“Where is it! Where?!”
The situation had already ended, but a belated, youthful voice rang out from far off in the forest. I put the six treasured weapons into my briefcase.
“Where are you!”
The Chairwoman. She came zooming through the air on her own cherished staff.
“Huh!”
Seeing the demon with its forehead pierced through, her eyes went wide.
“You’ve already finished it!”
“······.”
I tried to remove the blood spattered on my face with Cleanse. But the blood, imbued with mana, resisted my magic. Left with no choice, I wiped it off with a handkerchief and threw it away.
“As expected of a mage of Yukline! You really killed that demon dead! What magic did you use? Ah! This cross-section that looks like it was pierced by metal······ Could it have been the 「Gale Blade Awl」 I created?!”
“The name is childish.”
My voice unconsciously sharpened. The Chairwoman jerked her head back in surprise.
“Wh-What did you say? Everyone said it was good!”
“Who would ever dare criticize you, Chairwoman?”
I said only that and turned away. A small murmur came from behind me.
“R-Really? Is it really that bad?”
“Yes.”
“Ah······.”
At that, the Chairwoman became crestfallen. That ‘pretending to be immature’ made me uncomfortable, but what came next was savagely genuine.
The Chairwoman lifted the demon’s corpse and threw it.
Kwaaaaang─!
It grazed past my shoulder like a cannonball and embedded itself in the ground. Shattered flesh and blood splattered in every direction.
“To think 「Gale Blade Awl」 was bad······.”
The Chairwoman muttered weakly, and I calmly walked through the middle of the bloody spray. Thanks to telekinesis, not even the tiniest droplet touched me.
When I descended the mountain like that, the mages of the Magic Tower had already gathered in droves.
I thought of Epherene. Against my intentions, I had treated her far too harshly.
I grabbed a random mage who was watching and asked.
“Hey. There should have been one Debutante mage—”
“Chief Professor Deculein.”
But an unfamiliar voice cut in. I turned toward it.
“I trust you have been well.”
A handsome man with a gentle voice. The moment I saw his radiant blond hair and priestly robes, I knew who he was.
A named character affiliated with the Cathedral, and a priest more faithful and devout than anyone else.
‘Terphe.’
“We rescued the mages. However, I would like to ask Chief Professor Deculein separately about the situation inside.”
Terphe was a good man with a beautiful heart, but from Deculein’s standpoint, he was quite troublesome. In other words, he was more or less an ally to those who bore grudges against Deculein.
“Speak with the Chairwoman inside. Whatever your purpose may be, she has blown the corpse apart.”
“Ah. I see.”
Terphe nodded, saw off the mages he had rescued with a smile, and then walked into the mountain. The mages left behind him looked at me in fear.
I called their names.
“Julia, Ferit, Rondo.”
“······Y-Yes.”
Julia answered with a thoroughly frightened face.
“Is the remaining one all right?”
“Huh? Ah, yes! Epherene is currently at the university hospital—”
“Then that is enough.”
Without even listening to the rest, I turned away.
The mental fatigue was considerable.
Never had I longed for home this much······ yet professors were running toward me from afar.
“Chief Professor! Are you all right?!”
Post-incident handling, reports to the Imperial Family, paperwork, cooperation with the Cathedral, and so on. As I thought of the countless tasks that would come pouring in on this late night, I somehow felt like running away.
* * *
Chirp chirp chirp─ chirp chirp chirp─ chirp chirp chirp─
Sunlight seeped in through the window. At the sound of birds chirping, Epherene opened her eyes.
“······.”
She blinked blankly.
A white ceiling. Looking around, she realized she was in the university hospital.
“You’re awake.”
A voice as gentle as sunlight tickled her ears. Startled, Epherene immediately sat up.
“It is a pleasure to meet you.”
It was some priest. As if following the saying to beware handsome men, Epherene first covered herself with the blanket.
“Wh-What is this?”
“I am Terphe, a priest of Yuref Cathedral.”
“······Parfait?”
Looking at Epherene with a smile, Terphe said,
“Epherene Luna. You’ve grown so much.”
“······Do you know me?”
Epherene still furrowed her brow in suspicion.
“I was acquainted with your father, Miss Luna. I saw you often in photographs.”
