“Snow’s falling, snow~ snow, snow, snow~”
On the way to Deculein’s class. In the middle of the university campus, where snow had piled up before they knew it, Epherene stood with both arms spread wide, welcoming the great flakes still falling from the sky.
Drent, who had been reading a major textbook while following behind her, let out a snicker.
“What, is this your first time seeing snow?”
Epherene spun around and nodded vigorously.
“Yeah! It’s my first time!”
“Hm? ······Ah~ Your hometown was Juhalle, right.”
It did not snow in Iliade’s territory. Along with the Yukline territory, it was counted among the most livable places for people, but its area was not large, and with its warm climate all year round, it was in some ways a monotonous region.
“You learned geography rather poorly, didn’t you?”
At Epherene’s comment, Drent shook his head with a faint smile.
“Let’s just go. We’ll be in big trouble if we’re late.”
A lecture attended not only by students, but professors as well. Today, Deculein’s class was being held outside the Magic Tower.
“Okay.”
Epherene walked while treading on the soft piled snow. Crunch— crunch— the sound was adorable.
When they arrived at “Robheim Hall,” almost all the students had already gathered.
In Deculein’s class, where time was strict, being even one second late counted as tardiness, and being tardy even once meant expulsion.
Drent and Epherene sat in the back seats.
“······Looks like everyone’s reading the paper.”
Drent muttered as he looked around the lecture hall. Just as he said, nearly everyone was engrossed in Deculein and Luna’s paper on the new element.
“Yeah. They’re taking quite a while······.”
Epherene had secretly been looking forward to it.
She had hoped that the high-ranking mages would first thoroughly understand the paper, and then she could use the materials they distributed as a booster for herself.
But as expected of a spell that required talent in all four major elements [Earth, Wind, Fire, Water], even the professors seemed to be having quite a difficult time.
“I’m estimating about one to two years.”
“It’ll take that long?”
Epherene blinked and asked again. Drent shook his head.
“That’s an optimistic forecast, you know? Mages usually learn theory while casting the magic themselves. But for this, you need all four fundamental elements to implement the theory······ There’s no answer. No matter how high-ranking a mage is, talent they don’t have won’t suddenly appear.”
“······Really?”
Well, even Dukan’s support magic had taken years to prove in theory.
Just as Epherene nodded sulkily—
Bang—
The lecture hall door opened, and Deculein appeared.
“Good to see you.”
He strode forward and placed his materials on the lectern. Everyone put away their papers and focused their eyes on Deculein.
“Today’s first lesson will be a light question-and-answer session. I will designate students and ask whether they understand the content. Failure to answer will result in a deduction of points. Continued deductions will result in expulsion.”
Question-and-answer. Deculein called it light, but it would certainly not be light at all.
“Are there any mages who wish to volunteer?”
Everyone in the room subtly averted their gaze. Epherene was no exception. She lowered her head until the crown of her head was visible.
“You there. The mage whose hair whorl I can see.”
Epherene flinched. Then she slowly raised her face. Deculein’s eyes were fixed on her.
“······Yes?”
“Stand and look at this formula.”
“Y-Yes!”
Epherene sprang to her feet. Deculein projected the magic circle of 「Iron Man」 into the air.
An extremely complex and abstruse formula. A theory in which hundreds of lines and dozens of circles were connected like a single-stroke drawing.
Deculein enlarged one part of it and pointed.
“I ask you. What is the role of this triple circuit?”
It was a sudden question, but Epherene recalled what she had learned and answered haltingly.
“Ah······ It links the caster’s mana and the formula······ no, it serves to link them more smoothly.”
“Then what is the dynamic structure that links the mana?”
The dynamic structure that linked mana. Epherene looked at the triple circuit in the air.
In truth, though it was called triple, once three or more magic circuits overlapped, the number of cases reached the hundreds. One had to consider every point, line, and surface where they touched.
“The dynamic structure of this formula is······.”
“You may draw the formula yourself.”
“Ah, yes. Um······.”
Epherene looked at her notebook and drew the formula in the air.
Swish, swish— swish, swish—
Unable to endure it any longer, Deculein struck the lectern hard.
“Too slow.”
“Yes! I’m sorry. So······.”
It was definitely something she had learned. Something she had known.
Epherene swallowed dryly.
