No Holes in the Thelema School!
The Thelema School had no holes at all!
Honestly, I had been about to leave when the other party started talking before I could even open my mouth.
“Hold on a second, please.”
Her voice was calm yet carried a striking charisma.
If that was the impression she had first given me, I probably wouldn’t have seen her as “a young academy head with a bankrupt school but unshakable conviction.”
Unfortunately, though.
I heard it.
The dark elf clinging to her, begging for any way to secure the guide’s license.
The school is bankrupt, and the remaining members are burning every union contract and living on borrowed time.
It really is rough.
I suddenly felt thirsty.
Fortunately, there was plenty of alcohol here.
“Water instead of alcohol, then?”
I glanced at the bottles displayed on the counter shelf inside the bar.
She avoided my eyes with a high-pitched voice and muttered something small.
“…It’s impossible.”
“Hmm, if you’re worried I’ll get drunk…”
“Impossible.”
I do know how to drink.
But I’m not even a school member yet.
A single glass wouldn’t hurt, though it’s a bit tight.
Still, she’s the owner here, so if she decided that, I should follow her judgment.
Separate from the frustration, maybe the rules here are like that.
“I’m sorry for the rude request.”
“Rude? Ah, no! That’s not it…”
She let out a deep sigh, fixed her slurred pronunciation, and spoke in a small, careful voice.
“Water. The stuff in there.”
“They’re just decorations.”
The dark elf’s additional explanation from a bit away confirmed I had heard correctly.
“Eh?”
So the fancy bottles on display were just looks, and the contents were all water—right?
“S-sorry.”
“…It’s fine.”
The conversation ended in silence after that.
I glanced at her quietly and drank my water.
“W-well, let me introduce myself first. I’m Hekate. Hekate Cley. The head of the Thelema School!”
At first her tone was forced, but gradually it rose until she proudly declared herself the head.
With both hands on her hips, she straightened her shoulders as much as she could, and her certain features stood out even more.
Whoa.
It was an overwhelming size I had never seen before.
Hekate’s words mentioned her position as head, but the magic in that area was so powerful it made concentration impossible.
“My name is Roman Sun. I recently received a temporary license and came here for training because I want to join the Demonologist school.”
“Demonologist? Wow! How long has it been? A junior joining us… no, wait, I’m glad you came. Hmph, yeah. The Thelema School really is the cradle that raises excellent demonologists as the orthodox Demonologist academy.”
Hekate’s tone kept shifting.
It felt like she was desperately trying to act like a reliable head but failing.
“Ah, there.”
At that moment, a short affirmative word came from the dark elf rummaging through shelves full of papers and various books.
Hekate, who had been nervously watching the dark elf with a serious expression, brightened at that one word.
“As expected of Mea! Just a second, don’t touch it…”
The dark elf, Mea, came over while shaking the documents suspected to be the guide’s license.
Mea placed the license on the counter with a soft clack and sat on her original chair right beside me.
“By the way, Hekate.”
“Hm?”
Mea asked, watching Hekate carefully hold the license.
“Even if it’s not the actual license, couldn’t you use the school’s authority?”
“That’s not possible. Once the re-issuance period starts, the authority gets partially restricted…”
Hekate’s hand holding the license began to tremble.
Her head turned toward me with a rusty-machine creak.
“Ah, no, that’s…”
“It’s fine. I already knew.”
“R-really? Phew. I thought…” Eh? You knew and still came?”
“What a weird guy.”
That’s what you say yourself?
“I got a recommendation.”
“You recommended us? Who?”
“Skyler Martin. The training center director.”
“…That uncle.”
So we knew each other.
Small and medium-sized places like this usually go that way.
Perhaps not entirely good relations, though, because Hekate’s expression was quite subtle.
As soon as she heard the director’s name, Hekate’s floating mood sank a bit.
Her tone and posture, which had been swinging around, finally found stability.
“Welcome again. Come in. The learning ground for demonologists, the Thelema School.”
“Yes. I, too.”
“Since you already know everything, I’ll tell you first. Our school’s situation isn’t great. Probably… unlike other places, proper support will be difficult. But will you be okay?”
Insufficient support?
Actually, that’s good.
If there’s nothing to receive, there’s nothing to be entangled with.
And there’s nothing else to receive.
Mages’ essential equipment is three items.
Equipment that boosts magic output.
Commonly called the staff.
Equipment to store magic stock.
Commonly called a grimoire.