“······And?”
The moment her father was brought up, she naturally became defensive.
“Today, I came to ask about the Dark Mountain and what happened there······ however.”
Terphe smiled faintly.
“It seems Miss Luna has yet to grasp the situation properly.”
“······Yes. Embarrassingly, I was caught by illusion magic—”
“Chief Professor Deculein saved you.”
“Ah······ yes.”
“What enchanted you was a demonic being. The Dark Mountain has been temporarily sealed off, and our Cathedral is currently searching the interior together with the Magic Tower.”
Epherene covered her face with both hands.
As expected, that memory had not been a dream.
She had ended up being helped by Deculein.
—You damned halfwit.
That cold voice was still vivid in her ears.
“However, apart from that incident, as the daughter of an old friend, Miss Luna—”
“Wait. Friend? My father’s?”
“Yes. Perhaps it was merely one-sided on my part, but I do know what he went through. If Miss Luna ever needs help—”
“No.”
Epherene shook her head without hesitation. Her expression was nearly stern.
Terphe was slightly surprised.
“That’s fine.”
Herself and Deculein.
Deculein and Luna.
That knot was something she had to tie herself.
Help from anyone else was unnecessary, and there was no room for anyone to interfere.
At least when it came to her father’s death, only she could condemn Deculein.
“No, I don’t want it. Mister Tepepe, please don’t interfere.”
At her firmness, Terphe smiled quietly.
“In that case······ will you continue resting?”
“What?”
“Today is Wednesday. And it is 2:45 in the afternoon. Exactly thirty-six hours have passed.”
From midnight on Tuesday, it had somehow become Wednesday afternoon.
Epherene thought blankly.
She felt like she had forgotten something.
Terphe told her in her stead.
“Yes. Chief Professor Deculein’s lecture. Of course, no one would blame you if you rested, but whether that prideful professor would acknowledge your attendance······.”
“······Ah!”
Epherene sprang up.
“Miss Luna. Studying is well and good, but your mental strength is currently weakened, so please do not overexert yourself.”
“Ah, yes! Mister Teporo, please get back safely too!”
“Hm? Ahaha. Yes. Thank you. Take care. You have given me many names today.”
Epherene immediately left the university hospital.
She even ignored the shout of, Please take your medicine─! and broke into a run.
From the university hospital to the Magic Tower, it would still take over fifteen minutes even at a full sprint.
Hoo-ha─! Hoo-ha─!
She ran desperately and barely arrived at 2:55.
Panting, she opened the door to A Class on the third floor and entered the lecture hall, only to be taken aback.
“Huh?”
It was yet another different scene from the previous class.
A lecture hall that had grown wider, long magic tables assigned to each student, and on those tables lay elements such as soil, sand, wooden pieces, and water.
“Ephie! Here!”
Julia raised her hand high. Epherene nodded and stood at the seat beside Julia.
“Are you okay? I went to visit you at the hospital, but you wouldn’t wake up. It’s not a serious illness, is it?”
“No, I’m fine. I slept deeply for the first time in a while, so I’m full of energy.”
The insomnia that had developed after her father’s suicide.
For three years, she had never slept more than four hours a day, but as if she had cleared away all the sleep she had missed until now, she felt refreshed instead.
“My condition’s at its best.”
“That’s a relief······.”
Just then, the front door opened and Chief Professor Deculein entered.
He was accompanied by a short mage. A mage whose name and face were unknown.
“Good to see you. This is Assistant Professor Allen.”
“?!”
Everyone looked surprised at the sudden announcement, but Epherene was especially shocked.
Normally, once one became an assistant professor, from that point onward, one underwent separate evaluations for associate and full professor, so even without Deculein’s approval, as long as they built up achievements, they could fly away at any time.
That was why Deculein did not keep assistant professors.
Even her father, until he reached the age of thirty, had remained merely at the rank of ‘Solda’ and worked like a slave under Deculein.
Even now, imagining her father from those days made the back of her neck ache, but an assistant professor now?
Why, after never having one his whole life, was he only now······?
“As I said last week, today is a session of ‘Embodiment (體得).’”
For a moment, a dizziness as if her head would split open swept over Epherene, but she shook it off by pinching her thigh.
