Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Naughty Puppy
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Should I have brought Arthur along instead?
I grabbed Theodor—chair and all—and isolated him before he could recklessly dump an even more suspicious solution onto the already dubious one.
Theodor, clutching a small booklet he'd pulled out from who-knows-where, was helplessly dragged toward me.
"Explanation first. Please."
"Based on everything I've heard so far, it looks like I've got retrograde amnesia from some incident-related cause, where I've lost all memories tied to it. The approach depends on the reason for the loss, but in my case, if there's confusion in my memories, it's probably temporary. If it's at a stage where light stimulation can draw them out, artificially lowering my consciousness level alone could..."
"Sorry, too long."
The guy had no such thing as a middle ground.
Theodor stared blankly at me and the reagents in turns for a moment, then began an explanation tailored to my level.
"Mixing these two creates a potent muscle relaxant. I'm going to administer it to myself."
"Hypnosis, right? What good is relaxing your muscles gonna do?"
"It's not the muscle relaxation I'm after—it's the side effect. Once the relaxant kicks in and consciousness gets foggy, even simple suggestions can put me in a 'receptive' state."
With that, Theodor swiftly mixed the ingredients he'd laid out, stirred them, and tried to gulp it down.
"Tch!"
He thought his quick hands had accounted for me, but I'd raised a bundle-of-trouble puppy into a full-grown dog.
Theodor shot me a dissatisfied look as I snatched the beaker away in an instant.
"You were gonna drink this without a second thought? Did everything with Makina look like a word game to you instead of a trial?"
"It might have some addictiveness, I don't know, but black magicians basically—"
"Have a tolerance, right? Even so, I don't think you should risk something this dangerous on an unproven hunch."
I took off my glove, plugged the mouth of the test tube with the now-purple suspicious solution, and hid it behind my back.
"I don't trust this hypnosis stuff. You might just mistake some hazy dream for lost memories."
"That's a high possibility too. But no matter what memory comes up, we can cross-reference it with Arma Cruise's memories."
"I don't have full confidence in my own memories, so I can't push that on you."
Only then did Theodor seem convinced, withdrawing the hand he'd extended toward me.
It was a relief that he wasn't wearing his eyepatch like usual, making his expressions easier to read.
'Still, confiscating this.'
He might look convinced now, but in my eyes, this guy's stubbornness wasn't the shallow kind that bends easily.
I tucked the vial into the belt at my side and plopped down with a thud.
"Whew, my heart's racing. I really do have a weak heart. No joke—it's true. If you'd drunk that right in front of me, I might've passed out on the spot."
"Your heart?"
"Yeah. Since I fudged some details earlier, I'll tell you the real story to set the record straight. Remember it."
Thanks to Theodor calming down, the atmosphere was decent for talking.
I began explaining to him.
"I might look fine now, but as a kid, I was a frail weakling who kept keeling over."
I went on to describe how a minor congenital heart defect was the cause, how it had tormented my mother, Tessa Cruise, and so on. Theodor nodded.
"What rotten luck."
As he said that, he tapped his chest.
If I had to guess, he probably meant it was unfortunate that the heart—where life's spark from the gods resides—happened to be the weak spot.
Even healing priests considered tampering with the heart taboo territory.
"But now I'm at least normal human level. Call it magic from growing up—luckily, everything worked out for the best."
"If you'd still been that weak, you couldn't have gotten into the academy. There's the physical exam."
"Think of me as the bare minimum standard for that physical exam, and it'll make sense."
Contrary to common stereotypes, mages have far superior stamina to regular people.
Their bodies come equipped to handle energy efficiently, so it's only natural.
The reason veteran mages out in society totter around like scrawny colts is their obsessive researcher personalities lacking any survival instincts.
Good raw material, but they can't apply it properly—that's the precise description.
"Anyway, the point is, I came here because I wanted to say something. If anything comes to mind, tell me."
"So basically, just now..."
"Forget hypnosis... Let's hold off on that a bit longer."
If we had to resort to hypnosis, it should be in a relatively stable environment—not when one of us has a splitting headache and the other is wracked with migraines.
"It's a bland message, but at least I've confirmed your resolve. Good enough."
"I don't really have any resolve or anything."
From his expression, he didn't look like he'd steeled himself at all.
Even when he'd threatened to start self-hypnosis on me, his blank face showed not a shred of tension.
"Your tough-guy act is kinda appealing... But let me ask one more thing."
"Sure."
"Where'd you learn hypnosis?"
"It's basic spirit mediumship. Part of the foundational curriculum for learning black magic."
Black magic typically deals with supernatural fields like death, spirits, curses, and precognition, while white magic covers life and nature-related areas like basic elements, light, healing, and blessings.
So it wasn't surprising that Theodor, a black magic major, had studied spirit mediumship.
"Could I learn that stuff too and do it?"
