Rafi Bael.
A gifted mage scheduled to advance to her second year at the Imperial Academy Solarion.
Rafi had yet to accomplish anything of note, but she often imagined herself someday becoming one of those shining stars.
This time, too, Rafi imagined what she would look like as a second-year.
Her hellish first-year life was finally over. Once she became a second-year, Rafi believed her talent would blossom.
At least, she did until her advisor professor summoned her.
“Rafi Bael!!! When on earth are you going to come to your senses!!!”
The moment she opened the door to the professor’s office, a roar came crashing down on Rafi.
“Hieeek—! Professor, I’m sorry!!!”
For now, she had no idea what this was about, but she blurted out an apology anyway.
“Enough with the apologies!!!”
“Hiik—!”
Rafi, watching the professor’s mood, glanced at her advisor as the professor slammed a hand down on the desk.
“...Um... P-Professor...? Hehe, may I ask what exactly you’re angry about...?”
Rafi’s voice grew smaller and smaller toward the end, and the professor’s furious brows softened ever so slightly.
Rafi felt wronged. As far as she could tell, none of the things she had done wrong had been discovered yet—at least, nothing that deserved a scolding this severe.
Before the professor’s roar had descended upon her, Rafi had already swiftly scanned the office.
The professor’s beloved flowerpot, the one Rafi had accidentally broken last time, had been turned so that the intact side faced outward.
The flowerpot hadn’t been found out yet. The practical assignment the professor had been urging her about had been late, but she had submitted it in the end.
So it wasn’t either of the two most recent things she had done wrong. Then what on earth was the professor angry about?
‘No way...! Did she find out I used her staff without permission!?’
Rafi prayed that, please, it was anything but that. Just as a knight had a sword, a mage considered their staff to be like an extension of themselves.
Blocked by the assignment for the advancement exam, Rafi had secretly broken into her advisor professor’s room and used the professor’s staff in order to receive help with spell formula manifestation.
Since it was the professor’s staff, not only was its spell formula manifestation incredible, but its mana amplification effect was amazing as well, so she had passed the assignment with ease.
‘I was so careful not to get caught...!!’
Rafi, trembling with anxiety, put strength into her legs, ready to run at any moment.
“Haa...”
The professor let out a small sigh.
At that sight, Rafi was certain.
She hadn’t been caught!
If she had been caught using the staff, the professor’s anger would never have ended at this level. One wrong move, and it could have gone as far as expulsion.
It seemed the professor was angry for some other reason. Rafi relaxed the strength in her legs.
‘...Did I eat chewy cookies in the professor’s room and forget to clean up the crumbs?’
It was a minor offense, but since she had secretly eaten alone in the professor’s office, it was still an offense.
Rafi thought that next time, she should give the professor some chewy cookies too.
“Phew... Rafi Bael. I hear you’ve been getting rather arrogant lately now that you’re advancing to second year.”
“I don’t think I’ve been... that arrogant... Professor, hehe...”
Rafi felt relieved by the softened atmosphere, but at the professor’s words, she grew embarrassed and scratched the back of her head.
Thud...!
Suddenly, the professor struck the desk with her fist and rose to her feet.
“If charging examinees tuition fees while claiming to teach them the secret to passing the academy entrance exam isn’t arrogance, then what is!! You haven’t even graduated yet!”
Rafi quickly bent at the waist.
“Hieeeek—! I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Professor...! But I couldn’t help it because of tuition fees...”
Seeing Rafi on the verge of tears, the professor sat back down and sighed.
“Haa... Tuition... Tuition... Fine, I know your circumstances, Rafi Bael, so I’ll let that pass. It wasn’t a large amount to begin with.”
At the sight of the professor closing her eyes and shaking her head, Rafi was relieved.
“Waa—! As expected of you, Professor... Hehe...”
She had been called in for a trivial reason, but the professor was still the professor. Rafi approached her and started acting cute.
“As expected, Professor Ariel is the best! The best!!! The great mage of Solarion!”
“Hmph. Continue praising me.”
“Number one in Solarion professor beauty rankings! Number one in magic rankings! Number one in course evaluations! The beautiful, great, and magnificent Professor Ariel is the best!!”
There was no objective assessment involved, but as far as Rafi was concerned, Professor Ariel was the best professor in Solarion. After all, Professor Ariel was the only one who took care of her!
“Top candidate for Master of the Magic Tower of the Floating Island Archipelago!!”
“Ah, leave that one out.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
With the mood settled, Professor Ariel brought up the real reason she had called Rafi in.