“I will give you five assignments in which you can apply the contents of the lecture. The results will be reflected in your grades, so take them seriously.”
At that, Assistant Professor Allen moved busily, placing a clock on each person’s magic table.
“The assignments you will perform are as follows.”
Snap─!
He snapped his fingers. The assignments appeared in midair.
The first was 「Will-o’-the-Wisp」.
The second was 「Devouring Smoke」.
The third was 「Blooming Metal」······.
“You have three hours from now. Begin.”
The mages immediately warmed up their mana.
Epherene hurriedly placed her hands on the elements on the table as well.
First, 「Will-o’-the-Wisp」.
She grasped it quickly. It must be a combination of pure elements: fire and wind.
All she had to do was combine the formula of fire with the nature of wind.
Epherene constructed the formula in her mind, and along that circuit, she poured in mana······.
No, she had to handle the mana properly······.
No, rather than mana, the formula······.
At that moment, Assistant Professor Allen passed by Epherene’s side. Epherene glared at him with sharp eyes she herself did not even notice.
Clink─!
In that instant, the circuit snapped and the magic broke apart.
At the pain in her wrist, Epherene bit her lip. Her artifact, the bracelet, heated up. It meant something had gone wrong.
“Ah, wait.”
······She knew something had gone wrong, but suddenly she could not remember the formula.
Her head hurt.
Growing restless, she lowered her head for a moment to calm herself.
But then.
“「Will-o’-the-Wisp」 confirmed. 4 minutes and 01 seconds.”
Already?!
Epherene looked over in shock.
As expected, it was Sylvia.
Sylvia, who had preserved 「Will-o’-the-Wisp」 on her table, was attempting the second assignment.
Epherene also urgently resumed constructing the formula, but it was not easy to focus.
“······Ugh!”
It was too strange.
Her mana moved as it pleased, and her empty stomach churned.
The mana she had painstakingly gathered scattered, the formula went wrong, and the circuit was destroyed.
The things she had diligently reviewed, the things she had truly repeated over and over, not a single one of them worked properly. And the more the magic collapsed, the lower her confidence fell; the lower it fell, the more difficult the magic became.
Within that vicious cycle, a voice circled in her ears.
······You damned halfwit, you damned halfwit, you damned halfwit, you damned halfwit, you damned halfwit, you damned halfwit, you damned halfwit, you damned halfwit······.
She should not care. There was no reason to care.
Yet she could not help it.
“Why am I a halfwit······ Why exactly am I a halfwit······.”
As her breathing grew ragged, Epherene’s face looked as if she might cry amid the headache and auditory hallucinations······
And Sylvia watched Epherene’s collapse from the corner of her eye.
“······.”
Hmph.
A small breath slipped through her indifferent lips.
For a mage, she was neither cool-headed, nor composed, nor steadfast.
Too weak, too fragile, unable even to properly handle her own emotions, swayed this way and that—an utterly pathetic person full of flaws.
If put in terms of magical disposition, it would be ‘fluctuation’ or ‘vulnerability.’
Epherene, you really have dropped out of the race.
Sylvia let out a low sigh and withdrew her attention.
“······Debutante Sylvia. 25 minutes and 15 seconds. Assignments complete.”
She had completed all five assignments in a mere twenty-five minutes. On her desk, the neatly combined pure elements had been preserved as magic.
“Professor.”
At the assistant professor’s call, Deculein approached.
Deculein looked at the results Sylvia had performed. Sylvia felt a slight tension. Perhaps because of the indecent mishap(?) from last time, there was also a faint embarrassment.
“Sylvia.”
Deculein spoke.
“Yes.”
Sylvia was prepared for any fault he might find. If she hadn’t had the nerve to withstand his scrutiny, she would never have applied for this lecture in the first place.
But.
“Flawless and perfect. You may go.”
The result was praise she had never expected.
Sylvia’s eyes widened. At the same time, she felt Epherene’s gaze from not far away. Sylvia deliberately looked at her.
Epherene’s hands trembled, and she hurriedly lowered her eyes.
Even then, Epherene’s assignment remained stalled.
“······.”
You don’t need to be jealous. You don’t need to mind me, either.
It’s a realm you’ll never reach.