"Hypnosis, brainwashing, suggestions—those are areas even regular people can handle."
"That's super reassuring! Alright, got it. Thanks. Sorry to drag you out in the middle of the night."
I hauled the still-seated Theodor to his feet and tidied up.
While he carefully packed away the visibly dangerous materials into a double-locked drawer, I turned my back to him, stowing lab tools and such, and asked,
"Honestly, I wanted to gather Judith, Shirley, and even Arthur to discuss something. But the mood right now makes that tricky, huh?"
"Probably."
With cadets on ultra-high alert, four class prodigies huddling and whispering would be a perfect recipe for a massive uproar.
"This workshop's pretty spacious. Does the Crown of Thorns Class handle maintenance on their own?"
"Maintenance... A few who can't stand mess volunteer to clean up."
"Are you one of those few?"
"...I'm usually the one getting chased out."
It was unexpected, but welcome news nonetheless.
I nodded and suggested we postpone the next meeting until after he'd had his bandages removed.
Theodor nodded, then vanished into the Crown of Thorns Class dormitory with his assigned monitor cadet.
***
And with that, all preparations were complete.
Meeting Theodor had been the right call.
I pulled out the vial I'd confiscated from him and the manual.
[Complete Basic Spirit Mediumship].
Taking a hint from his words, I'd pocketed Theodor's manual and "borrowed" it for a bit.
That was this basic spirit mediumship textbook.
"Suggestions no, brainwashing... next is, here... hypnosis."
Fortunately, the book was impeccably maintained.
I quickly skimmed to the section I needed and finished all preparations.
'A thick hardcover notebook, ink and pen, and...'
Theodor Special, to boost me into a hypnotic state.
Shortened to: suspicious liquid.
As Theodor had assured me—even a regular person could do it—the process to enter hypnosis wasn't as hard as I'd thought.
The issue was this suspicious liquid's potency, but given the 10cm height difference between Theodor and me, the dosage shouldn't be a problem.
"Enoch Clark, cadet."
I covered the prepared items with a blanket to hide them and called for Enoch.
Surprisingly considerate, he replied with a curt "Yes." from outside the door.
"My headache won't go away, so I'm thinking of taking a sleeping pill and crashing."
"Have you cleared it with your supervising instructor?"
"They said no issues."
"Understood. I won't disturb you."
"Thanks. I'll be up by afternoon tomorrow."
"Yes."
What I was taking wasn't a sleeping pill but "Theodor Special," though the effect wouldn't differ much.
'Guess I should tie my legs first.'
The memory of being hauled into a student trial was a nightmare I'd never forget.
Pushing aside the bitter feeling of having to induce my own stupor after all that chaos, I drank the muscle relaxant.
A sensation began at my fingertips and toes, as if they were slowly dissolving into the air.
The muscle relaxant was taking effect.
"It feels like sinking into deep water."
Soon, water rose from the edge of the bed, climbing over my knees, thighs, belly, chest, and up to the top of my head.
I'm probably not in my right mind now.
Amazed by the effect of the self-suggestion, but with mountains of work still ahead.
Bubbles, froth spilling from my mouth in hallucination, as I opened the notebook's cover.
The notebook was brand new, blank except for the first page.
On it was written:
[I recall the moment before Shirley and Arthur died. Then, before pushing Judith off the cliff. Finally, the memory before shooting Theodor in the head. Thinking calmly, it all comes back crystal clear. It is...]
The black ink words stretched long, submerged in water.
The ink coiled around my body like a snake, swirling round and round.
My mind was gradually drifting away from the bed's confines.
And at some point, I was back at that exact moment when Arthur and Shirley clashed in a deathmatch.
***
-Clang!
A ceremonial spear, its blade dull and unsharpened, collided with Arthur's keen sword.
Facing Arthur—who was still standing strong even with a spear through his heart—was unmistakably Shirley.
Though I hadn't faced her properly in the previous dream, seeing her now, both looked definitely 2-3 years more mature than in my memories.
Why was Shirley fighting Arthur in my place?
A fierce exchange unfolded, impossible to predict the victor.
But I knew how this battle ended.
"Shi, Shir—"
The difference from that time: unlike in the dream, I couldn't intervene in the scene now.
"Run away!"
What was the reason for deliberately revisiting this irredeemable memory?
And why was I so frantic about this particular one?
It was all just an illusion conjured by unstable emotions.
-Crack! Claaang!
And why on earth was Shirley wielding a ceremonial spear with a triangular tip?
Shirley wasn't at full strength, and Arthur wasn't in his right mind.
At the miserable fight's end, I watched once more as the two tangled and collapsed.
[Never, ever recall it.]
My body and mind felt present at that gruesome scene, yet my reason and fingers sensed they were elsewhere in this bizarre duality—as if possessed by a ghost, I frantically moved my hands.