“In any case, Rafi Bael. The reason I called you is because a problem has arisen with your advancement to second year.”
“What!!!? Professor, I passed the exam!!! What... What problem was there!?”
For Rafi, who had been imagining her future as a second-year, it was like a bolt from the blue.
Rafi’s body collapsed weakly. She grabbed the professor’s arm and looked up at her with tearful eyes.
Professor Ariel looked directly into Rafi’s eyes with pity.
“It’s because of the assignment you submitted. Someone filed an objection, insisting that there was definitely an error in the formula used in your assignment.”
“Whaaaat!!!? An error in the formula!? The only people I learned magic from were my family and you, Professor Ariel... Don’t tell me... Don’t tell me...!! Professor, was it you!?”
At Rafi’s fussing, the light vanished from Professor Ariel’s eyes.
With a cold, flat gaze, Professor Ariel removed Rafi’s hand from her arm.
“Why would I do that to you? Haa... Anyway, due to academy policy, I couldn’t learn who the informant was, but a faculty meeting was held because of the objection.”
“!!!!”
“After the other professors and I reviewed your assignment, Rafi...”
Gulp—!
“What was the result...!?”
Rafi’s eyes shook as though an earthquake had struck them, tense with fear.
“Your assignment score, Rafi, has been nullified.”
“No—!”
At the shocking declaration, Rafi collapsed in despair.
“...Though I did protest that the punishment was too severe. But I couldn’t refute what the other professors said.”
“What was it, what was it!! Professor, no!! I don’t want to repeat the year!! My dreamlike second-year life!!!”
Rafi, her face stained with tears, grabbed Professor Ariel’s arm and shook it.
Professor Ariel skillfully endured Rafi’s behavior while using her other hand to take a document from her desk.
“Here is the result of the verification. The minimum requirements of the formula submitted in Rafi Bael’s assignment are assistant-professor-level mana manipulation and the need for structural stability. Furthermore, the mana required to activate the formula is professor-level.”
“Eh...”
“It says here, ‘As Rafi Bael’s current level is insufficient to prove the formula she submitted, her score shall be placed on hold.’”
Professor Ariel kindly showed the certificate to Rafi as if telling her to look for herself.
“Hah...!”
The professor’s staff had been so high-performance that it had become a problem...!
Rafi felt wronged.
“No! No. That’s not it, Professor!!! I, I have hidden abilities I’ve been keeping secret!!! I dooo...”
At the news that her advancement to second year was in danger, Rafi said whatever came to mind first.
“I did present that opinion as well. But, well. Though you are my student, I’m not sure whether your words are true. Rafi Bael, have you been hiding your abilities even from me?”
Professor Ariel narrowed her eyes.
Before the gaze of her teacher, which carried suspicion yet still seemed to believe in her, Rafi swallowed.
Gulp—
She couldn’t answer.
Because Professor Ariel was the only person in the academy who had believed in Rafi.
Unable even to lie, Rafi quietly lowered her gaze.
A suffocating silence filled the office.
“...Phew. Still, an adjustment was made during the faculty meeting. If you prove one thing, your suspended score may pass without issue.”
Overwhelmed, Rafi clung to the professor’s feet.
“Hah!!! What should I do!!? Should I lick your feet, Professor!?”
“That’s a bit... Hm... It might not be bad.”
Professor Ariel cleared her throat and pushed Rafi’s head away.
“Ahem... In any case, as a method to prove your formula, Rafi, go to the Adventurers’ Guild and complete a subjugation request.”
“Professor, you’re the best! The best!! I can do it!! Because I’m Professor Ariel’s disciple!!!”
***
“Hic—! Hic—! That’s what happened... Hic—! My savior...”
“I get it, so stop crying. And don’t call me savior. Call me Evan.”
When Rafi woke up, she started crying and making a huge fuss, so I told her I had just been playing a little prank.
Apparently that triggered something in her, because even though I hadn’t asked, she began pouring out her story about how hard things had been for her all this time.
“Sniff—! Yes, Evan-nim!”
Listening to Rafi’s story, I found it rather interesting.
Her outfit had looked a bit like a school uniform from the start, so I had been half in doubt, but it was surprising that she really was an academy student.
Was it an educational institution created by the Empire after the Floating Island Archipelago fell?
I never imagined those arrogant spell-slingers, who rejected outsiders and cared nothing for the dangers of the world, would change like this.
More than anything else, I rather liked Rafi’s lively personality.
