Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Back to Daily Life? (2)
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Daily life resumed.
The academy, which had been on temporary suspension, returned to normal.
After being discharged from the hospital, the wounds on my face had completely healed, and I could finally walk into the lecture hall on my own two feet.
"Shall we go?"
With the temporary suspension over, Enoch escorted me to my lecture hall before heading to his own.
Which meant I had to wait for Enoch to come pick me up even after class ended.
'Just endure for one week....'
If Machina kept her promise, the protective measures would end at the close of this week, when the Autumn Thanksgiving Festival concluded.
It had been a long time since I'd been under such constant surveillance, ever since my extended hospital stay around age five.
As I entered the lecture hall, the professor, who had arrived early and was organizing the podium, spotted me.
"Cadet Arma. No issues with attending lectures?"
"Yes."
And the monumental first class I attended after recovering was the "Intro to Divinity" lecture for cadets of the Wooden Cross Class.
This Intro to Divinity course had four levels, from beginner to advanced, and the level you took was determined by your grade, regardless of academic achievement.
That's why Judith and I, on the verge of graduation, were taking the highest-level Intro to Divinity, which we'd put off until the end.
Of course, Judith often skipped divinity lectures because she was a special admissions student....
'She said she'd apply for the Royal Guard after graduation.'
Judith had decided on her career path relatively recently. She'd been agonizing until lately over whether to return home after studying abroad.
Without Judith, who could be considered my ally, I squirmed under the stares of the cadets taking Intro to Divinity with me—up to four years my junior.
"Then let's begin."
What followed was an overview of Aegis theory deepened from the previous level, along with an in-depth analysis of the Genesis Myth.
I quickly skimmed the beginning and end of my textbook before falling into thought.
'This passage is definitely only in the Lichten region variant.'
[It is destruction, an irreversible catastrophe.]
This line from the Aegis Genesis Myth variant was now unforgettable, but it wasn't included in the divinity curriculum for Wooden Cross Class majors.
"Your scholarly zeal is impressive, Cadet Arma Cruise."
"I'll correct myself."
Whether he had eyes in the back of his head or had cast some spell on us cadets, Professor Sir August of Intro to Divinity called me out the moment I let my mind wander.
I obediently turned the pages in sync with the lesson and stared straight ahead.
As class resumed, the countless stares directed at me quickly shifted to the blackboard.
-Scritch, scritch, scritch.
It boiled up quickly, then subsided in an instant.
With hundreds of young cadets gathered, the academy's atmosphere was generally this fickle.
-Tok.
About an hour in.
With class already halfway done, a scrap of paper landed on my desk.
"......?"
I turned to see who sent it, but no one met my eyes.
I'd been facing the blackboard squarely, sitting in the front row, so it was hard to guess who threw the note from the higher row behind me.
"Hm."
Unfolding it revealed nothing too far off my expectations.
'Muderer.'
Cleverly, to avoid detection by handwriting, they'd copied the characters for 'mur', 'de', and 'rer' from the Intro to Divinity textbook.
'Such things don't even tickle anymore.'
I neatly folded the note, slipped it into the inner pocket of my jacket, propped my chin on my hand, and focused on the lesson.
Even though such incidents had decreased now that I was an upperclassman, as someone who stood out among scholars rather than excelling above them, this wasn't my first time.
In any case, since these people would become leaders in various fields and potential colleagues or partners in the future, I could only hope their childish pranks wouldn't last.
"We'll end early today."
"Thank you for your efforts."
Had it been thirty minutes since the note?
Perhaps due to the upcoming festival preparations, Sir August wrapped up earlier than usual, tidied the podium, and left.
I grabbed my major textbook and shot to my feet.
Someone watching me flinched at my sudden movement.
'That must be the one.'
Hood pulled low to hide his face, black hair, small stature. I had a rough idea who it was.
What other reason would someone with no connection to me have for overreacting to my actions?
I pinched the note from my inner pocket between index and middle finger, waved it, and smiled.
I didn't remember his name, but he was a swordsmanship major about to graduate this year.
"How childish."
Sending notes during lecture as a pre-graduation stunt—the future of Aegis Academy looked bright.
"Cadet Arma Cruise. Sorry I'm late."
"No, it just ended."
I left the lecture hall with Enoch Cadet, who arrived a beat late.
***
As I exited the lecture hall, a few cadets I was on friendly terms with greeted me.
While some disliked me, others acted warmly like this.
Naturally, since I too had those I liked and disliked.
Enoch followed quietly behind me like a shadow.
