To the Abyss
"What do you mean, Arthur?"
Juan spoke in a tone that surprisingly carried hostility as well.
"Are you going to erase Roman's contributions as if they never happened?"
"What the hell? The guy who was calling him a demonologist just now."
"... When was that?"
This guy had completely changed.
'It makes sense.'
Hadn't everyone seen it?
Didn't they experience it directly with their own bodies?
Roman's devotion to them.
Space teleportation.
Even for a mage's magic, the more you use it, the more immense pain you have to endure.
Yet Roman, despite borrowing the demons' power, gave it all without reservation for them.
A life savior.
He burned his own life to save them.
Of course, it would be natural for him to want to help them receive treatment worthy of it.
But such feelings aren't felt only by Juan or Amaya.
Of course, Arthur feels the same.
"That's the path for Roman."
Is it just Arthur's stubbornness? No.
Fiona thought the same.
"This time's attack, the target was me."
The commander was blatantly targeting Fiona first.
It could be because she was the most annoying, but Fiona, who had experienced similar things several times, could tell from experience.
Their first target was herself.
Even if Arthur or Alejandra were included, she ranked higher than them in priority.
However, if this incident becomes publicly known.
If it's known that a mage using space teleportation interfered with their plans.
The Abyss worshippers would target Roman before Fiona.
"It's not just the Abyss worshippers. Other mages would target Roman too. Whether they want to steal his space magic or summon demons like him."
Arthur and Fiona's concerns were extremely reasonable.
Even Juan, who had shown opposing opinions, had to accept it without any rebuttal.
"... The ones who know about Roman's magic are the fifteen of us and Instructor Davenport up to sixteen."
"The dean saw it too."
"Then it's seventeen. Too many people to keep a secret?"
Just as Alejandra said.
The dean and instructor can be silenced by Fiona's title as grand duchess, but what about the other trainees?
They are residents of Res Limen but their status is strictly free citizens.
They pay taxes to the city, have the duty to follow the laws, but can leave the city anytime.
Even if it were the grand duke, but as a grand duchess, she can't exercise command over them.
"I guess we'll have to rely on conscience."
"Or, instill fear."
The one who spoke next was Dustin Challoner, the 8th survivor from the underground level.
Belonging to the Celsus School, a major academy, his personality wasn't very sociable, so he didn't form factions like Arthur, Alejandra, or Fiona, but his influence was not small.
"A sure revenge on the leak. If I promise that here, even out of fear of what comes after, they'll keep quiet."
Dustin sending a fierce gaze as if he would make a decision if such guys were here now.
But all the people here are those who have survived the underground level, which can be called a death crisis.
They weren't weak in spirit to be intimidated by the gaze of one trainee like them.
Among them, there was even one who stared down Dustin.
"What do you think about the two teammates of Roman's team?"
Alejandra's question caused the somewhat chaotic atmosphere to focus on one place again.
If it were usual, Leaf would have huddled with a "hic" and a scream at the sudden gathering of gazes towards her, but now she was strangely unresponsive.
She had been in that state since coming out of the underground level.
She only reacted when Roman fell, and then turned rigid like a doll again.
"Excluding your roommate Arthur, they're the closest people, right?"
Alejandra asked again to the two who were silent.
There's no choice.
Actually, from the beginning, Ray didn't have much interest in this place.
She thought she should at least keep her seat if everyone is gathering.
Ray said indifferently.
"It's fine. It's for that guy. It's all good, though..."
The reason Ray didn't show that much interest in this place was directly revealed by her own mouth.
"Isn't hearing that guy's thoughts the first thing?"
In the end, the one who decides everything is the will of Roman himself.
The words here can be advice, but they can never become demands to force Roman.
It shouldn't be.
That's Ray's thought.
"Leaf and I will go back first. Do a good meeting, and later gather opinions and pass them on. The decision will be made by that guy himself."
I opened my eyes.
It seemed like I had come out after the sun had set, but the window outside was still dark.
For a moment, I thought maybe I hadn't slept enough.
With the cry of hunger echoing in my stomach, I realized I had slept all day.
"I'm hungry."
It was supposed to be a soliloquy, but the voice came back like daily conversation.
"Can you bring some soup?"
"There's bread too."
Ray and Leaf's words from both sides suggested that this place was safe.
It was really over.
I had worried a bit that if I woke up, we'd all be captured and locked in prison, but it was a needless worry.
After confirming that safety was secured, my heart became loose.
The tension of real combat from the underground, and the burden of training, all melted away like snow under the sun.
With the loose heart, the mouth also loosened, and the thought flowed out without filtering.
"Where am I? Who am I?"
"... What?"
"Ro, Roman-ssi...?"
Ah, they don't know this.
This was also a kind of fundamental drip.
I was about to say it was nonsense and evade, but Ray suddenly climbed on top of me and grabbed my shoulder firmly.
"Hey! Snap out of it! Look at me. Huh? Remember? What's my name? Tell me. Quickly!"
"Roman-ssi, memory, memory... No way..."
Ray shook me with a pale face, sternly.
Leaf, who should have been the one to stop it, was now trembling her hands and muttering something.
No, let go of this first... I need to be let go...
I'm not fully recovered from fatigue yet.