In a world that should have ended as dark fantasy, emotions such as laughter and tears would have been a luxury.
Humans who had submitted to the Abyss would have become beings treated not as people, but as resources.
I looked at Rafi before me. A little mage crying as she smiled because the bread she had put in her mouth was delicious.
Seeing the innocent child before me, it seemed the hardships I had endured to prevent the apocalypse had not been in vain.
“Not bad.”
“Mmph—!?”
I gestured for Rafi, who seemed about to answer, to keep eating the bread.
“Gulp—! Delicious!! Thank you, Evan-nim.”
“I’m glad it suits your taste.”
Her stomach had been growling, so I had taken a consumable out of my inventory and given it to her.
Fortunately, the inventory restrictions caused by my drifting only limited unique-grade items, so I could use and retrieve consumables without any issue.
Even so, the usable space itself was small, but the fact that I could use it at all was something.
“Rafi, do you know where this place is?”
“Yes! Evan-nim. This is the Shadow Forest near Rimhold!”
Rafi brightly told me where we were.
“Rimhold...? You mean the border city Rimhold I know?”
“Yep. Is there some kind of problem?”
“No. It just feels like I landed in a really underdeveloped place.”
The border city Rimhold.
As I recalled, Rimhold was a city the Empire had built to keep watch over the elves of the Great Forest.
However, the elves had no interest in humans and did not interact with them.
The Empire knew that too, and since there were far greater threats than the elves, the border city Rimhold was only a city in name—no, a rural village.
Still, fifty years had passed, so it must have developed in its own way.
“Underdeveloped...?”
Rafi tilted her head in confusion.
“Hmm... Then now that I know the location. Rafi, there’s one thing I’m curious about. Do you know about the people who stopped the Abyss fifty years ago?”
What did the generation fifty years later call us? Were we written about in history books? Perhaps they called us heroes.
“Hehe... I slept through history class... I’m sorry, Evan-nim.”
I couldn’t tell whether we had been forgotten, or whether Rafi simply didn’t know.
“Then, Rafi, do you know about Saint Clara?”
I asked about the saint of the church, who was certainly the most famous among people.
Rafi closed her eyes and thought deeply, then smiled brightly.
“Hehe, I don’t really know much about the church either...”
“...I hate to say this, but Rafi, you’re incredibly useless.”
“I’m sorryyy...”
Rafi gave an awkward smile.
“Ah!! But Saintess...? I feel like I might have heard the professors talking about her or something...”
“...Forget it. Let’s get up.”
If I went into the city and asked around, I should be able to get some useful information.
“That orc we just killed finished your request, right?”
“Ah— Yes! The request I received from the Adventurers’ Guild said to kill one starving orc!”
“Then could you guide me to Rimhold? I don’t know the geography around here very well.”
I used to know it well, but after fifty years, I had no idea anymore.
“Hoho!! Just follow me, Evan-nim! Special-grade guide Rafi is on the move!”
She put both hands on her hips with a smug look on her face.
“Ueeeghek—! Evan-niim!?”
For some reason, that annoyed me, so I messed up her hair.
“Once you kill one orc, Rafi, is your advancement proof complete?”
“Nooo—! Evan-nim, stop!! You’ll ruin my hair!!”
“Why did you come to Rimhold in the first place? Are there enough monsters here for there to be subjugation requests?”
Did monsters settle here as soon as the elves vanished and the Great Forest burned?
“Hah—! I’m finally free! Ahem, ahem... This is just a rumor, but apparently that ‘King of the Dead’ has settled near Rimhold! They say that’s why there are more monsters now, or something like that. Anyway, there are a lot of subjugation requests, so I came here too.”
“...What? Rafi, say that again.”
There was a word in Rafi’s statement that I should not have heard.
“Hieeek—!! Um... There are a lot of subjugation requests...?”
“No, what you said before that.”
“The King of the Dead has settled near Rimhold—! Ugh—! Evan-nim... My shoulder hurts...”
“...Sorry.”
In that instant, I had grabbed Rafi’s shoulder quite hard. I hurriedly let go and stepped back.
“Evan-nim... Did I do something wrong...!?”
“No, Rafi. It’s not your fault.”
Because it was difficult to prevent that damned dark fantasy ending alone, I had gathered companions. And at that, I had made companions of those who originally had the fate of bosses.
And one of the companions I had taken in.
The high elf Haze.
“King of the Dead” was the name used to refer to Haze, the boss who scattered death in the dark fantasy ending.