“······The dynamic structure is like this······ First, it begins from this double circuit······.”
“Is it that you cannot speak properly? Or is your head empty?”
“No, no······.”
Deculein took a step. He slowly approached Epherene. Epherene’s heart beat in time with the sound of his footsteps.
“If you don’t even know the dynamic structure of a circuit, can you understand my class?”
“I know. I do know.”
“If you know, then answer.”
Before she knew it, he was right in front of her. Epherene looked up at him and flinched in shock.
It was an abnormal pressure, a magical aura.
This itself was a test.
“······The dynamic structure of mana begins from a double circuit. This connection point in the double circuit. In other words, while supplementing the weakest part—”
“Why is the double circuit weak? In magical theory, the double circuit is considered ‘the safest structure.’”
“Because this formula is not magic itself, but rather is added to a specific magic to strengthen that magic, making it closer to a kind of ‘magic enchant.’”
Epherene did not even know what she herself was saying. She merely recited it as if by instinct.
In the middle of it, she glanced up at Deculein’s expression, and fortunately, it did not seem to be too wrong.
“Good. Then again, describe the dynamic structure of the triple circuit. Why use a triple circuit at all?”
“T-That is······. So······. Um······.”
“Are you going to equivocate again?”
Deculein’s voice sank coldly. Epherene’s body trembled.
“If you drag out your words one more time, you will be expelled from the lecture. I ask again. Why did I deliberately use a triple circuit in this magic?”
That chilling warning swept over the audience.
“I will give you three seconds.”
Cold sweat formed on Epherene’s forehead. Her back grew hot.
“Three.”
Deculein began the count, looking down at Epherene.
“Two.”
The other mages desperately hoped they would not be the next target of this “pressure question.”
“One.”
And then······.
* * *
Break time.
Epherene, completely drained, was resting with her body leaning against the chair. From her bright-red face, steam rose with a crackle— crackle—.
“······Leafy. Are you all right?”
When Drent asked cautiously, Epherene merely tilted her head and glared at him.
“I told you not to call me Leafy.”
“Ah. Sorry. Somehow, it feels more friendly.”
“······I really thought I was going to die. I’m dizzy right now.”
Epherene recalled it again. Deculein’s brutal pressure questioning. It had felt as though it were squeezing her heart and choking her throat.
Epherene herself had somehow gotten through it, but after that, six people were expelled one after another.
Today, Professor Deculein was clearly intent on “reducing the numbers.”
“But wasn’t only my question hard?”
“Yeah. The triple circuit was pretty difficult. It’d be one thing if he asked someone at the professor level, but for Candles like us—”
“Exactly!”
Epherene sprang back upright.
“Why did he only ask me something hard and torment me like that······.”
However, her words did not continue to the end.
Suddenly, she remembered Deculein’s voice, which she had once overheard.
—It seems I think of that girl as my disciple.
Because she was his disciple, he would raise her even more strictly.
Was that it? Then did that mean these pressures would become even worse as time went on?
I never said I would become his disciple, though. Is Professor Deculein getting ahead of himself?
“No matter what, this is too······.”
Epherene fidgeted with her lips and let out a sigh.
All of a sudden, a voice from the distant future lingered in her ears.
—In my world, there is no Professor.
Words that her future self had left for her present self.
What in the world would happen on that day?
“······.”
Epherene, dazed for a moment, lifted Deculein’s wood steel with 「Psychokinesis」. While she was playing with it like a butterfly, whirring— whirring— Deculein returned.
“Professor!”
At that moment, Rogerio raised his hand high.
“I learned something in this class, you see. Would you take a look? It’s something I modified in my own way.”
Deculein checked the time, then nodded.
“Good.”
“Aigo, yes. Now, take a look. It’s 「Transmutation」 enchanted with 「Iron Man」.”
Rogerio transmuted a wall. That wall moved like slime.
Solid, yet fluid. It was indeed a mystery befitting Rogerio, and Epherene let out an admiring “Oho—.”
“······May I trap you with this, Professor?”
Rogerio asked seriously. Deculein merely nodded again. At that instant, the wall moved and wrapped around Deculein.
“Khehe. How’s that?”
Rogerio grinned, and in the very next moment, Rogerio’s wall collapsed. It faded away without a trace.
“?”