With overwork and hunger making my body weak, Ray shaking me made it hard to speak.
Still, somehow I gathered my mind and squeezed out my voice.
"Hey, hey, it was a joke! A joke!"
Up.
Hoo, finally stopped.
"What?"
"I just made a joke. I didn't think it would worry you this much. Sorry."
"......"
Leaf's trembling stopped, but why is Ray's hand trembling?
"Ray?"
"... Really?"
"Huh?"
"If what you're saying now is a lie because of us, then... then, I won't let you off then..."
Ray said, lowering her head deeply.
Since her body was smaller than mine, even though I had only half-raised my upper body, my face was hard to see.
"It's real. What do you think you're doing with that lie."
"... Then it's fine."
Ray pushed my body away with a thud and lay back down, then said while turning her back.
"Rest. I'll bring soup."
With that, Ray left.
But there was still one more person in the room.
"Hey, Leaf..."
"It was too much."
A voice mixed with tears evoked the image of Leaf's face hidden in the hood.
If I hadn't seen it before, but I had seen the face hidden in that hood.
So, in my mind, the image of Leaf with a gloomy face naturally appeared.
I should apologize.
But Leaf's next words came a bit faster than saying sorry.
"Still, it's a relief."
"... Thank you."
When the sun rose, Instructor Davenport came.
The dean wants a private meeting with you.
Following him, I checked his condition.
"Don't worry. I'm all better."
"Ah, okay."
"Thank you. I'll remember this kindness forever."
Instructor Davenport, who usually spoke little, used such a long sentence structure for the first time since entering the training center.
"It's here."
"Soon."
"It's in the same administrative building."
Instructor Davenport said I had to go alone from here and disappeared with a promise to see you later.
While stopping to knock, the door opened as if it were an automatic door.
It was telling me to come in?
When I entered inside the door, a man sitting in the reception seat came into view.
I saw him.
At the same time, he saw me.
"Training dean, Skyler Martin."
"Roman Sun."
"I know."
"......"
What?
It doesn't seem normal.
"Sit."
As soon as I sat opposite, the dean bent his waist abruptly.
"First, I want to express gratitude. Thanks to you, the surviving trainees are alive, and I was saved too."
Even though he bowed too much, I understood.
If something happened to Fiona, the responsibility would fall entirely on the dean.
"So, I must repay you."
The dean, who stood up, pushed the book on the table towards me.
"It's called the Blank Grimoire."
"What is that?"
A grimoire is a grimoire.
What is an empty grimoire?
"It's a thing where only the content is deleted from the original grimoire. It can only be created if the necromancer, mage scholar, and alchemist work together."
It's time-consuming → expensive.
They're saying it's a good thing by turning it around like this.
This is the weight of experience.
As expected, those who have eaten the social world are different.
With the dean's continued explanation, I perfectly understood what the Blank Grimoire exactly is.
Why, don't you see such a system in games?
Reincarnation, inheritance, those kinds of systems.
Instead of resetting the level, you get stronger stats and more skill points later.
The Blank Grimoire had a similar mechanism.
Delete the existing content, but preserve the accumulated years of work and mystery in it and pass it on intact to the newly written content.
If you get a powerful grimoire but can't use it because it's not the right type for you, you can push the content aside, preserve the mystery and work, and turn it into a grimoire you can use.
"I didn't have a grimoire related to demonology. Because it's originally a rare item. Moreover, space magic related is even more so."
Instead of using a mediocre grimoire, it would be better to make a grimoire that suits me best myself, the dean added.
I received the grimoire.
Honestly, in a position where I wield demonology without paying any price, do I really need a grimoire? But better to have it than not.
My connections are solidly built with Fiona.
Here, I should secure the physical thing.
As I accepted the grimoire, the dean said again.
His voice had sunk more seriously than before.
"Conversely, that also means there were fewer mages handling demonology and space magic."
Time, space, creation.
Still the extreme of mysteries not permitted.
I had stepped one of those three.
Actually, this is not much different from using an Abyss relic.
It's closer to borrowing Seir's authority rather than my personal ability.
Unlike relics with limited numbers, demon contracts are free.
There will definitely be mages targeting me to contract with Seir.
"So, if your magic is revealed, it will immediately attract enormous attention. In a good sense, and in a bad sense."
"I know."
"... Then it's fine. It will be a place to reveal someday, but it's better for that time to be as late as possible. So, I have no intention of reporting your magic to the upper echelons. But if you want, I can't do that."
"No. I think that's better too."
The dean nodded with a smile as if it was a wise judgment.
"And, receive this."
Different from the grimoire, what the dean gave this time was a small rectangular pass.
"Temporary pass. The mid-term exam was processed as all survivors passed."
"This is..."
A pass that allows entry into the Abyss.
Now, I have been given the qualification to enter the Abyss.
Conditional, though.
"I won't congratulate you. I know, but that's only temporary. It's a half pass that can't go to the Abyss alone. After practical training in the Abyss and passing the final exam, it becomes a formal exploration pass."
"Yes. I know. It's just the beginning."
"So, I have one proposal for you."
A proposal.
Is there only one proposal that can be made at this timing?
"Do you have any thoughts about receiving practical training at the city army?"