If not for the sound of the iron groove worn only by Student Council cadets over their uniforms, I might not have noticed his presence.
Passing the lecture building and heading through the central hall, another familiar face was there.
"Theodore, Arthur."
I'd run into these two here on the day I first had that dream.
Their outfits were the same as that day, but Arthur's complexion was different.
"Didn't get enough sleep?"
Instead of answering, Arthur averted his gaze.
He clearly hated showing weakness.
"He has a fever," Theodore answered in Arthur's stead, his face showing subtle worry only visible up close.
"Wouldn't it be better to skip lectures?"
"I'm fine."
"He's being stubborn like this."
"You two get along well."
Rather than asking the foolish question of whether swordmaster track cadets got fevers too, I steered away from the topic Arthur didn't want to discuss.
"But who's that behind you?"
"Ah. Since Shirley and Judith are away, I'll be with Cadet Enoch for a while."
It might sound ridiculous at a military academy, but the Student Council held a position like a vigilante group here.
It meant they commanded respect regardless of age.
Theodore gave a curt "Thanks for your hard work" and a silent nod to me as well.
-Grrrrr....
That was the moment.
A sound that shouldn't have come from afar echoed.
'Magic beast?!'
I reflexively drew my pistol from its holster and chambered a round.
Arthur and Enoch, already in perfect formation, stepped in front of Theodore—who couldn't use magic—and me.
-Clang!
Almost simultaneously, a massive beast burst through a high window.
Shards of glass rained down on the cadets gathered in the first-floor hall.
"Aaah!"
Low-year cadets with little combat experience fled in panic, while those more seasoned at the academy drew swords or spears, ready to fight.
"Evacuate!"
This was an elite military academy gathering cadets with basic mage aptitude.
A mere wild beast would have been manageable even by a single cadet.
But this time was different.
"It's a magic beast!"
I shouted.
What had suddenly appeared in the Wooden Cross House was a chimera-form magic beast with glowing red eyes.
Keeping my eyes on it, I worked the lever to chamber a round and rested my finger on the trigger.
Its body was like a lion's, but its fangs were long enough to scrape the ground, and scales covered the line from its spine to its tail.
I extended my arm, gripped the pistol, and aimed at the magic beast.
'Damn, Arthur's in the way....'
Unlike Arthur and Enoch, who had drawn swords, I couldn't adjust my bullet's path mid-flight.
If those two got in my line of fire, it wouldn't help—it would be a slaughter.
"Left flank."
"Yes."
Enoch lowered his stance on Arthur's right, who had taken the left, and advanced on the magic beast.
The beast drooled profusely, twitching its nose as if searching for something.
-Grrrrr!
It was a low, ominous growl like a foghorn.
Its sharp eyes, prowling for prey, soon locked onto me.
"!"
As Enoch crouched to strike its legs, the magic beast leaped high.
A fatal error exposing its belly, but the beast didn't care.
-Bang!
I'd trained so my heart wouldn't race when holding a gun; I steadily nailed its forehead.
It would have stopped a normal beast dead, but the magic beast charged on undeterred.
-Bang!
The angle was poor for the leaping beast; raising my arm, I fired again.
Now with two bullets in its head, its bulging eyes still burned fierce.
No time to reload.
I debated my final options: pistol-whip it, or meekly offer my arm to protect my vitals—a pointless second-best.
The instant I resolved to shove my arm into its gaping maw—
-Kaaaah!
The beast, right in my face, let out a long roar.
But instead of fangs piercing my arm, I heard someone else's ragged breathing nearby.
"Sorry. Not at my best."
-Squelch.
Arthur, face flushed red, wiped sweat from his chin.
An unbelievably clean bisect.
The beast was cleaved from tail to snout, silenced after that initial roar.
"...No, thank you."
Nor was Arthur the only one who'd landed a hit.
Enoch, who had slid under the leaping beast to slash its underbelly, approached me drenched in its blood just like Arthur.
"Any injuries?"
"I'm fine, but you two are the problem. Theodore?"
"I'm okay. But my seal broke, so I need to head to the Student Council room."
Theodore raised his arm, where the bracelet enforcing the no-magic seal had overheated and blackened.
"Shouldn't you go to the infirmary first?"
"No. This isn't the first time."
Restrictions on magic loosened in life-threatening crises.
A mage using magic instinctively in danger was a natural survival instinct.
No injustice greater than getting gravely injured from such instinct.
Theodore indifferently stanched his arm's bleeding and quietly regarded the fallen magic beast.
In that moment, we were all thinking the same thing.
That magic beast had clearly been targeting 'me'.