Rogerio’s face went blank.
Just now, was that magical interference? Or had he crushed the wall itself with another spell?
It had happened in such an instant that he could not tell.
“Rogerio.”
Deculein called Rogerio’s name.
“······Eh, eh? Ah, yes, Professor.”
He shook his head as if pitying him and said,
“A modification made without proper understanding is worse than not modifying it at all. If you rashly change it to your own method, its weak points become clearer and more definite. Your magic circle was probably like this.”
Then a wondrous magic circle appeared in the air. Shock filled Rogerio’s eyes.
“Oh my? How’d you know?!”
It was because Deculein had recreated exactly what he had cast. In other words, he had visualized a magic he had seen only once, with nothing more than a sidelong glance.
“Be quiet. Listen to the explanation. This should make for a good lesson.”
“······Yes.”
Deculein began the class with the magic circle Rogerio had modified as the subject.
“Where circuits meet circuits, a weak point inevitably occurs. However, at the same time, a singularity also occurs.”
Every word in that explanation telling them to distinguish between circuit errors and characteristics, every explanation and every analogy—there was nothing that could be dismissed casually.
Epherene and the mages, concentrating to the utmost, began taking down “everything of Professor Deculein.”
* * *
After the class ended.
Having returned to my office, I checked the list of the “Frenheim Knights.”
Lugel, Daniel von Gessel, Brian Deron, Grills, Roseran, and so on······ All of them would be saved by some unknown influential figure, or by an acquaintance from the past.
Thanks to Julie taking all of Frenheim’s sins upon herself, they would be able to continue normal careers.
However.
“······Rockfell.”
Rockfell, the former vice-captain of the Frenheim Knights.
I intended to kill this man. In truth, all of Yusefin’s schemes had been the result of this man’s inflated crimes.
The corruption committed by Rockfell, who had fallen at some point, included falsifying ledgers, embezzlement, solicitation, and so on······. As soon as the Frenheim Knights collapsed, he joined Iliade’s house knights, and he was also the one who had received Veron’s mission in the first place.
I had also obtained confirmation from Yusefin, so there was no need to hold back.
It felt somewhat strange that I had grown numb to killing, but it was something I had resolved myself to.
—Knock, knock. Professor. It’s Allen.
I opened the door. Allen approached, holding official documents from above in his arms.
“These are official documents regarding the selection of the next chairman.”
“I see.”
I skimmed through the document he handed me.
[ ······Therefore, Professor Deculein!!! Professor Ihelm!!! Let us settle this this winter!!!!!!!!!! ]
It was roughly a document stating that the final test would be held this winter. Adrienne’s voice seemed to come through in the excessive exclamation marks.
“······But you know, Professor.”
At that moment, Allen spoke. The atmosphere around him was different from usual.
I lifted my gaze from the official document. Allen was looking at the medal on my desk.
It was the medal I had received for my contribution in suppressing the Red Garnet.
“Are the Red Garnet deserving of suppression simply because they are the Red Garnet?”
Allen’s question was dry and flat. Without a word, I set the official document on the desk.
“······.”
Was it because his caution had grown thin, or was my suspicion toward him causing confirmation bias?
Now, I felt like I knew to some extent.
The reason this man was by my side.
“Allen.”
“······Yeees?”
“History is a vast current. Like the waves. An individual swept away by it cannot tell whether it is the tide coming in or going out.”
The Jeokgwe are a complicated clan.
They are ostracized simply because a tiny fraction of demonic blood runs through their veins, and that ostracism leads to resistance, and that resistance leads once again to ostracism—a continuous vicious cycle.
In the main stream of this worldview, the “apex of that vicious cycle” is none other than the Altar.
In fact, among the countless madmen currently involved with the Altar, there are many branches of the Jeokgwe.
“Those who try to go against the current drown meaninglessly, and in the end, only those who survive come to know, from dry land, what the current of history truly was.”
“······Then is this that vast current?”
I nodded.
“It is.”
“······I see.”
Allen lowered his face. It was quite a new sight. No, if even this was acting, it was all the more natural.
Considering every one of those possibilities, I added one more thing.
“However, not every current can be called right. Someday, the day may come when this tide changes. As long as you are alive, an opportunity will come one day.”
“······.”