Equipment to protect yourself from attacks.
In one word, armor.
I already possess all three.
The staff and armor were support items given after graduation from the training center, and the grimoire is the Blank Grimoire personally handled by the director.
If I had to take more, it would be consumables, and that’s something you can handle with some money.
After all, it’s not a full-scale expedition all the way into the depths of the Abyss.
“It’s just training, after all.”
If it’s joining the school, sure, but after training ends, it’s over.
“Good. The training will be here with Mea.”
“Bye.”
Unlike Hekate, who showed every kind of face in the short time, the dark elf Mea was consistent.
Surprisingly, that was her first greeting.
I gave an equally businesslike reply to the utterly bland greeting.
“Pleasure to meet you.”
“Yeah.”
I thought I had more to say, so I waited for what came next, but Mea’s lips didn’t even seem about to move.
Do dark elves normally act like this?
Compared to the elves I knew—ordinary elves and new half-elves—their attitudes were different.
I didn’t sense the elves’ usual haughty demeanor or the half-elves’ lack of self-confidence in Mea.
“Ah, haha. Let’s talk about the training with Mea later. By the way, did you already arrange lodging?”
“I was staying at the inn outside the city walls before, but I’ll be moving soon.”
“Then, how about staying at our school building? There are plenty of rooms.”
“Is that okay?”
“We can’t even give proper support, so at least this much is necessary, right?”
Hekate added that meal provision would be difficult.
But my words weren’t meaning that.
“By the way, is there a male among the school members?”
“Hm?”
Hekate, who had momentarily lost her words and fallen into thought, showed a lecherous smile for the first time.
“We’ve been underestimated.”
“That was the case, Hekate.”
Hekate revealed the face I saw when I first entered the building.
A face stained with pain but mixed with anger.
“If you can, try it.”
It wasn’t bravado.
It was confidence born from genuine sincerity that backed her bold voice.
“If you want to know what a demonologist actually is, I can show you directly.”
An eerie aura rose.
Surprisingly, that power didn’t seem to lose even a bit against the Seir mana I had.
It wasn’t about contract demons being inferior.
Instead, it meant Hekate’s magical skill as a mage was outstanding enough to fill any gap.
When Hekate’s sincerity peeked through, the space itself felt like a giant prison.
I instinctively knew.
My magic, Blink, wouldn’t activate here.
The school is a mage’s base.
And the one who governs it, the pinnacle of the school, is the head of the academy.
Even if she looked clumsy or sloppy, Hekate was the head.
Even though it was only a little while ago that the city had officially recognized the Thelema School as a regular academy.
Her image had changed quite a bit, or rather, greatly.
She had value.
Just as the director had recommended.
This place was perfect for raising a demonologist’s ability.
“I didn’t have the intention…”
Feeling the tightening pressure from Hekate, I tried to resist by calling up my mana.
Under the dim lighting, the mana blooming from Hekate and me clashed and brightened even more.
“I do want to see it once. Really, what a demonologist is.”
§
Tak. Tak.
Light footsteps coming down the stairs.
Hekate, still holding her forehead with a slightly dazed expression, said,
“All cleaned up?”
“Yeah. The room was empty anyway.”
After I left to pack my things, Mea prepared the room I had been staying in.
Preparing it meant just dusting a bit and putting a few items in the empty room.
“How is it?”
“Ah… it’s fine. Yeah. Once I finish training, my performance evaluation will also go up, and there will be some support money. I can put out a fire. Mea has worked hard. As expected, the pillar of our school! There really is no one but Mea~”
Hekate, who came over staggering and hugged Mea’s small body, rubbed her face against Mea’s while shaking her head.
Mea pushed Hekate’s forehead firmly and said again,
“Not that.”
“…Just a little messy.”
“You?”
Hekate had taken over the head’s position.
Not for any special reason, but simply through blood relation to her father, the previous head.
But that alone couldn’t be a reason to ignore her as head.
She was, without a doubt, a demonologist worthy of the head’s position.
Among the demons filling the sky like stars, the few who held titles.
Hekate’s contracted demons ranked high even among them.
That Hekate’s magic had been unleashed inside the school building, which was almost like a workshop.
It was normal for the opponent to be unable to move.
But it wasn’t the case just now.
“Mea.”
“Yeah.”
“When you go to the Abyss, keep a close eye. Who you contracted with, what price you pay. My guess, though… no, let’s talk about that later.”