.”
“-Got it.”
It was already the middle of the night, but Theodore was full of energy.
He normally slept very little anyway, and achieving his modest goal of confining me probably gave him a boost too.
-Click.
In the end, Theodore left the room right then and didn’t return until morning.
I tossed and turned a bit, then spent some time testing the triple-authored confinement spell by sticking my hand into the window cracks, door gaps, and even the fireplace chimney.
As expected from a spell crafted by three future greats, it was watertight and perfect. Damn it.
.
.
.
-Tap, roll. Rumble.
Had I dozed off for a bit?
When I opened my eyes, morning had already arrived.
I noticed what felt like two or three mana stones rolling over my body and slyly opened my eyes.
“Theodore?”
“Yes.”
It seemed like some kind of inspection—as if proving it, the three mana stones rolled once around my body, then slipped out through the slightly open door crack.
‘Where’s my privacy?’
Even if he didn’t lock it on purpose, that didn’t mean he could just open it whenever he wanted.
I wasn’t sure if this was due to Theodore’s bulldozing personality or if I was overreacting from excessive worry.
Still lying in bed, I called out to Theodore, who was making sounds outside the door.
“Did your talks go well?”
“Yes. Arma Cruise will recuperate at home until Dylan and Collette are found.”
“Ha. Fine, got it.”
Theodore hesitated for a moment, then approached the door.
He seemed like he wanted to come in, so I sat up in bed, and only then did he come to my bedside.
The orbs followed behind him like eager puppies before scattering again.
“You do… sleep, right?”
“Enough. Anyway, there’s been progress overnight. The student council found Dylan’s last known whereabouts.”
“The student council is the only one we can rely on after all? Where was Dylan?”
“Grace House.”
“……He went back there?”
Grace House was connected to a secret underground passage used only by the staff.
We’d discovered the [Artificial Soul Circulation Device] in that passage, which became the key to exposing the academy’s corruption.
“Did he go into the underground passage, by any chance?”
“I haven’t heard that far. I don’t know if the student council is unaware of the passage or just not telling us.”
The student council’s shady attitude was starting to wear on me.
I suspected they knew all about the staff’s situation in detail, but that didn’t change anything.
If it had been two local medical staff like Collette who went missing, would the student council have stepped up like this?
‘The fact that they’re cooperating with our search now might just be because Dylan’s among the missing.’
In the first place, even though they were academy staff, managing non-students wasn’t the student council’s domain.
The student council’s influence was limited to Aegis Academy, particularly the cadets’ academy life and safety.
“Either way, now that we know his last whereabouts, we’ll have to search there again. You’re heading out today, right?”
“Probably. Arthur’s going to help too.”
“He just got promoted to Master Class—is that okay?”
“That’s the least he can do.”
The more I thought about it, the stranger Theodore and Arthur’s relationship seemed.
They treated each other dismissively (strictly speaking, it was one-sided from Theodore), yet it felt affectionate, intimate yet refreshingly distant.
That complex, subtle dynamic seemed to make the two of them uniquely special.
‘Izmel who snubs her aunt. Theodore who snubs his four-years-older brother. A black mage trait?’
Who could understand the whims of black mages, who had a hundred quirks for every hundred of them?
Before my growing prejudices got out of hand, I forcibly changed the subject.
“If Arthur’s helping too, that’s reassuring. Then I’ll—”
“Considering Arma Cruise’s height and build, the recovery period after blood loss is about two weeks. You need to rest at least that long.”
“No, be reasonable. This all happened because of me, and I’m just supposed to lie here idly—”
“I’m saying this precisely because it didn’t happen because of Arma Cruise.”
Theodore keenly exploited the flaw in my logic.
But his words were both right and wrong.
There was something I knew that others didn’t.
The guardian angel would bring about Hazard Island’s destruction, and it seemed I was somehow involved in triggering it.
‘This guy’s getting sharper with words too? When we first met, he just seemed like a meek young lord who followed Arthur around.’
It might be time to check if I could no longer beat Theodore with either force or words.
“By that logic, it’s ridiculous that you’re stepping up. If we lined up by least involved in this incident, you’d all be queued up behind me.”
“I don’t think I’m completely uninvolved in this incident. But I’m not digging deeper because of the penalty Arma Cruise carries.”
This perceptive guy.
With that disinterested, apathetic look, how much had he figured out?
This was exactly why I couldn’t actively ask for help.
The moment we became aware of the guardian angel and revered it, it would gain immense power.
Right now, I was barely keeping it in check at the level of occasionally losing control of my body, but if it grew stronger, I definitely wouldn’t hold out.
“…Fine. You’re right—I need to rest a bit.”
How had things come to this?
One thing was certain: there was no going back to the past anymore.
Whether my knowing all this made me the harbinger of disaster or the last hope as expected—only time would tell.
‘Commission after graduation, settle in, start a family… Yeah, that’s way too distant now.’
Had I been too greedy?
Being forced to rest brought wave after wave of worries.
“Rest well.”
“Yeah. Let me know if there’s any progress.”
“Yes.”
Theodore left the room without a sound again.
-Roll, rumble… clack.
Some of the orbs that had come in with Theodore rolled along the hearth, forming a steady pattern.
The night temperatures had risen enough that we probably wouldn’t need more firewood soon.
Feeling the warmth building under the covers, I gazed at the crackling fire dying down in front of me, then closed my eyes again.
An unnaturally deep sleep was creeping in.
And I could sense something waiting for me beneath it.
“!!”
-Hello,Ilearneditshardtomakeyourecallthepast.
-IgetitIgetitIgetit.
-Thanks!
-Asagift,
-I’lltellyouthingsyou’vebeenwonderingabout,ArmaCruise.
My mind sank like being pulled into the deep sea and didn’t resurface.
Ah, this is a dream.
A nightmare disguised as the guardian angel.
There was a flaw in Theodore’s spell.
No matter how perfectly the magic guarded me, what use was it if my own mind was broken?
-Rustle, roll…
As if proving my thoughts, the glowing mana stone orbs—part of Theodore’s defensive magic against the guardian angel—rolled past me harmlessly.
-That’srightIamyou,ArmaCruise.
-Whendiditstart?
-Rustle, clack.
-Doyouthinkyoucanperfectlyseparatemeandyou?
-It’stoolate…toobad,ArmaCruise.
-Roll, rumble… clack.
It was a great regret for me too.
I hadn’t realized our ship was slowly sinking because I failed to properly objectify myself.
Our greatest vulnerability and flaw was me—we should have realized that sooner.
But.
“No, it’s not too late.”
-……
“You must be getting anxious. Something not going your way?”
I’d nearly fallen for its trick.
Hearing the orbs bump into obstacles, I struggled to escape the pressure pinning down my body.
“Arma Cruise.”
“Ugh—”
At that moment, I heard Theodore’s voice, ceaselessly trying to wake me.
I reached out into the empty darkness—and grabbed Theodore’s arm, pulling myself up.
Theodore’s magic was working properly.
-Roll, rumble… crackle!
Thanks to the sound of the mana stone rolling, I snapped out of my daze and escaped the guardian angel’s sly temptation.