Just watch.
“Thank you.”
Sylvia bowed her head to Deculein and walked out of the lecture hall. When she passed by Epherene, she made sure the click-clack of her steps rang out loudly.
Epherene flinched, trembling like a frightened penguin.
Only then did Sylvia realize the emotion she was feeling.
Satisfaction.
The sight of that half-wit crumbling was so satisfying she could hardly stand it.
* * *
“Julia. You may go.”
“Rehin. You may go.”
“Eharon. You may go.”
The number of mages in the lecture hall gradually dwindled.
From 150 to 100, from 100 to 50, and from 50 to 25······ yet by then, Epherene had completed only a single assignment.
She was dead last by an overwhelming margin.
“······.”
Her mind had already gone blank. Even so, she did not give up. Forcefully, desperately, she wrung out her mana.
The bracelet and her mana resonated fiercely, but that damned 「Devouring Fog」 showed no sign of manifesting at all.
Drip— drip— drip—
She had squeezed and squeezed her mana until, unable to endure it, her nose began to bleed.
Drop by drop, dark red spots were etched into the soil on the table.
“Drent. You may go.”
Even then, the voice that seemed to strangle her continued.
“Roton. You may go.”
With every person who left, her hands shook and her knees went numb.
“Kane. You may go.”
This moment was as horrifying as a dream.
At the same time, the fact that it was not a dream filled her with despair.
“Doian. You may go.”
And finally.
“Eurozan. You may go.”
“Yes!”
Eurozan. With the passing of the one who had remained until the end alongside Epherene—
She was alone.
“······.”
She had not wanted to give up, but it ended before she could.
Epherene let her arms fall limply.
Thud!
She slammed her face into the table. Soil dust mixed with nosebleed smeared all over her face.
She could not think of anything.
Tick— tick— tick—
Everything around her was simply hazy.
Tick— tick— tick—
Head Professor. Three hours have passed.
The voice of an assistant professor named Allen drifted faintly from far away.
Let us leave for the day.
Yes. Then I will stay behind and······
She could no longer hear the two of them. She did not know why. Perhaps the soil had blocked her ears.
Thud, thud.
Epherene knocked her forehead against the table.
It was self-loathing.
She hated herself for being unable to accomplish even something like this. She had boldly declared she would avenge her father, had left home after swearing she would never return until she did, and yet here she was, floundering in a place like this. Finding herself pathetic, she buried her nose in the dirt and cried.
Tick— tick— tick—
In a world where all sound had vanished, the only thing that remained was the sound of the second hand.
Time flowed on, ticking as though laughing at her.
Tick— tick— tick—
Like that, how much time had passed?
What kind of time had she spent alone?
Tick— tick— tick—
Epherene slowly raised her head.
Outside the window, it was night, and the lecture hall had gone dark, the lights turned off.
“······Sniff.”
She blew her nose and wiped the corners of her eyes. All sorts of grime clung to her face. She tried to wipe it away, but the more she rubbed with her sleeve, the more it smeared like mud.
She was a complete mess.
Just like me.
“Haa······.”
A sigh close to resignation.
Now, the lecture was over.
No, it had ended long ago.
To be precise, she had failed.
“······Hoo.”
Soaked in doubt and defeat, she felt as though she might swell and burst like a waterlogged sponge.
Her entire body was heavy, and her legs would not move properly.
“······.”
Staggering, Epherene had just taken one step to return to the dormitory.
“!”
Epherene’s eyes widened as she inadvertently looked toward the podium. Her small lips, caked with grains of sand, parted.
The lecture hall was empty, so vast it felt distant.
“Ah······?”
At the lectern, he was still there.
With the same upright posture as always, he was looking at her.
She had not known he had been waiting.
His voice flowed toward her.
“······Five hours and forty-seven minutes.”
In the darkness, his blue eyes were the only light, and the self reflected within them looked far too pathetic and weak.
“Epherene Luna.”
Still cold, yet with a clear tone entirely different from that night before.
When she heard that voice, in which she could feel even the slightest trace of warmth—
The second hand that had been ticking so tiresomely could no longer be heard.
“How long do you intend to keep me waiting?”
It was simply······ as though time in this space had stopped.
It was that strange a moment.