At that, Allen raised his eyes and looked up at me. As if genuinely surprised, his eyes were as wide as a deer’s.
“Allen. You asked whether the Jeokgwe are oppressed simply because they are Jeokgwe. That is correct. However, whether that is truly ‘right’ remains to be seen.”
A subtle change came over Allen’s attitude. He clenched the two hands hidden behind his back.
Then, standing on tiptoe, he gazed intently at my face and······.
“Then, Professor······.”
There was nothing after that.
Allen scratched the back of his neck for no reason, then smiled brightly.
“It’s nothing! I just saw something strange in the newspaper today.”
“You mean the four-year-old Jeokgwe?”
“Ah······. You saw it too, Professor?”
I nodded.
An article with an attached photograph of a Jeokgwe, only four years old, dead with his forehead pierced through.
The imperial media outlet Voice of Conscience, which had written the headline [ Is This Right? ], was struck down only three hours after publishing that newspaper.
“There is one fact that is certain in any world.”
I looked down at Allen.
With a rather complicated face—or acting as if he was complicated—or perhaps truly feeling complicated, this exceedingly complicated and mysterious fellow.
“······A child is without sin.”
I was curious what the real name of this assistant professor called “Allen” was.
* * *
······Today, I moved about rather busily. My lecture had overlapped with Sophien’s lesson.
“Today, We read this book.”
The Imperial Capital was filled with snow, but the Imperial Palace was still as splendid as spring.
Sophien faced me in the most languid posture imaginable. Her body was wriggling like an earthworm.
“Are you so weary because you read a book?”
“That too, and We had a bit of a tussle with Our subjects. In any case, it is a bestseller called ‘Blue Eyes’······ Your eyes are blue as well, are they not?”
Sophien looked into my eyes. I looked into Sophien’s eyes as well.
Eyes as brilliant as red diamonds. Irises that seemed to have been modeled exactly after the most precious jewels in this world.
They were beautiful.
Then Sophien furrowed her brow. And muttered curtly.
“······What are you staring at so much? Read the book. I can feel mana from this book. To be precise, from the sentences.”
“Yes. Understood. I will read it after the lesson is over.”
I placed the book inside my coat. Ahem—I cleared my throat and began preparing for the Runic lesson.
However.
“Rumors are rampant that your fiancée committed corruption.”
Sophien brought up a subject I had not wanted. I recited the runes as if it were nothing, but the emperor continued speaking.
“The Yulie We know is not the sort of knight to do that.”
“······Yes. That is correct. I know as well.”
“Then why did you leave it that way? Why did you let your fiancée be ruined?”
I looked up at Sophien. Her eyes were thick with suspicion.
“It is a reason I cannot tell Your Majesty.”
“······.”
Sophien narrowed her eyes and raised her languid body. Her beautiful hair, like a waterfall, scattered like a lion’s mane.
“······Deculein.”
“Yes.”
“You are hiding something, are you not?”
The emperor saw straight through me. However, I did not particularly want to have this sort of conversation with her.
“Yet you know this, do you not, Your Majesty? Though I may hide what is in my heart, I do not deceive you.”
“······Do you know what We are thinking?”
“······.”
Sophien was not yet a completed character. She had already died hundreds of times, and could no longer even be called a normal human being.
Therefore, as the quest progressed, the illness unique to rulers—paranoia, or suspicion, and the like—would worsen. It had been the same in the actual storyline.
Of course, there were no death variables yet, but in vulgar terms, it was a matter of “if she marks you, you die.”
“Whatever Your Majesty may be thinking, I am always sincere toward Your Majesty. That fact will never change.”
“······.”
Sophien said nothing for a moment. She seemed to be trying to hide her emotions, but a certain degree of fluster showed through.
Had that been a good answer?
Sophien cleared her throat with a humph.
“Then that is enough. However, you keep instilling certainty in me. Though it is not such a pleasant certainty.”
“Thank you. However, the Runic—”
“I will do the homework. So leave for today. I will not say it twice.”
“······Yes.”
With an order of dismissal at this level, there was nothing to be done.
I gave my courtesy, then rose from my seat. I stepped backward so as not to show her my back.
However, when I unconsciously looked toward the crack of the door.
“······.”
Through it, Sophien was staring at me.
Thud——!
Even until the very moment the door closed.